Tulip's Kitchen: Let the Pork Fest begin...

Sunday 31 July 2011

Let the Pork Fest begin...

Saturday 30th July 2011

The invites were out...

The RSVP's were back...

We were all ready to ...

All the pork recipes on the menu were taken from the book I was given when I visited Jimmy's Farm. I know, I know, I had Jimmy sign it over to Claire as she had just left home to live in the middle of the countryside. Honestly, I have let her read it... once... and she loved it, the game recipes and real country feel of this book is right up her street!

Like I was saying, I used the book for the pork recipes, it was very easy to follow, a great read in its own right and I promise I will now give it back to its rightful owner!

We nibble these as appetisers with drinks

Perfect pork crackling
Mini Sausage bites from my butcher (Pork & Ginger and Pork, Cider & Apple)
Mixed Olives

Our main course

Stuffed hock and trotters!

Rillettes
Stuffed hock with trotters
BBQ Sheet ribs
Mini pork souvalaki (From Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros)
Traditional Rustic French Bread
Tomato Salad
Homemade Hummus

We had a choice of two desserts ( No real photos of them as the wine was flowing and the kids were impatient, I did capture the chocolate sauce that managed to stick itself to Arty's face... does that count?)

Apple Brown Betty & Pouring cream
Homemade Profiteroles with dark chocolate sauce

We drank:

Buzzards Valley English Regional Wine
Pinot Grigio
Merlot
Stella Artois
Cherry Tango
Pepsi

The conversation flowed....

Using real butchers over supermarkets
Supporting the British farming industry
The recent Pampered Chef Conference & relevant gossip (!)
The merits of having teenage kids (or not!)
How cute Rachel was when she was little (very!)

The verdict?

We all really enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed the pork dishes to different degrees. The rillettes after slow cooking for 3 hours were a great flavour but didn't have that pull apart loveliest promised in the book :-(

The hock meat was tender and tasty but needed to be picked out of the debris that was the rest of the hock... the stuffing was very tasty especially the caramelised bit that oozed from the opening of the hock.

Sadly the trotters were left untouched, they looked pretty gruesome and with the rack of moist meaty ribs there was no competition!

Thanks for the Flowers Rachel x

the thank you card from the Jackson.

Lambfest next you say....hmmm, that could be arranged!

1 comment:

Marie Rayner said...: Lambfest indeed! If you do it up as well as you did this Pork Fest, I'll be there!! I am impressed Julie. You did a fab job with this, as always! xxoo; 5 August 2011 at 08:32

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This started out as a place for all those recipes on scraps of paper...

...the photocopies, my barbie folder, the crumpled napkins, the hastily scribbled notes, you know the sort of thing! But it has turned into so much more!
I now show all my pampered chef recipes, along with all my wheat free, IPD (Idiot Proof Diet) recipes along with anything I find off the IPD forum. I've even cooked up recipes for others as they'd like to see the dish made before attempting it. I'm open to suggestions but please remember that this was started as a personal project, I'm not a photographer, I don't get paid for it, its just for fun!

Feel free let me know if you have any questions or you need a recipe that I haven't posted or indeed any corrections. This is usually done very early in the morning when I've just woke up or very late at night when i should be asleep...you get the picture!!!

There is a 'translate this page' button at the bottom of the page should you need it, although it doesn't include translating my North East slang...sorry :-P

Tulips Fridge Door - What the magnets say...

A balanced diet…A chocolate in each hand
Complaints about this kitchen can cause serious damage to your health
Dull women have immaculate houses
I can’t be creative as well as tidy.
If you haven’t got wrinkles, you haven’t laughed enough.
It’s not alcohol that gives you a hangover, it’s waking up!
I’m smiling because you’re my sister, I’m laughing because there’s nothing you can do about it.
Living life to my husbands credit limit
Many people have eaten in this kitchen and gone on to live healthy lives.

Cooking Tips

* Keep turning pork chops over, don't let the moisture cook out of them. Cook only till pink then let them finish off while resting, this way you won't over cook them.

* To test to see if an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cold, salted water. If it sinks, it's fresh. If it floats, throw it away!!

* Get yourself a bunch of fresh corinader, wash and trim the stems. Dry on paper towels then put in individual freezer snack bags. Freeze. When you need some fresh coriander just get a pack from the freezer, crush or chop and add to your recipe.

* Use a pizza cutter to cut bars or tray bakes into nice, smooth squares.

* To keep cauliflower white while cooking - add a little milk to the water.

* Microwave a lemon for 15 seconds and double the juice you get before squeezing.

* To remove egg shells from a batter, use the remaining shell to attract the piece.

* If you need only 1/2 an onion, save the root half. It will last longer.

* One pound of all purpose flour is the equivalent to 4 cups.

* When using rice, remember that 1 cup of uncooked long-grain white rice makes 3 cups cooked.