It's not often a two Michelin star chef cooks you dinner and as the Bristolian's number one fan, needless to say last night was "gert lush".
Tom, 40, star of the recent BBC show Proper Pub Food and the brains (and brawn) behind the coveted gastropub Hand & Flowers in Marlow, was on hand to cook a special alternative Christmas dinner to promote the new film Free Birds, out tomorrow.
Free Birds, a comedy animation starring Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson, follows a group of rebel turkeys who come up with a plan to try to escape their ultimate fate of ending up on the Christmas dinner plate.
So with turkey definitely off the menu last night, we were instead treated to a delicious three-course meal Kerridge-style - if you count mulled cider as a starter that is.
After our liquid starter Tom gave us a quick cooking masterclass, and dished out his top tips for fish and chips (clean oil), the best steak (roast it at 50 degrees for 45 minutes for medium-rare) and making the best stock (use pig's trotters…urgh).
I even got to be his little helper trimming the Brussels sprout tops ("the leafy top of the stalk which usually get fed to pigs," he cackled).
He also used me as a venison body double pointed out which part of the body the saddle comes from.
Then it was time to sit down and enjoy the roasted venison with all the trimmings, and make a little room in our second stomachs for the spiced orange cake with plum compote and Christmas cake ice cream.
Can I get a yes chef!
Here’s how to recreate the magic:
Roast loin of venison
Serves 4
1 x 600g venison loin trimmed
50g butter
Salt and Szechuan pepper to taste
In a heavy based pan pour in a little vegetable oil and heat till lightly smoking.
Season the loin with salt and Szechuan pepper.
Then carefully place in to the hot pan; add a good 50g of butter.
This should foam and start to colour the loin.
With a tablespoon baste and turn the loin every two minutes, repeat three times.
Remove from the heat onto a resting tray, rest for five minutes.
Carve and serve, sprinkle with chopped rosemary.
Sprout tops, chestnuts, and bacon
500g picked and washed sprout tops
200g smoked streaky bacon cut into lardons
200g vac-pack of chestnuts
100g butter
Salt and pepper
In a large sauté pan, melt the butter and cook the bacon until it is well browned and crispy. Add the chestnuts and cook until they start to break up a little. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Add the sprout tops and season. Stir until just wilted and serve straight away. This will only take a few minutes, be careful not to overcook them.
Venison gravy
Tom says: "This sauce base is easier than it looks or sounds and once you’ve made it you’ll do it again and again. You can also change the bones depending on the sauce flavour that you require i.e. lamb, beef, duck etc."
1 bunch parsley
1.5kg venison bones, chopped up quite small
2.5lt chicken stock base
½ bottle red wine
1 pig’s trotter split lengthways
Cornflour if needed
2tbsp redcurrant jelly
This sauce base is easier than it looks or sounds
Roast the venison bones until nice and dark but not burnt. Place them into a pan and put the pig’s trotter into the pan with the redcurrant jelly, red wine and cover with the chicken stock. Bring up to the boil and skim. Reduce the heat down and simmer for 3 hours or until reduced by 1/3rd. Turn the heat off and put in the parsley, stalks and all. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes like a cup of tea. Pass through a fine sieve and chill in the fridge for 12 hours.
The fat will have risen and act on the top so you can remove it. Bring the sauce up to the boil and reduce own to sauce consistency. If needed you can thicken it with a little corn flour. Pass through a layer of muslin cloth and serve.
Carrot cooking liquor
10 x carrots
400ml x water
250g x butter
150g x sugar
3tsp x salt
8 x star anise
In a pan bring to boil 400ml water, 250g butter, 150g sugar, 3tsp salt and 8 star anise.
Place the 10 carrots and cook until soft and liquor reduced to about ½.
Spiced orange cake with plum sauce and Christmas pudding ice cream
Tom says: "This is a great alternative for everybody that says they don’t like Christmas pudding, but it still tastes like Christmas. You can make the ice cream well in advance so you’re not left with loads to do on Christmas Eve."
3 oranges (boiled in water) – you will only need 450g of cooked orange
300g ground almonds
300g sugar
7 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
"This is a great alternative for everybody that says they don’t like Christmas pudding"
Put 3 unpeeled oranges in a pot with and cover with cold water, bring to the boil, and cook for 2 hours.
Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the seeds….
Then chop everything finely — skins, pits, fruit — in the food processor.
Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, almonds, and baking powder. Mix well, adding 450g of the chopped orange mix.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover the cake with foil after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack, but in the pan. When the cake's cold, you can take it out of the pan.
Christmas pudding ice cream
375g milk
375g cream
110g sugar
150g yolks
25g glycerine (optional)
500g crumbled Christmas pudding
Bring the milk and cream up to the boil. Whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until pale. Pour on the milk and cream. Whisk together and then place back into a pan and cook out to 82°C or the mix coats the back of a spoon. Add the glycerine, which acts as an antifreeze. Pass the hot custard over the crumbled Christmas pudding and whisk together to mix. Pour into your ice cream churner and freeze.
Plum sauce
1.5kg plums
150g butter
100g sugar
1 cinnamon stick
Juice of one lemon
Half the plums and remove the stones. Melt the 150g of butter in a pan and add the 100g of sugar and the cinnamon stick. Pour the plums on top and add the lemon juice. Cook out on a slow heat until a puree is formed. Remove the cinnamon stick and blend in a jug blender until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve into a bowl and keep until needed. This may need letting down with a little water.
Free Birds is in the cinema now.