Mixed game puds and pies

Well it is Euro footy time and I have so far not missed a match, though with them having two together now it makes for a bit of juggling with the remote, but with a netbook, I am able to keep tabs on the secondary match.

But that has nothing to do with cooking game puds and pies. I was clearing out my game freezer and had quite a bit that needed using up, what better way than making individual puds for the freezer. So you will require:

Mixed game:
2 hare legs
3 rabbit legs
Breasts of 2 pigeons
500 g diced leg of wild boar
500 g diced red deer haunch

Remove meat and dice adding:

1 desert spoon of my ground game spices
slug each of gin, port and cassis, teaspoon of herb spices.

Mix all together, cover and allow to marinate overnight

This made more than enough filling for the six individual pud and a small pie. The rest is frozen so I have a quick pie or pud filling all ready for the off.

I also had about 1.5 ltr of beef stock that I had frozen about a month ago, perfect to make the game stock.

After stripping the meat from the bones and carcasses (also a good time to look for any shot), I added a roughly diced onion , leek, carrot and a chunk of celeriac, a teaspoon of  pepper corns, a piece of ginger, 2 crushed garlic cloves, a bouquette garni, add to the pressure cooker, some oil and sautéed with the bones and carcasses, pour in the beef stock (this was jellified), top up with water so all is covered, lid on up to heat and cook for 1 hour. Strain through funnel sieve,  Boy do you have a game stock!

For the filling:

Remove the meats with a slotted spoon from the marinade and allow to drain.
Small dice of leek, onion, carrot, cerleriac, a large garlic clove pressed (pulped). I added some frozen cepes and chanterelles that I had in the freezer (Lidel or Aldi can't remember which, but cheap)
Heat a little olive oil in the base of the Pressure Cooker add all of the vegetables and soften, add the meats and colour (I don't bother about browning as it has enough of it's own flavour), now add a litre of the stock and marinade mixed, lid on and cook for an hour. Remove the filling and take a good 1/2 ltre of stock, reduce and taste (oh boy does that taste fantastic)

Now make the herb suet pastry:

200g suet (1 pkt atora)
450 g SR flour
good pinch of salt
2 tsp of mixed dried herbs
enough  cold water to bring it all together to a firm dough

I cut it all together with a metal spoon (some say with a round knife, but "Wor Mam" always used a spoon so there you go) and then when it starts to come together give it a knead with your hands, form into a ball, cover and allow to rest.

Measure the dariol moulds to gauge the diameter of pastry needed, this turned out to be the exact size of one of my saucers (alas no more, it is now broken, never mind I broke a cup a while back so now have a 5 matching set again).

I just gauge the size of the ball of pastry, that I shall need and roll it out to about 2-3mm thick,put the saucer on top and cut round it. Cut out 1/4 of the circle this will be your lid.

The dariol moulds should have been buttered and then put into the fridge. Remove one at a time and ease the pastry into each in turn, sealing the cuts with thumb and fingers, it will have a good bit of overhang, make sure there is no air trapped between mould and pastry. Spoon in the filling (allow it to be proud of the top, spoon in 2 desert spoons of sauce.
Now place the disc on top to form a lid and folding the over hang together with your forefinger and thumb form a rope crimp. (it looks very pretty).

Place a piece of foil with a pleat in the middle and secure with string or if you can get it, that elasticated string that butchers use to tie their joints into shape. Tie this into rings and it will hold it into place and you don't have to fiddle with knots (I just don't have enough fingers)

Place them into a Slow Cooker (if you don't have a one don't get upset and feel left out, just use a pan with steamer insert, it just means you will have to keep an eye on the water I won't) and pour boiling water half way up the moulds, top on and switch on high for 5 hours. You can now watch the footy in peace!

Oh! yes almost forgot! The pie, well I made that in between, that was just some filling in a pie dish with a short crust pastry top. I shall be eating that at half time with some asparagus and rosemary potatoes.

Game Stock

2 kg of game bones and trimmings (in this case Roe), One of our friends brought a bag of bones along with a piece of deer.

2 carrots

A large piece of celeriac

White of a leek

2 onions, 1 halved, skin still on and cut face browned.

The other skinned with 2 bay leaves pinned on with cloves.

Roughly chop the vegetables and add the browned onion and brown the bones etc. in a little neutral oil.

Transfer to a hot oven and roast for about an hour,

 tip the lot into the pressure cooker with the following.

A bunch of soup vegetables.  Peeled and chopped, the onion studded with the bay leaf and the cloves.

1 crushed garlic clove

Add to the bones in the pressure cooker along with,

The game spices

Consisting of:

A piece of cinnamon bark

1 teaspoon of black pepper corns

6 juniper berries

6 allspice berries

½ tsp. Of mustard seeds

Crush roughly with a pestle and mortar.

Add a small bunch of parsley including stalks

1 sprig of thyme

4 sage leaves

Deglaze the roasting pan with 200ml of red wine and the vegetable stock, add this to the pressure cooker and then cover with vegetable stock (I added some of the beef stock from the steak and kidney).

 

Allow to boil,

 skim off the scum as it rises (tip, don’t have the pot fully on the ring, it will then boil at one side, forcing the scum to the other side)

 put the lid on and pressure cook at full pressure for 1 hr.

After pressure cooking strain through a sieve allow to cool (in this weather the balcony is fantastic) and remove the fat that solidifies on top, you now have a fantastic game stock, ready for sauces, soups or by freezing and filtering,and turning into a clear consommé

The de-fatted reduced stock

Oxtail, beef shin and sheep’s kidney pud. (in the Heston Style)

I had made Heston’s  oxtail and kidney puddings in  Dariol moulds for a Kikoklu dinner a couple of years ago, they had turned out very well, I had that time served with poached oysters. This time I decided that I would make a single large one, it isn’t often that I make suet puddings as the Doc doesn’t think they are the best thing for a diabetic to eat.      

So as I was on the way home from work on Thursday I popped into Herr Tönnies Abattoir, it is one of the largest in Germany if not in Europe (though he is building an even larger one in Russia). The abattoir processes 30,000 half pigs per day (the other stuff like the local beef, goats and sheep are not included in these figures), it is also one of the largest employers of labour in the area, unfortunately most of it not local but comes from the former East Block. But sorry this has nothing to do with my Pud!

I bought oxtail, the thick part with loads of meat and 2 slices of beef leg with the bone in (Hinter Beinscheiben).

So the ingredients for the pudding was:

1.5 kg of oxtail

1 kg of beef shin

4 large sheep kidney’s

1 bunch of soup vegetables (leek, celeriac and carrots)

150g of mushrooms

300g of onion

2 tsps. of tomato puree (I used this in place of fresh roasting tomatoes)

2 bay leaves

Sprig of thyme

1 star anis

10 pepper corns

750 ml of beef stock

750 ml of chicken stock

200 ml of Madeira

500 ml of red wine

A good splash of brandy

 Method

First make the mirepoix, dicing all of the vegetables quite small, Soften the vegetables in a little oil, then the mushroom and finally the caramelise onions, put all these in the pressure cooker. 

 

Heat some peanut oil in a pan and brown the meat a single layer at a time. When well and truelly browned remove with a slotted spoon and put on top of vegetables in the pressure cooker.

Pour off the fat from the pan that had the meat in and deglaze with Madeira, brandy and red wine, flame off the alcohol and add this to the pressure cooker.

Next add the 2 stocks, the spices and tomato puree, give it a stir,

put the lid on and bring up to steam at the highest pressure, turn down the heat to the lowest and let it cook for 2 hours. (Heston says 1.5hrs but I was out at the market while Linda was watching it, that is what she done, watched it)

I cooled the pot and allowed the contents to cool a little (it is hot, very hot indeed so watch it) now remove the oxtail and shin with a slotted spoon and strip the meat from the bones (it just falls off).

Pour the stock through quite fine sieve, pressing through to get all the taste and goodness out of it discarding the residue.

Reduce the stock by about 1/3 and adjust the seasoning.

Pour about 1 ltr into a clean pan and poach the skinned, cored and diced sheep’s kidneys until they are soft and cooked.

Mix the kidney with the rest of the meat, moisten with a little of the stock and cover.

Make the suet pastry,

500g of flour (it is normal to use self-raising, but having none I used double the amount of baking powder)

250g of suet , I used packet, but have made my own from sheep or veal suet, this surrounds the kidneys and the butcher will more than likely give you it for nothing. Just mince it and sprinkle it with flour to stop it sticking together in one lump.

1 pct. of Baking powder

1 tsp. of salt

300 ml of ice cold water

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl, mix in the suet and add the water a little at a time (I cut it in with a knife, but  just because this is how my mother did, though you do not want to over work it). Bring it all together and form into a ball cover with cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Butter a pudding basin well

Roll out the ball into a circle and cut out ¼ reform into a circle and ease it into the pudding basin allow a good bit of overhang at the top make sure all the air is out between the basin side and pastry wall, use your fingers to force it down into the bottom.

Now fill the basin with the meat mixture, packing it in tight, pour in some of the reduced stock, roll out the top, wet the top edge of the pastry and place the top onto it and press together to seal.

I would normally have cut out a piece of greaseproof paper to cover and then pleated a piece of foil over the whole, tying round the rim with string. This plastic bowl had a lid so I decided to use this, foolish boy!!!, Place an upturned plate into a large pot, place the basin on top of this and add boiling water 2/3 up the side of the basin lid on and steam. Alas this foolish boy had forgotten that the suet pastry expands, it did this and forced the lid off, so I returned to first principles and made a foil cover tied on with string, the simple things always seem to work.

I steamed for 2 hours.

As it was coming to the end of the steaming, I reduced the kidney liquid even more adding a bit more thyme and anther slug of Madeira.

We had it with glazed baton carrots, sautéed Brussel sprouts and speck and creamed  mashed potatoes.

The finished meal