The Millwall Bone Digester

Pressure cookers and a ‘footy’ stock. Words by Jack, recipe by Angelos, illustration by Lena.

For the football fans among us, the ‘Millwall Bone Digester’ sounds more like a pseudonym for a hooligan than the brand name of a pressure cooker. Yet here it is - ‘The “Millwall” Pressure Cooker and Bone Digester’ - as marketed in a pamphlet of ‘Butcher’s Requisites’ published by the popular mid-century meat industry supplier G Rushrookes of Smithfield. It has a suitably thuggish aesthetic, living up to its name.

Before pressure cookers became common household appliances, they were used to break down the structure of animal bones ready for use as fertilizer. According to the Rushbrookes catalogue, the ‘Millwall’ model took ‘only 1 to 3 hours’ to render a basket full of bones ‘soft enough to be ground by an ordinary mincer.’ Such technology dates back to the seventeenth century when French engineer Denis Papin developed his ‘digester or engine for the softening of bones’ - both an important step towards the invention of the industrial steam engine and a precursor to the Instant Pot. As well as producing bonemeal for fertiliser, Papin experimented in making ‘Gellys’ for consumption by sailors on long journeys at sea - ‘one pound of Beef-bones might afford two pounds of Gelly.’

The naming of the ‘millwall’ bone digester most likely has nothing to do with football - it seems probable this was a reference to the factory where the model was produced - but pressure cookers and their meaty stocks certainly do. Bovril - a brand of beef extract dating back to the nineteenth century - is still sold at football stadiums across Britain. The company is the ‘official hydration partner’ of Burton Albion FC, whilst the combo of ‘pie and bovril’ is said to to be the ‘staple diet of Scottish football.’ Whilst its production relies on the utilisation of vast pressure cookers, the final product lacks the gelatinous joy of a bone broth; thin beef tea, presumably, would not hack it as Gwineth Paltrow’s liquid lunch .

My colleague Archie Davies is writing a book about the history of meat extract and recently told me about the etymology of Bovril. The ‘Bo’ is simple enough - Bovine - Cow. But the Vril? Bizarrely, this is a reference to one of the earliest science fiction books, Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race (1871). In this immensely popular (since largely forgotten) Victorian novel, the narrator discovers a subterranean super-race of humans - the ‘Vril-ya’ - after falling down a mine shaft. Their power and strength comes from a secret life-force known as ‘vril.’ The book was so popular that in 1891 a 5 day ‘Vril-ya Bazaar and Fete’ was held at the Royal Albert Hall with ‘fortune telling dogs’ and booths selling cups of Bovril. This dubious colonial sci-fi novel, then, was used to market meat extract - a product that had been almost entirely expunged of meat’s nutritional value - as a source of strength and power. Vril yah.

Whilst Bovril remains a staple, the culinary offerings at football stadiums tend to be more varied these days. In a recent radio documentary Jimi Famuwera explores the changing food culture of football across Britain. Under the ownership of green energy tycoon Dale Vince, Gloucestershire’s Forest Green Rovers have gone fully vegan, inciting chants of ‘Meat! Meat! Meat!’ from visiting fans. In South London, meanwhile, fans of the Dulwich Hamlets have been known to chant the name of their favourite food stall, ‘Come and Go Souvlaki.’

Come and Go

Come and Go

We come to Dulwich

Just to eat Souvlaki

Here’s a pressure cooker recipe worth chanting about. Lentils and chorizo in a thick trotter stock. A ‘footy’ stock if ever there was one. In the words of Delia Smith, ‘let’s be havin’ you!’

Pressure Cooker Trotter Stock (& a recipe to use it in)

This trotter stock follows the classic St. John “Trotter Gear” recipe minus the booze; the whole process is sped up with the use of a pressure cooker, but feel free to just braise the trotters for about 3 hours or until they’re soft and wobbly.

3 trotters, scrubbed clean and shaved/blowtorched of any hair (get between those toes)

1 large onion, quartered

2 medium carrots, peeled and halved through the core

2 ribs celery, roughly chopped

1 tbsp peppercorns (black and/or white)

A small bunch thyme and a couple of bay leaves

2 litres chicken stock, or just water

1. Place everything into the pressure cooker, close the lid, then bring it to maximum pressure over high heat. Lower the heat and maintain max pressure for 40 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow it to decompress naturally.

2. Remove the trotters from the stock and strain the liquid into a clean storage container, discarding the vegetables and spices. When cool enough to handle (but still warm), pick all the meat, fat, and skin off the trotters, discarding any bones and cartilage. Roughly chop the trotters (as fine or chunky as you like), then mix them into the stock and chill. This can now be used immediately or portioned and frozen for future use.

The possibilities of this very quick trotter stock are endless. Such as..

A brief recipe for Lentils, Trotters, & Braised Chorizo

Slice an onion and half a carrot, then fry in plenty of olive oil until just beginning to colour. Add in 3 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced, and fry for about 30 seconds until just about to colour. Season with salt, pepper, and sweet and/or smoked paprika. Cook briefly, then deglaze with armagnac. Add in about 250g of baby cooking chorizo, a 700g jar of pardina lentils and their brine, and enough trotter stock to cover everything by 2 fingers. You can nestle in a bouquet of thyme.

Simmer on an open fire (or just in your kitchen if you must) until the liquid has reduced, mixing often. You are looking for enough liquid to coat everything, but not a soup. Remove from the heat and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Check for seasoning. Serve alongside crusty bread, a dollop of goat’s yoghurt, and a vinegary green leaf salad.

Kitchen Scraps:

• ‘Pressure Caramelisation: Wet Maillard Reactions’ - used in the right way, the high temperature inside a pressure cooker can caramelise food without frying or drying.

• A useful video on how a pressure cooker actually works

• And an incredibly strange video recipe for pressure cooked bananas…