The Cider Diaries-26/1/09
I am very excited. I have had a BIG IDEA. In a fairly pathetic attempt to add some sort of suspense to this blog I'm not going to reveal the idea just yet, also it's best that I make sure it's actually workable first but if you're reading this because you know me and I see you at work/down the pub/in the street I will probably tell you the BIG IDEA anyway. Whether you want to hear it or not. I am that excited. I have been thinking hard about it and doing sums but for now all I can say is that our friend Mel is probably due a small share of the credit. More will be revealed when the time is right. In the meantime, might as well recap yesterday's drinking...
Me and Fog met in the pub after work for a pint. Our pub of choice was once again Koko Gorilaz. Emma is leaving on Thursday to travel abroad for months on end so it's nice for Fog to pop in and see her there while she does her last few shifts behind the bar. Unfortunatley we have, or so I thought, tried every cider Koko Gorilaz has to offer. Not to worry, for once it would be all about the company and having a relaxing drink and we could put the challenge on the back burner for a bit. At least until later that evening.
However, when we arrived at Koko's we discovered they has yet another untried cider. So while me, Fog and Emma put the world to rights the two of us who weren't supposed to be working enjoyed a bottle each of
41. Brothers Lemon Mixed Pear Cider
We've had our run ins with Brothers ciders before. This lemon flavoured one tastes pretty much the same as a Smirnoff Ice and as such is by far less horrible than any of the others Brothers ciders. Quite enjoyable in fact, refreshing.
But we couldn't stay for another, we had to get back to my place and start cooking. Late last year I bought myself the latest Jamie Oliver book, Ministry of Food, but I hadn't got around to reading it or cooking from it until last Thursday. The book has a recipe for a simple stew. It gives you a basic base of vegetables then four different combinations of meat and alcohol to add so that you can get four very different stews from one recipe.
The book is supposed to be idiot proof, with lots of pictures and step by step instructions, but clearly Oliver wasn't anticipating idiots of my calibre. Last Thursday I tried to make a beef and ale stew and I was delighted with how well it all came together and how closely the food in my pot resembled the pictures in the book. The last instruction was to put the stew in the oven for three hours, removing the lid thirty minutes from the end.
I put it in the oven and the cooking smells that began to emerge were something heavenly. I wanted to tuck in right away but I knew that I should be patient. After two and a half hours I yanked the pot out of the oven and pulled off the lid. To say I was disappointed by the contents was an understatement. Everything in the pot was dry and shrivelled with everything at the bottom horribly burnt. It didn't taste so good but having paid the money for ingredients I felt I had to make the best of it. I divided it into three portions and saved two for lunches at work. I realised afterwards my mistake. The oven times and temperatures in the book were not intended for a fan oven.
So I didn't much fancy a repeat performance with my next attempt to cook from the book, with Fog's help we would be cooking a *bonus cider related item*, a pork and cider stew. It was good to have Fog to help with the cooking. He's used to following instructions in the kitchen from Emma and was happy to do most of the actual chopping and stirring while I checked the instructions over and over as if I'd never seen them before. As we cooked we enjoyed a second cider.
42. Westerns Premium Organic Pear Cider
And very nice it was too. Fog, often dubious about pear ciders, took a swig and said, "That's not bad at all is it?" He sounded surprised. I can understand his attitude to ciders of the pear variety even if I don't quite share it. All too often the pear ciders we have tried taste somehow fake, as if crammed with artificial flavourings. This stuff on the other hand really tasted like something that originated in an orchard and was lovingly and patiently made into the drink we had in front of us by men who wouldn't know an artificial flavouring if it danced up and down in their dinner. Delicious it was too.
43. Thatcher's Katy
We sat down to our stew, which with a lower temperature and shorter cooking time had turned out just right, and enjoyed it with a bottle each of Thatcher's Katy. This just might be the nicest cider of all the ciders we've tried so far. It had a delicious, fruity, refreshing flavour. Sweet, with just a touch of sharpness.
Ask Fog what he thinks of Katy cider and he will invariably give you the following answer, "Katy goes down easy". After he'd done this a couple of times I asked if he actually thought that about the cider or if he was just enjoying the innuendo. "Both," he told me. It was indeed an easy drink, you wouldn't have guessed that it would be 7.4% and by this point I started to get a little tipsy.
As we ate I rhapsodised about Thatcher's Katy and came up with ever grander takes on my own BIG IDEA. The stew was delicious and so it should have been, it was made with the same cider. That said I couldn't really taste the cider in it too much. The taste of tomatoes dominated. In the beef and ale stew the ale flavour was much more prominent but then ale has a rich, dark flavour that cuts through the rest while the cider is lighter and more refreshing.
Me and Fog met in the pub after work for a pint. Our pub of choice was once again Koko Gorilaz. Emma is leaving on Thursday to travel abroad for months on end so it's nice for Fog to pop in and see her there while she does her last few shifts behind the bar. Unfortunatley we have, or so I thought, tried every cider Koko Gorilaz has to offer. Not to worry, for once it would be all about the company and having a relaxing drink and we could put the challenge on the back burner for a bit. At least until later that evening.
However, when we arrived at Koko's we discovered they has yet another untried cider. So while me, Fog and Emma put the world to rights the two of us who weren't supposed to be working enjoyed a bottle each of
41. Brothers Lemon Mixed Pear Cider
We've had our run ins with Brothers ciders before. This lemon flavoured one tastes pretty much the same as a Smirnoff Ice and as such is by far less horrible than any of the others Brothers ciders. Quite enjoyable in fact, refreshing.
But we couldn't stay for another, we had to get back to my place and start cooking. Late last year I bought myself the latest Jamie Oliver book, Ministry of Food, but I hadn't got around to reading it or cooking from it until last Thursday. The book has a recipe for a simple stew. It gives you a basic base of vegetables then four different combinations of meat and alcohol to add so that you can get four very different stews from one recipe.
The book is supposed to be idiot proof, with lots of pictures and step by step instructions, but clearly Oliver wasn't anticipating idiots of my calibre. Last Thursday I tried to make a beef and ale stew and I was delighted with how well it all came together and how closely the food in my pot resembled the pictures in the book. The last instruction was to put the stew in the oven for three hours, removing the lid thirty minutes from the end.
I put it in the oven and the cooking smells that began to emerge were something heavenly. I wanted to tuck in right away but I knew that I should be patient. After two and a half hours I yanked the pot out of the oven and pulled off the lid. To say I was disappointed by the contents was an understatement. Everything in the pot was dry and shrivelled with everything at the bottom horribly burnt. It didn't taste so good but having paid the money for ingredients I felt I had to make the best of it. I divided it into three portions and saved two for lunches at work. I realised afterwards my mistake. The oven times and temperatures in the book were not intended for a fan oven.
So I didn't much fancy a repeat performance with my next attempt to cook from the book, with Fog's help we would be cooking a *bonus cider related item*, a pork and cider stew. It was good to have Fog to help with the cooking. He's used to following instructions in the kitchen from Emma and was happy to do most of the actual chopping and stirring while I checked the instructions over and over as if I'd never seen them before. As we cooked we enjoyed a second cider.
42. Westerns Premium Organic Pear Cider
And very nice it was too. Fog, often dubious about pear ciders, took a swig and said, "That's not bad at all is it?" He sounded surprised. I can understand his attitude to ciders of the pear variety even if I don't quite share it. All too often the pear ciders we have tried taste somehow fake, as if crammed with artificial flavourings. This stuff on the other hand really tasted like something that originated in an orchard and was lovingly and patiently made into the drink we had in front of us by men who wouldn't know an artificial flavouring if it danced up and down in their dinner. Delicious it was too.
43. Thatcher's Katy
We sat down to our stew, which with a lower temperature and shorter cooking time had turned out just right, and enjoyed it with a bottle each of Thatcher's Katy. This just might be the nicest cider of all the ciders we've tried so far. It had a delicious, fruity, refreshing flavour. Sweet, with just a touch of sharpness.
Ask Fog what he thinks of Katy cider and he will invariably give you the following answer, "Katy goes down easy". After he'd done this a couple of times I asked if he actually thought that about the cider or if he was just enjoying the innuendo. "Both," he told me. It was indeed an easy drink, you wouldn't have guessed that it would be 7.4% and by this point I started to get a little tipsy.
As we ate I rhapsodised about Thatcher's Katy and came up with ever grander takes on my own BIG IDEA. The stew was delicious and so it should have been, it was made with the same cider. That said I couldn't really taste the cider in it too much. The taste of tomatoes dominated. In the beef and ale stew the ale flavour was much more prominent but then ale has a rich, dark flavour that cuts through the rest while the cider is lighter and more refreshing.
posted by Chris Chopping @ 4:30 PM
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