For my 30th Birthday, I was given a remarkable recipe book by some friends, namely David Thompson’s ‘Thai Street Food’ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thai-Street-Food-David-Thompson/dp/1840915587]. Australian chef Thompson’s book encapsulates a wide spectrum of Thai cuisine along with some rather sumptuous and vibrant photography courtesy of Earl Carter; but Thompson does bring the diasporia into focus with its leaning on food that is widely available from street vendors in downtown Bangkok and most likely other towns and cities in Thailand. He’s very frank about the origins of some of his recipes and specifically that a lot of ‘Thai’ street food is not necessarily native to Thailand [http://gourmettraveller.com.au/talking-thai-david-thompson-on-thai-street-food.htm].
It poses the question for me of what would actually constitute street food in the UK (some answers might be here: http://britishstreetfood.co.uk/). We, as a rather ‘magpie’ culture with our food do have mainstays of our cuisine in the usual suspects. Whenever you stop a punter in the street (a la market research) and ask what they regard as a truly British dish, you get Fish and Chips, Stews, Pies, Jellied Eels, Haggis, Pasties and so on. Thinking about it, there are a number of items that would qualify for street food here in the British repertoire; Slow cooked stews of lamb and beef (presented in a small cone perhaps?), Scotch Eggs, a bag of fish and chips is sometimes eaten on the move in smaller portions, stotties, the stalwart sandwich and so on. Unusual to think then, that we as a culture have never really given a thought to applying a sub-genre into our cuisine to fulfil the gap where ‘street food’ sits in other far flung corners of the Earth. This could be for environmental or any socio-politico-economic reason (you know what I am getting at!), working hours, weather, affluence and so forth. We do have street vendors in the UK, some are present in every major city and town 7 days a week, selling hot dogs, burgers, doughnuts and in some cases pizza; alas none of which are particularly British. It would be a wild assumption to declare that no-one would go for the style of street food that works so well in certain areas of the far-east, even done with more traditional British meat and potato stews (served in a biodegradable container of some sort, possibly edible – in the interests of sustainability *cough*), however, it would be equally lacking in sense to declare the contrary. In Liverpool, since lacking El Macho (sold up in both Liverpool and Manchester and moved operations to Birkenhead under another name) and the rather lacklustre Savina (Never really made too much of an impression both times I have visited) we are now treated to a slice of Mexican street food in the Wood Street establishment ‘Lucha Libre’ (http://www.lucha-libre.co.uk/). Serving a menu of small dishes comprising tacos, tostadas and quesadillas complimented by sides, smaller ‘starters’, a few large plates and salads, the food stands up to give a good account of itself for a lunch time snack. The tostadas and tacos come in at £5 – 7 approximately, which for the portion size, isn’t all that cheap in the grand scheme of things. However, the quality of the food made up for the size and the staff and environs are plus points; it is worth a return visit I think, perhaps for an evening meal for a more substantial meal. London based and effervescent Wahaca (with numerous restaurants dotted around the city and also in a rather fetching pink an blue van – the website is also very striking to say the least) are another Mexican market food chain of restaurants, taking their inspiration from food available in the market places around Mexico. Supplying tacos, quesadillas and much more to a ravenous public, Mexican food in this style with effectively what is an edible plate or cutlery (in the taco or tortillas or tostadas etc) makes mobility whilst eating very possible. The monopoly for Mexican style street food does not sit with Wahaca though; places like Luardos and Tacuba are in on the act. There are also one or two stalls such as this one covered by another food blog (http://helengraves.co.uk/2010/05/buen-provecho-seriously-good-mexican-street-food/). In terms of an end of night treat though, following the obligatory 9 pints of beer or copious glasses of wine (whatever tickles you), I have found it odd that very easy-to-eat and tastier-than-a-kebab-or-anaemic-chicken-burger Mexican style fajitas, tacos, chimichangas and quesadillas are not commonplace for a snack on the way home. Surely an indictment on the Great British public that they have their staple diet for end of night street food and that is that. In other news, albeit not quite ‘street food’ in the sense of this article, but still in the vein of food available on the street, there is new filtering through that London is to get its first cupcake vending machine – full details here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/20/cakehole-in-the-wall-machine and also here: http://www.finedininglovers.com/blog/culinary-stops/cupcake-vending-machine-london/. Anyone up for that? Aside from automatically dispensed cupcakes, what street food would float your boat, when would you be most receptive to having some freshly made, easy to eat and (given the current fashion – as food fashions dictate that street food is in right now and has been for a while) authentic street food? Have you seen any food heroes out there on our streets trying to provide tasty sustenance from the kerbside? Pedro.
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Since the last week saw the 2012 UK Pie Awards, I decided to give in and bake a pie for dinner. I did cast out a few comments in flippant manner over twitter, but for those who didn’t see any of those, here is the full list of the winners: http://www.britishpieawards.co.uk/index.php?pid=102 Anyway, without further ado on the matter of awards, onto the game pie! As with many classic dishes, there are a multitude of recipes available and each chef or cook has their own twist to offer. I recently had a dabble with the recipe below, since I was very kindly given some excellent Pheasant by a friend and picked up some rabbit and venison from a good quality butchers fairly local to me. As with a lot of game pie recipes, there is a tendency to add bacon, but instead I opted to use something that I love and often have available in my refrigerator in Spanish Chorizo. The temptation is to usually fry this first to obtain all the lovely flavour from the paprika infused fats, but by finely chopping it and adding towards the end of the initial cooking stages, the meat doesn’t get the firm slightly chewy texture that is often prevalent. I have to admit to cheating slightly on this occasion as I used ready-made pastry for this pie, as a puff pastry can be tricky and very time consuming to make from scratch. A shortcrust can work just as well, but I shall cover my recipe another time. Ingredients: (serves 5-6) 400g Venison 200g Pheasant 150g Rabbit 50g Chopped Spanish Chorizo, finely chopped 1 Large White Onion, finely chopped 2 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped 2 Bay Leaves 100ml water/stock* Few sprigs of fresh Thyme 4 tblsp Olive oil and 10g butter 1 medium egg (beaten) for glazing Roux for thickening (cornflour and milk) Pastry (shortcrust or puff – either is fine, can use frozen ready made pastry for ease) *A fresh stock can be made from any fat trimmed from the game meat, the top and bottom of the onion and any vegetable peel from an accompanying vegetable (eg. potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, celeriac etc). Place the peel/fat/waste in a saucepan and pour cold water on, enough to cover the ingredients. Heat to a simmer for at least 15 minutes – allow to cool and then strain the stock into a jug ready to add to the game meat etc (see photo 4 and step 2 below). What to Do:
1. Fry the onion (photo 2) until brown in the olive oil, then add the chopped garlic as the edges of the onion start to go brown in a large pan. 2. Add the game meat (rabbit, venison and pheasant - photo 1) and brown on a medium to low heat for 50 minutes in the pan with the bay leaves and thyme, after half an hour add the finely chopped Chorizo (photo 3). Occasionally add water or stock to the meat, keeping the pan to a low simmer, until all the stock has been added. 3. Use the roux to thicken the sauce up from the meat gravy. Add a few spoonfuls at a time, stirring through until the gravy is of a viscous consistency and will hold in the pie. Add the butter, stirring through and allowing to gently cool (photo 5). 4. Grease a large pie tin, place the sheet of pastry into the tin, allowing enough pastry at the edges for the base to dry and shrink into the tin. Blind bake (photo 6) until the pastry is golden at 200°C with ceramic beans in to prevent too much rise. Glaze the base of the pastry in the tin with the egg and allow to cool. 5. Add the game meat from the pan into the pastry base, removing the bay leaves. Place the second sheet of pastry over the top, again, allowing some shrink and cut some holes in the top to allow the steam to escape (photo 7). Glaze the edges of the base pastry and then use a fork to press the cover layer and base layer of pastry together. Glaze completely with the egg and place in the oven. 6. Bake the pie at 200-220°C for 25 minutes, turn to ensure even baking and then bake for a further 20-30 minutes at 170-180°C until golden (photo 8). 7. Allow cooling for 10-15 minutes and then serve slices of pie with vegetables or a salad. Preference is for roast potatoes and garden peas or a sweet potato/creamy celeriac mash. Enjoy!! :o) |
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