Signs of spring

The elder tree is developing tons of flower buds. The leaves are looking good, too.Soon this tree will be covered in gorgeous flowers!

Home-made chorizo

We sampled the first of our chorizo from our free-range Berkshire pig yesterday.Sliced and fried. With a fried egg.
Delicious! Not as hot as I thought it would be, but still very tasty.
We are still alive - no botulism, etc. So we must have done it right. :)

As long as you get the amount of salt right, you should have no problems. 2-3% of salt. (We added 2% salt.) The sausage mixture was about 70% lean meat and 30% fat. Then you add spices of your choice. We added garlic, smoked paprika, black pepper, chilli, etc.

Then dry at a cool and slightly humid place until the chorizo feels firm.The white spots on the chorizo are not mould, but salt residue from the brine we brushed them with.

Yellow Fields

On the way to Clare you will pass fields and fields of flowering canola. Great contrast with the other very lush, green fields.
Taken from the car on a pretty miserable day.

Watching asparagus grow...

...is not as tedious as it sounds. Once they start - they grow very quickly. You will have to harvest them every day. Can't wait!!

A touch more about our asparagus here.

The BIG cheese

I was told to blog about my BIG cheese.

Here it is:

I used raw Jersey milk from a cow called Chocolate. We love Chocolate!

This is a Gouda and weighs 1.4kg.

Compared with the usual weight and size of my cheeses - this is BIG.

The Gruyere that I made a week earlier with raw Holstein/Frisian milk weighs 650g. This is about the usual weight of my cheeses made with Holstein/Frisian milk. Here they are, side by side.
Both cheeses were made with exactly the same amount of milk - 7.6l.

The Jersey milk is extremely creamy and absolutely delicious. We love to make yoghurt with it as it is very, very thick and creamy. We haven't tasted any of the cheeses yet, but I'm sure they'll be wonderful.

Nose to tail

What to do with a pig's head and tail? Bung them in a big stockpot, cover with water, throw in a lot of spices (pepper corns, cinnamon, star anise, salt, herbs, etc.) and simmer for 2-3 hours.
When tender, take out, let cool a little, then pick off all meat.
Add some of the stock to the meat. Adjust seasoning, then fill into jars. Top with a little layer of lard.
Absolutely delicious spread on sourdough bread!!!

Lardi da di daaaa....

Our pig was not very fat, so there wasn't much to render. The few excess pieces of fat went into a pot, then on to very low heat for a few hours.
Once you are satisfied that this is all the lard you get, strain into a jar or any other container.
Let cool. Put in fridge and use for cooking. Good stuff!

Wild and wet!

We've had an incredibly wet, windy and wild August so far. In the last two days we have had 80mm of rain, fierce winds, hail, thunder, fog, etc.

Yesterday's view during a hail storm.
Even the balcony wasn't spared. Nice little layer of hail. There was more outside, but I wasn't game to go there.
At the back of the house we have a lake - it's all flooded up to the walls of the house, even the carport has turned into a river. (Not in the picture.)
The dam filled up incredibly in the last 2 days. It's still very windy, wet and cold today.

There's a pig in our kitchen!

It weighs 45kg and is a free-range Berkshire pig.It seems to be frowning. Wonder why?The pig's head is in the stockpot and simmering away. Maybe good for a Pig's Head Terrine?

There is some fat being rendered on the stove.

Bacon is already curing.

Tomorrow's job - sausages, chorizo, salami, prosciutto.

Oh, and we are only using one half - the other half will go to a good home on Friday.

Purple cauliflower - revisited

Harvested the biggest caulie ever (well, in our garden!).

It even filled up the small section of the sink.Into the pot to make a yummy vegetable briyani.

Home-made sausages

We have been experimenting with sausages again. This time we used hog casings and not collagen. The natural casings are so much easier to work with!

For the salami we used ox runners.

They are all made with beef. The sausages are tasty but slightly dry. Next time we'll add some pork fat to make them juicier. The salami will take a while to mature and we'll taste it in a few weeks / months.

The main thing to remember is to have at least 2% salt in the sausage mixture. Also at least 20% of the mixture has to be fat. There is no such thing as a lean AND juicy sausage. As I said, next time we'll make sure to add pork fat as that makes it all a lot juicier. We added smoked paprika, black pepper, a good slosh of wine, finely chopped garlic & rosemary and some chilli.

Eating and growing your own veggies

I find it extremely satisfying to grow our own vegetables. What joy to go out in the garden and harvest vegetables ready for the table or the pot.
The full article is here, over at the Adelaide Kitchen Gardeners.

Eating baby swedes...

... and their tops. Yes, you can!
Swede tops, turnip tops. Try it!

Full post on Adelaide Kitchen Gardeners' blog.

Today's view

It's a dreary, cold day.

Home-made bacon

Instructions on how to make this delicacy can be found on the Adelaide Kitchen Gardeners blog here. Have fun!