A couple of things we serve daily in our Pub

Ian M.

New member
Here are a couple of recipes that are staple items at our pub. We make tons of fish and chips and gallons of Beef and Guinness stew daily! But not all at once..................

Fish and Chips

4 lbs of potatoes
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup water
2 quarts oil for deep-frying
1 1/2 lbs white fish filets

Peel the potatoes and cut them into thick fries. Have a large bowl of cold water nearby and toss the cut fries into it as you work. Set aside while you make the batter for the fish.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, then slowly whisk in water until a smooth paste forms. Add a little more water if the batter doesn't lie flat in the bowl - it shouldn't be thick or fluffy. Cover bowl and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

While the batter rests, heat 2 quarts of oil to 350 degrees in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan with tall sides - or a deep fryer if you prefer.

(If you don't have a thermometer, throw in a cube of bread or a fry. If it sizzles, the oil is ready, but using a thermometer is best.) Carefully put the first batch into the 350 degree oil, avoiding crowding, and fry for 5 minutes or until they begin to brown, stirring a couple of times to avoid their sticking together. Remove the fries from the oil and place them in a big bowl well lined with paper towels to absorb the oil. They will be cooked through but will appear undercooked and soggy.

Cut fish filets into six-inch lengths (leave whole if fish are small) Make sure oil has returned to 350 degrees. Dip each filet into batter and then gently slip the fish into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes. When fish is done, drain on paper towels.

Raise the oil heat to 375 for second frying. Put the chips back in in slightly larger batches, frying until they are crisp and golden - 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels, then season with salt.

Serve hot fish and chips immediately with tartar sauce and ketchup or with salt and malt vinegar (not any other kind of vinegar).

This recipe makes 4 hefty servings - needless to say - we make many more servings than that! We cook orders individually or by table - never mass produced as is done in large restaurants. We're "little shavers"!


Beef and Guinness Stew

5 lbs stew beef, such as chuck, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons suet or vegetable oil
3 to 4 large yellow onions, coarsely chopped
1 lb white mushrooms, halved
2 12 oz. bottles Guinness Extra Stout
2 cups beef stock
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
Generous pinch of nutmeg
4 bay leaves

In a large bowl, toss the meat, flour and some salt and pepper until the meat is completely coated. Heat the suet or oil in a large Dutch oven or stew pot over high heat. When the fat is very hot, add the meat all at once and fry, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the browned meat from the pot and set aside on a platter. Add the onions to the same pot and cook over medium heat until they are just translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Return the beef to the pot and add the mushrooms, stout, stock, sugar, thyme, nutmeg and bay leaves. Add salt and pepper, using a light hand with the salt at this point. Bring stew to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve stew over mashed potatoes. This is hearty and delicious. Best eaten with a pint of good, cold Guinness to wash everything down!

Just so you know, when making this stew, bottled brew is best, rather than the canned pub draught Guinness. That type is great for drinking but not for cooking - too bubbly. Use the bottled brew - the old-fashioned way. The alcohol content is better and tastes the way Guinness is supposed to taste with none of those bubbles you don't want in stew!



And a children's sweet treat, for good measure:


Bread and Butter Pudding

8 slices firm-textured white sandwich bread
1/2 stick of butter, softened
2 tbls. raisins - optional - you can leave them out if you want but they're really good in there!
3 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 1 quart baking dish well. Butter all the bread slices on one side, all the way to the edges, and cut each slice diagonally into 2 triangles.

Place the bread triangles in the baking dish cut side down, arranging the triangles so the pointed tips stand up. Sprinkle with raisins.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, then beat in the milk and sugar. Add the vanilla and pour over the bread. Leave to soak for 10 minutes, so the bread can absorb the custard. It's okay if the tips of the bread stick up from the egg and milk, they'll brown nicely and make crunchy spots in the pudding. Sprinkle lightly with sugar so the finished pudding sparkles when it comes out of the oven.

Bake the pudding for 20 to 25 minutes, until the bread pudding puffs gently and is golden brown. Serve warm with syrup if desired.

This is considered a children's sweet treat but us "big kids" love it, too.


Enjoy all these recipes

Ian
 
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Ian M.

New member
Re: A cople of things we serve daily in our Pub

I've a favour to ask - if anyone has a really authentic recipe for Southern Fried Chicken could you post it for me? Several of the customers have asked me if I brought such a thing with me from the States. I had to admit that I didn't and couldn't come up with one off the top of my head. But the boyos really want Southern Fried Chicken! Hell, who knew?

Thanks a lot -

Ian :chef:
 

Ian M.

New member
Sloe Gin

I never imagined you could make this stuff at home - I just always thought it came in nice bottles - but here's a recipe just for kicks................

Sloe Gin

In the fall, sloes ripen all over Ireland. They're actually a type of tiny dark blue and hard wild plum, but if you try to eat one off a bush it'll make your mouth pucker! Sour as all get out!! Poked all over with a needle, gathered in the bottom of a bottle and topped with gin, however, they slowly release their flavor, emitting a subtle fruitiness and, beautifully a glowing crimson to the gin. Sloes may be near impossible to find in the US but if you're lucky enough to live near a dune and you can gather beach plums, try them instead. Make more than one bottle in the fall when the sloes are ripe, otherwise you'll be very sorry later. You can sip it on the rocks as an aperitif, make a Sloe Gin and Tonic or try a Sloe Gin Fizz, 2 jiggers sloe gin, 1 tbls. lemon juice and 1/2 cup soda water. To make 1 quart, use 4 cups gin, 4 cups of sloes and 1 cup sugar. Use a large sewing needle to prick the sloes.. You can do this in a slap-dash manner, poking at the mass of sloes in a heap, instead of trying to prick one at a time. That takes forever!

Divide the sloes between two quart-size glass jars and pour half the gin into each. Divide the sugar among the two jars, seal the jars and shake well. Let the sloe gin rest for 3 to 4 months, shaking the bottles occasionally. My father's never had it last long enough to bother straining out the sloes and bottling the gin separately, but perhaps you'll do better than he ever has. Dad shipped sloes back to New Hampshire from here for a couple of years when we'd visit Ireland and he tried this - not too bad, really. Pretty, anyway. Maybe we can make some in quantity now that we live here.................

Ian


DW says that between the Sloe Gin and all the recipes I've shared that use quantities of Guinness - I'll have you lot drunk as lords before I'm done!! I
doubt it, but not for lack of trying..................
 
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Jim_S

Resident Curmudgeon
Gold Site Supporter
Re: A cople of things we serve daily in our Pub

I've a favour to ask - if anyone has a really authentic recipe for Southern Fried Chicken could you post it for me? Several of the customers have asked me if I brought such a thing with me from the States. I had to admit that I didn't and couldn't come up with one off the top of my head. But the boyos really want Southern Fried Chicken! Hell, who knew?

Thanks a lot -

Ian :chef:

This one from Mama is good. The Texas Pete hot sauce is too much for some folks.

http://netcookingtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21868&highlight=Mama+fried+chicken
 

Ian M.

New member
Re: A cople of things we serve daily in our Pub

Thanks, Jim, so very much for your help. That recipe looks perfect, up to and including the Texas Pete. I'm not sure where I can get some, but I'm sure it's available somewhere close. And the hot sauce will be greatly appreciated, for sure. Just looking at that chicken in Mama's photos made my mouth water! My buddy and I are going to cook some up either at the hotel kitchen or at my house first, before we spring it on the customers at the pub - but I have no doubt that unless we really mess it up royaly, it will be gone in nothing flat! In us, most likely..............

Ian
 

Leni

New member
Re: A cople of things we serve daily in our Pub

I agree with Jim. Mama's recipe is the best fried chicken recipe that I've come across and I'll bet that the rest of them on her site are also very good.
 

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
I have tried a lot of Mama's recipes and they were all good!
 
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