Mandarins first fruit

Had the tree for about three years. So it's good that we now have fruit. And it looks like it'll be good. I think the furry, hairy mandarins come from nutrition deficiencies (especially zinc and manganese) and I think I crunched that.


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Mandarins first fruit

Had the tree for about three years. So it's good that we now have fruit. And it looks like it'll be good. I think the furry, hairy mandarins come from nutrition deficiencies (especially zinc and manganese) and I think I crunched that.


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A downside of chickens

Small price to pay, I suppose. But I let these girls out for at least an hour a day and they keep the slaters and millipedes low.


See how they scratch into to deepest little recesses. Great.



But they also like the growing foliage of these newly planted artichokes. And my half hearted efforts to guard them were easily thwarted.

Now I know it's a real problem I'll need to get a little more clever.

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Poached egg challenge stage 3

So Andre Ursini was in furious agreement with Spence Denny. Salt the water, vinegar. Andre did add something though - if you have a little black truffle laying around it would go well with poached eggs. More later.


The result - variable, ranging from a little strippy to Spence's benchmark "like an egg that has no shell on it". I think the variability was due to operator issues. If in doubt, replace.

But they scrubbed up well, even the visually un appealing ones


And Andre's suggestion of truffle got a ride, too. When out at the marvelous Bottega Rotolo yesterday I picked up a truffle/mushroom sauce. Something new for me that made it great.


And I learnt two other things.

Spence must like his toast darker than me because his timing benchmark of "pull the eggs out when the toast pops" left a little uncooked white in the egg.


The other is to gently shift the egg off of where it lands in the pan. (almost stirring, as you might do with a Mongolian steamboat). The cleaned (but not completely) pan shows how the eggs caught a little on the bottom of the pan.

Still, my 15 year old son of high culinary standards is also converted to the idea that a well poached egg is the very best way to have one. Come on chookies - keep at it


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Poached egg challenge 2/4

From a caller to @891adelaide yesterday. They suggested to only salt the water, no vinegar, and use a tall pot. Then something like "gently break the egg into the water then when it reaches the bottom it's ready"


Not a great success.


I think there's some value to vinegar in the water. Last night it seemed to hold the white together a little better. And a shallower pan. Still, the eating was good.


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The poached egg challenge

Ok then. I listened to @891adelaide today where Ian Henschke sought out the best poached egg method. The contenders were:

Spence Denny
Caller
Andre Ursini
Rosa Matto

I'm a method cook. Recipes annoy me. And all these people were talking in terms of method. My language. So I decided that this weekend I'd try them all out. One thing in common. They all agreed that you need very fresh eggs. So for tonight, sorry chooks


I just had to raid your box


But it doesn't get too much fresher. Then Spence's method prescribed boiling water, some vinegar and salt, break the eggs into the boiling water for as long as it takes the toast to cook, pull the eggs out with a slotted spoon.


And I must say that, given a gentle break into the water, Spence's benchmark of "looks just like an egg without the shell" seemed to hold true.


And with some Tamarillo chutney that my mother-in-law made with fruit from my tree - just magic.

I know I'm tainting the test in tasting it with chutney but I'm sure I'll run out of steam and get less scientific very soon. Maybe even right now that I've found a method that works.

I am interested in Rosa's method though, with just water and a shallow pan.

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Time for a cookup

It's what I call "meat and beans" - mince cooked up like bolognese and then a whole heap of beans in there. Reduced, cooled and frozen.


If you want to get nutritious calories in (let's leave the vegetarian debate out for the moment) meat and beans does it at the best (dollar) efficiency I've found.

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