Cooking Corner: Slumgullet

by Dobbin

The Discworld books are full of exotic meals. The dishes have names like Slumgullet, Boiled Eels, Lob Scouse, Wet Nellies, Slumpie and Treacle Billy -- good, solid stuff that sticks to the ribs. Even the Tuppenny Upright, which is a kind of doughnut (or is it?) receives mention.

In Night Watch, Vimes (Keel) buys young Nobby all he can eat for 10p. The slumgullet purchased is described as grease and vegetables, served by a large, bare-armed woman using a cauldron with uncertain things bubbling in a grey scum. Apparently it'll put hairs on your chest (if you've got a chest in the first place).

I propose a version of slumgullet based on the French dish Pot au Feu. A pressure cooker will be useful (take care when using them)!

Posh Slumgullet

Ingredients:

olive oil

7 carrots, chopped into rounds

2 onions, diced

Optional vegetables:

2 leeks, chopped and trimmed

half a small turnip, diced

10 small field mushrooms, sliced (don't peel them). If you can find ceps, just use 1 large cep.

250 ml water

450g (16 oz) stewing steak

2 tablespoons flour

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of sage and thyme (or dried, mixed herbs)

2 beef stock cubes, crumbled

2 bottles of beer (330 ml / 11 fl oz) or around half a bottle of red wine.

Method:

Put a dash of oil in a big pan or a pressure cooker. Fry the onions until soft and add the chopped vegetables. Stir for a few minutes. Turn the heat to low and add the water.

Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Chop the meat into largish cubes and toss in the flour. Fry with oil in a hot frying pan to seal the meat. Add the meat to the vegetables.

Pour in slowly the beer (or wine) and add the stock cubes and herbs.

If you are using a pressure cooker make sure it is no more than a third full of liquid. Put the knob to 2 and leave to cook for an hour on a medium gas, checking to see it doesn't burn. If you're using a big pan, cook for 2 hours. (You get a sauna, a kitchen and a meal. Three for the price of one!)

This dish is best served with a glass of red wine (where did I put the rest of that bottle?). If you don't drink alcohol, you can skip the wine or beer in the recipe and use water. The optional vegetables add a bit of flavour, but go easy on the turnip. The mushrooms add real flavour.

If you have a cooking conundrum to solve, or if you have a recipe suggestion that you'd like to share why not write to Dobbin? Perhaps he can help.

Next month's recipe.... Klatchian Curry.

Bon Appetit