“My cod, I bet me Mam has seen some trotters” - my fish course for Great British Menu 2018

David Coulson

David Coulson

15th August 2018
David Coulson

“My cod, I bet me Mam has seen some trotters” - my fish course for Great British Menu 2018

My Mum has worked very hard for the NHS for 22 years as a chiropodist! Her dedication has always been an inspiration to me and I think this is where I get my ethic for hard graft from! (Skin graft pun!?) So this being the fish course I have chosen a lifetime family favourite, cod! The meat is firm and meaty and will be served, just cooked, and as an individual flake from a beautiful North Sea cod, the best I think! The chiropodist element is the skin from pig’s trotters, dehydrated and turned into a crispy scratching with the meats used as well as crab in a sweetcorn puree. I think you can guess where the inspiration for variations of sweetCORN came from!

Ingredients

  • 1 large side of north sea cod
  • 4 dehydrated pig’s trotters
  • 8 fresh heads of sweetcorn
  • 300ml double cream
  • butter
  • 3 lemons
  • blue corn flowers
  • 1kg brown crab
  • 1 jar huitlacoche mushrooms
  • 20g dehydrated sweetcorn
  • rapseed oil
  • soy sauce
  • chicken stock

Method

1. Cod - Prep and Brine. 30mins (including brine time)
2. Juice 4 of the corns, cook and stir until thick.
3. 2 Sweetcorn roasted in husk on solid top glaze with soy. 20mins
4. Shave 2 of the corns with a mandolin. Reserve best pieces.
5. Cod – Pat dry fish and store at room temperature.
6. Cook Brown Crab in boiling salted water. Refresh in iced water. Pick the meats. 20mins
7. For the dressing – mix brown crab and mushrooms in Thermomix and add rapeseed oil.
8. For the crab sauce - boil crab shells in chicken stock. Reduce to a sauce. 1 hour
9. Scorched Cream – Boil and burn double cream. Set in fridge. 1 hour
10. Stir white crab meat into sweetcorn puree.
11. Set up for service.
12. Pan roast cod in rapeseed oil. Rest. 7 mins
13. Deep fry pig's trotter. 1 min
14. Plate dishes.

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