Inherited Recipes

Click here to visit Inherited Recipes 

This group will be dedicated to inherited recipes – family favourites that have been handed down over the generations. Personally I am interested in Old Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Gaelic and Celtic recipes, but anyone is welcome to join this group from any Country and Culture. There are many areas that would be interesting from North African to Darkest Peru and from Japan to Mexico.

Would find it interesting to see how some recipes have been modified by generations and how many people have kept the ingredients and methods to the letter. They don’t have to be old recipes, they can be modern and only have one hand-me-down, or even a recipe that you love at the moment that you hope to hand to your kin. They all count

Also welcome to the group are the people who work in the food trade, the old hotels and restraunts that have their menu steeped in traditions, we would be honoured to hear how visitors react to the tradition.

Please feel free to post any recipes that you feel will fit within this category. Any genere of recipe will be appreciated as long as it tastes good )

ORIENTAL – Five-Spice Roast Pork with Bok Choy

Five-Spice Roast Pork with Bok Choy
Serves 4

650g pork loin
1 tsp each five-spice powder and black pepper
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely crushed
100ml hoisin sauce
1 tbsp rice wine (or dry sherry)
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
300g bok choy
Sesame oil, to drizzle
2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 Trim off the fat from the pork loin and discard. Place the meat in a large bowl. Mix together the five-spice powder, pepper, salt, sugar, garlic, hoisin sauce, rice wine and soy sauce and pour it over, ensuring the pork is well coated with the marinade. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and chill for at least six hours, preferably overnight.

2 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ Gas 6. Reserving the marinade, place the pork on a wire rack set over a roasting tin and add a splash of water to the tin. Roast for 40-50 minutes, turning and basting the meat with the marinade every 15 minutes, until the pork is cooked through. To check, pierce the thickest part with a metal skewer — the juices should run clear.

3 Rest the pork for 10-15 minutes before slicing into bite-sized pieces. Meanwhile, blanch the bok choy in a pan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain well. Mix the sesame oil and oyster sauce together in a small bowl. Arrange the bok choy around a serving platter and drizzle over the sauce. Place the roast pork in the centre and serve immediately with fried noodles or steamed rice.

CLASSIC DISHES – Steak and Kidney Pie

Steak and Kidney Pie
Serves 4

50g plain flour
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
600g chuck (or braising) steak, cut into 3cm pieces
30g unsalted butter
Olive oil, for cooking
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 tsp tomato purée
450ml beef stock
1 bay leaf
Leaves from a few sprigs of thyme, plus a few sprigs for garnish
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
100g chestnut mushrooms, trimmed and halved
300g ox (or lamb) kidney, trimmed and chopped into large pieces
300g puff pastry
1 large egg yolk, beaten to glaze
1 Mix the flour with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the steak pieces in the seasoned flour, tip into a large sieve and shake off any excess flour.
2 Melt half the butter in a large, heavy-based casserole with a drizzle of olive oil (which will help prevent the butter from burning too quickly). Fry half the steak pieces over a medium-to-high heat until browned all over.
Remove to a plate and continue with the remaining meat, adding more oil and butter as necessary, until you¹ve browned all the steak.
3 Add a little more oil and fry the onion until softened and lightly golden.
Add the tomato purée and stir for a couple more minutes. Pour in the stock and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze. Return the browned meat to the pan and add the bay leaf, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer gently for 2½-3 hours until the beef is fork tender. Stir in the mushrooms and kidney, then turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a 1.5 litre or 1.7 litre pie dish.
4 Preheat the oven to 200C (Fan 180C)/Gas 6. Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of a £1 coin and cut out a shape 5cm wider than the pie dish. Using the pastry trimmings, cut out 2.5cm wide strips for the edges of the dish. Brush the lip of the dish with water and press the strips of pastry on to it. Brush the strips with water and place the pastry over the top. Press down the edges to seal then trim off any excess pastry on the sides. Insert a few sprigs of thyme in the centre of the pie to allow steam to escape, and garnish with some pastry leaves, if you like. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg then bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

Gordon Ramsay, My hero

Gordon Ramsay is THE utmost in the TV chefs. A footballer, turned, michelin star chef, Gordon does not beat around the bush, he doesn’t lick ass, he tells it exactly as he sees (and tastes) it. You have to admire him for that alone.

Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his passion for food. This shows in all his programs. He does not fob you off with the usual crap, but gives you new twists on classic dishes. His simplicity in his ingredients makes it amost childs play to reconstruct these at home.

I am hoping one day soon to visit his restaurant (when he is there cooking) and taste this to myself.

Personally, behind that arrogant, tough exterior – lives a heart of a lamb.