Four things I think you should try
Posted on | October 22, 2009 | No Comments
One positive I got from the Summer just gone was the firm conviction that some things are better done yourself. Before any filthy ideas pop into your head, the things I have in mind are: making bread, butter, mayonnaise and pasta.
Bread is a funny thing. I personally love crusty, chewy flavourful artisan breads. The kids want sliced white. I guess that’s the adult taste buds coming into play. Oddly though, in the same way that near-flavourless swill like Bud Light is almost impossible to brew at home, so is near-flavourless stodge like most commercial sliced white loaves. Really interesting sourdoughs, ciabattas, multi-grain loaves however are a breeze when you get the hang of it. I’m not going to tell you how to make bread – but what I will say is: try it, and stick with it. It took me a long time to get “the knack”, but I’m very glad that I did.
Making butter is simply a case of violently abusing some cream. The easiest way to do it is by pouring some into a clean jam jar and shaking the shit out of it. It will go through various stages – sloshy, whipped, almost weightless – until, just at the point where your arm begins to cramp up the butter will suddenly separate from the buttermilk and you’ll feel it thud around in the jar. The next step is to “wash” the butter and this is as simple as squeezing it in your hand under running water, just as if you were squeezing a lemon. I like to then salt the butter, but you can leave it as is. The flavour is extraordinary and for recipes that call for “a knob of butter” such as at the end of making a risotto you will be glad you got that arm cramp.
Real mayonnaise is NOTHING like mayonnaise you buy in the shops. They should really be called different things. As much as I love a dollop of Hellmann’s, real home made mayo is something else. The procedure is thus: beat together an egg yolk or two with LITERALLY a drop of olive oil until it’s all mixed nicely. Then add more oil very gradually – a drip at a time – whisking all the while. As long as you take your time, you will eventually end up with a thick, unctuous bowl of golden mayonnaise. You could then just add seasoning and be done with it, but you could also add lemon juice, mustard, fresh chopped herbs, vinegar and so on. It’s not something I’d make every day to go on sandwiches, but it is certainly worth making every now and then.
Like mayonnaise, fresh home made pasta is a very different beast to the shop-bought dried stuff. By using the freshest free range eggs and high quality flour you can make a pasta that is tasty, rich and which actually has some flavour. Admittedly wrestling with a pasta machine can be a bit of a challenge, one which I am yet to master, but armed with a rolling pin there are an awful lot of shapes you can create.
Of the four, pasta is perhaps the easiest, but I’d urge you to try all of them at least once.
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