Ginger beer: setting up the plant

You need:
A jam jar
Dried yeast (i guess fresh yeast would do)
Sugar
Ground ginger

Put about a teaspoonful of dried yeast in the jam jar.
Add water, to fill the jam jar about 3/4 full.
Add a teaspoonful of sugar.
Add about 2 tsp ground ginger.
Stir.

Let the mixture stand at room temperature. After a short while it will send up a lot of froth.
If that happens you are all set. If it doesn't, well, probably the stuff is dead, and you need to get some better yeast.

Feed your plant daily in accordance with the instructions for the ginger beer (in another post).

Chicken Brick recipes / instructions

The whole brick should be soaked in cold water for about 15 minutes. Give it a good scrub. To cook your chicken you will require no fats, but brushing with olive oil before seasoning is recommended. According to taste, the inside of the brick can be rubbed with a clove of garlic before cooking each time to improve the flavour of the bird or meat being cooked. This is of course optional.

The brick containing the bird or meat should be placed in a cold oven which is then set at a high temperature (250C, 500F, Gas Mark 9). The time for cooking 1.5 hours for a 3lbs. bird or meat and pro rata - your brick size will determine weight limits. The bird will brown without basting during its cooking period. The juices obtained can of course be used to advantage.

To clean the brick after use, a solution of hot water with two teaspoons of salt or vinegar, and then a thorough washing with hot water, is all that is needed. Do not use detergents as the taste will remain in the clay.

Chickens:
The chicken should be cooked as described. Stuffing of herbs, herbs, and a few mushrooms are useful additions [double herbs as per the original leaflet! - ed.]

Pigeons:
Cook the same as chickens but additionally wrap each bird in a bacon rasher and season with thyme. Serve with potatoes or rice and salad or vegetables.

Pork:
Prepare brick. Incise the pork skin and stick with lemon rind and pieces of garlic. Season with rosemary or thyme. Remove the juice and place meat on serving dish (warmed). Remove fat from the juice, add half a glass white wine or cider and boil for 2 minutes. Pour over meat and serve.

Beef, lamb and other joints can be similarly treated - varying or omitting the seasoning as required.

Ham: 3lbs.
Soak ham overnight. Place in a saucepan with 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 4 allspice and 6 black peppercorns. Bring to the boil very gently and simmer for 45-60 mins, depending on the weight of the ham. Prepare the brick. A crust for the ham now has to be made. A breakfast-cup of fresh breadcrumbs and a dessertspoon of mustard (ideally Dijon) together with a little cider should be mixed to a paste. The ham should now be peeled, the fat should be stuck with 10 cloves and the breadcrumb mixture spread over it. Place ham in the brick and ook for about 1.5 hours. Pour off excess fat and replace with cider or fruit juice and serve.

Turkey:
Large brick needed. Treated the same way as chickens but taking a lot longer to cook. Ideally stuffed with chestnuts, sausage meat and gammon.

Duck:
As chicken. A goose of small size could be cooked in the large brick.

Experiments can be very rewarding and the suggestions above can of course be varied accordingly.

Ginger beer

This ginger beer is made from a "plant" which is a yeast culture that you feed for a week. The recipe assumes that you received the plant as a gift from someone else. (The recipe for making the plant from scratch can be found in another post).

You will need:

1. A jar with lid, holding about 1/2 pint of liquid
2. Strong bottles with screw caps or swing stoppers, designed for holding fizzy liquids under high pressure, at least 5 litres worth (you'll need a supply of these every week). Preferably they should be glass bottles, but plastic ones are easier to acquire.
3. A large pan or a new clean bucket capacity more than a gallon.
4. A large measuring jug, preferably 2 pts/1 litre.
5. A square of muslin or a clean hankie
6. A strainer
7. A lemon squeezer
8. A funnel is also useful if you have one
9. Containers for the plants you will give away (see below)

Part A: feeding the plant.

1. Put the starter sludge into the jar, and add about half a pint of water, leaving some space in the top of the jar.
2. Feed it with one tsp of sugar and 1 or 2 tsp ground ginger (according to how strong you want the beer to be), and stir.
3. Repeat step 2 every day for a week.

Part B; making the beer.
At the end of seven days, make sure you have two lemons and 1 lb of sugar.
Then you do this:

1. Wash out the bottles (you'll end up with a little over 5 litres of liquid) with very hot water (boiling water is best if they will stand it).
2. Boil a kettle of water.
3. Put 1 lb of sugar in the large pan or bucket. (NB I'm currently experimenting with using just ½lb for a lower pressure less sweet product).
4. Add 2 pts boiling water and stir to dissolve the sugar.
5. Add 4 pts tepid water (if the water in the tap is very cold, combine it with some hot water from the kettle). 
6. Squeeze two lemons and strain the juice into the water.
7. Clean the strainer and put it over the measuring jug. Spread the square of muslin over the strainer. Pour the contents of your plant jar into the muslin. Gather up the corners of the muslin and let the liquid strain out into the jug. Squeeze it gently to encourage it.
8. Put aside the muslin with the sludge in it, and add cool water to the strained liquid in the jug to make it up to 2 pts.
9. Add this liquid to the pan (check first that the water in the pan is not hot but only mildly warm).
10. Stand each bottle to be filled in the sink or a basin. Using the measuring jug, scoop the liquid out of the pan and pour it into the bottle, using a funnel if you have one. If you strained the lemon it should not be necessary to strain it at this stage. Leave some space at the top of the bottle for the fermentation gas.
11. Screw the cap on gently or rest the swing lid gently on top without pressing down the lever. Leave the cap loose overnight. 

Part C: Dividing the plant

1. Empty the contents of the muslin gently back into the jar you used to keep it in. 
2. Using a teaspoon, scoop out roughly half the sludge, and put it into another container (either a jam jar to give away, or a tiny sherd bag like the ones the spare buttons come in when you buy new clothes).
3. Make up your own plant with water, and feed it with sugar and ginger in the usual way. Carry on for the next week, as above.
4. Give the second plant to a friend, along with these instructions.
5. If you have no more friends, you can throw the second plant away (it's compostable).

Part D: Storing and using your ginger beer.

1. After about twelve to 24 hours, tighten the caps on your bottles and put them in a cool (but frost free) safe place.  Beware of exploding bottles. Once the fermentation gets going, about two days in, it's best to "burp" the bottles daily to let off a bit of gas. Do this carefully keeping a heavy hand on top of the cap to ensure that you can close it again when the bubbles start to rise. 
2. Leave them for about one week in warm weather, or two weeks if it's cooler, and then test one for goodness. Open it carefully like a very fizzy water bottle or champagne. It should smell good on opening. If it smells off, discard the contents. If it is too sweet, and has no fizz or pressure, it has failed to work. If it has too little fizz and is too sweet, it is not ready yet.

Crumpets

1/2 oz fresh yeast
5 teaspoons lukewarm water
4oz plAin flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp milk or a drop more
1egg
2 1/2 oz butter
Round crumpet rings or 3in cutters

Sprinkle the yeast over the 5 teaspoons of lukewarm water in a small
bowl and stand for 2-3 mins. Then stir well to dissolve the yeast. Set
the bowl in a warm draught-free place with the sugar for a few minutes
until the yeast bubbles up.
Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the
centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and the milk and drop in the egg.
Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon then add 1/2 oz butter until
smooth batter is formed.
Set aside in warm place for 1 hour until batter is doubled in size.
Clarify remaining 2 oz butter in small pan. Do not let it brown. Skim
off the surface foam and spoon the clear butter into a bowl discarding
the milky solids at the bottm of the pan. Grease griddle or large
heavy frying pan and inside surfaces of crumpet rings with about half
the clarified butter.
Arrange rings on griddle and put on moderate heat. For each crumpet
drop about one tablespoon of batter into each ring. When it begins to
bubble and the bottom becomes a light brown, remove the rings. Turn
the crumpet over and cook for a minute or two the other side. With
each batch you must grease the griddle and rings again.

Serve toasted, with butter or butter and jam / honey.

Roast Beef

Ingredients:
A roasting joint of beef (rib roast, topside etc)

• Weigh the joint and calculate the cooking time at the following rate*:

Rare: 20 minutes plus 20 minutes per pound
Medium: 25 minutes plus 25 minutes per pound
Well done: 30 minutes plus 30 minutes per pound

*Apparently prime cuts such as rib of beef and tenderloin need less time. Roasting it in a covered enamel tin will take a bit longer though.

When it's time to start, 

1. Preheat the oven to moderately hot (350ºF). 
2. Place the joint in a roasting tin. Standing it on a rack is supposed to help the bottom part of it to roast and not just boil.
3. Put the joint in the oven and roast it. If there is a lid, remove it at the beginning to brown the meat quickly at the start, and again at the end.
4. Make yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes as required.
5. Take the meat out of the oven five minutes before serving and move it to a warmed carving plate. Pour off the dripping into a dripping pot. Add some boiling water to the pan and stir over heat to get the dark brown beef extract off the pan.
6. Make gravy using the fat from the top of the dripping pot, thickened with flour, and then use the brown water from the roasting pan and the juices from the bottom half of the dripping pot.
7. Carve the joint at the table and serve with horseradish sauce, gravy, yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, and seasonal vegetables. Carrots, greens or peas and beans are recommended.

Sago pudding

Ingredients:

1 pint of milk
2 oz Tesco sago
1 oz sugar

Method

1. Heat the milk in a pan and sprinkle on the sago
2. Bring the mixture to the boil. Then simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar and serve.

Alternatively (to brown) turn into an ovenproof dish, dot the surface with butter, and bake at the top of a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 200ºC, 400ºF or gas mark 6.

Also good served cold with fruit.

Spaghetti aux Aubergines et aux Noix

I found this recipe which shouldn't be forgotten ;)

400g de spaghetti
150g d'aubergines coupées en dés
100g de tomates cerise
2g de romarin
2g de sauge
3 cuillères à soupe d'huile d'olive vierge extra
1 gousse d'ail
10 noix décortiquées
sel

Saupoudrer les aubergines de sel et les mettre dans une passoire pour les faire dégorger. Faire blondir l'ail dans l'huile, ajouter les aubergines et laisser cuire pendant 5 minutes.
Ajouter les tomates cerise coupées en deux, la sauge et le romarin finement coupés, les noix, faire cuire 5 minutes et saler.
Faire cuire les spaghetti dans une grande casserole d'eau salée, les égoutter 'al dente' et les faire revenir 1 minute dans la poêle avec la sauce.