Cooking like a demon haha

So this afternoon I decided to visit  W Bunting & Son in Castle Market. It has been a few years since I have been in but I have decided to make much more of an effort and to use those people that are around or near to me rather than the supermarkets whose quality has been on the wane yet prices have risen.


So I bought some massive beef ribs, some belly pork and some oxtail for me to cook a few meals in advance as well as trying something I haven't done before, curing bacon!


So lets start with the bacon that I have prepared to cure.


To cure 1kg of Pork belly you will need:

50g fine sea salt
25g caster sugar or soft brown sugar
3 bay leaves, finely shredded
12-16 juniper berries, crushed
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper


I only used 1/2 kg so halved it and cut the pork into 4 slices.

Once I have rubbed the cure into the pork I then put it into an airtight container to cure for 48 hours. If you to this you will need to drain the liquid whenever it collects in the bottom of the container.


So now it's ready to go into the fridge!

Dinner for Wednesday is also marinating. We are going to be having beef ribs with sticky rice.
In their marinade they look like this:

I can't get over how big these are! They were about 3 quid which is a bargain for the amount of meat on them.


These are marinating in:
100ml Oyster Sauce
2tbsp Soy
1tbsp Fish sauce
1tbsp Chili flakes
1tbsp Garlic chopped
50ml Sherry/white wine
2tsp Chinese five spice
1 Cinnamon stick
2 Star Anise
1tbsp Soft brown sugar
3 Bay leaves


These will marinade for 24 hours. I will then put in slow cooker for 8 hours while I am at work then take out and leave to cool. We will then griddle them on a high heat on Wednesday to have with rice.


I have no idea how this will turn out as I have made this marinade up. Guess we will find out soon.


Last but not least tomorrows dinner:


Decided to nick a recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall so am doing Oxtail and Chorizo stew.

Now I know that Oxtail is something that is probably treated with suspicion by most people younger than me but frankly Oxtail has been the base of some of my most memorable meals my mother made me when I was a child.


His recipe serves six so I think my version may be a bit more manageable as its just for two (and hopefully some left over for me to take to work!)


I used:


600G Oxtail
1 1/2tbsp Plain seasoned flour
1tbsp oil
125G Chorizo
1 Small diced onion
1 Peeled and diced carrot
1 1/2 Garlic cloves, minced
1tbsp Tomato puree
70ml White wine
400ml Beef stock
1 1/2tbsp Oregano
1 Bouquet GArni
1/2 Cinnamon stick
Salt+Pepper


I dusted the Oxtail in the seasoned flour and browned off so it had a wonderful brown crust. After taking the Oxtail out I then drained a little of the oil away and then cooked the chorizo until crisp on the outside.  


Set these aside and cook the onion until soft on a lowish heat followed by the carrot for 5 minutes. After this stir in the garlic and tomato puree. Hugh says to cook out for only 1 min but I hate the taste of tomato puree that has not been cooked out so I did it for 4 mins.


Then add the wine and reduce by a third.


Finally add the stock, oregano, bouquet garni and cinnamon. If the oxtail is not covered by liquid then do so.


Bring it to the boil and then simmer for 3 hours. I have put mine in the oven at 190 C and stir it from time to time.


I will then reheat this tomorrow and have with crusty bread.


Enjoy and if you do cook these, let me know how it goes and what you think.


Dan