Fall 2017 Harvest Menu

[oakley]

Originally Posted by Worth1

If I were you I would let the stuff ferment for at least two weeks if not more like three or even four.
If everything is going well and you added the right amount of salt you wont need the extra acid from the vinegar.
My fermenting peppers stay on the counter and I forget about them for a long time.
In my opinion one week is simply not close to being long enough to store safely.
Just saying.
Worth

Yeah, I'm thinking the same. I could blend it and let it ferment
more. Pretty hard to mess it up. Just letting it be for now.

Next is kraut. Hatch, cilantro, ginger.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by oakley

Yeah, I'm thinking the same. I could blend it and let it ferment
more. Pretty hard to mess it up. Just letting it be for now.

Next is kraut. Hatch, cilantro, ginger.

What I do is my way and not the only way or the only right way but just what I do is let the stuff ferment the way it is.
Then take the solids out and use what remaining very sour juice from the container I need to blend it up.

Worth

[imp]

That all looks way too yummy, Oakley, and I might follow up and move in with you, too!! So pretty and colorful as well as looking delicious.

[oakley]

Leaving it be Worth. It is only going to get better.

Having trouble locating my crocks. I have the Italian Fido glass
jars from who knows where. Yard sale most likely. Way too
expensive for my cheap frugal butt.
Quick vid how to make them safe and burp....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFq-JwONuJw

This one is good for beginners. (they sound like Newfoundlanders
except I can understand them, , Irish I think but the accent
is different Than my Irish friends).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueAVPxQVCac

I like this blog for ideas...
Pretty good at explaining the basics...
https://www.fermentedfoodlab.com/jal...ro-sauerkraut/

This will totally bore the non-fermenters to snooze....and maybe
the fermenters as well. But this shows the possible advantages to
glazed stone crocks over glass. I prefer stone but can't locate
them...I have two small one gallon so I can do two different styles
(★★★★ed, lol) Not in the mood to clean out the storage looking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyOOJuLNleI

[oakley]

Just ended up making small batch. Especially trying a new recipe.
No luck finding the ferment crate/box. Must be in the barn a 100
miles north. Not even the airlocks are to be found. This is burping
fine as the lids do not fully seal without gaskets. The far left is in
the fridge for a fresh slaw and near gone now.

I see another BLT in our future.

[Worth1]

Looks good.

Worth

[oakley]

What a disaster. Never has something smelled so devine taste so
flat, . Garlic is there and a bit of the good pepper flavor I
wanted...

Fridged it and thought about it a few days.

Decided to play with the few plastic bottles and save the glass
ones for maybe a refinement.
2 tbsp AC vinegar and a tbsp maple syrup. Tiny pinch sea salt.
Tbsp Isot(urfa)Biber and tsp dried BirdChili. It's good!
...after a wiz back in the blender with some XantanGum.
Color is ok, not great, but I wanted a contrast to use mostly as a
spicy, not too hot, sauce. A finishing sauce rather than a cooking
sauce.

I'll see how much it changes in a week before I contaminate the
whole batch.

Had it last night over shrimp, scallops, and salmon with miso
mixed grain over a pea/buckwheat shoot, baby kale salad.

[Worth1]

At least it has to be better than my mustard I ruined that tastes somewhat like brick mortar because I over heated it.
Worth

[oakley]

Originally Posted by Worth1

At least it has to be better than my mustard I ruined that tastes somewhat like brick mortar because I over heated it.
Worth

I do the same. I read a few things then make it up and do it my
way...yet, it is the best way to learn.
Why I'm sticking to small batch. The kraut is super. The fresh one
we had all week and will add some fresh apple to the rest tonight
with some grilled pork chops.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by oakley

I do the same. I read a few things then make it up and do it my
way...yet, it is the best way to learn.
Why I'm sticking to small batch. The kraut is super. The fresh one
we had all week and will add some fresh apple to the rest tonight
with some grilled pork chops.

I took one jar opened it and added horseradish saklt and vinegar to it.
It is better and at least I can use it.
We should all report more flops and mistakes.
Without them none of us learn.
I got the processing time from ball.
Theirs was one with beer in it.
All it said was beer.
What beer?
People were coming back with reviews with everything from it was great to the worst stuff they ever had.
I didn't like food with beer in it till I had something I made that didn't have my sister in laws Old Milwaukee's Best in it.

Worth

[oakley]

I made a big batch of Bolognese mid week. Killer. Added olives
and a few anchovies toward the end. I used a big enameled cast
iron with the lid on , (cracked a bit open), and roasted in the oven
so it did not need tending on the stovetop.

Did the same method for a batch of chili. Small cubed chuck and
a couple boneless beef ribs. Roasted the meats in the oven first
with a dry rub. Simple and few ingredients. Had a meal and rest in
the freezer. I can use it many ways later...chili soup, add more veg
or beans for something NEngland style. Mexican lasagna...
TortillaPie, etc.

A few weeks ago when I made a roasted tomato sauce, I took
some of that and made 'flavor bombs'. Soaked in hot water a
bunch of dried Mexican chilis, sweet and hot, then blendered and
made a rich, almost mole' like, spicy thick sauce.
I only had these small #5lb bread bags so not the best idea since
they need to be partly thawed as the plastic sticks in the frozen
creases. Qrt freezer zip-locks are better flat packed so I can just
break off a bit and add to a sauce while frozen...

Anywho, I need to make more since they added so much flavor
to the Bolognese and two 'bombs' went into the chili.
(as well as dark chocolate and a bit of masa)

[oakley]

I would say, 10 yrs ago, one in 10 meals I might have said,
"wow is that good!". Now maybe one in five.
Usually, at the table, I wonder and we discuss what could make it
better next time.

A few things in our rotation are just perfect and perfected over
time. Never exactly the same but the basics works.

*I've added coffee and good beer to some things and often just adds
bitterness. Then needs correcting somehow....

[Worth1]

I remember the first time at work someone caught me dumping cocoa powder paste in my chili everyone loved.

Worth

[oakley]

^I do most of these pics for my Mom and Dad. Easy to paste here
to share. Dad will be 90 next month, Mom 89. He is pretty good
with a computer though his cap-lock is on...for a gentle soul he
'screams' on the 'inter-google' (he calls it). lol. All caps he is
responding, lol.

Every visit I hit the cap-lock 'off'.

Mom loves seeing all the pics. I'll use the 'flavor bombs' for a
holiday batch of tamales. Shocking a few years ago when I made
tamales, (that I thought they would not like so much)...he had
them as a child in rural Tennessee. The stories that taste brought
out is priceless.

back to some fall tomato ideas...

I love your flavor bomb idea! I may borrow it to use up some last garden odds and ends.
And also glad that you're sharing the photos, not only are they inspirational but what a lovely reason to take them in the first place!