Cheeky Cock-A-Leekie

This soup is a variation take on the original Scottish "peasant" cock-a-leekie soup, which is beleieved by some to be the oldest soup known. Legend has it that cock-a-leekie soup started out as a means of using the loosing cock from a cockfight. There are also some accounts of capon being used, who really knows. The particular re-invention I present here bridges elements of pho with the traditional heavy leek and prune cock-a-leekie. Perhaps you're thinking "why did you call it cock-a-leekie then? I searched "cock-a-leekie" and this bogus fusion jazz arrived! Well tough/just try it! Perhaps you also think prunes seem like and odd item to put in soup. I originally thought so too. In all honesty though I think it is brilliant, kudos to whoever came up with this addition. C.M. de Talleyrand apparently said that the prunes should be removed after cooking but I like them better in, they provide a good sweet to balance the savory. You can put them in whole hog with the pits and all, just don't eat the pits! Or eat them if you like... This soup is easy and quick to make. I hope it works you into a true cock-a-hoop.

Ingredients

1 lbs. beef tendon

~4 litres beef stock

3 large leeks

1 can prunes or ~10-12 prunes

1 chopped hot pepper

1 star anise

clove(s)

salt

pepper

1.) using a large soup/stock pot immerse the beef tendon in ~4 litres of warm stock (beef or chicken or vegetable also all work well). Let the beef tendon simmer while you prepare the rest of the ingrideints. Beef tendon is delicious but takes a while to get soft and a little extra simmering just thickens the pot, so to speak. I used nervetti...there are a bunch of different forms to obtain tendon, prepare as prescribed.

2.) rough chop the leeks and hot pepper(s) to a desired size and add to the simmering pot.

3.) add salt and pepper to taste, a star anise and desired cloves (all to taste, as well as any other spices you would like, IT'S YOUR SOUP AFTER ALL.)

4.) bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium and slow simmer for ~30 mins.

5.) after ~30 mins. add the prunes (I use canned prunes but anything will do. It is also up to your discretion as to how much of the prune syrup you want to include if you are using canned prunes. I usually drain the majority of fluid and leave just a touch for sweetening).

6.) let this concoction simmer for ~5-10 minutes then turn off the heat and serve as hot as you would like.

I usually remove the star anise (and, if I can find them, the cloves) before adding the prunes. It is up to you how you like to deal with this flavouring element.

WARNING: if you make this soup and then put it in the fridge to eat at a later date (as I did) it might/likely will gelatinize (as mine did). Impromptu aspic? This soup definitely lives up to the requirements of Meg Dod that cock-a-leekie must be “…boiled down…until it become[sic] a lubricious compound.” Don’t sweat though. Just scoop a dollop the size you would like, flop it in a bowl, add a touch of water and moosh the gelatanize blob then microwave. This, in my experience, will return the blob to its original tasty consistency. 

Prolegomenon…by way of brief justification

So where did this all start out? Well the Huckleberry Hog came into its nascence by way of a bit of good old action. I, being the Huck character in this saga, like to cook and eat some “odd” stuff. I had never really been one for the kitchen to any great degree until relatively recently. I was not all thumbs in the kitchen but I never really had the urge to do much therein. Then I grew a bit older and paid a bit more attention to what I was eating. There are two relative watershed events as to how I started to cook and be interested in “food matters.” 

The First: there is a little café called MyDog Joe in the Westdale hood of the Hammer. I really enjoy this place as it has a wide variety of fancy coffees and tasty bits, my favorite of which has long been the soup. I used to go here for a coffee and some soup before heading further on in my day. After eating a few hearty bowls of variously eclectic soups I came to the realization that they were not really anything too beguiling, rather they were just creative. This is not meant as an offence the honour of the My Dog Joe "Souper," as all the soups were delicious. Thus being the adventure minded fellow that I am I determined that if I set about it I could probably make the same soups on my own. Plus I would save the mark up and could experiment to tailor the soups to my own interests. Thus my love of souping and the doctrine of the Soup Bible began.

The Second: one day a friend got a pet rabbit. While perusing photos of said rabbit I noticed that someone had made a joking statement about “hasenpfeffer” for dinner. I had no clue what this was. I looked it up. Then I found that it was a Germanic rabbit preparation. So again I thought, aw shucks that sounds good. I have never cooked a rabbit on my own so I will try to make this dish, why not. These two events are the seminal transition to my love of cooking. I now brim with joy at exploring the latitudes of cookery and recipes, studying the culinary expeditions of the Shackleton of the saucepan, the Monfreid of mutton, the Fawcett of fowl.

In my ongoing adventure I have tended towards more “exotic” or less common dishes. I think my reason for this, as you will surely see in subsequent posts, is just that. These dishes are often pariahs and I didn’t really know why. So I set about making said dishes to gauge them for myself. In this incarnation you could say that Jennifer Mclagan, curiosity and the ethos of Fergus Henderson guided me to try out-in-left-field dishes.

As for the Tom character in this blog-tale, well he likes to hunt and fish. He ain’t half bad at either-in fact he is pret’darn good. So now the journey continues and I hope that, for the countless hours of dawdling and wasting away time that was meant to be dedicate to our betterment and work on our respective doctoral degrees, you will join us for this hodgepodge of Epicurean indulgence. Much as Huck rafted the Mississippi this journey will be unconventional. Maybe we will post twice one week and then maybe not for a month. We make no promises. In terms of recipes it is unlikely that they will be precise. I do not think I am alone, nay I know I am not alone, in saying that cooking is for the soul and thus precise measurements help but so does a dash of this and a smidge of that. Perhaps I am too lazy to fully follow a prescribed recipe, I like to think I am an experimentalist. I leave it to your discretion to gauge which fits best. So no guarantees on exact details of recipes, think more suggestions-of-an-idea-of-meal-that-sounded-good-in-a-daydream.

Further down the Misi-ziibi we go...



Huck