Potted Hough

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Have any of you with Scottish connections come across this? I saw it mentioned on a FB page tonight where people were reminiscing about life in Dundee and I couldn't work out what it was as some loved it and others loathed it (but everyone had it on toast)- I assumed it was made from offal.

After a good google I have come to the conclusion it's a kind of beef meat paste and it doesn't sound bad at all. I am interested that this recipe suggests it is unhealthy - presumably no fat was removed from the meat (quite normal in many dishes!) as I can't see much wrong with it.

https://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/pottedhough.php

Have you made it or tried it?

[Suffs Profile]

I had it years ago … neighbours were Scottish farmers who had moved to Suffolk … it was like pork brawn only made with shin of beef. I liked it .. we had it on toast like a pate.

[oat Profile]

I grew up in East Yorkshire and it was always called potted meat, it wasn't until J bought some potted hough on a visit home to Scotland that I realised it was the same thing. I always thought he was saying potted head!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I’ve never eaten it as far as I can remember it, but I think there was a recipe for it in the gas cooker cookbook, sounds very familiar and I think the recipe was pretty much like the one posted

I had a similar thing when reading one of the Yorkshire Dales mysteries yesterday, and Lamb Henry was mentioned as standard pub grub.
Google suggests there are two schools of thought, meat cubed or as a large joint, mint is consistent and it’s probably Cumbrian

https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk ... amb-henry/

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Lamb Henry sounds very good - and not a poor man's dish either!

Perhaps we need to revisit all these local specialities- more seem to come out of the woodwork every time the subject comes up!

[Seatallan Profile]

Lamb Henry is lovely if done well. It's a real pub-grub menu staple in these here parts.

[Suffs Profile]

Dorothy Hartley's Food in England seems to ignore the border and includes a wonderful description of how to make "...the Scotch dish, 'potted hough'..." which she says is 'the best use for shin of beef'

"Take a hough and bash it well with an axe. No' just break it, but have at it, till the pieces are no bigger than a wee hen's egg. Pack it into an iron pot with the brown papery skins of onions, two or three peppercorns and a blade of mace. Just cover with water, set on the lid tightly, and let it stew four hours at least.
"When the meat is away from the bone, tilt it all into a colander, strain the liquid back into the saucepan, and let it gallop while you are gathering up the meat from the broken bones. Ten press the meat into a basin with straight sides, and when the meat is all in fill up with the liquid and set aside till cold.
"It should set stiff. If it no' sets stiff, you must reduce again for it should be as stiff as glue."
Do not add vegetables, or over-season with herbs, when cooking this dish, as ir is not a 'made' dish in the usual sense: it is most essentially a plain dish of solid meat. It turns out as brawn, but the texture is much more firm. The Scotch woman who gave me the recipe said, "all o' mine want no more than twa-three slices o' potted hough, and a well of baked taties, and a fresh lettuce and mustard - maybe twa - three pickles would go wi' it well - and a tankard of ale - 'twill fill them fine - 'tis all guid meat", and as she was the mother of four champion blacksmiths she knew what she was strengthening. '

[liketocook Profile]

Oh yes please EM, it's lovely stuff and no more unhealthy I'd say than many terrines or rillettes etc.
Often called potted meat or heid though technically potted heid is made from the cow's head. Most butchers here sell it as potted meat. It's highly seasoned with allspice and white pepper and gorgeous in a sandwich or on toast. Texture wise it's not unlike a coarse jellified corned beef. My great aunt made wonderful stuff and it's not hard to make just time consuming. Her recipe i uses any beef bones you can get with equal weights of meat (shin or beef cheeks or a mix) and bones. She notes you can add a pigs trotter if you are short on beef bones. The meat should be in big pieces rather than diced.
You cook it until the meat will separate into threads with only a gentle press between thumb and index finger so would be ideal for a slow cooker.
I can post her full recipe if anyone wants to have a go. No axes are involved

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Excellent description Suffs!

BTW. I've just looked up the word 'Hough' as I was puzzled by mentions of bone in the recipes. It is a hock or hamstring - hence the use of shin - with bone! I've only ever bought shin of beef by the lb and no bone. A beef hock must be quite big??

LTC - it sounds better by the minute! Getting so excited I might finally get to Scotland this year! .

[liketocook Profile]

Yes definitely a must try EM I've got a real notion for some now!

[Busybee Profile]

Interestingly, lamb Henry around this side of the Pennines is usually a lamb shank cooked long and slow with the usual herbs etc.

We always had potted meat sandwiches when we went to my Grans on a Sunday, absolutely loved it. A local deli - Lewis and Coopers https://www.lewisandcooper.co.uk/ sells a similar thing but by the slice made with veal. I always buy some for my Mum, she loves it.

BB

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Interestingly, lamb Henry around this side of the Pennines is usually a lamb shank cooked long and slow with the usual herbs etc.
...
BB

That would possibly make more sense in terms of what Geoff is doing in the kitchen in the book, which is set in a fictionalised Wharfedale

[northleedsbhoy Profile]

My aunt made this every year for her Hogmanay party and hers was the best I’ve tasted, it was more like a jelly with beef in it rather than a meat paste. The local butchers where we lived used to sell it but mainly for Hogmanay. Haven’t had it for years but I doubt if I would try to make because as LTC said it’s time consuming.

Cheers
NLB

[ZeroCook Profile]

.

You cook it until the meat will separate into threads with only a gentle press between thumb and index finger so would be ideal for a slow cooker.
I can post her full recipe if anyone wants to have a go. No axes are involved

Yes please, LTC.

Sounds somewhat like a beef version of brawn, which was one of my favourite dishes I learned to make with my mother early on. Love all that sort of thing.

[halfateabag Profile]

Sounds very tasty to me but for OH, he who removes the clear aspic jelly from a pork pie, it would be a medical procedure !

When I hear the word Brawn I keep remembering the giant brawn that Mr. Jones the butcher made in Dads Army. It was in danger of melting so had to keep taking it outside so it was not so warm.....

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Our butcher still makes brawn.

a similar thing but by the slice made with veal.

Jellied veal was very widely available when I were a lad, rarely seen nowadays. Our aforementioned butcher had a go at it once, I guess there was insufficient demand for a repeat.

There's a recipe for hough in The Pauper's Cookbook iirc.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

All the brawn I have seen or eaten has had chunks of meat set in jelly so that both are visible.

Potted Hough, although containing the jelly, looks a more dense thing, where the meat has been turned to almost a paste, which can be sliced without the brawn look. (I love jelly so don't mind that at all!).

My mother used to cook ordinary mince and chill it in individual ramekin sized bowls which were then turned out like a jelly to eat with salad in the summer. Very nice!

[liketocook Profile]

.

You cook it until the meat will separate into threads with only a gentle press between thumb and index finger so would be ideal for a slow cooker.
I can post her full recipe if anyone wants to have a go. No axes are involved

Yes please, LTC.

Sounds somewhat like a beef version of brawn, which was one of my favourite dishes I learned to make with my mother early on. Love all that sort of thing.

Here you go
Potted Meat
6lbs bone in shin cut in 6 pieces
Or
3lbs trimmed shin or beef cheek plus 3lbs chopped beef bones. (A pig’s trotter can be used in place of some of the bones)
Water
1tsp all spice berries
1 tsp white peppercorns
2 Bay leaves
2 blades of mace
½ tsp cayenne
1 tsp table salt
Ground all spice
Ground white pepper

Trim excess fat from the meat but leave in large pieces and place in a large pan with the all spice berries, bay leaves, mace, cayenne and salt. Completely cover with water. Bring to the boil then simmer until the meat is very soft (4-6 hours) topping up with water as required. The meat should easily shred when pinched between your thumb and index finger. Remove meat and strain the stock through a cloth discarding the bones and aromatics. Reduce the stock to around 11/2 pints then chill, ideally overnight, to allow the fat to be removed. Shred the meat into thin strands with two forks mashing it slightly as you shred it. Reheat the stock and season with ground pepper, all spice and salt. It should taste very peppery. Mix stock and meat thoroughly then either pot in individual ramekins or for a centre piece in a terrine mould. Chill until completely set.

Yes EM, it should be dense rather than chunks in jelly.

[Suffs Profile]

I think the texture of Pork Brawn varies across the country ... certainly my Bedfordshire relatives expect it to have discrete chunks of meat set in a jelly whereas in Suffolk and Norfolk the meat is shredded before being set in jelly (and the older folks call it Pork Cheese).

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Our village butcher in Norfolk used to make Pork Cheese in the summer. It was set in pudding basins and sold in that shape.The jelly separated from the meat so there was a distinct layer. It was a real treat.

It was many years before I learned that pork cheese and brawn (which we bought ready cut in rectangular slices with the meat spread evenly across the jelly) were the same thing!

Great recipe, ltc. I wish I had a big enough pan!