Pat Whelan Butcher

When you boil it all down it’s hard to get away from the fact that food is basically just a fuel for this machine we inhabit; the human body.  It has often been compared to putting fuel in a car.  Like our bodies they just won’t work without it.  In fact there are many motoring terms used when it comes to our bodies and health.  I’ve heard people suggest that just like a car, for the body to work efficiently it needs the three basics of oil, fuel and water.  I’ve heard other experts playing the guilt card when they tell us that overly processed foods are predominantly ‘bad fuel’ and they expand by saying, “If you wouldn’t put cheap, bad petrol into an expensive car that can be replaced why do you put bad, cheap food into a body that is irreplaceable”.  The comparisons go on and on and I wonder what the experts used before the invention of the motor car. 

While I understand the need for these analogies and see how they may simplify an understanding of food and health for the masses, I also find myself irritated by them.  Food is so much more than just mere fuel.  I don’t agonise over what kind of petrol to put in my car.  I pull up at the pump, pour it in and pay.  It is a joyless but necessary transaction and one that I don’t really have an opinion on.  I don’t look forward to the event with anticipation like I would if it were fuel for my body.  I don’t take my time and slowly pour the petrol in just to enjoy the experience more.  I don’t call my friends and invite them to come and share the occasion of the insertion of fuel.  And, unlike excellent restaurants, if I’ve been to a particularly good petrol station (one that’s nicely laid out, clean and efficient perhaps) I don’t tend to tell everyone about it and recommend it as the ‘best place to buy fuel’.  I don’t get excited at the thought of a return visit or idle some thoughts wondering if the next time I go will I try a little diesel perhaps or maybe a new brand of engine oil rather than just my usual fill of plain unleaded petrol!    

Of course we need food for nourishment but there is so much more to it.  There are the huge social and cultural aspects that we attach to its gathering, preparation and consumption.  From the simplest breaking of bread together as a family to marvellous formal affairs, they all have food at the centre.  From christenings to funerals, food is involved.   Indeed if food was merely fuel why even have the ritual of sitting to a wedding feast after the ceremony? If it was just energy we needed for the party then we should just hand our guests a can of red bull and tell them to sit for a few minutes before the band starts.    

Food is also used as both reward and punishment.  How many spouses have closed up the kitchen as a result of a row?  How many spouses have been punished for tardiness by finding their dinners in the dog bowl?  How many children have been bribed with sweets in order to behave here or there?  And how many couples have enjoyed getting to know each other over food?  There would be fewer customers in restaurants if people the world over weren’t constantly wooed over fancy meals and many relationships have been cemented on the culinary skills of one or other partner.  Even in the movies if someone is to be executed we know they get to choose their last meal; now that’s purely for pleasure as they won’t need the energy where they’re going.  The smell of certain foods can trigger memories both wonderful and painful and so again we see the inherent power of food as more than just mere fuel.  If we weren’t meant to enjoy food on this greater level then there would have been no need for the variety and abundance of food that exists and certainly little point in having taste buds.         

What we do with food can endear us to people or even offend.  It’s not right to judge but if we are honest we sometimes weigh people up in food situations.  We observe their food manners and form a particular view on how they use their cutlery.  We can even form negative opinions when they don’t stick to the same rules that we have.    That first meal with the parents of a new partner can be very tricky.  It is subconsciously laced with many traps and mines.  Being unaware of one or two rules of food etiquette could instantly jeopardise your future relationship with these people.  Of course we all publicly pretend that this is not the case.  We would never admit to being so narrow minded, but ask yourself privately if you have ever formed an opinion on someone over how they put the fuel in.  Then ask if you have ever judged someone socially by how they stand when filling petrol into their car on a forecourt!  No, neither have I.   As children the houses we enjoy the most are the ones with overflowing fridges and Mammies that offer us goodies.  Children couldn’t care less about your décor but empty foodless cupboards can leave an indelible mark on them. 

Food etiquette and manners can be the source of great diplomatic faux pas.  Offering the wrong type of food to people of certain religious persuasions can be considered highly offensive and insulting.  And yet food is also a great leveller in that who would refuse a gift of food?  On one occasion when I was invited to a party I knew that everyone, being polite, would bring a gift.  Predictably these were in the main wine and flowers.  I pushed the boundary and brought rashers, sausages, eggs a pint of milk and other breakfast stuff.  My unusual gift surprised but genuinely thrilled my hosts; mission accomplished.  When we find ourselves with a gift dilemma the obvious answer is always a food hamper or a meal voucher.

Food is an integral part of the human experience and maybe we have overcomplicated it with all the ‘stuff’; the infinite amount of gadgets, accessories, utensils and tableware but even without the bells and whistles it is still much more than just mere fuel.   It remains one of our greatest pleasures and we should never take the variety we enjoy and its abundance for granted.  Food is a blessing and often how we bless others and it should be respected as such.  Now, what am I going to have for my lunch?

I always welcome your comments and feedback at pat@jameswhelanbutchers.com

Butterflied leg of lamb

Ingredients

• 1 leg of lamb, boned, opened out flat and trimmed, roughly 4-5cm thick
• 4 tablesp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 2 fresh rosemary stalks, leaves stripped
• 3 large garlic cloves, cut into slivers
• Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 6 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 50g wild rocket leaves
• Small handful fresh mint leaves 

To Cook

Cooking time: 50 minutes 

Method

Place the lamb in a large non-metallic dish and drizzle over half the olive oil, then pare the lemon rind on top. Scatter over the rosemary and garlic slivers. Season generously and turn over a couple of times until the marinade ingredients are evenly distributed. Cover with clingfilm and set aside for 2 hours to allow the flavours to combine or overnight in the fridge is even better.

Light a barbecue or preheat the oven to Gas mark 7, 220ºC(450ºF). If the lamb has been chilled overnight, bring it back to room temperature. If cooking it in the oven place it, skin-side up, on a rack in a large roasting tin and season with salt. Roast the lamb for 35 minutes for medium rare. If you don’t like your lamb tto pink cook on for another 10 minutes. Alternatively barbecue the lamb for about 40 minutes for medium rare, turning occasionally.

To make the salad, place the cucumber, red onion and tomatoes in a large bowl. Fold in the rocket and tear in the mint leaves. Season to taste and then dress with the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

When the lamb is cooked, transfer to a warm dish, then leave to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

Carve into slices and arrange on plates with the summer salad and some boiled new potatoes to serve.

An article I read by juicing devotee Jason Vale pointed out that we are quick to embrace the latest health food product when a new ‘super’ enzyme or nutrient is isolated from, for example, a tomato.  He made the wise observation that instead of taking the pill we should just eat more tomatoes.  Ok, it is an overly simplistic view as an element may not be present in sufficient quantities for this to be practical, but I get and agree with the general gist of what he is trying to convey.  We should stop being so hung up on what’s in everything and just eat natural foods for health, energy and of course, taste.  (And just for the record I have no problem with supplements.) 

One of nature’s best offerings has to be honey.   Any time I see one of those ridiculously tiny pots of honey in hotels or guest houses I am instantly reminded of Chic Murray’s now infamous comment.  On being presented at breakfast with one of these miniature jars he hilariously said to the landlady, “Oh, I see you keep a bee.” 

I have just put down a new study on the benefits of honey and after reading quite a number of pages of detailed information I can condense it down to this, good honey is just very good for you!  Raw honey is of course the ultimate, but unlike Chic Murray’s landlady, few of us are keeping our own bee these days so we are dependent on local producers for their integrity.  Fortunately Tipperary’s honey producers are particularly good so if you buy local you’ll be fine.

Honey, that rich, golden liquid is nothing short of a miraculous feat of genius by those tiny little creatures. The process begins when the bees feast on flowers, collecting the flower nectar in their mouths. The collected nectar then mixes with special enzymes in the bees’ saliva.  On returning to the hive they deposit the mixture into the cells in the hive’s walls.  The collective fluttering of wings within the hive provides the necessary ventilation to reduce the moisture content making it ready for consumption.  When you stand back and watch nature at work on this level it makes all man made processes look clumsy and inadequate.  The elegant and magical process of making honey is truly remarkable.

Raw honey offers active enzymes, vitamins and trace amounts of minerals such as silica, copper, magnesium, iron and others.   Ancient peoples in Spain, India and Egypt knew that honey supplied a unique richness of nutrients. They didn’t squeeze their honey from plastic containers or scoop it out of jars; they ate their honey freshly harvested from local bee hives. They thoroughly understood the medicinal benefits of raw honey far better than we do today.  When Jesus Christ walked the earth honey was one of the premier medicines of the time.  Raw honey was used for sinus problems, rheumatism, arthritis, poor circulation, infectious diseases and topically for a whole host of other problems. 

Raw honey contains bee pollen which has many benefits including allergy relief, detoxification, anti-cancer properties, increased energy, amino acids, vitamins and thousands of beneficial enzymes.   Propolis, a material that bees use for constructing their hives, is another beneficial part of raw honey.   Propolis is believed to have antioxidant and even anti-cancer properties and is said to boost the immune system and improve the health of the liver as well. Most health food shops sell a propolis tablet as a natural antibiotic.

Like everything these days you need to pay close attention to the labels to make sure you are getting quality honey.  It should be completely unprocessed and unheated as the valuable enzymes in honey are preserved only if the honey is never heated above 105 degrees.  (Although purists claim that for honey to be truly raw, it should never be heated at all.)   For that reason raw honey should only be added to foods after they have been cooked and never before, since any exposure to heat risks destroying the beneficial nutrients.  If honey is stored in sealed, airtight jars it won’t go off.  Like a fine wine, it becomes finer with age.  Even open jars will stay fresh for at least several months and even then, raw honey will simply ferment and not spoil. Fermentation enhances the benefits of raw honey, although the taste may become too strong for some palates. 

Like all sugars honey stimulates the taste buds and gets the juices going.  It has long been used as a tasty addition to ham and bacon.  I know several weight watchers who add honey to their porridge instead of sugar and another who adds a spoonful to bolognaise sauce just before it is about to be served.  I’ve actually adapted that idea and often use it as my secret ingredient in a home made tomato sauce.  It is a perfect base for homemade pizza or an addition to pasta for a quick and healthy children’s supper.

Of course honey is always prescribed for sore throat sufferers or those with laryngitis but we lost much of what the ancient’s knew about its wound healing properties and are only now rediscovering them.  Honey has been used topically as an antiseptic therapeutic agent for the treatment of ulcers, burns and wounds for centuries. One study in India compared the wound healing effects of honey to a conventional treatment in 104 first-degree burn patients. After one week of treatment 91 percent of honey treated burns were infection free compared with only 7 percent receiving the conventional treatment. Finally, a greater percentage of patients’ burns were healed more readily in the honey treated group. Another study examined the wound healing benefits of honey applied topically to patients following Caesarean section and hysterectomy. Compared to the group receiving the standard solution of iodine and alcohol, the honey treated group was infection free in fewer days, healed more cleanly and had a reduced hospital stay.

Honey is a natural sweetener and a great item to have in any store cupboard for hundreds of different recipes from ham to flapjacks.  Always buy local, quality honey as the first difference is always going to be in the taste. I welcome your feedback to pat@jwb.ie

Roast Leg of Lamb with Honey Orange Glaze and Port and Mint Dressing 

Serves 8-10 

Ingredients

• 1 leg of lamb, trimmed
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• Few sprigs of rosemary
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with some salt
• The rind of 1 orange
• 2 tablesp. runny honey
• 2 tablesp olive oil
• Glass of white wine

Port and Mint Dressing 

• 4 tablesp. redcurrant jelly
• Juice of 1 orange
• Dash of port
• Few sprigs of mint

To Cook

Method

To cook, set the oven 200°C (400°F) Gas Mark 6.

Make about 10 incisions in the lamb with a sharp knife. Push a sliver of garlic and a sprig of rosemary into each hole. Place the lamb in a roasting tray with some chopped onions and a head of garlic cut in half. Mix together the crushed garlic, orange rind, honey and olive oil. Spread the mixture over the lamb. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. Then add the glass of wine and a glass of water, this will stop the honey from burning. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) Gas Mark 4 and continue the cooking for another hour for pink lamb. Rest for 15 minutes before serving.

When the lamb is cooked remove from the roasting tray and strain the juices, keep the garlic to serve with the lamb. To the juices, add another dash of wine and a tablesp. of redcurrant jelly. Boil it up to make a jus, finish with a knob of butter and taste for seasoning.

To make the dressing, gently heat the redcurrant jelly, orange juice, port and mint. Add a little lemon juice if you think it is too sweet. Serve warm with the sliced lamb.

Serving Suggestions

Boulangère Potatoes are very good with the roast lamb and can be cooked in the oven at the same time. Simply layer some thinly sliced potatoes in a baking dish with thinly sliced onions which have first been sautéed in a knob of butter. Add seasoning and a few more knobs of butter as you do the layers. Finish off with some chicken stock and a sprinkling of Regatto cheese. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the topping is golden and crispy.

A little like clothing, the great thing about food these days is that anything goes really.  Our purest attitudes to meal times and the type of food suitable to certain times of the day and special occasions have largely been put aside to cope with our busy and varying lifestyles, beliefs and pursuits.  Breakfast was and still is one of the most important meals of the day, and for some the only meal.  These days we tend to forego the value of a good breakfast and to our detriment trade it for extra minutes in bed.  Breakfast provides the first fuel for the day ahead and should never be underestimated as a foundation for great health.

Many people have dinner in the evening.  With the main work day over it is a relaxed time to come together with family or friends, break bread and reflect on events.  It is a time when many families catch up, share news and even air grievances.   Formal studies have found that families who get around a table and share at least one meal together every day function better than those that don’t.

Lunch is possibly the trickiest to get right.  Sandwiched neatly between breakfast and dinner it requires the right foods; food that gives energy for the afternoon but doesn’t cause a desire to sleep.  The definition of lunch changes at the weekends or on days off, when it can contain the very best dining experience of them all.  I have recently found that long, drawn out lunches at weekends and days off are particularly appealing. 

But Sunday lunch remains a firm favourite.  It’s perfectly acceptable to make a stab at a sophisticated, European experience for a Saturday lunch.  Various bean salads or rocket and spinach based fish dishes or pretentious risottos accompanied by rustic, crusty breads are all very well on a Saturday, but Sunday lunch is all about a roast.  And what better opportunity for a real Sunday lunch with all the trimmings than Easter Sunday.  Beef, chicken, turkey, lamb – or any joint of your choice; even the mere thought of a roast dinner gets the juices going.  Yes it requires work, but the result is worth it and the memories you are creating are priceless.

Some cooks favour chicken, others consider it a non event unless it is beef and then there is lamb, which still has the power to divide and polarise.  Some people love the smell of lamb cooking while others couldn’t even stand the thought of it.  Traditionally it is the joint of choice for Easter, but it really is a matter of individual taste; there are no rules.  While the meat forms the centrepiece, the gravy is hugely important.  Potatoes play a large part, with some even serving them in several forms.  It’s never surprising in Ireland to find mashed potato, roast and even croquet potatoes on the same plate.  If serving beef, a cook could stand or fall on the quality of the accompanying Yorkshire pudding.  Singles and couples tend to be greatly disadvantaged when it comes to roast dinners.  It is certainly a lot of work for just one person and even for two it is difficult given the quantity.  Just like the Turkey at Christmas, the key is having enough recipes in your repertoire to deal with the leftovers to justify cooking a joint of meat for two in the first place.  If you are having a crowd over, then a roast will always be a winner.  The ultimate resolution for a single or couple is to arrange an invitation to someone who is having a roast!  The Irish Mammy is still a good bet at Easter and Christmas despite the modern world.

However if you’re doing the cooking the first thing to get right is the type of joint.   If it is beef make sure it is rib or sirloin or at least a suitable cut for roasting.  Ask your butcher if you’re not sure.  There are two schools of thought on roasting: cook the meat from start to finish at a consistent medium temperature, which produces a juicy, evenly-cooked roast; or put it in a very hot oven to start, and then lower the temperature for the remainder of the cooking time, which helps brown the roast and its juices.  Always let the meat warm up to room temperature for at least an hour or two before putting it in the oven. 

Preparing the meat is also worth considering.  With a chicken I would always make sure the skin is dry to the touch and then generously butter it while also placing knobs of butter at the leg and wing joints.  A sprinkling of salt and pepper never goes astray at this point either.  With lamb I have always found success with making small slits in the surface and sticking in a slice of garlic and a sprig of rosemary at measured intervals.  When it comes to beef the least I would do is dust the fat surface with a mixture of flour and mustard powder.  Again none of the above is really necessary but adds to the overall finished dish. I like to baste meat, even if it is supposedly self basting, but always remember that every time you open the oven door you are affecting the temperature, so you’ll need to take this into account when calculating the overall cooking time.  And finally, rest, rest, rest! (And I don’t mean take a seat and enjoy a glass of wine; we’re talking about the joint.)  This is vital regardless of the meat you are serving.  Take the meat from the oven and let it rest for a minimum of 20minutes before carving or serving.

A roast dinner is all in the planning and preparation, but once underway it is actually much easier to cook than most people think.   While I love to embrace and experiment with new food ideas, we should never loose sight of the value of a roast dinner enjoyed by family and friends.  The memories will last forever and are therefore worth every minute of the preparation.  If you have any queries by all means drop by the shop, James Whelan Butchers in Oakville Shopping Centre where we will be happy to help.  Happy Easter.