Author: Gary @ BigSpud

A bit of a geek who loves food.

Categories
food restaurant review

my favourite things from 2023

Join me as I look back over they year with some of my (and your!) favourite projects at BigSpud HQ from 2023.

Sea bass at the Blacksmiths, Isle of Wight

The sea bass dish as they serve it at the Blacksmiths pub

The best meal I had all year was at a pub overlooking the north coast of the Isle of Wight. The Blacksmiths is an absolute treat, with me wanting to try every dish. The sea bass was a delight, crisp and fresh, with a sweet and savoury bread salad. I cannot tell you from an ingredients list alone how delicious it was. It was perfect. I only regret that I don’t live closer so I can go there for dinner every day.

Marco Pierre White’s fondant potatoes

Marco Pierre White has defined the second half of the year for me; I’ve read loads of his books, watched his programmes, made his recipes. Understanding what makes this titan of restaurants tick has been fascinating. I’ve dug into his personality and uncovered the simplicity that lies at the core of his cooking, and fastidious attention to detail to replicate recipes repeatedly. This fondant potato recipe was a real insight into how he works.

Steak ‘n’ Snails

Continuing the Marco Pierre White theme, I made the recipe that he made as tribute to old friend Anthony Bourdain. It’s a very umami affair, with fast-cooked steak, meaty mushrooms and plump garlicky mushrooms. I made this on a rainy November evening and it was just the thing to pep me up – it’s the parsley that makes it, “washing the palate” as Marco says.

Biography of Keith Floyd

It’s fair to say this video biography of Keith Floyd I made didn’t quite land as well as I’d hoped – I’d put a lot of work into it, reading two of his autobiographies and watching every programme of his I could find. It’s a fascinating story of boom and bust and just going for it at every turn – it’s only nine minutes so give it a watch if you’ve any interest in how TV cookery has changed over the years.

Chicken, sweetcorn and chorizo pizza

After a trip to Gordon Ramsay’s Street Pizza Kitchen I became obsessed with the combo of chicken, sweetcorn, and chorizo. It’s an absolute winner.

Chicken, sweetcorn and chorizo pizza

Recreating Heston’s meat fruit

I’ve been meaning to make this for the longest time. I finally got around to it… and it was quite the disaster! I got the gelatine ratio wrong and overworked it, leading to a mis-shapen sloppy mess. Watch the video to see how it turned out.

Heston’s meat fruit

Most popular with you

Meanwhile, what were the top posts from 2023 that kept you coming back this year?

Beef dripping sauce – After a trip to steak restaurant Miller & Carter I had to have a go at recreating their signature sauce. After a few goes I’m really pleased with this rich, indulgent gravy.

Onion loaf – and hot on the heels of beef dripping I also made the crispy, savoury side dish.

Brined leg of lamb – this proved very popular as most people associate brining with white meats. But a salty bath for lamb brings out the deep savouriness that matches it perfectly.

Philly cheese stack – I don’t mind McDonald’s, but I’ve definitely grown bored of their predictable menu. But in Autumn they came out with a burger laced with cheese sauce and fried onions. I recreated it and it’s absolutely bang on.

Cornershop curry – this Jamie Oliver recipe is warming, tasty, and can be made very easily with stuff you have in the cupboard. A great mideweek-er.

Thanks for coming along for the ride in 2023. I look forward to sharing more food adventures with you in 2024!

Categories
gammon orange wine

gammon with a mulled wine glaze

I cannot get through the Christmas season without having a gammon nearby. And most years I come up with a new glaze to finish it off. I’ve blogged about lots of them. This year I wanted mulled wine with my gammon.

it’s very salty and strong, a slightly sweet flavour as well it’s one of my absolute favourites. We call it gammon in the UK: it’s the hind leg of a pork but just the top part so you get that big round of meat. just one of those weird quirks of Butchery that we have a joint called the Gammon which is a basically like bacon but a big joint of bacon or ham. like bacon it’s cured and usually smoked not always but not ready to eat. It needs cooking.

You can roast it in the oven, you’ll get a more intense flavour and it is relatively difficult to keep it tender with this method as all the fat in the joint is on the top – hardly any runs through the meat itself. You can cook it sous vide which I’ve done on this channel before where you have a lot of control over the cooking. Today I am going to cook it in the more traditional method of simmering on the hob with a load of aromatics. This is usually root veg and hardy herbs. The finished gammon is usually juicy and fairly mellow. Some people like to do a quick first simmer before replacing the water to remove impurities, I find this doesn’t seem to be a thing any more.

Mulled wine is a warm, spiced concoction that’s perfect for chilly evenings. It’s a blend of red wine, typically a robust one, infused with spices. Common additions include cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, and citrus zest, to make it rich, warming and aromatic. But to some extent it’s up to you what’s in the mix.

To prepare this comforting drink, you gently heat the wine with the spices, allowing the flavors to come together. Sweeteners like sugar or honey are often added to balance the robustness of the wine and enhance its overall warmth.

It’s perfect for the colder months and as such favoured at Christmas. I confess to also enjoying mulled cider too!

This recipe is very straight forward. Simmer the gammon for a couple of hours, then baste in a reduced mulled wine. It’s dead easy to do – the main thing to watch out for is overreducing the wine and burning your pan.

Print

mulled wine gammon

Course Main Course
Cuisine English
Keyword ham
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 750 g smoked gammon joint any size will do
  • assorted root veg for the stock onions, carrots, etc
  • 350 ml mulled wine
  • 1 clementine or other small orange citrus
  • 1 heaped tablespoon icing sugar

Instructions

  • Put the gammon in a large pot with any old veg and if you have it, a spoon of black peppercorns and hardy herbs like bay. But no worries if you don't. Cover with water, bring to a simmer and bubble away for about 2 hours. The gammon is cooked when a skewer is inserted and removed easily. Allow it to cool in the broth for 30 minutes.
  • Meanwhile reduce the mulled wine. Add the halved orange and icing sugar and boil really hard. Keep boiling and bubbling until it is sticky.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C. Transfer the gammon to a rimmed baking dish. Baste the meat in all the wine generously and place in the oven. Every 5 minutes pull the gammon out and spoon on the glaze that has collected in the pan. Keep going for 20-30 minutes until the glaze has hardened and crystallized. Remove from the oven and carve.

Video

Notes

If you don't have any mulled wine, take a full-flavoured or robust red wine and simmer it with cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg and other sweet spices. 
Categories
chicken chorizo food spring onion sweetcorn

chicken, chorizo and sweetcorn pizza

I recently took a trip to Gordon Ramsay’s Street Pizza in St Paul’s. They offer a bottomless pizza option where the pizza is cooked constantly and is then brought round. Grab a slice of what you like!

The pizzas were all great. Even the ham and pineapple was a step above – shredded gammon, strips of pineapple but the fresh pecorino was the finishing touch.

However the one I loved was chicken and chorizo, with a sweetcorn puree base. It was a perfect combo! So much so, I had to make it myself:

Print

chicken, chorizo and sweetcorn pizza

Course Main Course
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 5 minutes
Servings 23 people

Equipment

  • pizza stone

Ingredients

  • 400 g strong flour
  • 1 teaspoon dried yeast
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 250 ml lukewarm water
  • 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

For the sweetcorn puree:

  • 198 g tin sweetcorn
  • 2 teaspoons creme fraiche
  • lemon juice

Other toppings:

  • 50 g mozzarella
  • 100 g shredded cooked chicken
  • 5-6 slices chorizo
  • 2 spring onions
  • coriander or parsley to garnish

Instructions

  • To make the pizza dough, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and then turn out on to a worktop. Knead thoroughly for 10 minutes until stretchy and elastic. Form into 2-3 balls and put into an oiled bowl. Cover with a teatowel and leave to rise in a warm place for 90 minutes.
  • Meanwhile make the puree. Blitz all the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. Push through a sieve to remove the skins and keep refrigerated until needed.
  • After 90 minutes, preheat the oven as high as it will go with a pizza stone in. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Add the sweetcorn puree and add the other toppings to taste. Cook for 4-5 minutes until golden and risen. Serve immediately.

Video

Categories
book review food

my favourite cookbooks of 2023

Gifting time is here! Check out my choices for the cookbooks of the year.

Diet and sustainability has never been higher in the agenda. While these are important topics for anyone nerdy about their food, despite money worries people are asking these questions about their dinner. And the cookbooks of today reflect that.

Here’s a selection of some books I’ve enjoyed most this year. It’s not been an easy shortlist, so let me know what I missed.

Quick note: if you love to cook but hate sifting through recipes, try out Eat Your Books. With over 2.5 million recipes indexed Eat Your Books will help you figure out exactly what to eat for dinner tonight, based on the books you already own. Build shopping lists, add your own recipes and more. Jane has always been a big supporter of BigSpud and I highly recommend her site – try it out now and use code EYB2330 to unlock a free one month Premium membership.

The Extra Mile


Few things crush my soul more than knowing we have to stop at a motorway services on a road trip. If you’re in the mood for Burger King, Starbucks or KFC then you’re fine, but even then you’ll be rinsed on price compared to the high street. Thankfully then I discovered this book, refreshed every year, aiming to compile brilliant farm shops, cafes and delis just off the motorways. I’ve discovered a couple of gems from it this year, not least of which the incredible Waitrose farm cafe. This book now sits in my glove compartment permanently, and would make a perfect gift for UK drivers.

Buy The Extra Mile from Amazon

The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook

 

Poppy O’Toole is a national treasure in the making. I can’t wait for her to be completely mainstream and present The One Show or something. Her book from a couple of years ago was one of my favourites that year, and I immediately preordered her air fryer book when it was available. And it doesn’t disappoint. There’s no new ideas or ground-breaking flavours here, but inspiration to use the now-ubiquitous appliance in different ways.

Buy The Actually Delicious Airfryer Cookbook from Amazon

Made in Bangladesh

 

In the UK Bangladeshi food means one thing: British Indian Restaurant food. What most of us think of us ‘having an Indian’ or ‘having a curry’ means curries derived from the Bangladeshi cuisine. And even then it has evolved over ~40 years to satisfy the most people possible. What a treat then is Made In Bangladesh, a love letter to the perfume, the aroma, the joy of Bangladeshi cuisine. There are so many different layers and ideas across the Indian continent and we don’t do enough in the UK to educate ourselves in these varieties. This would be a good first step for those looking to expand their ‘curry’ repertoire.

Made in Bangladesh from Amazon

Honourable mention: White Heat 25

OK; this edition is from 2015, a reprint of a 1990 book. But I just had to include this book as no other book has influenced me more in the kitchen this year. I was always aware of Marco Pierre White (who isn’t?) but I’d never really know what he was about nor knew that much about him. Doing a little research for a YouTube video this year I got hold of this from the library, read it cover to cover in an hour, then immediately bought my own copy. Yes the photography is somewhat dated and hilariously cliched now but it still burns with passion and charisma. The writing and the recipes are electric and inspire completely – what more do you want from a book about food?

Buy White Heat 25 from Amazon

That was my year in cookbooks – what were your favourite books this year?

Previous years’ lists:

The 2022 cookbook list

The 2021 cookbook list

The 2019 cookbook list

The 2018 cookbook list

The 2017 cookbook list

The 2016 cookbook list

The 2015 cookbook list

The 2014 cookbook list

The 2013 cookbook list

The 2012 cookbook list

The 2011 cookbook list

The 2010 cookbook list

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