Not Xacuti, but some of the dishes we had at Mum's Kitchen in Panjim, Goa
In March Chris and I went on a sun-drenched jaunt to Goa, where we fell in love with its unique Portuguese-tinged culture and cuisine. We particularly fell in love with a Goan dish called Xacuti. Continue reading
“Unlike the French, who name dishes after the chefs who devised them, the Russians have usually attached the names of famous households to their cuisine–the cooks were usually serfs. For example, we have Beef Stroganoff, Veal Orlov, and Bagration Soup. One of the few exceptions is a cutlet of poultry of real named after Pozharskii, a famous tavern keeper…The last prominent scion of the dynasty, Count Pavel Stroganoff, was a celebrity in turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg, a dignitary at the court of Alexander III, a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and a gourmet. It is doubtful that Beef Stroganoff was his or his chef’s invention since the recipe was included in the 1871 edition of the Molokhovets cookbook…which predates his fame as a gourmet. Not a new recipe, by the way, but a refined version of an even older Russian recipe, it had probably been in the family for some years and became well known through Pavel Stroganoff’s love of entertaining.”
- The Art of Russian Cuisine, Anne Volokh with Mavis Manus [Macmillan:New York] 1983 (p. 266)
Overnight marinated rump steak
Having fully educated myself on the way of the steak, I felt ready to take on my first challenge. My Well Hung Meat Company small meat box included two packs of 400g rump steaks (i.e. four steaks in total), so I decided to try it two ways. Continue reading
We all love a good steak. You probably think it’s one of those meals you can quickly dash off without much thought. But when Simon from WHMC sent me his own guide to cooking steak, it was full of minute technicalities that I’d never considered. A lot of love needs to go into a steak meal. And seeing as I’m going about this meat business Louis Theroux-style, I thought I’d share some of Simon’s tips on how to cook steak (in very condensed form) because it’s a little more formulaic than you might think… Continue reading
One of the useful items that came with my Well Hung Meat box was a newsletter, personally written by CEO Simon Wood including his own recommendations for seasonal eating. Recounting childhood memories of stealing sweetcorn from farmers in the Isle of Wight, alongside tales of his three and a half year old daughter’s fearless hunger for picking strawberries and raspberries even in the face of brambles, nettles and wasps, it’s a lovely personal touch that instantly connects company to consumer. You just don’t get that when you shop at the supermarket… Continue reading
