ABOUT ME (January 2021)
I'm a passionate home cook. I believe cooking is a labour of love. I like to understand food processes. I enjoy learning the history of food, understanding and respecting the provenance of where the food has come from. If I am being brutally honest, I appreciate the skills and creativity levels in fine dining cooking, but it not something I aspire to. This is not to belittle the skills of these amazing chefs at all - I just often find that the process and costs involved to achieve such results at home are just not justified for a home cook.
I've had the pleasure and fortunate luxury to eat in Michelin starred restaurants and eaten in fine dining around the world, but I will still say the single most eye opening and astounding meal was when I was I was 15 on a family holiday in Gambia.
It was 1988 and the days before the "All Inclusive" or package holidays, and my late father, who was a well travelled man and loved his food, made us walk along what seemed like an endless beach in scorching heat (for an Englishman). Every 500m or so would be a building that served Fanta and some food....my father rebuked the all the offers to come inside for food. As we went further and further away from the Hotel, the establishments became smaller and smaller, more and more run down. Each time he would ask if there were any places to eat further on...every proprietor said "No, I am the last one"...my father never listened telling me there would always be one further along and we will find the very last one.
I'm a passionate home cook. I believe cooking is a labour of love. I like to understand food processes. I enjoy learning the history of food, understanding and respecting the provenance of where the food has come from. If I am being brutally honest, I appreciate the skills and creativity levels in fine dining cooking, but it not something I aspire to. This is not to belittle the skills of these amazing chefs at all - I just often find that the process and costs involved to achieve such results at home are just not justified for a home cook.
I've had the pleasure and fortunate luxury to eat in Michelin starred restaurants and eaten in fine dining around the world, but I will still say the single most eye opening and astounding meal was when I was I was 15 on a family holiday in Gambia.
It was 1988 and the days before the "All Inclusive" or package holidays, and my late father, who was a well travelled man and loved his food, made us walk along what seemed like an endless beach in scorching heat (for an Englishman). Every 500m or so would be a building that served Fanta and some food....my father rebuked the all the offers to come inside for food. As we went further and further away from the Hotel, the establishments became smaller and smaller, more and more run down. Each time he would ask if there were any places to eat further on...every proprietor said "No, I am the last one"...my father never listened telling me there would always be one further along and we will find the very last one.
After what seemed to be an eternity, we came across was was literally a tiny shed on the beach. A black man with a big smiling face beckoned us in. Fanta's appeared. There was no menu. My father spoke with this man (we soon learnt his name was 'Bakkery'), lots of laughter rang out. My old man always had ability to engage with anyone and get them laughing. I saw some kids run off to the sea and within minutes came back with some fish. We watched Bakkery put the fish and some root vegetable that later tasted like a potato, in foil, and put it into some embers.
After a short time he pulled it from the fire, smiled, and served us. "Fish and potato" as I call it. It remains to this day one of the greatest meals I have ever had. As a stroppy, hormone crazy adolescent, pissed off at everyone for no real reason I felt like I was hit by a lightening bolt. I learnt a valuable life lesson in walking that distance, in the heat, to come across a ramshackle shed in the middle of nowhere. All to have a simple meal that cost us literally nothing. I remember the blue wonky table, the holes in the walls, the sound of the plastic tarpaulin flapping in the wind, the food coming on a plank of wood, the bottle caps and glass being collected like a valuable currency, me seeing the kids picking through our leftovers through the cracks in walls. A simple meal that 30 years on I still recall. The next days my father employed 'Bakkery' to get a car and take us to places sight seeing the real Gambia like a taxi, and he even took us home to meet his wife and kids (he had about 10!) and they were enthralled by the flash on my father's camera. When we got back to England my father sent Bakkery pictures of him and his family. That meal cost us nothing in real terms, but I learnt a lot!
After a short time he pulled it from the fire, smiled, and served us. "Fish and potato" as I call it. It remains to this day one of the greatest meals I have ever had. As a stroppy, hormone crazy adolescent, pissed off at everyone for no real reason I felt like I was hit by a lightening bolt. I learnt a valuable life lesson in walking that distance, in the heat, to come across a ramshackle shed in the middle of nowhere. All to have a simple meal that cost us literally nothing. I remember the blue wonky table, the holes in the walls, the sound of the plastic tarpaulin flapping in the wind, the food coming on a plank of wood, the bottle caps and glass being collected like a valuable currency, me seeing the kids picking through our leftovers through the cracks in walls. A simple meal that 30 years on I still recall. The next days my father employed 'Bakkery' to get a car and take us to places sight seeing the real Gambia like a taxi, and he even took us home to meet his wife and kids (he had about 10!) and they were enthralled by the flash on my father's camera. When we got back to England my father sent Bakkery pictures of him and his family. That meal cost us nothing in real terms, but I learnt a lot!
I think this is where I learnt that sometimes simple food is best, respect traditions, and not to be distracted by the environment. Let the food speak for itself.
I now enjoy everything from the art and craft of making pasta, bread, sausages, jams, pickles and relishes. I've even tried foraging armed with an identification book attacking land and sea (ah...the joys of the seashore! Not sure the family enjoyed it when I found you could cook limpets!)
I've made wine from my own grapes grown in a tiny back garden in South London, brewed my own beer, made my own cider vinegar after scrumping, and love the world of curing & smoking.
I now enjoy everything from the art and craft of making pasta, bread, sausages, jams, pickles and relishes. I've even tried foraging armed with an identification book attacking land and sea (ah...the joys of the seashore! Not sure the family enjoyed it when I found you could cook limpets!)
I've made wine from my own grapes grown in a tiny back garden in South London, brewed my own beer, made my own cider vinegar after scrumping, and love the world of curing & smoking.
I often enjoy the process of preparation, understanding the processes and changes, and enjoy cooking more than I do eating the final result. I get more pleasure from seeing friends and family's faces light up with something I have prepared and created. I crave nothing more than taking some simple ingredients and combining them into something new.
You can a take one piece of meat and treat it/cook it so many different ways all with vastly different results. I find it amazing how every country can treat different cuts of meat in different ways based on what ingredients were traditionally available. To me cooking is therapeutic and great way to unwind. The eating is an added bonus. I love how if you talk to anyone else passionate about cooking they always have a tip or advice to share. I can't tell you how enthralled I was when I first learnt how quick and easy it was to make your own butter at home in 10 minutes!
You can a take one piece of meat and treat it/cook it so many different ways all with vastly different results. I find it amazing how every country can treat different cuts of meat in different ways based on what ingredients were traditionally available. To me cooking is therapeutic and great way to unwind. The eating is an added bonus. I love how if you talk to anyone else passionate about cooking they always have a tip or advice to share. I can't tell you how enthralled I was when I first learnt how quick and easy it was to make your own butter at home in 10 minutes!
I've been fortunate enough to have jobs that have enabled me to travel Internationally for work, as well as go far for holidays. I've found food is always a good conversation starter in any country I have had the pleasure to visit ; and taking the time to listen to learn to others talk passionately about what is a simple traditional recipe often leads to amazing little tips and tricks that give a "wow" moment. Whether it be discovering the delights of a US BBQ house or trying to find a shack far from the crowds on the beach, or trying to converse with a disabled Egyptian lady, who spoke no english, but just smiled as she made the most amazing flatbreads.
I have found that when it comes to cooking, sometimes keeping it simple really is best!
I have found that when it comes to cooking, sometimes keeping it simple really is best!
I cherish any opportunity to sit down with friends and family to eat, drink, and talk (often accompanied by wine). I have been fortunate enough to enjoy not only my mother's cooking but also my mother-in-law whose company I am not ashamed to say I really enjoy (my mother in law rules the roost with her puddings!) Meanwhile my father-in-law will spend >24 hours making the most luxurious and soul warming lasagne involving duck/chicken livers, with such precision in the process that if you need someone to project manage a landing on Mars he could do it in his sleep).
I enjoy cooking all types of food - sometimes brilliantly, sometimes eerrrr....badly...as my test guinea pigs (wife and kids) will testify to. But then I try the recipe again to improve myself until I am happy with the result.....whether I am trying to make an authentic Ukranian Varenyky or Azerbaijan Plov or fermenting my own Kimchi, or trying to make my own pizza dough for the outside oven. The one thing I have never been able to recreate is the "fish and potato" I had in a run down shack on a beach in Gambia.... and trust me I've tried!
I enjoy cooking all types of food - sometimes brilliantly, sometimes eerrrr....badly...as my test guinea pigs (wife and kids) will testify to. But then I try the recipe again to improve myself until I am happy with the result.....whether I am trying to make an authentic Ukranian Varenyky or Azerbaijan Plov or fermenting my own Kimchi, or trying to make my own pizza dough for the outside oven. The one thing I have never been able to recreate is the "fish and potato" I had in a run down shack on a beach in Gambia.... and trust me I've tried!
I find cooking hugely therapeutic and thoroughly enjoyable. If someone tells me I can catch or prepare the food then even better. I recall spending 3 hours hand trawling a Welsh beach whilst on holiday in cold and wet conditions to catch shrimp just so I could have a shrimp on toast. My proud haul was good bowl of brown shrimp that after I cooked up on toasted brown bread was a feast for King....and then the wife and kids wanted to try it and scoffed the lot! I got them back the next day by making a limpet and seaweed pate.....whilst it had the texture of pencil rubbers, it tasted of the sweetness of the sea and I felt like a modern caveman having foraged from the rock pools.
I have found recipes, domestic or foreign, give you insight into the culture and history of a region. I don't claim to be an amazing cook, but I consider myself a confident cook, (apart from puddings... i don't cook them ...I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and don't understand why they exist - I can't see a caveman finishing his fire roasted boar and then proclaiming what would like to top the meal off with a Millefeuille with a chantilly cream!) but I'm not afraid to try anything ; often leaning on my knowledge when presented with a challenge of "here's what we got - what can we make?"
Oh the joys of creating things with leftovers! But that is for another time....
I have found recipes, domestic or foreign, give you insight into the culture and history of a region. I don't claim to be an amazing cook, but I consider myself a confident cook, (apart from puddings... i don't cook them ...I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and don't understand why they exist - I can't see a caveman finishing his fire roasted boar and then proclaiming what would like to top the meal off with a Millefeuille with a chantilly cream!) but I'm not afraid to try anything ; often leaning on my knowledge when presented with a challenge of "here's what we got - what can we make?"
Oh the joys of creating things with leftovers! But that is for another time....
I am an absolute sucker for cookbooks - I have so many, covering many types of cooking from fine dining to burgers, from sushi to bread, from Korean to Italian but always find a gem of a recipe or new technique or new spin in every book. I can't walk past a bookshop or charity shop without seeing if there is an interesting non-mainstream cookbook to buy. And there is always a cookbook or three on my Amazon wish list!
I'm lucky to be blessed with 2 young boys who will spend time in the kitchen with me without much encouragement (so much easier when they were younger). These days they only get excited when the outdoor pizza oven is being fired up or when they get make fantastic Yorkshire Puddings which we have virtually every Sunday. (Check our amazing recipe here - its so easy I leave it to the boys to do.)
My fascination in curing and smoking foods, started around 2000-01 inspired by watching episodes of River Cottage and watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stick some homemade sausages in a chimney to impart a smoky flavour. I was enthralled by the foraging aspect of his cooking which opened up the countryside to me. He also cooked woodlice in a fritter, something I haven't tried (yet!), but apparently they taste like shrimp!
I'm lucky to be blessed with 2 young boys who will spend time in the kitchen with me without much encouragement (so much easier when they were younger). These days they only get excited when the outdoor pizza oven is being fired up or when they get make fantastic Yorkshire Puddings which we have virtually every Sunday. (Check our amazing recipe here - its so easy I leave it to the boys to do.)
My fascination in curing and smoking foods, started around 2000-01 inspired by watching episodes of River Cottage and watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stick some homemade sausages in a chimney to impart a smoky flavour. I was enthralled by the foraging aspect of his cooking which opened up the countryside to me. He also cooked woodlice in a fritter, something I haven't tried (yet!), but apparently they taste like shrimp!
As I began my curing research I found processes that have preserved meats for centuries, all in the days before refrigeration. Despite reading some great books on the subject (see REVIEWS for some good book suggestions) I found myself hesitant when I'd read about the need of "Prague Powder #1 or #2 (curing salts containing sodium nitrite and sodium chloride) or 'pink salt', the content would be heavily American centric, using unfamiliar cuts of meat, and using 'cups' as measurement. Playing with such chemicals and additives I saw as a modern preservative and didn't fit with the traditional cooking history I was seeking. I found the constant reliance on these additives a huge turn off and I never had the confidence to play with such things. We have been making bacon since 1400BC, a time with no refrigerators (maybe just a cold cave?) and I am pretty sure all they had was salt back then. We made salumi historically with just salt and added acidity (typically using wine).
Around 2006, I dove head first into the food smoking process when my girlfriend (now wife) bought me Bradley Smoker from a food trade show to fuel my love cooking and cooking gadgets further. I still remember her phone call asking if I wanted one ; it wasn't cheap at the time. I was so excited! After playing with hot smoking, and with a bit of adaptation (courtesy of some semi rigid aluminium ventilation ducting from a DIY store and an old port box), within weeks I had mastered the brining and cold smoking of salmon, haddock, cheeses, eggs, garlic, salt, and meats. I tried smoking anything I could get my hands on. Soon I was playing with different wood flavours and I had entered the world of food smoking. My friends and extended family would eagerly await the delivery of smoked goodies, some would look to take any opportunity to throw something in the smoker for themselves.
Around 2006, I dove head first into the food smoking process when my girlfriend (now wife) bought me Bradley Smoker from a food trade show to fuel my love cooking and cooking gadgets further. I still remember her phone call asking if I wanted one ; it wasn't cheap at the time. I was so excited! After playing with hot smoking, and with a bit of adaptation (courtesy of some semi rigid aluminium ventilation ducting from a DIY store and an old port box), within weeks I had mastered the brining and cold smoking of salmon, haddock, cheeses, eggs, garlic, salt, and meats. I tried smoking anything I could get my hands on. Soon I was playing with different wood flavours and I had entered the world of food smoking. My friends and extended family would eagerly await the delivery of smoked goodies, some would look to take any opportunity to throw something in the smoker for themselves.
Information was still fairly limited at the time, even on the internet and heavily centric around online discussion groups. I just couldn't find all the information I wanted. Finally, in Sept 2013 I attended a curing and smoking course at River Cottage HQ in Devon, hosted by the fantastic Steve Lamb. He was the final piece of my puzzle in that everything he passionately explained was exactly what I had believed in. He gave me the confidence to continue on my cooking journey to tackle salumi, charcuterie and sausages with aplomb. That course was an awakening moment. And since attending I've made traditional streaky bacon, back bacon, salami, pancetta, bresaola, guanciale, and lonzino and loved my salumi journey. I've since taught this to friends who have wowed themselves with the simplicity and results. Both my boys enjoy salami (we used large cuts of salami as teething rings when they were young) and my eldest has a favourite that I still need to make .....a lightly smoked ostrich kabanos, which I found in a polish market many years ago - I now can't wait to tackle that.
In talking with friends, and hunting for new traditional curing recipes, I soon realised that many recipes just aren't clear enough about each stage. Some are just too daunting taking the assumption that the reader knows what they are doing. They don't answer the questions I had. Can I use table salt? What is PDV salt? How is it different? What is Pink salt? What is Prague Powder? Why should I do this part? Argghhh it's ruined as there is mould! It's not been in a fridge for weeks - Is this safe to eat? I can't do this surely? Surely this is all very complicated?......its not, honestly. I am 100% convinced that pressures of the modern day commercial requirements have overcomplicated recipes and caused other valued and traditional recipes to be lost.(See the Pitina salami as an example)
I hope by sharing some my experiences and recipes here you at least have a go at one of them. Curing and smoking, fits within what I call 'craft cooking', all artisan processes, and foods that needn't be difficult and I'm trying to take the approach to only use what is to hand in the kitchen or easily available in the supermarket or butchers. No additives. And trying to keep as traditional as possible.
I hope you enjoy the site and gain some confidence to give some the recipes a go! You can then continue on your own journey (but do let me know how you get on!)
XX
Will
a.k.a. The Heavy Metal Cook
I hope by sharing some my experiences and recipes here you at least have a go at one of them. Curing and smoking, fits within what I call 'craft cooking', all artisan processes, and foods that needn't be difficult and I'm trying to take the approach to only use what is to hand in the kitchen or easily available in the supermarket or butchers. No additives. And trying to keep as traditional as possible.
I hope you enjoy the site and gain some confidence to give some the recipes a go! You can then continue on your own journey (but do let me know how you get on!)
XX
Will
a.k.a. The Heavy Metal Cook