Snails

I like to eat snails, I enjoy their taste and texture, but I have to confess I do like the shock effect eating snails causes.

I was at a new Korean/Japanese restaurant last night. Firstly I've no idea why that combination was chosen, unless perhaps they thought we'd be frightened by just Korean food here in the bustling metropolis that is Nottingham.

I'm not going to review it because a) its a very new place & I'm not sure they've got all the bugs out yet and b) for various reasons (Including having to pay in cash unexpectedly I wasn't able to give the menu a thorough look. What we did have though was very nice, and I'll be going back if only for the Korean BBQ rice which was a lovely mix of Beef, sauce, steamed rice & pickles.

I've been trying to find out more about the snails as I wasn't convinced at the time they were land snails, the internet seems to suggest that they may actually be whelks. It tasted like a good chilli squid, with the same sort of bite but after 3/4 of a plateful the spicing got a bit much & my eyebrows broke out into a sweat.

Famous snails

This is one of the most famous/infamous snail dishes available in the UK. Heston Blumenthal's Snail porridge. This is a phenomenal dish, full of great textures & rich earthy tastes. In fact it tasted so good I almost forgot to document it. The snails are slow roasted, and have a mushroomy earthy flavour, which is slightly unexpected (most of the time the taste of snail (here in Europe) is masked by garlic.

So yes I eat snails, and am quite happy to do so, from the humble escargot drowning in garlic butter to the dizzy heights of Michelin starred molecular gastronomy snails. The gastropod has it's place on the end of my fork.

Haggis Fusion

I've been kicking around the idea of haggis stuffed ravioli for some time, especially with a whisky cream sauce.

Suddenly New Year's eve turned into a party, of a pot luck bring food & booze type. Was this it ? Had "Haggioli's" time come ? Unfortunately not, it was more a buffet affair than a seated job. However somebody had given me the Wagamama cook book for Christmas, what about Haggis gyoza ? The cook book suggested buying  gyoza  skins, but the internet provided a simple dough recipe. All systems were go.

A fine McSween's haggis was obtained and steamed as usual. The dough (just flour & water in a slightly sticky mix) was more elastic than I was used to but it got rolled & cut out. A teaspoon of haggis went into the centre, the discs were folded & sealed, time to cook.

Cooking gyoza provides an unexpected amount of excitement (a moment or two of carelessness could result in first degree excitement). First the pan is heated to smoking, then a splash of oil goes in. Quickly followed by 5-6 gyoza (they need a bit of  space) which get a couple of minutes browning. Then water is added (!) and a lid thrown over and they are taken off the heat to steam. I stacked them onto greaseproof paper (after testing one, it wouldn't do to poison one's guests) till the whole lot were done then put them in a very low oven in a foil covered dish to keep warm. Gyoza really need a dipping sauce, a quick think came up with this

1 measure scotch

1 dash Benedictine (any herbal liquer will do, Drambuie maybe better)

1/2 measure soy

1-2 dashes olive oil

mix it all up and pour into a small dish.

The gyoza are at their best hot, but perfectly nice cold. The sauce brings out the haggis nicely with the whisky & soy balancing each other whilst the pepperiness of the haggis comes through.

Haggis, its time for some fusion.

Street food

Most chefs when abroad wax lyrical about street-food, but not here at home, why ?
Is it because we are too rich & our street food is just junk, a bunch of calories smothered in cheap sauce with onions. Or is it the regulation that food vendors have to deal with ?

It's goose fair time here in Nottingham, the origins of which are all about food, Christmas geese and cheese mainly, of course this century has seen it change to mainly rides and attractions, with the usual burger vans, chips and candy floss. However it still retains some interesting food foibles.

First off is the tradition of coconuts & pomegranates. My guess is that this is just the generation before mine's main exposure to such exotic fruits. There also seems to be a much wider selection of dishes than normally found at such events, including Chinese,Indian,Carribean(*),German and some new sensation (this year it seemed to be a spiral crisp made from half a potato). However there are a couple of things that seem to be unique to the Goose fair.

First off is mushy peas, at least one stall cooks them in a giant bubbling vat over a coal fire, giving a mesmerizing smell as the warm coal notes cut through the usually chilly October air. They are served in cups mostly splattered with a generous helping of mint sauce. It isn't a hand food I've come across elsewhere.

Then there is the Cock on a stick. This is a boiled sugar confection, that has been pulled into a kind of S-shape and then turned into a reasonable resembelance of a rooster, of course they are sold by the double entendre, they come in 3 sizes small, medium & large, though the small ones are a bit less popular. Fortunately the BBC interviewed their maker and he can explain it better than me. 

My weakness is for pig in a bun, preferably with a bit of crackling and both stuffing & apple sauce, this year I was spoilt by a man with an entire pig on a spit which seemed to have been cooked very slowly, it was a pleasure to sit on the bank above the fair, sauce dribbling down my chin the cacophony of the rides drifting upto me. It may sound like a humble, dodgy van snack, but it was the very essence of enjoyable food & drink.

(*) The jerk chicken though is better at the Carribean carnival, that takes place in July.

Le délice gastronomique

or

The salamander's dessert

A bit off the beaten track here (ok further than normal). This is something fire eaters used to present, usually in one of 3 different ways. The one involving petrol we are going to brush right past, because ingesting petrol as well as being dangerous is foul.

The other 2 are more interesting to us, at least from the point of view of a blog such as this. Both require high/over proof alcohol. My favourite being a mix of Kirsch (preferably Kirschwasser) and brandy (I suppose an asbach would be proper, but I'll go with a VSOP cognac myself). Any over proof will do, infact 151 rum would have been ideal if I'd had any left. Since I was testing & not aiming for the perfect taste a shot of le fee parisian formed the alcohol component.

Thats it lit there in a fireproof (in this case pyrex) bowl. Some took this as far enough, stuck in a soup spoon (preferably one of those Chinese ones, it'll look good and being pottery can withstand the abuse).

That however doesn't really deserve the title, that comes about when fruit is added, usually some form of dried grape (for brandy mixtures) or cherry (if Kirsch was included). Being in a frenzy of curiosity I made do with banana, which would go really well with the 151 rum (and maybe a splash of falernum). This ends up kind of like a fondue, but the consequences of not keeping your morsel on the fork are well a bit more serious.

I'm very tempted to make this into an actual dessert for Saturday's BBQ. A little brown sugar or cocoa powder to dip the banana slices into, before plunging them into the flame, would make an interesting taste and the squeamish could always extinguish before eating.