a cooking technique...
Breast - Sous Vide then water bath the breast at 55C. remove from the bag season and place into a hot pan skin side down to render fat and crisp skin.
To cook the breast in a pan. Take a heavy based pan like a cast iron pan add the seasoned breast in cold and slowly render the fat on a low heat. pour off the fat periodically. once the fat has rendered well gradually bring the heat up to medium/high to crisp the skin. flip the breast and quickly cook on the flesh side. remove the meat and rest for at least 5 mins.
Leg - Salt the leg for 3 hours with garlic and thyme then Sous Vide with duck fat. Water bath at 82C for 24 hours. Remove from the bag. you can now push the bones out if you want. sear in a hot pan.
Duck Crown Red Wine -
Hang the duck up in the kitchen and lightly blow torch the skin. Leave hanging for 5 hours minimum to semi dry the skin. Marinade the duck in red wine (Pinot Noir), garlic, rosemary and thyme for 7 days minimum. Sear the duck off in duck fat then cook in an oven preheated to 180C for 8 minutes. remove from the oven then allow the crown to rest for at least 5 mins before carving.
Chicken
a cooking technique...
1 breast - Chicken (highest quality corn fed)
place the chicken in a vaccum Pack bag and seal. Cook the chicken at 62.8C for 40 mins in a waterbath. remove the chicken from the bag then season and sear in a hot cast iron skillet... once the chicken has browned serve immediately for THE most tender and juicy chicken you will ever have!
Savoury Granola
90g - Pine Nuts (toasted)
90g - Puffed Millet
180g - Rolled Oats (toasted)
180g - Pin Head Oats (toasted)
180g - Medium Oats (toasted)
180g - Parmesan (grated and baked into a crisp)
140g - Pumpkin Seeds (toasted)
360g - Basil (fried to a crisp)
4 tsp - Garlic (chopped into a paste)
220g - Glucose
170g - Duck Fat
Heat up the glucose in a large pan. Add all the ingredients into the pan and mix well then add the duck fat. Store in an air tight container.
Porridge (Mingary Castle)
This simple Porridge is a staple of our breakfast at Mingary Castle.
THE OIL:
We add a flavoured oil to have a clean herbal not to the porridge. you are going to want to have this made.
500g - Grapeseed Oil
1 bunch - Lemon Verbena (picked and woody stalks removed)
In the Thermomix add the ingredients then blitz on full for 1 min. then set 6 mins 60C and speed 6. once this has done you can cool the oil and use or pour over some more verbena leafs and infuse for 24hrs to intensify the flavour.
THE PORRIDGE:
We use medium oats from Hardiesmill in Kelso in the Scottish Borders.
200g - Oats
350g - Water
taste - Salt
taste - Sugar or Honey
Beans Cooking
BEANS!
All dried beans must be soaked 24hrs minimum before cooking.
After your beans have been soaked refresh the water and add enough water to cover the beans, season the water. bring the pot to the boil then reduce to simmer. The main trick to this is that the beans cook slowly otherwise they will burst from there skin and turn to mush.
Fresh Spaetzle
This is German soft dumpling/pasta/noodles. this is a surprisingly simple preparation.
250g - Plain Flour
8 - Tbsp Milk
4 - Eggs
1 tsp - Ground Nutmeg
pinch - Freshly Ground White Pepper
pinch - Salt
Mix everything into a smooth batter consistency. Put on a pot of boiling salted water and add a knob of butter (helps with seasoning and stopping the noodles from sticking). Once the water is boiling put a colander over the pot but not touching the water and add the batter. With the back of a spoon push the mix through the holes into the water. Once they float they are ready to be lifted out and refreshed in ice water. now they can be fried in a pan with oil or butter and sauced. This works so well with Pesto or Gremolata both of which I have recipes for in the sauce section.
Fresh Gnocchi
Gnochi is a style of potato based pasta.
1000g - Mash (Dry and Cold)
128g - Corn Flour
128g - ”oo” Flour
1 - Whole Eggs
2 - Egg Yolk
1/2 - Nutmeg (Micro Planed)
to taste - Salt
Everything should be mixed thoroughly then rested in the fridge for at least 1 hour. now roll into long thin cylinders. Cut the cylinders into even pieces then pressed and rolled into a gnocchi board or if you dont have one you can use a fork. Then the gnocchi can be poached then sauced and served or pan fried sauced and served.
Fresh Pasta
Fresh pasta is on such a higher level then standard dried verities. although some higher quality dried pastas can be just as good spaghetti is one example where the dried kind are better than fresh because of the texture the old brass dies give the pasta. it allows the sauce to coat the pasta better that cant be replicated by cutting in a traditional pasta roller like most people will be using at home.
so you are going to want a to buy a pasta machine which is fairly cheap. if you get one or have one NEVER get it wet… it shouldn’t ever get that dirty but if you want to clean it after use. give it a rub down with flour and brush it off with a very dry pastry brush. you can use a rolling pin instead of a pasta roller but you will need to have some mad skills and a lot more time.
250g - ”oo” Flour
198g - Egg Yolk
1 tbsp - Olive Oil
pinch - Salt
Mix everything until it is well homogenised. then wrap it up and rest it in the fridge for at least an hour.
cut the dough in half or to what ever size you find manageable... then dust it in “oo” flour then roll it through the pasta roller on its highest setting a few times folding it in half each time to build up the lamination. Begin working down the sizes. if at any point your sheet tears or gets overly mis-shapen then fold it in half and feed through the last setting that you worked. you want to stop going down in thickness when you get to 2nd or 3rd lowest setting.
now you have your pasta sheet rolled out you can decide what shape to make fold it and stuff it into ravioli or tortellini or cut it into pappardelle or tagliatelle the possibilities are endless!
Tattie Scone
1000g - Potato Mash
200g - Plain Flour
100g - Butter
Taste - Salt
Mix well then roll out. cut into circles then fry in a lightly oiled pan until they begin to cook then flip. once the other side begins to brown then store in the fridge until needed.
Beet Meringues
600 - Beetroot Juice
Pinch - Salt
5g - Xanthum Gum
4g - Hy - Foamer
Mix everything well then put in a kitchen aid with the whisk attachment. Whip untill it has doubled in volume and forms stiff peaks. pipe onto silicone mats then dehydrate at 60C over night. Store in an airtight container.
Broccoli Paste
So this is basically an exceptional broccoli puree. It makes a perfect soup. we use on our broccoli dish accompanied by shavings of broccoli stem that have been marinated in an oil of broccoli leafs and fermented apple vinegar.
Broccoli florets
Seasoned boiling water
Add the broccoli to the water and cooked until soft but still very green. blitz on high speed in a blender. taste and season. you may have to moisten with some of the hot cooking liquid dont add too much as you want this to be thick and intense in flavour. Pass through a sieve into a bowl over ice to cool quickly, retain colour and freshness. this is best used the same day for intensity of flavour although if you are making this at home it will easily last 3 days in a fridge.
Cabbage Taco
CABBAGE TACO!! this dish is a regular for us because it is genuinely surprising the depth of flavour that can be achieved from cabbage when treated this way.
Like most people i hated cabbage growing up… because i had only ever had it cooked like most people cook it at home… which is chopped into large irregular pieces and boiled untill its mush and probably unseasoned. Now cabbage is one of my favourite ingredients because from my work with NoBadFoodLab and Mingary Castle I have had allot of time dedicated to exploring the flavours avalible from the humble cabbage.
So this recipe changes allot based on what is in our working larder at the time of preparation but the result is always phenomenal. its worth noting that the reason it usually has so many seasonings is because we wanted a dish on the menu that would represent our seasonal larder and the combined taste of the expertly mixed flavours and aromas always produces such and exciting product. usually I have found that the taste of the taco smells like our working larder cupboard which changes allot. A cornucopia of different ingredients locally farmed or foraged, some times import and exotic to Scotland but always a wide palate of flavours smells and colours.
Cabbage cut into circles (to use as the “taco” shell). blanched quickly in boiling water.
Cabbage sliced very thinly and blanched (drain well)
Douglas fir Oil
Douglas fir powder
Scots pine powder
Fermented white cabbage liquid
Chamomile flower capers
Wild garlic powder
Fermented apple vinegar
Cep mushroom powder
Wood-ruff powder
Water mint powder
Wild parsley power
Black currant wood powder
Cured egg yolk (grated)
Lemon verbena oil
Sea salt
Black garlic powder
Wild rose powder
Fresh apple dices
Kelp seaweed powder
Dulse seaweed powder
Like I mentioned above this list of ingredients change often but this is an example of what goes into this preparation.
Each of the powders, seasonings and oils we have made. if you want to know how anything is made contact me and I will upload the recipe
Skirlie Potatoes
This is an old Scottish potato preparation that can he done with whole new potatoes as well as mixed through mash.
Skirlie Mix:
Onions
Butter
Oats (toasted)
Cook the onions in the butter untill they have softened then add the toasted oats and mix untill it looks semi dry. then add to mash or saute new potatoes in the mix
I bet you hate these recipes with no quantities…. cooking is about touch, feel and taste every recipe should be a guideline that you can adapt and tweak to your own taste. Painting-by-numbers works….Cooking-by-numbers not so much…
Rumble-dee-thump Potatoes
This is a traditional Scottish potato preparation that originates from the Scottish Borders. it is very similar to Colcannon potatoes…. I have no idea about the name…
Onions
Cabbge
Butter
Mashed Potatoes
Cheese
Salt
The onions and cabbage are sweated off in the butter then mixed with the dry mash. Then the cheese and seasoning are added.
Again no quantities!
Love you mcbean