This one is all about CHILLIES.
I'm a big fan of spicy food; not that raw heat that brings tears and pain, but a wonderful warm heat that courses through your mouth and makes the tips of your fingers tingle (and may bring a few beads of sweat to your forehead). Whether it's spicy sauce, chilli seasoning, jerk chicken, scotch bonnets sliced and diced into dishes, I love it! Making hot sauce is definitely something I would like to perfect; to create a small range of really delicious hot sauces that can complement any sort of food, ranging from a sweet, sticky chilli sauce to a super hot condiment.
Big surprise... I bought a book on hot sauce! FYI: I probably love books just as much as I love food and gardening. So, this book, aptly entitled Hot Sauce! by Jennifer Trainer, and it contains information about types of chillies, types of chilli sauces, recipes for chilli sauces and also recipes in which to use the chilli sauces you have made. Brilliantly compact with lots of great pictures, it's a great book to set me on my way of Chilli Sauce Experimentation.
Last year I grew chillies for the first time. Some I grew from seeds and some I bought as young plants from the local gardening centre. I grew Serrano, Cayenne and Jalapeno from seed, which were very successful on growth but not so much the flowering, and then I bought some Apache chilli plants which were covered in peppers.
Chillies demand a little bit more effort than I had presumed, and unfortunately, mine weren't half as productive as they could have been had I done a little bit of reading around the matter and really put some effort in. So, with the aid of my countless gardening books, I have read up on what it is that I need to do to ensure that my 2014 chilli babies are more fruitful than last year's.
I will be growing:
Bulgarian Carrot
Cayenne
Jalapeno
Padron
Paper Lantern
Serrano
They range from hot to super hot (not in the order I've listed them, that's alphabetical - I don't like lists that aren't alphabetical). Cayenne, serrano and jalapeno are the hot ones, and bulgarian carrot, padron and paper lantern are the super hot ones. Well, they say super hot on the seed packet and I can only trust what the label says. I bought them from my local family run gardening centre in Pontarddulais and they have one of the best vegetable seed ranges there. Always a happy customer!
With regards to chilli sauces, I think I will use a lot of this year's crop of chillies (providing it all doesn't go horribly wrong!) experimenting on sauces, and what I'd like my signature sauces to taste like. I want them to be unique, to have something different to the supermarket mass-produced stuff. Once I have developed my recipes and worked on my techniques, then I will spend next year making several dozen bottles of Oscar's chilli sauce range.
I have so many ideas that I want to bring to reality, so many products that I have written down and recipes to develop to bring into the Oscar's Kitchen range. But I believe it is of utmost importance to spend the time developing any individual product or range to ensure that it is perfect for the customers. These things take time, and I must be patient. There are just so many delicious things to make for you all to enjoy!
As per usual, I will let you know how it goes, with pictures of my plants.
Wishing you are all well,
Ruth and Oscar
p.s. if anyone who is reading this lives local to Hendy/Pontardulais and would like to be a chilli sauce tester in the summer, please get in touch and come and help me create some magic in the kitchen. I will not accept liability to any face melting though. Obviously.
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Events in March
Good evening all,
This weekend I was taken to Llansantffraed Court (just outside Abergavenny) for a two day break for my birthday. I'd never spent any time in that part of Wales before, apart from driving through Monmouth to avoid the Severn Bridge and its ridiculous toll price! It was such a beautiful place, everything was so green and scenic and quiet. We arrived on the Friday afternoon, had the full intention of going for a walk around its expansive garden but the rain came in so we were forced to stay in our room, drink Earl Grey and watch Pointless. In the evening we went to the hotel restaurant and had the 7-course taster menu: canapes with a drink at the bar and then an amuse-bouche of quails egg, sweetcorn and bacon; fish course of halibut and a trio of artichokes; pigeon; venison; almond panacotta with plums; and finally, my dessert nemesis, chocolate pudding. When I was younger, and a lot less aware of sensible sized portions, I ate 8 chocolate fondant puddings in a row. Needless to say I was violently ill and hadn't touched one since. Until Saturday that is. Fortunately, it was only a small pudding and the whole things was doused in rum so I was relatively unaware of the decadent horror lurking beneath the cream.
The following day we went into Abergavenny to have a wander; apart from the delicious coffee was had (in a chain coffee bar as well) and a trip to a wonderful little delicatessen, Abergavenny wasn't at all how I had envisaged. Perhaps it was the rain and cold weather that made it seem glum, or January blues. It does have a great food festival in September, so I will make sure that I go up for that.
January has been wonderfully quiet; I've enjoyed catching up with friends and family (and sleep!) but now I'm starting to get back into the roll of working. I have two events in March which will require a lot of stock and so I must start cooking next month.
My first event is in Castle Gardens in Swansea on March 1st - it's called Get Welsh, and its a food produce and craft day in Swansea city centre for St. David's day. Myself and some other ladies from our craft shop will be attending and displaying our various gifts and produce throughout the day. There is also entertainment throughout the day, so I imagine it will be quite lively!
My second event is a very exciting one. Swansea Rural Action, a local action group which focuses on rural development, are holding a Producers' Showcase Event in Parc Le Breos in Gower which will allow all the local food procuers to go and show their produce, crafts and whatnot to B&B's, hotels, local food establishments and tourism boards in order to promote local produce and crafts. Its on March 4th from 10am-4pm and Oscar's Kitchen will be attending. Although it is not a selling event, it will hopefully bring hundreds of people who appreciate and know the importance of local and handmade produce. I will be displaying gift boxes, hampers, wedding favours and hospitality size 1/2oz jars, perfect for breakfast and afternoon tea, along with a few of my most popular individual jars, such as the Caramelised Red Onion chutney and my Roast Garlic, Shallot and Balsamic chutney.
I have lots of cooking, labelling and packing to do, and many many pictures to be taken which will be put on this blog shortly afterwards.
Ruth x
This weekend I was taken to Llansantffraed Court (just outside Abergavenny) for a two day break for my birthday. I'd never spent any time in that part of Wales before, apart from driving through Monmouth to avoid the Severn Bridge and its ridiculous toll price! It was such a beautiful place, everything was so green and scenic and quiet. We arrived on the Friday afternoon, had the full intention of going for a walk around its expansive garden but the rain came in so we were forced to stay in our room, drink Earl Grey and watch Pointless. In the evening we went to the hotel restaurant and had the 7-course taster menu: canapes with a drink at the bar and then an amuse-bouche of quails egg, sweetcorn and bacon; fish course of halibut and a trio of artichokes; pigeon; venison; almond panacotta with plums; and finally, my dessert nemesis, chocolate pudding. When I was younger, and a lot less aware of sensible sized portions, I ate 8 chocolate fondant puddings in a row. Needless to say I was violently ill and hadn't touched one since. Until Saturday that is. Fortunately, it was only a small pudding and the whole things was doused in rum so I was relatively unaware of the decadent horror lurking beneath the cream.
The following day we went into Abergavenny to have a wander; apart from the delicious coffee was had (in a chain coffee bar as well) and a trip to a wonderful little delicatessen, Abergavenny wasn't at all how I had envisaged. Perhaps it was the rain and cold weather that made it seem glum, or January blues. It does have a great food festival in September, so I will make sure that I go up for that.
January has been wonderfully quiet; I've enjoyed catching up with friends and family (and sleep!) but now I'm starting to get back into the roll of working. I have two events in March which will require a lot of stock and so I must start cooking next month.
My first event is in Castle Gardens in Swansea on March 1st - it's called Get Welsh, and its a food produce and craft day in Swansea city centre for St. David's day. Myself and some other ladies from our craft shop will be attending and displaying our various gifts and produce throughout the day. There is also entertainment throughout the day, so I imagine it will be quite lively!
My second event is a very exciting one. Swansea Rural Action, a local action group which focuses on rural development, are holding a Producers' Showcase Event in Parc Le Breos in Gower which will allow all the local food procuers to go and show their produce, crafts and whatnot to B&B's, hotels, local food establishments and tourism boards in order to promote local produce and crafts. Its on March 4th from 10am-4pm and Oscar's Kitchen will be attending. Although it is not a selling event, it will hopefully bring hundreds of people who appreciate and know the importance of local and handmade produce. I will be displaying gift boxes, hampers, wedding favours and hospitality size 1/2oz jars, perfect for breakfast and afternoon tea, along with a few of my most popular individual jars, such as the Caramelised Red Onion chutney and my Roast Garlic, Shallot and Balsamic chutney.
I have lots of cooking, labelling and packing to do, and many many pictures to be taken which will be put on this blog shortly afterwards.
Ruth x
Friday, 3 January 2014
Preparing the Garden for 2014
It's nearly time to get back in the garden, but before I start growing my summer fruits and vegetables again, there are some important things I need to get done.
1. Build new raised beds.
In the back garden, which is up some delightfully old stone steps (our house was built in 1834 so everything is very country and quaint), there are some raised beds. I have 2 larger beds which are about 2mx4m, and another two smaller brick beds which are around 2mx2m. These smaller ones are perfect for runner beans, mange tout, peas and broad beans, as they take up minimal space and, without sounding like much of a garden tart, the colour of the flowers against the red brick of the bed looks really rustic.
* I should tell you know, I am completely and utterly in love with my garden, and will continuously sing its praises and tell you how beautiful it is because quite frankly, I am a garden nerd.
One of my larger raised beds contained courgettes, pumpkins and squash last year, while the other had a continuous crop of beetroot and turnips. This year, I will grow a smaller amount of turnips elsewhere, and use a whole raised bed for my beetroot, as my Beetroot Chutney could not be made quick enough and I was always sold out. This year, I will have twice the amount of beetroot and twice the amount of my delicious chutney.
My plan is to build another two large plots in the back garden. Oh, and just to clarify, when I say "I build" or "I do", this usually means that I draw the picture or vaguely describe what I want, and my wonderfully handy father alters my crayon-scribbed doodles into something logical and then builds it.
This is what I'll be growing:
Courgettes - I'm going to limit myself to one variety of green courgette. Last year I tried about 4 different varieties, which were unique and beautiful on the plant, but in a pan of bubbling chutney it all looked the same and was relatively pointless. I need a good cropper, not something to enter in a vegetable beauty pageant.
Pumpkin - growing pumpkins is like wearing make-up; less is more. Last year I over crowded my pumpkin patch with too many plants expecting a bumper crop. Alas, I had fewer pumpkins and they weren't the giants I was hoping for. The ones I did have were gorgeous, and I made some beautiful Pumpkin Jam with citrus juices and ginger. Although most people grimaced when they asked what the bright orange jam was, after a taste, every single person bought a jar. Sold out within a week! Fantastic! This year, I need more pumpkins to make more delicious jam.
Squash - the squash was for personal use. I grew two varieties; butternut squash and Patty Pan, which is white with a scalloped edge. Very pretty, and very delicious. I'd never tried a squash that wasn't Butternut, so this was a very tasty new experience. I found its flesh to be more like marrow but the flesh was really milky and soft. I will definitely be growing this again.
In the other patch I will grow:
Beetroot: more than you could shake a stick at. By sowing a new line of beetroot every 2 weeks, I should have a relatively continuous crop that will meet the demands of my Beetroot Chutney lovers.
In my third final patch, I will grow:
Haven't a clue. I need to make a strawberry bed as my ones last year were in hanging baskets (read it in a blog that it worked well), but they failed miserably as they were up high and I forgot to water them as much as I should have. Perhaps I will put the remaining strawberry plants I have in this larger plot, and then after this years' crop I can plant the runners and start a little strawberry nursery. And build a white picked fence around the edge. Too cute.
2. Add compost/manure to the soil and cover with black plastic
Before I start putting anything in the ground, I need to prepare the soil. For this, I want horse poo and perhaps some chicken poo. I'll mulch it into the ground and then cover it with black plastic for the manure to rot down into the earth, and for the soil to heat up for the spring when I start transplanting little plants I've loved and nurtured, and sowing beetroot seeds.
Outside my french doors to my house I have a little gravel patch where I keep a dozen or so large pots and a few wooden boxes where I grow salad leaves, tomatoes, physallis (of all things...) and a few other things for my own use. There is also a larger space which I dug up last year, removing thousands, literally thousands, or bluebell bulbs, which is singlehandedly one of the most frustrating activities in the world. Perhaps this is an idea for capital punishment? Discuss.
Anyway, in this larger plot that I dug up I planted several raspberry canes, gooseberry bushes, tayberry bushes (which did nothing else apart from creep and sulk) and redcurrants, blackcurrants and a single whitecurrant bush. I'm not exactly sure what to do with the soil for these, so if any of you keen gardeners out there know a thing or two about fruit growing, I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know what it is that I can should do to ensure a lovely big healthy crop of summer fruits. Thank you in advance.
3. Clean the greenhouses and pots
All of these are filthy from debris and muck that the wonderful Welsh windy winter has thrown around for the past few weeks. I'll hose them down, rid them of any muck and yuck. I also have another little plastic greenhouse to build (it'll be second of this type) and they're around 6ft tall, 4ft wide and perhaps 3ft deep? Measurements are not my forte, but they have 3 shelves either side. Which, incidentally and rather superbly, fit a clear plastic storage box. I took the rack shelving off as these were unstable, and their instability was making me unstable as whenever they fell off they took some of my baby plants with them, and in their stead, I placed in a 40L plastic storage box, which not only safely holds around 20 5" growing pots, but also keeps them that little warmer. It was a complete fluke that they fitted, but a marvellous one none the less. I keep my chillies in these plastic boxes, and they love the extra heat the boxes bring.
Anyway, I have another one of these mini-plastic greenhouses to put up, which will contain 6 boxes of chillies during the summer. Perfect!
4. Buy the seeds for the year
I started doing this last night. Buying seeds from garden centres and DIY stores can be very expensive, and I found last year that I was buying seeds from these stores almost every week which was quite silly as I'd bought quite a few seeds from an online shop. This year, to save my pennies, I will be buying ALL of my seeds online. The ones I bought last year turned out really well, almost every seed I planted germinated and grew into huge plants. My tomatoes grew to be 7ft tall, and these were situated outdoors against the south facing wall of my house. Providing we have another good summer, I will definitely be using that wall again, whether its for tomatoes or something else.
So, I have started deciding what seeds to buy, as I made a list of the produce from last year which grew well and was well used. Which costs a fraction of the price.
5. Attract some allies for my never-ending war on slugs
This is what I would like to happen: I stand in the middle of my garden, shout "ASSEMBLE", and birds, badgers, frogs, a deer and a fox come racing to me and rinse my garden of slugs. However, this is not an ideal world and that won't happen. Instead, I will put some bird boxes up the back and build some mini-ponds. These are little ponds made in large garden pots, and just need some rocks, black plastic and some flowers. Apparently, and I read this on another blog, they attract frogs pretty quickly, and frogs like slugs like I love lemon drizzle cake.
My brother and sister-in-law bought me a fantastic little read for Christmas, titles "50 ways to kill a slug". I don't physically want to kill slugs, and I think pouring salt on them is utterly disgusting and torturous, so I'd rather bully them out of my garden or attract animals to eat them. Fortunately, my new book suggest lost of homemade ways to keep them out of your garden, rather than cutting them in half with the garden scissors.
I have so much work to do, I really should be doing all of this rather than writing a blog about it.
I'm going to put the kettle on and have a cuppa,
Ruth and Oscar
x
1. Build new raised beds.
In the back garden, which is up some delightfully old stone steps (our house was built in 1834 so everything is very country and quaint), there are some raised beds. I have 2 larger beds which are about 2mx4m, and another two smaller brick beds which are around 2mx2m. These smaller ones are perfect for runner beans, mange tout, peas and broad beans, as they take up minimal space and, without sounding like much of a garden tart, the colour of the flowers against the red brick of the bed looks really rustic.
* I should tell you know, I am completely and utterly in love with my garden, and will continuously sing its praises and tell you how beautiful it is because quite frankly, I am a garden nerd.
One of my larger raised beds contained courgettes, pumpkins and squash last year, while the other had a continuous crop of beetroot and turnips. This year, I will grow a smaller amount of turnips elsewhere, and use a whole raised bed for my beetroot, as my Beetroot Chutney could not be made quick enough and I was always sold out. This year, I will have twice the amount of beetroot and twice the amount of my delicious chutney.
My plan is to build another two large plots in the back garden. Oh, and just to clarify, when I say "I build" or "I do", this usually means that I draw the picture or vaguely describe what I want, and my wonderfully handy father alters my crayon-scribbed doodles into something logical and then builds it.
This is what I'll be growing:
Courgettes - I'm going to limit myself to one variety of green courgette. Last year I tried about 4 different varieties, which were unique and beautiful on the plant, but in a pan of bubbling chutney it all looked the same and was relatively pointless. I need a good cropper, not something to enter in a vegetable beauty pageant.
Pumpkin - growing pumpkins is like wearing make-up; less is more. Last year I over crowded my pumpkin patch with too many plants expecting a bumper crop. Alas, I had fewer pumpkins and they weren't the giants I was hoping for. The ones I did have were gorgeous, and I made some beautiful Pumpkin Jam with citrus juices and ginger. Although most people grimaced when they asked what the bright orange jam was, after a taste, every single person bought a jar. Sold out within a week! Fantastic! This year, I need more pumpkins to make more delicious jam.
Squash - the squash was for personal use. I grew two varieties; butternut squash and Patty Pan, which is white with a scalloped edge. Very pretty, and very delicious. I'd never tried a squash that wasn't Butternut, so this was a very tasty new experience. I found its flesh to be more like marrow but the flesh was really milky and soft. I will definitely be growing this again.
In the other patch I will grow:
Beetroot: more than you could shake a stick at. By sowing a new line of beetroot every 2 weeks, I should have a relatively continuous crop that will meet the demands of my Beetroot Chutney lovers.
In my third final patch, I will grow:
Haven't a clue. I need to make a strawberry bed as my ones last year were in hanging baskets (read it in a blog that it worked well), but they failed miserably as they were up high and I forgot to water them as much as I should have. Perhaps I will put the remaining strawberry plants I have in this larger plot, and then after this years' crop I can plant the runners and start a little strawberry nursery. And build a white picked fence around the edge. Too cute.
2. Add compost/manure to the soil and cover with black plastic
Before I start putting anything in the ground, I need to prepare the soil. For this, I want horse poo and perhaps some chicken poo. I'll mulch it into the ground and then cover it with black plastic for the manure to rot down into the earth, and for the soil to heat up for the spring when I start transplanting little plants I've loved and nurtured, and sowing beetroot seeds.
Outside my french doors to my house I have a little gravel patch where I keep a dozen or so large pots and a few wooden boxes where I grow salad leaves, tomatoes, physallis (of all things...) and a few other things for my own use. There is also a larger space which I dug up last year, removing thousands, literally thousands, or bluebell bulbs, which is singlehandedly one of the most frustrating activities in the world. Perhaps this is an idea for capital punishment? Discuss.
Anyway, in this larger plot that I dug up I planted several raspberry canes, gooseberry bushes, tayberry bushes (which did nothing else apart from creep and sulk) and redcurrants, blackcurrants and a single whitecurrant bush. I'm not exactly sure what to do with the soil for these, so if any of you keen gardeners out there know a thing or two about fruit growing, I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know what it is that I can should do to ensure a lovely big healthy crop of summer fruits. Thank you in advance.
3. Clean the greenhouses and pots
All of these are filthy from debris and muck that the wonderful Welsh windy winter has thrown around for the past few weeks. I'll hose them down, rid them of any muck and yuck. I also have another little plastic greenhouse to build (it'll be second of this type) and they're around 6ft tall, 4ft wide and perhaps 3ft deep? Measurements are not my forte, but they have 3 shelves either side. Which, incidentally and rather superbly, fit a clear plastic storage box. I took the rack shelving off as these were unstable, and their instability was making me unstable as whenever they fell off they took some of my baby plants with them, and in their stead, I placed in a 40L plastic storage box, which not only safely holds around 20 5" growing pots, but also keeps them that little warmer. It was a complete fluke that they fitted, but a marvellous one none the less. I keep my chillies in these plastic boxes, and they love the extra heat the boxes bring.
Anyway, I have another one of these mini-plastic greenhouses to put up, which will contain 6 boxes of chillies during the summer. Perfect!
4. Buy the seeds for the year
I started doing this last night. Buying seeds from garden centres and DIY stores can be very expensive, and I found last year that I was buying seeds from these stores almost every week which was quite silly as I'd bought quite a few seeds from an online shop. This year, to save my pennies, I will be buying ALL of my seeds online. The ones I bought last year turned out really well, almost every seed I planted germinated and grew into huge plants. My tomatoes grew to be 7ft tall, and these were situated outdoors against the south facing wall of my house. Providing we have another good summer, I will definitely be using that wall again, whether its for tomatoes or something else.
So, I have started deciding what seeds to buy, as I made a list of the produce from last year which grew well and was well used. Which costs a fraction of the price.
5. Attract some allies for my never-ending war on slugs
This is what I would like to happen: I stand in the middle of my garden, shout "ASSEMBLE", and birds, badgers, frogs, a deer and a fox come racing to me and rinse my garden of slugs. However, this is not an ideal world and that won't happen. Instead, I will put some bird boxes up the back and build some mini-ponds. These are little ponds made in large garden pots, and just need some rocks, black plastic and some flowers. Apparently, and I read this on another blog, they attract frogs pretty quickly, and frogs like slugs like I love lemon drizzle cake.
My brother and sister-in-law bought me a fantastic little read for Christmas, titles "50 ways to kill a slug". I don't physically want to kill slugs, and I think pouring salt on them is utterly disgusting and torturous, so I'd rather bully them out of my garden or attract animals to eat them. Fortunately, my new book suggest lost of homemade ways to keep them out of your garden, rather than cutting them in half with the garden scissors.
I have so much work to do, I really should be doing all of this rather than writing a blog about it.
I'm going to put the kettle on and have a cuppa,
Ruth and Oscar
x
Thursday, 2 January 2014
New Year's Resolution: Start Smoking
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas-time and a brilliant new year celebration. We had a big family dinner party (myself, Ben, my brother and sister-in-law, Becky and her son, Mum, Dad and the witty grandparents) with canapes and a very nice elderflower gin and champagne cocktail, and lots of delicious food including a rib of beef which must have weighed as much as I do! Then we had dessert, cheese and port and Presecco at midnight. It was a very fun evening. On New Year's Day, we all met my aunt and uncle and their three children for lunch in a lovely restaurant in Llanddarog.
I must say, I'm having a very relaxing few weeks off after the madness that was the run up to Christmas. I'm still catching up on sleep and eating as much as I can. However, I have had some wonderful books and tools which I cannot wait to start using. One of them in particular bring a lot of excitement; a book called The Gentle Art of Preserving. My boyfriend's mother bought me this book (along with the Complete Works of Oscar Wilde) and it's full of recipes on how to cure meats, salt fish, preserve fruits and vegetables in oil, how to make alcohol (oh yes!) and how to make chutneys and jams all year round from produce that has been stored in numerous ways. One of the chapters focuses on smoking meats and fish to prolong its shelf life, but to also alter and enhance its flavour. The book, in all its ingenuity, suggests cheap ways of smoking, curing and preserving foods without spending hundreds of pounds on super-duper equipment.
After reading this book, cover to cover (twice) I have decided that I am going to start smoking. It's a simple, yet brilliant, method of preserving, and I can't wait to get started! I've bought a great big galvanised steel bin, and some wood which will add a subtle flavour to the smoked produce. The book says to smoke small pieces of fish or cheese to begin with, to get used to the smell and texture of how the product should be, so I think this afternoon will be spent experimenting with things. I will take plenty of pictures and post them later.
Another product that I am going to start making is cured meats. I've learnt from the book that some meats can be cured in the fridge, some in a cupboard (obviously a clean and empty one) and some need a curing chamber. I'm going to find an old wine fridge and give it a good clean and then use that as a curing chamber. I'm going to have to read a lot more into curing as it requires certain humidity and temperature control, and I don't want to be getting things wrong when bacteria is involved. Good thing I like reading! And food.
With smoking, different woods produces different flavours and suit different produce. This too will need some experimentation to see which flavours I prefer with which produce.
I am almost too excited about this whole thing!
I'll let you all know how it goes...
Ruth
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas-time and a brilliant new year celebration. We had a big family dinner party (myself, Ben, my brother and sister-in-law, Becky and her son, Mum, Dad and the witty grandparents) with canapes and a very nice elderflower gin and champagne cocktail, and lots of delicious food including a rib of beef which must have weighed as much as I do! Then we had dessert, cheese and port and Presecco at midnight. It was a very fun evening. On New Year's Day, we all met my aunt and uncle and their three children for lunch in a lovely restaurant in Llanddarog.
I must say, I'm having a very relaxing few weeks off after the madness that was the run up to Christmas. I'm still catching up on sleep and eating as much as I can. However, I have had some wonderful books and tools which I cannot wait to start using. One of them in particular bring a lot of excitement; a book called The Gentle Art of Preserving. My boyfriend's mother bought me this book (along with the Complete Works of Oscar Wilde) and it's full of recipes on how to cure meats, salt fish, preserve fruits and vegetables in oil, how to make alcohol (oh yes!) and how to make chutneys and jams all year round from produce that has been stored in numerous ways. One of the chapters focuses on smoking meats and fish to prolong its shelf life, but to also alter and enhance its flavour. The book, in all its ingenuity, suggests cheap ways of smoking, curing and preserving foods without spending hundreds of pounds on super-duper equipment.
After reading this book, cover to cover (twice) I have decided that I am going to start smoking. It's a simple, yet brilliant, method of preserving, and I can't wait to get started! I've bought a great big galvanised steel bin, and some wood which will add a subtle flavour to the smoked produce. The book says to smoke small pieces of fish or cheese to begin with, to get used to the smell and texture of how the product should be, so I think this afternoon will be spent experimenting with things. I will take plenty of pictures and post them later.
Another product that I am going to start making is cured meats. I've learnt from the book that some meats can be cured in the fridge, some in a cupboard (obviously a clean and empty one) and some need a curing chamber. I'm going to find an old wine fridge and give it a good clean and then use that as a curing chamber. I'm going to have to read a lot more into curing as it requires certain humidity and temperature control, and I don't want to be getting things wrong when bacteria is involved. Good thing I like reading! And food.
With smoking, different woods produces different flavours and suit different produce. This too will need some experimentation to see which flavours I prefer with which produce.
I am almost too excited about this whole thing!
I'll let you all know how it goes...
Ruth
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