The Shooter's Sandwich

I had read about the Shooter’s Sandwich previously in Elizabeth David’s ‘Summer Cooking ‘.’The wise’ she says ‘travel with a flask of whiskey and a Shooter’s Sandwich’. ‘With this sandwich a man may travel from Land’s End to Quaker Oats, and snap his fingers at both’. We didn’t go quite that far, but we did go for a picnic in the Lake District in December on one of the stormiest days of the year...

My aunt’s birthday falls on the 27th December and as a surprise her immediate family had planned a return to a childhood holiday home deep in the valleys of the Northern Lakes. The fact that it was December and had no electricity or running water did not deter us. I designed the menu, packed up the picnic baskets (waterproof) and set off from Newcastle laden with potted fish, pickles, terrines, homemade breads, a delicious sticky ginger cake and the Pièce de résistance, the Shooter’s Sandwich...

As the gale force winds and horizontal sheets of rain battered us on the drive over we received a phone call from the advance party, a tree was down blocking the road further ahead. Not to be deterred we followed instruction to stop for a coffee and wait for it to be cleared, thinking it might be hours some of the party were a bit down beat, there was talk of a Plan B; but before we had even finished our giant cheese scones we received instruction to proceed, the tree was cleared and we were back in business!

An early 20th century shooting lodge made of corrugated iron and timber, no electricity, water or lights, at the head of a deserted valley in a gale, an ideal picnic spot, and a pretty exciting one at that. Once the fire was on, glasses in hand and the indoor picnic laid out we were all set... the rain and wind battered us from the outside, noisy and insistent, but it was a unique picnic lunch I will remember for a long time.

To make the Shooter’s Sandwich you will need a large round crusty cob loaf or similar, 2 steaks, I used rib eye, 500g of mushrooms and 200g shallots, some garlic, a splash of brandy and Worchester sauce, some horseradish and Dijon mustard. I followed a Tim Hayward recipe this time, but am already geared up to free style it next time...

Slice a ‘lid’ off the top of the loaf and hollow out the centre, I kept the middle and froze it to use for breadcrumbs at some point. Finely chop the mushrooms and onions and sweat them in about 75g of butter until they are tasty and soft and have lost most of their moisture. Season with salt and pepper, some grated garlic, a shot of brandy and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

Season the steaks and get a frying pan very hot; I cooked mine for 2 minutes each side, possibly a touch less, and they were medium rare, you want them to be on the pink side.

Then quickly assemble the sandwich, no resting required. Put the first steak into the bottom of the loaf; add all the mushroom mix, packing it into all the nooks and crannies, then the next steak on top. Spread the top of this steak with horseradish and spread the inside of the loaf lid with Dijon mustard. Pop it back on and then wrap the whole thing up in greaseproof paper tightly. Secure with four lengths of string and finally place between two boards, with some heavy pans or weights on top and press overnight.

To serve, cut the Shooters Sandwich into wedges still in its paper, along with some piccalilli or a good mustard, and a full winter picnic if you’re feeling adventurous. It’s delicious; the mushroom mix is so tasty with rich meat and sharp hot horseradish and mustard. Bring on the next picnic, rain or shine. I’d use a crustier loaf next time, this one was a little soft and I might also add a layer of horseradish to the base as I love it so much. This is the classic version, if you Google it there are many more, I’m going to stay away from the Parmo version, that’s a step too far... but a vegetarian one with pesto, mozzarella, roast peppers, aubergines and basil looked delicious.

Pot Roast Brisket

So I'm sat in my house wearing five layers, I also have gloves on, and a scarf, I would put a hat on but people can see me from the street and I think I look odd enough. My boiler isn't working, just in time for the first frosts we've had all winter. I have a coffee and a relatively ineffective gas fire to huddle by. I also have some ox tail in the fridge which we are going to stew for supper with wild mushrooms, and perhaps we'll open a nice bottle of red and it won't seem quite so cold... A man called Ted is coming to fix it after the weekend, well at least I hope he's going to fix it or it's going to be a pretty cold winter here is my little leaky house...

I bought the ox tail and this piece of brisket from a new butchers in Jesmond called The Meat Merchant. I was impressed, they have a wide range of meat, it wasn't expensive, and they have everything from rabbit, to proper pancetta and metre long sirloin steaks if that's what you are after?

This isn't a very complicated recipe, just some chopped vegetables and herbs, red wine and three hours in the oven. The brisket is a cut from the front of the cow, just above their front legs, it takes all the weight of the animal most of the time, so is pretty fibrous and strong... and as a result it needs some long slow cooking to loosen it up, for those fibres to begin to fall apart and become all soft and tasty... It is also brilliant for leftovers, we had warmed through soft slices on chunky hunks of bread with loads of horseradish and watercress, and then had the leftover juices and vegetables as a stew slash soup with a bit of crusty bread.

Chop 2 leeks, 2 carrots and 2 onions and put them in the bottom of a big casserole dish, one that is about the same size as your piece of meat. These amounts would have fed four people easily. Add 2 whole heads of garlic, ten peppercorns and a bundle of herbs tied up, parsley, thyme, bay... Lay the piece of brisket over everything and pour over 1 litre of chicken stock and 2 glasses of red wine. You want the brisket to be still poking out of the top, not submerged entirely. Cover with tinfoil and put it in the oven for 3 hours on a medium heat. You want it to be soft and delicious, not falling apart totally, it still needs to be sliced, but only gently.

I served it with a little scoop of mash, lots of horseradish, some of the juices and vegetables spooned over the top, a pile of buttery cabbage, a glass of red wine and the heating on full... those were the days...

Mackerel and horseradish salad

The smoked mackerel fillet ticks lots of boxes; healthy, cheap, sustainable fishing – I watched all of Hugh's fish fight and got a bit emotional when the North sea fishermen got so angry and upset about having to throw back all those poor wasted dead fish. Whereas the mackerel are often fished by line and are fast growing plentiful little guys.

This is a really easy lunch or light supper. One packet of smoked mackerel fillets usually has three or four fillets in it, depending on size and will feed a couple of people, maybe three small portions. Remove the skin from the fillets and tear them up into bite size pieces.



Put some leaves in the bottom of your bowls; rocket, spinach, watercress... whatever you choose, but these peppery ones work really well. I once found some wild watercress growing along the sides of a river in the Lake District that was ridiculously peppery, like mustard or wasabi, that kind of strength. I might try growing some as it was so much better than the packet stuff, in small doses...



Hard boil an egg per person, they take about 6/7 minutes after you have brought them to a simmer from cold water. Then run them under a cold tap to cool and stop cooking before you shell them. Mix a small pot of yoghurt with some horseradish, a few teaspoons, depending on how hot you like it, you can also use crème fraiche, and if the yoghurt is a a bit tart add half a teaspoon of sugar.

Then you just need to assemble; scatter the fish over the leaves, quarter the egg and place on top, scatter a few capers around, then drip a few teaspoons of the horseradish yoghurt around and about...