I know I’ve blogged a million times about no-knead bread, but this one was so beautiful I just had to post a photo. I started with about a cup and a half of leftover mashed potatoes. Then I added 3 cups of flour, a 1/2 teaspoon of yeast (I’m at the bottom of the jar and it’s not very lively anymore), a tablespoon of salt, and mixed it until the mashed potatoes were all incorporated. Then I added 1.5 cups sourdough starter and 1 cup of warm water. It was a little wet, so I added half a cup of…
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We’ve been cleaning out the freezers to make room for some incoming elk and lamb, and we found several packages of “soup bones.” They were far too meaty for the dogs, so I made a batch of stock. First I roasted them all off in a hot oven with three or four onions cut in half, and half a dozen carrots until everything was nicely carmelized. I was thrilled to discover the tail in the treasure trove as well (when it’s wrapped in butcher paper, it’s sometimes a surprise when you unwrap it). After everything browned up, I put it…
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Your Tuesday round up of interesting bits and pieces I’ve been finding online: Why Big Ag Won’t Feed the World – The Atlantic Food Channel Why are libertarian right wingers defending a dysfunctional, state-engineered food system? | Grist Destroying Sustainability along with Inventory (This one really stings. Not only did my publisher “pulp” the paperback copies of Place Last Seen when it went out of print, they screwed up my order and damaged the copies so badly that they never even sent them. I have one copy of my own paperback. Sigh.) Saving Michigan With a New Green Industrial Revolution…
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We were lucky enough to be the recipients of several large roasts that came from a tiny herd of cattle that one of Chuck’s friends raises. Last year, we had a roast beef from one of their steers, and it was the best piece of meat I think I’ve ever eaten. There really is something about meat that hasn’t seen the inside of a feedlot. So, yesterday, being grey and rainy and full of football and all, I cooked a five pound chuck roast. While it was searing the house filled up with this amazing beefy smell. I don’t think…
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While in some ways I hate to give Caitlin Flanagan any more web traffic for her flameball of an article about school gardens, the response has been very heartening. Here’s a link roundup: Red Herrings Are Not Dinner Food, or why Caitlin Flanagan is WRONG about school gardens | Oakland Local Mag writer: Alice Waters and school gardens are evil An Edible Schoolyard in Durham: How Kids Grow (Video) Samuel Fromartz: Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan Blames Arugula for California’s Failing Schools Chef Kurt Michael Friese’s response was probably my favorite, in part because I find the contempt for manual labor among…
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Here’s an interesting article about buying meat in bulk, including practical tips for those of you who might be interested but don’t know where to start. The Seminal » Food Sunday: I’ll take half a cow and ten chickens please. We’re lucky here in Montana — not only is it pretty easy to find a rancher who will sell you part of an animal, we’re one of the few states that still has small local slaughterhouses. Big Ag has managed to kill them in most other states — I have a friend in Colorado who would raise cattle for her…
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My new essay for Culinate was posted this morning. The Croquembouche that saved Christmas (faithful readers might remember): My inner Child — A Christmas to remember : Culinate.
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Interesting piece in this morning’s Billings Gazette about Hutterite Turkeys. The “Hoots” as they’re colloquially known, cut back on turkey production this year fearing that their premium birds wouldn’t sell in the recession, but they’re finding the opposite is true, and now there’s a run on Hutterite birds: “Foodies have driven up the demand for the fresh birds, which can cost more — $1.70 a pound versus $1.29 a pound for a pre-sale frozen turkey. It doesn’t hurt that the birds have a back story, raised in rural Montana by pacifists observing 16th-century Anabaptist principles while operating some of the…
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So the NY Times had a good little piece this weekend by Michelle Slatalla about digging out her grandmothers’ old recipes — they’d each lived through the depression, and were good cooks, and managed to keep everyone alive on beef barley soup for decades. She even punts a little bit at the end as she discovers that short ribs have gotten expensive, so she experiments with shin, because her grandmother was nothing if not thrifty. I had to laugh a little — not at the article per se — but at the mere thought of learning anything about cooking from…
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I’ve got a deadline this week, so blogging will probably be light, and since the temperature hasn’t gone above thirty since Friday, I thought perhaps a recpie for potato soup might be in order. There’s just about nothing cheaper, it’s dead simple, and infinitely variable. The basic recipe is, of course, Julia Child’s: 1 lb. russet potatoes, peeled (you want a mealy potato, not a waxy one) 1 lb. leeks or onions (onions are much cheaper, and my leeks are currently frozen in the garden) 1 tbsp. butter or olive oil salt to taste water Really. That’s it. Peel and…