Baguettes Mark II

So been fine-tuning my baguettes, and found this video (https://youtu.be/n0U8RdRdFDU) particularly helpful.  The video is really good for seeing the texture of his dough (which I haven't managed to replicate yet, but at least I know what I'm going for...)  Written recipe here, but I'm going to copy it down here so it doesn't disappear on me, and I can make notes.  I'm particularly liking how this method makes it easy to have fresh bread 3 days in a row, and nearly-fresh for a few days after.

Basically he spreads the bread-making over three days.  Which sounds ridiculous, but the first two days are like 10-minutes of work and pop it in the fridge.  So if anything it's less restrictive than my older version, where I'm supposed to do something every hour or so.

Day1:

450g strong white flour.  (~3 5/8 cups is what the internet told me.  This was _hugely_ wrong; ended up being about 575g, when I finally got a scale.  ~2 3/4 cups was closer, but obviously the scale is better.  Thought the dough seemed a bit dry...)

290ml water.

2.5g / generous pinch  / ~3/4 tsp dried yeast.

7g (~1 - 1 1/4 tsp) salt.

Playing with an autolyse step here, which he doesn't call for.  For that, reserve a small amount of the water to dissolve the yeast, combine the rest with the flour, and let sit an hour before adding the yeast to the remaining water, and then to the dough, along with the salt.  Work it for 1-2 mins just to get it mixed through, then put in a covered oiled bowl in the fridge for 24 hours.  (Without the autolyse step, its just combine it all, work 1-2 mins, rest in fridge.)

Day 2:

500g (~3-ish cups) strong white flour.

300ml water.

5g (~1 3/4 tsp) dried yeast.

10g (~1 3/4 tsp) salt.

Autolyse again if you like.  Otherwise combine with yesterdays pre-fermented dough, cut into smaller pieces to mix in better.  Knead 8-10 minutes until it passes the windowpane test.  Should be a bit wet and sticky.  Put in a covered oiled bowl in the fridge for 12-36 hours.  (You can take some of this dough and bake it now, to spread your loaves over more days...)

Day 3+:

You can keep this in the fridge for up to ~36 hours, so you can have fresh bread for a few days.  When you get to the end on that window, bake the rest and freeze a few loaves as soon as its cool enough.  When you pull the frozen loaves out, spray them with water and heat in the oven 5 mins and they're nearly as good as fresh.

Divide the dough into ~250g portions (6ish).  Shape into a ball and let rest 5 mins.  Grab two sides of the ball and shake it out until you're holding two tendrils; fold them back into the middle (see the video.)  This helps make neater ends.  You'll end up with a rough rectangle maybe 6 inches square.  Roll it up from one side, crimping 2-3 times, to make a 6-inch sausage roll.  Let it rest about 5 minutes (or however long it takes to do the others, if you're doing all 6 at once.)  Then roll them, from the middle outwards, tapering to points.  Rest them, seam-side-up, in floured cloth, pulling up a little wave of cloth between each 2 loaves (which should otherwise touch, to encourage them to rise up instead of out.)  Prove 50-60 mins, until slightly underproven.

Pre-heat oven to 240C fan-forced, and put a heavy pan on the bottom shelf.  Roll the loaves out of the cloth and arrange in pan.  Slash with a razor.  Put them in with a cup of hot water in the heavy pan, for steam.  Spray loaves and oven walls at 1 and 3 mins.  Cook for 20-25 mins total, until done.

Note: I still have trouble getting my loaf bottoms to cook well enough - probably our shit oven's fault.  So I'll roll the loaves over for the last few mins to get them brown and crispy.

Turkish Pide

Love me a good Turkish pide.  This (https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2014/07/kiymali-pide-turkish-flat-bread-with-ground-meat-and-vegetables/) one I tried at home and was good (though we really only did the bread his style, and mixed our own fillings.)  Copying his recipe in case his blog goes away, but if anyone else reads this, go check out his stuff; he has some tasty-looking things.

Ingredients

• For the dough:
• 300 gr/ 10½ oz. / + 2 tbsp. all-purpose plain flour
• 5ml/1 tsp. salt
• 14 gr/4 tsp. dried yeast (2 packs of 7gr dried yeast)
• 8 fl. oz. /1 cup warm water
• 45ml/3 tbsp. olive oil
• For the topping:
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 400 gr/14 oz. ground beef or ground lamb or mixture
• ½ green bell pepper or 1 green pointy pepper, finely diced
• 2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt (5 ml/1 tsp. salt is recommended) and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 egg + 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. olive oil to brush the pide

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F
2. Stir in the dried yeast in a small bowl and pour in ½ cup warm water. Dissolve the yeast in water, mixing with your fingers. Set aside for the yeast mixture to get frothy for 5 minutes.
3. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
4. Make a well in the middle and pour in 2 tbsp. olive oil and the yeast mixture.
5. Pour in the remaining ½ warm water to the flour mixture. Using your hands, draw in the flour from the sides and work the mixture into a dough.
6. Knead for 3 -5 minutes, until you reach a soft, smooth dough. The dough gets sticky as you knead, so pour the remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil and stir in additional 2 tbsp. flour to help shape into a soft dough.
7. Place the dough in large bowl and cover with a cling film. Leave it in a warm place for 1 hour; it will be doubled in size.
8. In the meantime, prepare your filling. Heat 15ml/1tbsp. olive oil in a wide heavy pan and stir in the onions and peppers.
9. Sauté the onions and peppers for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until they start to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and sauté for another 2 minutes. Pour in the lemon juice and season with salt and ground black pepper. Turn the heat off.
10. Place the ground meat in a bowl and combine the cooked vegetables with the ground meat, mix well. The topping is ready.
11. Once the dough is risen, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for a minute then divide the dough into two pieces and roll into two balls.
12. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough balls into 2 oval shapes of 20 cm x 40 cm (about 8”x16”), with ½ cm (0.2”) thickness.
13. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and place the 2 oval flat bread dough on the tray.
14. Spread the filling evenly over the 2 flat breads, leaving 2 cm at the edges as a border with no filling (it is easier to spread the filling while the oval flat bread is in the tray).
15. Fold in the sides to act as border to keep the filling intact. Squeeze the oval dough at each end to make it pointy.
16. Beat an egg in a small bowl and mix it with 1 tbsp. olive oil. Brush the edges of dough with this mixture.
17. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until the pides are golden brown and crispy at the edges.
18. Once cool, cut into slices and serve.

Satay

Don't know how this came out yet; documenting so I can tweak.  Anyone else may want to wait and see what I have to say about outcome...
Done this twice now.  Is good.

Starting from: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-chicken-satay/ (Original recipe in parens, if different from what I used instead.)

Marinade - let sit for at least overnight.

3 tablespoons oil
2 stalks lemongrass - whites only
4 cloves garlic (2 cloves)
2 small red onions (6 shallots)
2 teaspoons tumeric
1 teaspoon coriander poweder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder + 1 dried chipotle, diced (1 teaspoon chili powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 raw sugar cubes (2 teaspoons sugar)
~1 cup water (a little water)

Recipe calls for it to be run through a food processor.  We don't own one.  So I diced or grated everything, ran it through a mortar and pestle, and used more water than called for to get it a bit more liquid.  I'm marinading ~1kg diced chicken thigh.

Peanut sauce from the same site: https://rasamalaysia.com/malaysian-sataynow-with-peanut-sauce/
Haven't done this bit yet - will come back and modify with what I actually do...

• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened crunchy peanut butter (dry roasted peanuts, unsalted)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (sweet)
• 4 raw sugar cubes (1 1/2 tablespoon sugar, palm sugar preferred)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp, soaked in 1/4 cup water for 15 minutes, squeeze the tamarind pulp for juice and discard the pulp

Spice Paste:

•  4 dried chipotles (6-8 dried red chilies) seeded and soaked in warm water
• 6 (3) cloves garlic
• 1 red onion (3 shallots)
• 2 lemon grass, white parts only
• 1 inch ginger (galangal preferred)
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder, (optional)

Chop the spice paste ingredients and mortar and pestle (blend) until fine. Heat oil and fry the spice paste until aromatic and smell spicy. Add the peanuts, tamarind juice, water, sugar, sweet soy sauce and stir thoroughly. Simmer in low heat while continue stirring for about 3 minutes until the peanut sauce turns smooth. Serve at room temperature with the satay. 

Anzac Biscuits

Since you mention Anzac Biscuit, Ob, here is the recipe I use, to compare with your sisters cookie recipe (which I will be trying out soon - but after festival.... or maybe before if I have walnuts in the cupboard....  soon anyway)

1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup cocomut
3/4 cup raw sugar
140g butter
3 teaspoons golden syrup
3 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda

Put dry ingredients into a bowl.
Melt butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan.  Add soda and stir
vigorously.  While foaming, pour into dry ingredients and mix.

Form into balls (possibly with extra flour to help) and place on
greased trays.

Bake in moderate (180C) oven until done (which is anything from golden to
almost burnt).  (10-15 minuntes)  Allow to cool on trays.

Laur's Oatmeal Cookies

That's bikkies to you antipodeans, but it's her recipe so she gets to call them what she likes.

About once a year I ask my sister for her oatmeal cookie recipe and then lose it; about 50% of the time I manage to make a batch before it disappears.  This time, I'm whacking it on the cloud.  They're kind of similar to Anzac bikkies (though to be honest, everyone seems to disagree about what exactly makes an Anzac Anzac, so I may be lying.)

Tuned to 7,000 feet, so tweak as necessary lowlanders.

1 cup butter (substitue 1/2 for applesauce if you want to make your doctor happy)
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (substitute 1/2 with whole wheat, but use a little extra)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
7 1/2 cups oats (lose the half if not at altitude.)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Mix ingredients in order listed.  Scoop into balls on a baking sheet.  Bake until golden.

Ham curing mark 2

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to firstly say, great forum. Its a wealth of knowledge i've been looking for a while.

So I also wanted to beg for help. This is my second time ive done ham and things went a bit worse than the first time. The problem is similar to [url=http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=90115#90115]my breciola[/url] that was done at the same time and seems to not have poisoned me, despite the mold.

So the process was coat the exposed areas of the pork with a mix of pepper, ground juniper, salt and the curing salt (I dont have the exact ratios here). We then put it in a tub of salt with pressure for a month and then air dried in a garage for 3-6 months. Conditions were Australian winter...so maybe 15C and 40-50% humidity. Sub optimal but OK.

The ham came out quite moldy but cutting into the surface was OK. So we washed it with vinegar and put it on to dry some more. In the end we were skeptical so carved one appart entirely from the bone. The inside didnt smell bad, just fermenting. In a similar way to italian fermented wet salamis (salumi?). We lost our nerve and it went into the bin. (The above photo is after the first vinegar wash and a sliced section can be seen)

However the second one I vinegar washed again and carved about 1cm off all faces and it came out like below: Taste of the outer sections was good, slightly creamy but like prochuto (as was the aim).Smell, slightly musty but not too bad. I have eaten a bit of it a couple of times and not been sick.

Does anyone have any suggestions here? or advice?

Olives

Hmmm so I took my olives out of the shed today (I know, shed is not the best place for preserving) and washed them. They smell fine and taste OK. In the end I did two methods:
* Washed water method
* Brine cure method

A couple of comments. The washed water method worked fine but the olives are mushy and a bit crap. Taste fine but not so awesome.Might come out OK if I put them into a post brine pickle (vinegar and brine with some herbs?) never done a post cure.They had developed some mushrooms during the wash phase because I didnt change the water every day...so this method is not tollerant of my life style

The salt brined ones are better, crisp and nice. Good flavour and a little saltier. They had mushrooms growing on them when I took them out because I had a waterbag to hold them down which is a perfect place for mold to grow. Taste fine. No bad smells.

Anyway best description I have found is here:
http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8267.pdf

Bresciola

From a sausage making forum I posted too and need somewhere to store my photos
Hi Guys,

I'm new to this forum and joined to ask some questions about...exactly this topic.

We recently did a bresciola cured with salt, pepper, curing salt and juniper (I think some oregano too but I dont have the recipe on hand). We fridge cured it in plastic bags for 10 days with a salt change half way through. We then removed, rinsed and fridge dried it for 3 days uncovered and then wrapped it in musslin cloth and let it air dry open in the fridge.

When removed the muslin had some what looked like blood stain and a fair bit of mold (green and white molds which I understand are penicillin and some other mold which isn't bad...we hope). The meat didnt smell much.

Being a bit concerned about the amount of mold I washed it in cold water with a scrubbing brush and then 2 lots of vinegar washes followed by another cold water rinse.

My question is, what can I do about the mold. We have had significant mold infestation in our hams too. They are cured in a mixed garage environment and fridge. I dont know the humidity but the temperature should be around 15C

Shanna's Easy Pizza Dough

Shanna Holden's quick pizza dough recipe that even works at 7000 feet. Makes 2 medium or 1 large pie.
Mix in large bowl:
1.25 C warm water (~120 F)
2 t honey
1 T oil
2.5 t yeast (1pkg)
Let sit in bowl 5 min then slowly mix in:
3 C flour (whole wheat is fine)
3 T of gluten
1 t salt
Knead 5 min
Cover with damp towel and let rise ~15min in oiled bowl.
Roll dough, layer with your favorite ingredients and bake at 500F for 10 - 15min.

Baguettes at 7,000 Feet

So I've been trying to make a proper baguette since we went to France, and made some rather-nice-bread-that-wasn't-a-baguette for awhile before I worked out that the recipe needs tweaking for the altitude and the dry air here in Flag, and the salt isn't optional. Its still not _quite_ right, but its getting close, and the bit of paper with my scribbled notes is getting nigh-unreadable, so its time to put this down somewhere that I can find it again...

Baguettes at 7,000 feet.

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast. (Yes the amount seems to matter; don't just dump a whole packet in.)
1/4 cup very warm water.

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
OR
4 cups unbleached high-gluten bread flour

2 1/4 teaspoons salt. (Don't skimp, especially at altitude, no matter how little you usually cook with salt. The salt retards the yeast growth so it doesn't go too nuts too fast in the low pressure at altitude.)
1 1/2 cups cool water. (1 1/4 cups in the original recipe - the extra helps adjust for the altitude.)

White of one egg, mixed with ~1 tbsp water.
---

1) Combine yeast and warm water and mix well to dissolve the yeast.
NOTE: steps 2-7 are taken care of nicely by my bread machine on the large, white, dough setting, which takes an hour fifty and ends with a quick knead cycle.
2) Mix everything except the eggwhite in a large bowl, adding the liquids last. Mix to form a shaggy mass.
3) Knead for 4 minutes on a floured surface.
4) Rest, covered with plastic wrap or a towel for 20 minutes.
5) Knead for 6-8 minutes.
6) Place in a lightly-oiled bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours, until doubled in volume.
7) Gently deflate the dough and fold it over itself in the bowl. Re-shape into a ball and re-cover.
8) Let rise for 1 1/4 hours, or until nearly doubled in volume.
(Original recipe calls for another punch-down and rise here; I've been skipping it.)
9) Deflate and re-form, then break the dough into 3 equal-sized pieces. Gently stretch and/or flatten one into a rough rectangle without tearing it - it will try to shrink back, but you can let it stick to the surface a bit to hold the shape. Then roll the rectangle up from one edge. Pinch sealed the seam and the ends. Set aside and repeat with the other two thirds.
10) Going back to your first "loaf", elongate it by gently stretching and/or rolling the loaf, until its about the length you want your final loaf to be (length of my baking tray, in my case...) Place it on a baking tray scattered with a bit of corn meal. Repeat with the other 2.
11) Cover the tray, and let rise for 30-40 minutes, until not quite doubled in volume.
12) While waiting for the last rise, pre-heat your oven to 500 F (260 C). Put a large metal baking dish (really; don't use glass!) empty in the bottom of the oven while it heats. I use our paella pan for this and its perfect. Get a plant mister and load it with tap water. Boil the kettle, and turn it back off.
13) Un-cover the bread tray and paint the loaves with a mixture of the white of one egg and about a tablespoon of water. Using a very sharp knife held at about 45 degrees to horizontal, cut a long shallow cut from one end of each loaf to the other.
14) Put the tray in the oven. Take a cup of the hot water from the kettle and dump it in the metal tray in the bottom of the oven. Shut the door quick!
15) Wait a minute, open the door, use the plant mister to spray the loaves and each side of the oven 6-8 times (and shut it again quick!)
16) Wait two minutes, open the door, use the plant mister to spray the loaves and each side of the oven 6-8 times (and shut it again quick!)
17) Wait 12 minutes, turn the oven down to 400 F (205 C), then open it for half a minute to drop the temperature, and spray the loaves and sides once more.
18) Bake for 20 minutes (original recipe called for 25-30, but 20 seems pretty consistently right for me.)

That makes it sound all very complicated, but for me it amounts to: dump ingredients in bread machine; come back in 3 hours. Fold over once; come back in an hour. Form loaves, wait a bit, and cook.

EDIT: Without the breadmaker, and in Wellington (sea level and humid) this came up much more like a real baguette - crisp crunchy top but light and fluffy inside.  So the recipe is good, but the high-altitude adjustments not quite there yet.

Two new nummies

Hey,

So I came home cold and hungry and lazy and all I had was some eggs and zuccini...Persian Omblet

http://checkitoutavesta.blogspot.com/2008/10/middle-eastern-omelet.html

It turned out amazing, all fluffy and yum. The sugary tumaric gives it a really interesting taste.

Emptying the shit out of the fridge - Pheasants

So my fridge was infested with pheasants that needed to be eaten...I again didnt have too many ingredients so I modified this one...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-favorite-roast-pheasant-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

1 pheasants
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 manderine
1 tbl sp thyme dried
bacon pieces
1/4 cup Madeira
1 cup rich chicken stock
2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 260C degrees. (I cant remember if I used this temp or reduced it,...use brains)

Season the cavities and the outside of each pheasant liberally with salt and pepper. Stuff carrot, onion, manderine pieces (cut in half), thyme (snap its spine if the stupid birds are too small)

Arrange the pheasants in a large roasting pan, breast sides up. Thow bacon pieces over the pheasant (its supposed to be rashes but I didt have any so I basted lots) Roast for 15 minutes, then remove the bacon strips and continue roasting for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear. (It is important to not overcook the pheasants, as they are very lean birds.) Remove the pheasants from the oven and transfer to a serving platter, loosely tented, while you make the sauce.

Using a spoon, carefully remove as much extra fat from the pan as possible. Place the roasting pan over high heat and, when hot, deglaze with the orange juice and Madeira, using a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the orange juice and Madeira have reduced by half, add the chicken stock and continue to cook until sauce has reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 to 4 minutes. Swirl in the butter and remove from the heat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Remove the back bone from each pheasant, then cut along the breast bone to divide the birds into two halves. Serve 1/2 pheasant per person, napped with some of the sauce.

Id do this again anyday, the thyme and orange were great. It would probably work for other little birds like geese, swans, emus, or pterodactyls too.

Marinated beef ribs in dark ale and mustard

4 beef spare ribs, about 2kg in total
125ml dark ale (1/2 cup)
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp cider vinegar
2 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
20g unsalted butter


Place ribs in a single layer in a large non-metallic dish. Put the ale, sugar, vinegar, chilli, cumin and mustard in an bowl, stir well to dissolve the sugar, then pour over the ribs. Toss to coat, then cover and marinate in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Preheat kettle or covered BBQ to medium indirect heat. Transfer the ribs and the marinade to a large shallow roasting tin and place in the middle of the BBQ. Lower the lid and cook the ribs for 50 minutes, or until the meat is tender and about 1/2 cup of marinade is left in the pan. Transfer the ribs to a warm serving plate while you finish making the sauce - leave the pan on the BBQ to keep warm.
Using a whisk, beat butter into the reduced marinade in the roasting tin and season with salt/pepper.
Drizzle ribs with sauce.



From Leanne Kitchen's The Butcher.
I use dark Kozel for preference, and have used tabasco in place of the chilli but it's not as good.

Summer Hill 'corner store' has corn syrup.

Just sayin'.

Summer Hill Butcher has liquid smoke.
Just sayin'.

Vietnamese summer salad

Does anyone have a better salad than this? its still pretty damned good but not perfect. I added fish sause and about a handful of mint.

much better...it also needs more chilli....lots of chilli

http://yummies.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/vietnamese-cold-beef-salad/

Ingredients
¼ cup light soy sauce
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup water
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tsp red chili sauce/paste/oil
1 ½ tsp minced ginger
½ pound flank steak
1 cup fresh basil leaves (I didnt have this)
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves (or this)
1 cup fresh mint leaves (this I had...it was good)
½ red onion, sliced finely (used shallots instead)
½ seeded English cucumber, halved and sliced finely
2 cups julienned carrots
½ cup dry roasted peanuts

*Optional* cooked rice, prepared as you like

Directions
Combine light soy sauce, lime juice, water, sugar, garlic, and chili sauce/paste/oil and ginger in medium bowl. Whisk or stir to blend. Pour approximately 5 tablespoons into a resealable plastic bag or large container. Cover and refrigerate the remaining dressing. Add steak to bag/container, seal, and turn to coat. Chill 30 minutes or overnight (for a more stronger flavor) to marinate.

Heat broiler to 400 degrees F. Broil steak 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, or until medium-rare. Let rest 5 minutes and slice thinly at an angle, across the grain.

Place basil, cilantro, mint, onion, cucumbers, and carrots in large bowl and toss. Top with sliced steak, drizzle with reserved dressing, and sprinkle with peanuts.

Can be eaten with a bowl of cooked rice or alone for a healthy low carb alternative. Let the ingredients mingle overnight for a more intense flavor. If you choose to do this then keep the basil, mint and cilantro out of the dish till you are ready to eat to keep them from getting droopy in the dish.

Roman Cheesecake

It's been a while since I cooked it for Yule Feast and Cold Wars. I have a cunning plan to put it in many places so it can't be lost.


Savillum (Cato 84)
(Cato - 180 BC
Cato. Liber de agricultura)

Savillum hoc modo facito: Farinae selibram, casei P. II S una
commisceto quasi libum, addito mellis P. - et ovum unum. Catinum
fictile oleo unguito. Ubi omnia bene commiscueris, in catinum indito,
catinum testo operito. Videto ut bene percocas medio, ubi altissimum
est. Ubi coctum erit, catinum eximito, melle unguito, papver
infriato, sub testum subde paulipser, postea eximito. Ita pone cum
catillo et lingula.

Make a savillum this: Mix 1/2 libra flour and 2 1/2 libra cheese, as
is done for libum. Add 1/4 libra honey and 1 egg. Grease an
earthenware bowl with oil. When you have mixed the ingredients well,
pour into the bowl and cover the bowl with an earthenware testo. See
that you cook it well in the middle, where it is highest. When it is
cooked, remove the bowl, spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy, put
it back beneath the testo for a moment, and then remove. Serve it
thus with a plate and spoon.

Serves 4
750g ricotta
1 cup flour
6 Tbs honey
1 egg
2 Tbs poppy seeds

Blend cheese flour, 4 Tbs honey and egg. Grease baking pan with oil.
Pour in mixture and bake in hot hot (400F) for 20-30 minutes. Cover
with foil for first 10-15 mins. Remove from oven drizzle with honey
and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Replace in oven for 5 minutes and
serve.

The above recipe, translation and redaction comes from Giacosa, Ilaria
Gozzini, (1994), A Taste of Ancient Rome, The University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.

And here is the recipe we actually used at the feasts.... not quite
the same, but I didn't re-read the recipe at Cold War, and the result
was so well received, we just did the same again for Yule.

3kg ricotta
750g honey
200g poppy seeds
4 cups flour
5 eggs
makes about 12 cakes

Mix every thing together. Shove into buttered foil pie tins. Bake in
oven about 200C-ish until starting to brown. Allow to cool a little
before attempting to stick in head.

Le parfait d'armangnac aux pruneaux

Frozen prune mousse with armangnac (with commentary)

450g best quality presoaked dried prunes, stoned (I got a packet from the shops, that were soggy in their bag already, stoned, and they seemed to work fine. Perhaps Oz has better access to prunes?)
a few strips of lemon zest (I could have gone a little heavier on this I think)
4 tbsp armagnac (I used brandy. Couldn't get armangnac)
500ml thick double cream
whites of two large eggs
2 tbsp caster sugar
a pinch of salt


Soak the prunes with the lemon zest and armangnac for an hour or so. Remove lemon zest and whizz prunes and armangnac in food processor until a puree.
Whisk egg whites with salt until stiff, then add sugar. (And then whisk some more? The recipe says nothing. I whisked, and don't think it did any harm.)
Whisk the cream until it has a floopy consistency. (Why? Surely thick double cream has been beaten enough already? I had to be careful not to make butter)
Carefully fold the prune puree into the cream and then, with a wooden spoon, fold in the stiffened egg whites. (I think all the egg whites are doing is cutting the thickness of the cream. I may be wrong)
Spoon into individual serving pots and place in the freezer for no more than 2 hours. (it says 6-8 serves - I filled 10 espresso mugs, and then a small pyrex dish, and had plenty of bowl to lick. No idea how big their pots are!)

Goat in Goat with Goat

http://chrisbadenoch.com/2010/03/22/goat-in-goat-with-goat/

I cant claim credit for this. It come from liam but .... COOOL :-)

Fruitcake for BaggyT

Made from stewed fruit that was over-spiced. Recipe adapted from Ye Olde "Day to Day Cookery Book" which is the standard text HomeEc cookbook in Queensland.

3 cups cold spicey stewed fruit (BaggyT's special mix of a besquillion secret fruits and spices but had in there - apples, cinnamon sticks, half a lemon, ground cloves, honey, brown sugar. Fish out lemon and cinnamon sticks before making cake)
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour
1 1/4 plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix fruit and eggs. Fold in sifted flours and baking soda. Stick in two loaf tins lined with baking paper. Cook in 150C oven for 1 hour or until skewer is clean. The end.

It's very good with icecream. Be sure the fruit really is cold before you put the eggs in. I was never a patient cook, but eggs poached in fruit is not a good look