I'm Back!
I'm back! I'm not dead! I've just had a break from posting for a while. To tell the truth, none of my experimental/test cures have gone right for the last couple of months and my health's not been 100% either.
I've written before about the Garlic Sausage and Cider Ham that went wrong. I made another Cider Ham using an immersion, rather than an injected, cure. Cured and cooked, it looked good; things were going along just fine. However, unbeknownst to me, my daughter had twigged the electricity breaker when making coffee. The breaker had been reset, but my curing fridge hadn't. Doh! This picture of some cooked beef that was also in the fridge at the time, shows the problem:
I also made a modern version of a Victorian spiced beef recipe, said to originate from Melton Mowbray. As you can see from this picture, it wasn't a resounding success (although it tasted great!):
I'll certainly persevere with both the cider ham, and the spiced beef. I'll have another go at both when we've got Christmas out of the way.
Looking back over the six weeks since I last posted, we've done very little by way of cookery. I guess, because we've both had rotten colds, we've stuck to 'comfort foods' and easy meals. Things like:
A cheat's tomato soup, made with passata and tomato juice:
Casseroles:
Veggie soup:
...and good old steak pie:
The only unusual thing I've cooked with is some salsify that Bob grew:
It's a root veg that some say has an asparagus taste. I can't get the asparagus taste, but it's nutty and good enough to serve at the centre of a recipe such as in a salsify salad.
Daughter Hannah's still cake-making. She made this cake along with her partner, Alex, who made the icing granny:
Yesterday, we had a trip to the local wholesalers. We got a good deal on a side of salmon and, against my better judgement, some pork. Neither are local. The salmon couldn't be even if I wanted it to as we're about as far from the sea as you can get in this country! The pork is from the UK and is actually better that it looked when it was in its vacuum packs. However, I still prefer pork from local pigs bought direct from the abattoir. The salmon's salting prior to smoking:
The pork leg's been injected to make Pauline's Ham. I'm trying a way of making it that uses a lot less brine, hopefully it'll work out OK:
I'm also making 4 kilograms of of my favourite Dry Cured bacon. I guess I should have took some photos as I was processing it. How 'real bloggers' manage to do this when they're up to the neck in meat and cure eludes me. It would sure be more interesting to look at than this though:
You have been busy.
Selwyn (my sourdough starter from Phil) is growing apace! I shall be able to make some sourdough bread for Christmas.