Damn you, Gary Rhodes...

cheese_dave

cheese_dave

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Anyone seen that pig's trotter bourguignon recipe in Gary Rhodes' book New British Classics? I've been eyeing it up for years, and finally got my knife skills and butchery techniques up to a point where I felt confident enough to have a go at boning a pig's trotter (there's a million jokes in there, guys) and recreating the recipe. He recommends starting it 48 hours before you want to eat it, for various soaking and shaping reasons, so that's what I've done. I'm about half-way through the recipe, two trotters boned and braised, and I tell you what, they look hideous. Hopefully they'll look better stuffed and rolled, cos frankly, the state they're in, I don't wanna eat em.

Wasn't there a guy on here who ate his own grandfather I seem to remember?
 
I keep thinking trotters are a good idea but mine are staying frozen (like grandpa) till I get round to making a proper pork pie, probably for Xmas.

I hope its worth the effort.
 
I've used them when making pork pies before. Drop one into some stock, simmer for a couple of hours, then when it cools it makes proper pork pie jelly :D

They're supposed to be amazing eating, and apparently the French bone them out and use them as effectively sausage casings for various stuffings.

This video was real helpfull:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zhy56najF4[/youtube]
 
There was a mashed potato "sauce" (just mashed potatoes made more runny with extra milk), and the bourguignon stuffing contained mushrooms and onions, and that well known vegetable bacon from the bacon bush.
 
Cool, sounds good. Our neighbour gave us a pheasant this week so it's currently marinating in red wine and sherry vinegar ready for tomorrow - a pheasant and mushroom casserole. Actually, perhaps we should have plucked it first. :?
 
Hmmm, I'm not sure about marinating in red wine. HFW reckons it dries meat out, and I tend to agree (though Gary Rhodes in the same book I took that trotter recipe from has another recipe for game pie in which he marinates the meat in red wine - go figure).
 
Well I'll have to let you know how it turns out.

We've got a few celebrity chef books, but no Gary Rhodes. He's never really appealed but perhaps worth an investigation. He used to crop up in Good Food magazine but it's all Nigella and Gordon these days. Is there a particular book you recommend?
 
Marinating pheasant in wine, sherry or port does help tenderise an old bird, you don't have to do it for day's but that's quite classic prep to lessen the gaminess. You should be fine casseroling, its roasting where where you can easily over do it.
 
antdad said:
Marinating pheasant in wine, sherry or port does help tenderise an old bird, you don't have to do it for day's but that's quite classic prep to lessen the gaminess. You should be fine casseroling, its roasting where where you can easily over do it.
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Yep that's cool, when I told the lady who gave it to me that we'd roast it she suggested that casseroling would be better for the bird. I get the feeling they eat quite a bit of pheasant so I was happy to take her advice. After jointing the bird we used the leftovers plus a chicken carcass we'd frozen plus veg and herbs to make a sort of gamey chicken stock. Mrs PC also made the xmas pudding and cake yesterday!! This has been a very busy weekend for food.
 
I made my Christmas pudding in September! It's rotting away in the shed at the moment.

I'd recommend Rhodes' New British Classics for sure. It's got some recipes that you'll never do (like make your own haggis), but he gives a good write up about what he's doing and the history behind different dishes that he's revamping. I've got his Spring into Summer and Autumn into Winter books too, for seasonality, but after that I stopped with him.

Definitely casserole your pheasant, unless you know it's a young bird i.e. born this year. A lot of game bird is to lean to roast unless you supplement the fat somehow, e.g. lots of barding with bacon, and butter stuffed under the skin, and even then you can't guarantee it.
 
Thanks Cheesey, I can report that the pheasant was very tasty. It had a rich mushroomy winey sort of sauce and we had it with mash and cabbage. Mrs PC has just been given three more cookery books but I'll add the Rhodes one to the list for some time soon.
 
Cheese Dave is into nose to tail eating, I'm sympathetic but just too lazy.

Fergus Henderson used to be king of (Nose to Tail Eating) if you like non celebrity animal offal and extremities.
 
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