DEDICATION We’d like to dedicate this book to the farmers, producers and butchers who care about the meat we all eat, and to our mams who taught us how to cook it! CONTENTS TITLE PAGE DEDICATION MEAT FEASTS STARTERS AND SALADS SOUPS AND BROTHS FAST MEAT ROASTS AND POT ROASTS SLOW COOKING PASTIES, PUDDINGS AND PIES MINCED AND CHOPPED MEAT HOT, HOT, HOT A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY LOVELY OFFAL LEFTOVERS BASICS AND SIDE DISHES THE LOWDOWN COPYRIGHT MEAT FEASTS There’s something about the smell of meat cooking that signals a feast – it’s savoury, comforting and tempting. A steak on the grill, a roast in the oven, a casserole bubbling – they make your mouth water. You have a sense of anticipation that something tasty is on the way. Of course, we love all things veggie too, but this book is for the carnivore – it’s an unashamed celebration of meat. When we were kids, a meal wasn’t a meal without meat. It might have been just a bit of mince, a sausage or two or a cheap cut in a stew, but meat was at the heart of it. We had meat pies and suet puds, nourishing lamb hotpots in winter, a nice ham salad in summer. We ate plenty of offal – liver and bacon, steak and kidney – and soups made with beef bones, trotters and oxtail. Si’s mum had a tongue press, which looked a bit like an instrument of torture, but she would layer the tongue meat with fresh rosemary to make an Easter treat – and very good it was too. There were things we didn’t care for, of course. My dad ate honeycomb tripe and that was where my meat tastes stopped (Dave). My granddad insisted on cow heel soup being on the menu regularly (Si). Nowadays, as well as cooking roasts, chops and stews, we like to use small amounts of meat in lighter dishes such as stir-fries and fresh Asian salads. We cook up the less tender cuts in spicy curries and tagines, and experiment with more unusual morsels such as pig’s cheeks. With the cosmopolitan nature of our country now, we have the most extraordinarily eclectic range of food. Put our great produce with that multicultural inspiration and you have something very special. British meat really is good. The climate here is perfect for grass and perfect grass makes for great meat. Our traditional cattle produce beef without equal – in fact, we were the first people to breed cows for beef rather than dairy, and beef cattle such as Hereford, Longhorn, Galloway and Aberdeen Angus are among the best in the world. Our lamb and pork is fantastic as well. There are more than 60 breeds of sheep, including Herdwick, Kendal Rough Fell and Swaledale, and there are many traditional pig breeds, such as Gloucestershire Old Spots, Tamworth, Saddleback and Berkshire to name but a few. When we did our Food Tour of Britain telly series a few years back, we discovered that home cooks like us are becoming more and more interested in the quality of the meat we buy and where it comes from. We want to cook better meat and get the best from it. We want meat from animals that have been properly reared, fed decent food and allowed at least some time to roam. And it’s not just a moral thing – meat from animals that have had time to grow and roam tastes better! It’s a win-win situation. Many producers have responded to this interest. Our bacon is the best in the world, in our opinion, and sausages are now a gourmet item. Customers are rediscovering the value of a good butcher’s shop and supermarkets are offering a similar experience by providing butchery supermarkets are offering a similar experience by providing butchery counters as well as shelves of prepacked meat. There are farm shops too and farmers’ markets, where you can often buy direct from the suppliers. Most diet experts would agree that we shouldn’t be eating large quantities of meat every day. This is all the more reason to choose carefully and make sure that what you do eat is good and tasty so you enjoy it to the full. What’s more, good doesn’t have to mean expensive. Often the cheaper cuts such as shin, shoulder, neck and so on have a better flavour than your prime cuts. And you don’t have to buy big quantities of meat to make an interesting meal. In this book we have recipes for everything from roast rib of beef and prime steaks to meatballs, sandwiches and burgers. And check out our A Little Goes a Long Way chapter for loads of great ideas for making a small amount of meat feed the family. Meat is one of the best sources of protein and protein keeps you feeling satisfied for longer than carbs or fat. This means that meat is good even if you’re watching your weight. Red meat is also a source of iron and B vitamins, which are important in a balanced diet. Good meat is tasty, moreish and sustains you. SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE Cooking meat is about more than roasts and chops. It’s about making use of the less familiar cuts too. As a mark of respect to the animals and the farmers who raise them it seems only right to use as much of the beast as possible. This book is about meat, not chicken and other poultry. Most of the recipes are for pork, lamb and beef, but we have included some for veal and for wild boar, venison, goat and rabbit. We’ve divided our recipes not by types of meat but by styles of cooking, so we have chapters on Salads and Starters, Soups and Broths, Fast Meat, Roasts and Pot Roasts, and Slow Cooking. As well known pie lovers, we had to have a chapter on pies and suet puds. We look at mince dishes and we’ve a chapter on hot curries. We also have a chapter on offal – it’s good to make use of every bit of an animal – and one on using up any leftovers. Something for everyone. In these recipes we want to show that meat is not just for high days and holidays. We’ve included loads of ideas for mince, stews, sausages and so on – the sort of things we all want to cook and eat. And we’ve taken a fresh look at some classics. For instance, we’ve shared our recipe for Lancashire hotpot with you before, and we think it’s the best. When we put together this book we knew we couldn’t better it, but on the other hand – a book on meat without a hotpot? No way. So we came up with a new version – a sausage hotpot that we know everyone is going to love.