Everything but the squeak, a tribute to Denham pork

From doodle to degustation

Earlier in the week you saw the scribble as we planned a dish I have had in mind for some time.

Even then it rarely makes it to the plate quite like that

Any way with porky bits cooked and raring for action, off we went

From front to back

pork loin studded with truffle

slow braised pork belly (60 hours sous vide)

black pudding

pigs head terrine, crumbed with crude pork crust

pork tenderloin roasted

pigs ear again pork crust coated

To this we added a small amount of pea puree, feves, split beans and peas

a slim Anna potato, some pea shoots a drizzle of pork jus and we are ready to serve

almost as sketched, beautiful plate of textures and tastes, a real celebration of one of the best farms in England Denham Estates

Also this week a coupl of dishes we have running are a simple chicken and peach salad with almonds, a small toast to benzaldehyde

And simple plaice and asparagus, which a few fillets are 'glued' together with Activa, then simply breaded and fried, with asparagus, remoulade and a parsley beurre noisette the reason for glueing is to give the piece of fish more substance and to retain more moisture to improve the eating quality

Also thought I would pop in this week's best seller though, being a club a lot of our membership are traditionalists and love the following dish, I don't believe I will ever be able to remove from the menu, and why not everyone loves a good calves liver and bacon, we serve ours simply on a bed of sage crushed potato and a little onion gravy.

Menu changes again on the 28th (or there abouts), should have more menu gems for you then, next I am hoping to show off a few little gems in my garden, providing the kids haven't been foraging too much.

Time for lunch methinks with Chef1 from The Staff Canteen

PEAS one of my favourite foods

I quite simply love peas

versatiliy in a small green skin, I can,'t think of a food that will not accept the humble pea as a garnish in one of it's numerous guises. Mushy peas with fish, smooth puree with steaks, plain and simple with butter and mint for lamb, not forgetting soups and sauces, I cannot think of any vegetable that is quite so capable.

here is one of the dishes we did recently

scallop, peas, bacon and whisky sour

The dish concept is as old as the hills but the ways in which we are able to revisit and re-invent it each and every time is usually down to the manipulation of this fantastic bastion of spherical clorophyl.

same dish not so arty

talking of classic combinations, reminds me of something a few weeks ago, hmmm onto the next post. until then a quick recipe for the pea gel sheets

to make 20 sheets

1. 
   
   500gm frozen peas
   
   
   
2. 
   
   300gm  cold water (plus water to boil the peas)
   
   
   
3. 
   
   25gm vegetable gel (sosa brand)
   
   
   
4. 
   
   salt
   
   
   

bring the water to the boil, add the peas and cook at a rapid boil for 5-6 minutes, strain the peas and refresh in iced water. blitz in a blender until smooth with the cold water, and pass through a fine sieve, the season to taste with salt only.

using an immersion blender, blend the gel into the cold liquid and then transfer to a pan and bring to the boil as quickly as possible. At 90 degrees C the gel hydrates and is ready to use, pour quickly onto a gastronorm tray and very quickly pour any residual pea liquor off into the pan, you only have seconds to do this as the gel sets almost immediately and can take a little practice.

once the gel has cooled it can be cut to your required size and stored in the fridge, separated by silicone sheets, for up to 3 days. place on plate as required and warm with a blowtorch or salamander as your recipe requires, it is heat resistant up to 82C

cutting the sheet

getting ready to store