The Sandrock - Winners at the Pub Food Awards 2007

Ask the Chef

In conjunction with the launch of our new 'recipe' section, we would like to give our customers the chance to ask our chefs a question. You can ask about the recipes that will be available on our website, questions about a meal that you have had at 'The Sandrock' or you can request a recipe to appear on the site. All questions and answers will appear in this section.

You can email our chefs at chef@thesandrock.com

Question:

Hello! Having just spoken to David (booked our "office" x-mas lunch on 22nd dec), Iam now perusing your web site (well done!) We always enjoy our meals at The sandrock, and feel very lucky to have you on "our doorstep". I would love to have the recipe for Carol's mouthwatering Thai fishcakes some time.

See you soon
Love, Linda (Wilder)

Answer:

Hi Linda,

Thank you very much for your comments, you can now find the recipe for the Thai fishcakes in our recipe section, Carol says this is for your eyes only and is top secret!!.

Question:

Hello

I heard about the delicious ham Brian ate yesterday and wondered if it would be possible to have the recipe, it sounded wonderful.

Many thanks, Gill T

Answer:

Hi Gill

Thank you very much for your email, I have just added the recipe for our Ham to the recipe section, glad to hear Brian enjoyed it so much.

Question:

Hi There

My Friends and I are having a huge debate about Hot Cross Buns, are they bread or cake? based on the way they are made and their ingredients. Also does that mean that Stollen is more bread than cake because it has yeast in it?

Please help me settle the debate.

Jen

Answer:

Hi Jen

A bun is defined as a dough roll which is bread based and uses yeast in the preparation, a cake is also defined as a dough but usually does not contain yeast. So by definition i think a hot cross bun is a bread. If you look at the way a hot cross bun is made, it is done using a bread method not a cake method, typically cakes are made by creaming sugar and water, adding flour and liquid before baking, bread is made by combining yeast with sugar and water, adding flour and allowing to prove before baking. The hot cross bun would fall more easily in to the latter category. The same argument would apply to stollen. Anyway we have put a great recipe for hot cross buns in the recipe section:

Question:

Hi Chef,

Could you let me have the recipe for your Beef Wellington, I would like to do it for a dinner party at the weekend.

Thanks, Jonathon Lane

Answer:

Hi Jonathan,

Beef Wellie:
For the pastry the best cheat is to buy Sainsburys 'taste the difference'
all-butter puff pastry (unless you particularly like making puff pastry!)
One block will make two Wellingtons. Cut in half and roll into a rectangle
about 7" x 10". For the filling you need a 5 - 6oz fillet steak per
Wellington. Most people quickly sear the steak in a hot pan to stop it
bleeding into the pastry but I think this makes the meat overcook so I pat
it dry with kitchen paper. Place the steak at one end of the pastry leaving
a 1" border. Top the steak with a thin slice of Pate, it is best to use a
strong flavoured course pate (again, Sainsburys have some good ones, like
venison and Armagnac)Then slice up a flat mushroom and place neatly on the
pate, top with a knob of butter, some freshly ground pepper and chopped
parsley. Brush the egdes of the pastry with beaten egg. Now the only hard
part.. fold the pastry over to make a pasty shape. It is best to push one
hand up to the edge of the meat, under the pastry and stretch over gently,
press it down all round and then use your thumb to make indentations all
round to seal. It is best to trim the pastry AFTER sealing it down so that
you achieve a nice neat edge. Decorate with pastry leaves, stuck down with
egg. Refrigerate until you need to cook it. It is best to cook from chilled
as this ensures the pastry cooks evenly. Heat a baking tray in the oven at
200 degrees c or Gas 7 with a little oil, brush the Wellingtons with egg and
place on hot tray and bake for 25 minutes until golden. If they start to
brown before the time is up then turn the oven down a little as the centre
will not be cooked.

Good luck,

Cheers, Chef

Question:

I have just been to the Blacker Hall farm shop up where my parents live near Wakefield, and bought some of its prize winning gammon. I have just thawed it out this morning It says to steam roast I cant find it in any of my cook books. Could you give me some idea what this means and maybe a recipe to do this piece of meat justice. Or Maybe the next one, as today is Sunday and my guests are arriving at 2.00pm! We had the Lamb Henry from the farm shop too. It was amazing.

Best wishes, Kate

Answer:

Hi Kate,

Steam roast just means roasting in a tin with some liquid in the bottom so that the meat doesnt dry out. I usually score the skin of gammon and rub in some grain mustard. Then sprinkle with mustard seed, caraway or fennel. Pour a little cider in the bottom of the tray (or water) and cover with a dome of foil that doesnt touch the meat. Roast at 180 degrees for two and a half to five hours depending on size. (use a meat thermometer to check it is cooked inside. For around a 10bl joint I would give it 3hrs.

Good luck, Chef.

Question:

Hi, We are having a turkey stuffed with a duck for Christmas this year, to which our butcher is boning & stuffing for us, Not sure how big the Duck is going to be but the Butcher said he was going to use a 6-8lb turkey, can you give me any advice on how long I should cook this for and any tips as we normally roast our potatoes under the turkey but as the duck will be inside of this adnd they are quite greasy is this going to a problem this year.

Many thanks in advance, Michala

Answer:

Hi Michala, Goodness, thats an unusual question.

What we need to know here is the overall weight and shape of the joint. If the butcher is boning and rolling the turkey with the duck inside in a long traditional joint shape if will obviously take less long to cook than if he is reconstructing the turkey shape which will be thicker. I can only guess, but I imagine he is going to stuff your turkey with the duck breasts only, which should not be particularly greasy. If this is the case you should end up with a joint around say 9lb which I would cook in the middle of the oven on around 200 degrees for 3.5 to 4 hours. When I have cooked boned and rolled turkeys before I have found that quite a lot of liquid comes out of them so, with the duck as well, I would not put the potatoes in the same tray. Also the potatoes may possibly want to be higher up in the oven to brown (Unless you have a fan oven 190 instead). You could ask your butcher to keep the duck fat for you for your potato tray. Just fry the fat off in a frying pan and then pour on to the pots instead of veg oil. If you do not already have one I would get a meat thermometer. They are in all the supermarkets at the moment. The inside of the joint wants to be over 65 degrees and this will indicate to you when the joint is done. Part way through the cooking time if there is a lot of liquid you could drain this off. I normally cook these sort of joints smothered in butter with a little paprika and sage, under foil. You can remove the foil for the last half hour to brown the skin (baste at this point). You should let the meat rest for half an hour before carving. Leftovers slice up beautifully when cold but remember to get the meat in the fridge as soon as it is room temperature as turkey can be a high food poisoning risk.

I hope this is of some help to you, and wish you every success with your Christmas lunch.

Merry Christmas, Chef