Who’s for a sizzling slice of errr... watermelon
Forget burgers on your BBQ this weekend. There’s an unlikely new meat alternative — and ROSE PRINCE says it’s the sweetest recipe for success
Surely of all the foods you’d imagine that could never successfully replace meat, watermelon would have to be at the top of the list. The first choice for a thirst-quenching snack on blisteringly hot days, this watery, sweet, vivid pink fruit is synonymous with summer holidays.
Cooked, it would surely disintegrate. If we were then told that not only can watermelon grill like a piece of fish or meat, and taste like those cuts, it would be fine to suspend belief. I’d never have believed it — until I tried.
yet, in the past few days I have discovered grilled watermelon, marinated and fried watermelon and even a somewhat fantastical watermelon ham. It’s all part of the quest to find meat alternatives fuelled by the growing popularity of veganism. It’s an evolving area of the catering industry.
The cult of watermelon butchery began in the u.S. Seeking a satisfying, plant-based meat alternative, a well-loved grill restaurant, Ducks eatery in New york, hit upon the idea that by removing the water from a peeled watermelon via a salt bath — just as you do side of pork for bacon — the flesh could sustain high temperature cooking. Meanwhile, london chain Island Poké has found a means to mimic its famed raw tuna Hawaiian dish using baked watermelon.
But while they look the part, do watermelon ham and tuna taste convincing? I couldn’t wait to put them to the test, along with my version of watermelon steak. It turns out this unsurprising fruit can produce most surprising results.
WATERMELON HAM
THIS is a simple recipe but it takes three days to prepare. For the first two, the watermelon sits in a salty, seasoned brine. Then it is hot smoked for eight hours before the roasting stage. If you do not have a smoker, you can smoke the ‘ham’ in a barbecue with a lid, over a flame of burning oak wood sawdust. SERVES 4-6 1 x 2kg watermelon, preferably seedless 2 large rosemary sprigs 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil FOR THE BRINE: 250g coarse sea salt Water 1 tbsp ground coriander seed 2 tbsp dried oregano 1 tbsp sifted oak or hardwood ash (barbecue leftover ash is fine) FIrST, cut the skin from the watermelon, removing the white layer and leaving only the red flesh. Place the watermelon in a cool box or large plastic container.
Next, dissolve the salt in 500ml hot water, allow to cool then add it to the container with the coriander, oregano and ash. Add enough water to cover the melon, weighing it down with a can of vegetables/baked beans to submerge it.
As the melon cures in the brine, water is drawn out of it and, partly due to the ash, it forms a skin. leave the melon to cure like this for two days. remove the melon from the brine (which is then discarded) then place on a rack. leave it to dry for two hours. Place the rack in a smoker or barbecue smoker (see online videos for home-smoking methods and smoke the cured melon for eight hours at 100-120c).
Finally, preheat your oven to 180c. remove from the smoker and pat dry with kitchen paper, then place the melon in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and, when it sizzles, baste the ‘ham’ a few times.
Scatter the rosemary on top then place in the oven and roast for one hour. The melon ham should soften and be browned all over, and very fragrant. Slice and eat hot. VERDICT: Magnificent as the roasted ‘ham’ appeared, the steaming slices have a very challenging texture for a meat eater. I also find it disconcerting that vegans, while committed to eating only plants, seem drawn to replacements that gorily ‘ooze’.
Watermelon ‘meat’ bleeds like the proverbial hog, and the flesh of the roasted ham is deeply rare. It’s also quite gelatinous and not comparable to anything else I’ve eaten. The smoke flavour was good, the skin was aromatic but I found the inner flesh very weird indeed.
Vegans more used to meat alternatives may feel differently, however. RATING: 3/5
WATERMELON TUNA
loNDoN restaurant chain Island Poké has created a speedy-tocook watermelon ‘tuna’ that can be used in a fleshfree version of its poké. This healthy Hawaiian-Japanese inspired dish is normally made up of marinated raw fish, usually yellow fin tuna, fresh salsa and various toppings including seaweed, green spring onion and chilli. SERVES 4 2 thick slices of watermelon, cut in half with skin trimmed off FOR THE MARINADE: 6 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp sesame oil 1 spring onion, green
leaves, chopped 1cm piece of ginger, sliced WATerMeloN tuna could not be more simple. Put the watermelon slices in a shallow dish, add all the marinade ingredients and leave for two hours. Turn the slices now and again, then remove from the dish and pat dry with kitchen paper.
About half an hour before you plan to serve, heat some oil in a non-stick frying pan then fry watermelon slices over a high heat, cooking for three mins either side — or brush with oil and grill on the barbecue. Turn slices — they should be caramelised — then cook for another three mins. remove from the heat and allow them to cool. FOR THE SALSA: ½ pineapple, skin removed and cut into small dice 1 spring onion, chopped 2cm piece of ginger, very
thinly sliced 1 hot red chilli, chopped
1 shallot, chopped 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander Juice of two limes Sea salt 250g sushi rice 330ml water 2 tbsp mirin 100g dried dulse (seaweed) Oil for frying TO SERVE: 1 shallot, finely sliced then fried until crisp Toasted sesame seeds Fresh green chilli, sliced Fresh coriander leaves 30g nori (crisp seaweed) chopped into ribbons While the watermelon is marinating as above, prepare the rice: Wash the rice in a sieve under the tap until the water runs nearly clear. Tip the drained rice into a pan and add the 330ml water. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and then simmer for exactly 10 minutes.
Turn off heat and leave for 20 min while still covered. Spread rice out onto a plate, pour over the mirin, mix with your hands then cover with clingfilm and allow to cool.
At this point sear your watermelon, and as that cools mix together all the pineapple salsa ingredients, then season with salt to taste. Soak the dried seaweed in cold water then drain and pat dry. Place this in one corner of the serving dish.
To assemble poké, slice the watermelon ‘tuna’ and transfer it to serving dish with the seaweed.
Spoon the pineapple salsa on to the dish beside it, then slide the rice from the plate — it should be stuck together like a cake — onto the dish. Finally scatter over the extra chilli, coriander, crisp shallot, toasted sesame seeds and nori ribbons. VERDICT: Success on the bounty! The marinade of sesame oil and soy transformed the melon into something that not only copied the flavour and texture of raw tuna, it made the prettiest bowl of food i have seen in a long time. With the rice and seeds for extra nutrition, plus other veg for benefit, this is something healthy to get the kids hooked on as soon as possible. RATING: 4½/5
ALE-BASTED GRILLED WATERMELON STEAK
This recipe is the simplest watermelon technique of all, but one which — to my amazement, — still works delightfully well. SERVES 2 2 thick slices of watermelon, skins removed Oil for frying 4 tbsp/60ml ale 4 tbsp barbecue sauce TO SERVE: Green salad leaves Dijon mustard PAT the watermelon slices dry with kitchen paper then put on a plate and place in the refrigerator for two hours to dry further.
heat a heavy-based frying pan and add 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil. Add the watermelon steaks, then add the beer which will bubble around them.
Brush watermelon steaks with the barbecue sauce and turn them. Cook for one min and turn them again.
Repeat process until steaks are caramelised and coloured. Serve with salad, and the French mustard. Fries on the side would be good. VERDICT: At first, these caramelised steaks seemed pointless. it was impossible to escape the fact that they are watermelon.
Then i added mustard and they suddenly made sense. The heat of the mustard with glossy, sweet, grilled ‘beef’ show what an extraordinarily versatile fruit a watermelon is. RATING: 4/5