Traditional English Sunday Roasts

What is it about Sundays and the sudden need to have a traditional English roast dinner? Is this the epitome of subliminal indoctrination or is it just a craving for carbs, fats and proteins?

Is it the roast potatoes cooked in fat, beef dripping preferably, the wide choice of vegetables or the anticipation of choosing which meat to have this week? Maybe it is a vain attempt to hold onto the memories of yesteryear.

I still have vague memories as a child of a traditional English Sunday. Church in the morning, a drink in the traditional English Pub with Dad and then home in time for Sunday Roast always served at 1pm. Walking in the door the aromas hit your senses and the anticipation grows.

On special occasions we would go and have a carvery – as much as you could eat, or persuade the server to give you, in the splendor of a Tudor English pub.

As to my favorite I have always had a weakness for beef, slowly cooked but still red in the middle, with Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and fresh vegetables of the season. Sometimes we would have chicken or pork and on special occasions lamb – oh how I loved that lamb. Pink with lashings of home made mint sauce.

Every now and then we would have a gammon joint but it was never the same.

No matter where I travel in the world those Sunday cravings just seem to follow me, even though each country I visit has its own culinary delights. Fortunately there will always be an Englishman that wants to open a bar and misses his English Sunday roasts as much as I do.

If I am really lucky there will be an “eat as much as you can” offer on the Sunday Roasts just like they always seem to do now with pizzas or curries.

Pizza for Sunday lunch? – nah.

A Gastronomic World

I learnt today that not only have I missed the annual Gastronomy event in Malaysia I have also missed most of the Gourmet Festival too. Looking at their website what an event it has been so far with another week to go.

Thirty of the top restaurants in Malaysia get together each year yet pitting themselves against each other at the same time to produce the best cuisine that they can. This is a true test of culinary expertise at its best.

Some of the events are closed to invited guests, just 20 in total whilst others are larger affairs. The Grand final Banquet caters for 1300 hundred people.

Call me a cynic but just how do you prepare and perfectly serve Gourmet food for that many people?

I have had a look at some of the dinners and oh how I wish I could be there, it’s not that far but the cost in money and time.

And it got me thinking just how many culinary and dining festivals there are around the world. Just imagine being able to travel the world sampling the best dishes each country has to offer – simply heaven.

Imagine a week in Japan and then onto China, perhaps then Russia or Central Europe. Dive down to travel through apartments in Italy or Germany (it is also Bier festival time now in Germany) and then indulge yourself in France. Paella in Spain and then across to Britain for some traditional English food, or even Scottish Haggis.

Fly the Atlantic and work your way down the east coast of America into Louisiana, Texas and into Mexico. Sample Argentinean beef and Brazilian Churrasco and then back up the west coast to Canada and Alaska then fly via Hawaii to New Zealand and Australia.

Then start all over again but several pounds heavier.

On the second time around we would need to stop off at all the places we missed like the Middle East and double check our favorite restaurants are as good as they were the year before.

So the first job is to check which countries have Gastronomy events when and then all I need to do is find the money – or at least keep the dream alive.

Cocktails and Dreams

I was at a party the other night and was served what was probably the worst Mojito I have ever had. In fact it was so bad my friends and I had 2 more just to make sure. This led to a heated discussion about what should be in a Mojito and subsequently on to what should be in which cocktails and their morphology.

For the record a Mojito should be made from brown sugar, mint, light rum, lime and soda. It should not have the crème de menthe that ours was served with…..

As far as other cocktails what comes from where?

Everyone knows that a Singapore Sling comes from the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore but you may not know that the Singapore Sling you drink around the world now is probably not from the original recipe.

A Manhattan, possibly the world’s oldest cocktail also comes in different forms. It is reputed to have been first made at the Manhattan Club in 1874 to honor the new Major of New York. There is even a festival each year in New York to celebrate it.

The Pina Colada – the epitome of a long cocktail – is credited as first created in 1954 at the Caribe Hilton’s Beachcomber Bar in San Juan Puerto Rico however a travel magazine has a reference to a Pina Colada going back to 1922 but in a different form.

My personal favorite is a Sazerac – a whiskey and pastis based cocktail that is reputedly the first cocktail invented in the USA and is said to predate the Civil War and was first made in New Orleans and in 2008 was appointed as New Orleans official cocktail.

Now I fancy a trip around the world, or maybe the Caribbean visiting the home of these and other famous cocktails – anyone want to join me?

Chocoholic

It is national Chocolate week in the UK this week and that got me wondering – how long have we had chocolate and where does the best chocolate come from?

It appears we have had cocoa – the raw ingredient for chocolate - for about 4,000 years and it was first discovered in the Amazon basin and was worshiped by the Aztecs. Christopher Columbus is credited with bringing cocoa to Europe but it was Herman Cortez who really introduced it commercially to Europe.

The best beans are said to come from Venezuela and the best chocolates have a high Cocoa Butter content – sometimes called dark chocolate.

Reports say that the buzz we get from eating such chocolates is linked to the serotonin in our brains and that in moderate doses it can even help reduce blood pressure – bring it on.

One of my happiest childhood memories was a trip to Cadbury’s World in Bourneville, UK. Here Cadbury’s make much of their chocolates that we all know and you can take a tour of the factory, sampling as you go- the closest you can get to heaven in my opinion. At the end of the tour there is a “seconds” shop where you can buy really cheap chocolate that still tastes great but is a bit misshapen.

The factory and tour is still there so why not grab the opportunity this week and make up your mind which is the best chocolate they do.

Do we need meat?

With all the discussions of global warming and the fact there are more people now than ever in history the need to reassess our food habits is growing greater. Improvements in scientific techniques means that we are getting better yields from root crops and more meat from animals.

What the long term of these scientific changes will be no one knows but if it is a choice between starvation now and potential health problems I can guess what most people would choose.

The yield per sq km from animals is much lower than that from grain and root crops and this is one argument put forward in favor of vegetarianism. Personally I believe we are omnivores and there is nothing better than a rare steak with a bottle of good wine.

All around Thailand towns and villages are celebrating the annual Vegetarian Festival which occurs at the start of the 9^th lunar month. People abstain from eating meet, drinking alcohol and having sex for 10 days.

They say it cleanses you spiritually and physically, a little like golf.

I was thinking of seeing if it works and doing the whole 10 days of abstinence but have realized I have a food and wine tasting on Monday so that kills 2 of the 3 abstinences,  

I will have to limit myself to watching the processions and the mediums that are said to be possessed by their ghost guides. Some of them do the weirdest piercings with knives, swords and even steel rods through their cheeks and upper bodies.

If you get the chance you should visit one of these festivals.

Does matching matter?

When it comes to what to drink with what food there are probably more opinions on the subject than there are grains of rice in a bag of it. At the end of the day whatever you like to drink with what you are eating is probably the right thing and having travelled the world a bit I can tell you that it also changes by region – what works in France does not necessarily work in a place in Australia or Chile.

If you like a pint of Lager with Foi Gras then go ahead and have it – but here is a suggestion….. for thousands of years people have been perfecting the making of alcoholic products and testing them against all variations of food.

For me Lager and Foi Gras is not a logical match – a properly chilled Gerwurstrimeiner or even a good Sauterne are much better – but I did not know it until someone introduced me to one of life’s perfect mixes….

I recently attend a Chaine de Rotisseurs Amical dinner – a combination of the best food the restaurant could prepare alongside the best wines they had available. All the food and wines were from the Venice region of Italy and great trouble had been taken to match the best with the best. 

The result – a dinner that was absolutely to die for. Course after course left you full of anticipation for the next culminating in a traditional slow cooked Oxtail served with an amazing Bradisimo 2004 Inama.

My personal tip – find a friend who really knows there food and wine then listen and learn. Alternatively join a wine or dining club and dive right in.