Bacon cawl with three sauces

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ pounds Collar bacon with rind
3 pints Water
1½ pounds Potatoes
1 small Swede (rutabaga)
3 Mature carrots
2 larges Leeks (or spring onions)
2 tablespoons Chopped parsley
2 ounces Butter
1 ounce Flour
1 teaspoon Dry mustard powder
½ teaspoon Powdered tumeric
½ pint Cawl stock & milk mixed
1 Hard-boiled egg
1 tablespoon Vinegar
1 pounds Ripe tomatoes
1 small Onion
1 teaspoon Ground ginger
¼ teaspoon Powdered cloves
1 ounce Sugar
1 tablespoon Malt vinegar
Salt and pepper
1 small Green chili (optional)
1 ounce Butter
1 ounce Flour
½ pint Cawl stock and milk mixed
2 tablespoons (heaped) chopped parsley
1 tablespoon (heaped) chopped chives
Salt and pepper

Directions

THE CAWL

VEGETABLES

SAUCES FOR THE MEAT

MUSTARD AND EGG SAUCE

SPICED TOMATO KETCHUP

PARSLEY-AND-CHIVE SAUCE

Wash the joint to remove surface blood. Put the meat into a large clean pan and cover well with water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down, cover with lid and simmer for 2 hours. Top up if the water sinks below the level of the meat - at the end of the cooking you should have 2 pints of liquor. Leave it to cool, meat and all, and lift off the white hat of grease (it makes good dripping after heating gently to drive off the water). Some families like the fat left in.

Prepare the vegetables - scrub, peel and cut them into bite-sized chunks as appropriate. Wash and slice the leeks into ½-inch rings.

Then make the sauces.

For the MUSTARD AND EGG SAUCE: Melt 1 oz butter in a small pan. When it froths, sprinkle in the flour and fry for a moment until mixture is sandy. Stir in the mustard powder and tumeric and immediately whisk in the broth and milk. Whisk till the mixture thickens. Chop the egg and stir in. Finish with the vinegar and beat in the extra ounce of butter. Taste and add salt and pepper.

For the SPICED TOMATO KETCHUP: Chop the tomatoes, skin and chop the onion. Put all the ingredients except the optional chili into a lidded saucepan. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat, leave to simmer gently for 30 minutes. Push the contents of the pan and boil it fiercely for a few minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve either hot or cold. Finish with a few slices of deseeded chili if you like it hot.

For the PARSLEY-AND-CHIVE SAUCE: Melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the flour and let it cool for a moment. Whisk in the liquid gradually and stir over the heat until the mixture thickens. Mix in the herbs, taste and add salt and pepper. Reheat the meat in its broth (the cawl). Remove the meat and keep it warm while you cook the root vegetables in the broth. Five minutes before you are ready to serve, add the leeks. While the vegetables simmer, plain-boil the potatoes separately. Stir the chopped parsley into the soup just before you bring it to table.

As a second course, serve the meat with the potatoes, and the three sauces.

Source: Elisabeth Luard in "Country Living" (British), April 1989.

Typed for you by Karen Mintzias

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