Mallet

Finally the first course beer is ready to drink (well, it's been 12 days, but close enough ). It's pretty amazing how much the brew has changed character since I sampled one 5 days ago. There was an almost overwhelming heaviness which has disappeared (probably as a result of the yeast chewing up the bottling sugar), leaving a well balanced and really tasty beer in its stead. No doubt it will continue to improve. Oddly, when I put one in the fridge it seems to cloud up (I don't think it's due to disturbing the sediment). The second course beer was a bit of a gongshow ingredient-wise. The people at the brew store were completely useless and I was basically left to fend for myself. To give you an idea, I asked what the approximate L numbers were (for all of the 3 malts they had) and the guy had never heard of an L number! No-one could tell be for certain whether the bag labelled 'chocolate malt' was roasted more or less than the 'roasted barley' or what the %aa on any of the hops meant etc.. I was left feeling that homebrew stores have degenerated into 'make wine kits stores', but I don't know to what extent that is a general trend. In any case, after buying 1kg each of chocolate and crystal malt (which I later discovered was wayyy too much chocolate malt) I ended up with this recipe. 35.7oz Crystal malt 2oz Chocolate malt 53.5oz Light Dry Malt Extract 60oz Light Malt Extract .5oz Cascade + 1.5 oz Northern Brewer (60min) 1.5oz Cascade +0.5 oz Northern Brewer (10min) 1oz Cascade + 1oz Northern Brewer (aroma) Danstar Windsor Yeast 3 gallon boil 6 gallon final volume It will obviously be different than the 2nd course beer, but all the basic techniques were still there. One question though: when you crack the malt grains are you supposed to really grind them up or just lightly break them? I sort of went in between but didn't really know what was optimal. All this cost me about $50, is this roughly what you folks are paying in the US?

Things are progressing well, thanks for asking! I bottled my version of the first course brew last week, and I couldn't help but sample one of the bottles today (great success, although I think I would prefer a touch more hops to round it out, ). I'm hoping to get started on the second brew later this week. I'm bringing some bottles with me for Christmas, we'll see what the family thinks!

So does your position have any ethical judgement attached to it, or is it strictly a matter of personal comfort with the idea?

Pan, this article claims that as a community Jains were affluent at least as far back as the middle ages, and this ones claims considerable influence and power for Jains going back to 300 BC. Anything more detailed is far beyond my knowledge, but I think it's plausible to claim that Jains were for a great majority of their history a relatively prosperous people by virtue of their traditional roles as merchants and statespeople. Markemorse, thanks for the movie recommendation. The trailers look intriguing, and I'm looking forward to tracking down a copy.

I'll apologize straight away for taking this sentence out of context, but I think it's an interesting sentiment on which I'd like to elaborate. Does anyone think that the ultimate purpose of a farm animal's existence is relevant? I'm curious, because I don't think it is. The animals certainly aren't conscious of their ultimate purpose in the sense that it could cause them the least amount of suffering, so to me the ethics of eating meat focus entirely on the methods of production.

Although I don't necessarily believe it's a critical point, as a matter of fact Jains are and seem to have been affluent (Wiki, but you can also google "jain affluent").

So, did you do it?

I think you're thinking of this thread. Peter, did you end up saving any of the unhatched eggs, or is this for next time?

Are you seeing any of this stuff fresh or uncooked? The biggest problem I've had with Atlantic shrimp is that I found it nearly impossible to find them in any other form than steamed and shelled. edited to add that that's what makes johnnyd's threads se valuable

Charcuterie says you can leave the cured bacon covered for up to 3 days before smoking/roasting.

I may be making boudin noir in the next few weeks. Charcuterie says they don't keep well, but do they keep well frozen (I see plenty of online frozen boudins)? Should they be frozen before or after poaching?

I was pretty surprised to find out that whale shark fishing could occur as a cottage industry as well. It seemed to be a pretty important activity in some villages, and its nice to see that whale sharks can still contribute to their livelihoods ( like tourism).

A simple google search seems to confirm that shark whale hunting was a commercially viable activity. Liuzhou was quoting from a news article, how does that qualify as hearsay or from mis-translation, or mis-identification? Pictures of the hunt (leaves no doubt as to identification) article article Fish lip soup sounds like an intriguing dish. I hope to try it someday (as long as it doesn't come from whale sharks), along with the rest of the fish!

The simplest thing would be to grill it over medium heat for about 15min, until it's nicely browned (you could also marinate it beforehand). Pheasant kebabs are also an option.

I just wanted to add a link to snowangel's great One dead deer thread.

I wish I could take credit for it! Despite having done everything outdoors, the odd feather seems to turn up every now and again... Henry, looks like a great recipe! I'm looking forward to trying it. So at the end of the procedure you are left with skinless breasts and thighs? What do you do with the rest of the carcass? I agree that cooking breast and legs separately is often desirable, but I can't imagine not having the opportunity to make stock with the carcasses, not to mention the crispy skin and fat . Could you describe the procedure in a bit more detail?

I recently went on my first real hunting trip (i.e: active participant) along with my father and uncle. They generously gave me their catch to add to my meager harvest, and I gratefully accepted, not knowing anything about the chore of plucking and drawing. The harvest, 2 canada geese and 5 ducks (3 mallard, 1 black duck, 1 black duck x mallard hybrid) Preparing to pluck (this was done outdoors, with a garbage back nearby) Step 1: Plucking down the breast bone (you want to pull the feathers 'downwards', in the same direction they grow or else you will almost certainly rip the skin). Step 2: Continue plucking. I found that short rapid pulls with relatively few feathers was ultimately easier than trying to take out too many feathers at once. I also stopped plucking after the first joint of the wing (too much effort for almost no meat). At this stage, no need to worry about removing all the small pin feathers. Step 3: I then cut off the wings. That's a female mallard in the middle, flanked by the two black ducks (notice the difference in foot color as well as the head/neck contrast). The mallard also has visibly more fat on its breast than the black ducks, but I don't really know if this is a general species difference or a random difference in condition (the black ducks were shot together) Step 4: Waxing! After trying to do a goose entirely by hand (and cursing profusely) I tried this approach to great success. Melt about a pound of parrafin on the stove, being careful not to heat it past about 150F (65C). You don't want to cook the bird! Then you laddle the melted wax onto the bird and then plunge it in a cold water bath for about 30s to harden. The skin won't get soggy because it's covered by wax. Cut off the feet Step 5: Cut off the head, and peel off the wax. It's a miracle! Step 6: Now that the hard part is over it's time to draw the bird. I won't put up unnecesarily graphic pictures, but be warned. Cut around the anus: Reach in and pull out! Don't forget the heart and liver: Ready to roast:

Perhaps because its that time of the year again, but there seems to be a spike in game-related threads of late. I thought it might be useful to compile these resources into one thread, as well as provide a place where we can discuss wild meat (recipes, processing, ethics etc..). Here are some of the threads I've found so far: Squirrel Domestic vs wild squirrel Deer deathmatch 2007 Caul fat from fallow deer Ground deer Asian deer recipes Wild duck/goose hearts Wild rabbits Game (with internal links) Please post additional links, pictures, recipes, accounts!

I've *mostly* seen heritage refer to animals and heirloom refer to plants, but I don't think there is a widely accepted convention.

I tried plugging everything into the recipe calculator before hand and noticed about the same thing, but I just forged ahead anyways, figuring it would at the very least be drinkable . It's happily fermenting away now, and smells like it will turn out nicely. I'll be sure to post the results in a few weeks.

Ok, so I'm starting the first course batch (my 'soft-opening' beer was a kit brown ale, pretty tasty, although a bit light in body). Due to some unfortunate circumstances at the brew store (their main supplier of hops grain yeast etc.. went bankrupt) I had to make a number of substitutions. This is the recipe I used 2.4 kg liquid pale malt extract 1 kg light dry malt 1 packet Danstar windsor yeast 2 oz cascade hops .5 oz coriander seed 3 gallon boil for a 5 gallon batch The volume thing screwed me up because in Canada we use imperial gallons Why can't we all go metric? Anywho, wish me luck!

The CBC show "Land and Sea" did an episode on PEI pork production in August, which highlights the economic issues you mentionned watch it online .

This batch of bacon was a qualified success. The flavour of the Calvados definitely came through, although it imparted a bit more sweetness than I would have liked (my girlfriend absolutely adores it, though). Next time I may cut down on the sugar in the cure by a little bit. Any thoughts on adding fruit to a cure (e.g: diced Granny Smitth apples to a bacon cure)?

Agreed

This year, we decided to go with a *gasp* vegetarian menu: Gougères (French Laundry) this was my first time making pâte à choux: it was fun (and tasty) Sweet Dumpling Squash Soup (Charlie Trotter's Vegetable) simple and delicious, plus I really liked the idea of individual squash bowls Tomato Sorbet with tomato salad, basil oil and garlic tuile (French Laundry) Sort of a hybrid between two French laundry recipes. The tomato sorbet itself was ok, but the tomatoes I used were a bit over the hill, so it didn't really scream tomato. Vegetable Tourte with chive-cream sauce Awesome! Wild rice, brussel sprout, and caramelized onion soup (Charlie Trotter's Vegetable) Nice and complex, but I underseasoned (#1 culinary sin in my book ) Ontario cheeses Madawaska, Highland blue, and Snow road. Three of my favourite Ontario cheeses, and all from the same farm! Poached apple, apple ice cream, warm cream of wheat (French Laundry) A pain to make, and worth every moment! edited to remove the word 'tasty' as an adjective to describe everything ...