Uahhhh… 🙁 I went to the basement today and discovered this. Seems I’ll have to defrost the fridge (actually, both of my fridges) to make sure they work properly again. Here’s how to do it (this is a manly hint):
How to Defrost Your Freezer
Basic Vegetable Pickling Recipe
I wanted to try pickling, so I decided to give it a try on the weekend, but starting with only small batches. My beloved aunt Inge would vividly oppose to the term “pickling” (she’s an institution on home grown greens as well as food-preservation and she’s some kind of an old-style, longtime proficient german homesteader, not the american style 🙂 ). But I’ll try anyway.
Japanning
I wanted to recreate a traditional and well-proven method of coating metal – destinctively not using simple oil nor lacquer or other modern substances. The solution is the so-called “Japanning“. I found a very interesting and informative YouTube Video from this guy (he’s somewhat crazy and absolutely cool!) and I recreated it. It’s a lot more time-consuming than modern coating methods, but it’s fun, it works and it gives me a feeling of “traditionalism”.
Simple Cheese Brine Recipe
Here’s the formula for my simple cheese brining solution. Easy to make and shelf-stable for an eternity.
The goal is to produce a ~20% salt solution. I only brush it onto my cheese instead of dipping the whole slab into the brine. Mix and store in an airtight container and make sure to sterilize your brush before applying. The recipe:
– 300 ml water
– 67 g salt
– 4,5 ml white vinegar
Nice to Know: AC/DC Symbolism
Got myself a (fairly simple) multimeter for the northern germany refuge lately.
I wonder if I will eventually arrive at a point in my life when I’ve memorized these two simple symbols without having to look them up. Every. Single. Time. 🙂
Edit: Here’s a good explanation on how multimeters work (german language – sorry).
My standard meat curing formula
Edit: Now with an image, because I made some bacon today 🙂
So here’s my standard recipe for curing meat that I mostly use. It can be adjusted to personal needs in terms of herbs and spices, but I strongly recommend to stick to the directions concerning the curing salt.
Recipe (per kg of meat):
30-40 g curing salt (NOT pink salt, see below)
10 g brown sugar
1 tsp. freshly and coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp. dried rosemary
How To: Make a Roux
Roux – Stolen Image (allrecipes.com)
I was asked by a member of the extended family circle about a recipe requiring a roux.
So let’s make a “Roux“… Ahh… yeah, right. Sure. Of course. This is french. It’s pronounced ( /ˈruː/ ) and this sounds sooo much better than the german Mehlschwitze, which – honestly – sounds more like a sore throat 🙂 .
A roux is used as a basis for things like heavy sauces, soups or stews. It thickens them up and makes them creamy and rich. Since it’s a base-ingredient, it is very versatile and can be used for a wide variety of cooking tasks from the standard french cuisine mother sauce Béchamel up to New Orleans Gumbo. Google “roux usage” and you’ll see what I mean.
Some people find making a roux a little intimidating because, yes, you can absolutely screw it up, but if you follow these simple steps here, I promise you’ll nail it every time. It’s no magic.
Pasta Cooking for Dummies
These are my 5 commandments for cooking italian pasta that I’ve gathered over the last years and that have proven useful. It’s not that hard anyway but not everyone is a routined chef and I would have been happy if I had known some of these seemingly plain tips in the beginning.
These basic steps and fundamentals will hopefully help you nail it as much as they helped me 🙂
If you’re still pondering with pasta to cook, have a look at Jamie Oliver’s pasta shapes guide.
Homemade Hand Sanitizer
In times of the Corona-Virus outbreaks all over the world, everybody is recommended to pay close attention to hand hygiene. Up to now, hand disinfectant solutions are still available without any problems here where I live, but I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up how to make some on my own in case of a shortage. Doing some research, I stumbled upon the WHO’s official formulation, which you can also download here. There are two versions published, but I’ll concentrate on one of them exemplary. Here’s the recipe:
Nice to Know: Finding an LED’s Polarity
I needed this for a project that I’m working on at the moment (I can never remember it correctly…) I thought perhaps someone might find it useful.
More about LEDs on Wikipedia.