Thanks to all of you who sent in your cookery questions. Here are my answers to some that were sent in, check to see if yours is included. Sorry I couldn’t answer them all, but keep them coming in.
Jan from Stamford asked:
Can you please tell me if the recipes in your Lose Weight for Good book can be frozen? Also can coriander be replaced by something else or just left out?
From my book, starter wise, most of the soups can be frozen. From the mains, you can freeze the pulled pork, pork chops, spiced lamb mince curry, lamb tagine, beef stew, lasagne, plus anything with sauce will freeze well. I would stay clear of freezing chicken though.
Coriander can be replaced by parsley or just simply leave it out.
Laurence from Maidstone asked:
Meringue – gooey centre crispy outside – what’s the secret?
The secret is to use cornflour and white wine vinegar to create the perfect pavlova. After you have whisked the sugar and egg whites to forms stiff, glossy peaks, fold in the vinegar and cornflour (1 tsp of each). You will get a lovely, soft marshmallowy centre.
Philip from Taunton asked:
Can you make home made faggots please?
Try my recipe for Pork Faggots with the ultimate gravy.
For the onion gravy
- rapeseed oil
- 3 or 4 whole onions, unpeeled and halved along the equator
- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar
- 1/2 bunch of thyme
- 30g butter
- 30g plain white flour
- 600ml Brown Chicken Stock (see page 240)
Method
- Wash the pig’s caul in running cold water, then leave it in a bowl of water to soak for a couple of hours.
- Mix the pork belly, bacon, liver and hearts together in a bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, salt and black
- pepper and stir with your hand for about 5 minutes until the mix firms up, then set aside.
- Heat the rapeseed oil in a frying pan over a low heat. Add the onion and fry, stirring, for at least 5 minutes until softened, but not coloured.
- Remove the onion from the pan and leave to cool.
- Mix the eggs, sage and cold onions into the faggot mix. Shape the mix into 6 or 8 balls.
- Drain the pig’s caul and use it to wrap around the faggots. Double wrap them so the mix doesn’t leak out or to prevent them falling apart if the caul rips.
- Place the faggots into an ovenproof dish and then into the fridge for 11/2–2 hours to rest.
- Heat the rapeseed oil in a frying pan over a low heat. Add the onion and fry, stirring, for at least 5 minutes until softened, but not coloured. Remove the onion from the pan and leave to cool.
- Mix the eggs, sage and cold onions into the faggot mix. Shape the mix into 6 or 8 balls.
- Drain the pig’s caul and use it to wrap around the faggots. Double wrap them so the mix doesn’t leak out or to prevent them falling apart if the caul rips.
- Place the faggots into an ovenproof dish and then into the fridge for 11/2–2 hours to rest.
- Meanwhile, start the onion gravy. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Heat 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the halved onions, cut sides down, and fry for 8–10 minutes until blackened.
- Transfer the onions to a roasting tray lined with a piece of kitchen foil large enough to wrap around them and sprinkle with the demerara sugar and thyme. Drizzle with a little oil and seal the foil up as a bag.
- Place the roasting tray in the oven and roast the onions for 2 hours until they are really caramelised and soft.
- When the onions are cool enough to handle, but still hot, scoop the flesh into a food processor and process until a rich brown pulp forms, then leave to one side.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the flour and stir for 1–2 minutes to cook out the raw flavour and make a roux.
- Pour in the brown chicken stock and simmer, stirring occasionally, over a very low heat for 30–40 minutes, until it has reduced by about one-quarter.
- When you are ready to cook the faggots, reheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Put the dish with the faggots on the middle shelf and roast for 15 minutes.
- Turn them over and roast for another 15 minutes.
- Pour the onion gravy over and continue roasting for a further 20 minutes, or until the gravy is bubbling and thickened around the edges of the dish.
- Serve with mash potatoes.
Dawn from Mansfield asked:
Could you tell me how to prepare razor clams please and a quick and easy recipe would be nice. The information I got online was not at all clear. Many thanks.
Simply wash them in cold water, then cook them in a hot pan very much like mussels, with a little wine and steam them.
Jennie from Nuneaton asked:
For your shepherd’s pie recipe on the pirates, could I use beef mince and beef shin instead of lamb?
Absolutely, you can substitute the lamb for beef – it will become a Cottage Pie rather than Shepherd’s Pie. ?
Nicky from Henley on Thames asked:
I have a whole haunch of Venison in my freezer and want to BBQ it? Should I butcher it into smaller parts first and how would you BBQ it or can you suggest a good rub/marinade.
I would break it into steak sized joints so that you can sear them and cook rare on the BBQ. Check out my new Outdoor Cooking book for lots of suggestions on rubs and marinades.
Andie from Sutton asked:
I need help with getting a chocolate fix but with minimum sugar and fat ( I’m diabetic!)
Buy the darkest chocolate you can get your hands on, the better the quality and cocoa percentage, the less likely it is to be stuffed with sugar. I suggest at least 70% dark chocolate.
Sarah from Oxfordshire asked:
How do you cook the perfect duck breast? I’ve tried different pans, different price meat, cooking in a cold pan, a hot pan, trimming and not trimming, scoring and not scoring but I still always end up with either undercooked, unrendered skin or overdone meat.
You will get the best results cooking a duck crown, score the fat then render it in a pan to cook out the fat as much as possible. Then roast in a pre-heated oven at 180-200c for 25 minutes and cook until the thickest part reaches 40c. Remove the duck from the oven and turn the oven down to 60c and rest the duck for thirty minutes back in the oven.
Then carve as you wish.
