Duvel

A really ripe Époisses classifies as a biological weapon (and is surely a thing of beauty 🤗) …

There might be a few carbs hiding in those apple slices … 🤗 How do your de-carb your beef sandwich ?

I got that, no worries 🤗 This was meant as a tongue-in-cheek comment at anyone who might have not …

Really … seafood congee with duck 😜 ?!

And yet - he was talking about dried squid and baking soda. And yes, it is common (except in Liuzhou, Guangxi, China) 🤗

Just because it is not common in Liuzhou, Guangxi or China doesn’t make it any less of an employable technique. It isn’t used traditionally in Germany either, yet I used it …

It‘s a common technique for rehydrating dried meats. The alkaline medium increases water absorption.

Soooo … Canadian cars suck ? 🤭

They usually have, albeit overpriced. I picked some bottles I was interested in because they are a) hard to obtain in Germany, e.g. the Benromach expression or the Glen Moray Warehouse Edition, that is not sold outside the UK; or b) I wanted to try e.g. the Caol Ila 12 yo, the Scarpa Skiren, which is supposed to be the next best thing after the discontinued 16 yo and the Edradour that is just great as it is (matured in sherry casks from day one - see the picture below the bottles).

None extra, as the NPS (Nitritpökelsalz) is 99.5% salt and 0.5% nitrite. It's a fixed preparation. The results will look like this ... I also found this: cured chuck-eye, dry cured ...

I use 28 g of NPS (again, that is 0.5% nitrite, rest regular salt) per kg of meat. I mix the NPS with whatever else needs to go in (spices, sugar) and seal in a vaccum bag. Leave for [(1 day per cm meat "height") plus two days] in the fridge, turn upside down daily.

It is a little bit less that that: you’ll end up with 10.09 kg of solution, so sugar is 6.5% and so on … In general, this is a “weak” brine in terms of salt. In Germany usually we shoot for 8-10% of salinity, and since we have only a mixture called NPS (containing 0.5% of nitrite), the resulting brine has also a higher nitrite percentage (though not much). I think as long as you get uniformely pink meat, all is fine …

Epilogue: This was an unusual holiday - in many ways. Some successful, some unsuccessful planning, a lot of improvisation and going with the flow, weather ranging from great to Scottish, camping in the rain … But there were constants as well: having a great time with the family, good food, fantastic scenery and a deeply relaxing feeling that persisted for weeks after returning. And so I would happily repeat the tour and so do the other two, as we (jokingly) yesterday discussed … And - of course - there is this little piece of Scotland I took home to at least temporarily restore the memories of the holiday and the relaxed feeling … Slàinte mhath !

After a healthy breakfast we hit the road again … A brief stop at a shopping center (where we invested our last GBP in some completely unnecessary things and some canned Haggis) … … we drove down to the harbour and boarded the ferry. Dinner was sandwiches with coronation chicken, tasty enough but not quite photogenic 🥲 Farewell, Scotland ! We arrived in Amsterdam well rested and cleared the room … On our 4h drive back to Germany we made one biobreak, which little one used to get a light lunch in butcher shop located in an nondescript shopping mall near Arnhem … “Filet Americain” (read: beef tartare) with onions and egg … Chicken wings Salad of the day (actually fresh & tasty) Little ones choice: warm baguette with bacon, onion and cheese … The rest of the drive went uneventful - we arrived safely home in the afternoon. House was still standing, all our fishes survived, which cannot be said of the grass in the garden (a little bit of drought this year). But - all in all - completely fine outcome !

I usually dry cure, so I needed to calculate a bit. It seems to be on the lower end of things … How much regular salt do you add on top of that - do you go for a 10% solution ?

You need to get those young guys motivated …

It is … that’s why I asked. Your beef looked quite pale to me. Normally - and to play it safe - you’d want to aim for 0.5% of nitrite. So, if you are referring to 0.6% of nitrite, you are all set. If you used 0.6% of prague powder 1 (which in turn contains about 6.25% of nitrite) you simply salt cured your pastrami (which still is ok, but gives a different flavor profile) …

Did your brine use pink salt ?

Senior specialist confectionery & caffeinated beverages

Probably the UK corn is much sturdier than the wimpy Canadian variety 😜 As I replied to @heidih: I was just referring to the miso glaze. So … maybe boil the corn for 3-4 min, then glaze, let dry a bit and char over very high heat.

I wouldn’t worry about the shape … Me myself would go with the chunks as well. I was more referring to the composition of the miso glaze. Most recipes employ white miso, which was not the case at Wagamama (from my view) …

Try Edradour - you won’t be disappointed …

I had bookmarked this recipe, which sounded about right …

The next day was reserved for exploring Newcastle. While Newcastle is supposed to have the best nightlife in all UK (which - for me a married father - of course is as attractive as a dentist visit), my wife’s friend ensured us that the city itself is void of any attractions, things to do or scenic spots. She was right ! A light breakfast at the hotel (so odd to sleep in a regular bed again) … After running around for a while we spotted a Wagamama and decided to have lunch there, for old times sake. We were fans of Wagamama in the early 2000’s, when it was still a kind of revolutionary concept, with the communal benches and Ramen-esk noodle soups. By now of course it has expanded into 150 branches and broadened its menu significantly, while we on the other hand have lived in Japan and Hong Kong and gained quite some experience on Japanese food and Asian fusion in general … An interesting interpretation of Takoyaki. Gyoza with duck. Miso-glazed sweetcorn. This was actually very tasty. Spicy food goes well with fancy drinks … Ramen with extra egg. Yakisoba with teriyaki salmon. A Vietnamese-inspired rice noodle salad (called “bowl”) … It was just ok. No need to return in the foreseeable future, though … Just after leaving Wagamama we passed by a Jollibee (“Home of the Chicken-Joy”) … but I was too full. Life can be unfair 🥲 While there were no sights to speak of, there were some creative Covid warnings … After some more hours of aimless shopping (I found two cookbooks) we decided to call it a day. We were all still full from the late lunch, so my wife’s friend suggested to “just get a waffle”. Little one was happy … ”Just a waffle” 🙄 My wife had a crepe with ice cream … … while little one and me shared this beast: Shared with uneven portion sizes … Thankfully there was a little digestif waiting at the hotel …

Still 1.5 days to go ☺️