We had a very nice bbq round at my parents house today, and a couple of things came up. Firstly was that my aunt and mum like margaritas. Second was cooking with booze. One of the marinades for the chicken on the bbq was tequila and lime based. I think it also had some tomato base and a bit of chilli - will have to investigate that one further. However, I was also chatting with my aunt about a new sauce that mum had which was a Jack Daniels table sauce with chilli (not bad, basically bbq sauce with a bit of a kick) and we got onto the subject of cooking with JD. A good friend has had success in marinading beef in JD for a couple of hours before cooking (although if on a bbq I might suggest ensuring it is drained well and using long tongs). This was all good but it put me in mind of a recipe I had made last summer for pork ribs which my aunt was very keen to try.
It is one of those recipes for really sticky ribs where the meat is falling off the bone (more American style than Chinese) and is best done with a full rack of ribs rather than individuals, although I suppose there is no reason why individual ribs can't be used. A note of caution, do line your roasting pan with foil or it will be a bugger to clean.
Anyway, with thanks to Diana Henry for this one, for each rack of ribs mix up equally quantities of Jack Daniels (although I have done this successfully with straight whiskey too, bourbon is better here) and maple syrup, to make about a quarter pint of liquid and add 2 or 3 cloves of crushed garlic and about the same volume of grated ginger. You can leave the marinade there as I have done when I couldn't remember the whole recipe and it works well. If you want some extra punch the whole recipe then calls for adding a generous teaspoon of mustard (mild like Dijon as English is too strong), and the same of Tabasco (depending on taste) and Worcestershire sauce. Chuck most of the marinade over the ribs and roast in a moderate oven (170-180) for about 30 minutes, turn down to a low oven (140-150) and then cook for 1.5-2hours basting with the balance of the marinade every so often.
Very sticky, very yummy and with a little kick if you add the extra sauces to the marinade.
If you wanted to adapt for bbq season I would suggest poaching the ribs gently in water until tender and then bbq in the marinade to finish basting liberally and being careful not to burn them as the sugar content will probably caramelise and burn quite quickly.
Sunday 22 June 2008
Sunday 8 June 2008
Indian turkey kebabs
The sun decided to show its face today and so the opportunity for a BBQ could not be missed. L&C kindly hosted the afternoon. K made lovely beef burgers and I made turkey kebabs based on the work of the doyen of the Indian kitchen, Madhur Jaffrey. They went down so well that everyone wanted the recipe (and hence the idea for this blog was born).
Firstly, a comment on kebabs. They are not necessarily cooked on skewers and there are a number of great kebabs that are meat patties. I might look into where the word "kebab" comes from one day. But for present purposes I just wanted to point out that some kebabs, and these included, come in patty form. The best example being the chappli kebab of the Pakistani North West Frontier - some fond memories there of eating fresh chappli kebabs made at the roadside and eaten with a freshly cooked nan bread. A great idea that - if you place the kebab in the centre of the nan, pieces can then be torn off the bread to use to eat the kebab which diminishes in size as the bread shrinks until you are left with the last mouthful (and the last few bites have the yummy juices soaked into the bread). Essentially the nan is part of the meal but also doubles as an edible plate! I digress...
The kebabs, take about 500g of turkey mince and combine with finely chopped chilli to taste 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, a good tablespoon of minced ginger, 1/4 teaspoon (or more if brave) cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 2-4 tablespoons of chopped fresh corriander (or I actually use parsley as I am more likely to have this to hand), 3/4 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. The recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of yoghurt strained through muslin for a couple of hours but you can easily cheat and add 3-4 tablespoons of greek yoghurt as this is basically just strained yoghurt. To be true to Mrs J you should also add a tablespoon of chickpea flour that you have lightly roasted in a pan. However, I don't usually have this or the time and cornflour works a treat and you don't lose much on the flavour with everything else going on. Mix it all together and leave in the fridge for a good few hours, up to a day. Shape into patties and grill/fry.
A small variation, leaning towards my lazy side and being in a bit of a rush is to place the yoghurt (after straining if not using Greek) in a mini-blender with the roughly chopped chilli, ginger and garlic and then whizz to a fine paste. This saves the grating/chopping and gets the flavours into the meat quicker.
Firstly, a comment on kebabs. They are not necessarily cooked on skewers and there are a number of great kebabs that are meat patties. I might look into where the word "kebab" comes from one day. But for present purposes I just wanted to point out that some kebabs, and these included, come in patty form. The best example being the chappli kebab of the Pakistani North West Frontier - some fond memories there of eating fresh chappli kebabs made at the roadside and eaten with a freshly cooked nan bread. A great idea that - if you place the kebab in the centre of the nan, pieces can then be torn off the bread to use to eat the kebab which diminishes in size as the bread shrinks until you are left with the last mouthful (and the last few bites have the yummy juices soaked into the bread). Essentially the nan is part of the meal but also doubles as an edible plate! I digress...
The kebabs, take about 500g of turkey mince and combine with finely chopped chilli to taste 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, a good tablespoon of minced ginger, 1/4 teaspoon (or more if brave) cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 2-4 tablespoons of chopped fresh corriander (or I actually use parsley as I am more likely to have this to hand), 3/4 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. The recipe calls for 6 tablespoons of yoghurt strained through muslin for a couple of hours but you can easily cheat and add 3-4 tablespoons of greek yoghurt as this is basically just strained yoghurt. To be true to Mrs J you should also add a tablespoon of chickpea flour that you have lightly roasted in a pan. However, I don't usually have this or the time and cornflour works a treat and you don't lose much on the flavour with everything else going on. Mix it all together and leave in the fridge for a good few hours, up to a day. Shape into patties and grill/fry.
A small variation, leaning towards my lazy side and being in a bit of a rush is to place the yoghurt (after straining if not using Greek) in a mini-blender with the roughly chopped chilli, ginger and garlic and then whizz to a fine paste. This saves the grating/chopping and gets the flavours into the meat quicker.
A new start
So, here we are. A few friends have asked for recipies of things I've made recently and so I thought (with a little prompting) that I would start a blog to natter about foodie things - things I've made, bought, read etc. I have to say at the start that if I give you a recipie I may have tinkered with it but will also let you know the source of the original.
You may already know, and should probably have guessed by the fact that I am starting this blog, that I like my food. Not just eating it but cooking and everything related to it. I am not a food snob and I am not a great chef, I would like to say a competent home cook if that isn't too big-headed. However, I have a passion for the good and the tasty. I should also say that I do not intend to confine myself to solids, there are also some very tasty liquids to be discussed (mostly of the alcoholic kind!). Well, here goes nothing....
You may already know, and should probably have guessed by the fact that I am starting this blog, that I like my food. Not just eating it but cooking and everything related to it. I am not a food snob and I am not a great chef, I would like to say a competent home cook if that isn't too big-headed. However, I have a passion for the good and the tasty. I should also say that I do not intend to confine myself to solids, there are also some very tasty liquids to be discussed (mostly of the alcoholic kind!). Well, here goes nothing....
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