Like many people I enjoy a roast dinner, but as I’m single (happily btw) there’s always a lot of the joint left over, even after my hacking doorstops off the wide ends. For years I went with the usual “Oh, that’ll do for a stew or a curry” (usually one of each) and that would be it. Three meals for the price of the joint of whatever it was.
About eight or nine years ago, with the price of meat rising ever more sharply, I decided to take the plunge and invest sixty quid in a deli slicer. Not one of the huge things that butchers used to use for slicing bacon, but one that sits comfortably on my kitchen worktop and sticks its feet to the surface to stop it sliding about.
It has paid for itself easily five times over in the years since and cleaning couldn’t be easier - the parts are all dishwasher safe so there’s only the hot wipe-down of the machine’s body to take care of.
I now get between six and eight extra meals from each roasted joint’s leftovers, usually at three slices for each but sometimes four, from the joints that I buy. I freeze them and take them for use as and when I feel like it. I heat them for twenty minutes in the top pot of my steamer, with spuds and a side vegetable or two in the lower pot, and serve them up with a simple gravy.
I just did that tonight with the slices from a pork leg that I roasted two weekends ago. The most preparation involved was peeling the potatoes, and seperating the pork slices about ten minutes into the cooking time. The seperation is only necessary because I’d run out of greasseproof paper when I sliced them and didn’t want to leave them sitting in the fridge until the shopping delivery arrived. For anyone like me, who has difficulty moving about most or all of the time, it couldn’t be any easier unless they bought ready-mashed spuds to bung in their microwave, which is something I won’t give house-room to.
My slices are thinner than those shown, usually between four and five millimetres thick. The AI that created the image needs to learn the difference between pork and gammon, as well as what a gravy boat is, but I also use the slicer to cut my own gammon steaks about as thick as shown, and they work out to be about two thirds the price that the supermarket charges for ready-cut ones.
I always cook up far too many spuds as well. I do it on purpose because I use their leftovers to make tuna fishcakes which… you guessed it… I freeze for another day. Served with a green salad they make for a light lunch after seven minutes each side on a medium heat in the frying pan. That’s cooked from frozen. I also make a chicken version that I allow to thaw before cooking. I never take risks with chicken.