#confit potatoes

[daily-deliciousness]

Confit potatoes

[yeprecipes]

Garlic and Olive Oil Confit Potatoes

Baby potatoes slow cooked in olive oil and garlic resulting in garlic infused potatoes with a rich and creamy center.

[quieteating]

New Post has been published on Quieteating

New Post has been published on https://www.quieteating.com/quality-chop-house/

Quality chop house

I always did find myself regarding with particular suspicion objects that described themselves as gold, platinum or the latest marketing gimmick, diamond quality.  In the race to reach for ever more precious metals, I do wonder what they will go for next.  Maybe it will be rhodium.  That’s rarer, expensive and more shiny.  Yet the original genesis of this marketing ploy seemed to be adding the word quality to everything.  Although I did wonder how you could regard particular foodstuffs as quality.  It did make me suspicious as the corollary of the word quality meant that there would be careful checking and discarding of materials that did not make the grade.  So where did all the rejects end up?  Did it mean that elsewhere in the shop they would be stocking rotting produce?

With such thoughts running through our heads (or at least mine), the meal started off somewhat confusingly.

A plate.  Here I was slightly perplexed as it looked suspiciously like a Chinese plate.  An item particularly out of place in such an seemingly archetypal British establishment.  Although perhaps it was a throwback to the heady days of British colonialism in China.  Yet, let’s not bring up the past such as the opium wars here.  This is a food review after all, not a place to debate the finer points of antiquity.

Devon crab, Jerusalem artichoke and dandelion.  I do particularly enjoy crab and would eat more but for a small problem.  I prefer to eat food which does not require expenditure of more calories to eat than it provides.  I remember on occasion trying with all my might to extract a particularly well wedged piece of flesh in a crab shell.  With all my might, sometimes the dead crab would laugh at the stupid human.

Yet the problem can be solved when someone else gets the succulent meat out, mixes it with vegetables and flowers, and serves it to you. This was light and even more refreshing without the requisite labour usually involved with procuring this type of meat.

Goose egg and celery salt.  A particularly large egg, with delicate salt only serving to make it more interesting.  Interesting in a good way.  

Pig skin.  To be dipped into the egg and salt and consumed altogether.  A slightly messy, atypical yet particularly tasty treat.  Crunchy skin, chunky egg and savory salt combined together to make something particularly welcome.  

Cuttlefish, smoked Mangalitza, onion and buckwheat. The delicate cuttlefish was cooked just right, avoiding the rubberiness that can often mar this aquatic species when cooked.  The buckwheat was an inspired addition creating some crunch and bite.  Soft and crunchy, smooth and sharp all went together exceedingly well.

Pork chop.  Some people seem to harbour the mistaken idea that I love eating fat.  Actually, they are wrong.  I adore an elegant, juicy, tasty bit of animal insulation.  Thankfully, this was it.  This has to rank as one of the best examples of pork I have had in the United Kingdom. With a meaty yet smooth taste, a definite delight.

John Dory, sea vegetables, bisque and Marinda tomato.  Unfortunately, the fish was not nearly as good as the pork.  It was not bad but suffered from slightly overzealous salting and cooked a touch too much.  The fish should have taken some lessons from the pig on how to be cooked.

Confit potatoes.  Heavenly potato cakes.  Our waitress mentioned in passing that there had been a suggestion of removing these from the menu but a mutiny by the waiting staff put such thoughts firmly to bed.  I myself would bite anyone who dared to suggest removal.  If there is any reason to come here, it is for this.

Spring greens.  Not particularly interesting, these were just veggies, not bad but too green for me.  Then again, that is just my personal tastes.

Rhubarb, blood orange, meringue and peanuts.  A little surprise whipped up for my diary intolerant friend.  Fresh fruits with meringue. Hearsay says it was ok.  Looked ok to me too.

Ling heather honey custard tart with cream.  This had a pleasant tang, sweetness and smoothness.  Although it was decent rather than exceptional.

Some things deserve to be described with particularly conducive adjectives.  Like the lovely succulent pork chop, the sublime confit potato and the sense of the French electorate.  Not that I have anything against the other candidates but stability is a good thing for the world.  And that is reason enough for another helping of quality potatoes.  Anyone?

  A quiet eating 8/10.

Dinner (all of the above for 2) was GBP50 excluding drinks and service per person.  Please note that we did order an obscene amount of food.

  Quality Chop House

88-94 Farringdon Rd, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 3EA

[lady-aga]

The Quality Chop House

First up, full disclosure, this meal was eaten a year and a fortnight ago - I was pretty pregnant at the time and The Blonde had hatched a cunning plan with a great friend of mine’s husband (she also being with child) to take the wives out for lunch to say thanks for carrying our kids.  The destination was The Quality Chop House and as ways of expressing gratitude go, a booking at this restaurant is as awesome a thanks as anyone could ask for.  The stark yet homely look and deceptively simple looking seasonal British menu have all the great elements of St John and Hix but what they do is totally their own.

With the sun out today and a distinctly Spring feel in the air I’m feeling nostalgic for those times of the great unknown and anticipation, of expectancy, excitement and mild terror, but above all I cannot stop thinking about The Quality Chop House’s confit potatoes - the carb to end all carbs.  But I’m getting ahead of myself... first up, an aperitivo for the male contingent:

Something sparkling for the gals

Bread, cultured butter, salted Marcona almonds and Nocellara olives served as a simple snack before we graduated onto the main events.

Breaded beef croquettes on a bed of the most perfect aioli; their crispy crunchy exterior beautifully complementing the slow cooked shredded beef that lay within

Poached Scottish langoustines with creamy mayonnaise

Burnt leeks, chopped hard boiled egg and anchovy - salty, sweet, smooth and simple, whilst being anything but straightforward.  The ingredients here are as high grade as the kitchen skills.

Hansen & Lydersen smoked salmon with watercress and horseradish - creamed and freshly grated.  If you’ve never tried H&L’s exceptional smoked salmon you are missing out - anything but your classic cure and generally served in sashimi-esque slices for maximum flavour and character. Jerusalem artichoke soup with hazelnuts and browned butter as a blurry background.

Shellfish broth, Riesling, wild garlic and sourdough with a Monk’s beard garnish

The most incredible Galloway beef mince with dripping toast you’ll ever experience; not for the calorie conscious, Lord only knows how much bone marrow goes into the sauce but I love their style.  Forget the vitamin-packed watercress; this dish is basically medicine through the medium of meat; I feel like there’s nothing it couldn’t heal.

And last but not least, THOSE potatoes - details on exactly how these were prepared fail me but, from vague memory, they are thinly sliced, baked in a tray of duck fat, refrigerated and compressed, chopped into slices, deep fried, drizzled with aioli (by the look of things?) and scattered with sea salt.  But don’t take that as gospel. True love, lust and a lifetime allegiance at first bite.

We passed on pudding as the boys said they had a second reservation lined up just down the road for desserts - but we had to have the truffles, because, you know, truffles.. In a stroke of pure brilliance, this alternative location turned out to be a cake-based secret baby shower at Granger & Co with a load of our girlfriends; even a year on this still makes me pretty emotional.  But enough of the nostalgia and back to the Chop House - if the restaurant doesn’t quite seal the deal, they also have a butcher and bakery next door where - joy of joys - you can buy those potatoes.

The Quality Chop House, 88-94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 4EA