Food

The pickled carrots and radishes were amazing and now they're all gone. The pickling liquid is delicious though, not too sweet but really christmassy.

The onions look great but we're cracking them open next weekend. Will update.

Did a dry run for the Xmas ham this weekend. As I’m doing a classic Porchetta this year I wanted to jerk up a ham. Went well, the quality of the meat shone through. I will be leaving it in the the jerk glaze for longer on the big day.

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Just made Pho. It was fucking delicious.

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Funfact: people that correct your pronounciation of the word "pho" are the new "actually the swastika is an ancient Hindu peace sign".

It's actually spelled "phô".

(It's actually not, there's actually some weird character that my phone keyboard doesn't have)

I am Hindu! #hindulol

your a hen do.

your mum's a hen do.

Fixed.

Right, I'm trying to recreate a Korean pork belly burger I love at my local cafe... I know enough about Korean food to get the sauce, garnishes close but I've never actually cooked pork belly before.

I've got a slab or pork belly, and in the burger it has a crispy skin and is sliced thinly. Is this a roasting job? And how does pork belly cook in the oven *? Is there a risk of it drying out?

* It can be marinated beforehand, I'd use soy, sesame oil, ginger and garlic as the base, maybe with a touch of miso.

Cook it low and slow and shouldn’t dry out. Plenty of fat content. You could put some liquid in and cover it to start with and then uncover towards the end of the roast to crisp up the skin

Finally found something decent in the reduced aisle in my local Sainsbury's, chipolata's, sage sausage meat and streaky bacon!
Stuffing and pigs in blankets here we come..

Cooking for the end of year party at work tomorrow... Was asked to make a potato bake, no idea... I made layers of potato, onion, cream, garlic, grated cinnamon topped with lots of cheese... Six chickens that are gonna be roasted with three different seasonings; Thai, Indian and piri-piri... No chilli, our clients have delicate stomachs... All the food has been donated by local charities, we've been given so much great stuff it's a bit ridiculous... If anyone's in the neighborhood, do pop in, plenty to go around...

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Prep all done, out of the big fridge and into the big oven tomorrow...

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at least that explains all the swastikas.

That IS a big fridge.

So... been to the butcher and came back laden with:

9kg bone in leg ham
8kg turkey
5kg butterflied shoulder for porchetta
2kg bacon
2kg sausages
1kg sausages wrapped in bacon

I'm now fully ready to commit to weight gain and excess.

Dilemma the first. My biggest stock pot is no way near big enough for the ham. Like. Twice as small. I got boned last year and it was a squeeze. Is a 56 litre vogue stockpot going to be of any use to me at any other time in the year or will I effectively be doubling the price of my ham?

ham ham ham

Get a huge stock pot. You won't regret it.

I did and now all my friends and neighbours borrow it.

Community stock.

Where do you live?

I'm in for community pottage!

Just went back out and hit up Nisbets and paid about 100 quid for a pot and lid that it turns out isn't even big enough. It'll do though. It's a fucking big ham.

Walthamstow, so might be a bit far for you.

You'd be welcome, though.

Way to go!

What diameter did you go for?

Only slightly fnar.

Actually went with a stew pan rather than a stock pot which I kind of regret as I love the idea of cooking excessively long spaghetti in it. But the stockpot was about 30 quid more ex VAT. I'll claim the VAT back eventually but just seemed a bit surprise spendy for me to go all out.

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/vogue-stainless-steel-stew-pan-18500ml/t088 + corresponding lid.

Nice work @CYOA !

Went to TFC today just love it in there and always feel inspired to cook. So: quail

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