Tasty Roast Chicken

When roasting a chicken, get some flavour into the meat by making up a flavoured butter. 

Mix some garlic, some fresh herbs, lemon zest and salt & pepper with some butter.

To get flavoured butter under the skin of your chicken – You can either use your fingers or the back of a teaspoon to loosen the skin away from the meat.  Push the flavoured butter under the skin rubbing to spread it evenly.

This will give your roast chicken some amazing flavour!

Extra tip - cut up some lemons and insert into the chicken instead of stuffing.

See more on www.cullensbutchers.com

Traditional Bacon & Cabbage

Traditional Bacon & Cabbage

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 60 minutes

Serves 4-6

                                                                                            

Ingredients:         1½ Kg (3lbs) Cullens Quality Butchers’ loin of Bacon.

1 carrot.

2 celery sticks.

2 leeks.

1 teaspoon peppercorns.

Topping:

1 tablespoon mustard.

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs.

½ tablespoon brown sugar.

Knob of butter.

Mustard Sauce:

50g (2oz) butter.

25g (1oz) flour.

1 tablespoon mustard.

250ml (1/2pt) – mixture of the cooking liquid

and cream. (125ml of each).

1kg ( 2lbs) of cabbage, finely sliced.

To Cook: Place the joint in a large saucepan. Add chopped vegetables and peppercorns. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for approx. 20 minutes per ½ kg (1 lb). Set oven to Gas Mark 6, 200ºC (400ºF). Remove the joint from the saucepan. Reserve liquid. Remove the rind and score the fat. Place the joint on a roasting dish. Spread with mustard and breadcrumbs, sugar and a knob of butter. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. 

To Make the Sauce: Melt the butter, add the flour and mustard. Cook for a minute or two. Whisk in the cooking liquid and cream. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Taste for seasoning. The sauce should have the consistency of thin cream. Keep warm. 

To Cook the Cabbage: In another saucepan cook the cabbage lightly with some of the cooking liquid. Drain well and toss in butter. Season to taste. Slice the bacon and serve on the bed of cabbage, a little of the mustard sauce and of course, some floury potatoes.

For more information, don't forget to check out www.cullensbutchers.com

Cullens Quality Butchers
Main Street
Wicklow Town
www.cullensbutchers.com
0404 69719

SIMPLE DRESSINGS FOR FISH...

SIMPLE DRESSINGS FOR FISH...
- a simple melted butter & lemon sauce with chopped parsley & capers.
- a chopped avocado salsa with chopped coriander, red onion & lime juice.
(you could add chopped red chilli for an extra kick!)
- chopped sundried tomatoes with fresh basil, garlic & balsamic vinegar.
- crème fraiche, chopped chives & a squeeze lemon juice.
- bashed up basil, mayonnaise, lemon juice & a pinch of salt.
- green pesto.
- greek yogurt, capers, chopped parsley & lemon juice

Eat Less Meat!!

WHAT!!! - A Butcher telling you to EAT LESS MEAT!
Yes, that's right - eat less meat, but MORE good quality meat. Less trips to the supermarket meat counter, but more trips to your local butcher and buying good quality local meats.

Supermarket meats can often be processed, or packaged in long life plastic sealed trays or just not given the care and attention that your butcher has. Your local butcher is a craftsman (or Woman) and is depending on your return business, so will always give you the best care and attention.

So to stay healthy - eat red meat 2-3 times per week, add in some fish, turkey, chicken or perhaps have a 'veggie' day. A good balance of all the food groups does you good. - See, our mothers know best!

www.cullensbutchers.com

Cooking leftovers

We all enjoy leftovers, and in fact, some dishes just seem to taste even better the next day. Stews, Chillis etc benefit from overnight 'resting'.  So, how to reheat? Microwave is fine, but in order to kill off any bacteria, the food must reach at least 70deg C. That is, piping hot all the way through!  What is 70deg C? Well its the point no bacteria can survive. Mmmmm - now, where is last nights casserole....

www.cullensbutchers.com

Five steps to cooking the perfect steak at home

Five things to look for when buying a steak
1. When choosing a steak, striploin is a fine choice due to its tasty, melt-in-the-mouth succulence. Good striploin has just the right amount of fat and nice marbling. Rump (sirloin) steak is slightly cheaper than striploin but it's still a great steak for griddling or frying, with more flavour than striploin.
2. Age of the steak is important, as the hanging process develops the flavour and tenderises the meat. So ask your butcher how long the beef has been hung for. As a rule, 21 days as a minimum and 35 days as a maximum is a good range to go for.
3. Good beef should be a deep red colour.
4. Check the beef has good marbling - little streaks of fat running through the meat. This melts when heated, helping the steak to baste itself from within as it cooks.
5. A good layer of creamy-white fat around the top of striploin and sirloin steaks is essential.

Five steps to cooking the perfect steak at home
1. Take steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking to allow to come to room temperature. Heat your griddle or frying pan over a high heat, until smoking hot.
2. Lightly brush the steak with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper just before cooking.
3. Don't griddle more than two steaks at a time, and keep them spaced well apart. If you add more than two steaks to the pan at once, the temperature will drop and the steak will stew, rather than fry.
4. Don't turn the steaks until good seared markings are achieved, then turn them over and cook on the other side (see timings, below).
5. Let the steak rest for about 5 minutes (in tinfoil) before serving, to allow the juices that have been drawn to the surface to relax back into the meat.

How long to cook a steak for
These timings are based on cooking a striploin steak that's about 2cm (3/4 of an inch) thick. (Cooking times will vary depending on the type and thickness of the steak, and how hot your pan is.)
Blue: 1 minute each side
Rare: 1½ minutes each side
Medium rare: 2 minutes each side
Medium: 2¼ minutes each side
Medium-well done: 2½ - 3 minutes each side.

Check out www.cullensbutchers.com for more

Cullens Quality Butchers
Main Street
Wicklow Town
www.cullensbutchers.com
0404 69719

No Mess Marinades

WANT A NO MESS WAY TO MARINADE MEAT?

Use a zip lock plastic bag.

A zip lock plastic bag with help coat the meat more evenly, you can really get the flavour in there!  You can turn or rotate it to help distribute the marinade.

It also saves room in the fridge instead of using a glass bowl. Using a zip lock plastic bag helps prevent any risk of other items in the fridge coming in contact with the meat.

www.cullensbutchers.com