Maintaining your Bread Starter

When making bread, the best taste and texture come from using your own starter. A starter is a live culture living in a flour and water mixture, that you replenish and use each time you bake. There are many methods and detailed instructions for making and maintaining bread starters. Most are too complicated and work-intensive for me. However, here are a couple of great web sites that are helpful.

http://www.breadtopia.com/sourdough-no-knead-method/
http://www.grouprecipes.com/89655/no-knead-sourdough-bread.html

Assuming you have been given a live starter, here is how to maintain it.

Keep it in a 1-quart flip-top (French) jar in the frig. Keep the lid clamped but don't use the rubber jar ring so that a tiny bit of air can get in.

Feed the starter once a week or every few weeks. Add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water (or equal amounts by weight which means slightly less water).

Some insist on purified or bottled water (let stand overnight or boil) and some say it doesn't matter. I just use tap water.

You can use unbleached, rye or wholewheat flour, but generally stick to the same flour as is in the starter already. The microbes are used to it. You can slowly switch a starter from one kind of flour to another. You can use the starter for any kind of bread or the same kind as the starer.

Stir well. Some say use a wooden sppon or chopstick but short contact with metal is okay).

Dump some starter down the drain if there is too much in the jar. Don't fill the jar more than half full because the starter needs room to double or even quadruple). The amount of starter you produce will depend on how much you need for your recipes. For my bread recipes, you only need 1/4 cup.

If the starter has been neglected, feed it 2 or 3 times before using it to bake bread.

After feeding, put the jar back in the frig overnight or, if baking within a few hours, leave it out on the counter. It should double within a few hours at room temperature. Some starters are very thin and bubbly. Some starters are very stiff. They will have a very strong brewery smell.

A few hours before baking, bring out the starter and bring it to room temperature. After feeding it, use it within one day or within a few hours if at room temperature.

Once you are ready to bake, stir the starter with chopstick to remove the bubbles. Measure out a generous 1/4 cup --- you can use a metal spoon and measuring cup. Mix the water called for in the recipe (reduced by 1/4 cup) and starter in a measuring cup or bowl. Add to the flour and salt mixture.

Classic Sourdough No-Knead Bread

I lost my confidence with sourdough bread after the first try --- my new friend Diana says you have to have your mojo intact when tackling baking bread and I agree. Just lately I tried again.

I borrowed precious starter from Diana (thank you). I fed it and dashed around town trying to find a cast iron pot that didn't cost anarmandaleg, poured over recipe books and watched Youtube videos, to distill the instructions for no-knead sourdough bread and maintaining your starter.

By the way, Florin, the transilvanian baker, says that using a starter instead of store yeast is not sourdough --- it is levain. However, this recipe is for the "classic" sourdough with golden hard crust and chewy texture with lots of holes, which is obtained by the pot method of baking.

I had a very stressful two days, but it has been so worthwhile as I have now invented the easiest possible method.

To get the typical golden crust and chewy holey texture, you need a cast iron pot (5-quart size okay). They say you can use an enamel cast iron, Pyrex, or casserole as long as it has a lid, as well but be sure you can heat it to 500 degrees with nothing in it. I cracked an Emile Henry baking dish once trying to roast vegetables so I am leary. You can use the starter for regular no-knead bread and regular bread pans just substituting 1/4 starter for 1/4 tsp. yeast. The crust and texture won't be the "classic" sourdough though.

Here is the classic sourdough bread with all the wisdom and lore I gathered. This is the easy way --- no sponge or other intermediate steps.

Sourdough No-Knead Bread (1 1-1/2-lb. loaf)

Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached flour with no additives (e.g. Rogers) (You can use 1 cup wholewheat and 2 cups unbleached flour)
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup starter
1-1/2 cups bottled or purified water (let stand overnight or boil to get rid of the chlorine --- I forgot, and it worked okay)

Instructions:
Assuming you have a nice bubbly smelly starter in the frig (should be kept in a 1 quarter flip-top French jar, lid closed, but without the rubber jar ring), the night before, feed it with 1 cup flour and 1 cup purified water, stir with wooden spoon or chopstick. Again I forgot the purified water but it all worked. If there's too much starter, throw some out. The jar should only be 1/4 to 1/2 full to leave room for the starter to double or quadruple even.
Put the jar back in the frig overnight or, if baking within a few hours, leave it out on the counter. It should double within a few hours at room temperature.
In the morning or a few hours before baking, bring out the starter and bring it to room temperature. After feeding it, use it within one day or within a few hours if at room temperature.
Around lunch time or early afternoon, mix flour and salt in a large or medium sized bowl.
Stir the starter with chopstick to remove the bubbles. Measure out a generous 1/4 cup --- you can use a metal spoon and measuring cup. Mix water and starter in a 2-cup measuring cup or bowl.
Add the water mixture to the flour mixture. Stir with spoon until the flour is mostly mixed in. You will have a very wet mixture.
Cover with plastic wrap or put in a plastic bag and twist tight to prevent the dough from drying out.
Set aside to rise for a full 18 hours. It will eventually start to bubble and should more or less double, but don't fret about it as I did.
In the morning, put some wheat bran on the counter.
Oil a medium sized bowl.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl with a metal spoon and dump it on the wheat bran.
Oil or flour your hands and flatten out the dough.
Fold the dough four sides into the centre.
Put some wheat bran on the dough and cover with a clean cloth and let rest 15 minutes (I forgot this step but nothing went wrong)
Pick up the dough with floured or oiled hands and put it fold-side up into the oiled bowl.
Cover with a clean cloth.
Leave the bowl on the counter for 1-1/2 to 2 hours to rise again. Again it is supposed to double, but it's hard to tell. It is ready when the dough does not bounce back if you poke it with a finger about 1/4 inch into the dough, i.e. the hole stays in the dough.
1/2 hour before baking, heat the cast iron Dutch oven and lid in the stove at 500 degrees F.
When the dough is ready, open the oven, and using oven mitts, carefully take the pot out and set it on the oven door. Take the lid off.
Take off the mitts, take the dough out of the bowl with your hands and gently drop it into the hot pot. It doesn't matter how it lands, is lopsided, or doesn't fill the pot. Don't touch the pot and don't try to move or touch the dough.
Put the mitts on again and put the lid on the pot.
Put the pot into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Take the lid off the pot, turn the oven down to 450 degrees F, and bake another 15 minutes.
Using oven mitts, take the pot out of the oven and put it on top of the stove. Take the lid off and pry the loaf out of the pot (easy) and put it on a rack to cool.
Wait 1 hour to slice and eat.
Store out on the bread board cut side down or freeze in a ziploc bag.

Spicy Dill Pickles

I was attracted to pickling because of the wonderful spices used. Always looking for something to use allspice for, you know.

This recipe is another one handed down from grandma and mom, so I tried it again after all these years. Since the recipe is vague about the pickling spice, I felt free to make up my own creation. You can buy pickling spices blends but it's better to make your own so you have more control over the contents.

Reading the old recipes, especially the Mennonite and Ukrainian ones, there are some very interesting spices used. Have you used grape, cherry or oak leaves in your pickles? How about horseradish root? I can't wait to find some and try those in the pickles. Of course, we are in a time crunch to pickle and preserve while the produce is fresh and available.



With canning, the quantities can be quite hard to estimate, so I wing it.

An average of 14 pounds of cucumbers is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 9 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A bushel weighs 48 pounds and yields 16 to 24 quarts—an average of 2 pounds per quart. Select firm cucumbers of the appropriate size—about 1½ inches for gherkins and 4 inches for dills. Use odd-shaped and more mature cucumbers for relishes and bread-and-butter-style pickles.

Spicy Dill Pickles (5 quarts)

Ingredients:

About 10 pounds of 4-inch fresh crisp cucumbers.

9 cups water (depending on your area, you may have to use distilled water. Vancouver city water is okay)

3 cups white vinegar 5% (any store vinegar)

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup pickling salt (not kosher, sea, or table salt)

5 fresh dill flower heads (or more if you like)

5 garlic cloves

5 red chili peppers, fresh or dried

5 cloves

Pickling spice (see below)



Instructions:

Wash 5 quart jars and lids with soap and water and rinse well.

Set the jars in a 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Put the lids into very hot water for 20 minutes but do not boil.

Scrub 4 to 6 inch pickling cucumbers well.

In a large pot, boil the water, vinegar, sugar and salt. Leave on a simmer while you prepare the jars.

Take the jars out of the oven and set on the counter using oven mitts but don't touch the inside of the jar or the rim.

Put the 1 tsp. pickling spice, 1 clove, 1 garlic, 1 chili pepper, and 1 dill spring into each jar.

Using tongs or hands, pack the cucumbers tightly in the jar.

Bring the brine to a boil and, using the wide mouth funnel, pour into the jars leaving 1/2 inch head room.

Wide the rims of the jars with a clean towel.

Put the lids and screw the bands on fingertip tight.

Put the jars into a hot water bath.

1) Old way --- til the cukes discolour.

2) Cover jars with 1 inch water, bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes.

Remove the jars from the water with the jar lifter and set on a clean cloth on the counter.

Leave the jars undisturbed for 24 hours. The lids should all snap. If any do not, put those jars in the frig and use them first.



Pickling spice:

Mix the any of the following depending on what you are making. I found that you have to make sure some of the large broken up spices get into each jar.

Allspice, whole **

Mustard seed *

Celery seed *

Coriander seed *

Red pepper flakes

Bay leaf, fresh or dried, broken up *

Cinnamon stick, broken up **

Dill seed

Mace **

Cardamon pods, green **

Star anise, broken up **

Juniper berries **

Dried or fresh ginger root **

Grape leaves, cherry leaves or oak leaves between the layers of cucumbers.

*Standard for pickling spice
** Optional for pickling spice

Back to old fashioned Pickling

Decades after giving up canning and ditching the precious collection of sealer jars (the old kind with glass lids and zinc screw tops), and quite a few years after finally giving away all my blue enamel canner, lovely metal funnel and lifter, I again have the urge to pickle things. I think it's my love of spices and herbs that has enticed me back.

Luckily, like vegetable gardening, home canning is enjoying a resurgence, hence the availability of Bernardin jars in most grocery stores again. (Did anyone else have trouble hunting down Italian parsley seeds this year? Our good Bob at The Natural Gardener, informed me that the nurseries were caught off guard and could not keep up with the demand for seeds and vegetable and herb transplants this spring.)

My recipes from back in the day are terse, and my memory of the proper techniques was vague, so I canvassed friends and researched the project on the internet. The pressure of time was on as I heard a rumour that cucumbers are "over" due to the rain, chatting to a total stranger in the store, as one does.

In a panicked search for a canner to borrow, I collected several offers, and then found a canner and a jar lifter, a plastic funnel, and some new-fangled gizmos like a stick with a magnet for picking up metal lids out of boiling water, regular tongs, on sale at good old neighbourhood HH.

As I recall, in the "earth mother" age, we poured hot pickles and brine into jars, put the metal snap lids on, and waited for them to pop (seal). However, modern methods call for "processing" the jars in boiling water for 10 or 15 minutes. My mother and grandmother didn't have snap lids, they used the rubber jar rings and glass lids and probably the hot canning bath but I can't remember. I do remember the hot paraffin was used to seal the amazing plum jam and chokecherry jelly, which are impossible to duplicate with anything we have available now.


Here is the web site that I think is most valuable for basic techniques and safety tips:

http://www.homecanning.com/can/ALBasics.asp


There are lots of delicious sounding recipes on the internet, but I am going to share my grandma's and mother's recipes for Three Minute Pickles and Spicy Dill Pickles. I made up my own pickling spice mix, the fun part.

I bought the fresh dill in flower and 10 pounds of lovely crisp cukes at the Richmond Country Farms on Steveston Highway. Use the cucumbers the same day when they are still really crisp.

Use pint jars for the Three Minute Pickles and quart jars for the Spicy Dills and use new metal snap lids.

I made up the Three Minute Pickles in about 1 hour between work and making dinner. I made up the Spicy Dills in another hour this morning before work. Very easy but stay organized -- the kitchen must remain very clean at all times.



Anna Reimer's 3-Minute Pickles (makes 7 to 8 pint (250 ml. jars)

Ingredients:
5 pounds or so of pickling cucumbers (12 cups sliced). You can use the bigger ones and save time slicing.
3 medium or large white onions, sliced finely
1/2 cup pickling salt (You can't substitute kosher or sea salt and you can't use table salt.)
3 cups white vinegar (5% solution, which is any store vinegar)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. celery seeds
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 t. turmeric

Instructions:

Slice the onions finely and put them into a bowl with the pickling salt.
Mix salt and onions and let stand overnight or for several hours. Drain. (I forgot this step so my onions only stood for a few minutes.)
Turn the oven to 200 degrees F.
Wash jars and lids in hot water and soap and drain in a clean place or run them through the dishwasher.
Put the jars into the heated oven for 20 minutes.
Put the lids into a pot of hot water on the stove and keep hot. (I read later you are not supposed to boil the lids, just hold them in very hot water.)
Wash the cucumbers very well with a clean scrub brush.
Slice the cucumbers into 1/8-to 1/4-inch slices (you'll need about 12 cups) and put them into a large bowl.
Mix the cucumbers and the drained onions.
In a stainless steel pot, boil the vinegar, sugar and spices.
Add the cucumber and onion mixture
Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.
One minute before the cucumbers are done, take the jars out of the oven using oven mitts and put them on a clean towel on the counter near the stove. Don't touch the jar rim or insides with the oven mitts. (I used a baking sheet to avoid handling the sterile jars too much, but you have to be careful as they slide around.)
Using your wide mouth funnel, fill each jar with cucumber mixture leaving 1/2 inch (1 cm.) head space, and then fill each jar with the brine from the pot. The brine should cover the cucumbers but leave the required head space. If you spill any on the rims, carefully wipe the top of the rim clean and dry with a clean towel or paper towel.
Fish the lids out of the hot water with your tongs and put them on a clean towel.
Put a metal lid on each jar.
Screw the screw bands on finger tip tight, which is not tight at all.
Leave the jars to pop. The metal jar lids will seal as the jars cool and the lid will be sucked down and be slightly concave. It can take up to 30 minutes for them all to pop.
Let stand for 24 hours undisturbed.
Store in a cool dark place or in the frig.
You can eat them in 2 or 3 days.

If you are going to process the jars, you have to get the hot water "bath" going at the start of the process. Determine how much water you need in the canner and bring the water to a boil and then simmer while you get the jars ready.

These are the instructions from http://www.homecanning.com/can/ALStepbyStep.asp?ST=5

Place jars on elevated rack in boiling water canner.
When all jars are filled or canner is full, lower rack into water. Be sure water covers jars by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm); add boiling water if required.
Place lid on canner and turn heat to high.
When water returns to a full rolling boil, begin counting "heat processing" time - 10 minutes in this case. When time has elasped, turn off heat and remove canner lid. Allow boil to subside, then lift jars using the jar lifter without tilting and place them upright on a towel to cool in a draft-free place. DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.
Cool jars undisturbed for 24 hours.
After jars have cooled, check jar seals by pressing on centre of each lid. Refrigerate or reprocess any unsealed jars.
Wipe jars with a damp cloth.
Label and store jars in a cool, dark place. For best quality use home canned foods within one year.

Salade Niçoise with Beef

Salad Niçoise has always been a favourite of mine. The classic recipe calls for green beans, potatoes, tuna, olives, eggs, anchovies, and Dijon vinaigrette.

This recipe has the same Provencal taste and is really delicious, perfect summer dinner. You can use leftover beef or broil a sirloin steak. I made it tonight in about 15 minutes, including running out to the garden for parsley, tomatoes, arugula, and green onions several times.

Salade Niçoise with Beef

Ingredients:
1 clove garlic
1 lb sirloin steak
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Capers or pickled peppers
Parsley, chopped
Arugula
Red onion, sliced or green onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
Nicoise olives, pitted

Instructions:
Grate the garlic and rub into the steak.
Preheat the broiler.
Put the steak on the broiling pan 6 inches from the element.
Broil 5 minutes on each side. Take out and let rest for 10 minutes.
Slice thinly across the grain.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together mustard and vinegar. Slowly pour in the olive oil while whisking.
Add capers or pickled peppers, parsley, and pepper.
Place arugula on a platter.
Layer the meat, onion, and tomatoes.
Pour over the vinaigrette.
Garnish with olives.

The Best Sour Cream You've Ever Tasted

I made this yesterday morning and it was ready this morning. It takes about 2 minutes to make and it is silk smooth and delicious.

Sour cream is great in cucumber salad, as a condiment with most soups, and is fabulous with baked potatoes and potato salad.

When making yogurt and sour cream I always use jars that have been washed in the dishwasher fairly recently, air dried and then stored with the lid on. There is a surprising amount of mould spores around any kitchen especially on dish rags and counters, no matter how clean you are. Of course you should be cleaning the dish rags and counters with hot water and dish soap constantly and avoiding cross contamination. According to CBC's Marketplace, using antibacterial products makes no difference at all.

In any case, we want the good healthy bacteria to live and multiply in our food and our gut. According to Beliveau and Gingras in Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer, the health benefits of fermented milk products are many.

You can also sterilize jars by putting them in a 200 degree F oven for 20 minutes. The lids should be simmered in a pot of boiling water. Of course, the jars should be washed with hot water and soap and rinsed well before sterilizing.

Homemade Sour Cream

Equipment:
1 litre or quart sealer jar and lid

Ingredients:
2 cups (500 ml.) light or heavy cream (half and half or whipping)
3 Tbsp. (100 ml.) cultured or live buttermilk (read the label to make sure it contains live cultures or bacteria)

Instructions:
Pour boiling water over a clean sealer jar (inside and outside) and the lid to sterilize.
Dry carefully with a clean dry tea towel or paper towel and avoid contact with anything in the kitchen.
Pour the cream and buttermilk into the hot jar. If you have any dribbles or spills, use a paper towel or clean tea towel to wipe the jar.
Cover the jar tightly and shake to combine the ingredients.
Keep at room temperature until it reaches the desired thickness and tang --- about 24 hours.
Store in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks.
Throw the sour cream away if mold begins to form on the top.

Making Homemade Butter in a Food Processer --- Sooo easy

For a fascinating history of butter making and a discussion of using sweet versus cultured cream, see the following web site. The site also explains the flavour and colour of butter depends on the season. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/How-To-Make-Butter-And-Buttermilk.aspx

The ultimate web site on butter is Butter through the Ages at http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/index.html

I made butter this morning in about 15 minutes using the following instructions.

Homemade Butter

Equipment:
Food processer, with plastic, whisk, or chopping blade (I used the chopping blade).
Glass or measuring cups, various sizes
2 cups heavy whipping cream (Have the cream around 60°F/15°C before churning. I didn't warm mine up that but it worked anyway). Use fresh cream preferably straight from the store and use as soon as you open the carton. Apparently, "vat pasteurized cream" tastes better than ultra heat treated (UHT) or HTST pasteurized but I don't know a source.
Ice water (cold water with a few ice cubs in it).
Instructions:
Fill the food processor about 1/4 to 1/2 full. Blend. The cream will go through the following stages: Sloshy, frothy, soft whipped cream, firm whipped cream, coarse whipped cream. Then, suddenly, the cream will seize, its smooth shape will collapse, and the whirring will change to sloshing. The butter is now fine grained bits of butter in buttermilk, and a few seconds later, a glob of yellowish butter will separate from milky buttermilk. (Mine didn't form a glob until I added ice cold water with ice cubes in the third washing later.)
Drain the buttermilk and save for bread baking. You can eat the butter now --- it has a light taste --- though it will store better if you wash and work it.Add 1/2 cup ice-cold water, and blend further. Discard wash water and repeat until the wash water is clear (7 times). This will ensure that the butter does not go rancid.Now, work butter to remove suspended water. Place damp butter into a cool bowl and knead with a potato masher. The water will come out --- drain it off. The butter is now ready. Put butter in a French butter crock, ramekins or roll in waxy freezer paper. You'll have about half as much butter as the amount of cream you started with. You can freeze the butter or keep on the counter in a French butter crock. See this page for pictures and details: http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/crocks.html

If desired, add salt before working.

To make compounds, see this page for recipes: http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/compound-recipes.html

For even tastier butter, culture the cream before churning. Pour the cream into a pottery or glass bowl. Add a few tablespoons store-bought live cultured yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, clabbered cream, or creme fraiche, and let sit uncovered on the kitchen counter for 6 to 14 hours to thicken and ferment before churning. It should taste delicious, slightly sour, with no aftertaste. If it is bubbly, or smells yeasty or gassy, discard. Use some butter making tools, such as a churn, paddle for working, or molds for forming the finished butter.

Perfect Roasted Vegetables --- If you only know one recipe ...

Besides knowing how to make a simple green salad, everyone needs to know how to make roasted vegetables. Make them once or twice a week and you'll get all your vitamins and phytonutrients.

Once you've got your roasted veggies, then you can eat them hot or cold with meat or fish, made into a sandwich, or made into a salad with leafy greens and nuts or cheese.

Almost any vegetable can be roasted. Make your own combinations. Be sure to use fresh crisp vegetables.

For a special treat, use duck fat instead of olive oil.

Perfect Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

Basic combination:
2 sweet peppers, red, green, yellow, or orange, sliced in 1 inch strips
1 onion (red, yellow, or white), sliced
One or two root vegetables (yams, carrots, parsnips, turnips, potatoes, beets), with peel, chopped in 1 inch chunks, or sliced diagonally
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Optional:
Zucchini or yellow summer squash, sliced
Acorn or butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
Eggplant, with peel, cut in slices or chunks
Cherry tomatoes or big tomatoes cut into chunks
Asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces
Corn on the cob
Brussels sprouts, cut in half
Mushrooms (cremini)
Fennel bulb, sliced
Broccoli, cut into largish sprigs
Lemon, sliced
Garlic cloves, grated or whole
Knob of fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes
One or more fresh green herbs, chopped (rosemary, thyme, oregano, tarragon, parsley, basil, sage, mint) (optional)
Chili powder (for corn on the cob)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. ( 225 degrees C.). Put the rack(s) in the middle of the oven.)
Put a sheet of foil on 1 or two large baking sheets. Don't use a non-stick baking sheet.
Heap the prepared vegetables on the baking sheet (s).
Pour on olive oil liberally.
Add salt and pepper, not too much.
If using them, add the garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and/or fresh herbs.
Mix well with hands or tongs.
Spread out into one layer (otherwise, they steam instead of roast). Use two baking sheets if necessary.
Put into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until all the veggies are cooked and golden brown.
Broil for 5 minutes at the end if you want more browning.
Remove from the oven, and move to a platter or casserole dish.

Roast Leg of Lamb with Joan's Accompaniments

I made the roast leg of lamb early one morning (to avoid heating the kitchen) and served it cold with salads in the evening for my old dear friends Kim and Stephen.

I grew up in a cooking culture that cooked all cuts of meat to well done, braised or pot roast style, mostly, and thought the tougher cuts had more flavour. I have had to teach myself how to cook better cuts of meat medium rare.

I cannot forget the image of my a pasture with 6 lambs that my Australian friend, Heather, painted. She and her husband eat only lamb and only lamb that they grow themselves. Every year they buy 6 lambs and then take each one to the abbatoir as the freezer empties. My dream come true --- my own grass-fed lamb all year round. MMMM!

I find Stongs nearly always has some kind of special on for lamb. This week it was fresh Australian leg of lamb. You can also use shoulder of lamb. You always want bone and fat in the meat because that's where the flavour and the nutrients are located.

Health benefits:

Lamb has incredible health benefits especially if it's 100% grass-fed as described in the excerpt below from http://www.mountvernonfarm.net/benefits.html My friend Patrick tells me that eating lamb is a good bet since most lamb is grass-fed. Nowadays, apparently the Australians are also turning to grain finishing. Too bad. Also, Patrick advises me not worry about lamb being tough as it is like pork, always tender.

Don't forget now, eat all the fat to get the health benefits of CLA for your heart and to prevent cancer. You can read more about the benefits of animal fat in Jennifer McLagan's great cookbook called fat.

Mount Vernon Farm website extract

In ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats, bison, deer, etc.), feeding grain — even if the grain is organic — produces meats that are not as healthy as 100% grass-fed meats because feeding just a little grain reduces the health benefits of the meat. Grass-fed meat is a lean, flavorful health food. It provides you with high levels of the antioxidant Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), which may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer. CLA also fights and reduces obesity, heart disease, “bad” cholesterol, adult onset diabetes, and many other ailments.

Synthetic CLA is available in health food stores, but CLA in its natural form (from 100% grass-fed meat) is 600 times more biologically available to your body, according to Professor T.R. Dhiman of Utah State University as published in the Stockman Grass Farmer Magazine.

Grass-fed meat also has six times the amount of ‘good’ Omega-3 fatty acids, the proper 1:1 ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty-acids (the ratio found in plants; a ratio higher than 1:4 is detrimental to your health and grain-fed meat can have a ratio as high as 1:14), and four times the amount of vitamins E and A than grain-fed meat.

Grass-fed products also contain Activator X, a powerful catalyst only found in animal fats that helps your body absorb and utilize minerals.

All these benefits of pasture finished meat come with about the same amount of fat as skinless chicken, and at a fraction of the calories of grain-fed meat. You will want to eat the fat as that is where most of the benefits are concentrated. This is a super food that tastes great and is reasonably priced, especially when considering the extra nutrients in our meat. You would have to eat five to six servings of grain-fed meat to equal the nutrient intake from one serving of grass-fed, and you would be consuming all that additional, unneeded poor-quality fat and calories as well.

Cooking tips:

I have learned to use a meat thermometer. Patrick can just look at the meat and press it with his finger and know whether is is done. I like this traditional idea, but just don't trust myself yet. In any case, don't over cook lamb because it will shrink considerably. When you look at lamb that is done to medium rare, it will have shrunk a little (the bone will stick out slightly).
Gently press the tip of your middle finger and your thumb together. With the other hand, feel the fleshy area below the thumb. This is medium rare.

For comparison here's how the range goes (not that we would cook lamb that way):
Little finger to thumb - well done (quite firm)
Ring finger to thumb - medium (gives a little)
Middle finger to thumb - medium rare (gives a little more)
Index finger to thumb - rare (gives a lot)
This website explains it in detail:
http://elise.com/recipes/archives/007259the_finger_test_to_check_the_doneness_of_meat.php
Best of this blog:

I use a similar method using my face. If it's the softness of my cheek, it's rare; my chin, medium and my forehead, well done. It'd work a treat if I didn't keep getting distracted and forgetting that I'm cooking at all!

Keep in mind that it takes a piece of meat, any meat, a while to go from raw to medium rare, yet little time to go from medium rare to absolutely inedible hammered well done. My best advice is to pay attention to the juice. When a steak or burger begins to bleed, when the juices coming from the cut are bloody, you are looking at a medium rare temp. If the juices are clear, that is well done. Medium will tend to have an opaque and slightly bloody appearance.

Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board http://www.sksheep.com/cooking_lamb.htm, cooking tips:

Lamb should be cooked at low, moderate temperature not higher than 160° C (325° F). Slow cooking ensures a tender, juicy, evenly coloured and delicious final product.
Internal temperature at the center of the roast: Rare 60° C (140° F) Medium 65° C (150° F)Well done 70° C (160° F).
Lamb with an outside layer of fat or bone takes longer to cook.
Frozen lamb does not need to be thawed before cooking, but will require approximately 1.5 times the recommended cooking time. Braise frozen thick chops, shanks, and neck slices only slightly longer than comparable defrosted cuts. Broil frozen chops and patties further from the heat to ensure that the meat does not brown on the outside before it is fully cooked.
Leg, loin, ribs, shoulder, and shank --- cook by dry heat, e.g. roast. Chops from these cuts --- broil. Shoulder chops --- can also be braised. Breast, shank and neck --- cook by moist heat methods e.g. simmer or braise.


Roast Leg of Lamb

Ingredients:
1 leg of lamb, any size
8 garlic cloves
4 sprigs rosemary


Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. ( 165 degrees C.) for 20 minutes.
Rinse the meat.
Peel the garlic cloves and slice them lengthwise into halves. Don't add salt and pepper.
With a small paring knife, cut incisions into the meat every 2 inches and stuff them with garlic and rosemary.
Season with salt and pepper.
Put a rack into a roasting pan.
Put the meat on the rack, and roast uncovered for 1-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer inserted into the centre of the meat (not touching bone) registers 130-135 degrees F. (55 degrees C.). Cooking time will vary with the thickness of the meat.
Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes. Place a foil tent loosely over it. As the meat rests, the internal temperature will increase by several degrees, the muscle fibers will relax, and the juice that has come to the surface of the meat during cooking will begin to return to the center. A well-rested piece of meat will be more tender, and will retain its juices better when you slice it.
Serve well-chilled or hot.
Serve with rhubarb chutney.

Joan's accompaniments:
We’ve been doing those little new potatoes boiled with little onions, even if you buy the large green onions and cut off the green ends and save for salads. Boil that together until done. Then drain and add olive oil, coarse sea salt, and fresh pepper and mix together like a salad but it’s a warm potato dish. It is wonderful. With that I just take a simple lettuce, leafy green or butter, not spring mix, and add an herb (cilantro) and green onion, and then also just add olive oil, salt, pepper. That’s it. Serve with roast meat or fish.

Caprinhas --- Great Summer Cooler

This is a great Brazilian drink, very healthy. One of my Brazilian students, Helena, taught me this one. She also brought the cachaca (pronounced kashasa), which is a coconut-based liquor, with her in a fabulous pottery container shaped like a coconut.

Brazilians like their Caprinhas very sweet, but you can cut the sugar down a bit.
Apparently you can make Caprinhas with any fruit you have around, but the limes are terrific. Also, you can use vodka or Ypioca (sugar cane liquor) instead of cachaca.

Serve to your guests when they arrive --- it really makes for an immediate recovery from the blasting heat outside.

You can also make each drink separately and muddle the lime and sugar for each drink separately in the glass.

Caprinha

Ingredients: (makes 4 drinks)
4 limes
1/2 cup sugar
4 shots (oz.) of cachaca
ice

Instructions:
An hour or so in advance, put the glasses into the freezer (use old-fashioneds, i.e. short, fat glasses, for this drink).
Cut the limes into quarters and cut out the white pith but leave the peel.
Put the lime quarters and 1/4 cup sugar into a medium sized bowl or large (4 cup) measuring cup.
Using a pestle (wooden if you have one), muddle (press into a mush) the limes and sugar together, to get out both the juice and the oil from the lime peel.
Add the cachaca to the mixture.
Put the other 1/4 cup sugar into a small bowl for dipping the rims of the glasses.
Take the glasses out of the freezer.
Dip each glass in the lime mixture and then into the dry sugar.
Put the sugar remaining from dipping the glasses into the lime mixture and stir.
Fill the glasses 3/4 full of ice cubes.
Pour the lime mixture into each glass and add 4 lime quarters to each glass.