Bacon Butty or Bacon Sarnie?

Copyright 2014 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

I have a weakness for British Comedies. I could go on and on about which one is my favorite but it might take me a few weeks to do so. During one of my self-imposed  BritCom marathon however, something came up over and over again as a sort of running joke that piqued my interest and I just had to give it a try. Bacon Butty or Bacon Sarnie was Onslow's favorite for breakfast in the beloved BritCom, Keeping Up Appearances. Heck, he actually asks for it practically all day long. I just never really thought about it until recently when I decided to look up this famous sandwich and figure out how to make it. It was then that I realized that it was no joke. Surprisingly enough, the Brits are actually quite particular when it comes to making the sandwich so I read a couple of versions and synthesized what I think is closest to the original.

The sandwich in itself turned out to be fairly simple to prepare. The only issue is that the main ingredient which is bacon is on my list of my not to eat food. As a compromise, I made myself a much frugal version of the sandwich and ate only half of it. I did make the fully stacked version for my friend who loves bacon. Now, as to the actual name of the sandwich, when made with white bread, it is a sarnie. When made on white rolls, it is a butty. 

Bacon Sarnie/Butty

1 lb thick cut bacon
unsalted butter
HP sauce
6 slices white loaf

1. In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon until the edges are 
    slightly golden brown. Set aside. 

2. Slather a liberal amount of softened butter on the bread slices. Divide and 
    layer the bacon slices onto three bread slices. 

3. Season with the HP sauce to taste. Top with the remaining slices of bread.

Callos Madrileña

Copyright 2014 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

Finally, a Callos recipe. The evolution of my love for Callos came a bit slow. This was not something I cooked regularly nor was it something my family loved. In fact, this was an alien concept to me until much later when I was living in the US. My friend, Nashiely, who is Mexican invited me over for dinner at their place when her parents came for a visit. Her Mom, an excellent cook made Callos and I was the only one who ate it. She made the real deal with tripe although her version also included the addition of chickpeas. Prior to this occassion however, there was another occasion where Callos was served although the exact details escape me somehow but when I went home for a visit, I requested that Callos be cooked. This was way back in 2004. 

Fast forward to now, I have been cooking Callos whenever my friends requested for it here in my hometown. I did make this dish once when I lived in Montana and my roommate who was also my landlord, banned the dish from being ever made again. He said that cooking the tripe stank the house. So there goes my Callos fix. At that time, I followed the recipe of MarketMan as written in his blog but there were a few changes I made due to the unavailability of certain ingredients so I made do with what was available. Here in Bacolod, I have learned my lesson and I now know that to make this dish, it requires planning because tripe has to be pre-ordered and so are the other beef portions that make up this wonderful dish. The good thing is that they are fairly reasonably priced.

If you ever decide that you want to prepare this dish, have the whole day set for nothing else but to making Callos. Actually, it is best if you start at night and then you serve it for lunch or dinner the next day. To make sure that the steps are described accurately, I will break down the recipe in three steps.

By the way, I am adapting the name of the dish as MarketMan named his version due to the fact that I did follow a recipe that is indeed more Spanish in origin rather than Filipino. If you notice, there are no chickpeas or potatoes in the recipe which are used as extenders. My version is indeed a meat lovers delight and a nightmare for persons with uric acid problems.   

Callos - Adapted from MarketManila*

Tripe

4 lbs ox tripe
sea salt
2 onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

1. Clean the tripe by rubbing with the sea salt. Scrape off any residual grit 
    and rinse off with water.  Slice into manageable sizes so that they all 
    fit your stock pot.

2. In a large pot, layer the tripe and add the bay leaves, onions, garlic, white 
    vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Add enough water to cover the 
    tripe and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, lower the 
    heat to medium low and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. 

3. Turn off the heat and leave the tripe in the stock pot until cooled. 

4. Once cooled, drain the tripe and slice into rectangular pieces or depending 
    on how big or small the dish requires them to be. Rinse with more water 
    and check if it smells clean. 

To prepare the tripe for cooking, here is the next step:

Copyright 2014 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

In a large pot, arrange the tripe and add 1 cup of white wine and 2 bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and add enough water to cover the tripe. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and once boiling, lower the heat to medium low and simmer covered until the tripe is fork tender. This will take a couple of hours so check regularly and make sure to add enough water every now and then. If using a pressure cooker, it takes about 40 minutes of cooking once it starts to whistle. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Drain and rinse with water. Set aside.

Ox Tail, Legs, and Face 

8 lbs of ox tail, legs and face
2 bay leaves
2 onions, diced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
salt and pepper

Copyright 2014 LtDan'sKitchen blogs

In a large pot, arrange the ox pieces and cover with enough water. Season with the bay leaves, onions, garlic and enough salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and once boiling, lower the heat to medium low and simmer covered for about 3-4 hours or until the meat is very tender. If using a pressure cooker, cook over medium high heat for 40 minutes when it starts to whistle. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. 

Once cooled, fish out the meat pieces and rinse any muck that has stuck to the meat and slice to the desired size. Pour the broth through a sieve and set aside. 

Callos

Pre-cooked tripe and ox meat
2 onions, diced
6-8 garlic cloves, diced
3 carrots, diced
4 bay leaves
1 32-oz canned diced tomatoes
1 200-g canned pimientos
1 1/2 to 2 lbs kielbasa (or blood sausages and Spanish chorizo if available), 
   sliced into rounds
1 1/2 cups tomato paste
8 cups beef broth
1 tbsp Spanish paprika
1 tsp diced chili
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, add the olive oil. Once hot, fry the 
    sausages until slightly browned. Set aside. 

2. In the same pot, saute the onions with the bay leaves, garlic, paprika, and 
    chili. Cook until the onions have softened. Season with salt and pepper. 

3. Add the carrots and pimientos and cook until heated through. Pour in the 
    beef broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the tripe, ox meat and 
    the sausages. 

4. Lower the heat to medium low and simmer covered for 30 minutes. 

5. Add the diced tomatoes and the tomato paste and check for seasoning. 
    Adjust accordingly. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour 
    until you achieve the desired consistency. If needed, add more beef broth 
    if it starts to thicken too quickly. Add the oregano when the Callos is 
    almost ready.

6. At this point, you can serve the Callos after you check for flavor and make 
    the necessary adjustment. The stew should be thick enough to coat the 
    meat pieces but is still loose enough that that it drips when tipped. 

If not serving right away, allow to cool and store in the fridge. When ready to serve, reheat over low flame and when needed, add a little bit of beef broth to loosen the stew. Recheck for flavor and serve hot. 

*Callos ala Madrilena: MarketManila blog.