Still recipe testing for our public appearance @tarteofbrasted. Have upped the flavour in our cajun rub – with more chilli and a little more cumin. Tried it tonight on sea bass, with our own organic salad and a fabo valpolicella from Italy. Great summer supper in the country.
Cajun Sea bass from the Deli Truck
Loved this wine
One of our more unusual requests. An American client has asked me to feed his creative team for lunch tomorrow. It’s a surprise for their hard work. He specified smoked turkey cooked on a rotisserie accompanied by mac & Cheese, our special coleslaw, biscuits and gravy. Finished with key lime pie and pecan pie. A great American menu. But the turkey is certainly the king. We used charcoal for the fire and Oak and Apple wood for the smoke. It Looks fantastic.
“tarte” of Brasted and the Deli Truck are bringing American style Gourmet Street Food to Brasted as a special summer celebration for one night only. “tarte” is well known for introducing innovative new menus and guest cooks to its Brasted eatery just opposite the village green.
On Saturday the 16th of August you will be able to enjoy the renowned New York Style Deli food from the Deli Truck, while tarte will provide sides, desserts, wines and beers.
All the food on the Deli Truck is made in house, even the BBQ and Burger Sauces are made by us.
No Additives, No preservatives, No Chemicals. All our meat is sourced from Batchelors the Butchers in Sevenoaks and is guaranteed to be from the UK. Table reservations are recommended and take-aways are also available. Contact tarte on 01959 565446
The Deli Truck has been hailed by one London critic as producing – “some of the best modern American street food in the UK”. So enjoy one of our hand ground double cheese and double bacon burgers – or our authentic 8 hour smoked pulled pork sandwich or our spicy cajun blackened fish sandwich.
tarte – is opposite the Village Green on the High Street in Brasted (TN16 1JE) next door to the White Hart Pub. You’ll see the Deli Truck parked outside on the A25. Service will get underway at 06:30pm
All the disposables on the Deli Truck – that includes cups, plates, knives forks and spoons are all biodegradable at least and in many cases are fully compostable as well. our plates are made of sugar starch and will compost in just 6 weeks our cold drink cups are made of plant starch and are fully compostable and biodegradable. But we don’t rest on our laurels – we are forever striving to bring you better quality food, with less additives and funny chemicals. We have just started our own gardens for suppling organic lettuce for our burgers and salads – and we hope this is just a start.
This party is being hosted by a very generous boss who is thanking his staff for a years hard work by spoiling them with a Deli Truck feast on Saturday morning. This menu has my personal favourite on it – our outrageously brilliant salt beef. We have been busy this morning making sweet almond pastry flans for our traditional strawberry tart filled with Creme Patissiere and organic strawberries. Since posting the “how to make” of one of these tarts on the 26th of May we have had endless requests from customers to have it on their menu. We make the pastry as short as we can with loads of butter and the addition of Almond Meal. Gives it a real kick. Also this morning (for tomorrows party) We will be starting the 4 hour simmer of our salt beef – for our famous salt beef sandwich. As you can see the brisket has been brined for 8 days in a selection of pickling spices and is now being simmered. The basic simmering flavours are a mirepoix (carrot, celery, onion) and crushed peppercorns, juniper berries and bay leaf. Also making the individual wild cherry and chocolate mousse puddings this morning. All good fun. Can’t wait to taste the salt beef when cooked.
Wild Cherry and chocolate mousse pudding
Pastry case for strawberry tart. loads of butter and almond meal
Simmering components
Spices for Salt Beef
Salt beef slowing simmering for 3 to 4 hours
Deli Truck has always been about quality food sourced responsibly. OUr aim is to cut as much of the chemical additives from our food as possible. We think the best way to get crispy, just picked, organic (no artificial fertilisers, no insecticides) lettuce leaves is to grow it ourselves. Our test patch has been hugely successful. We decided to grow all our edible leaves above ground, in terracotta pots to keep it off the ground – away from the crawlies that love our lettuce.
Growing our own organic lettuce
The taste is fantastic – we have a slightly bitter Italian variety and two other varieties of softer texture and tasting lettuce. Over the next weeks we will be supplying all our clients salads from our own garden – in Kent.
Testing the best lettuce varieties for our burgers and salads
Radicchio style lettuce growing on Deli Trucks lettuce test stand
Deli Truck organic Lettuce farm
We were asked to feed fifty people for a summers day lunch in the gardens and grounds of a well know showbiz personality in Wimbledon in London. The menu was complex for the truck but it worked a treat and was a success because of organisation and premium ingredients.
A garden party menu for 50 people
Can’t say who it is but a large garden in Wimbledon is our destination. Starting at the end – dessert first – we have just finished making a gallon of two fabo home made ice creams. We use only organic milk and cream and made a fun one for the kids made up of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream layered with marshmallow and chocolate sauce. The second half gallon is made for the adult guests with a vanilla base brimming with a laughable amount of Disaronno liqueur for that lovely boozy almond flavour. Three layers of the ice cream are separated with a dark, compote of raspberries and then swirled. Kind of like the raspberry ripple we used to have as kids but with a serious kick and a little almond and berry bitterness to make it very grown up.
The party is set to kick off at 12.30 Saturday, so running out of time – more posts as the preparations continue.
Our two special home made ice creams.
For the vegetarians – we made a very slow cooked confit of peppers, onions and leeks, added with steamed broccoli and cheddar cheese to our home made tart base. V tasty
home made vegetable pie for the vegetarians (or any body else for that matter)
The host wanted the best – so we roasted 4 rib-eyes for the parties main course. I have to say this was one of the best pieces of beef I have ever ever had. We aged it for nearly 40 days, so it was super tender. This meat comes form our normal supplier, who I think is one of the best butchers in the UK. Graham Batchelor from Batchelor’s the Butchers (3rd Generation) in Sevenoaks.
Preparing the beef feb-eye before a low, slow cooking.
We kept prepping for the party on Saturday morning including finishing our strawberry tarts the traditional way with our homemade almond short crust pastry with Creme Patissiere and fresh strawberries. We also completed our hot smoked salmon entree. We cleaned four whole sides of salmon and hot smoked over apple and oak wood then served at room temperature over crispy salad leaves. great smoky flavour but cooked..
preparing strawberry tart for the party
Another favourite was our fish pie – that went down a storm
Fish pie at front of photo – jam packed with pollock, smoked haddock, salmon, prawns and mussels
Our home made burger buns fresh from the oven
We think this is the best burger bun in the world – why? because we make it ourselves. We spent months trying to find the perfect burger bun, but keep being disappointed. Believe it or not there is quite a lot of science involved in getting just the right bun. Firstly it has to be tough enough to handle a super heated 8 oz piece of pure beef, it has to soak up meat, cheese and bacon juices with out disintegrating and it has to have a warm doughy interior for taste and “mouth feel” We finally decided, after talking to friends in the US, that we would try a burger bun made out of “soft pretzel dough” This is a wonderful dough – but to make it into a bun takes a lot of work because just like a bagel, this bun is simmered in water for 60 seconds before it’s popped in the oven for a further 20 minutes. The genius behind this way of cooking is that the outside of the bun becomes firm, but pliable – in other words it doesn’t break up and the inside is still delightfully bready and rich and soft. So finally we have found our perfect burger bun and we hope you enjoy it next time you come and see us. The next set of pictures show how we made our first small test batch.
Forming the dough into small balls before the second rising.
Arty shot of me forming buns.
uncooked bun dough then goes into a pan of simmering water for 30 seconds on each side.
rolls being poached, see how much they puff up
Poached buns are lifted from the water and glazed with an egg and milk mixture.
The rolls are then sliced into a cross cut, because the outside of the roll is now cooked and has killed the yeast, but the inside is still raw and needs to expand rapidly once it gets in the oven – these slits allow the expansion without the roll exploding .
The end result and they were soft and doughy inside. Fantastic
After all the work the picnic was a great success. The client was delighted and a steady stream of their friends dropped in for a chat and bite.
A tasty picnic of light bites. From Left to right – A cheese board with grapes, home made sausage rolls, a salad of roasted red peppers, olives, feta and pesto – a galantine of guinea fowl, quail eggs with celery salt fresh heritage tomatoes, potato salad. Dessert (not on the table) fudgy chocolate brownies, fresh strawberries and cream
A delightful setting at the Penshurst point to point.
Galantine, sliced and ready to consume. You can see the darker duck breast meat in the middle of the galantine
Another picnic favourite – a bowl of quail eggs. Pick one out and dip lightly in celery salt – it doesn’t get much better. All shelled and ready to be packed in our huge hamper. We had to try a few of course – and they are fantastic
Quail eggs in a bowl of water cress – a great picnic favourite.
Making one of signature American style pies. This one is a Key Lime pie with the lovely freshness of lime and the sweetness of piled high meringue. All real winner on the Deli Truck and it usually sells out in minutes.
After making a butter and biscuit base, then we make a loose custard of lime juice, lime zest, eggs yolks, condensed milk is poured into the biscuit case. And then the piping begins
Still piping
Finished and ready for a short oven bake at around 180 degrees for 35 minutes
The Deli Truck 