Recipe - Joe's Scotch Eggs

I first made these a couple of years ago and (if I may say so myself) they were a triumph! I am not sure where I got the recipe from in the first place, but it's pretty simple with impressive results....

Ingredients to make around 8 Scotch Eggs;

• 8 Quail Eggs
• 6 decent quality sausages with a good flavour - Tolouse work well
• Panko (Japanese) bread crumbs - Definitely the best for colour and crunch
• An egg for sticking the bread crumbs to the sausage meat
• A big bottle of vegetable oil

What to do;

• Boil the eggs for 2 mins, plunge into cold water to keep the yolk soft and peel
• Skin the sausages in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper
• Wrap the sausage meat around the eggs - around half a centimeter is about right
• Crack the egg in a bowl and pour the bread crumbs into another.
• In turn lightly cover the sausage covered quail egg in the egg wash then roll in the bread crumbs
• When all the eggs have all been done put them in the freezer for 30 mins or so (this is an important stage as the firm eggs that come out of the freezer will allow you to put a second bread crumb cover on for extra crunch)
• Give them another egg wash and breadcrumb cover, and they are then ready for deep frying (we us a large pan but obviously a deep fat fryer is a little better!)
• To test the heat of the oil put a little sausage meat in and when it sizzles you are ready to go!
• Deep fry the bread crumb and sausage meat covered quail eggs for around 4.5 minutes and they should all be done and look like this;

The finished Scotch Eggs

Guest Post by Neil Walker - The Rib Shakk – Close but no Cigar

Neil Walker writes the food and beer blog www.eatingisntcheating.blogspot.com, and is based in Leeds.

Talented chef, and Leeds local, Anthony Flinn has built something of a foothold in his hometown over the years, with a seemingly endless empire of really rather good restaurants.

The simply named “Anthony’s” will always be his flagship eatery but it’s the beautiful setting of his Corn Exchange bistro Piazza which must be his crowning glory. If you haven’t been then I suggest you do so, it’s a great restaurant with a number of classy little independent shops skirting its border, in the beautifully presented arches which encircle the bottom floor of Leeds most beautiful building.

So it was with some surprise that I heard about a new restaurant, owned and run by Flynn, but which had a much more rough and ready menu of slow cooked ribs, fries and BBQ Sauce, and which seems at odds with the style of dining he has become synonymous with.

My initial impression upon arrival was a surprise at the lack of table service, and the slightly Nando’sesque dining experience of heading to the counter with your order and table number. Still, the menu is extremely good, with slow cooked brisket, full-on Flintstones sized beef ribs and a promise of expansive sides of succulent pork. Very promising.

We opted for a platter of pork baby back ribs, more BBQ pork ribs and a full beef rib, served with chips and chargrilled corn on the cob (£26). Oh and some extra sides of BBQ beans and ‘Slaw’ (£2ish each), along with a bottle of Chilean Cab Sav Merlot (£14.95).

Lets get the worst out of the way first. The pork ribs were way, way too cold. I didn’t send them back because we were starving and the fries and everything else were piping. Plus the actual flavour of the pork ribs was very good. Sweet, sticky, succulent and tender, but after a few minutes they were stone cold. In hindsight I should have sent them back.

The beef rib though was phenomenal. Charred, super tender, flavoursome beef in a smokey BBQ glaze that added to but didn’t swamp the lovely flavour of the brisket. Genuinely delicious and the highlight of the meal.

The chips and coleslaw were also excellent but the BBQ beans need a little work. I like the fact they were butter beans but they just tasted like butterbeans in a BBQ sauce, whereas the best I’ve tried are much more cooked down, and generally in a tomato based sauce with a BBQ edge.

Oh and the wine, it was pretty good and very reasonably priced. Though the reason I went for wine in the first place brings me nicely on to my final point – The beer menu is shockingly bad for such a good establishment. They’ve obviously opted for what they think are working class beers, with some misplaced nostalgia about the American South perhaps, but it’s a mistake. Blue Pabst? Please. Choose some brews that might actually compliment the food for Gods sake, or at least some beers with a modicum of flavour themselves.

To summarise, Rib Shakk has a lot of promise. The quality of the meat is very good throughout, the beef is fantastic and the idea is a good one. But a hell of a lot needs tweaking if this place is going to reach its full potential.

My advice is to give it a try while it’s 50% off for Twitter Followers and see what you think for yourself, maybe you’ll be more lucky than I was.

The platter

and the full thing - looks like a manly board of food!

Guest Restaurant Review - The Woodside, Horsforth - 5/10

Our first guest restaurant review from Dave Bro feat. Jen. 

On Saturday I asked a few people, including my brother Joe, if they had any recommendations for good pub grub in Horsforth for a Sunday dinner. A few names cropped up (Town Street Tavern, The Woodside, Medusa Bar) and after having a quick butchers online we decided to go for The Woodside. It looked to be more of a 'proper pub', which to me means a nice atmosphere, maybe a fireplace or two, comfy seats well suited to lounging/newspaper reading and good quality, simple, homely food. Company was provided by my equally hung over and hungry buddy Jennie Chapman.
 

On arrival Jen was quick to point out that the outside could do with a spruce up, which is right as it didn't look great, but once we opened the main entrance door and the smell of a hot carvery came wafting into our faces we'd forgotten about the dodgy external paint jobs and hunted out some comfy seats. After a couple of standard Coffee's (one of which we took back - Jen's - because it's was very weak) and a peruse over yesterday's football reports, we had a linger over the menu. The Woodside has a good reputation for it's carvery and the queue for it was getting longer by the minute, but after much deliberation we both went for menu items - Jen a lamb shank with peas and rosemary mash, me a mixed grill with all the usual suspects.
Apart from the chicken breast in the mixed grill which was so tough and dry it would have made a good slipper, the rest of it was good. Gammon, steak (medium rare), Lincolnshire sausages, black pudding, home made chunky chips etc etc, all very tasty and well cooked. Jen wasn't so lucky. After a promising first few mouthfuls it became quickly apparent that her lamb was a lot more bone than meat, her mash was pretty solid and tasted a lot more butter than potato and she kept finding bits of fluff on her plate/food. Not impressed. Upon speaking to the waiter he was suitably embarrassed and quick to take 50% from the final bill. Pretty fair I thought all things considered.

Mixed grill

Lamb shank

 In conclusion.. I thought it was a shame they got one of our dishes so wrong because I liked the atmosphere, I liked the pub, the staff were friendly/attentive and my food was pretty good. Unfortunately though I am one of those that can see a hair in my gravy and that’s a wrap on the rest of the meal, I can't touch it. So with that in mind, I won't be returning to The Woodside any time soon, at least before trying other local establishments first (Town Street Tavern next I think). If I do ever return, I'll be waiting in the long carvery queue...

Jenny

Dave Bro