[Smashy the Hammer] [An Aspiring Luddite]
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An aspiring Luddite
In a wired world.
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[Jeff Berry]
Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Leek-a-Cockie
14 January 2014
[Leek-a-Cockie]

Let me say, that I don't really advise making this recipe. Not that it wasn't tasty, because it was. Not that it wasn't kind of fun to make, because it was. Not that it doesn't amuse me, because it does. It's just that the pay-off isn't quite worth all the effort. Still, that said, have a go if you like. After all, it was kind of fun.

It all started, you see, with leeks. I like leeks, and they're in season here. Even I, however, who like leeks began to try to think of new things to do with them. It struck me, they've got little tubes! Stuffed cabbage is a thing, isn't it? So why not stuffed leek tubes? Since I'm a fan of Cock-a-Leekie, I thought I'd do the Cock-a and stuff it in the Leekie. Since I don't appear to have done Cock-a-Leekie before, I'll stick that in as a bonus. [Lots of pictures]

Cock-a-Leekie/Leek-a-Cockie

First, the Cock-a-Leekie. Put your chicken, whole, in a pot. Slice and add 3 or 4 leeks and a couple of handfuls of barley. Add salt and pepper, decent amounts of both. Cover with water. Simmer until the leeks are nearly dissolved and the chicken is falling off the bone. That's it. Some of you have heard my rant about this before in person, but let me repeat it here - chicken, leeks, barley, salt, pepper AND NOTHING ELSE. Just don't try to tart it up, that's all. So much for cock-a-leekie.

For Leek-a-cockie, do chicken and barley with salt and pepper in the same manner. I used only a leg quarter, in this case, since I wanted a smaller portion. Skimp on the water a bit, too, since you don't want a broth precisely, rather a thick porridge sort of consistency. Let it cool, strip the meat off the bone, which should be a trivial task if you let it cook long enough, and mix that all up.

Now for the hard part. Trim your leeks at the bottom and cut them at the top just below the point where they start to split open. Carefully push the middle layers out, leaving a hollow tube. That's the really annoying part of the whole process. Save the middle bits, of course, to add to the remaining chicken and barley after you've stuffed the tube.

Stuff the tube. Prepare a bit of egg wash and some flour, and dip the tubes in the egg, then flour, and then fry in butter. That's it.

Now, that said. If I were to do this again, and I might, I'd be tempted to change that last step in one of two ways. The flour and egg wasn't enough to help the leek hold its shape, so I'd be tempted to make a more full-service batter and then fry it in more oil. On the other hand, I might also go for a completely different approach and arrange them in a dish and then poach them in chicken broth.

As I say, kind of a pain. Tasty, though.


© 2014 Jeff Berry
The Aspiring Luddite