I started cooking tonight’s dinner this morning at about half past eight, before anybody else was awake, and most importantly, before any of the neighbours had hung any washing out to dry. Short beef ribs take a long, long time to cook, and they’re at their very best when they meet a little smoke. So, [...]
People have dried meat to preserve it for thousands of years. The practice seems to have arisen independently in both South America and Africa, with the two traditions cross-pollinating with the Spanish conquests of the Americas. The Native Americans eventually adopted the Spanish word for their dried meat, ‘charque‘, changed the inflection and morphed it [...]
I made this pie yesterday. It was a simple, lazy Saturday afternoon, and we had some friends round who we see far too little of. Everybody drank coffee and talked and sat in the sun, and the kids played, and I holed up in the kitchen, listened to John Coltrane and made a pie. And [...]
So, it’s January, and it’s very, very cold at the moment. That means that now is the perfect time to cure some meat and hang it out to dry in a shed, outside of a refrigerator, without too much fear of death from botulism. I exaggerate slightly – botulism is very rare, and basic hygiene [...]
I’m one of those people who take photos of food to post on Instagram. I make no apologies for this – it’s what Instagram is made for, but sometimes the application of a vintage filter on a perfectly normal photograph makes it look a little … different. Just take a second to look at the picture [...]