Whether it is for turkey on Thanksgiving or Christmas, a roasted chicken or a crock pot beef roast for Sunday dinner there is nothing better than homemade gravy made from the giblets, drippings or the au jus. The problem is that many of us do not own a fat separator and if we do, because …
Techniques
Nov 03
Pesto Presto – Pesto Genovese
Way before modern Italy, the Romans were making a type of sauce called ‘moretum’ that was made using a mortar from which the name is derived. Moretum was usually made with herbs, oil, salt, vinegar, occasionally and eaten spread on bread. Compare this to modern day pesto which is usually made from basil, pine nuts, …
Oct 28
Bread from potatoes? – A new sourdough starter
I go through phases of making sourdough, and yes I admit it here, that sometimes, I have allowed my sourdough pet to die. I am a bad sourdough parent. Keeping a sourdough pet isn’t difficult and it is far easier than looking after a dog or a cat, since you only have to feed it …
Oct 26
Oh la la Brioche
Brioche is a strange bread. It is somewhere between a cake, pastry and bread. In France it is often eaten for breakfast with just butter and/or jam, but it is also very good lightly toasted with butter as afternoon tea, as a basis for desserts, savoury dishes such as Cervelas Lyonnais en Brioche or coulibiac, …
Oct 23
Be Your Own Butcher, How to Cut and Package a Rib Eye Steak Primal
In my opinion, a Rib Eye is the best steak. Sure, there are more than a couple dozen of cuts of beef available from the nine to thirteen primary cuts (primal) in the United States and Canada with a new cut of beef being marketed every few years; i.e. Flat Iron Steak. However, when I …