This joint had been cluttering up the ice-box for months. Whilst visiting Ron Combo in his Grappa Hell the freezer went on the blink and I came home to a fridge full of warm gin and this handsome, but inadvertently thawed, hunk of meat. I had to cook it or chuck it.
Beef being such a rare treat at Chateau Fib I took time to read the blood-soaked label and then knocked a full hour off the recommended cooking time, figuring I could always cook it for a bit longer if absolutely necessary. It wasn't.
The mustard you see is the especially delicious 'Moutarde de Charroux', and comes from Clermont Ferrand via personal courier. The beef came from Sainsbury's going-off counter and kept me going for a week. The leftovers are now back in the freezer, awaiting the advent of a Spong National Mincer from Unmitigated England's General Stores and Provisions(Online)Plc.
Shepherd's Pie anyone?
21 comments:
Oh, does that look good or what? And all those roast beef butties you will be eating for days...I'm jealous. Beef just doesn't taste quite the same over here.
I only eat Shepherd's Pie if it's made with real shepherds. Cumbrian Fell are supposedly the best, but a Dorset 'Gabriel Oak' hung in a corrugated iron hut on a clifftop is a rare, piquant delight.
And how, pray, do you propose to use a hunk of beef for a SHEPHERD'S Pie? Simple reference to Mrs Beeton, Delia, Gordon et al will lead you inexorably towards using this meat to make a COTTAGE pie - a thing of beauty in itself, and all the better for the inclusion of daub, wattle and thatch.
Oh for goodness' sake Affa, so it's a Cottage Pie and not a Shepherd's Pie? Who's counting? They were all Shepherd's Pies in our house, no matter what went in; even the puddings were re-named. Trifle, which neither my brother nor I could stand, slipped down much better when sold to us as Craggy Mountain Pudding. As I preferred Shepherd's Pie to Cottage, thus was it always Shepherd's Pie. Never did me any harm. Much.
And yes Vinogirl, the butties were delicious. If anything the beef got better as the week wore on. British beef's absolutely delicious. Helped, in no small part, by our incompetent government's insistence on slaughtering the national herd at three-yearly intervals in order to start again. Brand new beef, every time.
Yum! Still jealous.
Mmmm, are Pie Wars about to start? I do hope so, we need a bust-up since Camilla et al have abandoned us. And Fred- good carving set.
I don't do pies, but I have got a slow cooker. I am a slow cooker. I've done chicken in it. Init. None of that organic stuff. Pure factory farmed junky chicken. Three quid a bird from a supermarket with four legs. But I fancy trying some beef. Where do you get it from, and do they do pure factory farmed beef where the bull has been reared from birth to mature in ten weeks?
There was a fast breeder at Dounreay....produced six-legged cattle, which was good business. Good for the ecology too....you could turn the lights out whilst you ate them....
Come on Fred, did you put yourself into the Spong too?
Fred doesn't normally mince his words...
Where is Fred?
Fred? Fred? You can come out now.
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Phew! Is that beef going off now?
Shall I send the Community Spong down now?
Oooh! The smell.....the flies....
At least cover the meat up.
It's been a month :(
Right....done main course; ready for dessert. Err...don't suppose some nice gooseberry crumble with vanilla ice-cream is on the menu? A glass of Pedro Ximenez to go with it, perhaps?
I have a homemade port if Fred is still with us.
mmmm.....this port is good, Vinogirl. Can I tempt you to more crumble? Or some of this rather nice Stilton?
Oh for goodness' sake; so I've been busy!
Calvados anyone?
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