Having had a success with Michael Ruhlman’s homemade bacon recipe we decided to buy his book Charcuterie and start curing, drying and pickling at home. This is a “farm”, after all, we might as well try act like it. We already pickle a lot of our veggies, but will expand into fermentation and preservation. We are making bacon on a regular basis and experimenting with different cures and smoke (trying maple bacon and applewood smoking this week). But as St. Patricks Day is next month we figured we should try and make our own corned beef for corned beef and cabbage. (Before you even say it, I know that “nobody eats corned beef and cabbage in Ireland”. But, so what? Its good, their loss.) Continue reading
Monthly Archives: February 2012
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Gougeres: Cheese puffs that sound, and taste, better in French
“Gougeres” sounds better than “cheese puff”. It just does. Just as escargot sounds better than…snail. And “C’est la vie” is much, much better than “tough luck”. You get the idea. Such is the endless advantage of all things that are, or sound like they are, French.And gougeres not only sound great, they look and taste great. As you would expect from a “puff”, gougeres are light and “puffy” in texture, like a popover. But gougeres also feature extra richness and flavor from butter and cheese that makes for a special combination. The French pretty much exist to come up with this stuff. Continue reading
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Carolyn’s Maple Granola
Am I excited about granola? Really? Yes, absolutely (insert Birkenstock and Patchouli jokes here). Granola is a dish that, when done right, makes you wish you had it every day. It just needs to be good. And that means granola needs to be from a trusted source, or even better, homemade. Of course, our “trusted source” is Carolyn’s homemade granola. The boys and I are very happy that Carolyn makes this dish regularly. Carolyn’s homemade granola tastes great as breakfast, but also as a snack. We eat it out-of-hand, so the only problem is that the homemade granola does not last long. Continue reading -
Ti’ Punch: This week’s cocktail
Since we did Meyer Lemon cocktails last week, let’s make this a weekly thing. This weekend, we will be drinking Ti Punch.
One of the themes of the blog is cooking and entertaining at home. And nothing entertains (or ends the work week) like a cocktail. And right now there is a lot of fantastic and inspiring (and perhaps, overwrought) mixlogy out there. But let’s face it, much of the best mixology these days is not easy to do at home. That does not mean we cannot drink great cocktails, we just need to focus on drinks that use ingredients we actually can find and don’t break the bank. The easiest way to make great cocktails at home is to use fresh juices. Last week it was Meyer Lemons. This week it is limes. And Ti’ Punch shows just how much you can do with a fresh ingredient and a good recipe. Continue reading
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Just OK, Fail, Epic Fail
While I am having a great, great time writing this blog and cooking for family and friends, it is also a bit of an education. And it is sometimes humbling. Part of my goal is to expand my cooking skills and overall understanding of how good dishes are made. It is easy to cook the same ten dishes all the time, it gets harder when we try new things. This means living with failure, sometimes epic, failure. Continue reading
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Daffodil, O’ Daffodillo…



