Food

Dry cured meat wrapped in plastic basically starts wet curing, and all the moisture is redistributed. That said, if you enjoy this then there's nothing stopping you bringing a leg back from Spain next time you're there!

Spider crab
Kofta tagine
Veg tagine
Bones and shells

Should I hang it somewhere cool and dry first then?
I remember ham legs being crazy money in Spain though, hundreds of euro, I'm a fan but can't splurge that much.
I'm going to unwrap the one I have as soon as the stand gets here start making a mess. #youtubeexpert

The really good pata negra stuff is very expensive but you can get a ham for as little as €30-€40 up where I'm from... Always remember there being hams hung up around the fireplace at my godfather's house in Galicia, that's where I got my taste for it... He used to spoil me rotten when I went over...

They are great hams, obviously you get what you pay for, hence the price..

One thing I never understood is why they keep slicing them in the direction of the muscle fibre as opposed to a slice orthogonal to the fibre as we do with Italian prosciutto.

I understand that way you can keep the bone and still have a long slice, but some times you get tiny strings of connective tissue that are very unpleasant

meatfloss

I don't think you can reverse the process, but it wouldn't hurt to let it breathe for a while.

Anyway, as my grandad used to say, 'It is with food as it is with wine: half of it's snobbery, just enjoy what you like.'

Meet bols.

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Roasted cauliflower

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Roast beest

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Summer

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Summer!

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^drunken posting?

Sleep deprived photo stream purging.

I missed this. Yes. Obvs. Would 100% love to.

*claps*

Those look fantastic.

New smoker has arrived.

It has been assembled and the initial run to burn off manufacturing gubbins has been done.

I have now got lambs breast with a merguez style sausage mix in there for the next few hours.

New smoker has arrived.

It has been assembled and the initial run to burn off manufacturing gubbins has been done.

I have now got lambs breast with a merguez style sausage mix in there for the next few hours.

Lambs breast was rubbed with mustard, garlic, salt, fennel and rosemary. Couldnt find merguez sausage so improvised with beef, coriander, garlic, cumin, fennel, paprika, pepper and cinnamon.

lambs breast with a merguez style sausage mix

Oof, yes. You mean you've stuffed / rolled the former with the latter? Genius.

Yes.

Note to self
Next time get butcher to give me sheets of lambs breast, not the scraggy bits from supermarket and can then make a roulade.

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I will be getting a smoker soon. Going to soak some thick bacon in stout and smoke it.

^^#nextlevel

Have just started prepping duck

Used my tubeless tyre inflating pump to blow the duck skins loose from the flesh. (frustratingly only realised i had bought duck crowns, not entire birds when i opened the packet).

Have now heated up rice syrup, soy sauce, lemon and star anise with some water. The ducks have been immersed in the boiling fluid and the skins have tightened up. Now reducing the fluid to make a more concentrated glaze to spoon over the ducks while the skin dries up over the next couple of days in the fridge.

Pic is of the ducks post immersion, skin has tightened back up.

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Small bit of lamb now done

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Strong work.