Fresh Meat......

Yesterdays dinner was certainly a meaty sensation. Pork was there in all it's glory and the two most expensive ingredients I used were the two rashers of Heston's stout and treacle flavoured bacon. In fact the two leeks I bought to accompany the bacon were more expensive than the other two cuts of pork I had purchased.

First on the list were some pork osso bucco. These were on the fresh meat counter at my local Waitrose labelled up under their "Forgotten cuts" branding as were the pigs cheeks that became the next purchase.

I was a little sceptical about using pork osso bucco at first because traditionally this cut of shin comes from a veal calf and I've only recently been introduced to this but the pig cheeks I have had before and they are just scrummy, so much flavour and such a wonderful texture when cooked properly.

I cooked the pork osso bucco using the same slow cooking method you would for the traditional version.

And the pig cheeks I did in the waterbath at 75C for about 5 hours. I usually do them for 24 hours at around 67C so they were a little different but still fantastic.

I served this up with some potato mousseline and some creamed leeks with bacon, peas and cabbage greens which we're all cooked together.

In truth there was more than enough for four main courses out of this and off the top of my head I'd say that works out at about £0.90p per portion in total. A dish like this could easily fetch around £14.00 in a very reasonably priced restaurant.

Not one for the waistbands though.....Who cares huh?

In other news today is the day that our teams proposal goes in for our first venture and I'm thinking that the above might just make it onto the menu if we are successful today....fingers crossed guys and gals :-)