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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: HEAVEN: Burnt Offerings: the recipe thread
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
Beef cheeks with red wine...
By an odd coincidence this was on the menu of a pub I was in yesterday. I've never seen this on a menu anywhere else and I asked the landlady whether she really did mean cheeks as in the side of a cow's face. She said yes, and added, as I expected, that they need long slow cooking. Their Christmas menu features the beef cheeks and also pork cheeks. Where you would get them I have no idea as they aren't something I've ever seen on sale.
I wonder if this is the beginning of a new trend? Perhaps oxtail will come back into fashion too. And perhaps the return of boar's head on a platter, with an apple in its mouth.
Oh oxtail is definitely already fashionable, as reflected by the very high price of it. Ox cheek is also going the same way unfortunately. Luckily beef heart is still very cheap, and is a good beginner offal as it often comes ready-sliced and has a normal meaty texture (unlike liver or testicles or what have you).
Beef and pork cheeks should be available at your local butcher, or if you don't have one I think Waitrose sells them. There are plenty of online butchers selling it, like Farmers Choice.
One thing I wish was more available is veal shin, from ethically reared British rose veal of course. Waitrose does a pork shin to be used as a substitute in osso bucco, which works pretty well but it's not the same. Veal stock is also the best stock.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Oxtail has always been available here, and not expensively either. Of course, what is done with it has changed and expanded over the years.
Veal is the best stock if you're after a lightly flavoured meat stock, and that is useful in many recipes. But it's not much good for a chicken or fish dish, nor the occasions you want a richly flavoured meat stock. Horses for courses.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
As well as beef cheeks being on the pub's menu, they're now offering pig cheeks and cod cheeks.
This is the point at which I quietly decide to go elsewhere. I know that if you decide to eat meat you can't really be squeamish about it but eating an animal's face is a step too far for me.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
I bought pig cheeks in Tesco at the weekend and we're having them today. They came with a red wine sauce.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
I have eaten bull's balls - more likely part of one. A bit crunchy is the best description I would give it, but good flavour. Eaten in a good restaurant in a very good hotel in Europe as one of the items as a main course on the carte.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
As well as beef cheeks being on the pub's menu, they're now offering pig cheeks and cod cheeks.
This is the point at which I quietly decide to go elsewhere. I know that if you decide to eat meat you can't really be squeamish about it but eating an animal's face is a step too far for me.
But cheeks are just muscle like rump or loin? It's not the whole face?
I'm a bit baffled by this, sorry - you just get a piece of normal muscle meat in a sauce, it's not like getting a whole pig's head.
Also, cod cheeks are delicious. Also monkfish liver.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Does anyone here have experience of baking bread using kosher salt instead of ordinary salt? A friend is on a (temporary) no-iodine diet and is allowed kosher salt. As my French stick recipe only has flour, water, yeast and salt in it I thought I'd give it a go with kosher salt and give her a loaf.
Am I right in thinking that I need to double the quantity of salt because of the bigger grains, or would I be better grinding it down in a mortar and pestle?
eta: I'll copy this to the Bread thread as well.
[ 14. November 2014, 13:30: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Does anyone make their own sausages?
My darling brother has suddenly expressed an urge to make chorizo-type sausages, and wants a stuffer for Christmas. Can anyone suggest what sort of thing he's after (not the easiest person to ask...) - will a table top one do the job, or will he need something with a bit more grunt?
My experience of sausages is limited to cooking and eating...
Thanks in anticipation!
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
The Amazon review is pretty good but some users have problems with the suction base not fastening to the surface.
My Mum's old mincer had a sausage making nozzle but despite my pleading she would never use it ![[Frown]](frown.gif) I think it would have been very messy.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
Last night I tried out Jamie Oliver’s Sicilian fish soup. It’s very easy to make. The only slightly annoying bit is grating the squash, which I had to do by hand because I don’t have a magic gadget.
It is flippin’ delicious. It’s quite substantial – I think it might describe it more as fish casserole than fish soup. I halved the quantities, which technically gives you three portions, but we finished it all between two of us because it was that damn tasty.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Wow. That looks good and the sort of thing I like - might have a go at the weekend.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
For those looking to utilise the quince.
The meat was just from Lidl, the quince had been knocking about the fruit bowl for a couple of weeks - but the result was pleasingly tender and flavourful.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
I have done something like that, Firenze and enjoyed ity. I really like quinces but there were not many of them around this year, or not where I am. Long slow cooking and the beautiful aroma which fills the house make them a favourite. However, It's late spring here so I have a while to wait till next autumn.
The local Italian greengrocer bowed to me, "Si Signora, no quinces. So sorry signora."
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Today I made a creme caramel. I put maple syrup into the caramel, just to see what would happen -- it boils and caramelizes quite differently. Also I made it in a single large container, instead of separate ramekins, for ease in transport to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I only hope it is done in the center.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
For those looking to utilise the quince.
The meat was just from Lidl, the quince had been knocking about the fruit bowl for a couple of weeks - but the result was pleasingly tender and flavourful.
Lots of quince in Persian cookery if you want more ideas.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I probably don't have that high an uptake. The only place sells quince is the organic shop, and the season is brief. I think I know now that the important thing is to either pre-poach it, or put it in something that cooks for a while. With that in mind, it could be substituted for apple in savoury dishes.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I've done a rather nice venison stew with quince in the past, based on a North African recipe. Quinces are lovely, but so rock hard they really are a pain to peel.
They do scent the room nicely though.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
If you leave quinces on the tree for a couple of frosts they get soft enough to eat raw, if you've a mind.
Otherwise I poach them (peeled and cored but otherwise left whole) in a light syrup with a generous slug of marsala and the rind of a lime for about and hour or so (not so long they fall apart) and then serve with lemon sorbet or ice cream.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Roasting with some sugar (and maybe with some 'mulled wine' type spices?) should sort quinces that are too hard to peel out - it works for pears that won't ripen, and underripe quinces seem like a similar thing.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
My source for quinces is currently a National Trust farm shop. They also occasionally make an appearance in Oxford's Covered Market, along with other exotica, but I rarely see them on sale now anywhere else. Even farmers' markets don't seem to have them.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Quinces are a seasonal fruit here, but in shops generally in season. Unlike many other fruits, we have not seen any imported ones at the wrong time.
Lamb with quince is a great dish. Madame will lightly flour a boned half leg of lamb, about 1.2 kg, and brown it in oil. Into the slow cooker with it. Then some chopped onions and garlic in the same oil, and finally a quince or 2 sliced fairly thinly and cored. The quince need not be peeled as long as all the fuzz is polished off and then the fruit washed. When all nicely browned, add some water which has had a good pinch of saffron soaking in it, a bit of lemon juice, and some ground up cumin and coriander seeds. Stir it around and pour over the lamb. You can add a drained can of chickpeas or the large white beans sold here as fagioli bianchi di spagna (not kidney beans, wrong flavour). Cook for 4 hours on high, serve with a leafy green vegetable and follow with a salad. If you've done this for a small family like ours, the leftovers, well trimmed of fat and diced up, reheats well on the stove top.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I have just finished my traditional turkey carcass soup. It has many fans throughout the county.
You didn't ask, but here is the "recipe":
(Oh, by the way, it's cooked by the "dump and pour" method.)
Place your turkey carcass in a large pot. Cover with water. Add a large onion chopped into big chunks. Throw in carrots, saving some for the finished product. Break some leftover celery into big pieces and throw into the pot. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme and parsley to taste. Simmer for three hours.
Strain the broth and return to the pot. Find the nice chunks of turkey meat in the carcass remains, being careful not to burn your fingers. Save some for the cat, being careful there are no bones. Return meat to the pot. Adjust seasonings, add shredded carrots and more parsley. When it comes back to the boil, add noodles or rice and simmer until you just can't stand it and ladle a bowl out "just to make sure it's edible, you know".
This is great to share and is even better with fresh bread to dip into the broth.
Now I have to portion it out to those folks who knew I was cooking it today and had that wistful look of hope in their eyes. Yes, I'll be their favorite person for at least three days.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
That's how I made it during college years, and the future Mr. Lamb raved about it. Fast forward to the first year of our marriage, and a true confession: "I just can't stand it," says he. Hmmmmph.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
I'm cooking a shoulder of lamb for this evening (some old friends are descending on me):
Cut deep slits into meat and rub in mixture of cummin seed, olive oil, little salt and garlic; wrap in cling-film and leave in 'fridge overnight.
Bring to room temperature, unwrap and push anchovies into the slits, when into very hot dish with a little olive oil and brown all over before adding 1 pint of stock and bottle of red wine; cover and put in moderate [150 degrees C] over for 3 hours or so.
I'm serving with celeriac and potato mash and green beans.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Indeed. If anyone has ideas for a really nice Christmas dinner, I should like to hear them.
We don't do turkey - there's just two of us, and I don't care for it overly at any time. Goose and duck - I'm still scarred by the years in which I procured, at vast expense, an organic, free-range one, and had the place smelling of grease for weeks it seemed. Ditto rack of lamb. Game - bloody if you cook it for the recommended time, stringy if you cook it longer. Tournedos Rossini - I'm usually too half cut on Buck's Fizz to do a sauce espagnole. And anything flambéed is just asking for trouble.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Roasts of beef may be acquired in a wide range of sizes. We went to my cousin's house for T-day, and he served a beef tenderloin, rolled around some garlic cloves, rolled and tied, rubbed with spices on the outside, and then grilled. It was good!
This evening I made chicken adobo the cheating way, using two packets of Frontera Peanut Mole Simmer Sauce and twelve chicken thighs. It was VERY good, and the entire family is now a fan of packaged sauce.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
With just two of us we don't do turkey for Christmas either. I have cooked pheasant, but I always casserole or braise game birds. It's impossible to know how old they are unless you saw them unplucked and remember which was which when they come for cooking. The traditional way of checking a pheasant for age is hold it by its beak and if the beak bends it's young enough to roast. Otherwise they tend to be tough.
Last year the Christmas meal was a gammon joint studded with cloves and I can't remember what glaze - possibly apricots. But that worked OK with enough of the traditional trimmings.
Alternative shoulder of lamb recipe is something I know as Eastern Lamb. Dig deep slits all over the lamb and stuff with slices of garlic. Make a mix of curry powder and honey (tends to be a mix of cumin, coriander and turmeric) and spread it over the lamb. Bake in a roasting pan containing stock so it half roasts, half steams - should end up with a crust but soft meat underneath. Serve with rice, sliced almonds and sultanas (although that gets what is to hand) and some green veg.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Indeed. If anyone has ideas for a really nice Christmas dinner, I should like to hear them.
We don't do turkey - there's just two of us, and I don't care for it overly at any time. Goose and duck - I'm still scarred by the years in which I procured, at vast expense, an organic, free-range one, and had the place smelling of grease for weeks it seemed. Ditto rack of lamb. Game - bloody if you cook it for the recommended time, stringy if you cook it longer. Tournedos Rossini - I'm usually too half cut on Buck's Fizz to do a sauce espagnole. And anything flambéed is just asking for trouble.
Before I became a vegetarian I always used to roast a rib of beef for Christmas dinner, it seemed to go down well with everyone.
Something else I recommend is to get a son who enjoys cooking, I haven't had to cook a Christmas dinner for ten years now ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Oldest grandson (aged 5) has requested Turkey this year and seems quite exited about it, so Son will be cooking a turkey roll for his children and grandmother and a nut roast for himself and me, with all the trimmings. The trimmings are to die for, especially his honey roast parsnips and braised red cabbage.
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
We don't do turkey - there's just two of us, and I don't care for it overly at any time. Goose and duck - I'm still scarred by the years in which I procured, at vast expense, an organic, free-range one, and had the place smelling of grease for weeks it seemed.
Duck breasts? I'm on my own and that's what I've done in the past. Pan fried or roasted, mess kept within the oven dish and the smell clears relatively quickly.
Alternatively, in some years I've been known to have spaghetti or curry, on the grounds that you can have whatever you fancy. It doesn't have to be a roast dinner if you aren't in the mood, the point is to look forward to it and enjoy it. A selection of different curries can sometimes be just the thing and seafood spaghetti with a cream and brandy sauce can be very more-ish.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
The Lamb was delicious - just fell off the bone and the liquor from the cooking just right with the veg.
Solo Christmas? In my single days I used to have a meal of my favourite things, so it was veal, flambeed, and followed up with pancakes & hot chocolate sauce - accompanied by a couple of glasses of champagne.
Morning of the 26th I used to have a brunch party for other singles - in fact several of the old gang still seem to end up here.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Gosh I could never be bothered to actually cook for solo Christmases - for me the best Christmas meals are picking at paté, smoked salmon, cheese etc, to say nothing of Quality Street!
Firenze - something slow-cooked (whether in a casserole dish or an actual slow cooker) seems like the easiest thing. Maybe a properly-done coq au vin/boef bourgignone (can't spell it!)? As in, a whole day of marinating and prepping so the meat is purpleish from wine? Or, if you'd rather have something you can have with traditional Christmas accompaniments, what about gammon? A bone-in gammon shank (with a nice glaze) will serve two with leftovers nicely, and you can use the bone in soup - and it shouldn't be too expensive either. I always think cold leftover gammon is so much nicer than cold leftover poultry too.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
For just the 2 of you, get a small fillet of beef, sprinkle it with chopped marjoram, oregano or thyme, wrap in finely sliced pancetta, then 50 minutes or so in a hot oven and 10 resting wrapped in foil. Maybe some good mushrooms roasted in the same oven to go alongside? A bigger fillet gives delicious cold beef for the next day.
Madame frequently buys cooked duck breasts in a blister pack. They need about 3 minutes in the microwave and a minute to rest (instructions on the box). They go very well with a tiny dash of raspberry vinegar in the juices in the box, and porcini filled agnolotti tossed in some butter. Sugar snap peas would be great as well
As it's a Christmas lunch, you can splurge a bit on the wine, and the cheese to follow. In either case, a good Pont l'Evêque would be my choice for a special meal. I don't know what wines are readily available near where you live, but in the most general terms a Bordeaux for the beef or a Burgundy for the duck. Here, I'd go for a good well aged Coonawarra or Heathcote Cab Sav for the beef. A Yarra Valley Pinot Noir for the duck - take out a second mortgage and get Mt Mary if you can, after all it is Christmas.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pomona:
... picking at paté, smoked salmon, cheese etc ...
When we lived in Belfast, we were always going away straight after Christmas, so there was no point in having a turkey that would have lasted a fortnight. My parents used to come over for Christmas and lunch would go something like this:
Pâté and/or smoked salmon for starters
Soup made with the stock from poaching a chicken
As D. prefers it cold, we had the chicken (and a small cold baked ham) as a main course with assorted salads.
A friend used to give us one of his home-made Christmas puddings, so that would be served with cream.
Cheese, biscuits, nuts and grapes.
And lots of wine. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I did Delia Smith's braised pheasants in Madeira once, after Mum and Dad were no longer able to come to us and there was just the two of us, and they turned out very nicely.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Thank you all for the suggestions. My problem, I think, is that I cook quite a lot of 'special' meals in the ordinary course of things. When it comes to duck, for example, I like to slow braise the legs, then flash fry a breast, and finish the lot in a very hot oven - so you get the best of falling-apart tender + juicy pink + crispy skin.
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
I don't know what wines are readily available near where you live
We have two excellent wine merchants in walking distance, and 3 or 4 more in easy drive, so it's not a problem. Plus the supermarkets, of course. Indeed, we're running a wine tasting soon featuring wines from Aldi and Lidl, which, having broken into the UK market by being cheap, no frills operations, are now slyly upping their wine ranges in quality (and to an extent price) to appeal to the middle class demographic they've attracted. We have Champagnes from both, sparklers from both, parallel vintages from Medòc and some other regions - I will be interested to see what turn out to be the stars of the evening. I may pass this information on to oenophile UK shipmates - once we've nipped in and made sure of half a case first, of course.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Chez Arachnid only has two for Christmas so the roast beast varies year to year. We've had pheasant, duck more than once as the leftovers go into a boxing day pie, and pigeon.
Last year we had poussin, which don't have the drying out problems of some of the smaller gamebirds. There's a great deal of pleasure to be had in pretending you're Henry VIII, eating the bird with fingers and gnawing at the bones.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Firenze, you are lucky with your wine merchants. There is an Aldi at a shopping centre a short drive from home, but we've never shopped there. The good bottle shop at the next suburb - about 15 minutes walk - was bought many years ago by a not-so-good chain. But a national chain opened 5 or 6 years ago, just 10 minutes drive away and with an enormous range; all the way from home-brand to Grange (which I don't think much of) and Ch. Petrus. I wonder how much of that they sell.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Gee D, what Edinburgh seems particularly well found for is not only the supermarket chains, and big wine retailers like Majestic but local and small scale wine merchants like Woodwinters, Vino, Cork and Cask - and numerous others. Spoiled for choice.
We had a possible for the Tasting tonight - a Pfalz Pinot Noir from Aldi (they mean Spatburgunder, but nobody in the UK would know what that was). In terms of both provenance and price, essentially a Europlonk, but actually showing a lot of fruit and enough structure to last out the bottle.
And that's the cheap end. If you're willing to spend, there are just wonders. One of the independents I mentioned managed to get me a 60yr old wine for a special occasion. Probably the last bottle in the world of a Niersteiner Trockenbeerenauslese '53. And still drinking superbly.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
If only......
I was not meaning supermarket chains, but chains of bottle shops, which happen to be owned by one or other of the big supermarket chains. They are run quite separately. Aldi is the only one to sell alcohol among the groceries.
Wine merchants in the traditional sense do still exist in Sydney but are now few and far between. Not sure about other State capitals. There are also the cellar door operations at the wineries and there are 5 wine-making districts within an easy reach of Sydney, easy enough to make a weekend trip.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
... pretending you're Henry VIII, eating the bird with fingers ...
... having first, presumably, cut off its head.
I can't tell you how lucky you are to have a variety of wine shops; here in Canada the liquor stores are a provincial monopoly, so they're all the same.
Did I say "monopoly"? I meant "monotony". ![[Snore]](graemlins/snore.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I haven't been to Australia, but I'm very familiar with the Canadian system, where you can only buy beer in the supermarket, and have to trot to LCBO (or whatever the provincial vinmonopolet) for wine. We enjoy Canadian wine, but I can see the range might pall a bit after a few years.
Gee D, buying from the producer is best. We have occasionally taken the car across The Channel and come back with the chinking bootful. But it's a minimum two days drive to get to even Bordeaux from here, let alone really interesting lesser-known regions in southern or Eastern Europe.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Firenze, too rushed before to think properly, but 3 white wines here age beautifully: Riesling, particularly from the Eden Valley in SA; Marsanne from northern Victoria with Ch Tahbilk being the outstanding example; and Semillon from the NSW Hunter Valley. Due to climate differences, dry Rieslings are the ones to age here, sweeter ones being far less common and tending to be a bit flabby by my taste. With proper cellaring, all 3 will last 40 years or more. Your 53 stirs sinful thoughts of envy.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
... We enjoy Canadian wine, but I can see the range might pall a bit after a few years ...
We're not restricted to Canadian wine; it's just that all the shops have more-or-less the same range of wines. We don't get the option of "Sainsbury's doesn't have X, so we'll try Oddbins/Majestic/whatever", and of course there are none of the wonderful upmarket wine shops like Lay & Wheeler's in Colchester.
We also miss the thrill we used to get in Northern Ireland when someone would hear that Nicholson's of Crossgar had a small stock of Cloudy Bay ...
**sigh**
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
I am afraid that my memory of Canadian wines is that they are unmemorable. The climate does not allow for a proper ripening of wines grapes, just as ours means that there is only a very limited range of berries.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Not perhaps particularly memorable, but there are some really quite decent wines made here, especially in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and in southern Ontario around Niagara.
I have to confess I'm not wild about the wines made here in Newfoundland from berries rather than grapes, which don't float my boat at all.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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John Holding
Coffee and Cognac
# 158
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
I am afraid that my memory of Canadian wines is that they are unmemorable. The climate does not allow for a proper ripening of wines grapes, just as ours means that there is only a very limited range of berries.
In a country larger in area than Australia (I think) it's somewhat misleading to talk about "the climate". Just as it would be to talk about the "climate in Australia and New Zealand", or the climate in "Europe".
While some parts of Canada are positively hostile to the growing of vinifera grapes, others make do in a good year. And some produce absolutely stunningly good wine. Much of which is not exported because it is frequently made in such small quantities that you can only buy it at the vineyard store.
It is true that once upon a time - 40-50 years ago - people had some reason for negative opinions about Canadian wine. But even the wine snobs who actually taste the wine in question seem to find it palatable. And would never condemn with a blanket verdict. The parallel would be to say that because Fosters is an Australian beer, all Australian beer must be equally as foul as when I encountered it 40 years ago. Perhaps it is, but I'd want better grounds for saying it.
John
Posts: 5929 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: May 2001
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Barnabas Aus
Shipmate
# 15869
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Posted
Just catching up with this thread after some days away.
L'organist have you tried the Elizabeth David roast lamb with crushed coriander seeds pushed into the slits in the flesh? Even my crusty Yorkshire-born father-in-law used to request that after his initial doubts.
I support Gee D's comments on ageing Australian white wines. Living in the Hunter Valley, there is a prejudice towards semillon, but we are also members of the Tahbilk Wine Club and their back-vintage marsanne can be superb. We'll probably down a glass or two of one of those with our seafood lunch on Christmas Day.
Christmas dinner will be very traditional, in honour of Mrs BA's family custom. For after the Christmas dinner, I find nothing better than one of the fortified wines from Rutherglen, also in northern Victoria. It will be some solace this year, as only our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter will join us for part of Christmas Day, with the other siblings have drawn duty over the Christmas period.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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Augustine the Aleut
Shipmate
# 1472
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Posted
Luckily, major centres in Ontario have what is called Vintages, parts of the LCBO where the exotica of British Columbia is available. Non-Canadian shipmates might not be aware of the simmering civil war between provinces over the sale of alcohol. Generally out-of-province Canadian wine is only the most vile, so that we can build prejudices against the other provinces' output.
Mercifully, travel to BC has persuaded me that their quality wine is superlative, and stands well against Washington and Oregon, and southern Australian, wines. Those who would like to traipse about the Gulf Islands or the Okanagan can pick up a few bottles of that which is only sold at the vineyard, as John Holding has warned us.
This is all a relatively recent phenomenon, and the Canadian wines of my youth were best used on bicycle chains, but they are getting to be pretty decent. In the past ten years, new vineyards from Prince Edward County and Québec's eastern townships have produced some very drinkable bottles. Mind you, if global warming continues, I suppose we'll soon be tasting Keewatin gewurztraminer and the pinot noir of Prince Albert as well as the best ports of the South Fork of the Assinaboine....
To tangent slightly, I preserve limes in olive oil, occasionally spooning a bit on to a pan for broiling fish. The limes, sliced and affixed to poultry for the oven, produce a sublime perfume which scents the chicken nicely.
Posts: 6236 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Oct 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Augustine the Aleut:
To tangent slightly, I preserve limes in olive oil, occasionally spooning a bit on to a pan for broiling fish. The limes, sliced and affixed to poultry for the oven, produce a sublime perfume which scents the chicken nicely.
The Wines of British Columbia featured prominently at the Thanksgiving dinner I went to in Seattle, so you're not the only one who sees them as good as Washington and Oregon wines.
Do you add salt to your preserved limes in olive oil? Are they pickled whole or sliced in the jar?
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Augustine the Aleut
Shipmate
# 1472
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Posted
I carefully wash the exterior of the lime, then just pop it into a wide-mouthed jar, and fill it up with olive oil. Refrigerate, and use as necessary. A Sephardic friend puts various herbs in, but I could never find a recipe.
Posts: 6236 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Oct 2001
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