A Bachelor Dinner At Castle Howard

Basil Seal is a bachelor this week with his wife off in the country visiting her mother. Now, if Basil were Uncle Fred, he would have been on the first train to London looking forward to lunch at the club, an afternoon at the dog races with his nephew, Pongo, and who knows what else? No, not chorus girls. Unfortunately for Basil, he is not Uncle Fred. Basil is Basil and, as a result, he drew stable detail this week.

When not mucking out the stalls, curry-combing the horses, filling their haybaskets with hay, adjusting the salt licks, and making sure the trough is filled to the brim with fresh water, Basil has been spending his time not so well watching oldish movies. Meanwhile, The Maximum Leader, has been spending his time well by filling in for the vacationing crack young staff at Hatemongers. Yesterday, he had a terrific piece on the virtues of the pig and the idiotness of the Swedes. Maximum Leader's piece made me think of Basil, all alone, totally forgotten, and munching on a bag of crisps in front of the telly. Well, the horses remember him and that 's more than some people can say. So Basil, the following recipe is for you as you are fond of Evelyn Waugh. Castle Howard figures prominantly in one of Waugh's book and this recipe comes to you by way of Castle Howard. The recipe's author grew up on a farmhouse on the estate because his dad ran Castle Howard's kitchens. The author's bio makes the claim he cooked for the Queen Mother when he was 12. A little known fact about the Queen Mother is that she was a guild butcher which would mean that, like The Maximum Leader, the Queen Mum loved her pork. Hopefully, as a dutiful keeper of all things English she loved The Empress of Blandings' heirs, Black Berkshire piggies, best. I'm currently trying to solve the mystery of the lineage of large black pigs on the Duchy Estate. If they are indeed Black Berkshire piggies then Prince Charles has done something right for England lately. Anyhoo, back to Basil's recipe, it is a simple one, meaning not beyond Basil's capacity in the kitchen and it features the pig which is a very substaining source of energy when you've got a lot of muck to truck about.

The Bacon Buttie (just look at that glorious pig sandwich)

There is nothing better, in my opinion, then the smell of bacon cooking. But a real bacon buttie must be made with the best, smoked streaky bacon money can buy, and lots of butter.
Nigel Slater, one of the true greats when it comes to simplifying dishes, discusses his approach to the bacon sandwich in one of his books, and his ideas are along much the same lines as mine: the bacon should be crisped in a pan with butter, and not grilled; the bread should be briefly fried in the bacon fat with a bit more butter; the buttie is then built up with some grilled tomatoes, the fried bread and some freshly ground black pepper. You could also use mustard or tinned tomatoes, but it must always be really good-quality bacon. However it even tastes great with standard, white, sliced supermarket bread!
Heat a large frying pan: melt and heat the dripping.
Add the bacon, watching out for fat spitting out at you. Fry until nice and crisp then remove from the pan. Add the butter to the pan.
Fry the slices of bread on one side in the fat and butter for a minute or two only, just so that they soak up the juices.
Place two pieces of bread, fried side up, on the plates. Build up the buttie with the bacon and sliced fresh tomatoes. Season with pepper. Pour over any other juices from the pan, top with the other slice of bread, fried side down, and serve.
INGREDIENTS
8 rashers streaky smoked bacon

4 slices of bloomer bread or pain de campagne

30g (1.25oz) dripping

40g (1.5) butter, use unsalted

2 fresh tomatoes, sliced

freshly ground black pepper

Enjoy Basil. You too Maximum Leader.

Mrs. P

Comments

[The Maximum Leader]

I had one this morning. My lovely wife looked at me as though I'd gone round the bend by frying the bread I'd be putting bacon on. She accused me of having a death-wish in fact.

I made it up to her by making peach ice cream.

Speaking of fine pork products. I recently bought a pound of Serrano ham from Spain. I last had some in a tapas bar in Granada. I was sipping cold beer and eating Serrano ham, large olives, and a cheese that was mild and complementary to the ham. I fear my Spanish is non-existant and my memory fails me as to the name of the cheese. If you have a recommendation I'm all ears.

[Fiendish]

Again again I say: Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan? Or in this case, the Hosni's of yesterposts? I do hope the lad has not achieved (possibly due to bacon overdose) the same body temperature as that other maven of maximum leadership, Fidel.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Maximum Leader, I do have recommendations. First, traditionally Manchego is the cheese that is served with Serrano. From what you describe, it sounds like a young Manchego - 6 months of age. I prefer age on my Manchego - over 8 months. An aged Manchego has a much drier texture and not so pliant. A cheese I prefer over Manchego is Zamorano. I just love it as it is a tad more piquant, richer flavor as it is usually higher in quality. Since you have little Villianettes, Mahon is a nice Spanish cheese that the whole family will like. Now if you're thinking of having the guys over for ham, olives, wine and cheese then may I recommend this cheese; http://www.cheesefromspain.com/CFS/1509Tetilla_I.htm
It will make the conversation most interesting.

[The Maximum Leader]

Manchego sounds right. I'll have to see if my cheesemonger can wrangle me up some. Alas, I've already finished the Serrano I brought home the other day. So this will give me a reason to get some more.

I will have to get some Tetilla for the next time the Smallholder and I get together. It looks like a very entertaining cheese.

I've also decided I need to buy the Smallholder a ton or two of peanuts. Since he is raising a pig for me I need to have him finish them on peanuts for me. Then I need to see about getting his Mennonite butcher to cure up a few hams for me. The Mennonites in his area are particularly good butchers. But I don't know if any of them do curing. I can hardly imagine that they wouldn't; but there is always that chance.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Smithfield hams are the ones raised on peanuts, right? I've only had Smithfield ham a few times. It's very good though I'm not too keen on red eye gravy. I haven't had it since I was 17 so maybe I'd like it these days, since I can't seem to make it through the day without a cup of coffe. I love Parma ham and adore Westphalian (sp?) ham. Parma piggies are raised on cheese curds from parmesan reggiano. I have no idea what Westphalian (sp?) piggies dine on.

[Mrs. Peperium]

By the way, see if your cheesemonger can get you some Valdeon -http://www.artisanalcheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=10658

I love it. It's not as good as Colston-Basselt stiliton but what is? Different from Maytag and better than Fourme d'Ambert. Though Fourme d'Ambert is a very nice cheese.