mwnch

Another year gone and another year of mwnch posting laziness…

But I have done one good thing for Mwnch in 2011 as I’ve discovered on the 23rd of December that the site had been hacked and the excellence of my method for cooking Turkey was not available to save you all from interminable long cooking times – so I fixed the site and the hot-quick-turkey cooking method can be found here.

Happy Christmas 2011…

Blinking heck, it’s been a while since I’ve been here… it’s nice to be back! Been spending too much time messing around elsewhere…

I managed to grow a couple of pumpkins this year and the obvious thing for me to do with them was to make soup – especially as Guy Fawkes night was coming up. So here, in its gloriously emancipated vagueness (no two pumpkins are created equal, therefore no quantities) is my pumpkin soup recipe…

From Barn Conversion 2010

Read on »

From a wide variety of sources from Elizabeth David to an old Sunday Times cook book, I’ve adopted a fast then slow method of cooking meat.

To begin with, smear your turkey with butter then clothe in a layer of fatty bacon.

Then in an oven preheated to 220C / 425F / Gas 7, sear the turkey for 50 minutes.

Then baste the bird with the juices from the pan and cover with foil.

Return to the oven, with the heat reduced to 170C / 325F / Gas 3 for the amount of time as follows depending on the size of the turkey:

Baste every 20 to 30 minutes. The end result will be the tastiest, juiciest turkey!

An easy method for poaching a whole fish such as a salmon or trout given the correct equipment. You’ll need a pan big enough to accommodate the fish without touching the sides. A fish kettle (pictured) is perfect.

Place the fish in the pan.

Add cold water to cover the fish and add whatever stock ingredients you have to hand or prefer. Any of: Onion (quartered), parsley stalks, chopped carrots, bay leaves, celery, whole peppercorns. Don’t add salt.

Cover & place the pan and its contents over heat.

Bring to the boil then immediately remove from the heat.

Leave covered and allow to cool to almost cold – the fish will be cooked.

Based upon what I’ve read in various sources from Elizabeth David to the Sunday Times, I’ve adopted a fast then slow method of cooking meat.

Select a first class secondary (to use the Elizabeth David term) joint of meat – topside, sirloin or upper fillet, weighing around 1 kilogram.

Brush the meat with olive oil and stand on a grid above a roasting dish.

These times provide medium-well cooked meat.

• Heat the oven to Gas Mark 7, 420F, 220C and cook for 10 minutes.
• Then reduce to Gas Mark 5, 375F, 190C and finish cooking for 50 minutes.

Adjust times proportionately for larger pieces of meat.

Allow to stand before carving and serving – provided that you’ve bought good quality meat, you’ll not get a more succulent joint.

No guarantees that this will work for you – it works for me – please always apply discretion when cooking meat.