Quote: knockersbumpMKII "Yeah, persistance and trial and error...I'm more critical now of my cooking than I was when I still did it for a living..lol. It's nice to hear though of someone going to a fair bit of effort. I always said I'd get a mincing attachment for the Kenwood but never did. We have one decent butcher in Hitchin the next town to me but isn't cheap by any stretch even for affluent Herts(though it's always busy) Our last real butchers in Letchworth dissapeared a few years ago, the Heritage foundation (owners of the majority of the town's land) ousted them from the indoor market (moving Argos there..grrrrr) and by charging massively high rents on the high street which effect the shopping here hugely. I found a nice butcher in Hull when visiting the folks who'd do me a nice course sausagemeat but then they packed up too. There's a few up there still dotted around and think there is a little bit of a resurgence in places.. I realise that the supermarket giants have a draw for those on more modest incomes but they have almost killed off the high street grocer/butcher..shame really. Luck with the perfect banger Get registered on this forum, a few small holders offering half/whole pigs for sale (among other surplus meats and veg) - butchered and packed. Seem a pretty helpful bunch of people too, prices for a side of pork seem to range from £90-£130 ish, and most will be outdoor reared and well looked after. I have even had an invite to see the porker before it goes to meat his maker. Need to know what breed to go for next! www.accidentalsmallholder.net/fo ... board=18.0

Quote: knockersbumpMKII "Yeah, persistance and trial and error...I'm more critical now of my cooking than I was when I still did it for a living..lol. It's nice to hear though of someone going to a fair bit of effort. I always said I'd get a mincing attachment for the Kenwood but never did. We have one decent butcher in Hitchin the next town to me but isn't cheap by any stretch even for affluent Herts(though it's always busy) Our last real butchers in Letchworth dissapeared a few years ago, the Heritage foundation (owners of the majority of the town's land) ousted them from the indoor market (moving Argos there..grrrrr) and by charging massively high rents on the high street which effect the shopping here hugely. I found a nice butcher in Hull when visiting the folks who'd do me a nice course sausagemeat but then they packed up too. There's a few up there still dotted around and think there is a little bit of a resurgence in places.. I realise that the supermarket giants have a draw for those on more modest incomes but they have almost killed off the high street grocer/butcher..shame really. Luck with the perfect banger Get registered on this forum, a few small holders offering half/whole pigs for sale (among other surplus meats and veg) - butchered and packed. Seem a pretty helpful bunch of people too, prices for a side of pork seem to range from £90-£130 ish, and most will be outdoor reared and well looked after. I have even had an invite to see the porker before it goes to meat his maker. Need to know what breed to go for next! www.accidentalsmallholder.net/fo ... board=18.0

Made a load of butter on Monday. Morrisons had a stack of double cream they were getting shut of at £0.19p per 600ml tub. I bought four and discovered that less than 10 minutes in a food processor results in about 350 grammes of butter and 200ml of buttermilk. I made one lot unsalted, two salted (using course sea salt crystals) and one garlic & herb.

I'd tried it in the past using single cream but double cream makes it all so much easier and the result is far better than the usual crap from the supermarket.

Picked up the side of pork last week, already making our way through it. Made a load of sausages and sausage meat with the trim and some of the shoulder, and had the remainder of the bone in shoulder slow roasted over Saturday night ready for Sunday dinner. The extra fat compared to even farm shop pork is huge, so much so that I am going to have to start removing some of it before cooking. The meat itself though is fantastic, we had almost no shrinkage in the slow roast shoulder compared to when I have done it before.

For £110 we got:

4 x medium leg joints
1 x huge shoulder joint
1 x small shoulder joint
1 x hock
8 x thick chops
1 x loin joint
1 x full belly
2 x trotters
small amount of ribs
bag of diced pork
bag of trim

Decided against the any of the offal.

The bacon is dry curing at the moment, the belly should be ready to come out of the salt today for drying and the back should be cured over the weekend hopefully. Think I will need to trim the rind and at least some of the fat off before cooking.

I found mine went off quickly, I don't think I got all the butter milk out of it.

Don't forget to render the fat down, that stuff is like gold

Put the fat and skin on a tray in the oven on a medium heat, the fat will render out. Bacon fat can be used for cooking, if I've got any it makes a great replacement for butter in a risotto , ordinary pork fat can be used to roast veggies or anywhere you would use lard. This may be good reading www.homegrown.org/forum/topics/b ... le-pig-101

Put the fat and skin on a tray in the oven on a medium heat, the fat will render out. Bacon fat can be used for cooking, if I've got any it makes a great replacement for butter in a risotto , ordinary pork fat can be used to roast veggies or anywhere you would use lard. This may be good reading www.homegrown.org/forum/topics/b ... le-pig-101

It's the buttermilk that turns the butter rancid mate.

I thought "washing" the butter was taking the pi[is[/is but no, once you've got the butter and buttermilk separated, get the lump of butter in a large bowl under a running cold tap and start squeezing and kneading the butter to get the buttermilk out. I was suprised at how long it took before the water was running clear. I might invest in some butter paddles (or patts) because they help to squeeze the buttermilk out too.

Yeah, I thought I'd got it all out, the buttermilk did make nice pancakes and soda bread though.

It's also a good low-fat treat to pour around my morning porridge

Went boat fising on Saturday for the first time since November and managed to bag some nice, prime Summer cod (63 between us).



If only cod fishing was like this all the time, we were a lot closer to the French coast than the English coasthttps://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10463869_801194639899569_6766883941502417585_n.jpg" >

I've got four fillets currently at the smokers (cost 40p per lb), two are in the fridge salting down for carpaccio of salt cod with capers, chillies and preserved lemon. This is what they look like nowhttps://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10354626_739027906170327_3130553666808152152_n.jpg" >

The rest of them have all been vacuum sealed and frozen down.

I roasted four of the heads this morning in shallots, garlic and chillies

Beforehttps://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10415679_739028086170309_7826939761037151018_n.jpg" >

Afterhttps://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10420246_739217706151347_5123710023076356873_n.jpg" >

What was lefthttps://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10388095_739251396147978_6096208613809661598_n.jpg" >

Last weekend I had Aliccia over to stay and she loves her fish, so I cooked a couple of turbot fillets (each weighing over 450g and I've still got another two just like 'em off the same fish), steamed in white wine with spring onions, cherry plum tomatoes, lime zest and dill and served them with pan-seared Manx Bay king scallopshttps://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10311717_735280553211729_2249962796731036909_n.jpg" >

Hang on, it was you who said they wouldn't eat cod not that long ago...

I won't eat cod bought from anywhere, I only eat cod I've caught myself. That way I know it is in prime condition and isn't full of nematodes.

I'm not interested in big (over 20lb) cod either 6-15lb is the prime size for eating. The ones we caught the other day were stuffed full of brittle starfish. I prefer haddock to cod but I've only ever caught one down this way in the last 10 years. I needed to replenish the freezers and would rather have been fishing for flatties or bream but the turbot and brill are hard to find at the moment

Good old Morrisons