Poor chicken licken.
Labelled the choice of the unadventurous restaurant diner it can often be overlooked as a ‘serious’ meat, but this familiar and safe protein can be made exciting.
Read moreSous vide sticky Asian pork cheeks
Hey there sweet cheeks.
Rich, sticky, unctuous, thrifty. Sous vide pork cheeks are a thing of absolute delight.
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Sous vide Thai beef cheek noodle salad
A fashionable cut that’s still affordable.
The beautiful beef cheek lends itself to long, gentle cooking, and is a thing of majesty when slow cooked or casseroled. Add either some beer or wine, stock and vegetables and you can easily create winter one-pot dishes of delight on a budget.
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Sous vide salt beef with pickled cucumber
Those close to me know I’m a bit of a ham-snaffler.
This love for the charcuterie board began at a young age. It started at grandmas house with good old fashioned turkey slices (I’d eat them by the packet full) but I quickly graduated cold meats school and now proudly scoff all manner of cold cuts, my favourites including Sopocka, salt beef, air dried Parma ham, mortadella and last but not least, crumbly Yorkshire ham carved off the bone.
Read moreCajun BBQ ribs
The ribs of kings.
Hot, smoky, sweet, rich, spicy, juicy, tender. Prepare yourself, for your neighbours may well be scaling your garden wall and stealing them straight off the BBQ bars. Nuff said.
Read moreSous vide coq au vin
The daddy of old school chicken dishes.
Coq au vin is simple, homely and hearty, great for lazy rainy days and boozy Sunday afternoons with friends. And the homemade article beats the shop bought variety by a country mile, whether sous vide or conventionally cooked.
Read moreBourbon and hickory smoked baby back ribs
No BBQ is be complete without ribs. Fact.
And having now tried the sous vide variety I think I could be facing a new food addiction. Move over noodles.
Read moreSous vide chuck and marrow burgers on brioche buns with special sauce
I’ll level with you, burgers aren’t really my bag.
Whether the post club straight out the kebab shop variety, the posh restaurant gourmet try hard kind, or the super stacked sort that come with a whole host of misogynistic sides. Yep, the Americana-hamburgerology mega trend of the last couple of years has kind of passed me by.
Read moreSun-dried tomato sous vide lamb shoulder with a warm giant cous cous salad
Summer in a bowl.
You can make many a tasty meal from this thrifty cut. Lamb shoulder is traditionally reserved for the slow cooker, casserole pot or a slow oven roast, where after several hours cooking the meat falls apart beautifully, thereby lending itself to wintery meals and comfort food.
Read moreSous vide chicken with English mustard and broad beans
Ringing the changes.
I first cooked this a few years ago after a summer visit to Cornwall to stay with our friends Amie and James. The combination of tender chicken, sweet and firm broad beans and peppery creamy mustard sauce are perfectly English and deliciously light, just the dinner ticket as our little island begins to thaw and thoughts of spring and summer start to appear.
Read more72 hour sous vide beef bourguignon
A dish of majesty.
Bouguignon for me is the king of casseroles. Meltingly tender beef gently cooked in a marinade of smoked bacon lardons, shallots, mushrooms, carrots, bouquet garni and Burgundy wine. It is rich. It is intense. It is comforting. It is utterly delicious. And best of all? It is easy peasy.
Read moreSous vide crispy skinned pork belly
All good things come to those who wait.
The sous vide is teaching me something that no one else has managed before. No, it isn’t punctuation or maths, this new found skill is patience. And using my new Polyscience sous vide kit from SousVideTools.com requires bags of it – it’s been a case of learn some or be disappointed with dinner. And when dinner doesn’t go to plan I turn into a pain in the ass. And no one (least of all poor Mathew) wants that.
Sous vide Thai chicken wraps with peanut satay and zingy carrot noodles
This last fortnight has been filled with culinary experimentation.
The arrival of our sous vide kit from SousVideTools.com has brought with it much excitement mixed with a little bit of fear. It’s a scientific way of cooking but my brain doesn’t work in a particularly scientific way, so I’ve been venturing into unfamiliar territory where my kitchen instincts have all but left me. With my hob and oven I know what’s what – how long things take and at what temperature, but with the sous vide it’s a totally new ball game.
Sous Vide Training for the Home Cook, with SousVideTools.com
A day of foodie heaven.
I was lucky enough to be invited to a special kind of training course this week, held by SousVideTools.com at MSK in Chesterfield, on the picturesque edge of the Peak District.
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