The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
I already mentioned that my 9 years at the EBI are coming to a close this year. I’ve been updating my CV and thinking about what I want to do when i grow up. To test the waters last night, I posted my CV on Monster and pinged a few job offers. I did not expect what happened next.
My phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Between 7:15 and 12:30, I received calls from 16 recruiters.
O.o
Damn!
Update: The post so nice I made it twice! Doh! I just couldn’t help myself, because it made me giggle and reminded me of the story of Frank
2 kg pork shoulder
0.5 kg pork belly
250g rusk or breadcrumbs (10%)
250ml cold water (10%)
25g salt (1%)
12.5g seasonings (0.5%)
Clean all surfaces, knives, boards, etc. Sterilize all grinder parts in Milton for 30 minutes.
Rinse sausage casings to remove most of the salt and let them soak in cold water for 30 minutes.
Cube the meat into 1″ sided cubes and remove any large bits of gristle or connective tissue. Weigh the meat to adjust the amount of salt, breadcrumb, water and seasoning required. Put the meat in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up. This helps in the grinding.
Grind meat through a fine plate. Put the ground meat in the fridge to cool it down. While the meat is chilling, measure out all of the other ingredients.
Mix well. Cook a small sausage patty to verify the seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
Thread the sausage casing onto the filler tube. Make sure everything is wet. Leave 2 inches of untied sausage casings at the end. Fill the sausage casing. Knot the ends. To make links, make a dentin the sausage where you want to link it and twist in alternate directions for each link.
Ingredients
200g dark chocolate
200g milk chocolate
150ml double cream
28g / 2tbsp butter
5-6 tbsp you favourite cream liqueur (baileys, tia Maria, etc)
Directions
In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, heat the cream until hot to the touch and turn off the heat. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small pieces. Add the chocolate and butter to the hot cream, and stir until the chocolate melts. Let the mix cool down a bit and stir in booze. Line a square tin with parchment paper and spread chocolate mix. Leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.
When set, cut into 1 inch square cubes. Truffles can either be dusted with cocoa powder or dipped into tempered chocolate to make a hard chocolate shell.
To make the tempered chocolate, chop the 400 grams of milk chocolate and place 3/4 of it in a small glass bowl in the microwave for 20 seconds exactly. Stir the chocolate and continue to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Add the remaining 1/4 of the chocolate and stir until smooth.
With 2 small spoons, pick up each true and cover it with tempered chocolate. (You can also use your hands to coat them.) They can look a little messy and “truffle” like. Place the truffle back on the parchment paper. Continue to coat each of the truffles until they’re all coated with milk chocolate. Allow to sit for a few minutes until the chocolate hardens. Serve at room temperature.
Tonight, I had rump steak with stilton, steamed asparagus and mushroom risotto with a glass of rioja. I paid £40 at the hotel restaurant when I was in Dundee for a meal that was waaaaaay less satisfying than what I just cooked for Katy and I tonight at probably half the price. I just realised that I love the food I cook.
Bean named her Poley (don’t ask) and we should be getting her at th end of February.
The English are completely useless when there is snow on the ground.
Uk trains are the laughingstock of Europe.
I need to pee rather badly, yet I would still kill for a cup of tea.
Bean was so glad to have his mummy back after her weekend as a lab rat that he made her a birthday cake. Note the subtle use of sprinkles as decorations.
