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.
Graham from Nottingham asked:
Tom, firstly I would like to say, how easy you make things look! Your new TV series, Sunday lunch is brilliant, but I’ve been trying to get the recipe and accompanied veg, but little success?
Anything can look easy if you love doing it! You can find the featured recipes from my Sunday Lunch show on the food networks website, have fun cooking. Here’s the link.
Paula from Vale asked:
Dear Tom, I love pork chops but, no matter how I cook them, they are always tough. Please help!!
Firstly, if you’re trying to cook supermarket pork chops you will struggle to get good quality pork.
If you have a good butcher near you, (say the Butchers Tap and Grill in Marlow), I recommend asking for a nice thick cut pork chop with the skin scored.
- Brine the pork in a 10% salt solution for 4 hours then pat dry. Heat a frying pan on the hob and lay the chunky chop, skin side down and cook over a medium heat nice and slowly so that the skin gives you some proper crackling.
- Add a knob of butter to the pan and lay the chops on the face side to caramelise for 3 to 4 minutes then flip over and repeat.
- Use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the chop, it should read 55- 60c.
- Reemove from the heat and rest for 10 minutes on a warm plate.
- Carve or just serve on a plate, entirely up to you.
The pork will be super juicy, and you’ll still get some banging crackling.
Kaye from Hurst Green asked:
I have a Topside of beef joint (1.65kg) which I want to roast, but ensure it is rare. I always end up overdoing it which is not great having leftovers to go in the freezer that will need re-heating again! Am I better to cut it in half and roast a small amount rather than trying to do the whole thing? What temperature and for how long do you roast to achieve rare?
I would cut the joint in half and freeze the other until you need it, as reheated beef will never be rare or as nice as fresh.
Roast your beef as you normally do, but buy yourself a digital probe, once the core temperature of the beef gets to 40c remove from the oven and wrap In foil and leave to rest.
The residual heat will carry on cooking the beef until around 55c giving you a medium rare joint, make sure you rest the beef for half the cooking time, so you don’t end up with a bloody plate when carving.
Wendy from Slough asked:
Why does my jam rolly-polly sponge always end up with a rubbery texture? I would prefer it to be like the shop-bought one, which is more of a Victoria sponge consistency.
I would say, there’s probably too much moisture in the suet mix or you could be over working it when mixing. Another suggestion is to make sure your steamer is holding in the heat, as you need full on steam to puff up the self-raising flour in the dough.
Chris from Northampton asked:
I have lots of your recipe books and your food is always delicious. I started with your dopamine diet book and went from there. Lots of your recipes say they can be made ahead, or reheated but never say the best way to do so. What is the best way to reheat your meals. Oven, microwave? How long for? What temperature? Any advice would be lovely.
So, it really depends on what the food or recipe is.
Firstly, I’d defrost everything in the fridge, leave more time than you think to allow for this.
Certain things like curry’s, stews, soups that can be reheated in the microwave or oven. It’s your preference really, one will be quicker than the other. Lasagnes and similar dishes, I’d recommend reheating in the oven.
There are no hard fast rules to this, it depends on what you have at home and what works best for you.
Just make sure the core temperature is 75c on reheated foods to make sure it’s safe to eat.
Andre from Marlow asked:
Hi Tom, I got a cote de boeuf from your BT&G butcher. How would you BBQ it on a big green egg ?
That’s amazing, I hope it was a big one!
Season it up and cook it directly on the cast iron plate, till you get a nice char on one side, then flip over.
With a digital probe, take the core temperature to around 39- 40c then remove to rest up for half the cooking time. Cover it with foil on a warm plate.
Once rested, carve up as thick or as thin as you like.
You could marinade, before cooking, it in dry spices, so you end up with a Pittsburgh blackened steak.
Willie from Alness asked:
Hi Tom, Please tell me a simple way to make a chicken mousse. Thanks Captain.
- Use one skinless chicken breast diced and any veins removed added to a food processor.
- Pinch of flaky salt, small splash of truffle oil, cayenne pepper and herbs de Provence.
- Put the lid on and blend, once the chicken has been blended add one large egg to the meat mix and blend until incorporated.
- Turn off and scrape down the sides, add 100ml double cream and pulse blitz to combine. Don’t over work or it will split.
- Then spoon into a container to rest up and chill before use.
Paul from Southampton asked:
Hi Tom. I have all your recipe books and have attempted a few from the amazing Hand and Flowers Book. Other than the Salt Cod recipe, which is the easiest to attempt to get Michelin Star results?
The Crème Brûlée is a great place to start with the puddings. The recipe can be found here.
But I’d also check out some of the recipes in Proper Pub Food and Best Ever Dishes as some of these come from the Hand and Flowers in the early days.
Steven from Edinburgh asked:
Aye aye Captain I have two young boys who are very adventurous for their age (6&9) with food. They also love help cooking dinner every night. Is there any Japanese or Indian inspired recipes you would suggest for a couple of young wannabe chefs to rustle up?
Check out the recipes on my webpage, should be plenty on there to keep them super busy and you well fed.
I’m so glad that they love cooking, couple of pirates in training!
Get them to try out my South Indian Fish Curry recipe.
Annette from Hull asked:
I have a soup maker and a new job! Any recipe ideas to help me out for Autumn/Winter, would be lovely!!!
Congratulations on the new job. Check out my soups and salads section of recipes over on my website there’s bowls full of options over there!
Annette from Cranleigh asked:
Tom I recently received your Hand and Flower cookbook and I have made both your fish and chips and steak and chips. I was unable to source a domestic quantity of Trisol. I used corn flour instead, but I want to know, should I use the same quantities of cornflour to trisol. Also, the batter for the onions in the steak uses 100mls of self-raising flour whilst the fish batter uses 300g of self-raising flour. Should both be in gms or mls. Many thanks.
Trisol is a very unique product that you can get from a website called chef tools but comes in massive containers.
No need for cornflour, just use self-raising flour and ice-cold fizzy water for a quick batter.
All dry items in the recipes should be in g and liquids in mls.
Please keep you questions coming in.
