Dish 2, 3 and 4: The Crispiest Skin Pork Belly, Honeyed Carrots, Pomme Puree

The dish

Yesterday I prepared The Crispiest Skin Pork Belly (p. 92). I usually don't eat a lot of pork, because I don't like the taste of it very much, but I had never really had pork belly, so I was definitely keen to try this.

Other than pork I also prepared some Honeyed Carrots (p. 73) and Pomme Puree (p. 60), to accompany that slab of meat. I have prepared honeyed carrots before, but for those I took inspiration from Julie Goodwin's cookbook. I was curious to see how much these carrots would differ from that recipe. Naturally I have also prepared mashed potatoes before, but I have never actually pressed potatoes through a sieve, despite having seen it done on various cooking shows.

The preparation

A trip to the butcher's got me some nice pork belly, although I bought a little over half of what the recipe required, because I only prepared it for two people, whereas the recipe is for a company of four.

If you don't like handling meat or seeing that meat comes from "a real animal", keep in mind that carving the pork's skin may be a little daunting. In the broad daylight, seeing how much their skin and ours look alike, it really makes it sink in that this used to be a living animal.

Anyway, I carved the skin, which proved to be a little trickier than expected. I guess my chef's knife just isn't as sharp as I'd hoped, because it was quite hard to get through.

I figured that because the piece I bought was so much smaller than the one in the recipe, I would be fine putting it in the oven for a shorter period of time. However, because it was the first time ever I had made it, I wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like after the first scorching 30-40 minutes. Strangely enough, despite having salted both sides equally, only one side started to look like I know crackling to look like, whereas the other stayed white and dry. I still don't know what happened there.

Because it took the full 40 minutes for the better half to look crispy, by then I decided I would just follow the recipe as it was, overcooking the pork be damned. I'm fine with messing up a dish if it's the first time ever, so that I know what went wrong.

In the meantime I started on the pomme purée and the honeyed carrots. Luckily I had done both of these before, and since neither required the oven (whereas Julie Goodwin's honeyed carrots also spend some time in the oven), I could combine it perfectly.

First time ever I pressed boiled potatoes through a sieve with a tea towel. And yes, the purée was silky smooth and to my big surprise the pan I mixed the potatoes, milk and butter in stayed almost perfectly clean, and the purée began to look like a kind of dough. Perhaps it was a bit like gnocchi in that sense. Interesting.

Final result

Was the pork belly crispy? Definitely! You couldn't hear yourself think when chewing it, and I have proof in the form of a video which I may or may not post later.

The pomme puree was super smooth, and because I added extra butter, had a great flavour. All in all, however, I'm much more of a chunky mash eater, so although I know that I could make some of my friends really happy serving them this puree, I myself probably won't make it this way soon again.

As for the carrots, although I couldn't really mess up there, I do think I was a little overenthusiastic with the lemon juice. The carrots, although lovely, sweet and fresh, were a little on the sour side, thanks to this overdose of lemon juice. It did accompany the silky creamy puree and the fatty pork crackling perfectly, though!

If you do love pork, this dish is amazing. If, like me, you're not a big fan of the flavour of pork, I would give this dish a miss. Over all, for a cold and snowy day, such as the one we had yesterday (and today), why not prepare such a wintery meal?

Next time

Next time I will prepare an Andy Allen dish a little later than the weekend, because, as it goes, those days are already planned full. Instead I'm going to go for the Mid-Week Beef Curry (p. 51) on Tuesday or Wednesday. Perhaps it is a little easier than some of the other dishes, but I find that with limited time, one needs to make such choices.

You already know what I will prepare the week after that, and if the recipe is really simple, I will also attempt one of Kylie Millar's desserts. Which one, I don't know yet.

Stay tuned and see you at our next elemental meal!

Dish 1: Smoked Salmon Rillettes

As announced before, for my very first Andy Allen dish I prepared a starter: Smoked Salmon Rillettes (p.97). I know, I know, the book says "Rilettes". But that's wrong, okay?

The dish

It is a good thing I didn't look up what rillettes really stood for beforehand, because I just learned that my only experience with rillettes up until now was the pâté that is a speciality originating from the area of Le Mans, France. When on exchange there for a few weeks 14 years ago, back in 2000 when I was 15 years old, this was what they had put on our bread when handing over our lunch boxes, and although I was never a poor eater, I couldn't stomach it. I can still vividly remember the pink paste with the fatty goo. The only leftover I have of that experience is the thick plastic container that still holds all the necklaces and bracelets that I wore in those years. Ahhhh the memories.

But anyway, this recipe has changed my mind about rillettes. Or at least about salmon rillettes.

The preparation

Naturally I read through the recipe before preparing it, and I was happy to find it was my kind of recipe. You chop some things up, chuck them all in one bowl and mix it. Alright, not quite, but that is basically it. Nothing super intricate. If you have all of the ingredients, a chopping board and a knife, you're pretty much set.

I don't eat salmon in many varieties, and I must admit, this is the first time ever that I poached it. First time ever that I poached anything, really. But it was reassuring to read that after all the sous-vide'ing I had seen on TV, I just needed to put the salmon fillets in a pan and pour boiling water over it. Well, over...? Just a small tip: pour the water in next to the salmon. Putting that stream directly onto the fish will make it burst apart, and unless you want to sift the water afterwards and end up with watery salmon soup, you had better make sure the fillets are fully covered by the water without the stream hitting the soft flesh of those fillets.

Check out my awesome kettle!

You then just have to set it aside for 30 minutes. Note to self: use a timer! I'm a huge fan of the timer when it comes to baking, but when it comes to cooking I tend to wing most of it. So naturally, I forgot. Luckily for me I didn't have any baguettes so I had put its replacement (crusty bread-rolls) in the oven soon after I had put away my poaching salmon. As they had to be in the oven for 10 minutes, I could easily add 20 minutes to that. Phew! Like I said: new to poaching. No clue what happens if you leave salmon poaching too long. I expect most of the fluids and taste will evaporate, but I didn't want to risk it.

As always, my faithful audience

On to the chopping! I'll have you know that unless you are a disaster with a chef's knife, the poaching is about the hardest thing you'll have to do. Unless you're not a native speaker of English or don't live in a country where the language is English. In my case, I had to translate most ingredients and some of the measurements to Dutch. Because what on earth are baby capers? All I know are little capers (Dutch: kappertjes). Were those the baby versions of regular capers? But then, what are regular capers? Oh the joy! So much to learn! 

And then measurements. Maybe it's an Australian thing, but I am not quite sure what "a bunch" means in terms of amounts of herbs (dill, for instance). And I'll have you know that you don't just need "a bunch". No, you will need half a bunch. I looked at the amount of herbs I had in front of me and just grabbed some. I admit, I did check in the back of the book (where Andy thankfully explains that in terms of liquid, a cup means 250ml) to see if a bunch was equivalent to 15g. No such luck. :( 

"Half a bunch" of dill

I'll probably have to learn that while I am the kind of cook who usually follows her gut instinct, when I have a recipe I want and need to follow to a tee this may just turn out to be impossible. Descriptions such as a bunch don't help. Alright. Relax. This is an Australian cookbook. Breathe. I'll just start with the capers. Baby capers. At least those amounts were in tablespoons. Lovely! I have those! 

Bad luck. The jar that held the capers was actually too small for my tablespoon. Instead I grabbed a teaspoon and once again took a wild guess (three big ones!). It didn't really matter because I love (love love love!) capers. The more the merrier.

Let's use a teaspoon instead!

At this point I had reached the "whatever, as long as it tastes good" point of the recipe. Eventually I will always reach this point in a recipe, regardless whether it is supposed to be easy or hard. My inner perfectionist (not at all a domestic goddess) just throws her hands up in the air and lets herself drop down onto a proverbial couch. No assistance from her. Maybe I should be glad, because winging it is just more my style.

Alright, so quite some chopping later, this was the result as I waited for salmon to be done poaching.

I cut the crusted bread-rolls into slices and started grilling them. They smelled so very good. 

I don't know about you, but I always underestimate the time it takes me to follow a recipe, so by this time I was getting quite peckish.

Thirty minutes up, I got the salmon fillets out of the water. They felt sturdy. Now to flake them into a big bowl.

I should have done this sooner, as the flakes were supposed to cool down before adding the rest of the ingredients. I chucked the bowl in the fridge.

Finally I got to my favourite part: mixing everything together and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Lo and behold, the final mixture sort of looked like the one in the cookbook. Huzzah! 

Final result

The recipe I followed states that you will have enough for 6-8 people. When I ended up with the mixture I wasn't so sure. But trust me, it does serve 6-8 people, if not more. With all that protein from the fish and crème fraîche (which I love as well, so thanks, Andy) you will be stuffed after a few slices of toast. 

The best thing about this recipe is that it is so simple that you only need to make it once. By now I know exactly what I need to do in order to make this delicious variation on a salmon pâté.

I definitely recommend using the lemon cheeks (the term alone is adorable) and the cornichons, because they really add the fresh acidic notes to the rillettes.

All in all, this is an amazing recipe, and not just as a starter. Go ahead and prepare this if you are having some friends over. Instead of opening a bag of crisps, just prep some toast and this will make a great snack. Just don't forget the lemon cheeks and cornichons!

Next time

I haven't even reached page 35 of the cookbook and already I have spotted at least four out of the six recipes I would love to prepare for girls' night. Unfortunately, girls' night is at least four weeks away and although I have already decided by now that I am going to prepare Roast Beef with Winter Vegetables (p. 52) for them (after all, it is still winter in the northern hemisphere), this is not helpful. Nor is it helpful that among several recipes I already spot ingredients that I know are going to prove difficult to find here.

So I have decided that next week I will be preparing not just one dish out of The Next Element, but several. First up: The Crispiest Skin Pork Belly (p. 92). I am not much of a pork eater, but I am curious about the dish the entire Australian nation seems to rave about time and time again. Chef Gary Mehigan's Twitter handle is even CrispyCrackling, so there you have it. 

To go with the pork belly I will prepare Honey Carrots (p. 73) and some mashed potato (Pomme Puree, p. 60). Of course I have made my own mashed potato before, but I can't just go around skipping recipes because I have already made something similar. Besides, it has some clear instructions when it comes to measurements, so it can't really go wrong. :)

Stay tuned, and see you at our Next Elemental meal!

(Told you I'd do it.)

Taking On "The Next Element"

What am I going to do?

I am going to attempt... No, I am going to prepare all recipes from Andy Allen's The Next Element.

But why?

Let me take you back to the beginning of this idea and the fall of 2012... 

What follows is something you can skip if you just don't really care why.

I met a girl at a Halloween party - while dressed up as a pop art character - and discussed my love for the show with her. 

She immediately asked me which season I was watching. I honestly didn't know. I had seen the very first one, with Julie Goodwin (whose cookbook I also own) and after that I knew I'd missed one. Or two. I merely said, "Um, the one with Ben [Milbourne]." 

Reason behind this was that he had, from day one, reminded me of one of my favourite Dutch speedskaters, Simon Kuipers. Sometimes the likeness was creepy. But I'm digressing.

She asked me, "Is there a guy named Andy in there?"

I remember thinking hard, and stammering, "There's an Andrew in there... The hairdresser?"

"No, he's a younger guy," she responded.

And then I realised that she meant "the cute guy" (yeah, sorry). Andy was kind of quiet, in my opinion. He had been floating along the middle section of the competition, not showing great skills just yet, but hardly ever ending up in the bottom two. There was Ben. There was Sam. Beau-y. And then there was the other cute one. I'm not sexist, by the way. Kylie [Millar] was (and still is) one of my favourite girls on MC Australia Season 4, so I'm thrilled Andy's cookbook contains some of her recipes. 

Anyway, back to the Halloween party. My new friend informed me that if I liked Andy, I would definitely like this season. Obviously this turned out not to be a spoiler at all... She also told me that, by the by, she had met Andy's sister when travelling around Europe. This piqued my interest greatly (hello, two steps to one of the Australian MC contestants? Awesome!), so of course I started paying more attention to Andy.

Not that I could have ignored him. As days went by and contestants left the show, Andy started to develop and show more and more of his skills. And naturally we all remember the incident with the piping hot pan from the oven that took him out of the competition for one luckily elimination-free challenge or that incredibly emotional elimination test up against Sam at the Stanley Pub in Tasmania. ("It was Sam up against that cute guy and it was super tough, but they both got to stay!" I told my flatmate afterwards. I nearly cried during that, right along with George Calombaris. Thanks, guys.) 

But just like Julie Goodwin's cooking inspired me during season 1, Andy inspired me during season 4. Let me get one thing straight: I love fish. Unfortunately I don't prepare it often enough. Let's face it, Andy has fish-skills. He can catch 'm, fry 'm, bake 'm, eat 'm... So who better to take fish-preparing advice from than Andy? In other words: I needed to have his cookbook and try out all of his recipes. Pronto.

By the time I had finished watching season 1 of MC Australia, Julie Goodwin's cookbook Our Family Table had been readily available. Andy's cookbook? No way. Despite the fact that he had won in July 2012 and we had seen the finale in November or December, the cookbook would not be available in the Netherlands until early 2013. After a month or two, early 2013 turned into April 2013.

"No problem," my best friend assured me. She was going to buy it for my birthday (April 2nd). It would arrive a few weeks late, but at least it would be there. I would have it. And then I would be able to start my culinary and fishy experience.

If you skipped the part above, feel free to join in again here!

So here we are in 2014, and I'm about to take step 1 in Andy's The Next Element. I admit, I've had the book for months already (eventually I received it by May 2013), but just leafing through it and seeing all those things with more than four legs (crab! lobster! yabby!) freaked me, Miss Super Arachnophobe, out. 

Yes. Before we (well, I) start you should know that I don't like most things with less than 2 and more than 4 legs (with the exception of a five legged lamb). Besides, how on earth was I going to get hold of yabby, which is a completely Australian thing? I live in another hemisphere, in another country, on the other side of the world. I'm pretty sure I can't get yabbies over here. But back to the legs. There are just too many of them. Even eating gambas freaks me out, even though I tried to conquer that bizarre fear just a few months ago, when my order of gambas led to the ultimate dilemma: touch the creepy (dead and fried) creatures or go without dinner. I chose dinner. With shivers. And a little bit of repulsion.

So despite all of this, I'm going to do it. And I'm going to start tomorrow with one of Andy's favourite starters: Salmon Rillettes. He told my flatmate and best friend to prepare them for girls' night last Friday, but considering one of the girls attending hates salmon, she decided against it. I promised her I'd make this starter for her. Besides, what better way to start this journey than by preparing a starter?

I am not Julie Powell and Andy Allen is not Julia Child to me. I don't want to be him. I don't want to master the art of preparing fish. But I do want to eat more fish and try out other things that I usually don't. I want to eat more Mexican, because I don't really see the appeal (so thanks, Ben!). And let's not forget Kylie's amazing desserts (honestly, I'd feel much more comfortable starting with her recipes). 

But first and foremost: I want to overcome my fear of things with too many legs and exoskeletons. 

What am I working with?

I live in a 100 m2 apartment which I share with my best friend. We have a tiny kitchen and a regular sized oven. We also each have a cat. Hers is a whiny and ever hungry Maine Coon. Mine likes to sit on the rubbish bin when I'm cooking or doing the dishes, watching my every move and making sure I'm not slacking off. 

This is my cat. She tends to look at me like this.

The kitchen we have is ordinary. We don't have a lot of working space. We don't have a dishwasher. There's enough space to do things, and because I'm a clean cook, that usually isn't a big problem.

As I just returned from my grandfather's 90th birthday party, I am not going to show you pictures now. You will see the kitchen from now on, because I will be posting updates with regards to my trials and what I am sure will be many errors. 

And finally...

I definitely won't prepare a Next Element dish every day, but for now my goal is to prepare a dish at least once every week, even though I can't promise that this will happen. I am counting on my lovely flatmate to keep me in check, especially when I can no longer avoid the exoskeletons and the going will get tough (or creepy).

I apologise for the lengthy babbling this first post has turned out to be, and as I get used to Blogger I hope to get better at its layout too, because I can't seem to get rid of the random blank lines, and I am in a frustrating battle with the headers. Fyi, I'm losing.

Good news, though, from now on posts will have many more pictures (yay, pictures!).

I would love for you to join me during this experience, and if you do I hope you will enjoy the ride!

See you at our (first) Next Elemental meal!

That is totally going to be my catchphrase, just so you know.