RSPCA Freedom Food Update

Last year I wrote about the RSPCAs "Give Animals a Voice Campaign", which was encouraging us all to think about animal welfare when choosing our BBQ meat. Well it seems it did some good, that and the other campaigns by folks like Jamie Oliver. The RSPCA wrote to let me know that sales of RSPCA Freedom Food chicken in particular have increased significantly.

Glad to be doing my little bit to help the cause of animal welfare. I'm not a vegetarian by a long shot, as anyone who reads this blog will be well aware of, but I do believe that animals deserve to be treated fairly before the inevitable chop.

I should confess that I do have an ulterior motive for posting this - the RSPCA know how to wrap a food blogger around their little fingers, they sent me a small plastic chicken as a thank you. Now who could receive something like that and not write a blog post in support?

Curious Pot Roast Chicken, BBQs & Chinese Pork Belly

Well it's been a while since I posted any cooking, but not really my fault. Let's just say an invitation that I couldn't refuse to spend some time at a local hospital has cramped my style a bit lately, but thankfully what's done is done, and I'm back to my Sunday roasting again now.

Still been up to one or two things though, and some interesting ones at that. First up I seemed to be a bit oversupplied in the grape department for a while, and whilst grapes are probably my most favourite fruit even I have my limits. Searching my library for something that might be useful I came across an interesting Italian recipe for chicken cooked in grape juice, and as this needed very little interaction from me it seemed like a particularly good bet for a Sunday roast. The chicken is jointed, then slow cooked in about a pint of white grape juice with fresh parsely and crushed garlic until tender. Came our very delicious, with a surprising depth of flavour for something that seems so simple.


Chicken in the pot, browned and now ready to slowly cook

We also decided to get a new BBQ just before I had to take a leave of absence, and decided to spend a bit of money and buy a Weber Kettle rather than the usual thin metalled things that I've been used to. Very impressed with the thing so far, though time will tell whether it's been worth the money since so far we've only done a few spare ribs and steak on it.


A few bits and pieces from the BBQ

One other dish worth a mention is the Chinese style slow roast pork belly from Rick Stein's Food Heroes book. This is again a very simple dry spiced belly that's slow cooked and then served with steamed rice and pak choi - or in our case primo cabbage. The trick to this recipe is that the pork is steamed and roasted at the same time - you place it in a low oven on a rack above some water. This way the meat keeps really tender, and the fat drips off into the water so you're not left with the meat roasting in a pool of it's own fat.


The finished dish - a bit steamy I know, but it gives you an idea how it turns out

Anyhow back to today and tonight's dish. I've been dry-spicing a piece of beef for about 10 days, and just put it into the slow cooker now to cook for the next 10 hours or so. Apparently this is a very old English/Irish dish, that used to be served at Christmas, but I've never heard of it or tried it before, so it'll be interesting to see how it comes out. Elizabeth David was a big fan, so I read, so it should be pretty good with any luck.