SOME THINGS I PUT IN MY MOUTH - 2023 EDITION

AWAY FROM HOME:

 

A Negroni at Iberica, Victoria.

*

A sausage roll at Delice, Lloyd Park – beef sausage for some (in fact I suppose fairly obvious) reason. 

*

A pasty on an appealing plate, at the caff at the East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden.

*

Toasted sandwiches served on slate at the Copr Bar, Swansea, though I actually forget what was in them:

*

Zestily presented sausage bap and chips at the Sun, Dedham:

*

It’s a wrap at the Welcome Institute.

*

Anchovies, at the Orford Saloon in Walthamstow.

*

Crispy squid, chips and salad, at the Rising Sun, Twickenham, eaten in the unexpected company of pre-game rugby fans who were consuming vast quantities of pizza.

*

Seared Ahi tuna with ‘resort grown avocado pickled shallots, shaved Fresno pepper, gochujang bbq drizzle,’ at Edna’s Eaterie, Tucson Botanic Gardens. No, I’d never heard of gochujang either but it’s a kind of chili paste apparently.

*

Spoiled for choice at the caff at the Horniman Museum.

Photo by Caroline Gannon, as are quite a lot of the others.

**

AND AT HOME

In fact it’s a venison fillet but I know it looks like a sausage:

*

Cheese straws, made by following (not very closely) a recipe for ‘Dishoon’s cheese and masala sticks’ 

*

Devilled kidneys – my butcher is a good butcher but you have to ask him to order in kidneys specially:

*

Another steak tartare in a universe of steak tartares:

*

Taco night – not so much deconstructed as self-destructed:

*

White Lake Cheese Somerset Dairy Tor, from Teddington Cheese in Richmond.

*

Comparatively sophisticated - smoked mackerel. asparagus, Hollandaise sauce:

*

Cheese on toast and beans (less sophisticated)

*

A haggis pie with what looks like a fox’s face, though it was supposed to be a heart:

*

Shepherd’s pie, post-Xmas – made with leftover duck (I read that Giles Coren was having the same.)

**

 

 

 

FREE IMPROV SANDWICH

 St John Restaurant put up this image on Instagram:

 

The caption was, ‘”Creating a sandwich is like jazz,” says Fergus (Henderson). “You must find your unique sounds.”  Fergus always orders the Egg Mayonnaise sandwich from the chalkboard bar menu, and requests the addition of brown shrimp or anchovy.  The perks of being the boss.’

 

I’m not sure that creating a sandwich is really very much like jazz but I would never argue with Fergus Henderson.

 

 

And then Fuchsia Dunlop put up this image on Instagram: 

 

with the caption, ‘Scotch woodcock (a scrambled egg and anchovy dish, no bird involved) and crab on toast …” A Scotch woodcock is a version of the Welsh rarebit – the anchovies can be on top of the egg (as in the pic) or below the egg as in Gentleman’s Relish.  

Both would be OK by me.

 

I decided the kitchen gods wanted me to make an egg mayonnaise sandwich with anchovies.

 

The truth is I never willingly make an egg mayonnaise sandwich without anchovies so I boiled my eggs readied my mayo and anchovies and in due course began assemblage.  

But the fact also is that I never willingly make an egg mayonnaise sandwich without smoked paprika - and I suddenly realized I’d run out.  I’m not prepared to drive to the supermarket just for a jar of smoked paprika, so I improvised.

 Here is my egg mayonnaise sandwich with anchovies and ... turmeric. 

 

It tasted pretty good. To be honest I think that was because of the egg and the mayonnaise and the anchovies rather than the turmeric.  Does turmeric really have much taste at all? I don’t think so, but I stand to be corrected.  But it looked reasonably jazzy.

Do you want to see a picture of a young Rachel Riley (of Countdown fame) dressed as an egg salad sandwich?  Well, of course you do.