I’m not sure of the origins of Yorkshire Salad and I think it’s more of a South Yorkshire gig. But I've been aware of several version over the years.
When I ran The New Inn many moons ago we used to put nibbles out of Sunday mornings. The chaps would pile in and slam several pints while there long suffering wives cooked Sunday dinner. Again a South Yorkshire gig imported with the miners to the Selby area, I supsect. One Sunday one of our regulars asked if I could put together a Yorkshire Salad the following Sunday. So I did. Sliced white Onion, lumps of Cucumber and lots of Malt Vinegar. It went down really well but their favourite version had fresh mint in it. So Mint was adopted and the Yorkshire Salad took up a regular slot on the bar between the cubed Cheese and the Black Pudding.
Well this is the beginning of my take on it. Lacto-Fermented Yorkshire Salad – No Less!
Ingredients:-
2 White Onions, chopped
1 Cucumber, sliced and quartered
A handful of fresh Mint
4 heaped Table Spoons of Himalayan Salt
1 litre of water.
Method:-
(1) Heat the water to dissolve the Salt and allow to cool to room temperature.
(2) Add all the ingredients to a clip top jar.
(3) Pour the brine in so that everything is covered.
(4) Seal the jar and allow to ferment. Fermentation will start in a couple of days.
Their is actually quite a good amount of natural sugars in the Onion, so after a month or so your will end up with quite a ‘Tangy’ acidity. Traditionally this was served as a side with the Yorkshire Puddings and Gravy as a first course on Sunday. But the ingredients and acidity will go really well as a side for a hot Curry dish. We’ll keep you posted…..
Although we often resort of using the supermarkets it's probably not the best move, budget wise. Shop locally is a well know phrase. I was in the middle of York on Monday and bought enough veg for the week and a fresh Rabbit for less than £8. Even if it had been the supermarket “Wonky” veg it would have been considerably more than this and they certainly don't have fresh local Rabbit available. Another bonus is that the Veg from the market is notably fresher, we can't buy root veg in advance from the supermarket, a draw full of Carrot slime is wasteful and really not nice.....
So you've got a fresh Rabbit, an ex-butcher, a chef and a shed load of vegetables. What do you make?
It had to be Rabbit Casserole really!
Ingredients:-
1 small Rabbit cut into pieces. (There are three obvious “Joints” on a Rabbit, front, loin and rear. But you can use kitchen scissors to cut these front to back to make the Rabbit fit into the pot if you wish.)
1 Onion, sliced
1 Carrot cut into large batons
2 Potatoes, cubed
An equal amount of Swede as Potato, cubed
1 Pint of Stock with added Cornflour
A slug of Fish Sauce
A slug of Worcester Sauce
Onion Salt
Garlic Salt
Chilli flakes
Salt & Pepper
Rosemary
Basil
Mushrooms, quartered
Oil
Method:-
(1) Coat the Rabbit in a little Oil and season with Salt, herbs and spices.
(2) In the slow cooker (or casserole dish if you are using the oven) layer the Potatoes and vegetables then add the Rabbit.
(3) Pour over the Stock.
(4) Allow to simmer gently for 4+ hours.
(5) Add the Mushrooms after about 3 hours and season to taste.
We had home made Onion and Beetroot Bhajis with ours and dressed the casserole with fried Beetroot tops to add a bit of colour.