Some meals from the kitchen

We have tried a few new tastes and cooking techniques and thought to paste a few photo's to tempt your taste buds.

Have been baking quite a bit of bread on the fire (in a pot)

Tends to work quite well as long as you have the time to watch the fire and maintain a constant, medium heat. Am pretty sure you can use any bread recipe. The trick is to cook over coals and not flames., so you have to keep manuevering coals and logs around. It also definitely helps to keep adding coals to the lid of the pot. This helps turn the pot into an oven more effectively.
Here are a few photo's of a typical evening baking bread outside.

The kids do actually wear clothes some of the time.
We normally let them do a couple of marshmellows and act like pyromaniacs.

We tend to do a wholewheat loaf, with a bit of syrup thrown in as well.
We did a great cheese loaf the other day as well.

We had crayfish the other night, which was really good. We can defitely dive these out ourselves and made sure we brought a licence along with us to do so. They are different from the West Coast rock lobsters we are used to in Cape Town. You also have to observe a season.

We tend to boil briefly until pink.
Then cut open along all of the underpart (head to tail)
You then use a bit of brute strength to break them in half.
Remove anything that looks like it will taste bad and trickle some melted butter, garlic, lemon and black pepper over everything.
If you haev coals going then you can add cheese and melt this over the tails.
Make sure to get all the meat in the legs.

We normally get half a dozen oysters when we go down to the beach at low tide.
These are definitely free range.
.
I am the only on in the family that eats them, so it is normally just me, my black pepper, tabasco and fresh lemon.

Tastes even better when you have got them yourself from the rocks.
A good tin mug of dry white wine also helps he cause.

I had never eaten Sea Urchins before so had to try these.
I picked a couple of each kind that I found.
Remembering what I had read once, I turned upside down and using a sharp knife gave it a full labotomy.

Removing the top of the skull, you could quite clearly see the yellow/orange "caviar"
I simply scooped this out into a bowl (you don't get a lot)

I tried some on its own, some with a drop of lemon, and lastly some on crackers.
It was pleasant to eat. Tasted like a combination of an oyster and a mussle with a hint of nut.
The texture was like caviar, but soft enough to turn to paste against the top of your pallet with gentle pressure from your tongue.
I did feel a bit bad on three counts.
1. The looked so pretty in the rock pool.

2. Their arms definitely move around on the table while you are swallowing them with a cracker.
3. They definitely were not substantial, so it felt a bit unjustified killing four of them, and still having a full dinner afterwards

Making our first batch of home made bread

My plans to have a taste and cooking extravaganza while we are here, has got off to a really rocky start.
The funeral feast, while very interesting, is the likely cause of me now being on a 5 day course of antibiotics. I think we can safely narrow it down to a combination of raw and filthy cow stomach, and my competitive show off streak.
Then, on about our forth evening here, I went fishing for the first time, and caught a really nice pan sized fish in the lagoon. This in itself was miraculous as I didn’t have any bait and had simply stuck on a hermit crab that I enticed out of its shell.
After gutting and scaling it I popped it into the freezer when I got home, because we were heading off to Mthatha for two days to pick up the girls.
Not wanting to waste it I gave it to our neighbour, Nonezile.
Then a few afternoons ago I had taken the girls for a walk on the rocks at low tide, and without trying picked up three hand sized fresh oysters and a really nice fist sized Alikrickle. I was planning to show the kids how to cook them the next day, and shoved them in the fridge for the night.
Sadly, that was the night I got massively sick, and over the next 48 hours only managed to get down half an apple and a hard boiled egg.
So again, I donated my loot to Nonezile, so as not to waste them.
I had also found some very big Sea Urchins. I have never tasted them and was keen to give them a go, but again, with my gastro, they seemed about as appealing as a Gordon Brown/George Bush/Julius Malema speech. (Take your pick)

Nonezile paid dividends though, because she popped over this morning with some freshly picked mielies (corn) for us. It was great, and looked like nothing you would pick up in one of our supermarkets

So today’s first attempt at baking bread here, was going to be a big deal. It was our first small step towards making our kitchen and larder self sustainable. And it could also include the kids, which would be fun.
Things didn’t get off to a great start.
I read 750 grams of whole wheat flour, and 750 grams of cake flour.
The recipe called for 750 ml of both.
So I basically used the right amount of yeast, salt etc, and twice the amount of flour.
Difficult to remedy when you are up to your elbows in batter and your three year old son is asking you to take him to the loo every seven and a half minutes.
But we soldiered on and we ended up with two pretty reasonable loaves.

I got into trouble with these ladies before I had even started. I got glared at by the Nonezile's chickens who were roosting on top of my lovely pile of fire wood. Sorry girls.

Caleb, who is a real pyromaniac, sick or not, is like a little freaking fire feeding monster. He loves anything with a flame and constantly feeds little pieces of wood to keep it going. Naughty bugger. Just like his dad was.

As the sun was setting and we were all sitting on the logs around the fire waiting for the bead to finish, our neighbours Nonezile and Nosandise, popped past and were very impressed with our efforts. (Or that a man was making bread. A real man)
I wonder what she thinks of our urban adjustments.

For all of the cock up's, the end result wasn't actually too bad.

Extracting our own wild and organic honey

We had an interesting afternoon extracting some fresh and organic honey this afternoon. This was of particular interest to me because bee-keeping will form part of my agricultural project, and I used to work for a bee-keeper in the early 90’s and have been interested in honey production since then.
Dave had previously introduced the village to the possibility of honey production, but for a variety of reasons this had not really worked out.
Today’s very modest yield of just under 20 jars, was a small victory though, as it was the first successful harvest of honey in the village, and the R400 odd Rand that it earned the bee-keeper, will hopefully spur him and others on.

This is a pic of a hive that I had found in September 2008. All the hives I found then were neglected and empty.

I didn’t have my camera with me today, and so unfortunately missed out on some really cool photo’s.
For a small quantity like this Dave and I settled on a primitive, but very high yield system.
We cut the honey-comb directly from the frames, without capping it first, and placed it all in the centre of a clean dish cloth. We then simply twisted up the dish cloth and the tighter we twisted, the more honey we got.
The honey poured freely from the bottom of the dish cloth into a small pot we used to catch it before decanting it into the jars.
The frames weren’t particularly full, but we still managed to get about 4 jars per frame.
The dish cloth was surprisingly effective and I could comfortably press out a frame in three or four minutes if I needed to.
There was also very little wastage, all that remained was a golf ball size piece of wax.
Anyway, it was very rewarding taking the honey from a comb on a frame and ending up with a jar, ready for sale in the lodge.
It was additionally great knowing that the kids were learning from it.
Hopefully this can grow into a little cottage industry when we established how many hives the countryside will sustain.
There are also definitely a lot of wild bees around.
Within about 15 minutes of noticing the first bee, we had hundreds around us while we were working, all from the forest that borders near the lodge.
One of them even decided to commit suicide on my elbow.
I quickly covered the site up with a big smear of honey to stop his mates from doing the same.

Cooking our first pig head - a trial run

Okay, not a bad result overall.
4 – 1 to the home team.
Actually, 4 – 2 if you count the pig, which strictly speaking you should because I included the dogs.
Still a win in anyone’s books.
All things considered I thought this was a reasonably minor leap on the grand scale of edible possibilities, but a good place to start none the less.

You start with a pigs head, in this case cut in half.
Clear a decent working surface and get going.

First thing I did was get the brain out. I had plans to boil it and then fry it in flour and herbs and spread it on toast. (thanks to Hugh, of http://www.rivercottage.net/)
After removing the brains,
I gave everything a pretty good scrub in the sink under cool water. Especially the ears, which I was hoping to crunch on later.

That’s when Sonja arrived home early. And that is just when a blowfly decided to use my pig head as a landing strip. Right on the snout.

She walked in with a smile, and then, honest to god, she headed straight for the downstairs guest loo.

I thought I was quite brave taking these photo’s. (footnote: Sonja is the bravest person I know. That’s why I married her. She is tough and determined, and beautiful, and intelligent and would carve me to pieces in an instant. She has only two weaknesses. Cockroaches and anything vaguely unusual on the menu)
Anyway, this was the result of the pigs head and the blowfly. In her defence it was only a dry retch. And in the middle of it all she did smile.
Now this little chap was a champ. No worries there. At least I know I won’t be eating alone. Outside, yes. Alone, no.

I also can’t accept full responsibility. So should the trigger.




Once the head was cleaned, I salted liberally, and added black pepper. I was just getting started when I realised that with our move coming up next week-end, I no longer have any herbs, all the pots of herbs left us last week-end. Damn. I was down to garlic and an old jar of chillies. Both of which I added in large amounts.

Then I popped the pan into the oven on about 180 C and opened a bottle of cheap red wine. The wine wasn’t as bad as I thought.



I turned the head over after about 30 minutes, and then again after about an hour, when I taste tested some cheek, which was delicious.

After another 15 minutes on each side, a total cooking time of 90 minutes, I thought it looked done and took it out.

Honestly? Well, I had ears, snout, check, jaw, neck. I tried it all out. It all tasted just like pork would. It was pretty oily and very rich, so I would be interested to try it in a more subtle form. The garlic, salt and pepper approach is palatable, but certainly not subtle or very creative. The meat was mainly in the cheek, along the jaws, and in the neck area. It was slightly more textured than normal pork, a bit more gamy perhaps, but as I say, I think a more creative and subtle approach would yield a much better result.

There wasn’t much left afterwards and for R24.00 it could feed a lot of hungry mouths.

And, lets not forget to salute my little chap who soldiered on against popular opinion.

Here’s to you boy.

Now, what to do with the bowl of brains hidden in the fridge behind a large tub of yogurt and two small tubs of cottage cheese?

If Sonja sees it, she will freak.

Planning a Dinner

Sonja is at a workshop tonight, so this is a perfect opportunity.
As I was walking to buy a bottle of water in the supermarket she just smiled at me in a way I couldn't resist.
We have a date later, so I hope it is a she.
She looked like a she.
She has these little blond eyelashes and a small tattoo.
She had a subtle Mona Lisa smile that captivated my attention.
Risky, but stable.

So tonight, while Sonja is out, and the kids are asleep, I am going to light a few candles, pour some wine, run my hands over her skin, examine her eyes, and then gently pick her brain.
Later, I am going to devour her whole.
Just the two of us, in secret.

I haven't cooked a pigs head before, but this one is a beauty.
She is resting comfortably and with a certain detached air about her in the fridge.
And she is a cheap date at only R24.00 for half a head. (cut lengthways, and yes she does still have teeth and eyes)

So tonight, while I have the kitchen to myself, I am going to try roast pig head.
I have an idea I can fry the brain in a little flour and herbs.
It is apparently good on toast. (creamy texture)
The ears I will try boiled, and then crisply fried.
The rest I will give a good boiling with herbs and a bit of veges, and then roast as I would a wrack of lamb.
I think I can boil the water down to make a nice stock.

I wish I had the DVD recorder back, but still photo's will have to suffice.

All in the name of experimental cooking. Soon, we won't be able to be to choosy.

To be honest I am really looking forward to the kitchen and have a whole list of dishes I want to experiment with.
Red Bait, Sea Urchins, Sheep's head, Chicken Feet, Field Mice, Pigeons, various offal and other less risky options like tongue and tail and trotters.

I hope to fill several blog pages with the results of how these have turned out.

Any suggestions are experiences are welcome.

Introduction to From our Kitchen

The great news is, we can, and will, have a total gastronomic adventure for two years.
We will be cooking on open coals, supplemented with a little two plate gas cooker, and I will definitely be building a mud and clay wood burning oven. We will also have a hot box (thanks mum and dad) and of course will try a solar cooker as well.
Can you imagine catching fish for your dinner three nights a week from one of the top fishing spots on the East coast of South Africa, or dispatching a chicken or two to the pot each week.
Lots of fresh organic vegetables grown locally, eggs warm from under the chickens.
This will be a cooking adventure. And I can't wait.
On my list of to cook and taste. Other than the obvious, are: Red Bait, Sea Urchins, Various fish, pigs head, sheeps head, brains, chickens feet, field mice, snakes, birds, all sorts of offal, tongues, trotters and tails.
We will aim to create an air of culinary authority, and will be sure to lend extravagant experimentation to all cooking proceedings. We might even get Sonja to try a dish that she would never normally do. I will be eating alone otherwise.
We will see just how far we can push the envelope with what we have. We will get pigs ears grilled to perfection, and sheeps brain spread on toast.
We will catch what we need from the sea, or pick it fresh from an organic garden, dispatch it, dress it and hang it. We will have fresh goats milk and lots of opportunity for dairy. Watch us build a mud and clay adobe oven to cook it all in, or grill with us over our open flames.
We can show you how to make traditional African beer, sour milk in a gourd, and perhaps even snake, fieldmouse or guineafowl.
Absolute gastronomic inspiration to last the two years we will be here.
Of course we will have to try cookies too.
Besides all the above we will both be experimenting with variations on more common dishes, bottling and preserving, baking our own bread generally seeing how effectively we can sustain ourselves.