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Japanese Kit Kats: Wasabi, Roasted Tea, Rum Raisin, Cherry Blossom & More

26 Apr 2013 20 Responses »

Apr 262013

Kit Kats are a quintessentially British chocolate snack, originally launched in London and South East England by Rowntree’s back in 1935. They quickly spread around the world and are now a popular sweet in many countries. The iconic “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat” advertising slogan appeared in 1958, cementing the brand’s identity.

Although they were initially made in Britain, production and distribution was expanded (into Germany) to meet demand. Rowntree’s also signed agreements with Hershey and Fuijya to market and distribute their products in the USA and Japan respectively. In 1988 Rowntree’s was purchased by Nestlé, who then had global control over the Kit Kat brand everywhere except North America, which Hershey retained. Nestlé created new facilities in Japan, Malaysia, India and China. In 2000, Nestlé also acquired Fujiya’s share of the brand.

Variations in Kat Kat flavours didn’t appear until 1996 when Kit Kat Orange was launched in the UK. In the years since, flavours such as double chocolate, white chocolate, caramel, mint and peanut butter were also released. These flavours have been resolutely mainstream, chosen to appeal to the widest possible demographic and frankly, they add little to the wider confectionery scene.

But in Japan, the world of Kit Kats is completely different. Indeed, Nestle has released over 200 flavours since 2000 including ginger ale, soy sauce, green tea, banana, and strawberry cheesecake. These are often created as short term limited editions, which presumably gives more scope for the unusual and the outrageous. The other side of the coin is an audience far more receptive to the new and different than us Brits.

Because it sounds so much like the Japanese good luck phrase, kitto katsu, which means “surely win”, Kit Kats have become a popular gift for any occasion that calls for wishing the recipient well. Of course, the constant innovation in new flavours (not to mention packaging designs) also keeps interest keen.

Although we ate as many traditional local specialities as we could during our trip to Japan last year, I was determined to find as many Japanese Kit Kat variations as possible.

We tasted them all in one sitting – here’s our feedback on the 9 flavours I brought home:

Wa-Ichigo Strawberry

“Quite a good strawberry flavour”, says Pete, but slightly artificial. To me it tastes like cheap strawberry flavoured milkshakes from our childhood, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Citrus Golden Blend

Although this smells incredibly sweet, on the palate it actually has an unexpectedly pleasant balance of sharp and sweet. Pete too likes that “bit of acid to it”. This works.

Strawberry Cheesecake

To me this Kit Kat reeks of blue cheese; to Pete it’s Parmesan he picks up on the nose. I find it has an unpleasant milky flavour (and I mean the dairy product here not milk or white chocolate) as well as an odd hint of coconut. Pete (who has an even sweeter tooth than I do) comments on the extreme sweetness and the coconut and says that whilst he also detects a “faint hint of artificial fruit”, he “can’t tell what it is”. Not a resounding success with either of us, this one.

Rum Raisin

Wow! It smells right! And it tastes right too. There’s even a hint of alcohol to the taste, though I can’t read the box to confirm whether or not it actually contains any. Pete really likes it too, but comments that he “wouldn’t like to have to take a breathalyser test after eating one!”

Hojicha Roasted Tea

Oh, this is like a cup of strongly brewed black tea with milk and a rich tea biscuit. It’s fabulous and I absolutely love it! Pete too says it smells and tastes just like cup of tea. He’s not quite as keen as I am but definitely approves.

Wasabi

Pete gets a hint of wasabi on the nose, but I can’t pick it up at all and wonder whether the taste will be equally faint. So I’m pleasantly surprised to find it has a strong and distinct wasabi flavour but no wasabi heat. Pete declares that it’s “disturbing, very disturbing” in the way that it captures the essence of wasabi but puts it into chocolate.

Uji-Matcha

Described as Uji-Matcha, after a well-known tea-producing town in Kansai this is one of the more mainstream Kit Kat flavours available in Japan. Matcha (powdered green tea) is used to flavour all manner of sweet and savoury dishes from noodles to ice cream, from cakes to salt mixes for tempura. Given that he’s not at all keen on matcha as a drink or an ingredient, Pete’s understandably not so enamoured of this Kit Kat as I am. For me, it’s a straightforward and fairly successful flavouring though the distinctive bitterness of matcha is a little too tempered by the milk and sugar for my tastes.

Sakura Matcha

In this Kit Kat, sakura (cherry blossom) is combined with matcha to create a uniquely Japanese treat. I find the matcha is somewhat overwhelmed by the flowers which give a rather strong perfume-like flavour which is very sweet and cloying. Neither of us would seek this out again.

Adult Sweetness

This is the only box which had no English writing at all, so I turn to twitter to ask if anyone could read Japanese. My friend Richard responds with a range of possibilities, eventually concluding that the name roughly translates as “adult sweetness”. We are at a loss to work out whether it means sophisticated and grown up or an altogether ruder interpretation!

In any case, we don’t like it at all. Pete thinks it “smells familiar” but “unpleasant” and tastes “peculiar”. My exact words are that it has “an absolutely horrid smell” and I find it incredibly sickly. If forced to guess I’d say it was based on cookies and cream, but don’t hold me to it.

Our top three, in no particular order, were Rum Raisin, Hojicha Roasted Tea and Wasabi with a runner up high five to Uji-Matcha.

Have you tasted any of the Japanese Kit Kat flavours? If so which ones and what did you think of them? Any you particularly loved or hated?

We’re going back to Japan later this year, so will look out for some different ones during our trip.

READER GIVEAWAY

I have one set of all 9 flavours above to give away to a Kavey Eats reader. The prize includes 9 individually wrapped mini Kit Kats, which I’ll put into a (non-branded) box for posting. I am happy to deliver anywhere in the UK.

(Note: Japanese mini kit kats are half the size of the usual two fingered ones we get here in the UK.)

HOW TO ENTER

You can enter the competition in 3 ways:

Entry 1 – Blog Comment
Leave a comment below, telling me what new flavour you think would be great in a Kit Kat. It can be savoury or sweet.

Entry 2 – Facebook

Like the Kavey Eats Facebook and leave a (separate) comment on this blog post with your Facebook user name.

Entry 3 – Twitter
Follow @Kavey on Twitter. Existing followers are, of course, welcome to enter!
Then tweet the (exact) sentence below.
I’d love to win a set of 9 mini Japanese Kit Kats from Kavey Eats! http://goo.gl/LrBDk #KaveyEatsKitKats
(Please do not add my twitter handle into the tweet; I track entries using the hashtag. And don’t leave a blog comment about your tweet either, thanks!”)

RULES & DETAILS

The deadline for entries is midnight GMT Friday 17th May 2013.
The winners will be selected from all valid entries using a random number generator.
Entry instructions form part of the terms and conditions.
The prize is a hand-assembled set of 9 mini Kit Kats in the flavours listed above and includes free delivery anywhere in the UK.
The prize cannot be redeemed for a cash value.
The prize is offered and provided directly by Kavey Eats.
One blog entry per person only. One Twitter entry per person only. One Facebook entry per person only. You do not have to enter all three ways for your entries to be valid.
For Twitter entries, winners must be following @Kavey at the time of notification. For Facebook entries, winners must Like the Kavey Eats Facebook page at time of notification.
Blog comment entries must provide a valid email address for contacting the winner.
The winners will be notified by email, Twitter or Facebook. If no response is received within 7 days of notification, the prize will be forfeit and a new winner will be picked and contacted.

This competition is closed. The winner is Doreen (blog comment entry).

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours in London

15 Apr 2013 2 Responses »

Apr 152013

My friend Jenn is the founder of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours, a company dedicated to helping people enjoy great chocolate.

She (and a team of dedicated guides) run chocolate-themed walking tours in Mayfair and Chelsea during which they lead the (small) group between a number of carefully picked specialists. During the tour, you learn more about how chocolate is made, the different types available and how to taste chocolate properly. At each shop you are treated to some specialities ranging from hot chocolate to frozen yoghurt, filled chocolates, plain bars and even macarons.

Jenn has also negotiated discounts in many of the shops, so you can buy your favourites for a little less.

A nice extra touch is that as a history enthusiast, Jenn is able to share many fascinating stories about the history of London, as you walk from place to place.

My ticket was a very thoughtful birthday gift and I must say, these tours are a fantastic gift idea for those who enjoy chocolate, especially those who are hard to buy for as they have all the socks, vases, books, games, jumpers, posh chutney they need!

Thanks to Jenn for a wonderful day!

Za’atar & Sumac Crusted Roast Leg of Lamb

09 Apr 2013 10 Responses »

Apr 092013

Whilst there’s something to be said for leaving well alone when you know the quality of the meat is good, sometimes it’s nice to add a little extra flavour to a roast dinner. I made a very quick and simple za’atar and sumac rub for this beautiful half leg of organic Welsh lamb from Graig Farm. It worked very well, creating a spicy and robustly flavoured crust but allowing the flavour of the lamb to shine.

I still have lots of Abu Kassem’s za’atar from the trip we made to his farm in Lebanon back in 2011. Follow that link to read more about how he selectively bred from wild herbs and how he now produces za’atar that is sold across Lebanon, from his farm in the south of the country. The za’atar mix he sells includes the herb itself, dried sumac berries, toasted sesame seeds and salt.

I’m not sure of the identify of the green plant Abu Kassem calls za’atar. It’s often translated as wild thyme but the term refers to several herbaceous plants including different oreganos, savouries, marjorams and thymes. Of course, all of these herbs work well with lamb.

I added more sumac as I wanted to bring out the lemon-citrus flavour of this element of Abu Kassem’s blend.

Za’atar & Sumac Crusted Roast Leg of Lamb

Ingredients
1 kg half leg of lamb
2 tablespoons za’atar spice blend
1 tablespoon powdered sumac
2 tablespoons olive oil

Note: For larger or smaller legs of lamb, adjust the volume of the spice and oil rub accordingly.

Method

Combine the za’atar, sumac and oil and mix well.
Rub the spice and oil mix all over the surface of the lamb joint.
Roast according to your normal temperature times. (I roasted for half an hour per 500 grams in a fan oven pre-heated to 180 C and my lamb was cooked to medium).
Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Discount Code

Try Graig Farm organic Welsh lamb (or any other meat such as beef and pork) for yourself with a special discount code for Kavey Eats readers:

KAV222

The code gives you 20% off orders over £50 and also includes free delivery. It’s valid until June 30th 2013 and can be used three times per household. Of course, you can pass the code on to friends and family, if they’d like to place an order for themselves.

If you haven’t decided what to have for your Easter Sunday roast, get an order in fast for a superb joint of lamb. The boned rolled shoulder was gorgeous roasted with garlic and rosemary, and the leftovers made wonderful hoisin lettuce wraps and a delicious ragu with pasta.

Kavey Eats received a sample box of organic lamb from Graig Farm.

Beau Bunny’s Breakfast Egg

25 Mar 2013 3 Responses »

Mar 252013

I collect eggcups. I’m quite discerning though. At least a 100 came off the shelves a couple of years ago (with the intention of selling them on ebay, though that remains one of the many many things on my To Do list). The ones that remain crowd the shelves such that there’s very little room for any new ones to join them.

But at their Easter preview this year, Hotel Chocolat gave me Beau Bunny’s Breakfast – a milk chocolate egg in a rather lovely two-ended porcelain egg cup which definitely makes the collection. Both egg and egg cup are decorated with images of the dapper Beau Bunny, Hotel Chocolat’s Easter 2013 branding. It’s inspired by dandy “Beau” Brummell, credited with inventing the men’s suit, a style often referred to as dandyism.

This rather grown up character makes for some very elegant packaging; I much prefer it to the usual cute bunnies and chicks.

The range contains most of last year’s favourites (including Egg & Chips and Egg Soldiers, boxes of Egglets and Hotel Chocolat’s trademark extra thick eggs). I particularly liked some of the new Egglet flavours such as almond praline with honey, salt and pepper praline, pecan praline and a mandarin one I’ve forgotten the name of and indeed the whole box went down well in our house, with particular praise for the lemon egglet. The salted caramel egg sandwich was also demolished very quickly.

As is usually the case, there are Easter treats at a wide range of prices from £1.95 for little chocolate lollipops to £70 for their largest egg, the Ostrich, extra thick and filled with chocolates.

Kavey Eats received samples from the Hotel Chocolat Easter range.

Organic Welsh Lamb from Graig Farm: Garam Masala Marinated Lamb Loin Chops

24 Mar 2013 1 Response »

Mar 242013

With ever rising populations and land pressure, I’m not being controversial when I state that we need to reduce the amount of meat in our diets and increase the volume of grain and vegetables we eat.

But for those of us who love eating meat, this is easier said than done.

There are two ways to do this: the first is to use smaller portions of meat in each meal, such as a 50 grams of bacon used to give flavour and texture to a pasta dish or a fresh vegetable salad with a handful of leftover roast chicken or a stroganoff with lots of mushrooms and only a little steak; the second way is to balance a couple of meat-heavy meals a week with several vegetarian ones. I tend to waiver between these, and don’t eat as many vegetarian meals as I should, which is a shame as I adore tofu and enjoy cooking our home-grown vegetables.

If you opt for the second approach then, budget permitting, it makes a lot of sense to enjoy the best quality meat you can afford – a little of the good stuff rather than a lot of the mediocre.

In a recent article in the Guardian, Alex Renton says:

Lamb is a green dream: the most gentle, ecologically, of all the farmed meats we eat. There is no animal more naturally-raised – it’s all free range and the feed just grows at their feet. Sheep don’t need water in the vast quantities cattle require and farming them is in itself a form of recycling: they graze hills and marginal land, recovering nutrients from poor grass and weeds other livestock won’t eat.

The land that will support one cow and calf can take as many as seven ewes and their lambs. And the grassy downs of modern England look as they do largely because of grazing sheep.

The lamb we produce in Britain is spectacularly good. Our climate seems well suited, both in terms of landscape and weather and the resulting meat is a delight.

A couple of months ago, I was sent a selection box of organic Welsh lamb by Graig Farm. Based in Mochdre in Montgomeryshire, the farm has been run by the Rees family since the 1940’s and has been certified as organic since 1999. Jonathan Rees is committed to producing great food “without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, growth promoting drugs, routine use of antibiotics, and the large amount of additives often used in ‘non-organic’ methods”. Their sheep and cattle graze in grass, clover and herb pastures and their pigs are able to forage in the woods. Ten years ago, they built a processing plant on site, and do all the butchery and processing themselves at the farm.

Delivery was straightforward. The meat was neatly packed in a large polystyrene box and kept nicely cooled with ice packs, however I’d have preferred more ecologically-friendly packaging options such as the British sheep-wool insulation that Paganum use.

My box contained 2 half lamb legs, 2 lamb leg steaks, 4 lamb loin chops, 1 boned & rolled lamb shoulder, 2 lamb chump chops and 1 rack of lamb, all organic, of course. This box is priced at £89.

People often dismiss spending the extra on organic with complaints that organic produce tastes no difference to non-organic. In many cases, that’s true. But there are a host of other reasons to consider organic, including the environmental impact of pesticides and fertilisers, the fact that organic farms are far friendlier to wildlife and, on a more selfish note, the vastly reduced use of additives. And farmers who can’t resort to the easy option of pumping their animals full of drugs focus much more strongly on keeping them healthy by more natural means. That added care and attention often does make itself evident in the taste. Of course, there are regulated controls on feed too, which also have an impact on the final product.

Every cut of Graig Farm lamb we’ve eaten has been absolutely superb. The meat is tender but not mushy, the flavour is sweet and rich, and there’s enough fat running through to keep the meat moist as it cooks. I really could not be happier with the quality of the meat.

For the lamb loin chops, I made a very simple marinade and then cooked the chops in a hot oven for about 25 minutes.

Garam Masala Marinated Lamb Loin Chops

For the marinade, I first combined 4 bay leaves, a piece of cinnamon bark about an inch wide and long, 1 brown cardamom pod and a couple of small green ones, 6 peppercorns and 3 cloves. These were powdered using a spice grinder and then mixed into approximately two cups of full fat yoghurt. I marinated the chops for a couple of hours before cooking.

Discount Code

Try Graig Farm organic Welsh lamb (or any other meat such as beef and pork) for yourself with a special discount code for Kavey Eats readers:

KAV222

Kavey Eats received a sample box of organic lamb from Graig Farm.

Hydros Filtering Water Bottle

11 Mar 2013 2 Responses »

Mar 112013

I don’t order bottled water in restaurants. We are fortunate enough to live in a country with safe, clean and reasonably plentiful drinking water. It strikes me as crazy to pay (financially and environmentally) to drink bottled water instead.

There’s an argument for those who prefer carbonated, in which case buying fizzy bottled water is no different to buying any other soft drink. But personally, I prefer still, so I always ask for tap. Often, it’s the lower end restaurants that get sniffy about it, never the posh ones.

I have occasionally bought bottled water when out and about. It’s a rare thing, as I’m conscious of the cost not to mention the litter.

We live in such a disposable culture. Now that a lot more packaging is labelled recyclable, people seem think there’s no environmental impact to throwing it away. But of course, even when something can be recycled, there’s a huge energy and resource cost to create the original item, to collect and sort the used item and to recycle it into something else. And, for various reasons, probably not least of which is that our recycling efforts are still rather half-hearted, 75% of post-consumer plastic waste in the UK is sent to landfill.

Recently I came across the Hydros Filtering Water Bottle. Instead of buying water, carry a Hydros bottle with you. You can either fill it at home, or if you’d rather not carry the weight around, fill it on the go. More and more restaurants and cafes are willing to fill reusable water bottles for free.

Made from Tritan plastic (BPA free) it has a filter embedded with an anti-microbial, to stop the build-up of bacteria which can be a problem when reusing some bottles. The filters are replaceable and last for about 150 uses. Oh and, best of all, it’s dishwasher friendly.

I like that you can fill from the top or through the side opening, which allows you to fill from a low or awkward tap – it’s a little slower but it works fine. The water passes through the filter into the bottle fairly quickly. Just make sure you close the bottle properly though, as a leaking bottle in your bag definitely won’t put a smile on your face!

The bottles aren’t cheap at £24.95 each. Replacement filters cost £7.94 each or £19.94 for three. However, given the price of bottled water, this doesn’t represent all that many bottles. When you factor in the environmental benefits, it makes the decision easier.

Another pleasing aspect to buying a Hydros bottle is that the company contribute about 60 pence / $1 from each bottle sale to “sustainable water infastructure projects”. They remind us that one in seven people around the world – that’s over a billion people – don’t have access to clean, safe water. They currently partner with Engineers Without Borders to fund rural water projects such as Project Gundom in Cameroon. Visit their website to read their mission statement, criteria for choosing projects and Project Gundom.

Other reusable bottles on the market include Give Me Tap (£12 for a metal bottle, no filter), LifeBottle (£12 for a BPA-free stainless steel bottle, no filter), Camelbak Groove (Approx £25 for a plastic bottle with integrated filter), Ohyo (£4.99 for a collapsible plastic bottle, no filter), Brita Fill & Go (£14.99 for a BPA-free plastic bottle with integrated filter), H2Onya Bottle (£8.50-£10.50 depending on size for a stainless steel bottle, no filter), Bobble Bottles (£8.99-£12.99 depending on size, for a BPA-free plastic bottle with integrated filter), Klean Kanteen Wide (£13.50-£26 for a BPA-free stainless steel bottle, no filter included, but compatible with standard filters), Aladdin Papillon (Approx £10 for a plastic bottle, made from recycled material, no filter), Aladdin Aveo (£9for a BPA-free plastic bottle, no filter). Contigo Autoseal Madison (£Approx £15 for a BPA-free plastic bottle, no filter), Kor Delta Hydration Vessel (Approx £20 for a plastic bottle, no filter) and Nalgene On The Fly (£Approx £13 for a BPA-free plastic bottle, no filter).

Kavey Eats received a review sample Hydros Filtering Water Bottle.

Win a Chocolate Badger for Easter! (Closed)

03 Mar 2013 289 Responses »

Mar 032013

Win a Chocolate Badger for Easter!

Not a bunny. Not a chick. Not an egg. But a badger!

Isn’t he marvellously, madly, adorably gorgeous?

Bettys have a wide range of Easter treats including more conventionally-shaped chocolate products and a delicious range of cakes and bakes. But it’s their Milk Chocolate Badgers that caught my eye. Made from Swiss milk chocolate and hand decorated with milk, white and dark chocolate, they weigh 330 grams and cost £20 each.

You don’t have to be Brian May to send these cuties to your friends this Easter!

Bettys is a family business which began back in 1919. Frederick Belmont, a young orphan from Switzerland, spent his teens in apprenticeships working for and learning from bakers and confectioners across Europe. By the time he arrived here in England, he had dreams of opening his own business. Through fortune and luck, he made his way to Bradford, and found the beautiful countryside of the region reminded him of his Swiss homeland. He decided to stay, and opened the first Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms in Harrogate. His combination of European confectionery and a warm welcome was a huge success. In the following years, he opened a craft bakery with its own orchard and then more branches of Bettys in other Yorkshire towns.

In the 1960s, Bettys bought another well-established Yorkshire business, the tea and coffee merchants, Taylors of Harrogate. The combination remains a strong one. Today, the company runs six tea rooms, a cookery school, the tea and coffee business and a thriving online store.

I’ve tried some of their cakes and can vouch for how good they are.

COMPETITION

Bettys are offering one of their Milk Chocolate Badgers to one lucky Kavey Eats reader this Easter. The prize includes free delivery within the UK.

HOW TO ENTER

You can enter the competition in 3 ways:

Entry 1 – Blog Comment
Leave a comment below, telling me which woodland creature you’d like to see immortalised in chocolate and why.

Entry 2 – Twitter
Follow @Kavey on Twitter. Existing followers are, of course, welcome to enter!
Then tweet the (exact) sentence below.
I’d love to win a Chocolate Badger from Kavey Eats and @Bettys1919! http://goo.gl/hdP0L #KaveyEatsChocBadger
You don’t need to leave a blog comment about your tweet.

Entry 3 – Facebook

Like the Kavey Eats Facebook page and leave a (separate) comment on this blog post with your Facebook user name.

RULES & DETAILS

The deadline for entries is midnight GMT Saturday 16th March 2013.
Kavey Eats reserves the right to alter the closing date of the competition. Changes to the closing date, if they occur, will be shown on this page.
The winners will be selected from all valid entries using a random number generator.
Entry instructions form part of the terms and conditions.
Where prizes are to be provided by a third party, Kavey Eats accepts no responsibility for the acts or defaults of that third party.
The prize for is a Bettys of Harrogate Milk Chocolate Badger, with free delivery within the UK.
The prize cannot be redeemed for a cash value.
The prize is offered and provided by Bettys of Harrogate.
One blog entry per person only. One Twitter entry per person only. One Facebook entry per person only. You do not have to enter all three ways for your entries to be valid.
For Twitter entries, winners must be following @Kavey at the time of notification. For Facebook entries, winners must Like the Kavey Eats Facebook page at time of notification.
Blog comment entries must provide a valid email address for contacting the winner.
The winners will be notified by email, Twitter or Facebook. If no response is received within 7 days of notification, the prize will be forfeit and a new winner will be picked and contacted.

Kavey Eats received sample products from Bettys of Harrogate.

The winner of this competition was Joanne McGawley.

Momo Cha: Reader Discount Code

01 Mar 2013 1 Response »

Mar 012013

It’s no secret that I love great tea and I’ve shared many fantastic tea suppliers here on Kavey Eats over the years.

A recent find from the BBC Good Food Show was Momo Cha – their High Mountain Oolong tea absolutely blew me away when I first tasted it and every single time I brewed a cup thereafter. As I said in my original review, it’s the best oolong I’ve ever tasted.

More recently, I’ve also tried and enjoyed some of their amazing Korean teas. Also fabulous.

In the current economic climate, I take my hat off to people like Niels and Mojca, brave enough to create a new business. It must surely be an on-going challenge to bring their products to a wider audience, to get noticed amongst all the others in their niche. But by offering a truly exceptional product, they are building a base of repeat customers who appreciate their quality teas as much as I do.

How did the couple come to launch their tea business? The pair had always dreamed of running a tea house and sharing good quality tea with their customers. During a holiday to Japan, they researched tea production there, and hooked up with a gentleman who’d been trading tea for decades. He helped them plan a specialist trip around Japan, to meet the best producers and farmers. After that, they started selling Japanese teas at Brick Lane, to gauge customer interest; that was two years ago. They also travelled to Taiwan and Korea to find more producers and more top teas. And just over a year ago, they developed their packaging and opened the web shop.

Several of their teas won one, two or even three star Gold Awards in last year’s Great Taste Awards, great recognition for such a young and small company. I am sure they will be recognised once again in this year’s awards.

If you’d like to try Momo Cha teas for yourself, do so now using this special Kavey Eats discount code, valid throughout March 2013. The code is “KaveyEats10%” and knocks 10% off your order (excluding postage).

(This isn’t a referral code, I don’t get commission on the orders you place. I simply want to play a tiny part in helping fellow tea lovers discover Momo Cha’s fantastic teas).

King Oyster Mushroom & Cream Pasta

25 Feb 2013 13 Responses »

Feb 252013

Cep aka porcini is such a prized mushroom that it is often showcased as the key ingredient in very simple dishes like the tagliatelle ai porcini I enjoyed in Parma a couple of years ago. It’s fêted in porcini festivals; there are recipe books dedicated to it; even children’s stories! But fresh porcini is expensive, and the main season (in Europe) runs only from late August to November. It hasn’t yet been successfully farmed so supply comes from the wild, hence the cost and the lack of availability.

But don’t despair! There are other mushrooms which are less expensive and more readily available and can be just as delicious when used well.

The King Oyster (Pleurotus eryngii) – also known as the King Trumpet and the French Horn – is one such mushroom. In the wild, it can be found year round, though the high season is August to February. It’s also a variety that is successfully farmed, and hence it’s available a little more widely in supermarkets and markets, though still not as common as Chestnut, Button and Portobello mushrooms.

(Incidentally, did you realise that Portobello mushrooms are actually just large, mature Button mushrooms? No, me neither until I was looking up aliases for the King Oyster!)

As it’s name suggests, the King Oyster is the grandest member of the Pleurotus genus, which also contains the regular oyster mushroom and the bright yellow golden oyster mushroom. Unlike many in the genus, which have minimal stems and wide, frilly caps the King Oyster has a thick white stem and a small pale brown cap. The texture is dense and meaty.

Although the King Oyster doesn’t taste of much (or smell, for that matter) when raw, once cooked it’s delicious – it has a deep mushroom earthiness, a slightly sweet nuttiness and a silky firm texture. In fact, although “meaty” is a common description, I’d say its texture is perhaps more reminiscent of shellfish though don’t let that put you off trying it, if you’re not a fan. (Certainly, the shape of the cooked slices reminded Pete and I of little fishes!)

We bought these mushrooms from the Turnips mushroom stall at Borough Market one Saturday in January. Four fat specimens cost under £6 and we picked up a tub of Hurdlebrook extra thick, natural and untreated cream to pair with them. (Hurdlebrook are based in Somerset, and produce beautiful dairy from their Guernsey cows).

I’m keeping the recipe very loose, as it’s very simple and the amounts can be adjusted easily to serve more or less people.

King Oyster Mushroom & Cream Pasta

Ingredients
2 King Oyster mushrooms per person
1 heaped tablespoon extra thick double cream per person
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil and butter, to cook
Pasta of your choice, amounts as per your usual portions

Method

Slice the mushrooms into four along their length. My slices were about a quarter of an inch thick.
Retain the two central slices from each mushroom and set aside.

Finely chop the outer two slices from the mushrooms. I used a food processor.
If using dried pasta, put your pasta on to boil.
In one frying pan, heat a little oil and gently fry the finely chopped mushrooms over a low to medium heat.

In a second pan, heat a little vegetable oil and butter and gently fry the sliced mushrooms over a low to medium heat.

When the pasta is nearly cooked, and the mushrooms have taken on a nice golden colour, stir the cream into the chopped mushrooms until it’s heated through. Season to taste.
Drain the pasta thoroughly, and then mix into the chopped mushroom and cream sauce.
Serve with the fried mushroom slices.

This was a super meal; we both commented repeatedly on just how enjoyable it was and so simple to make too.

Have you tried King Oyster mushrooms? What’s your favourite way to cook them? What mushrooms do you suggest I look out for next?

With thanks to Mark from Galloway Wild Foods for helping me clarify some mushroom facts via twitter. You may also enjoy this great post about mushrooms from my friend Urvashi.

Custom Burgers from Ginger Pig

28 Dec 2012 2 Responses »

Dec 282012

Back in summer I shared my Pickleback Ice Lollies with the world. The reaction was mixed, with some readers horrified by the very idea but one of those who came down firmly on the “genius” side was Nicola Swift, Creative Food Director at The Ginger Pig.

To cut a fairly short story even shorter, we agreed on an exchange. I’d take in a bottle of (unfrozen) pickleback ice lolly and The Ginger Pig would help me create a custom burger mix for a burger to accompany the lollies. And they kindly offered to throw in a few other samples as well!

At the Moxon Street branch, in Marylebone, one of the butchers showed me how to break down a side of beautifully aged beef into a variety of cuts.

For my burger, I chose to combine chuck steak and fat, picanha and bone marrow.

I’ve come across picanha only through Brazilian steak restaurants, where it is a much prized cut. Not mentioned often here, the cut is called rump cap, also referred to as top sirloin or culotte in the US.

Beefy chuck was the main body of my burger mix, a cut that is affordable and good in flavour. Picanha is tender, juicy and gave more excellent flavour. Moistness in the finished burger was provided by the inclusion of bone marrow and added fat.

Once my cuts were finalised, the butcher passed them through the mincer twice to ensure they were not only properly minced but also well combined.

With such a large volume of burger mince, I divided the mince into portions when I got home. We had the first burgers plain with freshly dug Yukon gold potatoes and butter. The flavour of the burgers was phenomenal! Moist and with just the right texture, they tasted absolutely fantastic!