Brined Brisket (AKA Corned Beef)

I'm not sure why I actually did this ...

In these days of refrigeration  the age old method of salt curing is no longer necessary. I think I had it in mind to make a proper corned beef hash, or similar, and rather than buying brined meat which could well have been exposed to all manner of rubbish, thought it good to have a go myself.

It is, after all, very tasty!

I went for a simple brining solution based on about 100g of salt per litre of water, which worked out well for me as my vessel held the meat and that litre of water perfectly. For salt, I went with smoked Maldon.

Spices were fennel seed, black mustard seed and cardamom. Maybe a teaspoon of each and a few cardamom. For that subtle sweetness, sugar is often added.

That won't do for me, but I was pleased to find in ancient recipe books that honey was often used. I went with a tablespoon of my local honey.

Bring the water to the boil in a pan. Add in the salt and honey and ensure that it has all dissolved.

Allow the water to cool. Once lukewarm, add in the spices.

Once cool, pour over the meat.

Left for 7 days, turned once daily, it came to cooking time ...

... and I'd forgotten why I began this process, so we just had it cooked through in the oven for a couple of hours in a beef stock and served with mash and veggies.

It was certainly very good indeed, the meat more tender and with a subtle flavour from the spices, even after further cooking. It's something I'd certainly do again, not necessarily out of need, but certainly for the flavour.

Bacon & Sweet Potato Rösti

Breakfast!

Rösti is a Swiss potato dish and in its purest for is quite simply grated potato fried in a pan of butter and committed to the oven to cook through.

Rösti can be more broadly defined as a potato dish with the addition of cheese, bacon and onion, and in our case, even more broadly, made from courgette and carrot.

We're going to use sweet potato as the main part, boosted with bacon, flavoured further with daikon, onion and coloured with beetroot.

Grate the sweet potato, daikon and onion, then squeeze all the juice out. Squeeze several times until you are sure you've got all the juice out. Transfer to a large bowl.

Shred some bacon and fry it off. Add to the bowl.

Chop some herbs - chives are good here. Add to the bowl.

Finally, grate some pickled beetroot and carefully add to the bowl.

Salt, pepper ... some melted butter (around three or four tablespoons) and fold together.

Take a skillet (or two, if you're cooking for two), more butter, more than you'd use to fry, and then spoon in the shredded mixture pressing down with a spoon.

Don't worry about it binding - it will, in the pan.

Fry off on one side, flip over and fry the other side. Frying should be about 4-5 minutes each side, then transfer to a pre-heated over (say, 180C?350F?) for a further few minutes ... while you fry off some eggs.

Flip? It's pretty flimsy!

Here's how ...

Slide one out onto a board, holding the empty pan over the second one. Invert. Now, place the empty pan over the board and invert.

I also added some grated cheese once the skillets went into the oven.

Fry off a couple of eggs each and lay over the rösti.

It occurred to me that you could serve in the pan, but on a clean white plate is just as good.

Cod & Ackees

Fusion ... my take on the classic Jamaican Saltfish & Ackees with a fragrant Oriental twist!

The rationale? PIRATES! You know ... of the Caribbean, especially part four was it where they went to China?

If you've not heard of ackees before it's a fruit, related to the lychee and produces a pear-shaped fruit. Green unripened fruit can lead to poisoning. When ripe, the fruit bursts open to reveal a bright orange/yellow flesh with the consistency of lightly scrambled egg.

First, get your "Yaaaarrr!" on ... which reminds me of a joke:

Why are Pirates called Pirates?
Because theyarrrrrh!

This is a stir-fry of onion, carrot, daikon and mushroom; the daikon and carrot cut into matchsticks and the mushrooms thinly sliced.

Prep the veg.

Make up a sauce from chilli sauce, some Worcestershire Sauce or coconut aminos, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, coriander ... basically, something sloppy, pungent and spicy. We'll be pouring this over later.

Get some filleted cod steaming to cook through. Cover with lemon slices and ginger to perfume the fish.

Ackees come canned, so open and drain a can.

Get your wok fired up and stir-fry the veggies in some coconut oil. At the last minute, pour the sauce in, drop the pieces of flaked fish in and the ackees. Gently fold together and serve out, garnished with fresh coriander leaves.