Rhubarb

I wrote last year about the joy of our first ever forced rhubarb.  Well we've done it again this year and because of a little extra patience (read neglect) it has been even better.  I've put an empty compost maker over the rhubarb, when it was just starting to show through the ground, so early February I think.  It is now cropping beautifully with long, tender stalks of the most magnificent colour.  It is a shame that the leaves are poisonous, because they look good enough to eat as well.

Rosemary's cooking method is: cut the leaves and the very base of the stalk off, washes the stems and slices them into 3cm lengths.  Put the slices into a single layer in a shallow baking dish, with only the water they were washed in clinging to them and sprinkle sugar over.  These early forced stems are sweet and don't need a lot of sugar added.  Then bake the dish uncovered for about half an hour to 45 minutes in a 160 degree oven, until the rhubarb is tender.

Spiced Fruit Loaf

Rosemary made this loaf by adapting a recipe from an old Jocasta Innes cookbook.  The result is very good and made an excellent breakfast with a cup of coffee.

I bake our bread using a sourdough method with a starter that has now being going for two and half years.  Rosemary used much the same method but enriched the dough with an egg, butter and milk as well as dried fruit, nutmeg and cinnamon.  The flour proportions are about two thirds white to one third wholemeal flour.

Bacon

This handsome rolled loin of pork was destined by the butcher to make a tasty roast of pork resplendent with crackling, but I decided to take advantage of the brine tub that I had in the fridge and turn it into bacon.
 As per the salt beef described in the previous blog, the bacon can be a bit salty after a week in brine.  So to cook it, I sliced it as thinly as possible, put it into a shallow pan, covered it with cold water and brought it to the boil before draining it and rinsing it with cold water.

 I then rubbed a little oil into it and cooked it on a very hot griddle pan until crisp.  I say it as shouldn't, but it was delicious.

Salt Beef

I used to regularly make my own bacon by putting pieces of belly pork (for streaky) or loin of pork (for back) in to a crock of brine.  Fortunately we now have a local butcher who makes excellent bacon so I've lost the habit.  But I was recently inspired by a recipe for a spiced beef brine that was in one of the newspapers.  The recipe called for brisket, which makes for a very tender salt beef, but a piece of silverside called out to me.  The silverside is akin to topside of beef as it is very lean and dense, it makes for a firmer cooked joint that slices beautifully.

After soaking the beef for a week it is very likely to be too salty and so it needs soaking in plain water overnight to reduce the saltiness.  Cooks of 20 years ago, or more, knew all about this and wouldn't cook salt beef or boiling bacon without the necessary precautions to reduce the saltiness.  These days with refrigeration being the main method of keeping meats, much less salt is used and it is rarely necessary to pre-soak.

Put the beef into a large pot and cover with cold water, bring it to the boil.  This releases a lot of salty scum, so throw away the hot water and rinse the beef thoroughly with cold water.  Cover again with cold water and bring back to the boil and simmer gently for about an hour and a half.  Classic accompaniments are carrots, potatoes, onions and celery.  About an hour before the beef is cooked throw in the chunky chopped carrots and whole small onions.  About half an hour before it's cooked put in the whole potatoes and the celery hearts.


Needless to say, through lack of planning, I didn't soak it overnight before cooking and the beef was a bit salty, but the veg were super.  I served this with a mustard sauce - meaux mustard and a little cream stirred into a bechamel.