Whilst The Cat is Away

So mum (Debs) is on holiday in the Maldives, hence the lack of posts recently.

I had hoped that being at her house for two weeks would mean I'd be in the kitchen non-stop, but with work etc, I haven't done a thing!

I did however buy some bargains the other day. Six cookery books for £1 from my local junk shop. Some were pretty standard but others really interesting. Here are a few of the more interesting recipes:

Offal: Gourmet Cookery from Head to Tail.
Jana Allen and Margaret Gin
ISBN: 0 273 00958 3

Brain Caviar

Ingredients:
3/4 pound calf brains
white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons salad oil
1 or more cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 tablespoons finely chopped black olives
salt and white pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method:
Soak, clean and parboil brains, using white wine vinegar in parboiling liquid. immediately plunge brains into cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Press cooled brains through a sieve.Slowly combine oil with brains, stirring all the while, until mixture is smooth. Then add garlic, lemon juice and peel, chives, black olives, salt and pepper. Mound  in a dish and garnish with parsley. Serve with unsalted melba toast.

English 18th Century Cookery
ISBN: 0 905694 41 4

Sailors Sauce

Chop a fowl's liver with two or three shallots, and a couple of truffles or mushrooms; simmer these in a spoonful of oil, two or three spoonsful of gravy, a glass of white wine, a little salt and coarse pepper; simmer it about half an hour, and skim it very well before using.

Plain Gingerbread

Mix three pounds of flour with four ounces of moist sugar, half an ounce of powdered ginger, and one pound and a quarter of warm treacle; melt half a pound of fresh butter in it; put it to the flour and make it a paste; then form it into nuts or cakes or bake it in one cake.

The other books I bought were:

The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook
Michael Bauer and Fran Irwin
ISBN: 0 8118 1445 9

A nice collection of recipes from the San Francisco Chronicles food section.

All About Meat
Leon & Stanley Lobel
ISBN: 0 15 604600 8

Apparently written 'by the most famous butchers in America' this is a very detailed book with lots of information on techniques!

DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Cooks Ingredients
Adrian Bailey
ISBN: 0 86318 435 9

This book brilliant! An indispensable guide to ingredients!

The All American Cookbook
Martha Lomask
ISBN: 0 86188 121 4

Quite a dated book. The recipes don't seem to have aged all that well, but there a few classics in there.

The idea of eating brains in there normal form turns my stomach slightly, but I'd give it a go. Brain caviar sounds bloody lovely though! I'll have to venture further than the Tesco meat isle to find calf brains... Where does one buy brains from in 2011?