Pork Mince - fourth batch

For the final batch of mince I made 12 meatballs, in a spicy tomato sauce.

An action shot of my balls a bubblin'

For the balls, in a bowl I combined the mince with a very finely chopped onion and a couple of garlic cloves which had been briefly fried. Added to this was salt and a generous amount of black and white pepper, a healthy shake of dried thyme, a pile of breadcrumbs from yesterday's stale crust, the grated zest and squeeze from a lemon and an egg. I wasn't sure whether the egg was actually required (some recipes use one, others don't), so I took a punt and annoyingly it seemed to make the mixture too wet. So I added in some more bread crumbs and thyme to try to dry it a bit.

I then rolled them in my hands into balls, tickled them in some flour and fried them in olive oil for about 10mins until they had some colour and kept their form. They were then placed to one side.

For the sauce, I began by frying a sliced red onion, 4 cloves of garlic, chunked up red and green peppers, and two finely cut up red chillies. After a few minutes two cans of chopped tomatoes were poured into the pan, along with a further half a can of water. The sauce was seasoned with salt, pepper and mixed herbs, and a splashing of Worcestershire sauce and little flourish of sugar.

I then reintroduced my balls to the pan, half submerging them in the bubbling sauce. I allowed them to bubble for 30mins, after which I threw in small tin of sweetcorn to the sauce, and put some linguine on to boil. Just before draining the pasta I added a few cubes of butter to the mixture to give it a gloss. Oooo get me.

My balls resting upon a nest of linguine covered in spicy tomato sauce

Verdict
The balls themselves were really tasty. As stated before, lots needs to be added to pork mince to make it taste of anything. The lemon and pepper in particular really came through. The sauce was fairly standard and nothing special, but the linguine made a nice change. 7.1 out of 10.

Pork Mince - third batch: forth portion

Same pies as before, this time mixing up the flavas. With peas.

Seepage occurring through the roof

Verdict
Still good. Bit minced out now though Oooooh. 6.2 out of 10.

Pork Mince - third batch: third portion

With some off-cuts of the pastry from the pies, I scooped in some mincey mixture to make a kind of patty thing.

It's a bit a like a Ginster's slice. Only less good.

It was partly cooked on the mixture making day in the oven for about 20mins, then I gave it a further 40mins on eating night. It was combined, very cleverly, with some more curried beans, and a cooked-in-the-toaster waffle bridge.

The waffle bridge leads from Pattyville to Beanstown.

Verdict.
Alright really. A bit pastry-y. Nice bridge. 5.5 out of 10.

Pork Mince - third batch: second portion

A proportion of the same mixture as previous was given a normal and sweet and potato roof to become a Cottage Pie.

Oozing is occurring from beneath the normal and sweet roof

It was heated today in the oven for about 45mins, and had with some curry-powered infused baked beans plus some garlic bread which I made from some stale bread.

This picture makes it look like there was too many beans. There wasn't.

Verdict
Really tasty. The curried beans are a brilliant friend to the mash. Enjoyable. 6.95 out of 10.

Pork Mince - third batch

These pies were made a couple of days ago, from a big pan of essentially Shepherds Pie innards, which was bulked out with extra veg.

Look at the four lovely roofs.

All the veg (onions, celery, carrots, leeks, mushrooms) were fried first, then moved out of the way so the 500g-ish portion of pork mince could be also fried. Added to the meat was about a glass of red wine, then a pint of beef stock, then another pint of water. The veg was re-introduced, followed by attempts to flavour the gravy a bit more - comprising salt and pepper, Worcestershire Sauce, Marmite, mixed herbs, and half a tin of baked beans which was found in the fridge.

Whilst this had gone on, the pastry chef had made some short-crust pastry and lined four individual pie dishes. And made enough for four roofs. These were filled with the mixture after it had cooked for about an hour and popped in the oven for 45mins.

These weren't eaten on the day of cooking. On the day of eating they were warmed in the oven for 30mins uncovered, and 30mins covered. Green beans accompanied. And a blob of brown sauce.



Now with half a roof removal, mince and his vegetable friends are revealed

Verdict
Not wishing to damn with faint praise, but these were pretty good. Not amazingly flavoured, but very satisfying to come in to on a cold work night. Can't pretend that the pork mince has any taste whatsoever itself, but the pastry, veg and gravy, combined with the brown sauce, was lovely. 6.9 out of 10.

Hocks

These hocks were the biggest faff, for the least interest ever. Disappointing.

Two simmered hocks, pre skin removal. Mmmmm hairy.

In a process that took literally hours, the hocks which had soaked in water overnight, were put in the pot with a bottle of cider, a chopped red onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, some peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves and water. This was brought to the boil, then simmered for two hours.

The hocks were then removed, cooled, and stripped of all skin and fat, and the dark meat shredded off of the bone.

In keeping with the Nigella recipe which this was basically following, to accompany we made leeks in a white sauce and plain boiled potatoes.

Try to spot some flavour on the plate. Difficult innit.

Verdict
The whole plate was almost entirely devoid of flavour. The dark meat itself tasted quite nice when had with some extra English mustard, but on the whole the meal seemed Germanic in the worst possible way. 5 out of 10 (and all of those points are for effort).

Belly joint (rolled and stuffed) - leftover portion 2

Having discovered a half-used jar of Mrs Patak's Hot Madras paste at the back of the fridge, the remaining little bit of cold bellytons was used in a quick, cheat's curry.

I assure you a belly round is in there. Look. There it is.

A diced onion and green pepper were sliced and fried. These were followed into the pan by, of all things, a tin of kidney beans to bulk matters out. 3 hefty spoons of the curry paste were added and everything was fired for a minutes. A tin of tomatoes and a bit of water completed the mixture, which was left to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Some rice was plainly boiled.

At plating stage, the rice was formatted into the circumference, a belly round plus two lumps per person centered in the rice, with the curry mixture placed atop.

Verdict
Really nice. A bit weird how nice it was actually, considering how cheaty and no efforty the whole thing was. Will have to make a more proper curry with further pig elements in the future. 7.5 out of 10.