Lancashire Hot Pot with Pickled Red Cabbage

Lancashire Hot Pot was traditionally eaten by rich and poor and its reputation as one of England’s best traditional lamb recipes is thriving.  Farmers would leave a brown earthenware pot of it on the range to simmer gently all day, using the embers of the last night’s fire. If properly assembled the dish needed no attention until the workers returned hungry from their labours.  Shepherds would wrap a pot of it in a blanket and eat it up on the hills.  And for the rich, it became de rigeur to take a pot of it to the races!

Hot Pot

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo of shoulder, neck and shin of lamb cut into 3 or 4 cm pieces (try and use as locally sourced as you can e.g Bowland lamb
• 500 grams of thinly sliced onions
• 900 grams of peeled King Edward potatoes
• 30 grams of plain flour
• 45 grams of salted butter
• 2 carrots thinly sliced
• 150 mls of chicken stock or Knorr stock cubes or chicken gels
• Sea salt and white pepper to season
• 2 grams of chopped rosemary
• 4 grams of sugar

Method:

1. Season lamb with salt and a good pinch of pepper
2. Dust with the flour
3. Put the lamb into the base of the hotpot dish
4. Sweat off the onions in 15 grams of the butter with some salt and the sugar for 4-5 minutes (to sweat is to cook without cover on a hot to moderate temperature)
5. Spread the onions evenly on the top of the lamb in the hot pot dish
6. Slice the potatoes horizontally 2-3 centimetres thick
7. Place in a medium size bowl and add the remaining 25 grams of melted butter, season with one teaspoon of salt and a pinch of white pepper and rosemary
8. Mix well
9. Layer the sliced potatoes and carrots evenly on top of the onions reserving the best shaped rounds for the final layer and add the chicken stock
10. Cut a circle out of grease proof paper, place over the potatoes and cover with a lid
11. Place the hotpot in the oven for 1.5 hours at 160 degrees
12. Take off the lid and grease proof paper
13. Brush with melted butter and place back in the oven for a further 20 minutes
14. Clean the pot and serve with pickled red cabbage

Pickled Red Cabbage

Ingredients

•  400 grams of shredded red cabbage
•  70 grams of sea salt
•  300 ml malt vinegar
•  150 ml of white wine vinegar
•  160 ml of balsamic vinegar
•  550 ml red wine
•  275 grams sugar
•  4 bay leaves
•  6 whole cloves
•  1 teaspoon of pink pepper corns
•  2 cinnamon sticks
•  2 small teaspoons of chilli flakes
  

Method

1. Place the shredded red cabbage in a colander over the sink and sprinkle with salt, leave for 2-3 hours then drain and wash away the salt
2. Pat dry with a clean tea towel
3. Place all the vinegars, wine and sugar into a heat resistant pan and cook over a medium heat for 6-8 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half
4. Place the chilli, cinnamon, pink peppercorns, cloves and bay leaves into the mix, take off the heat and allow to infuse for 5-10 minutes
5. Strain through a fine sieve, discard the solids and then pour the strained liquid over the cabbage in a bowl
6. Transfer the cabbage and pickling liquid into a sterilised jar and set aside until needed