I’ve done some touch-ups in the northern germany refuge yesterday. One thing was changing the 20 year old window handles for new, lockable ones. It’s really easy, also for the inexperienced and here’s how:
Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts and Bacon
I gave one of the Bacon sides from recently to a close friend of mine and he made this from some of it! Looks yummy, eh? 😀
He took the recipe from here (english translation below), but he recommends to leave out the butter for more crispiness. I’m glad he liked it!
Cooking Rice without a Rice Cooker
I don’t know anymore where this is from. I Did it once and it worked absolutely well. Nonetheless, I have a rice cooker now 😀
Notes on Flour
Stolen from here
(Updated) Stolen from here
Hey! In reaction to my recent post on yeast I’ve been asked “what about flour”? Well, I’m not a baker, I’m not into cake, cookies and pastry – just baking bread from time to time.
So here’s my (very condensed and one-sided) information on flour types that I have learned over the last couple of years, with special focus on the differences / translations between american and german. Good sources for more information are cheatsheet.com and weekendbakery.com.
(Concerning that Image: I’ve actually never heard of “Flour Type 812” here in Germany…)
Common Slow Cooker Fuck Ups
Ahhh… tonight’s Dinner will be some hearty stew from the Crockpot! To me, my slow cooker is a hassle-free, easy and convenient way to prepare food. It’s really hard to completely ruin a slow cooker meal, it’ll most probably come out at least edible.
However, it’s not completely idiot-proof, so here’s a comprehensive but most certainly uncomplete list of “slow-cooker-don’ts” for information. Some of them are widely available on the internet (for example here) and some of them I’ve experienced by myself, purely and completely on my own 🙂
Recommended Read: The “Otherland”-Tetralogy by Tad Williams
Cover part 1 of 4
It’s a little hard to desribe the synopsis of this tetralogy to someone who hasn’t read it yet 🙂 and frankly, I won’t even try. Instead, I do recommend to read it yourself – although it’s really a LOT of text, it’s really worth it!
What I can safely say is that the “Matrix”-Films surely took more than one idea from it and that the author creates a closed in itself world/surrounding/basic idea, described colorfully, with a deep love to detail and researched precisely.
Available (of course) on Amazon in the english original and the translated german version. If you do so, remember to purchase the whole tetralogy, it’s worth every penny.
Disclaimer: I don’t receive any donations, commissions or payments from amazon!
Notes on Baker’s Yeast
I like baking my own bread from time to time. Recently, I came across some useful information on baker’s yeast that I want to share here:
As you all know, there are two types of yeast being sold in supermarkets – fresh yeast and dry yeast. They’re to be handled a little different each since they come in different forms, but they’re both the same organism (“Saccharomyces cerevisiae” – which derives from its origin from brewing beer). They also both do the same thing: They give your dough fluffiness, airiness and volume by natural fermentation.
– Fresh Yeast comes in the form of little cubes, always weighing 42g
– Dry Yeast comes as a powdery substance in little packages, always weighing 7g
Home Made Pork Rinds
I also bought skin-on pork belly for bacon curing this time and made pork rinds from the cut-offs. Nothing simpler than that: Heat your oven on “broil” to about 250 – 280 °C. Put your pork skin pieces onto a rack and salt them “as you would salt a roast” (statement of the sales lady at the butcher shop). Leave in the oven for about 15 minutes, turn over and grill for another 10 – 15 minutes more – until they’re crisp and blistered. Delicious.
