GoingMyWay
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Interesting. I hadn't heard of mulberry tea before. I wonder if she got mixed up and was supposed to be harvesting and drying the leaves instead of the berries themselves.
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Cheese
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squall_line said:The plates still only claim 10k, I think [member=39410]Mortiser[/member] was referring to [member=44099]Cheese[/member] 's location tag
Ya [member=75217]squall_line[/member] the Minnesota DNR has an interesting metric for lake counting which has evolved since 1950 when the "Land of 10,000" was first put on license plates.
If the lake is at least 10 acres large, then Minnesota has 11,842 lakes.
If the lake is at least 2.5 acres large, then Minnesota has 21,871 lakes.
And if you're counting all bodies of water including rivers, streams, ponds, marshes, gravel pits etc, there are 124,662 bodies of water.
At any rate...10,000 is a lot more memorable tag line than 11,842. [tongue] [smile]
squall_line
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Cheese said:squall_line said:The plates still only claim 10k, I think [member=39410]Mortiser[/member] was referring to [member=44099]Cheese[/member] 's location tag
Ya [member=75217]squall_line[/member] the Minnesota DNR has an interesting metric for lake counting which has evolved since 1950 when the "Land of 10,000" was first put on license plates.
If the lake is at least 10 acres large, then Minnesota has 11,842 lakes.
If the lake is at least 2.5 acres large, then Minnesota has 21,871 lakes.
And if you're counting all bodies of water including rivers, streams, ponds, marshes, gravel pits etc, there are 124,662 bodies of water.
At any rate...10,000 is a lot more memorable tag line than 11,842. [tongue] [smile]
That's 4.05 hectares and 1.01 hectares, respectively, for our friends across the really big pond. [wink]
woodbutcherbower
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Whatever the size boundaries covering the count limit are - I think it’s great that someone was proud enough of their state to actually count them. It must have been quite the task back then.
And something I just thought of [member=44099]Cheese[/member] - you should make some mulberry vodka. Decant a bottle of the good stuff into a larger glass container such as a Kilner jar, add mulberries to about a quarter-way up the liquid, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, re-seal the bottle and wait six months. Give it a gentle swirl every few weeks. Finally, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve back into a regular-sized bottle. Serve in shots straight from the freezer. We do it over here using wild sloe berries and it’s delicious. It works best when the berries are fully ripe and fairly soft.
And something I just thought of [member=44099]Cheese[/member] - you should make some mulberry vodka. Decant a bottle of the good stuff into a larger glass container such as a Kilner jar, add mulberries to about a quarter-way up the liquid, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, re-seal the bottle and wait six months. Give it a gentle swirl every few weeks. Finally, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve back into a regular-sized bottle. Serve in shots straight from the freezer. We do it over here using wild sloe berries and it’s delicious. It works best when the berries are fully ripe and fairly soft.
hdv
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Ha! That makes me remember something I learned from a really good and old Austrian friend a long time ago (sadly, he passed away a few years ago, but he made it to be 97 years old!). I used to put green pine cones in vodka before I gave up drinking altogether. The vodka would turn red (weirdly enough not green) and got a wonderful resin taste. Not too much of it. Just perfect. A bit like good Greek metaxa. Just like [member=75780]woodbutcherbower[/member] I preferred to drink it straight from the freezer. I wish he were still alive. The things I learned from that old geezer...
Cheese
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woodbutcherbower said:
That's a great idea... [smile]...I was just thinking yesterday about what else I could use the mulberries for. The smoothie wasn't that great but I think that was because of the fresh mint leaves I added. [sad]
Just ran across this: "Based in England, Kilner has made glass jars for preserving and pickling food since 1842."
hdv
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Didn't know about Kilner. I think around here Weck jars are probably the most popular way to preserve food.
I use loads of them every year to keep the confitures, chutneys, pickles, "stoofperen" (cooked in red wine, no idea what you call those in the States), apple sauce, etc. in. Also have lots of flip top bottles for apple juice and elderflower syrup. This year I was thinking of trying to make my own perry. Never done that before, so that will be a challenge, I suspect.
I use loads of them every year to keep the confitures, chutneys, pickles, "stoofperen" (cooked in red wine, no idea what you call those in the States), apple sauce, etc. in. Also have lots of flip top bottles for apple juice and elderflower syrup. This year I was thinking of trying to make my own perry. Never done that before, so that will be a challenge, I suspect.
GoingMyWay
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Cheese
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GoingMyWay said:
That looks good and it really sounds good...maybe I'll do a beef/asparagus stir fry tonight. [smile] I'll probably add in some red peppers and some red onions and serve it on a bed of brown rice or maybe I'll use salad greens instead? That's the ticket, I'll save the rice for the fall/winter season and use a mix of spinach and arugula.
GoingMyWay
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Sounds good and healthy! I'm looking forward to seeing your stir fry!
Cheese
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Here it tis...thanks for the inspiration. 
Sometimes I just get locked up because of all the options out there and at the same time I'm in the middle of a project and I'm consumed with all of the options and the matters I have to attend to and then something becomes immediately clear...there's suddenly a clairvoyance of thought...this is what I wanted to cook tonight. [smile]
So instead of red onion I substituted scallions instead...it was a bit fresher and had a brighter taste.
It was delicious.
[attachimg=1]
Sometimes I just get locked up because of all the options out there and at the same time I'm in the middle of a project and I'm consumed with all of the options and the matters I have to attend to and then something becomes immediately clear...there's suddenly a clairvoyance of thought...this is what I wanted to cook tonight. [smile] So instead of red onion I substituted scallions instead...it was a bit fresher and had a brighter taste.
It was delicious.
[attachimg=1]
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GoingMyWay
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Looks great, thanks for sharing the picture! The sesame seeds is a nice touch.
woodbutcherbower
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And so - encouraged by you guys and the beginner’s toe-in-the-water tip kindly suggested by [member=75283]4nthony[/member] (water-filled stockpot + thermometer), I had my first try at sous vide today.
I decided to use a piece of gammon, which is quite delicate and always hit & miss using regular roasting - it’s easy to end up with something which is dry and tough, especially on a bigger piece like the one I used. The salt used in the curing process doesn’t help either.
The meat was marinated for two days in balsamic vinegar and a generous amount of brown sugar, with just a little tarragon. Then all of it (including the marinade) went straight into the bag for 4 hours at around 140. It does need a little finesse with the flame to maintain a constant temperature as I’d been warned. Then - out of the bag and into a roasting tin for a 15-minute blast in the oven, turned up as high as it would go. Take it out every 5 minutes and spoon the marinade over until it starts to caramelise, thicken, and char slightly. Result = sweet, meaty, sticky heaven;
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
The real benchmark for well-cooked gammon is that it should be absolutely dripping in juice - difficult to achieve as I mentioned earlier. Sous vide cooking resulted in this resounding success;
[attachimg=3]
It just fell apart in the mouth and tasted incredible. Thanks again to all - I’m a convert [smile]
I decided to use a piece of gammon, which is quite delicate and always hit & miss using regular roasting - it’s easy to end up with something which is dry and tough, especially on a bigger piece like the one I used. The salt used in the curing process doesn’t help either.
The meat was marinated for two days in balsamic vinegar and a generous amount of brown sugar, with just a little tarragon. Then all of it (including the marinade) went straight into the bag for 4 hours at around 140. It does need a little finesse with the flame to maintain a constant temperature as I’d been warned. Then - out of the bag and into a roasting tin for a 15-minute blast in the oven, turned up as high as it would go. Take it out every 5 minutes and spoon the marinade over until it starts to caramelise, thicken, and char slightly. Result = sweet, meaty, sticky heaven;
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
The real benchmark for well-cooked gammon is that it should be absolutely dripping in juice - difficult to achieve as I mentioned earlier. Sous vide cooking resulted in this resounding success;
[attachimg=3]
It just fell apart in the mouth and tasted incredible. Thanks again to all - I’m a convert [smile]
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Congratulations!
woodbutcherbower
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Thankyou !! I forgot to say - the bag was still coated with sticky marinade one I’d poured everything out into the roasting tin.
So I grilled it, added some whipped cream and ate it for dessert [big grin]
So I grilled it, added some whipped cream and ate it for dessert [big grin]
GoingMyWay
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[member=75780]woodbutcherbower[/member] Awesome to hear that cooking sous vide was a success! Even better that you got the bonus dessert out of it!
Do you think you're going to buy an immersion circulator or are you planning to continue with the water filled pot and thermometer method?
Do you think you're going to buy an immersion circulator or are you planning to continue with the water filled pot and thermometer method?
woodbutcherbower
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[member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member] There’s a cook shop in the city of Derby which is around 20 miles away. They carry the full Anova range plus a lot of other sous vide-related stuff. I’ll be going there at the weekend for sure.
I have that nervous feeling - the one where you’re thinking “I’ll just call by at the tool shop to see what they have ….” The last time that happened, I called in just to buy a replacement 2-dollar safety release pin for my baby Makita mitre saw (reserved for small jobs involving lots of stairs). I walked out with a CT26, a CT-VA-20, a stack of new saw blades, a set of 30 half-inch router bits, two boxes of Wera PZ2 impact bits, a Bahco adjustable wrench, a bag of 1000 no.20 jointing biscuits, and a gallon of Titebond II.
I then got home and realised that I’d forgotten to buy the 2-dollar pin.
I have that nervous feeling - the one where you’re thinking “I’ll just call by at the tool shop to see what they have ….” The last time that happened, I called in just to buy a replacement 2-dollar safety release pin for my baby Makita mitre saw (reserved for small jobs involving lots of stairs). I walked out with a CT26, a CT-VA-20, a stack of new saw blades, a set of 30 half-inch router bits, two boxes of Wera PZ2 impact bits, a Bahco adjustable wrench, a bag of 1000 no.20 jointing biscuits, and a gallon of Titebond II.
I then got home and realised that I’d forgotten to buy the 2-dollar pin.