Jerky

Ingredients:

220g beef (Around 1 steak)

60ml/4 tablespoons cider vinegar

20g/1 tablespoon honey

2 tsp juniper berries

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Method:

Freeze the beef for about 45 minutes, this will make slicing it easier.

Slice the frozen beef as thinly as possible and place in a suitable container for marinading.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour over the beef. Marinade for a couple of hours.

Heat your oven to 80 degrees Celsius. Remove the beef from the marinade and place in a single layer in the oven.  Cook for 2-2.5 hours, until dry.

Fermented Wild Garlic

Ingredients:

• Salt

• Wild garlic

Method:

In a large mixing bowl or trough, layer garlic leaves and flowers with a small amount of salt.

Leave for several hours.

Massage and squash the leaves, working the salt into the leaves and leave for a couple more hours.

Transfer to a bowl or suitable container and weigh the leaves down with something heavy. Leave overnight.

Tightly pack the garlic into a jar and weigh the contents down using a bottle filled with water, squeezing the juice from the garlic and ensuring all the leaves are fully submersed in the extracted liquid. If there isn’t enough liquid top up with spring water, not tap.

Leave to ferment for a minimum of one week before consuming

Blackberry whiskey jam

Ingredients:

• 1kg blackberries (leftover from making blackberry whiskey)

• 1kg jam sugar

• Splash of blackberry cordial/squash

Method:

Heat the fruit in a large pan with the sugar and cordial. Stir until dissolved.

Slowly bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly, without stirring, for about 10 - 15 minutes until setting point is reached.

Pour into warm, sterilised jars.

Lemon curd

Ingredients:

• 7 Eggs

• 8 lemons (rind and juice)

• 200g Butter

• 400g caster sugar

Method:

Melt the butter in a pan. Whilst you wait, beat the eggs.

Once the butter has melted add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and whisk together.

Don’t worry if the mixture looks like it's curdling, it should eventually come together. Give it a whisk every few minutes, to avoid it catching on the bottom of the pan.

Heat for around 10 mins until thick and creamy, but avoid boiling.

Carefully pour into warm sterilised jars and seal.

Store in a cool dry place and refrigerate once opened. Should keep for up to one month

Nasturtium capers

Nasturtiums capers make a great addition to salads, pestos, salsas and pizza, as well as a side for fish, like seabass. In fact anywhere you would use 'normal' capers.

Ingredients:

• 200g nasturtium seeds

• 40g salt

• 200ml water

• 200ml vinegar

• 1 tsp peppercorns

• 2 bay leaves

• Sprig of savory

Method:

Mix together the salt and water. Add the seeds and leave to soak overnight.

Drain and rinse the seeds and pack into a warm, sterilised jar.

Gently heat the vinegar with the herbs for a few minutes, until not quite boiling.

Pour the vinegar and herbs over the seeds in the jar and close the lid.

Leave to pickle for a minimum of 2 weeks before using.

Pickled Ox Tongue

Ingredients:

• 1 ox tongue

• 2 tsp peppercorn

• 3 tsp salt

• 2 carrots

• 2 turnips

• 2 sticks of celery

• 1 Onion

• 1 Leek

• Small bunch of wild Garlic

• 2 cups vinegar

Method:

Roughly chop the carrots, turnips, celery, onion, leek & garlic. Add to a large pot, along with the salt & pepper and Ox tongue.

Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 3 hours, until the meat is tender. Leave to cool until the tongue is handleable. Peel the skin from the tongue and discard.

Add the vinegar and 2 cups of the leftover broth from boiling the tongue to a pot or cauldron, Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.

Thinly slice the tongue and put into a kilner jar, or other suitable container. Pour the vinegar broth over the tongue and leave for a minimum of one week before eating.

Damson jelly

Ingredients:

• 1 kg damsons (or plums)

• Up to 1kg granulated sugar

• Water

Method:

Put the fruit into a large pan and half cover with water. Simmer until the fruit starts to fall apart.

Strain through a muslin. Leave to drip for several hours or overnight, but whatever you do avoid squeezing or you’ll end up with cloudy jelly.

Measure the liquid and for every 600ml of juice, you’ll need 450 kg of sugar. Put the juice into a pan and bring to the boil.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Slowly bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly, without stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until setting point is reached. This can take 40 minutes or more.

Pour into warm, sterilised jars.

Pickled Blackberries

Be sure to pick your berries before Michaelmas (Sept 29st), after this date it is said the devil pisses on them.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons honey

• 1/2 cup vinegar

• 500g/3 cups blackberries

Method:

Heat the honey and vinegar, until the honey is dissolved.

Add the blackberries and simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain the berries into warm, sterile jars or another suitable container. Continue to simmer the vinegar solution until it thickens a little. 

Pour the vinegar solution over the berries, seal the jar or container immediately and store for at least a few weeks before eating.

Great served with bread and cheese.

Pinnekjot (stick-meat)

Ingredients: 

• 250g salt

• Goat, lamb or pork ribs

• Water

• Birch sticks (bark removed)

Method:

To preserve;

Place the ribs in a large container and work the salt into the meat, making sure every part is covered.

Leave to rest somewhere cold or in the fridge for 24 hours per Kg. Turning every 12 hours.

Brush the excess salt off and hang in a cool & dry location. Dry for 4-6 weeks.

To cook;

Separate the ribs lengthwise and place to soak in cold water overnight.

In a large pan or cauldron build a grid with the birch sticks by criss-crossing the sticks in the bottom.

Add water to the pan, to just about cover the sticks. Place the ribs on top of the grid and pop a lid on the pan. Leave the meat to steam for 2-3 hours on a low heat. Be sure to add water occasionally to make sure it does not go dry. When the meat falls off the bone, it is done.

If you choose you can put the meat on a grill for about 15-20 minutes to crisp prior to serving.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon