Ham Hock and Barbecue Beans

 

This is a recipe that works well with a little time spent on it  - I did it in a slow cooker but you could do it in the oven or speed things up a bit with a pressure cooker.

I used Black Eyed Peas (or beans) although Will-i-am was not harmed in the making of this dish.

Ingredients



Beans Soaking

1 Ham Hock (may need soaking to remove salt - check with your butcher)

1 Bag of Dried Black-Eyed Beans (or 2/3 cans) - if using dried soak overnight in plenty of cold water

2 Carrots
1 Onion
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 Carton/Jar of Tomato Passata
2 Tblsp Molasses or Black Treacle
1 Tblsp Chipotle Paste
2 Red Chillies
1 Pack of Diced Smoked Pancetta
1 Bunch of Thyme

Chopping the veg

Ready for the sauce base

Firstly finely chop the chillies, onion, garlic and carrot and place in pan with thyme.












Add the pancetta, molasses (or Treacle) and the chipotle paste and nix in the tomato passata.

To all of this mix in the pre-soaked beans.
Then place the ham hock onto the veg and beans. 

Meat Resting

If using a pressure cooker you will need to cook under pressure for about 45 minutes.
As I said I did mine the opposite way in a slow cooker - I did it on high for about seven hours.
After cooking lift out the ham and place onto a plate to rest for about 10 minutes

Check sauce and seasoning



At this point have a look at the beans and sauce and transfer to a hob if you feel it needs reducing and thickening a little.

Check seasoning - you may need to add salt - or not depending on your Ham Hock.








To serve remove the skin and fat from the hock and shred with two forks and either put back in to the beans or serve along side them with a little green salad or coleslaw.

Building my own Hot Smoker

Smokin'!
(or at least about to...)

 

I've always enjoyed the taste of smoked food. The salty sometimes acrid flavours permitting through a side of fish or a piece of cheese, and always given the choice go for smoked bacon, I hardly ever eat the non-Smoked variety unless I am eating it out where I'm not given the choice.
 



Homebase Galvanised Bin

So for some time now I've wanted to make my own smoker. I've been looking for sometime on the internet for different ideas, and then also this year Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty on Friday Night Feast (Ch4)  made one in their home build section although this one was fairly large made out of two full sized oak whiskey barrels, so I needed something more in keeping with my requirements and that fits within out home environment.

The type I decided to go with was using a full sized galvanised dust bin (the old school type of thing Top Cat used to live in!)

I chose to create one over a bank holiday weekend, so was able to take advantage of a 15% reduction in prices at Homebase. This is really the biggest outlay you need to make - somewhere between £20 & £30.





I'm a Firestarter, twisted Firestarter...

 

I brought it home and then set about making a fire inside of it, on the internet there is a bit of speculation as to whether the zinc used in the galvanising process is harmful or not so as not to take the risk, we had the fire. I literally put in some paper and dry wood and within minutes it was blazing away happily.

 

 

After the flames had died down a little and the inside of the bin had started to blacken the outside too started to change it's appearance going from a shiny silver to a dull white ashen look.

I chose a nice shiny bin to start with, it didn't last half an hour so done worry about what it looks like!
 

The Barbecue I used

Chips in the barbecue base
over the fire, with the grill pan
suspended

I let the fire subside a little and then took the base of a small barbecue and placed this on to the embers.

I bought wood chips from the barbecue section (again in Homebase - I'm not on commission though?!) they are quite widely available these days, alongside barbecuing paraphernalia.

Wood chips for smoking in a pan of
water (soaking)  pre-smoking

One thing you may not realise is that chips should be soaked in water a little before smoking. After half an hour in water I drained and then put the chips into the barbecue base over the burning embers.

The ones I chose were Hickory wood but any good hardwood will work - I've since bought oak and cherry and am looking out for mesquite - some people use whiskey barrel oak and you can soak the plain chips in an alcohol/wine etc. to impart extra flavours (I haven't tried this yet - when I do I'll let you Lon how it goes!)

The actual smoker I was making is an electric one based on a heating element in the bottom to smoke the chips and not have the need for a big fire every time. I have now purchased the element to facilitate this but that will be the basis of my next 'Smoking' blog - the next step...

But as the fire was there I thought I'd use it. The next thing I needed was the grill plate from the barbecue this I suspended with wire 'meat hooks over the top end of the bin.

For my finished version I intend to drill and secure a few bolts around the bins circumference to allow the grill to be suspended, again to be discussed next time.

Loin of Pork

Trout, sausage and Swordfish

As for this time - I now had to decide what I was to Smoke.
I got two fresh rainbow trout, a piece of swordfish, some pork chipolata sausages and a joint of pork loin.
I started with the sausage and fish as I knew it would not need as long in the smoker as the pork loin.



After putting the chips in the smoker you need to allow time for the smoke and heat to build up inside your bin. I tested this by looking for smoke and not steam and also by testing the temperature of the bin lid.
when I felt it was about right I placed all of the above on the suspended grill pan and left them to smoke for between 30-50 minutes. there are no hard laws on this if is a bit hit and miss. For the trout I waited until I could remove the top fins by hand showing that it was thoroughly cooked through, the swordfish had juices running clear and the sausage just looked plain cooked.


The Smoked Trout
(just being checked by
my little one!)

After removing this I placed in the loin of pork and obviously this took longer than the other pieces because of size and density of meat. The smoker relying on the fire was where this did not work as well as I expect it to in the future as eventually the fire died down resulting in a good smoked flavoured piece of pork but a not entirely cooked through piece, so it was into the oven to finish it off this time.

The Finished Pork Loin
The slight pink line around the
 outside shows a real smoking has
taken place.

Smoked Trout with Horseradish
Cream and a Radish Salad





The Bluebell Inn, Farnah Green,

The Bluebell Inn
Farnah Green,
Belper,
Derbyshire
DE56 2UP


On a rare weekday off from work a few friends decided to go out and explore the countryside around Derbyshire and of course this included a lunch out at one of our fine hostelries.

We made our way through Belper and ended up at The Bluebell at Farnah Green.

It is one of those places that I've known of for ever and yet never actually made it up there.

Set back on the through road in the village it seemed from the outside to be a fairly normal country pub.

The Restaurant side

On entering there were tables set in the 'pub side' and an airy purple restaurant side, eating with a baby/toddler we were guided to the quieter (empty) restaurant side.


The menu was a more basic pub grub affair not as 'frilly' as in days gone by, it has recently undergone a change in management.

There was a good choice with some very reasonable prices too!



Venison Sausage and Mash

Myself and a friend chose venison sausages on a bed of onions and mash served with a black peppercorn cream sauce. The sausage was a local one, firm and meaty with a hint of nutmeg and black pepper in the background. The mash was fluffy and fresh complemented by the onions (red). The sauce was the only 'let-down really, if it were not for the pepper in the sausage I would have thought I was eating Ikea's meatball cream sauce!
 

A very good looking Fish & Chips!

Others ordered fish and chips which was a large portion of freshly (according to the menu?!) battered fish served with chips and either mushy or fresh peas.
Tartare sauce and freshly cut chips complemented a large fresh piece of haddock.





Chicken Curry and Rice (Chips in another bowl!)

 

Another meal ordered was a chicken curry (no specific style named) which again was big, plenty of meat in a thick curry sauce served with rice. My friend asked for chips instead and they were served in an extra bowl along with the rice - carb overload!

All in all the meals were all of a good size and freshly prepared and served, we did feel a little on our own in the restaurant but we did make the most of that as we were not exactly quiet, and that wasn't down to the baby!
After clearing we had a look at the dessert menu and again there was a good selection of British pudding standards.

Banoffee Cheesecake
(sorry no photos of the other sweets)

Two of us chose the above Banoffee cheesecake which was thick and tasty with a a good layer of 'Dulce de Leche' in the bottom. There was a flavour of banana but I would have preferred a little more 'real' fresh banana in mine 

ice cream was also ordered as was coffee finishing off a good and fairly reasonable lunch out.
Somewhere nice to pop out to, not too far and yet you get a real feeling of being in the countryside, looking back over the townscape of Belper.