Thread: Cottage pie

Originally Posted by Topper

Mendip, ask around to see if their are any Muslims in the area. I worked with a guy who lived near a Muslim butcher who would bring lamb mince in if I asked. Lamb mince makes a damn good burger, to drown the taste in a cottage pie seems a shame.

Probably find that it's goat. Nothing wrong with that, as anyone who has spent some time in Greece will testify (knowing or unknowing).

^ I only had two weeks in Naxos PAG, and it seems my memory of lamb kleftico is a bit sketchy.

My main memory from that time is this big Austrian chick, but she wouldn't come back to my hotel room, so the beach it was.

Originally Posted by Mendip

My main memory from that time is this big Austrian chick, but she wouldn't come back to my hotel room, so the beach it was.

Perfectly understandably, been there.....

Originally Posted by Mendip

... Shutree is that you live even more in the arse end of no-where than I do.

There is pretty sophisticated company in these parts.



Jeremiah was a bullfrog ....

Originally Posted by Headworx

You know what's really good though? Ground lamb with an Oxo lamb cube added while your cooking it

Originally Posted by Mendip

Every one's a comedian on this place...

Wot?

And since posting Macro pics is today's theme, a few random pics while shopping at our local branch this morning.

Originally Posted by Shutree

Moving swiftly on, the cabinet had some crocodile. Who eats this stuff? I have never seen it on a menu in Isan.

Crocodile is good meat and usually expensive in restaurants.
There must be a lot of it available considering how many crocodiles are farmed in Thailand for their skins usage in handbags and wallets.

^ How to cook crocodile meat Lom? Is it one you have to slow cook? I may pick some up this week at Makro if they have any and give it a try.

Originally Posted by Shutree

A true pilgrim is not easily discouraged. Here it is: lamb! Australian, frozen, boneless lamb shoulder.



Squeezed in between the beef small intestine and the frozen beef mammary.

If I ever miss lamb enough to go for an Australian, frozen, boneless lamb shoulder then I'll know where to come.
I'm sure it will still be here.

Wow Shutree, I'd have had all three of those boneless shoulders in an instant... I can't remember the last time I saw them in Korat. In fact I prefer lamb shoulder to lamb leg these days because I can't fit a leg in the convection oven.

How was the beef mammary? My wife barbecues a mean cow's udder... I wonder if that's the same thing?

Originally Posted by Headworx

And since posting Macro pics is today's theme, a few random pics while shopping at our local branch this morning.

HW, the fish, veg, bakery and Thai meat areas of your Makro are very similar to ours in Korat.

The big difference is all that variety of lamb you have on offer. We usually get the option of a lamb leg of a pack of three lamb shanks but lately even they have disappeared. As I mentioned above, I can't remember the last time I saw lamb shoulder and I've never seen minced lamb. It's the same company FFS... doesn't seem fair.

By the way, in the bottom picture I left from your post, are those the processed gammon steaks above the bacon? I've tried those a few times but am always disappointed. How can you get a proper gammon steak in Thailand?

Yeah the lamb selection is always good here but I'd hoped to buy a bag of fresh lamb tenderloins and they had none today. Bought a nice rack of lamb though, they're awesome. Big C Extra has a good selection of fresh lamb here too, will grab a pic next time we go there.

I posted the smallgood pics just to piss BiP off who said his local Macro had no bacon the other day

But yeah, those are ham steaks and I don't mind them for breakfast with eggs on the side, will post a pic tomorrow morning as I bought some today for that very reason. I'm no expert on Gammon and had never even heard the word till going overseas but I do know we used to have ham steak and pineapple when we were kids and it was a favourite meal. Hence liking Hawaiin pizza, the salty ham and sweet pineapple work well together.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I'd have had all three of those boneless shoulders in an instant... I can't remember the last time I saw them in Korat. In fact I prefer lamb shoulder to lamb leg these days because I can't fit a leg in the convection oven.

That quote thing nearly worked. I'll get there one day.

I am happy with a lamb shoulder myself. The thing is I was looking primarily for mince and I am not going to mince that lump myself. Then I thought I don't really have any room in the freezer, I have already had to move the gin to the fridge, so if I bought it I'd have to eat it and although the gf is okay with most farang food except Indian I don't think the two of us will eat a whole shoulder and there's no point turning it into curry only for myself.

Wait! Maybe I'll reconsider. Lamb curry for one.

I only have an air fryer, I'm not sure how it would turn out if I tried to roast it. It should just about fit. Only one way to find out, I suppose.

Anyway, I also thought that the same lumps of lamb will probably be there when I next go to Makro. And the time after that. So maybe I'll source some mint sauce first, then reconsider.

Originally Posted by Shutree

I only have an air fryer, I'm not sure how it would turn out if I tried to roast it. It should just about fit. Only one way to find out, I suppose.

Anyway, I also thought that the same lumps of lamb will probably be there when I next go to Makro. And the time after that. So maybe I'll source some mint sauce first, then reconsider.

Originally Posted by PAG

You have convinced me. Mint sauce and Rosemary and I'll be on it.

Originally Posted by Shutree

You have convinced me. Mint sauce and Rosemary and I'll be on it.

Originally Posted by PAG

As promised, I sourced some mint sauce from Lazada. Fresh rosemary I couldn't find so I went for the next best thing. I already had lamb stock cubes from Lazada so all I needed to do was to gird my loins for a Makro visit. They had 3 or 4 lumps of lamb, all looked about the same.



I stuck the lamb in the fridge for two days then out onto the drainer for five hours to warm it up. When I opened it I realised that the Makro staff who had been debating what buttons to push for the lamb had priced it as pork. It should have been over B400 and they had sold it to me for a quarter of that. Such is fate.

Now the gf is not wild about lamb, she'll eat it well done and she doesn't want the smell in the house. No problem, I took the larger air fryer to the outside kitchen. It is one of those glass bowl things, I don't know if it has a special name. I also have a basket style air fryer which lives inside and is not big enough anyway for a kilo of meat.

Thus prepared, I set about creating the recipe and soon had a foil-wrapped lump of lamb sitting in the air fryer. I added some time to the recipe, allowing 90 minutes overall, and I bumped the setting up to 180C. I had a plan. Then I had a cocktail.

As we know, most plans evaporate upon first contact with the enemy. After 20 minutes I went to turn the meat over, which is tricky because I don't have a tool or a technique to lift a hot lump out of a hot bowl. I found some tongs and with the aid of some strong language I got the thing rolled over. Another cocktail was required as I pondered just how many times this recipe needed the meat to be moved.

The second lift was much harder because by this time the juices were leaking from the upturned foil. Recipes never focus on the practical challenges. Lifting the lump was one thing, turning the fat covered, foil bundle was another. Shouting abuse at it didn't help much. Eventually I got it right side up without burning off any fingers, then I basted it with the oil/soy/mint/worcestershire sauce, failed to wrap the foil back tidily and retreated to the aircon for a cocktail, or maybe two.

We were on the home stretch. Another 20 minutes and another trip outside to remove the foil. Ha! Easier said than done but done it was. The heat and the mosquitoes were no match for the master chef. What to do in the final half hour of browning the meat except to sip on another cocktail?

Time was up and I collected my carving board and the jug with the lamb stock ready to become a rich gravy with all those meat juices from the air fryer. When I opened the door, the air ouside was filled with a thick cloud of termites. Where had they come from? There had been no rain that day and no termites the night before. They were in my hair, in my face, wriggling down my shirt. I was breathing through clenched teeth to avoid swallowing them. I battled on and retrieved the meat. Meanwhile the termite air force was making kamikaze attacks on the gravy jug. I got the meat onto the board with a few spuds and carrying the board with two hands I arrived at the door which I would open with my third hand. Feck! Only have two hands. Call for assistance without opening mouth. Door opens and a zillion termites head for the bright lights of the kitchen. I dived in, saving the meat and leaving the termite gravy to its fate.

By this time, the termite attack was in full swing, they were swarming through the sliding window frames. The room seemed filled with the things. We had to turn out the lights. I was now walking on a wriggling carpet of termites as I found the smallest light possible to see where to cut the meat without adding too many insects to the dish. The meat was cooked well at the ends, too medium for the gf at the centre, so I sliced off the ends to eat and cut the remainder into two pieces, one of which went into the indoor air fryer. At the last moment I remembered we had a new oil spray bottle and a quick spray of the air fryer basket was needed.

Now, it is possible that the cocktails up to this point might have impaired my mental acuity and it is possible that the oil bottle has a confusing shape. Whatever the reason, I directed a strong squirt of oil in exactly the opposite direction from the air fryer. It sprayed over my shoulder and gravity helped it find a wide area of the kitchen floor. I thought this immensely amusing, the gf not.

I got some lamb onto a couple of plates and tiptoed through the teeming termite lake and around the oil slick. Finally, dinner, in the dark. Without gravy. My end pieces turned out to be barely edible hunks of fat. There was rather a lot of cleaning up required. The resident geckoes should be happy, they got termites with EVOO for dinner.

Most of the meat is now in the fridge. I'll probably make a curry with it. The gf doesn't much care for lamb and doesn't like curry at all, so I think I am on to a winner with this one.

(No. Of course there aren't any more pics.)

Originally Posted by Mendip

the beef mammary? My wife barbecues a mean cow's udder... I wonder if that's the same thing?

Udderly identical.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I'd have had all three of those boneless shoulders in an instant... I can't remember the last time I saw them in Korat. In fact I prefer lamb shoulder to lamb leg these days because I can't fit a leg in the convection oven.

^ I thought you had a thriving community of farangs up Udon Thani way?

You should get together and ask Makro to send up some lamb mince from Headworx's local store in Pattaya.

Then maybe they could drop some off in Korat on the way?

Originally Posted by Mendip

How to cook crocodile meat Lom?

I have no idea, I only know how to order the dish in a restaurant.

Originally Posted by lom

I have no idea, I only know how to order the dish in a restaurant.

Originally Posted by lom

I have no idea, I only know how to order the dish in a restaurant.

I have no objection to eating crocodile, it is simply that in the past 6 years in Isan I have only seen it in the freezer at Makro. Where do you go that serves it?

I get the lamb shoulder from Macro to make Rogan Josh these days.

Roasting it seems far less attractive.

Originally Posted by cyrille

I get the lamb shoulder from Macro to make Rogan Josh these days.

Roasting it seems far less attractive.

My gf has a hangup about Indian food, as do many Thais, it seems. Walking around Penang she wants to try all the street food then shudders at anything Indian.

Maybe I can tell her it is a famous British dish from Birmingham.

^Any pics?

Originally Posted by Headworx

^Any pics?

I did a Rogan Josh a couple of months ago and posted here: The Teakdoor Curry Club thread (Post 114).

Originally Posted by PAG

I did a Rogan Josh a couple of months ago and posted here: The Teakdoor Curry Club thread (Post 114).

Superb spread as always!

Curry's are too hard for me, well I can sort of make a half decent chicken curry but it's never going to be anywhere near as good as the Indian restaurants within walking distance of home. Then there's the naan bread thing and we're definitely in too hard for me territory then

Originally Posted by Headworx

Superb spread as always!

Curry's are too hard for me, well I can sort of make a half decent chicken curry but it's never going to be anywhere near as good as the Indian restaurants within walking distance of home. Then there's the naan bread thing and we're definitely in too hard for me territory then

Not hard, though I view cooking in general as recreation as much as food preparation. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction from producing something for the table which puts a smile on the face of our guests or just M'Sahib if we're eating alone. I agree though, if you can find a good restaurant preparing the food that you like, that's the way to go. Problem this last 15 months or so, that hasn't always been there, so the home fires have been burning, whilst not regularly, but when needing a 'fix' be it Indian, traditional British etc. So long as you can access the ingredients, there's a fridge of suitable refreshment, and I'm not missing an episode of Coronation Street, good way to spend an afternoon.