Gameburgers for the BBQ

Making Game-burgers on a rainy day while wishing for the sun.

This will make 10 good sized patties of approx. 130 g (quarter-pounder +)

You will require:
Red deer shoulder meat (removed of any sinew, silver skin and blood vessels)

Wild boar shoulder (nacken) diced.

Pass all the meat through a 3 mm holed plate on a mincer or roughly chop in a kitchen machine ( I always use a mincer as I find it gives me more control (you can pass it through twice if need be)

125 g of Schweine Mett (this will add a bit of fat to the burgers)

5 shallots , finely diced  and softened in rape seed oil, set aside and allow to cool.

Game Spices:
My own game spice mixture, consisting of ground,juniper berries, all spice berries, coriander seeds and smoked paprika, chopped rosemary, thyme and garlic powder.

I normally have this ready made, grinding in my spice grinder, but I had run out so used powdered material, it turned out quite well, not as good as the real thing but in a mixture like this it worked well.



Mix the meats together, add the herbs and spices and mix thoroughly.

Add the sauteed shallots and 1 liquor glass each of Noilly Prat and Tawney Port.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry a small pate of the mixture and if needed adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper).

Form the mixture into rounds about 9 cm  X 3 cm (I have rings that I use for this, meaning all are of an even diameter and thickness). Cover and allow to mature prior to BBQing or frying, they also freeze very well, so if you have made too many or it rains, freeze and wait for a sunny day.

Cookery Club (KIkoklu) Autumn Meeting.

12 November 2016

Though the meeting had been agreed on a few weeks earlier, when it was quite warm, it had now defiantly turned from the golden Autumn to the cold, snowy advent of Winter.

It was Kalle’s turn to be host and so he was making Falscher Hase, the German mince beef loaf, for main, with Caroline doing the vegetable accompaniment, that left the remainder to sort out the rest of the menu.

I was originally going to do a soup, but I was a beaten to that course by dear Marianne so I decided on one of my old favourites, fish pie, these would be served in individual dishes.

Linda was doing a chicken liver terrine with homemade oat cakes and crackers.

Martin had decided on the dessert.

So without much more ado here are the recipes:

Linda’s Chicken liver terrine with blackcurrant jelly

500g chicken livers

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

2 rosemary tufts

2 thyme twigs

6 juniper berries

1 bay leaf

3 cloves

6 allspice berries

10 black pepper corns

100 ml of Madeira

100 ml Port wine

200 ml of chicken stock

220 g of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

A couple of scrapings of nutmeg

125 g of single cream

For the jelly topping

3 leaves of gelatine

100ml of blackcurrant juice

50ml of chicken stock

100ml of Cassis (blackcurrant liquor)

The terrine was served with oat cakes and salted oat crackers (home made to Dan Lepard’s recipe)

Remove any fat and sinews from the livers, wash, dry and dice. Puree in a kitchen machine or use a blender stick. Rub through a fine sieve to remove any thick residue.

Dice the shallot and garlic, place in a small saucepan along with the thyme,  rosemary and spices pour over the Madeira and Port and by a very low heat reduce until there is only a teaspoon of liquid left. Add the chicken stock to the pan and again reduce until there is only 2 tablespoons of liquid remaining. Pour this reduction onto the puréed liver,  through a fine sieve, pressing the all of the juices out.

Melt the butter and pour onto the liver puree while stirring all the time. Add seasoning (salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whip the cream until quite stiff and mix into the puree.

Heat the oven to 120°C fan assisted (140°C normal heat). Line a form with cling film and carefully pour the liver into the form until it is about 1cm under the lip. Place the form into a deep roasting tray and fill it 2/3 full with boiling water. Put into the heated oven and bake for 75 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool and then place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

To make the jelly.

Soften the gelatine in cold water. Put the black current juice and chicken stock into a small pan and warm through (do not allow to boil). Add the Cassis and the squeezed gelatine and allow to dissolve. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Carefully pour the black current/cassis liquor over the top of the liver mixture. Cover with cling film and place the terrine into the fridge for at least 12 hours.

To serve, place the form into hot water and then turn out (it should slide out with ease), remove the cling film and cut into 2cm thick slices, serve with the Crackers and Oat cakes.

Oat cakes

Oat cakes at the front and crackers at the rear

150 g wholemeal flour

50 g plain flour

50 g medium oatmeal

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

Muscovado sugar (for sweet ones 2 tbsp. or for not so sweet 2 tsp.)

A squeeze of honey

100 g of butter

4 tbsp. of milk

Sieve in the dry ingredients and rub in the butter.

Add the milk and mix in with a knife.

Knead very briefly on a floured board until it forms a dough

Roll out to a thickness of 5 mm and cut out with a biscuit cutter (the size is up to you). Keep re-rolling the off cuts until it is all used up.

Place on a baking tray (I covered it with a silicon baking mat) Bake in a 180°C preheated oven until golden brown.

Store in an airtight tin when cold.

Salted oat crackers

300 g plain flour

1 tsp. caster sugar

½ tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

25 g of softened unsalted butter

100 g of rolled oats

175 ml of milk

Flour for sprinkling on board when rolling

Flaked sea salt to sprinkle on top.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter, mix in the oats and milk and mix to a soft pliable dough. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C or 180°C if you have a fan assisted oven. Roll out the dough very thinly dusting with flour to stop it sticking to the board and rolling pin. Cut discs out with a pastry cutter (I would normally then roll these again to make them extra thin). Lay the discs on a baking tray covered with non-stick baking parchment or silicon sheet, very lightly dampen the top and sprinkle with a few salt flakes.

Bake for 14 minutes until the edges are just starting to turn a golden brown (keep an eye on them at the 10 minute mark, they tend to turn brown very quick).

These store well in an airtight tin for a few days, but they will not last that long, great to snack on instead of crisps.

Marianne’s Pumpkin Soup

My Fish Pie

For 6 servings in a oven proof form (about 300 ml)

I had a freezer full of fish from my last fishing trip, I also had some smoked haddock from a visit to the UK (here in Germany they smoke every other kind of fish, but for some reason not Haddock).

200 g of smoked haddock

300 g of boneless cod (I filet my own so can guarantee that it has had all the bones removed, but otherwise check by running your finger along the filet and pin boning any you find.

6 small squid (called chipirón in Spain) if fresh just slice the body bag open and remove the innards, cut out the beak and wash under running water.

1 large slice of Tuna, cut into 6 pieces

1 filet of hot smoked salmon cut into 6 pieces

18 medium prawns

500 ml of full fat milk for poaching

1 bottle of cooking cream (Rama, though ALDI have their own brand at 50% of the price)

50 mg of fish sauce paste (Jürgen Langbein or similar) you can make your own but

2 bay leaves

3 juniper berries

3 pimento berries

3 cloves

6 pepper corns

3 pieces of mace

1 cup of peas

2-3 hard-boiled eggs

1 kg of floury potatoes

More milk, butter and cream to make the mash

1 heaped tbsp. of chopped flat leaf parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Pour the milk into a deep frying or saute pan, add the bay leaf and mace, crush the other aromatics in a pestle and mortar, add these to the milk, place in the smoked haddock and bring to the a temperature just below a boil (surface just moving), poach until you can split it easily and milky in colour. Remove and set aside while you poach the rest of the fish, starting with the firmest (chipirón) and ending with the softest (cod).

Evenly portion the fish between 6 oven proof bowls.

To make the sauce, strain the poaching liquor into a measuring jug and make up to 400 ml with the cooking cream, pour into a sauce pan and stir under heat until it thickens add the peas and pour over the fish. 

Allow to cool (it should set).

Add a couple of slices of hard boiled egg onto the top of each

Make a creamed mashed potato with parsley for the topping, this should be quite thin as you will pipe it on, but firm enough to hold its form.

To serve heat in a 100°C oven until warmed through, then place under the grill (or turn the oven onto grill function) and brown the top. Sprinkle with Bottarga (dried salted mullet or tuna roe), this is of course optional as you may not be able to lay hands on it.

Serve immediately.

Kalle’s Falscher Hase (hackbraten). - Mince meat loaf 

Recipe to follow! 

This recipe uses no bread crumb as one of our members is Glutin intolerant.

Vegetable Dish
Plain Boiled Potatoes and

Caroline's Italian Mangold Bake

Martin’s iced desert. 
Recipe and photo to follow!             

     

The evenings debris

       

BBQ Pork Belly (rolled, stuffed and smoked)

Rolled stuffed Pork Belly

We had been shopping at the Bad Schwartau Market on Sunday, this is a nice little Market, nothing like the Kiel one, but it is a nice friendly place with local butchers, farmers and fish merchants selling their produce. There is even a farmer selling his Galloway Beef.

Linda wanted chicken breasts as she was cooking a Thai Green Curry for our evening meal (she likes to keep her hand in now and again). I was cooking Sunday dinner (supper, evening meal call it what you will), I saw that they had some nice Pork Belly on the stall, so I bought a slab about the size of an A4 sheet of paper (makes it easier to remember). We sauntered around the stalls and bought some cold cuts (Boiled ham and some rough liver sausage for lunch), we then popped across to ALDI to get veg and some other things we required, before heading to our Asian (Vietnamese) shop to get whatever it was Linda needed for the Green Curry (it is a small but very well stocked shop and you will find lots of things that you will not find in normal Asian shops.

But in all reality that has very little to do with my rolled stuffed Pork Belly.

So let’s get the show on the road

Ingredients:

A piece of Pork Belly about 30 x 24 and a good 3 cm thick.

4 slices of whole meal bread

Handful of chopped sage leaves (I have fresh in the garden, but failing that, dried will do)

250g of onions

2 cloves of garlic

3 Cevapcici (you can use sausage meat, but the Cevapcici are already spiced so it cuts out one procedure)

1 heaped tsp of mustard (Dijon in this case)

Salt and pepper ( I also had brought back from the USA a lime, garlic and coriander rub)

This piece of belly still had some ribs in, so these needed first removing.

I made stock with them by adding them to a pan  with 500ml of made up marigold stock (you could use a veg stock cube),  an onion roughly diced, the stalks from some sage a crushed garlic clove, this would be made into the gravy later.

Turn the slab of belly over and scored the skin through to the fat and rubbed with salt and pepper (plenty of salt) and the lime, garlic and coriander rub. Covered and leave to mature overnight in the fridge.

Sunday morning.

Dice the onions and garlic, heat a small amount of oil in a pan and over a low heat soften them.

In a kitchen machine, chop up the bread, add the onions and garlic along with the Cevapcici and the mustard, blitz and season with salt and pepper. TASTE.

Spread the inside with the mixture, roll the slab of belly and tie into a neat roll, it is not difficult, TIP practice tying butchers knots first.

Place the roll into a roasting pan (it will not be roasted in this but it just stops any juices running all over the place) cover and set aside until needed, we were not eating until evening so it had plenty of time to rest.

I was smoking and roasting the meat so I got my smoker and BBQer stoked up, I was using pecan wood chips for the smoker and using the indirect method for BBQing.

I placed a pan below the meat to catch any drips (it also means that the bottom grid doesn’t get all gunged up.

Lid down and brought it up to heat and kept it at a steady 200°C for 1 hr and then tested the inner temperature with an electronic thermometer, it was only 60°C so I left it for another 20 minutes.

The resulting roast was very, very tasty, the crunchy crust(crackling) had a wonderful smoky flavour and the meat juicy and tender.

We had it with, Pommes Boulangère, apple and sage sauce, roasted Pumpkin and Pak Choi greens. Made a gravy from the stock that I had boiled the pork bones in.

I shall be doing this one again!

If you don’t have a BBQ or it is in the middle of winter, I suppose you could do it in the oven and use a BBQ rub or a liquid smoke, I don’t think it will be the same but none the less still tasty.

Gone West 15

From Big Sur toCarmel, Cannery Row and into Oakland

Point Sur Light Station (a military installation)

After a very nice drive along HW1 we in the the old, old town of Carmel by the Sea! 

The Ancient Town of Carmel?

We were exceptionally early not many people around and the shops were just opening for business, I must say Clint has his town well and truly in order, no garish neon lights or high rise here, everything is prim and proper, yep you’ve done a good job there.

We got a nice parking space not far from the beach, we walked down and though not the only ones up early it wasn’t what you could call over crowded. After surveying the beach we walked back up the slight incline stopping to admire the art, artefacts and sweet-shops, I used the public toilet (just thought I would mention it) in a wonderful shady park, that some kind lady had bought to save it from development and turned into a place that you could stop and while away the time, no stress here.

We visited a “real” English Sweet Shop, I bought some of the licorice that they had on display, Linda is not fussed on licorice so it lasts a long time, chocolate now that is another thing. We also had our morning coffee and I a slice of carrot cake and Linda a chocolate covered Donut, well if she wasn’t getting it from me she would get it from somewhere else.

This may look as if Linda is "relieving herself" but she was only smelling the flowers

I had noticed that they had named a street after me!

We unhitched Jucy and turned her head to the North and left Clint and his town folks to go about their businesses whatever it was, but whatever it is they are keeping this this one time mission station in fair trim.

It wasn’t far up the highway to Monterey our next stop, we popped into the public information centre (look for the sign of the i). We parked up and went in to be greeted by a wonderful lady with a nice “Morning how are you all” what can I do for you folks this morning.

I said I would like to see the Sea Otters (I had seen Matt Baker on BBCs Spring Watch watching them from Monterey earlier in the year), we would also like to get a place to stay for the night, that wasn’t too far out of town as we wanted to spend a full day here.

She told us the best places to see the Sea Otters in their natural habitat was from the walk-way on the roof of the aquarium. She said the aquarium was a must visit in any case. Also we could travel a little way out of town going north and at a place called Moss Landing you could always see them as they floated along with the tide in the creek, there were also  few campsites on the way out to it.

She said that we could park right outside across the street beside the City Mortuary, I don’t think that Jucy would be mistaken for a hearse! She also told us a free street car system that runs in a loop from Fisherman’s Wharf along Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck’s Novel of the same name, right up to the front of the aquarium, that had been built into one of the old canning factories.

She had also informed us that the starting point of this loop was at the customs house and old Fisherman’s Wharf which was a short walk away. So armed with our cameras and the maps with her knowledge marked on we parked Jucy outside of the Town Morgue and headed into town. We started off at the newer fish harbour, taking in the comings and goings. You pass a wonderful beach which just shows that a touristy place and a working harbour don’t have to be tacky and smelly.

Next was a visit were it all started "The Customs House" back in 1846 when a regiment of US Marines landed and threw the then owners (Mexicans) out and raised the Stars and Stripes claiming it for the USA (not only Monterey but the whole of California).  It had a very nice Cacti garden attached.

We then went along the original Fisherman’s wharf watched the sea lions warming themselves in the late morning sun, which reminded us we should start looking for a place for lunch.

All the eateries were offering free tasters of clam chowder to entice the punters in from the wharf, we decided that would be our measure, so we travelled the length of the wharf tasting clam chowder, we found a one that was to our taste (they were all to our taste, but some more than others).

Real "New England" Clam Chowder

The Tail of Lindas Lobster 

My Dungeness Crab

The chap standing is the boss de Hôte, he visited every table and had a chat.

We had been given a ticket for a free starter when doing the tasting, so once seated along came the cup of Clam Chowder with crackers, then the rest of the order, Linda had grilled lobster tails and I half a Dungeness Crab (what else). I can really recommend this restaurant, the others may be just as good, but as I didn’t eat in them I am unable to pass judgement (as if I ever would).

Here comes the street car

We next jumped on one of the old street cars, this took us to the Aquarium. We hopped off and right before our eyes were the cops, not one or two but about 20, they were dressed in running costumes and others in their battle gear.

We took a few photos’ I never did get to find out what the idea was.
(I have been informed by out friend Richard that they were fund raising, I didn't see any box rattling or fund buckets a la UK!

We went into the Aquarium and got our tickets, we were told to hurry along as the Penguins were about to be fed. We went up a floor and there were two helpers sitting inside the glass cage (is there such a thing?) feeding the penguins, one had a throat microphone and was telling us all about the penguins and there habits (they did look a bit like Nuns).

Next it was time for the Sea Otters here they have 6 rescued Otters (various reasons, injuries, illness or orphaned), these were being put through their paces, each Otter has a mentor and each mentor puts them through various exercises, in the wild they would get this by searching for food and escaping from predators.

We next went outside to the deck that overlooks the kelp beds, there are always marine scientists about and are all too willing to explain and point out the Otters in the Kelp about 100mtrs offshore. We actually had a mother with her Kit float right in front of us, she was clutching her kit to her chest even when she dived in search of food.

We went inside as it was feeding time in the main big tidal tank, this was full with all manner of fish, some of which should have been on my plate. We went to some of the smaller displays, Jelly Fish, sea birds and the like,

Tufted Puffins

Tufted Puffin and a Black Oyster Catcher

But it was getting late and we still hadn’t a camp site for the night, so it was out and just missed a beside the Statue of the man that put Monterey on the map, John Steinbeck, we thought by going across the street we could catch another alas it doesn’t come down that side so we had to wait about 20 minutes.

The bust of John Steinbeck

We got back to Fisherman’s Wharf, hoofed it around to the Morgue and there was dear Ol’ Jucy still tethered where we had left her. We put her into gear and put the destination into the SatNav and headed out of town in the direction of Salinas (Birth Place of John Ernest Steinbeck) this was one of the campsites that we had been informed about at the Information Centre, this would do us for the night, this would be our last real night of our tour as next day we would be heading into Oakland to a RV park that I had found on the internet, that would leave us just a short journey to the rental station on Doolittle Drive and return our liddle ol’ Jucy.

We found the campsite Marina Dunes RV park, without much ado, got set up for the night and cooked whatever we had left to cook (I think it was bacon and eggs) and settled down for the night.

Next morning we set off and headed for Oakland but first we wanted to visit Moss Landings a small fishing port just a little way up the coast, this is where the kind lady had pointed us yesterday. We found it no bother. We were in luck, the tide was coming in and with it all manner of wildlife, birds, seals and a couple of Sea Otters floating in on the tide.

She did like her glass of white wine or two

On the way in we had seen what seemed a fish market with a restaurant attached so not having had breakfast we decided to see what they had to offer. This was another gem, fresh fish, crabs, shellfish in abundance, you just placed your order and you could eat it at the bar, there was a more formal part that you ordered and they served it, but that wasn’t for us, we are old salts and seasoned trail blazers, we sat at the bar. We chatted to a young(ish) lady sitting next to me, she was very jovial (while we were there she sloshed back 3 glasses of wine) also another chatted to Linda and she was on a jolly, she had a Winery out in Nappa valley (wish I had got to know here before). I had some fresh crab meat, drank a water. It was a nice little place, but it was time to leave and head up the one, one last time.

We arrived in Oakland RV Park, it was more residential than for passing by, but they had a nice pitch for us (I said to Linda that I had further to go at home to the loo), we got rid of all the stuff that we were not taking home with us (my trekking sandals had past their sell by date so went into the bin) and took the car to a car wash so that Jucy was spick and span for tomorrow. We went to a fast food place that evening, it was Hawaiian, I hope the Hawaiians eat better back home, because this was the worst food we had in all of the time in America.

We walked back to the site (just a matter of 150 mtrs) and got everything ready so that we could head straight into the hire company the next morning.

Next day up early and headed into town, it wasn’t far and we were there about an hour before they opened, we plonked our Lucy alongside another Jucy, she was one of the new-fangled ones, I still liked our dear Jucy the best, over 5000 km and with the exception of the door fob episode, not a thing went wrong. Brian (the chap that had rented it to us, came out had a quick inspection (I mean quick, he didn’t check a thing,) we signed and ask if he could call a cab to take us to the BART, he said don’t worry I will run you around there. What a fine chap, the type that you would use again and again and if we are doing this again, we shall be using him.

The Old and The New

Good Bye Jucy, you served us well

So onto the Bart and then the Metro and ended up where we started at Richard’s .

But more about that tomorrow.