PA'S BIRTHDAY FEAST

AVIE TAKES A BREAK FROM CHRISTMAS

Only temporarily I hasten to add as today was spent preparing Pa's Birthday feast. For this meal I procured a special piece of nose end of brisket on the bone. I delicious cut of meat and wonderfully inexpensive when compared to Fore rib roasting joints.

It tastes nothing like the rolled boneless brisket commonly on sale. Many butchers are loath to sell Brisket with the bone in as it actually does taste at least as good,we think better than the expensive cuts of roasting meat,it does take careful cooking but once you know the secret it becomes a breeze.

5-7 lb (more if you like) joint of brisket on the bone,ask for the nose end as it is the best part.

Take a large roasting dish and pour in about 1 pint of cold water. Place a trivet or a wire rack in to the pan then place the joint on the rack bone side up.

Cover with foil and seal well,then place in an oven heated to 180oC . A joint of the above size will take at least four hours to cook. Test to see that the meat is almost done then turn the meat over and cook for a further 30 minutes at 200oC by which time the meat should be brown and crisp on the outside.

Rest for at least 20 minutes before serving and up to 1 hour, during which time you can roast the potatoes and Yorkshire puddings and cook your vegetables.

Pour all the liquid out of the pan. You will see that there is a lot of fat (dripping) pour off most of the dripping and set aside. Use the pan juices to make your gravy adding a little salt and pepper and cornflour to thicken. A splash of port wine added just before serving does no harm at all.

The dripping can be used for roasting potatoes,or spread on hot toast and sprinkled with a little salt or even a little brown sugar. I know that fat is unfashionable these days but do try this rare delicacy if you can. If there is plenty I sometimes make a Lardy cake...very naughty indeed.

Pa loves hazelnut Pavlova and so ,of course made a large opulently decorated specimen for today’s pudding,after which we were all much too stuffed to face the cheeseboard.....oh well another time.