Late-night dirty fries

This is the kind of dish that people NEED after a long day. Now whether you have spent your day watching England v India at the test cricket, or on a great long walk around Cornwall, or, as we did, in our mates’ garden doing a kind of mini festival there comes a point where all present need a few carbs and a heap of smoky meat to keep themselves on an even keel. The origins of this recipe lie in the Canadian staple called Poutine which is french fries covered in gravy with cheese curds on the top. It’s a food-truck favourite and often the culmination of an evening sampling the local artisan micro-brewery beers.

Now at our mini festival we (the planning committee) recognised that those present were all firmly going to be in middle age and, although the attraction of drinking beers, ciders and cocktails all afternoon was a powerful one, there was an equally powerful need to avoid the dreaded hangover, especially for those present with younger children to look after in the morning. Ever the pragmatist, Polly came up with the idea of having a nice stodgy carb-heavy meal available at about 11:30. She correctly felt that this would mirror the genuine festival experience when the last band have finished and one is taking a circuitous route back to one’s accommodation and all the food stalls have left is chips and gravy. Perfect.

Our late-night dirty fries comprise 3 easy-to-make elements:

1. A base layer of fries. We used Aunt Bessie’s oven chips and cooked them for a bit longer than the packet said – you need the fries nice and crunchy.
2. A load of Ox cheek Barbacoa. I used 4 big Ox cheeks which was plenty for 5 hungry adults and two 14 year-old boys who should have been in bed but got lured downstairs by the smell of cooking like the Bisto kids
3. A dirty cheese sauce. Basically, a normal Béchamel sauce with a load of cheese melted into it.

I made the Barbacoa the day before as it takes about 7 hours altogether. The link above will take you to a more detailed recipe, but essentially I smoked the cheeks with hickory chips for about 3 hours at 130°C in the Big Green Egg. While this was happening, I roughly chopped a few carrots, a couple of onions, 2 sticks of celery, 5-6 garlic cloves and 2-3 fresh red chillies and softened these for 20 minutes or so in a pan. Once they were pretty much cooked, I added a couple of big blobs of Chipotles in Adobo, that intense, smoky sauce and gave everything a good stir. I transferred all of this mixture to a big dish and, when the smoking period was up, added the cheeks on top. I put in enough beef stock to cover the veg and the underside of the cheeks, covered the whole thing in foil and carried on cooking at 130°C for another 4 hours or so. You know it’s done when the cheeks literally come apart in your hands.

Carefully lift the cheeks into a big bowl and shred them into chunks using a couple of forks. Blend the veg and stock to make the sauce; a lot of fat cooks into it so it can be a bit cloying. If yours is, adding a drop or two of any kind of vinegar will help remedy it. Now pour the sauce over the shredded meat and try not to eat it until the big night.

The Béchamel can’t be made ahead and so the chef must retain a clear enough head to avoid catastrophe. I started with 50g butter and melted it gently in a pan, then added 50g cornflour and whisked it all together to make a roux. This needs to be cooked for a couple of minutes as otherwise your finished sauce will taste a bit floury. To this, I gradually whisked in about 500ml of milk until I had a smooth sauce and cooked it on a gentle flame for about 5 minutes until it had thickened nicely – it should be the consistency of a good thick yoghurt. Now on it’s own, this is quite bland and I wanted something a bit punchier so I stirred in a good dollop of English mustard, plus a large handful of strong cheddar. You could add any cheese you like – I suspect some strong blue cheese would be sensational, but I guess you’d have to be careful to not overpower the flavour of everything else.

To create the finished dish, arrange the chips in an even layer in the bottom of a suitable dish. On top of them, spread your Barbacoa out, leaving some chips poking out. On top of this, pour your cheesy sauce and on top of that add another handful of grated cheddar. Return to the oven at about 190C and cook until the cheese has got nice and brown.

Polly created a brilliant sign and bought a load of takeaway boxes and wooden cutlery from Amazon for the authentic festival experience. The only difficult thing was waiting for it all to cool down enough to eat it. We did make a vegetarian version which substituted a chunky chilli tomato sauce for the Barbacoa. The vegetarians present confirmed it was also just the ticket.

DISCLAIMER: Live Fire Journal and its contributors accept no responsibility or liability for any artery hardening or blockage as a result of following this recipe. Lower-fat recipes are available. Always consult a physician before consuming late-night dirty fries. Do not consume late-night dirty fries on a regular basis as there is a risk of addiction.