Honey roast Gloucester Old Spot/ Berkshire cross gammon cooked in Piddle in the Hole ale

Cooking gammon in cider was a revelation from Carol Webb about 5 years ago. Looking for new bistro menu ideas in January this year, Ethan suggested gammon and it morphed into this & has been very popular from the moment we first served it.
The gammon from Home Farm (they have a new collie puppy btw - so cute) starts off being braised in the wonderfully named ale brewed around 15 miles away for 7 hours - so it is meltingly soft.
Then glazed with honey and spices and roasted.
The juices and some of the reduced cooking liquor is made into a beer, honey & mustard dressing to go with it.






This particular gammon is from Cheltenham race week (18 events in one week - amazing) and the clients wanted it cold with a selection of salads - a nice simple meal after travelling to the Cotswolds from Ireland. It must have been good - they re-booked for next year's Cheltenham week, along with the other week-long party we served.

Traditional waldolf salad which they requested.

Beetroot, lentil, rocket, fennel and radish salad. Healthy living.

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Best beef and Cotswold Way ale pie

As I said once before, the good thing about being asked to make the same dish again and again is that you can perfect it, and make it better and better each time you do it.

A week ago I made my best apple pie, yesterday, or in fact, two days ago now, I made my best beef pie.

I found a new pastry recipe - http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/apple-pie-crust.htm. For shortening I use lard - the traditional english pastry ingredient. This pastry is just so good to work with - and tastes great! N.B. For savoury pies I don't add the sugar.

For the best beef filling use shin beef - see my earlier post here: Beef and Cotswold Way ale pie It needs long cooking (4hrs min) but is so worth it.

How do you stop your pie burning on the outside before the pastry is cooked through? See my post here: 1001 Kitchen Tips # 42 - How do I stop the edges of my pie burning?

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