Another review (sorry it's been so long, I don't get out much) - Kitch

Inspiration comes in many forms. Some people need an open grassland with wildebeest grazing in a serpentine pattern, others find it in a stormy sea and more still draw that elusive of all things from a woodland walk. Recently I was inspired by home-made baked beans.

Okay, not just the beans but they were the spark. I frequent this place in Canterbury called Kitch. Usually it's just for a takeaway (deep breath): spicy cacao, hold the maple, with a shot of espresso. This is a magnificent concoction of unsweetened cacao mixed with ginger, cinnamon and cayenne, usually with a shot of maple syrup, made up with almond milk. Adding the espresso has become known as making it dirty ie. a dirty cacao.

Anyway, the other day I stopped in to get myself some breakfast after dropping Betty and The Spud at the train station. It is just such a fantastic place to visit. The atmosphere is really friendly and relaxed with lovely retro tea room style decor.

I went for the Full Veggie this particular morning and it was something else. It has on it sweet potato falafel, avocado, poached egg, wilted spinach, and HOMEMADE BAKED BEANS! It comes with a side of addictive wholemeal, multigrain, sourdough toast too, but seriously...baked beans that are actually homemade.

The falafel are fantastic, sweet with a slight curried flavour from cumin they go amazingly with the egg and spinach giving a cross between eggs Florentine and kedgeree. Avocado is always a winner with me so I'll never complain about a wedge of it on my plate but seriously these beans, right, were beautiful. A millions times nicer than the tinned variety with a fresh tomato sauce and fat soft haricot beans (I think).

This also comes with grilled mushrooms. I'll just leave that there. People who know me know, everyone else can guess.

I had, with my breakfast, a matcha latte made with coconut soya milk. I thought it was a bit too early in the morning for my usual. I was happy with my choice. How couldn't I be with a beautifully made, slightly sweet, cup of frothy heaven?

All in all an amazing experience. Kitch like to make fresh, seasonal, whole food and they do a damn fine job of it. There is always a smile when you go in the door and there's never a rush to get you fed and back out again. Also they tend to remember people and regular orders.

If you're in Canterbury at any stage do make sure to visit. You won't regret it.

Restaurant Review- Deeson's in Canterbury

Haven't updated this in a while, and we had a great meal out the other night, so thought I'd share.

Located on lovely cobbled streets a short walk from the cathedral, this modern English restaurant is easily one of the finest in Canterbury. Being in the city centre it is within walking distance of the bus terminus, and all of the car parks.

With a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere it is a fantastic place to spend a couple of hours. The layout is such that there is an element of privacy, and a sense of space. Having appropriate disabled facilities, and even a baby changing area make it welcoming to everybody.

The waiting staff were attentive and knowledgeable; when asked about the eggs in the mayonnaise our server knew immediately that they were pasteurized. There was also no feeling of urgency, they encouraged us to take our time choosing our food.

An extensive menu was complemented with a drinks list which had, along with a good selection of wines from around the world, plenty of English wines, beers and ciders. The selection of fish and vegetarian options on the menu was good, however we did note a lack of any vegan options.

A really special thing I found about this place was that it grows a lot of its own food. This is something close to my heart, as those who know me will know, and I love it about this place. They have a 5 acre small holding called 'The Bunker' near Canterbury, where they grow as much of the food as they can for the restaurant. So the food is fresher than fresh, and better for the environment.

The food itself was close to faultless. Before we started we were brought warm bread rolls, with a choice of smoked or salted butter. The smoked eel in my starter went great with the samphire and apple jelly, cut through with slices of pickled cucumber. The other starter of celeriac and apple soup was creamy and delicious, and was complimented beautifully by garlic croutons. The starters were quite reserved in size; at the time they seemed a bit too small, but with such intense flavours and with what was to come it was actually just right.

We went with the belly pork and sea bass for mains. The slow cooked, pressed pork with impossibly thin, crispy skin was topped with a cider braised cheek with apple sauce - classic but perfect. We were surprised to see sea bass with orange sauce, but we weren’t disappointed. In fact the aforementioned mayonnaise mixed with crab brought the two together beautifully.

The dessert was the reason the small starters were so clever. They were big, and they were good. Trio of chocolate with mousse, brownie and dark chocolate sorbet sounds a bit heavy perhaps, but with the clever addition of minted orange and sticky-sweet honeycomb it was practically ambrosia. Bramley apple and quince crumble was the other dessert, and it was good, very good. The one down point was that the custard with it was a little runny, delicious, but could have been thicker. That being said when it was poured into the little copper pan used to serve the crumble, the taste was great.

It was certainly a place we would visit again soon.

Sausage Rolls

Nothing too complicated here, but I was just so damn proud of these babies that I just had to put them on my blog! The puff pastry recipe is on the blog too, take a look why don't ya. Apart from that it's mostly assembly.

Ingredients-

200g(ish) puff pastry-chilled
250g pork mince
1 small chilli finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic really finely chopped or minced preferably
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
dried (or fresh) herbs-I used some sage about 1 tsp or so dry.
1 egg beaten

Method-

1. Make your filling by mixing all of the ingredients apart form the pastry (obviously), and leave it rest in the fridge for a half an hour or so.

2.  Roll out your pastry to about 0.5 cm thick, twice as wide as you would like your sausage rolls to be, and as long as the rest will allow. Then cut it in half (which I hadn't done before taking this picture) so that there is enough pastry for two long sausage rolls one above the other.

3. Spread the meat mixture evenly across the pastry about 2 cm from one side, then roll the pastry over the top and press the seam together with a little egg wash between to seal.

4. Cut into little or large sausage rolls, as many as it will allow and brush liberally with egg wash. Prick little holes, or slice the top artistically or don't. I'm not sure it really matters!

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes and they should be puffed up nicely with a golden brown colour.

I find getting them off the baking tray straight away, and cooling them for as long as you can stand before scoffing them is a good idea. Also they are still amazing the next day!
The end ones aren't all that great I found-not enough meat when I did it. I have tweaked the recipe since I took the pics though, so there should be more meat all around.
I added onion instead of the chilli the last time and it was tasty. I would say don't add too much of either as they change it a bit, and make it a bit wet. Still good though.
I made some veggie ones for Betty recently too, which I will share soon. Promise.

Brew Dog (Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø)-Black Tokyo Horizon ABV 15.2%

Firstly this was a Christmas present from my good friend Noel. It's a collaboration of 3 brewers, but seems to be sold under Brew Dog's name. It's a fusion of stouts from these 3, making an absolutely amazing Imperial stout. For those who don't know an Imperial stout is a porter with a high ABV (over 8% I think...ask Wikipedia I'm sure they know).

Appearance-

I'm a sucker for a beer in a box, always fools me into thinking I'm onto something good. In this case it was justified. This may be pathetic fallacy but I swear when I opened it, it was smoking-yeah this stuff is so amazing it can't wait to get out of the bottle. The beer itself is a darker than dark brown, when held up to the light nothing passes through. It has a very short lived brown head too.

Nose-

Sweet coffee smell, very rich, almost sticky. It also has a slight burnt smell, which was nice with the coffee.

Taste-

Amazingly smooth and sweet. Almost too sweet, with a burnt hint which made it like a burnt caramel. There was also a bitter finish, just at the very end. It is slightly alcoholic tasting, but at that percentage I guess it would be hard for it not to be. I didn't feel this really diminished it. Over all something really special-cheers Noel.

A final note on this one: I have a notebook where I write down notes on my beers as I drink them, so I can write them here later-sad I know. Anyway, in capitals at the end of this one I've written: "DOESN'T GO WITH MCCOY'S". I have a vague recollection of this, I think it was near the end, when I was smashed, and I cracked open the crisps-so yeah, don't try this one with McCoy's you have been warned!

Puff Pastry

I've wanted to make puff pastry for ages, but I've always had a fear of it. It seems like a daunting undertaking, but it really, really isn't. It takes a bit of time, but not that much actual doing of anything, a lot of waiting, but who of you hasn't at some point recently spent a day off watching television or playing a game. It's really a lot nicer than shop bought stuff, not to mention cheaper. And for me it gives a wonderful sense of satisfaction at having made something yourself. One very important thing before you start-don't handle the dough too much, it needs to stay as cold as possible, so be quick, and get it back in the fridge as soon as you can.

Ingredients-
500g Flour
500g Butter (unsalted or slightly salted)
250ml(ish) water
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt

Method:

1. Mix the flour and salt with one third of the butter (that's 166.6666666g annoyingly). I did this with my Magimix, but I'm sure doing it by hand would be just fine.

2. Add the lemon juice and as much of the water as it takes for the mixture to come together into a nice stretchy dough. As it get's closer to this point add the water slowly, because too much water and you get a sticky mess. I didn't need the full 250ml.

3. Press the dough into a square roughly 2cm thick and let it rest for an hour, wrapped in some greaseproof paper. At this point I also cut the remaining butter into 2cm thick slices, that when put together were slightly smaller than the square of dough. The other option here is to beat the butter between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper until it is this shape and thickness. Put this in the fridge also.

4. Take the dough out and roll out to twice it's length-a long rectangle. Place the butter on half of the dough and fold the other half over. Press the edges tightly and make sure you don't get any air pockets. Now you have a dough sandwich with the butter between. Roll this out to 1 cm thick once more, making sure no butter comes out the sides. Fold the dough by taking one side and folding it over one third of the total length, then take the other side and fold it over the original fold. That's called one 'turn'.

5. Put it back in the fridge and let it cool, I tried 10 mins in the freezer followed by 15 in the fridge. Then take it out and do another turn, the opposite way to the previous, and repeat until you have done 6 turns.

6. Make the last turn as neat as possible, and let it rest for at least an hour before using it. I did it late in the day so mine was in the fridge overnight and it was fine the next day.

That's it, done. I hope you got the folding instructions ok. If in doubt, ask. This was my first time making it, and it was a resounding success, and so very easy. Coming soon I will show you two things I made with it; Sausage rolls and a Pizza-thing. This is definitely one to try though, so very easy, and the turns don't take much time, just pick a day you're doing nothing else and do it. One tip that I keep reading about puff pastry is that it's important to use good quality butter, and French butter at that. It has a higher melting point, so it behaves better when working with it, and stays between the layers better for flakier pastry. Have fun!

Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale and Chocolate Peanut Butter & Banana Ale

The title of this post might just look like a jumble of words, but it is in fact the title of two beers drank by myself and 2 friends just recently. I was very excited about these two. As you can see they promise some really unusual flavours. They also cost enough for you to expect a very good quality of beer. You may notice that I haven't put an ABV down. This is because there is none on the bottles nor on the website, that I can see. I like the full list of ingredients that they give on the bottles, including the types of hops and malts. That's about all I liked about them though. I've written them both at once, as I'm not sure if they deserve two separate posts.

Appearance(s)-

Bright pink bottles! There's very little I can add to this, apart from; it didn't put me off at first. That was on the assumption that the beer would be fantastic. The Bacon Maple is a slightly cloudy amber colour, the Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana was darker, possibly owing to the chocolate malt used in the brewing (great idea, credit where it's due). Both were quite fizzy and had decent lasting heads.

Nose(s)-

Put simply, they smell like the names suggest. The Bacon Maple one has a really strong smoky smell. It's almost too much, well it is too much really, no point sugar coating it. Frankly I couldn't smell much apart from the added flavours, in either.

Taste(s)-

Once again the Bacon Maple is very smoky. Also a bit weird, but not in a good way. Too much bacon, not enough maple I thought. The other wasn't great either, although less disturbing. The flavours just didn't add up. The beers underneath all of those flavours were also not that great, I thought. That could have been because it was masked though. Hard to know.

Conclusion-

You may have noticed, from my oh so subtle, and skilful writing that I didn't really take to these. I'm not saying don't try them, I would say do. It's something new, and different. I wouldn't be buying them again though. I think it might be because I don't really like adding a lot of extra things to beer. The cardinal four ingredients, and maybe another natural flavouring, like coffee beans, or cocoa or fruit juice at a push. Smoked bacon though? banana flavouring? not so sure. As usual though, don't take it from me, try it yourself, with trepidation (that one's for you Noel).

Siren Craft Brew-Rainbow IPA ABV 7.9%

Another winner here from Siren I think. I was just reading up on types of beers before writing this one up. It says on the bottle that it's 'A Belgian Golden style ale hopped to IPA levels'. So it turns out that a Golden Beer is obviously Belgian and apparently made with pilsner malt. IPA is a type of beer that was brewed during the English occupation of India, when they used to ship the beer to India (the 'I' in IPA) it used to go off. So they increased the amount of hops and alcohol in it, and IPA was created. And boy am I glad it was.

Appearance-

Great label again, Siren seem to be good with labels. My usual place (The Bottle Shop at The Goods Shed in Canterbury) has a few lined up on the shelf and they are a delight to look at. With their arty labels. Also I like the detail on it, like the info above about the type of beer. Handy for a nerd like me. The stuff itself is opaque kind of yellow/orange but not quite, maybe a little brown? Lovely white bubbly, short lived head. Quite fizzy this one, be careful pouring it.

Nose-

Now I love a good label as you know, but I should really stop reading them before I smell or taste the contents. I could definitely smell the good level of hops in this one, with the familiar citrus/grapefruit notes (oooh get me, notes). So, I also swear I could get a slight hint of apple, but it does say that there is apple juice in it on the label. Like I said above, though, I'm a bit impressionable, so take that one with a pinch of sugar (also on the ingredient list).

Taste-

Fantastic smack across the face that only an IPA can give. Beautiful citrus taste also, as expected. what I didn't expect really was the initial sour hit I got also. This combined with the tiny bit of sweetness makes it almost like a sour sweet...a bitter, ale flavoured sour sweet. Okay maybe not, but you get the idea. I would like to reiterate my above disclaimer here, but I swear there was a fruity character to this, aside from the citrus. Please try it for yourself though, and let me know, I would be interested.

Conclusion-

I was very impressed by this offering from Siren. After the heavy stouts I've had recently, I really appreciated the change. I do have a lovely stout ready for some time soon. The next 2 I am going to drink though come in pink bottles, and have flavours including bacon, and banana! Watch this space.

Brew Dog-Paradox Grain ABV 15%

So, here we it, another stonker from Brew Dog. Just like the other 15 percenter-Dog A, this stout is just amazing. It would want to be, I could get pissed in some pubs for what it cost. My blog was it worth it though.


Appearance-

It's mysterious black label with gold graffiti style writing on it is certainly different. It does mirror very nicely the drink stored safely inside. It's very very dark, but with a bright light behind it, you get a little coming through, and it's brown unusually, I tend to expect ruby red with stout. The head is brown, or slightly golden if you will, which nicely makes sense of the bottle. I think. Maybe. Probably.

Nose-

I got a definite smell of liquorice from this one. There was also vanilla and a slightly burnt note, I supposed from the roasted barley.

Taste-

I would say quite a bitter start, in contrast with most aged stout I've had. There is a nice roasted flavour to go with the burnt smell. The liquorice/molasses character is amazing too, which combines nicely with the lovely sweet character that comes out soon after. I swear there is a hint of brazil nut too, I've got this before, in an amazing stout called Bourbon County, which I haven't written up yet. I will as soon as I can find another bottle. I did find that this one to actually taste like its alcoholic content. I didn't really mind, it was still wonderful.

Conclusion-

A note on this one: Betty hated it. She usually has a sip of my obscure beers, politely nods and says something like 'yeah it's ok, but I don't think I could drink a whole glass'. With this it was more like 'oh dear god...no...phtthhtht...that's awful'. I will say again I thought it was amazing, I just thought this should be known.

Thistly Cross 'Whisky Cask' Cider ABV 6.9%

'Scottish Cider, pishhh' was the first reaction I had on seeing this cider. My second was 'but I don't really like cider'. I decided I wanted to try it, though. Having had a number of bottles of cask aged beers recently, I thought I may as well. And I wasn't disappointed. I still don't really like cider, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Appearance-

The bottle neck emblazoned with a couple of thistles on a blue background, gives that Scottish feel. The cider itself is a pale, clear golden colour. Not very fizzy, just a light carbonation.

Nose-

I thought I could get a slightly smoky smell from this one. It could be from the wooden barrel it was aged in for 6 months. The dryness of this cider, I thought, is also evident from the smell.

Taste-

I did think it seemed medium dry (reinforced by it being written on their website) so not lip puckeringly dry, with a little sweetness. I found it to be quite a complex flavour, but not overly so. This was pleasant for me, as one of the things I don't like usually about cider is that it's a bit sweet...and that's it. You can definitely get a slight woody hit from it, and I found that I could tell there was whiskey involved somewhere in the mix.

Conclusion-

As with most people, when I think of cider I think of Somerset, Dorset or Kent. Sometimes Sweden these days, but not Scottish. As an 'unbeliever' of sorts this wasn't an ideal one for me to write about, and I'm not going to say I was changed to a cider lover by this experience. It was nice though, a bit different, and I do like different!

Black Isle-Black Run-Tomatin Sherry Butt Edition, ABV 8.4%

Proud as I am to say that I have tried two of the three in the Black Run, this is the first I've written about. That means I will be forced to try the other one again, oh such a hardship. I almost feel bad having another bottle of this fine run of beers though, as they are a limited edition. On this bottle it had written 'Bottle Number:796 of 1272'. I feel privileged somehow by that fact.

Appearance-

The labelling of these is quite clever, as it's very simple, and gives the feeling of a small producer, producing a fantastic little beer. The beer is great, and while Black Isle aren't exactly small, as micro-breweries go, they still have the feeling of one much smaller. The beer is very dark as a good stout should be, with that little hint of red when held up to a light. It has a very short lived brown coloured head.

Nose-

There is a good burnt smell from this one from the roasted malts. This goes nicely with the little hint of coffee you can also get.

Taste-

There is an amazing sweet character from it, which I can only assume comes from the sherry butt. This along the the deep coffee and molasses feeling makes it a delight to drink. There is a slight bitter finish to remind you that it is a beer, with hops, which is reassuring. It has a lovely creamy feeling to it. I like this about a good stout, especially an aged one, as with the sweetness it usually has, it makes it feel so much more indulgent.

Conclusion-

A fairly pricey number, at around about £6-7. If you bear in mind though that it's a limited run, it had to be aged and the sheer quality of it, it's definitely worth a punt. It's also organic, which I don't really go in for. I don't dislike organic things, but I don't go out of my way to get them. If you are that kind of person, though, then this might just be the brewery for you.

Siren Craft Brew-Liquid Mistress Red IPA, ABV 5.8%

While buying some beers for my sister's boyfriend, and some extras for myself over the Christmas break, the lady at my usual spot was totting up the price of my 5 beers. She then advised me that if I got another one, and if it cost around £3, then it would be basically free-because of some offer or other. I obviously jumped at this. Being taken by surprise by my good fortune, I panicked, pointed at this beer because it had a nice label, and cost around £3, and left. I thought later that I should have just got another really nice bottle, because I still would have got the discount. My regret didn't last long, it melted away as soon as I tasted the beer within.

Appearance-

As I said and you can see from the picture it's a gorgeous label. I've done a short internet search and couldn't come up with the artist. But it's nice. On pouring you get a deep ruby red, almost stout-like colour, just not quite as dark. It has a light brown head, not long lived and a bit bubbly, very ale like, but slightly longer-d'ya get me? Good.

Nose-

I thought it smelled like a nice Ale; hoppy and citrusey. It always reminds me of an old English pub, that smell. Not so much like an Irish pub, I always think of an Irish pub smelling like stale porter, most likely from the 'mother's milk' (from the movie Sweety Barrett) which collects under the taps, and is usually made primarily of Guinness. Whereas an English pub, I always think, smells of bitter, or ale-that hoppy smell, except a little stale, I suppose from spilled drink, and drip trays as well. There is also, always the unmistakable smell of humanity off a pub, and in years gone by of course smoke from cigarettes, pipes and/or cigars!

Taste-

Now, like I said, after drinking this lovely stuff my regret left me. It's not the most amazing, complex, breath-taking beer I've ever had, not by a long way. It was lovely though. Hoppy enough to convince me it was an ale. With a nice malty quality, that brings it a little towards the stout side of things. A nice grapefruit hit is the first impression it leaves on the tongue, quickly followed by a little malty burnt taste, and a little sweetness. The bottle says peach and raisins but I wasn't convinced on this score. I will consent to being a rank amateur, though, so don't be surprised if it actually tastes like peach soaked raisins when you taste it. 

Conclusion-

I really enjoyed this beer, and I will be trying the rest of the range. Keep an eye out for their special editions also, and let me know if you come across anything unusual from them. You may have noticed that I've added the ABV to the titles. I feel it adds a sense of completeness, and also stops me having to sneak it into the main body. Hope you like it.

De Proefbrouwerij-To Øl-Dangerously Close to Stupid

I can't figure out if the first or second name above is the brewery I think they are both involved, anyway, it's Danish! This refreshing imperial IPA with an ABV of 9.3% packs a punch in more than one way. It's highly alcoholic, so you feel quite light-headed after, and it's frankly silly amount of hops (mixture of Citra and Cenntennial-both of which provide a citrus/floral quality) packs quite a punch.

Appearance-

Very artsy fartsy label, the front is just a floral pattern, with the brand name really small on the top left hand corner. The back label has an ingredients list (very handy for a learner like me) and a little description which reads-'An imperial India Pale Ale with a close to stupid amount of hops'. On pouring we have a cloudy orange/amber colour, a white bubbly head which lasts surprisingly long, considering the large bubbles.

Nose-

There is a definite citrus and floral hit as soon as you stick your nose in. There is a slightly alcoholic smell also, as the other qualities aren't all

that strong.

Taste-

There is an amazing refreshing bitterness to this IPA. Which isn't surprising considering the two types of hops, and the amount of them in it, you can really tell. The citrus again comes out as a grapefruit kind of hit. The floral quality is almost perfume-like, which isn't at all as unpleasant as it sounds, going quite well with the bitterness. As with the smell there is a definite alcoholic after taste. To be honest this isn't all that bad as it's not too strong, having said that I've drank stronger beers with no alcoholic taste. It may be the clean, simple flavours that don't cover it up. It didn't stop me wanting more though. Great beer.

Conclusion-

Lovely beer, it was well worth the 4 odd pounds I paid for it. Can't really remember, I bought 'Brew Dog's Hoppy Christmas and a bottle of raspberry lemonade for Betty. That was lovely actually. Not too fizzy and no artificial crap in it. Noice! Peace.

Rack of Lamb with a Sticky Guinness Sauce, on Celeriac and Potato mash.

My first recipe, well my first time cooking something new, in a loooooong time. I was inspired by a recipe in one of Jamie Oliver's books, I made some changes though-I'm sorry but marmalade and lamb is just weird, and ketchup is a bit lazy. I also have a problem with raisins in savoury cooking, the idea appeals to me, and then I find one and I think eeeeeeeh no! This quantity fed two of us easily.

Ingredients-
some rapeseed/olive/whatever oil
1 450g rack of lamb (it had little hats on the tips of the bones-strictly optional.)
Sauce:
4 sprigs of rosemary
2 red onions
3 cloves of garlic
6 sun-dried tomatoes
2 tsp tomato puree
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp worcester sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
150ml of guinness (I used 'Foreign Extra' because of it's strong flavour)
1 pint of vegetable stock
Mash:
2 medium potatoes
celeriac-as much as potato
butter-as much as you like (a knob?)
a drop of milk

Method:

1. Chop the garlic and onion nice and fine and put them with a bit of oil into a nice big dish, big enough to comfortably contain your lamb. Fry slowly until the onions start to go a little brown, or caramelised, if you insist. 

2. Put in the rest of the sauce ingredients apart from the stock and rosemary and let it simmer gently on the hob.

3. I cut the lamb into cutlets so that I could get more browned sides, but I'd say you could get a good result from leaving it whole and browning the outside too. That's the next step either way, brown the meat. Make sure it's a nice deep brown. Then put the rosemary on the pan until it's a little crispy, but don't burn it.

4. Put the lamb, rosemary and any juices into the big sauce dish and add the stock. Then put the lid on and cook nice and slowly (I did this one on the hob, and it made for some nice blackened amazingness at the bottom of the pan, but if you are a bit afraid of burning, then an oven at 150°C will do the trick) for about 3 hours. YES 3 HOURS. It's so very worth it, you can just suck the meat off the cutlets after, as evidenced by my last picture.

5. With about 30 minutes cooking time left on the lamb, make the mash. Cut the celeriac and potato into smallish cubes and boil for 15-20 minutes (keep checking the celeriac as it takes a little longer). Mash with the butter and milk, as much of each as you like. I know you all know how to make mash, it's here more for completeness than anything.

This makes for an amazingly tender lamb, as I alluded to above you barely even need a knife and fork. The sauce is quite powerful, but it shouldn't over power the lamb, I thought it was a nice level with the amount of sauce on the picture, but I like a good glut of sauce. Hope you try it and enjoy it, and as always comments are appreciated. Well nice ones are ;)

This picture is to show how clean I got the bones, and plate, but don't take my word for it, I'm a glutton, try it yourself.

Beavertown Brewery-Stingy Jack Spiced Pumpkin Ale

I was very excited about this particular ale. I had seen it and another just like it at the usual place I buy my beers the week before, both were described as 'pumpkin ale'. I was advised, when I bought this one, that it was the least pumpkin-ey of the two, but the other was gone, so I went with it. I must say that I wasn't exactly disappointed by it, it's a lovely ale, it was just lacking a little...something.

Appearance-
A 330ml bottle is just about right for this ale. The label is a great piece of artwork-as you can see. It shows Stingy Jack himself and the devil. The story of this can be found on their website. The liquid itself is a medium dark amber ale, with the usual small head and clear quality. It seems to have very little carbonation, as I would expect (maybe wrongly) from an ale.

Nose-
There is a mild smell of ginger which is unmistakable. Otherwise all I can say about it is that it smells warm, like a warm ale. It is very subtle, though, it's not a strong smelling beer by any means.


Taste-
A mild bitterness is the first hit, followed closely by a sweet ginger flavour. It's like those little ginger sweets covered in chocolate, but without the chocolate...you know what I mean. Then you get a warmth from the cinnamon, but no taste of it, I'm assuming that's where it's coming from because I read it as an ingredient on the bottle! No flies on me huh? It also mentions nutmeg, which you can kind of get as a very slight after-taste, but you do have to use your imagination. I sound a bit like a broken record with this one, but this complexity really covers up the 7.2% ABV, but I must say I was quite light headed after it, nothing can disguise that I'm afraid.

Conclusion-
As I said I was excited when I bought this bottle, as I was expecting a strong pumpkin flavour. I must say it was sadly lacking in this, but  it was still an absolutely great ale. Full of lovely extra flavours, and nicely drinkable. Very reasonable too at only about £3.00 for the bottle. Take that Noel, see I like cheaper beers too!

Gone in a Flash-Green Flash Brewing Co. Imperial IPA

This is an outstanding IPA by a company I have never heard of before, but will be looking for again. This is just exactly what I adore about there being so many micro-brewing set ups around now. Before I moved to England I had really no idea about this revolution. My first, and only tipples in the land of the potato were your standard big name beers. I liked these, don't get me wrong, but I'm so much more enamoured by these quirky, fun brews.  I get immense satisfaction from finding something new, that I've never tried before, or may never again. I get most of my gear from a little shop called 'The Bottle Shop' in a farmer's market type set-up in Canterbury, called The Good's Shed. Not only do they supply me with fantastic and fabulous beverages, but they are astoundingly knowledgeable about it all, and I get a great kick out of knowing what I'm buying, why I'm buying it, and where it comes from.

Appearance-

This fellow comes in a tall bottle, which contains a pint of this particular ale. It has just a front facing label, without much fancy stuff on it just a little blurb about the drink inside.
The liquid itself is a pale, clear, amber, and has a nice white head, which lasts longer than I expected.

Nose-
It has a seriously fruity aroma, and you can tell from here that it is loaded with hops. It reminded me of Erdinger wheat beer, a little, just a touch sharper. This may just be to my under experienced nose though.

Taste-
The first sip gives a mouth puckering bitterness that would shame any grapefruit. It really tingles at the sides of the tongue, and is bordering on being too much. This is the confirmation of the hop-ey nature of this exciting brew. The second gave a lovely actual grapefruit hit, I thought, along with a little sweetness. Following this fresh, lip smacking kick the rest of my experience was of a mellow citrus, far too drinkable IPA. This can be a little dangerous with an ABV of 9.4%, but I cleverly counteracted that by only buying one bottle!

Conclusion-
A sumptuous introduction to this American brewer. I would like to end on a comment Betty made after having a sip. I noticed this too, albeit after she told me I did. It is as if your tongue is paralysed by the bitterness, and that really mellows the whole experience out. Oh one other thing. I don't pretend to know about theses things, but I am learning-the bottle says they use a blend of Summit and Nugget hops to get the distinctive flavour. That's something else I must look out for.

ps. I've another beer to drink this week, a sneaky second one. A Pumpkin beer!!!! Watch this space for a review.

A Review for the Common Man

A critic told me after my last post, that I was out of touch with the 'common man' because I bought a £15 beer, so I have decided to review something that he (you know who you are) can relate to. Everyone else, just bare with me, he is a little more 'common' than most.

Every Thursday Betty and I promise ourselves and each other to cook something, even something a little trashy (bacon sandwiches or the like), for dinner/tea. Almost every Thursday recently, however, we have given in and gotten a take-away. What I'm going to review is what got last Thursday- Fish and Chips.

We go to a great little chippy called 'Ossy's Fish Bar' one of a chain in Kent. It's name reminds me of 'Osvaldo's'  in Dublin, you know the one with the great garlic cheese chips, on Clanbrassil street? Yeah that's the one, across from the Mace. Anyway, there are some very friendly eastern European guys working in Ossy's. At least I think they are friendly, with their perpetual smiles, and off-by-heart, off-the-cuff English phrases: "How's the going boss?" and "you like salt-vinegar, yeah?". Somehow, they have started to recognise us (I couldn't begin to guess why) and offer our 'usual'. Betty and I tend to get haddock and chips-this isn't because we prefer it to cod or plaice or whatever else they offer, no, it's because they make it fresh if you ask for it and honestly we can't tell the difference (who can when it's battered and deep fried? No one that's who!).

Let me qualify this-there are two things I expect from my Fish and Chips; that is Fish cooked fresh, and chips that have been sitting there for a while, but not too long. If the chips are too fresh, they are REALLY hot and still a bit hard, too old and they are a bit sickeningly greasy and soft. The chips from there usually are just about right, still hot, crispy on the outside, and like mash inside, and just greasy enough to give a wonderful feeling of naughtiness. The fresh fish has a lovely crunchy batter, and the fish itself is nice and soft. If it's left too long I find the batter gets soggy, and the fish, frankly a bit grim.

Generally we consent to salt and  vinegar, even though we add more of both at home, it just seems polite. I have also thought that when it comes to eating the fish and chips, people can be separated into two groups; those who eat it out of the bag, and those who use a plate and cutlery. We form part of the latter group. I think I like it because it's easier to mop up the salt and vinegar when it's on the plate, instead of soaking into the bag. Frankly I've always been a bit...unsure about the salt and vinegar thing. I tried chips without them once-it's not pretty. It turns out I don't really like chips. I know, it came as a surprise to me too.

We opted for the 'can of coke'  accompaniment with our meal on this occasion-original for Betty, cherry for me. I find that the cherry brings out the sweetness in... Oh who am I kidding, coke goes with chips, 'nuf said. Actually, I don't think anything washes the greasy feeling out of your mouth quite like a carbonated drink with sugar and vegetable extracts. Also when it's out of a can it just tastes better, fact!

Over all I would say that the service was good, the food exactly as I expected and the coke...exceptional, god I love cherry coke. I would also like to add that another reason we get Fish and Chips-say over Chinese, is the look on Skippy-our cat's face when she smells it. She knows she will get some, not from me you understand, I'm way too greedy, but from Betty, who simply can't resist her little face!

Normal service will resume forthwith, I've bought a nice looking bottle of Imperial IPA from Green Flash Brewing Co. for this evening which I will write a post about, as soon as I get the chance.

A Stout Like No Other- Brew Dog's Dog A

This is certainly a good start to my writing about the beers I drink. An Imperial Stout of such astounding distinction that I have no shame in telling anybody that it cost me a tasty £15.00. My Dog was it worth it though!

Appearance-
The bottle is ensconced in a box, I can only imagine to protect the divine ambrosia inside. The bottle itself is quite restrained, as Brew Dog bottles go. Far from the boisterous blue of their Punk IPA or the raucous red of their 5a.m. Saint, the label is grey with black writing. That's not to say I didn't like it, it does lend a look of...quiet quality.

When poured into a glass it has a short lived chestnut coloured head. The stout itself is as dark as I've ever seen. I tried holding it up to every light available, and nothing passed through. Even Guinness, nicknamed 'The Black Stuff' has a ruby colour when held up to the light.

Nose (note: I was toying with 'smell' or 'odour' here, but it just felt wrong)-
I may have been swayed by the writing on the side of the box, which informed me it was brewed with 'dark malts, pure cacao and coffee'. I was, however, absolutely sure I could smell that warm chocolate aroma, and hint of coffee. This, of course, along with the heady smell of a good strong complex stout.

Taste-
Starting off, frankly, like any decent stout should with a lovely creamy mouth-feel and a tingling bitterness on the sides of the tongue. In this case that cacao came through and it was like the bitterness you get from a 70% cacoa solid chocolate. Then you get a sweetness, mixed with the coffee and chocolate of before gives a pleasant feeling that you are drinking some gorgeous hot coffee with dark chocolate through it. Finally, you get just the tiniest bit of warmth from the naga chilli-also used in the brewing process.

A final note I must make is; with an ABV of 15.1% you would expect to feel it, but with the complexity of flavour, and the smooth creamy texture it went down as easy as stout with half that.

Conclusion-

This is an Imperial Stout of absolute class which deserves it's price tag (as any similar quality wine would). It's not easy to get hold of unfortunately, you must get it directly from Brew Dog, or so it says on the side of the box. It was brought out to celebrate 5 years of outstanding brewing, from this innovative and unique company, and what a way to celebrate. Here's to many more years and beers!

David Bowie - Changes

Ch-ch-changes

Hello there readers,

So, I've been very neglectful of late. For that I apologise. The main reason is that I have been very very busy, and frankly haven't been able to do much new cooking. What I mean is I end up cooking a lot of the same things, with little changes perhaps and that wouldn't have made for very interesting reading, I fear. So I've decided to write, not only about what I cook, but what I eat when I'm out, what beer I happen to be drinking, what new things I'm learning about food, etc. This should hopefully give me more things to draw upon and dare I say-write about.

So I've prepared a little something about a very nice beer I had recently. I will get this up asap!

Laters,

Ed

Roast Shoulder of Pork with Crackling

The main reason I've chosen to put this one on the blog is that it turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined! We bought this shoulder of pork in a kind of local farmers market...thing called the Goods Shed. It's a lovely place, with a butcher, a cheese monger, a fishmonger, a guy who sells fancy beer, a baker, a veg stand, and a few other things, and it's open almost every day. We also usually buy our veg there, as it's all locally grown and very tasty. It's also cheaper for most things than Sainsburys, and much much nicer. We go there on a Sunday morning for a magnificent breakfast cooked by Patrick of.....wait for it....Patrick's Kitchen. Anyway it's a great place, and highly recommended for anyone who happens to be over this direction!

Ingredients-

1 shoulder of pork (Surprise surprise!) boned and rolled, with the skin on mine was about 1.5kg

3-4 medium carrots

2 parsnips

1 large red onion

a handful of sage

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 225°C.

2. Score the skin, about 2cm apart, only cutting down as far as the fat, not into the meat. Rub salt into the scores and then season the rest of the pork with some salt and pepper.

3. Put onto a baking tray and place into the oven for about 30 mins.

4. Take out of the oven and cover with a double layer of foil, reduce the oven temperature to 175°C and pop back in for 3 and a half hours.

5. Cut your veg into nice chunky pieces. Then take the pork out of the oven and out of the baking tray. Place the veg onto the tray and toss a little with the juices and . Then put the pork on top of the veg, and put back into the oven for an hour.

6. Turn the oven right up to 250°C for a further 20 mins, or until the crackling is nice and crispy.

7. This one is optional, if you like, put the baking tray onto the hob (if it's the right type), and add a pint of stock, or even half a pint of water and a glass of white wine. Boil it scraping the bits off the tray, until it's reduced by half. Then add a small bit of cold butter, cut up into small cubes and stir quickly into the gravy to make it shiny. 

The picture on the right is just one I wanted to add as I just tore those bits off with a fork, I just used the knife to hold the pork. It just falls apart so easily and is lovely and moist. This is definitely one to try. 

Also big thanks to the butcher in the Goods Shed today, who helped with tips on getting the crackling nice and crispy,while keeping the meat tender.