Wednesday, February 29, 2012

FOOD!

Just a quick update, as I have started another cheese, today I'm trying to make a Chevre. At the moment it's sitting in the cupboard for another 2 hours before I can see whether it has properly set.

A couple of pics of my last exploits:
the waxed Havarti. Which is now down to its last quarter!
I had some yesterday, at 14 days old, and it was quite yummy!!



And for a birthday lunch for my hubby I had done one of our ducks.
Goodness what an ordeal!! 
And yes, that's my epilady, used to get the last of the downy feathers out! 
As a reference: the carcass weighed 1kg exactly, and was enough for the four of us: the kids enjoyed the legs and we feasted on the breast. I had made a stuffing of 2 onions, 1 apple, 4 rasher of streaky bacon cut into 1cm bits and added some Thyme. I had also covered the breast and top of the bird with bacon rashers and cooked it like a chicken for about 1 1/4 hours in a covered dish. it was stunningly moist, 5 more minutes and it would have been dry! As side dishes I made Spaetzle with crispy bacon bits ( yes it's a theme) and poached pears in spicy red wine. And a gravy made from the duck juices and the pear liquid!
As everybody enjoyed and finished their meal I'm particularly pleased with this effort.






Monday, February 13, 2012

Cheese today!

Actually yesterday. I started making a Havarti cheese. While I wait for it to dry before I can apply the wax I had cut it into quarters. This way I can test it throughout the weeks and find out which time frame works best for us. If it doesn't go off of course in the process!
And here are the quarters, I'll add more pics once it's waxed!