Monday, 19 October 2009

Where's My Pork Chop - Freshly Ironed Cheese Toasty

London was at its most grizzly. The sky was as grey as Poirot’s matter and the rain cascaded like Eureka’s bath tub. But for me it felt balmy and almost Mediterranean as I waited for Food Urchin on the steps of St. Paul’s. In my rucksack was a box. And in that box was an iron, a jar of home-made crabapple and chilli jelly, some of my Mum’s 2008 vintage chutney and a lovingly made Montgommery cheddar sandwich with cheese selected with expert advice from the La Fromagerie.

Given that Food Urchin and I share a passion for the bizarre cooking methods you’ll find in a book by Stefan Gates called Gastronaut, it made perfect sense to push the culinary boundaries of “Where’s my Pork Chop”. My theme picked up where the Sandwichist left off and tied in nicely with the crab apple jelly I made the previous weekend.

As I handed my package across to Food Urchin I giggled at the thought of him opening the box at work and realising that he was going to have to use his new, multi-purpose, iron as a toasty maker.

As it happened the fun all took place at home. I’ll let Food Urchin’s hilarious write up and photos do the talking…





After the fun of cooking in the bathtub, dishwasher salmon, cooking pizzas in our clay oven, beer can chicken and this experiment with ironing sandwiches, I’m massively excited about what to do next.



Salmon in the dishwasher

Avid watching



If you’ve got any suggestions such as cooking on a car engine let me know and we'll give it a go.

Bathtub salmon courtesy of Tiki Chris.
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12 comments:

  1. Helen19 October 2009 at 15:36

    HA HA HA! That top photo of Danny sitting at the ironing board is priceless. I too am obsessed with the book - not just for boys! Perhaps not the bit about the body excretions though, you boys can keep that bit. Nice work on the sandwich.

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  2. Hollow Legs19 October 2009 at 16:09

    Very adventurous indeed!

    Now I don't know much about cars (being a girl and all...), but can't you fry an egg on something hot under the hood? Or maybe on the exhaust of a motorbike? Now I know they get hot, after I took the skin off the back of a leg by accident once. Ouch.

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  3. Browners19 October 2009 at 16:13

    @Helen - It's a priceless photo. I've got it stuck up on the wall at work. It really cracks me up.

    @Lizzie - exhaust and engine both work apparently. So I'll give them a go. Will certainly make our next road trip a bit of a laugh.

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  4. Jules19 October 2009 at 17:31

    Genius and I love the Gastronaut book. I've heard about cooking pizza on a car engine. My Hubby is talking about hot smoking a chicken up the chimney of our wood fire.

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  5. Food Urchin19 October 2009 at 19:57

    OK Mr Brown, you've inspired me. Bonfire season is upon us and I have tons of wood to burn from my tree that was trimmed in the summer. So I think I shall do a mini Imu soon, with a couple of joints of meat. Test the water so to speak before I go the whole hog. All I have to do is go to Sainsburys to nick a wire shopping basket.

    And thank you one more time for the iron-sandwich, it really did work!

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  6. Browners19 October 2009 at 22:49

    @Jules - I've read about smoking things in the chimney in the River Cottage book. Looks a lot of fun.

    @Food Urchin - can't wait to hear how the fire pit goes. Can I come along?

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  7. kerstin20 October 2009 at 12:06

    Lovely post.
    I've heated up cans of soup on my car engine. Just rest them somewhere they won't fall down and take off. About 45 minutes driving should do the trick.

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  8. Browners20 October 2009 at 13:26

    @MsMarmitelover - soup tin on the engine is just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Great idea. Glad you liked the post. Plenty more where that came from.

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  9. kerstin21 October 2009 at 17:46

    Perhaps we could have a driveathon or a driveaway meal? Food bloggers could prop various cans on their engines, meet up at a destination on the outskirts and have a car park picnic?

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  10. Browners21 October 2009 at 17:52

    @MsMarmitelover - inspired. I love it. I'll start a thread on the London Food and Drink Bloggers site.

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  11. Browners21 October 2009 at 18:45

    Here's the link to the discussion on the London Food and Drink Bloggers site:

    http://londonfooddrinkbloggers.ning.com/forum/topics/car-engine-cooking

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  12. Cakelaw20 November 2009 at 04:34

    Who needs a jaffle maker? (Just don't tell your mum/girlfriend/significant other what you did with the iron.)

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