Heaven preserve us

Traditional ways of preserving food come into their own at Christmas. Mark Hix sets store by curing, bottling, pickling and potting

Published: 03 December 2005

The clock is really ticking away now, and I make no excuses for banging on about preparing everything well in advance. Food is so bound up with the festivities, and giving and receiving it, as well as cooking it, is part and parcel of what makes everything so special. The way traditional foods feature at Christmas (there, I've said it now) is a large part of the pleasure for me, and it's also a time to revive the old recipes and cooking methods that give the occasion its character.

I'm thinking of the ancient ways of preserving food through the winter months, and how these treats are associated with the joys of the Christmas feast. Pickles and preserves, smoked delicacies such as salmon, cured meats such as hams, and potted meat and fish all originated long before refrigeration. And although we have modern ways of preserving food, the ancient methods still exist because they are so delicious.

On my travels I've found almost every corner of the country has its own smoke houses, turning out all the products we now take for granted. Disappointingly, I've also often found that the original artisan ways of smoking without any help from modern inventions has gone out of the window, replaced by the computer-controlled smoking panel.

I would quite like to get into smoking and curing at home. But the neighbours would think I've really lost it if there was a chimney bellowing out of the garden shed. Maybe I could smoke duck, goose and other bits and pieces in the chimney breast indoors.

Of course, doing your own preserving and curing saves money too. But you may have to invest in the Kilner-type jars. I buy them wholesale but they still cost a fortune. Look in those pound shops that sell paper plates, plastic cups and so on, and you may get lucky.

Mr Lowe, our photographer, has discovered great little preserving jars in Italy for €2 for six so if anyone can do better without having to travel to Tuscany, let me know.

Mackerel fillets in olive oil and herbs

Makes about 7-8 125ml Kilner jars worth

I once mistakenly bought a jar of mackerel preserved in olive oil thinking it was tuna. When I eventually got round to opening the jar I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted undoubtedly better than most canned tuna you can buy and had that sort of old-fashioned sardines on toast taste about it.

I've since preserved my own mackerel on several occasions. It's so simple and makes a really handy snack to tuck into on some hot toast with maybe a dash of horseradish sauce, or some of the root freshly grated on top.

You can ring the changes by adding things such as chopped tomato flesh cooked down in the olive oil with lots of herbs so it ends as a kind of Provençale type of dish, or you could add spices such as ginger and cumin to the mackerel for a North African flavouring. Sprigs of rosemary, fennel or other herbs also work well. But if you are going to make this pure version, good olive oil is important. I prefer to preserve the fish in small jars that make a meal for two, or you can do them in larger ones; up to you. Bear in mind that once you've opened the jar the fish won't keep for more than a few days.

6 large mackerel, filleted, boned and skinned
11/2tbsp sea salt
500ml extra virgin olive oil
1/2tbsp freshly ground white pepper corns

First you need to sterilise the Kilner jars. Remove the rubber rings and put the jars through the dishwasher, or boil them in a large pan of water for 10 minutes or so.

Cut each of the mackerel fillets into 3 or 4 pieces, season them with the salt and leave to stand on a tray for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Scatter the fillets with the pepper and mix with about half of the oil.

Pack the mackerel loosely into the jars, about 2 cm from the top then pour in the oil so they are covered by about 1 cm and seal the jars.

Stand the jars in a wide based, deep saucepan (or you can cook them in two or three batches) and completely cover them with water. Bring f to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes for small 125 ml jars and 30 minutes for 250-350 ml jars.

Carefully remove from the water and leave to cool. Store in the refrigerator for up to three months.

Serve on toast, or flaked into a salad.

Duck pâté with prunes and Armagnac

Makes 1 large 30cm terrine, or a similar capacity oven-proof dish

It's always good to have some really good pâté to hand at Christmas, as all you need is some pickles and salad and you've got lunch or supper. And if you've made the pâté yourself you know exactly what has or hasn't gone into it. So many of those supermarket pâtés seem to have the same sort of plastic texture as if they have been mass-produced in a factory. Funny that, as that's exactly where they come from. It isn't necessarily cheaper to make your own pâté but you will produce something very luxurious.

If you can't find saltpetre or sel rosé preserving salt, then just use sea salt. If you're determined to do it properly, www.naturalcasing.co.uk (01252 713545) sells saltpetre along with sausage skins and fillers and other charcuterie essentials.

1 duck, boned and skinned by your butcher if possible, or as much meat as you can cut off the carcass, saving the bones for stock
100ml port
500g fatty pork, like the belly, coarsely minced
250g duck or chicken livers, cleaned and finely chopped or minced
6 thick rashers of streaky bacon, cut into rough 1/2cm dice
2tsp thyme leaves, chopped
1tsp saltpetre or sel rosé (optional, though it keeps the pâté nice and pink)
1tsp salt and 1tsp freshly ground black pepper
100ml Armagnac, or Brandy
10 prunes, stoned and chopped

Chop the duck meat into rough 1/2-1cm pieces and marinade with the port in a non-reactive bowl overnight. Put the prunes in a bowl with the Armagnac and leave overnight too.

Pre-heat the oven to 175C/gas mark 4. Thoroughly mix the duck and marinade with the soaked prunes and their liquid and the rest of the ingredients. Season with the salts and the pepper. Pack the mixture into a terrine mould, or round oven proof dish then sit in a deep roasting tray. Pour boiling water into the tray about two-thirds of the way up the terrine, or dish.

Cook for 1 hour then remove from the tray and leave to cool. Remove the pâté from the terrine by running a sharp knife around the edge and turning it upside down. The pâté should keep for a couple weeks. If you have a domestic vac pac machine then cut it into useable pieces, vac pac it and it will keep for another week or so.

Potted pork

Makes 1/2 litre bowl

This is a less hardcore version of brawn, or fromage de tête, as it's known in France. Real brawn is generally made with a pig's head that's boiled for a few hours with some herbs and spices. Then all the meat and skin is broken up - including the tongue and brain - and set in its own jelly. A pork knuckle will do the job, so you've got the brawn without the brain. Sorry, I just couldn't resist that - nor could I resist buying a few pigs' trotters to put into mine as they were sitting right next to the pork knuckles, waiting to be bought.

To add a bit of variety and flavour you could use a piece of ham hock as well as pork knuckle as I did here; it also gives the cooking liquor a slightly more savoury flavour.

1 piece of pork knuckle, on the bone, weighing about 1kg
1 small un-smoked ham hock weighing about 500g, soaked in cold water overnight
2 pigs' trotters (optional)
2 onions, peeled and halved
A few blades of mace, or 1/2tsp ground
12 black or white peppercorns
4 cloves of garlic

Rinse the ham hock off under cold water and put it into a large saucepan with the pork knuckle, trotters if using and the other ingredients.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 4 hours, until the meat is beginning to fall off the bone. Drain the meat in a colander over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid and leave to cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile strain off the cooking liquid into the pan and boil it until it has reduced to half its volume. Make sure it doesn't become too salty as it reduces by tasting it every so often. If you're worried about it being too salty add a little water. Take off the heat and leave to cool. f

Remove the pork and ham meat from the bone and chop it up, including the skin, into rough 2-3 cm chunks. Mix the meat in a bowl with a couple of cups of the cooking liquor, taste the mixture and season more if necessary. Put the mixture into a bowl, terrine or moulds and leave overnight in the fridge to set.

Serve with toast and pickles or salad.

Roasted peppers in olive oil

Makes a 500ml Kilner jar

Roasted peppers are great to have around to eat as a snack with cheese, cured meats or as an antipasti or part of a tapas selection. There are lots of pretty good ones on the market in cans and jars that you can buy from specialist delis and supermarkets, but to be honest the ones you roast yourself always tend to be sweeter and less acidic.

The best way to buy a job lot of red peppers, or coloured, is probably from a market at the end of the day when they are packing up and want to offload their stock.

8 red peppers, quartered, stalks removed and seeded
250-300ml extra virgin olive oil
2tsp salt

Lay the peppers on a baking tray with the skin side up and cook under a pre-heated hot grill for 10-15 minutes until the skins are black. You may have to do this in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the size of your grill. Remove from tray and transfer to a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave for about 20-30 minutes to help the skin come off easily. Have ready one 500ml Kilner jar, or several small sterilised jars. Remove the skin from the peppers and transfer to the jars.

Warm the olive oil in a pan and stir in the salt. Spoon into the jar with the peppers, easing it into the peppers with the back of a spoon and seal the top. If you want to keep your peppers for a period of time, stand the jar in a pan of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes to seal it, leave to cool and store in a cool place.

Pumpkin and pomegranate pickle

Makes about 2 x 500ml Kilner jars

I've been staring at a couple of little pumpkins and pomegranates in my fruit bowl on the kitchen table for the past 4 weeks and thought it's time to do something with them before they end up on the compost heap, which, by the way, I couldn't resist buying from the green supplement in The Independent a couple of months back. It looks more like a beehive and blends in perfectly without looking like a compost heap.

Problem is the neighbours think I've joined the urban honey-making fraternity and fear my garden is swarming with bees.

2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
3tbsp vegetable oil
1tsp black mustard seeds
1tsp ground cumin
Seeds of 10 cardamom pods
1tbsp grated root ginger
120g granulated sugar
150ml white wine vinegar
1tbsp tamarind paste (optional)
500g firm fleshed pumpkin, or squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into rough 2cm chunks
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into rough 2cm chunks
2 ripe pomegranates, halved and the seeds scooped out
2tsp salt
400ml water

Gently cook the onion and spices in the vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes until soft, add the sugar, vinegar and tamarind and stir until dissolved. Add the pumpkin, apple, pomegranate, salt and water, cover with a lid and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring every so often. Most of the liquid should have evaporated by now, if not remove the lid and continue to cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Spoon the mixture into sterilised Kilner jars, seal and simmer the jars covered in a pan of water for 20 minutes. Remove, leave to cool and store in a cool place.

Serve as you would Indian pickles, with grilled fish as a dip, or with cheese.