h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Do us a favour mate? Can you ask your how he'd make a pepper sauce? If it's not any trouble, like.

It's addictive

sure
I'll get back to you asap with that - but first a bit of info:

you meen pepper as in peppercorns? (black, green or white?) or pepper as in red and green peppers?

right, I asked him
and got a typical answer...

so, I'm no assuming (since I saw your other thread) that you are talking black peppercorns (btw, he said that when using pepper, white pepper - ground mostly - is a Crime Against Cookery)

ahem.

where was I? Oh yeah. He said start with what Simon Rimmer (Something for the Weekend) calls gravy and all proper chefs call jus.

And them add the peppercorns, and leave for abut a day.

the only other peppercorn related sauce I know is this:

Pan-Fried Pork Fillet with Roquefort Cream Sauce
4 pork fillets (180gr each)
50 ml Madeira
500ml cream
150g Roquefort, crumbled
2 tsp green peppercorns (I like them so I use more)
50g butter (half of it softened)
1 tomato, skinned, seeded and finely chopped
2 tsp chopped chives

Heat half the butter until foamy, add pork fillets and sauté on brisk heat until browned (do not overcook - they should remain pink in the centre)
Remove from pan and keep warm
Pour fat from pan, add Madeira and heat 1 minute, add cream and bring to the boil.
Stir in crumbled cheese and green peppercorns and boil until reduced to coating consistency. Just before sreving, whisk in softened butter. Add tomato and chives.
Spoon sauce onto heated plates, slice pork and fan out on top of sauce. Garnish with a selection of lightly blanched vegetables such as snowpeas, spring onions and cherry tomatoes, small carrots etc.

the recipe comes from the Austrailian Gourmet magazine from about the mid to late 80s.

Cheers to too. Tell him I owe him a pint. Though I'm sure he'd consider me a culinary vandal! I'm a bit more pragmatic than most pro chefs. Though not to the extent of mechanically recovered stuff squashed into shapes.

So the peppercorns and the meat juices left to mingle? Sounds good. Deceptively simple!

Will definitely try the roqufort one, too. Blue cheese is another thing I love.

(It's weird, I've had pepper on the brain for the past week. A friend suspects I might be pregnant )

you could be pregnant, of course, I craved chickpeas and avocados with #1 and nearly raw steak (well, I always used to eat it like that so it wasn't a surprise) with #2- inconvenient since i was a vegetarian right up to one day, during the 98 world cup, an England match. I could take the meat craving no more, hotfooted it down to the local Greek, and paced impatiently while they cooked us 3 portions of one of those multi-meat huge platters with loads of onions and Tatziki. They even gave me a couple of biftekis to eat while I was waiting (and I was massively pregnant at the time they were quite worried i was going to pop on their carpet!)

oh and apparently didn't say that.

So first get your jus
sweat off some finely diced onions & peppercorns in a bit of oil
then turn up the heat when the onions are cooked
put some brandy in it and flame it ( only do that to attract ladies, btw, he told me that)
when the flame has gone down, add the jus
then cook it out

so, are you going to try it? with steak?

I'm not pregnant, no - my period was late. By about 16 years or so!

Yeah, I'm going to try it. With steak probably. Not sure. I only ever have a loose idea when I go into the kitchen, and most of it takes its own course. That sounds like I'm the George W. Bush of the kitchen, but I like to think I have better results!

I'll let you know when I give it a whirl. Mightn't be for a few days though.

no pressure.

I like pepper sauce with really good sausages (we get fresh bratwurst here which are fantabulous, dahlink)

and if you get a good pork fillet, equally good

but never ever with chicken.

I support Leeds United. The Sheffield rivalry amuses me.

I feel sooooo ashamed.

don't tell anyone but... if there is a Sheffield team playing I support them... (unless they play each other, then it's the Owls for me!)

but isn't a bit of a non-sequiteur here?

It is indeed - I had drink taken your honour. Some people get aggressive, some get sentimental, but I just stop making sense!

I'm trying to think where I meant to post that.

Tried the sauce yesterday by the way - very good! I'll be happy to give a reference if is ever job hunting.