Braaied Indonesian Sea Bream

September 21, 2012 by Larry Susman in Braai, Big Green Egg, Fish, Recipes, Video

Braaied Sea Bream Fillets

People have been asking me if I eat anything else but red meat, well yes I do but only under protest! I'm a true Vaalie and when I grew up chicken was about the only thing that was not red, unless you went down to the coast, I never even thought about eating fish. Well since moving to the UK and getting married to a local girl, things have changed a little. I now eat FISH but only game fish and as I cannot get Yellow Tail or the like in the UK I've found that Sea Bass or Sea Bream is a great substitute.

This week I'm trying a new recipe that I came across for Indonesian spiced fish, I've chosen to use Sea Bream but you could use Red Snapper or something similar if you like. In retrospect it would have been a lot easier if I had left the fish whole instead of having them filleted as cooking them even in a special fish cage was not that easy. So if you have a choice leave it whole for a simpler life and I think you will get a better flavour. Check out the short video at the end to see a pro at work filleting the sea bream.

Serves 4 - Prep: 15 minutes (1hr marinating) - Cook Time: 16 mins

Ingredients:

4 Sea Bream (1 per person) you can substitute Red Snapper if you prefer.
Juice of a lime
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2-3 fresh red chillies, deseeded and chopped
2-3 cm of fresh ginger chopped
4 Spring onions chopped
2 tbsp corn/olive oil plus a little extra for brushing the braai with so they don't stick to it
tbsp sea salt

Method

Preheat the braai to about 200°C (400°F)
Clean the fish (sea video at bottom) and remove the scales
If you are leaving the fish whole then make several diagonal deep cuts across the fish
Put the garlic, chillies, ginger and spring pinion into a blender and blitz it into a paste.
Then add the lime and oil to it and stir in.
Rub the fish with the salt on all sides
Then brush the spice paste over both sides of the fish and if you have left it whole put some inside the cavity as well
Place in the fridge for 1hr to marinate
All you need to do now is cook on both sides for about 6-8 mins and a bit longer if you've left the fish whole
Serve on a bed of rive with some stir fried vegetables.

This was a very quick and simple dish to make that I must say tasted far better than it should! They say simple is better and I think in this case it works just beautifully, the flavour of the fish was not drowned out by the spices as you might have thought. The whole dish was just delightful to eat, the only trouble I'm having now, is Jan is expecting me to cook even more LOL.

I'm in need of a little help, so please leave me a few ideas of what I can cook next in the comment section below. Thanks Larry.

Fruity Duck

September 14, 2012 by Larry Susman in Duck, Braai, Pork, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Stuff a Duck!

Wow! Have we been having some great weather down in the South (of the UK), I hope that you are all still Braaiing away and have not become soft and put them away at the first sign of a cloud. Thanks for all the great comments about last weeks Curry, a lot of you have been trying this and I hope that you have enjoyed following us. We had 5 lots of prizes last week and the lucky winners are Geoff Worrall, Jane Phillipson, Jim Bates, Liz Riches-Jones and Linda Tingvoll please email me your delivery addresses and we will get them to you as soon as we can. One thing I ask, please email a photo of your creations so that I can post them on our Facebook page for all to see.

This weeks creation is quick and turned out to be really tasty, for the amount of effort that went in to preparing this dish you will be pleasantly surprised.

Serves 4 - Prep: 10 minutes - Cook Time: 12-16 mins

Method

Preheat the braai to about 200°C (400°F)
Using a sharp knife, cut a long slit in the fleshy side of each duck breast to make a pocket that you will layer the shallots and apricots in. You will then seal the parcel with a skewer
Mix the honey and the sesame oil together in a bowl and brush all over the duck both sides. Then sprinkle with the Chinese five spice all over.
To make the spring onion garnish, cut lengthways down the stem of each on both sides and leave in ice cold water until the tassels open out. Drain well before using.
Cook the duck over a medium heat of 6-8 minutes on each side.
Remove the skewers and cut in half, serve on a bead of rice with the spring onions to garnish.

Ingredients:

4 Duck Breasts (1 per person) you can substitute pork chops if you prefer
155g / 4oz dried apricots
2 Shallots or red onion thinly sliced
2 tbsp clear honey
1 tsp sesame oil (olive if you don't have)
2 tsp Chinese Five-Spice powder (Contains: finely ground Sichuan Pepper, cassia, fennel seed, star anise and cloves)
4 Spring onions to garnish
4 bamboo Skewers (pre soaked in water for 1hr)

The apricots and onions counteract the richness of the duck and its high fat contents make it virtually self-basting so it stays superbly moist and when you garnish it with the spring onion it looks particularly elegant. I served this once again with some steamed rice, I know, I like rice and if you come from SA you eat a lot of it. Give it a try, its quick and tastes as good as it looks. Just don't over cook it, otherwise you might as well cook your flops!

Curry for all Seasons!

September 07, 2012 by Larry Susman in Braai, Food Websites, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Curries, Video

Beef Durban Curry

Just as I thought autumn was here and we were in for some cold weather, the sun comes back out! Never mind, what I have cooked this week is great at anytime of the year. A Durban Curry, GEE, I can just remember those aromas drifting across the cars in the parking area of the Drive-In back in the old days when my folks took me to see a movie. This is where I first experienced the tradition of a Durbs Curry and Rice, we would park up the car and walk along to the food hut. Where we would queue, for what seemed hours, with that aromatic aroma making our stomachs ache until we got ours. We would then chow down enjoying that unique taste but not really appreciating how good it was, until you look back on it now. Perhaps it is though rose tinted glasses but we would then go and play for a while on the Jungle Gym before the movie started, what a shame my kids can not experience this now days.

For those of you who don't know, Durban Curries are very different to the curries that you have in the UK, they are light, aromatic and not cooked with much oil or ghee. We also eat them with a lot of fruit and salad sambals and a huge helping of Mrs Balls Chutney. A Durban Curry without Mrs Balls is just not acceptable and in some households and could cause a riot.

This is a very authentic curry as it uses dried spices to make the very distinctive flavour, its not a packed sauce as such as you will need to add a few extra ingredients but it is a very easy curry to make with this one shot pack. We have been selling these in our shop and I have made these curries many times before and believe me when I say they taste just like they did back home. I am making a beef one but you can use whatever you like, its great with lamb and even better with mutton. Chicken, seafood or even a vegetable one will also be just as good, so just choose whatever you fancy.

We have teamed up with Werners to promote these during September and you can get 10% off on our website with this code at the checkout SEPT12. Even better we are going to give away 5 sets of Werners Durban Curries and a bottle of Mrs Balls Original chutney to 5 lucky people who write a comment on this blog, see bottom of this article for details.

As I said this is very easy to make but there is a bit of preparation time needed to get this underway. You will have to prepare some rice and symbols to accompany this dish but I will leave that up to you guys to do.

Serves 4 People

Preparation time to chop ingredients 10 mins, cooking time at least 2hrs, the longer you can leave it to simmer the better. Even better make this the day before you want to eat it and just re-heat before serving, this gives the dried spices time to release the aromas throughout the dish.

Ingredients:

1 x pack of werners Curry spices, from Mild to Ex-Hot
500g Meat, cubed to bite size
2 x medium potatoes, peeled and chopped to 2-4 cm (I've added sweet potatoes as well)
3 x medium tomatoes chopped or tin if you're lazy like me
3 x large finely chopped Garlic cloves
2-3 tsp chopped fresh Ginger (i like a bit more personally)
1 x chopped red onion
1 x red pepper chopped
Handful of chopper coriander leaves.
Sambals of your choice, we had bananas, melon, onion, peppers, cucumber and tomatoes all chopped up.

Method:

Put the meat into a bowl and add the dry Powdered Spices from the pack to the meat and stir with a wooden spoon until all the meat is coated and there is no loose power left. Place aside and leave to marinate for a short while.
Add all the Non-Powdered spices to a tablespoon of olive / vegetable oil in a large saucepan or potjie (dutch Oven) over a medium heat and fry off the spices until the aromas from the spices start to smell wonderful.
Add onions and peppers
Add the meat and lightly brown for a few minutes. Sirt constantly to stop the meat from sticking
Add the Garlic and Ginger
Add the potatoes, tomatoes and then pour some water over the whole lot until it just covers all the ingredients .
Leave to simmer for 1-3 hours at 200°C (400°F) if in a oven or on low heat if on a cooker plate, as i said the longer the better
Depending on how you like your curry, simmer the water until it evaporates away to the thickness of gravy that you prefer.

All you need to do is sprinkle the chopped coriander onto the top of the curry and serve on a bed of rice and sambals on the side with some Mrs Ball Chutney.

5 lucky people will win a 4 pack of Werners Durban Curry and a bottle of Mrs Balls Chutney!

All you have to do is leave us some feed back in the comment area below, this is once again an inducement to leave feedback but I really would like to know if we are giving you what you want. So don't be shy, let everybody know what your thoughts are good or bad, I want to know. The lucky winners will be drawn at random by Friday next week and posted on here for all to see.

Watch us cook this on the braai (Big Green Egg)

Slow Roasted Lamb

August 31, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Vegetables, Big Green Egg, Lamb, Stir Fry, Roasts

Slow Roasted and Smoked with Rosemary

It feels like winter is about to set in here in the UK, summer lasted all of one week and my stomach is telling me it's time to bring back Roast Suppers! So this week i'm cooking a leg of lamb, unfortunately not spring lamb as we are slipping into autumn but this half a leg of Welsh Lamb is as good as it gets.

Ingredients

Leg of Lamb or half (serves 2-6)
10 cloves of garlic
Loads of Rosemary
Mixed vegetables to stir fry
Tastic rice mixed with wild rice

Method

Peal the cloves of garlic and leave whole
Wash and leave rosemary in sprigs
Take a sharp knife and push into the lamb to about 2-3cm
Push garlic into the cuts
Push rosemary into cuts on top of the garlic leave heads to poke out (looks great)
Cut all your veg up into julienne strips, as you are just going to stir fry these quickly with a little olive oil at the end. Two carrots, 6 asparagus, 1 courgettes , 12 mange too and t baby leeks. Make sure to put you rice on to cook and then to steam for at least 30 minutes (makes the rice fluffy and light) this will stop it being just a stodgy mess
Take the remainder of the rosemary and place in a tray that you can place under the leg of lamb, so that it smoulders and smokes it to perfection
Cook the lamb for about 3 hrs at 160°C (320°F) for half a leg, 4-5 hrs for a whole leg. The internal temp of the lamb should reach 82°C (180°F) for Medium, a bit higher if you want it well done or less for rare. I like mine rare so I took it out at 77°C (100°F). Tip, when you place your temperature probe into the meat, make sure it's not touching the bone as this will give you a false reading.
Make sure that you cover it and leave it to rest for at least 20 minutes, this always seems like to longest 20 minutes in history. Especially when it smells so great

It may sound like a load of garlic but when you slow roast it it mellows and just infuses a fantastic flavour throughout the lamb. Just don't eat the cloves when you cut the meat if you want anybody to come close to you later! Slow roasting and smoking the meat will give it such a fantastic colour and flavour, only cooking for 3hrs will mean that the smoke flavour is not to intense either.

Once you have taken the lamb off the braai and set it aside to rest for 20 minuets you can then start to stir fry your veg. You could have slow roasted them with the meat but I wanted them to be fresh and al dente, with vibrant colours to go along side the meat. They will only take 4-5 minutes to cook depending on how you like them. Taste one occasionally, perks of being the Chef!

Please make sure that you leave the meat to rest for 20 minutes, this will make all the deference between a nice bit of meat and a fantastic moist piece of meat. Its a long time to wait but its worth every minute. Carve into generous slices and serve on a bed of rice with vegetables and mint sauce, just look how simple and great it looks.

P.S. I did not season the meat or vegetables with salt or pepper as they just don't need it. Enjoy!

Rib Fest.

August 24, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Food Websites, Pork, Big Green Egg

Smoked Pork Ribs 3 different ways.

Look out for this button on their web site in the navigation bar.

Gee, how time flies when your having fun! Big news is we have now sorted out the Special Offer Starter packs so that you can buy the "The Big Green Eggs". Take a look at our site for all the different combinations http://www.biltong.co.uk/Category/biggreenegg . Please note that you cannot order directly on our web site but there is a link where you will be taken to the UK site for the Big Green Egg. All you need to do is enter the Promo Code in the Promo Box and it will list everything for you. If you have any problems just drop me a line or call us on +44 (0)1273 516160.

On to this weeks adventure, I have made Baby Back Pork Ribs and used three different marinades that we sell on line, this is to speed things up for all you busy people, I will be revisiting this again at a later date with some home made marinades and I will compare these against the shop ones them.

Win these marinades free (see details at the end)

All I added was some Hickory wood chips that I had soaked in water for over and hour, which I added to the coals when I put the ribs on to cook. I only used a handful as I did not want to over smoke them and stop the flavours of the marinades from coming though.

This meal is not difficult but it needs a little forethought but will definitely be a family favourite. Ideally you need to marinade your ribs over night but if this is not possible these marinades will give a great result if you can give them at least 30 minuets to work.

Ingredients: Serves as many as you want (if you share!)

3 racks of Bay Back Pork Ribs. Allow one rack of Baby Back Ribs per person (especially if your a South African carnivore)
One of each of the marinades above if you are going to make all 3 types (the Jimmy's and Spur sauces will be enough for at least 3 racks per bottle but the SSA rubs will only do 2 racks)
Hand full of Hickory wood chips
Sweet and normal potatoes
Assortment of salads to accompany (I will post some salad recipes at a later date)

Lay you ribs out in a tray or on a work surface and sprinkle your spices onto the ribs, massage them into the meat for a couple of seconds and then place into a long bag or wrap in cling film. For the wet marinades a bag is really a better bet and will make life a lot easier. Once you have sealed your bags place in the fridge to marinade for as long as possible.

When you are ready to cook take the ribs out of the fridge and allow to come back to room temperature, this helps the meat to relax prior to cooking. Pre-heat your oven or Egg to about 120°C (230°F), sprinkle the wood chipping onto the coals, if you are using the Egg or braai and place the ribs onto the grill. It's important that you diffuse the heat with either a heat diffuse for the egg, a bowl or aluminium tray if you are using a braai, as you want to slow cook this for about 2-3 hours. Place you potatoes, wings and anything else that you are cooking in at the same time and close the lid. Try not to peek at them as this will let out the heat and smoke, trust the fact that you set you braai up correctly and they are not going to burn at that temperature.

I only cooked these for 21/2hrs and turned up the heat to 250°C (480°F) for 20 minuets at the end to crisp up the wings and rib ends, perfection.

You can see that the ribs have taken on a loverly deep rich colour, due to the smoking. I must say that the end result from all three marinades was very good. They all had very different and distinctive flavours. The general opinion from the lucky people who ate these was that they could not choose a favourite. In fact, because there was a mixture it made them all taste even better. The Jimmy's gave that spicy but sweet taste that you would have got from the Black Steers steakhouses in SA (before they closed, god i miss those days!). The Spur Hickory was sticky and very smoky with our added smoke but had that definite Spur flavour that its so famous for. Finally the SSA smoke rub, this was my personal favourite, once again the smoke flavour came out with a very spicy taste with a distinctive burn from the chilli and mustard seeds in the spice rub. If you can make all three you will definitely not be disappointed otherwise it will depend on your mood, sweet or spicy, gee I still can't make my mind up. Enjoy!

2 lucky people will win a pack of each of the marinades used this week!

All you have to do is leave us some feed back in the comment area below, I know this is a bribe but I really would like to know if we are giving you what you want. The stats show that there are hundreds of you looking at this blog each week (we are only 1 month old, so thanks for all the interest). So don't be shy, let everybody know what your thoughts are, the winners will be drawn at random by Thursday next week and posted on here for all to see.

Braaied Sea Bream Fillets

Serves 4 - Prep: 15 minutes (1hr marinating) - Cook Time: 16 mins

Ingredients:

Method

Stuff a Duck!

Serves 4 - Prep: 10 minutes - Cook Time: 12-16 mins

Method

Ingredients:

Beef Durban Curry

Serves 4 People

Ingredients:

Method:

5 lucky people will win a 4 pack of Werners Durban Curry and a bottle of Mrs Balls Chutney!

Watch us cook this on the braai (Big Green Egg)

Slow Roasted and Smoked with Rosemary

Ingredients

Method

Smoked Pork Ribs 3 different ways.

Win these marinades free (see details at the end)

Ingredients​: Serves as many as you want (if you share!)

2 lucky people will win a pack of each of the marinades used this week!

Ingredients: Serves as many as you want (if you share!)