Ah, London and its familiar smells. That tantalising, fatty waft of fish and chips. That grey electric dust that gets up your nose in the Tube.
But what we love best about London is the food culture. Fresh ingredients are plentiful in the fruit and veg stalls on the street, the multicultural stores, the market districts, and the new “gastro pub” movement is adding another dimension to the culinary scene.
After our transatlantic flight from Toronto we “dossed” with Lenny’s brother Cam for a few days while we found somewhere to live. We did our research and ended up moving into the first place we saw.
The good news is our new kitchen is EXCELLENT! Good lighting, plenty of bench space and, best of all, a gas stove.
That stove is really something to behold. Three normal burners, one for a wok, and a big long one up the middle for a cast iron hotplate. The oven is huge … two turkeys wouldn’t be a problem.
We took a few days to get the measure of our new Crash Test Kitchen before launching into our first show. It had to be something with a local flavour. And here it is: a steak and ale pie with a Yorkshire pud crust.
Let us know what you think of the new digs.
- Waz.
Let’s get ready to rum baba!
Bangers and mash recipe – with video
Pavlova recipe from the end of the oeuf
How to make Kung Pao Chicken
How to cook with truffles
Let the jelly roll: Swiss roll recipe from Waz’s Nana
How to roast a duck, the slow and tender way
Our roast chicken recipe: hot and fast
No-fuss fish pie
Classic bolognese
Rice to the occasion
Partridges with bread sauce
Loaf to admit failure
Your sausage habits exposed
Crème caramel: from one flan to another
Try this for thickner…1 teaspoon of cornstarch desolved in 1/4 cup of your cooking broth or water. The chinese call this “magic water” but make sure you cook well so there is no starchy taste.
Good to have you back. I missed your videos. I hope you love London. We would love for you to visit the USA sometime.
Yes Lenny, I do agree with you that you have to measure baking items very close but it looks like Waz still did ok with the topping to your steak pie. I am going to try making it here in Georgia, USA.
I again agree with Lenny baked goods must be measured carefully. That looked like a pretty good meal too. I might try it out as well.
He only did OK after I made him add extra flour. Otherwsie it would have been a COMPLETE DISASTER, like the sponge cake. Thanks goodness I’m here to keep him on the straight and narrow.
Good luck with your pie,
Lenny.
Do let us know if you ever find any “liquid stock”. Is liquid stock a common thing in other countries?
It’s not something I’d have thought of looking for, we just use stock cubes (either the dry “oxo” style ones or the slightly squidgy ones that are often next to them on the supermarket shelves). Is liquid stock a common thing elsewhere?
The easiest way to separate eggs is to crack them into your hand and let the white run through your fingers into the bowl. As long as the yolk doesn’t break or you don’t spread your fingers too wide, only the white will go through.
On baked goods: recipes vary so you don’t have to have the measurements perfectly exact… but 1/4 cup difference certainly could be enough to mess things up.
I love your podcasts *and* your general philosophy of food and cooking! Thanks so much for sharing your culinary adventures.
(sings) Oh the gas stove…I love the gas stove…death to all electric stoves..may gas stoves live forever
Hi Waz and Len – good to see you guys up and video-ing again! BTW two of my family are in London and enjoying our videos (together with their flatmates, friends etc etc) so I’m going to tell them all about your videos so they can enjoy some local entertainment
off to watch your latest video now!
Hey,
It’s been my experience that you can fudge just a bit with ingredients when baking. A tablespoon extra of flour or milk here and there generally won’t make a difference. Temperature is the really important thing. Ovens are notoriously inaccurate, you should always use an oven thermometer to be sure that your oven is at it’s proper temp when baking. It looks like you have a good oven though. I would bet that that one keeps a fairly accurate temp. Most of the higher end ovens have extra mass added to them to help keep a steady temperature.
Hey Frank,
I think you are talking about what I call bouillon cubes – the dry ones and the liquid chicken, beef and vegetable stock.
In America the major maker of liquid stuff is Swanson. There are organic brands and veggie safe liquid stock as well. I’m curious, in the UK there is no liquid stock for sale? Do folks make it from scratch each and every time?
Wow.
Gena
No, Gena; they buy the cubes here, too. But you don’t seem to be able to buy it in liquid form. We did see one brand of what appeared to be a liquid concentrate but not the ready-to-use variety we’re accustomed to.
Waz.
I live in London and have found liquid stock in a few different forms. I saw tubs of fresh stock in the cooler sections in Waitrose, but I haven’t tried it yet, while my local Tesco has recently started selling 450ml sachets called Simply Stock, made by Knorr, which seems pretty good. Both supermarkets have long-life cartons of stock/broth type stuff and also bottles of liquid concentrate. I think all of these are better options than the cubes. I don’t know where you live in London, but I think you just need to find your nearest large supermarket rather than relying on corner shops or West-End mini-markets.
Thanks for the video – I liked the way you made the crust on the pie… think I’ll try something like that soon.
Enjoy London!
Ian,
The long-life carton is what we’re accustomed to. Sounds like we’re off to Waitrose or Tesco.
Now I just have to find a place that sells Ritter Sport _dark_ chocolate. Plenty of corner stores etc. seem to sell every Ritter variety under the sun except for the plain dark variety which I think is the best in the world.
Know where we can get a good carbon steel wok in London? We don’t want a non-stick one, or one with an “encapsulated aluminium base” and not a crappy thin metal one either. The carbon steel ones are the best.
Waz.
MMMmmmmm that looks delicious! Could you post the recipe up? I’m a cooking newbie hehe.
Love the kitchen – looks very functional. Great idea for the battery drill beater. Pie looked sensational!!! YUM
hey waz, hey len. welcome back to this side of the world.
i’ve never put it up to a side by side test, but i’ve always had my doubts over whether the concentrated liquid stock isn’t just a dissolved version of the cube… i still always buy the liquid, but always with the nagging suspicion that i’m falling victim to a stock-market con.
Hi guys, nice sirte and welcome to London.
You can buy liquid stock from Sainsburys and Waitrose, usually in the chiller cabinets in the meat section.
Cheers
Cuervo
Hi guys,
great site and welcome to London.
You can buy liquid stock in Sainsburys and Waitrose supermarkets, you’ll find it in the chiller cabinets near the meat.
Cheers
Cuervo
Hi Lenny & Waz
I’m wondering if common ale in the UK is the same as our common beer here ‘down under’ in aus. Heh, I look forward to more of your tempting and tantalising dishes from London. I’d kill for that stove!!!
As to liquid stock, Yes in the US both Beef and Chicken as well as a vegetable stock are available from I believe “Swansons”. Can be bought on both a single can and in a six or 8 pack at Costco or Sams Club Discount warehouses.
For the wok, they have two stores in London, its like a supplier for Chinese restaurants. Have been to the one in Greenwich and it blew my mind. so cheap and exactly like supermarkets in china.
http://www.seewoo.com
hi you guys rock its so much better than the food chanel because of the mishaps and shit. I LOVE YOU guys.
love ya.
kai
Pie looks great .Did you put just the 2 egg yolks in with the flour and milk or 2 whole eggs?
Jahpaul, here’s the crust recipe:
Place the whole eggs in a blender or food processor and pulse on and off 3 times. Add the salt, flour, and milk, and blend for 45 seconds. Refrigerate the batter for 45 minutes. When you are ready to bake, fold the egg whites into the batter. The crust will rise and be a golden brown.
Thanks For the reply , i made the pie last night ,i ended up just using the egg yolks as i only had 2 eggs . it tasted great .But next time ill follow the recipe.
Thanx Paul.
That pie looks very nice, i happened to find your blog by coincidence. Very good job
Hi
I thoroughly enjoy your podcasts. I’m a new Ipod owner and got the video ipod for Christmas. It attracts quite the attention watching your videos on the bus. The steak pie episode brought me back to my youth and my Dad’s Steak and Kidney pie.
My Mom and Dad (God rest their souls) are from Glasgow as are my bro and sis (Iwas the only one born in Canada)
Come visit Montreal ( a real food town) I’ll take you to Schwartz’s Deli (Montreal style Smoked Meat), Lafleur’s( steamed hot dogs and best fries in town) , Bar-b-barn
( rrriiibbbs!), Fairmount Bagels( forget New York, Montreal bagels are the best!)
If you come I’ll make you my famous Chicken Vindaloo( will I have to tone it down?)
Cheers
Bob
We tried your recipe tonight, and actually measured the ingredients. It came out wonderful! My wife loved it and I found it excellent!
Kjempe kuuuul hjemmeside du har.
This is not specific to this recipe but I like your pod-casts.
This is 2009 btw and I see that the originals are in the 2005 area.
I like the way that perfection is rarely achieved and the banter between the pair of you.
Many thanks for an entertaining – realistic – followable (by me) series.
Thanks
James