Notes about Recipes in this book

• Macaroni cheese

  • VineTomato on July 20, 2017

    Our new favourite mac and cheese recipe. We found it required a little longer in the oven during the last bake stage to really brown and crisp up. Next time will use little mozzarella balls for more pockety goodness.

• Gentleman's relish

  • VineTomato on September 25, 2017

    I was plannning on making an anchovy hollandaise but at the last minute reading the recipe realised that it was not going to be as straight forward as I thought, so I gave this recipe a go. All lovely flavours apart from Worcestershire sauce - not a fan, will leave that out next time. The liquid did not emulsify as described in the recipe - I used less butter and did not follow the precise ml instructions so perhaps that is why. Was lovely with steak and steamed broccoli.

• Pastrami

  • Foodycat on May 27, 2018

    It takes a bit of effort, because you first prepare the brisket as salt beef for 5 days and then add the spices and cure for a further 2 days, and then smoke it for 6 hours. But well worth it - lovely flavour, really well-balanced spice and excellent texture. Edited to add - I also tried it with beef short ribs, adjusting the length of time it was in the cure for the smaller cut and it was fabulous.

• Kielbasa

  • Foodycat on June 09, 2018

    Excellent-tasting sausage but I ran into a couple of technical difficulties. I used the sausage making attachment on my Kenwood Chef and it really struggled with the fine screen (I have only used coarse and medium before). Quite a lot of the meat mixture ended up being wasted because it just couldn't get through the machine. And my smoker was running a bit hot so I couldn't give them the full length of time. But a really nicely-seasoned, smoked sausage.

• Beef Bourguignon

  • Foodycat on December 03, 2018

    I used beef shortribs, and extended the cooking time to accommodate. Absolutely delicious. A bit of fiddle initially with the browning of the individual elements, but well worth the extra effort.

  • FJT on December 21, 2019

    This was fantastic. Made with oil instead of beef dripping and cooked for much longer than the 2 hours stated in the recipe (3 hours on day one and a further hour on the day it was served). The meat was falling apart and the depth of flavour was exceptional. Enjoyed by everyone.

• Pot roast

  • Foodycat on October 29, 2017

    Used olive oil instead of beef dripping, and misread the recipe so the carrots went in right at the beginning. Absolutely gorgeous. Rich, deeply savoury. The addition of the mustard to the sauce is very good - just gives a bit of fresh acidity to balance.