Sole Food
As I said before, I didn’t use to be able to cook. No matter how I tried, and I really did, I had the ability to turn a pork chop or a steak into shoe leather. However, I’m beginning to lose the guilt feelings about that now. Maybe it wasn’t all my fault after all.
Every now and then I get what can only be described as a craving for red meat. I do not mean to offend the vegans and vegetarians I number amongst my friends, but… sorry guys… I am a hopeless carnivore.
Meat eating is a hot-button issue for a lot of folks. A few days ago I read a local agony aunt column. The feature problem was maybe not so serious on the face of it. Six months ago the writer, a woman, became a vegetarian. She’d been happily married for four years. As I read on, I could tell this situation had all the makings of a disaster.
Here’s a marriage where both husband and wife like to buy food and cook; where the wife’s convictions become fanaticism, and she undertakes a crusade against the meat industry and all meat-eaters; and the husband laughs at his wife and dismisses her as a ‘nutter’, and buys and cooks meat all the more just to wind her up; where the wife swears she can smell meat coming out of his pores and becomes physically repulsed by him… that’s one bad-assed stumbling block. I’d love to see a marriage counsellor sort that one out. (Actually, I really would).
Luckily, no such problems for hubby and me.
Anyway, this last weekend the craving struck. So, I raided the freezer for some rump steak. A year ago, at a period of relative prosperity, I bought a small consignment of beef, lamb and mutton from a specialist online butcher. Don’t think I can mention their name but some famous chefs, not to mention HM the Queen, buy their meat from this guy. I defrosted some yesterday and we dined royally. It was literally ‘bloody good’, even after a year in the freezer.
The thing is, the meat was of such good quality, I think it would be impossible for even the biggest idiot to screw it up.
The butcher I bought my rump steak from assured me about the quality of life the beasts had had, and the way they were slaughtered in the most humane way possible. The farms were named and it is actually possible to go and visit them. There were even pictures.
My problem before lay in buying cheap mass-produced meat from the supermarket and freezer stores, not really thinking about how it was produced. It was basically crap and the shoe leather in my frying pan reflected the crappy life the animal had had, and the crappy end it came to.
And come to think of it, it wasn’t all that cheap either.
Some time ago I watched a TV programme where a steer was slaughtered live on TV, in an abattoir, in front of a small audience. Some of the onlookers were genuinely upset. For me, the show had educational value, but I wasn’t upset. The beast was skilfully stunned and was down instantly. It didn’t appear to suffer. Yes, I know it was a highly sanitised show, and not at all how it happens in a wholesale abattoir, but it was fascinating all the same. How a living animal in the prime of life became, in a matter of seconds… meat.
The public outcry afterwards was an eye-opener. How dare they show such a shocking thing on TV? Kids were watching! And as for those well-known chefs who tried their hand at slaughtering animals on TV… disgusting!! Unthinkable!! How could they do that to little lambs or little piggies!
Missing the point, guys.
It came to light in some recent study or other, that a lot of kids when asked where meat came from, said ‘the supermarket’. (It also came to light that a lot of people, not even kids, couldn’t name a piece of broccoli when they saw it).
If people are going to eat meat or poultry they should know, and the younger the better, the processes that result in that turkey twizzler or burger or dinosaur-shaped meat by-product on their plate or, more likely, in their extruded polystyrene carton.
So, when the craving strikes, we will eat some red meat a few times a year, with as clear a conscience and as much appreciation as possible. My cholesterol is 3.7 and I want to keep it that way. And by the way… that meat wasn’t just bloody good, it was bloody expensive.
Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Sauce
My idiot-proof way of doing a nice leg of lamb. Just make sure the meat is good quality and you can’t go wrong.
1 whole leg of lamb, about 2 - 2.25kg (4½ - 5 lbs.)
Some olive oil for rubbing
Seasoning - I use rosemary, lavender and oregano salt but any combination of dried herbs and salt would do
A thickening agent, such as arrowroot, cornstarch, beurre manié etc.
6 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon caster sugar
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons boiling water
A large pinch of salt
This method is for roasting a lean joint of meat. Take the meat out of the fridge an hour or so before cooking.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 8/230°C/450°F.
Unwrap, wash and dry the meat thoroughly. Place on a rack in a roasting tin. Rub with olive oil. Give it a good sprinkling of herbs and seasoning.
Insert a meat thermometer so that the point is in the middle of the thickest part of the thigh. For medium-rare doneness (pink in the middle), the final internal temperature should read 65°C/150°F, so set the thermometer alarm for 60°C/140°F (the internal temperature will continue to rise after the meat is taken out of the oven).
Put in the hot oven and cook for 25 minutes.
Then turn the oven down to between Gas 4-5/185°C/365°F (approx.) and continue to roast. A joint this size will take roughly 1¾ - 2 hours, about 25 minutes to the lb. in total.
Make the mint sauce:
Combine the chopped mint leaves, sugar, vinegar, boiling water and salt together in a bowl and mix well.
When the thermometer says 60C/140F, take the meat out, transfer to a carving tray and cover tightly with tin foil. Let it 'rest' for about 20 minutes before carving.
Pour a little boiling water into the tin and scrape up all the juices and bits with a spatula. Stir vigorously. Pour the liquid into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Add a little thickening agent to thicken and season the gravy. When the gravy has thickened and reduced a little, remove from the heat. Carve the meat. (This looks really impressive if you do it at the table!!)
Serve with boiled potatoes in butter and snipped chives, and other vegetables of your choice. Pass the mint sauce....
Serves at least 6.
By the way, my birthday is in just under a year, so that will give anyone out there who wants to buy me a present, time to save up for a manche à gigot!
