eG Foodblog: Shelby (2011) - From the field to the table. (warning, pi

[Shelby]

Kansas may be flat, but that ensures some great sunrises. This was the view from the porch a bit ago.

Getting some things organized...I'll be back in a bit! Happy Friday, Everyone!!

[abooja]

We live way out in the country on a farm. No livestock, but plenty of crops such as sunflowers, wheat, soybeans and corn. Corn will be our primary crop in 2011 followed up by wheat.

I know you're probably very busy, but when you get a moment, can you please explain a bit more to this city slicker what living on a farm entails? You mentioned another piece of land where the wheat for your bag of Hudson Cream flour is grown. Do you and your husband actually own the farm, and share in its profits, labor, etc., in addition to the lumber company? If so, wow!

[Shelby]

We live way out in the country on a farm. No livestock, but plenty of crops such as sunflowers, wheat, soybeans and corn. Corn will be our primary crop in 2011 followed up by wheat.

I know you're probably very busy, but when you get a moment, can you please explain a bit more to this city slicker what living on a farm entails? You mentioned another piece of land where the wheat for your bag of Hudson Cream flour is grown. Do you and your husband actually own the farm, and share in its profits, labor, etc., in addition to the lumber company? If so, wow!

Nooooo, we couldn't handle all of that. Basically, we use a method similar to this .

We own the land, the irrigation system etc. and have agreements worked out with the person who farms (works up the soil, plants, harvests etc.)

[KD1191]

Oh how I loved those books. Its about to snow. Remember when they brought i the pan of snow and poured boiled maple syrup on it? I think I have to try that again. I did it once when I was about 10, and i got a pan of wet diluted maple syrup.... will report.

Today is a Great Day for Pea Soup!

I read that part just yesterday again.

I've ALWAYS wanted to try that. In fact, I was sitting here trying to figure out how I could make ice cubes into a snow texture.

I can't wait for your report to see how it was!

Do you have a food processor with a grating disc (like for Parmesan)? That should produce a Snow-cone like product from ice.

[Shelby]

Oh how I loved those books. Its about to snow. Remember when they brought i the pan of snow and poured boiled maple syrup on it? I think I have to try that again. I did it once when I was about 10, and i got a pan of wet diluted maple syrup.... will report.

Today is a Great Day for Pea Soup!

I read that part just yesterday again.

I've ALWAYS wanted to try that. In fact, I was sitting here trying to figure out how I could make ice cubes into a snow texture.

I can't wait for your report to see how it was!

Do you have a food processor with a grating disc (like for Parmesan)? That should produce a Snow-cone like product from ice.

I do have one of those. Might have to drag that out in a bit!

[abooja]

I know you're probably very busy, but when you get a moment, can you please explain a bit more to this city slicker what living on a farm entails? You mentioned another piece of land where the wheat for your bag of Hudson Cream flour is grown. Do you and your husband actually own the farm, and share in its profits, labor, etc., in addition to the lumber company? If so, wow!

Nooooo, we couldn't handle all of that. Basically, we use a method similar to this .

We own the land, the irrigation system etc. and have agreements worked out with the person who farms (works up the soil, plants, harvests etc.)

I still say, "Wow!"

Do you ever grind your own wheat, etc? I've never bothered to try, but would feel compelled to do so if I lived on a farm that grew wheat.

[Shelby]

I know you're probably very busy, but when you get a moment, can you please explain a bit more to this city slicker what living on a farm entails? You mentioned another piece of land where the wheat for your bag of Hudson Cream flour is grown. Do you and your husband actually own the farm, and share in its profits, labor, etc., in addition to the lumber company? If so, wow!

Nooooo, we couldn't handle all of that. Basically, we use a method similar to this .

We own the land, the irrigation system etc. and have agreements worked out with the person who farms (works up the soil, plants, harvests etc.)

I still say, "Wow!"

Do you ever grind your own wheat, etc? I've never bothered to try, but would feel compelled to do so if I lived on a farm that grew wheat.

*hangs head*

No. But I vow to this summer. I promise I'll even write about it here somewhere.

But, I have eaten soybean after soybean while walking along the rows.

[Shelby]

Couldn't let the leftover bacon from last night go to waste.

[kayb]

Assorted comments --

Re: Candied or crystallized ginger. Lynne Rossetto Kasper has a recipe in her "Weeknight Kitchen" newsletter that adds it to coconut macaroons, and I was pretty entranced with that.

Pheasant: The only pheasant I've ever had, some that a friend brought back from a hunting trip to Kansas, was damnably dry. Is that common, or did they just not know how to cook it?

Put me down in the camp of those who keep Velveeta and onion soup mix on hand, too. I have, however, weaned myself from cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups as ingredients. I have been known to dump a package of taco seasoning in taco soup, too; I'm just sayin'.

Venison -- have you done venison meat loaf? With two parts venison to one part pork and one part veal, it's pretty wonderful. And there is no better chili than that made with venison. Only thing I miss about being married is not having the venison every fall.

I'm SO thoroughly enjoying your blog!

[andiesenji]

There are many ways to use crystallized ginger.

Mince it sauté in melted butter and dress cooked winter squash or sweet potatoes with it.

Mince it and add it to gingerbread. I have a recipe for "triple" gingerbread that uses chopped candied ginger, ground ginger and fresh ginger.

You can also add it to almost any type of cookie dough. And it is wonderful in pumpkin pie.

Cut it into thin slices and drop some into your tea.

Mince and add to dressing for fruit salads - especially if the dressing contains lime or other citrus juice.

I candy my own ginger in large batches and use it all the time. It is a good "digestive" and helps prevent or modify motion sickness.

I also give a lot away as it makes a nice addition to holiday baskets.

There are a few threads in this forum that discuss ginger extensively.

Edited January 7, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[FauxPas]

Wow, what an amazing variety of game you're showing us this week! Your husband is certainly a talented hunter and a seasoned pro at processing his game.

The kitty is beautiful!

Thank you so much! He is a great hunter and I wub him

The kitty or the hubby?

You talked about green tomatoes, how much summer gardening do you do? What types of things do you grow?

[Toliver]

My Grammy always made this when she had leftover pie crust:

It's like a little pre-view while you wait for the pie to cool.

My mom would do almost the same thing. Except she would roll it up into a cylinder, slice it into one inch pieces and then bake them. They looked like mini cinammon buns (except they were crisp). She called them Pinwheels.

[Shelby]

Assorted comments --

Re: Candied or crystallized ginger. Lynne Rossetto Kasper has a recipe in her "Weeknight Kitchen" newsletter that adds it to coconut macaroons, and I was pretty entranced with that.

Pheasant: The only pheasant I've ever had, some that a friend brought back from a hunting trip to Kansas, was damnably dry. Is that common, or did they just not know how to cook it?

Put me down in the camp of those who keep Velveeta and onion soup mix on hand, too. I have, however, weaned myself from cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups as ingredients. I have been known to dump a package of taco seasoning in taco soup, too; I'm just sayin'.

Venison -- have you done venison meat loaf? With two parts venison to one part pork and one part veal, it's pretty wonderful. And there is no better chili than that made with venison. Only thing I miss about being married is not having the venison every fall.

I'm SO thoroughly enjoying your blog!

Thank you, kayb!

We make a lot of meatloaf and chili. I agree, very yummy!

Regarding the pheasant, I'd say it was the method that it was cooked with. The older the pheasant, the tougher the meat is...you just gotta cook it low and slow.

There are many ways to use crystallized ginger.

Mince it sauté in melted butter and dress cooked winter squash or sweet potatoes with it.

Mince it and add it to gingerbread. I have a recipe for "triple" gingerbread that uses chopped candied ginger, ground ginger and fresh ginger.

You can also add it to almost any type of cookie dough. And it is wonderful in pumpkin pie.

Cut it into thin slices and drop some into your tea.

Mince and add to dressing for fruit salads - especially if the dressing contains lime or other citrus juice.

I candy my own ginger in large batches and use it all the time. It is a good "digestive" and helps prevent or modify motion sickness.

I also give a lot away as it makes a nice addition to holiday baskets.

There are a few threads in this forum that discuss ginger extensively.

Thank you for all of the wonderful ideas! My mom puts it in her tea, too!

Wow, what an amazing variety of game you're showing us this week! Your husband is certainly a talented hunter and a seasoned pro at processing his game.

The kitty is beautiful!

Thank you so much! He is a great hunter and I wub him

The kitty or the hubby?

You talked about green tomatoes, how much summer gardening do you do? What types of things do you grow?

Both

We have a pretty large garden every summer. 30-40 tomato plants, 20 or so of all different kinds of peppers...jalapeno, bell, banana, Anaheim, Thai, cayenne..., cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe. I used to do squash and eggplant until I got infested with the dreaded squash bug, so now I stay away from those. I usually do 2-3 sweet basil, too. OH and we have asparagus that comes up every Spring.

My Grammy always made this when she had leftover pie crust:

It's like a little pre-view while you wait for the pie to cool.

My mom would do almost the same thing. Except she would roll it up into a cylinder, slice it into one inch pieces and then bake them. They looked like mini cinammon buns (except they were crisp). She called them Pinwheels.

Oooooooh what a great idea! Thank you for sharing it!

[Shelby]

Remember this cut of meat that we did?

Well, I thawed one out so we could make drip venison sandwiches.

You can see that this is one that I left one side and the eye of round attached.

Again, I roasted a poblano pepper. I actually have two, but I put one in the slow cooker now, and I'll put one in closer to time to eat.

Onion, garlic, beef bouillon, a chunk of tomato bouillon that I needed to use up and some bay leaf also go in.

Cover with water and put on low to cook all day. You have to put more liquid in with venison because it's drier than beef.

We'll check in with Mr. Roast later.

[andiesenji]

Regarding dry venison - or other game.

Get a Larding Needle

I use "fat back" that I buy at the Mexican market - the salt pork sold in the regular markets is too salty for my taste.

Anyway, you push the hollow needle into the pork fat and the "plunger" is pushed up to the top.

You then stab it into the venison (or other meats that tend to be dry) and holding the lever on the side, pull the needle out, leaving the fat inside the meat.

It makes an enormous difference in the texture and flavor of the meat.

I sometimes cook for people who don't eat pork so for them I buy the beef suet for the same process.

For turkeys that tend to have dry breast meat, you can take the excess turkey fat and using the needle, insert it in a couple of places in the center of the breast meat.

If you already have one and use it, please excuse my presumption.

P.S. This type of needle is much easier to use than the ones where you have to pull the fat through the meat. I've got both and this one is a cinch to use.

Edited January 7, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Shelby]

Regarding dry venison - or other game.

Get a Larding Needle

I use "fat back" that I buy at the Mexican market - the salt pork sold in the regular markets is too salty for my taste.

Anyway, you push the hollow needle into the pork fat and the "plunger" is pushed up to the top.

You then stab it into the venison (or other meats that tend to be dry) and holding the lever on the side, pull the needle out, leaving the fat inside the meat.

It makes an enormous difference in the texture and flavor of the meat.

I sometimes cook for people who don't eat pork so for them I buy the beef suet for the same process.

For turkeys that tend to have dry breast meat, you can take the excess turkey fat and using the needle, insert it in a couple of places in the center of the breast meat.

If you already have one and use it, please excuse my presumption.

P.S. This type of needle is much easier to use than the ones where you have to pull the fat through the meat. I've got both and this one is a cinch to use.

Interesting. I'm going have to get one of those.

[Shelby]

It's jerky time!!!

Last night my husband thinly sliced a venison roast.

He seasoned it and it's been resting in the fridge ever since.

He's going to add more spices and in a bit we'll get out the dehydrator and start drying. More pics to come.....

Edited January 7, 2011 by Shelby (log)

[EliseMF]

Ok, I never made it outside to do the Snow Candy, because I had a huge deadline and an editor hovering. But I found this:

Sugar Snow

and my Pea Soup is DELICIOUS!

(sprinkled with Truffle Salt)

[Shelby]

He made a mixture of soy, Worcestershire and hot sauce to brush on each piece.

Then he sprinkled fresh cracked pepper over it all.

He decided to throw them in the grill and do a quick 25 minute smoke. He'll rotate all of the meat about half way through so that it all cooks evenly.

[andiesenji]

Beautiful jerky and fantastic smoker/barbecue.

I have to add my kudos as I have so enjoyed this blog. I hope you continue to keep us up to date on your cooking and baking endeavors even after the blog has ended.

[Shelby]

Beautiful jerky and fantastic smoker/barbecue.

I have to add my kudos as I have so enjoyed this blog. I hope you continue to keep us up to date on your cooking and baking endeavors even after the blog has ended.

Awwww thank you!!! I've really enjoyed reading your--and everyone's--comments and ideas.

Don't leave me yet--we have tomorrow still.

[Shelby]

Here's the meat back inside after being on the smoker.

Another brush on each piece with the same sauce as above and then another sprinkle of ground black pepper.

And, into the dehydrator it all goes!!!

[Kay]

The jerky looks so delicious. I have my very first bierocks in the oven at the moment, thanks to your inspiration. My Kansas, maker-of-bierocks MIL, made them for us years ago and I have always intended to make some myself and now finally have. She simmered beer in her meat and cabbage mixture, so I did as well, and then followed the rest of your ingredient list. I had always thought that the bier in bierocks referred to beer but now I am not sure. This has been such a fun blog to read. Many thanks!

[catdaddy]

Kansas may be flat, but that ensures some great sunrises. This was the view from the porch a bit ago.

Getting some things organized...I'll be back in a bit! Happy Friday, Everyone!!

Loving the whole thing Shelby! Sunrise in the country is a time I hope to see soon.

Stay warm.

[annabelle]

This has been a lovely blog, Shelby. Thank you for showing off "Flyover Country" in such a beautiful way.