"A Royale with Cheese!"

My top 5 Movie Food Scenes

A lot of the romance of these scenes for me has to come from the fact a few of them are in my top movies of all time, so therefore a little biased. Hell, it's my blog so you'll just have deal with it. The inspiration for this came as I was watching The Godfather this week and It's made it onto the list.

5. John Candy - Uncle Buck- Pancakes & Toast! 

The late great John Candy plays ineligible bachelor and university of lifer 'Buck Russell' who's reluctantly given the task of looking after his nephew & nieces. He serves up giant birthday pancakes & toast much to the amazement of a young Macaulay Culkin. "This is where you separate the men from the boys." he says, as he tosses one with a giant snow shovel. Heston Blumenthal are you watching? I could only find the trailer for this one but the pancake is in there. 

4. Al Pacino & Johnny Depp - Donnie Brasco - 'Punch or Pinch' 

This the legendary story of mafia infiltration by FBI agent Jospeph D. Pistone a.k.a Donnie Brasco (Depp). In it an hillarious scene where Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero (Pacino) shows Donnie how to make his Coq au Vin. Lefty is a tough old school wiseguy loaded with chauvinism explaining how, "Wherever you go the best cooks are men." His partner Annette admits, "I can't cook special like Benny." All this before he sets fire to the stove and cowardly directs her to put out the flames. Funny? Forgeeeddaaaaboutit! 

3. Richard S. Castellano - The Godfather - Clemenza's Meatballs

One of the greatest films of all time had to have a great food scene, right? In fact there's a couple for me but I chose the sweet one a opposed to the violent one. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is enduring an uncomfortable telephone conversation with future wife Kay, who is trying to squeeze an 'I love you' out of him in a room full of hungry henchmen. One of those is hit-man 'Clemenza' (Castellano) who is now chef, and after mocking him summons Michael to come learn something. "You never know you might have to cook for 20 guys someday." Tell me about it Clem. Tell me about it.  

2. John Travolta & Uma Thurman - Pulp Fiction - Jack Rabbit Slims

This is one of my favourite movie scenes of all time regardless of any food, and there's more than a couple to chose from in the whole movie. But, for me this is fantastic. Cool, sexy, romantic, funny, uncomfortable, and all washed down with a $5 shake. God damn! Not the full scene to its jiving end so you'll just have to go watch it. Again and again. 

1. Ray Liotta - Goodfellas - Dinner in Prison

Predictable? Probably. My favourite movie of all time and the pleasure it brings me is indescribable and I will never get bored of watching it. Despite the prison backdrop, it shows the Italian love and passion that goes into every meal. The critique of the sauce, the razor cut garlic system, bread, wine, "Now we can eat!" All the the tune of 'Beyond the Sea sung by Bobby Darin. Magical. 

What are your favourite foodie scenes of all time? 

Jason Atherton - Menu Watch

Found this great quote from chef Jason Atherton about the simplicity of food. How it should be:

"My philosophy in life is this: There is good food and there is bad food. I’ve eaten all over the world and I’ve had bad meals, so I’ve eaten bad food. It’s just bad food; it doesn’t matter what it’s dressed up as.

I’ve been to a beautiful steak restaurant in Italy by Dario Cecchini. All this guy does is crudités as a starter – the vegetables are grown in the garden. He washes them, puts them in a basket with garlic mayonnaise and that’s it.

You break them and you eat them, while he’s cooking this Florentine steak from his own cattle. He serves with it tempura ceps and artichokes. That’s it. It’s just delicious. So that’s great food.

It doesn’t matter if it’s three star, one star or no stars; if it’s good food, it’s good food."

Read the whole interview here.

Pork Until Forking Tender!

The boom of 'pulled pork' thanks to Adam Richman & co has got me salivating at the very thought of tucking into a burger with the melting pork slathered on top. Accompany this by supping a bottle of Goose Island wheat beer which I did in London last weekend at Lucky Chip vs. The Player Bar and stick a fork in me I'm done! 

I had some pork chops and wanted to marry them with BBQ sauce so I created this little number. It's not quite 'pulled' as that requires something on the bone like shoulder or ribs but it does turn the chops very tender indeed. For sides I have puckered it up with sweet potato and rosemary tempura chips, and a classic slaw. Don't forget the bottled beer. God bless America!

The BBQ sauce marinade (for 8 chops): 

400ml Passata  

200ml Water

100ml Tomato ketchup

4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

4 Tbsp. Soft brown sugar

2 Tsps. Smoked Paprika

2 Tsps. English mustard

2 Tsps. Salt

1 Tsps. Chilli Powder

Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Set aside. 

For the chops:

8 Pork chops 

Oil 

Salt & Pepper

BBQ sauce

Preheat your oven to 150c. Rub one side of each chop with the oil and season with the salt & pepper. Ideally get a griddle or griddle pan (a frying pan will do) smoking hot and place each chop oil side down. You probably have to do this in 2 or 3 batches as overcrowding the pan will drastically lower the temperature and the will not sear. 

Now oil and season the bare side of the chop while the other side is searing. Once the first side is coloured nicely, turn and when that side is done using tongs colour the fat on the sides. Once all the chops are done, lay them in a large roasting dish, overlapping slightly with the fatty rind raised up. Take the BBQ sauce and make sure the chops are completely covered and pour the rest of the sauce around the dish. 

If your dish has a lid use this or cover with foil and place in the oven for 2 hours. After the 2 hours uncover and cook for a further 15mins. 

Sweet potato & rosemary tempura chips: 

Tempura Batter

1 egg

250ml Ice cold sparking water

115g Plain flour

Pinch of Bicarbonate of soda

In a large bowl beat the water and egg together until frothy. Then beat in the flour and Bicarb until you have a smooth batter. 

1Tsp. Garlic Granules or puree

1 large sprig of rosemary, chopped (1Tbsp approx.).

Stir the garlic and rosemary and garlic into the batter. 

Heat your deep fat fryer to 190c. Cut the sweet potato into French fry (You can keep the skins on if you like) or potato chip discs, whatever takes your fancy. If your fryer is small you will have to do the chips in batches. It is very important not to overcrowd your basket as the batter will make them stick together. If you are confident enough take out the basket and fry them this way, but be very carefully when placing and removing the chips from the hot oil. Drain them on kitchen paper and place each batch to keep warm in the oven. This will also keep them crisp. 

The Slaw:

This can be made well in advance. 

½ Small white cabbage or ¼ of a large

1 Red onion

1 Medium carrot

1 Crisp red apple

4Tbsp. Mayonnaise 

4Tbsp. Sour cream

1Tsp. Horseradish

1Tsp. English mustard 

Salt & pepper

In a large bowl mix together the mayo, cream, horseradish, mustard and salt & pepper. Finely slice the cabbage, onion and grate the carrot and apple. Place them in the bowl and mix together until well combined. Check the seasoning, add more salt & pepper if necessary and place on the table or in the fridge until needed. 

To Finish:

When the chops have finished cooking, place them on a plate and keep warm in the oven. Now, tilt the roasting dish and try and spoon out any excess pork fat, being careful not to lose any sauce. If the sauce has dried a little and gone sticky just add a little boiling water, stir until the sauce comes together again, ‘cleaning’ dish as you go. Pass the sauce through a sieve and reserve.  

Plate up the pork chops and spoon the sauce over the top, and place the tempura chips on top. Serve them up with the slaw at the table and some soft sub or Scottish rolls. And don’t forget the beer!