Bones of content
I SEEM to have been doing the rounds of raw or smoked salmon viewing this past month. The Scottish Salmon Board was giving lessons on how to carve smoked salmon, and there was a wonderful display of Japanese knife dexterity with raw sal- mon at David Queensberry's studios, a riveting performance of expertise, a joy to watch, apart from being quite delicious to eat, dunked into a mixture of Japanese soy sauce and their incredibly hot green horse- radish.
Then yesterday, Sunday lunch at the ubiquitous Anthony Blond's, where they had gathered most of the great chefs of London. Jonathan Meades from the Times produced raw slices of salmon anointed with hazelnut oil, sprinkled with some very exotic pepper and topped with frizzled particles of the salmon skin — wonderful.
However, today as I write is the feast of All Souls, so I thought an Italian confec- tion called Dead Men's Bones would be appropriate. They are always made in the shape of a shin-bone.
Osse dei morti
2 egg whites 21/2 oz icing sugar 3 oz good plain chocolate 1 oz semolina 4 oz blanched almonds
For the icing 3 oz of the plain chocolate 3/4 oz unsalted butter
Line a couple of baking trays with rice paper and pre-heat the oven to Gas 2, F 300, C 154. Grate the first lot of chocolate finely and cut the almonds into strips. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, add half the sugar, continue whisking until shiny. Fold in the rest of the sugar, the grated chocolate, the semolina, and the almonds all with a light touch. Spoon the mixture in long bone-like shapes onto the rice-papered trays, fairly well apart. Flat- ten slightly with a wet knife, then bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes until light brown and dry. Leave to cool for about ten minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Make the icing by melting the broken-up remaining chocolate in a little basin over simmering water; stir in the butter, mixing well. When the 'bones' are quite cold spread the rice-paper side of each with the icing and make wavy lines down them with the prongs of a fork. Leave to set. These are very good munched with a creamy pudding and wine.
Now to other bones. My uncle has been pilgrimaging in Jerusalem, so I have been cooking the things I love and he hates, boiled gelatinous things like oxtail and pigs' trotters. I get four handsome trotters for 50 pence; they must be the cheapest meat on the market. My favourite method is the breadcrumbed one giving the lovely crisp outside to crunch through before hitting the gelatinous centre.
Pieds de porc panes
4 pigs' trotters 1 large onion 3 carrots 2 leeks 2 sticks of celery big bunch of parsley and a bay leaf a good strip of lemon peel a few cloves homemade toasted breadcrumbs melted butter
Sprinkle the trotters with salt a few hours or the night before cooking, then rinse off. Put them in a large saucepan with all the vegetables roughly sliced, the herbs and a little salt. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, cover and simmer very gently for six hours (ideal if you are an Aga owner). Take the trotters from the pan carefully with a perforated implement. Leave to cool, removing any bones that seem to be falling out. Place between two boards with a weight on top until quite cold. Brush them all over with melted butter, then roll in fine toasted bread- crumbs. They are now ready to be grilled at will to warm them through and give them a crunchy coating. Alternatively, you can warm them up in the oven, then finish off under a fiercer grill. Serve with a sauce tartare, ravigote or remoulade. I prefer the remoulade. Pound two hard egg yolks with a touch of white wine vinegar, add a raw yolk, a teaspoon of strong Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, then beat in about a quarter pint of excellent olive oil as for mayonnaise. Stir in a teaspoon each of chopped tarragon, chives, capers and pars- ley.
The liquid from the trotters boiled up again with some shin of beef will produce a splendid jellied stock.
Jennifer Paterson
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