Food Report

Wow you don't hear from me for months and then I'm here twice in one day. Feast or famine I tell you.

Speaking of feasts, I thought I would update on all of the culinary adventures I've had since October. It's been a productive little time and I've learned a lot, so onwards. But I really have to stop this habit of mine of tackling huge food production projects every time I have a holiday, because it's really not relaxing in the least.

1. Apple Cider
We were like a couple of little kids with our cider making this fall. When we finally were able to take it out of the bucket and put it in the carboy, it became a singular obsession. We checked the bubbling several times a day and were obsessing over its clarity. We didn't need to obsess, in the end, because it became abundantly obvious when it was ready to bottle. Bottling was fun, but we didn't get as much cider as I'd expected - about 10 x 750 ml bottles. I was expecting 12 litres. Anyway, the cider is delicious - nice and smoothly fizzy (like champagne!) and strong as hell - but it has a slight metallic taste, likely from the early pressing in the metal cider press, and it is super powerful so it means an instant drunk, with a nasty headache afterwards. I dubbed it "De Dronken Maker" - the drunk-maker. Eric calls his "I'm the D-Cider" as in Dubya's "I'm the decider! I decide!" Hardy har. Anyway, homemade cider is a fun party trick.

2. Cheddar Cheese
I finally worked up the courage to do a farmhouse cheddar just before Christmas. It was a hell of a lot of work, mostly trying to figure out how to press it with the correct weight. It was also very expensive, as it requires two gallons of milk, which is about 9-10 dollars' worth where I live. Once it was pressed, it was beautiful, but I think I may have wrecked it by cutting the wheel in half BEFORE waxing it. It oozed all over the place, and this during the time where I had the stomach flu, and I now have absolutely no appetite to ever eat cheddar cheese ever again. I'm kidding I love cheese. Once it was waxed (now THAT was fun) it was beautiful - so red and glossy. I gave it as gifts, but it's only edible after Jan. 20 so we'll see what the report is.

3. Venison
My little (well, younger) brother shot a deer this fall, and gave us some venison to try. I appreciate it. I appreciate the local-ness of it, the ethics of it (I've come a long way since I was 16), and the health benefits, for sure. We ate steaks first, though, which may have been a mistake as venison is something of an acquired taste if you're not really much of a red-meat-eater to start with. My stomach reacted violently, though it could have been the stomach bug on its return voyage. Also there was a bit of fur stuck to our steaks. Hell, only two or three hairs, but it was enough for the effect. Later on, I made venison ravioli out of the ground meat he gave us, and that was totally delicious. We also had it on Christmas eve at our first-ever fondue party (make that FUN-due party!) and New Year's eve in chili. My verdict: I love it in stuff. Plain steaks, maybe not so much. But in chili, pasta, stews, etc. - bring it on.

4. Duck
I was petrified to cook up a duck for the first time, since all I'd ever heard about it was that it was super fatty, had less meat on it, blah blah quack quack. Hubby had bought three free-range-type ducks from his colleague/farmer, for a pretty penny (many pretty pennies), and I was under contractual obligation to cook them up. He harrassed me for weeks with his guilt campaign. I finally invited my brother and sister-in-law for dinner and did duck à l'orange, Julia-Child-style. It was fussy and finicky, and yes very fatty, but all in all not that difficult or unpleasant and it ended up being delicious. I apologize to the ducks of the world, because my brother decided that night to become a duck hunter as well as an everything-else hunter.

5. Goat's cheese
I bought goat'$ milk ($$) with the intent of making delicious crumbly goat's cheese at home. It was easy enough to make, initially, though took a long time and was messy to press (2 days of dripping in the sink). It was delicious the one time I ate it, but it went bad really quickly. We admittedly didn't eat it soon enough so next time, I'll only make it if there's a reason and a chance to eat it all at once. And I learned something! There's nothing in the world that smells worse than rotten home-made goat's cheese!

6. Real French Artisanal Bread
This wasn't as much work as I expected. Lots of waiting around. I made a starter first (again, not as dramatic as I'd expected) and let that sit for 16 hours or so. Then I made three baguettes, following the recipe in the second-last Martha Stewart magazine. Easy! Great! Delicious! Only don't forget the salt like I did!

I will try most of these things again soon. I will eat all of my goat's cheese, I will remember the salt, I will marinade my venison steaks, I will NOT cut the cheese (ha ha), and I will drink the remainder of my cider in moderation.