so let me get this out of the way up front canning food is at your own risk you fuck it up and get sick its on you follow the guides follow the science and you will be fine
canning food is a realllllllllllyyyyyyy old human thing food preservation is huge and helps make one self sufficient and it gives a sense of pride
I have all the stuff to do it, but I really need to get to canning. We are going to have soo much produce from the garden this year. I really don’t want it to go to waste. And after Gaspocalypse, I feel that it would not be a wise decision to give away the excess.
If you buy whole chicken or boned meat you should save the bones and boil them for a few days or a week bone broth is amazing for you can freeze it or can it if you got a pressure canner
I had an ex that her father made salsa as a hobby… he fire roasted the peppers and onions for red and green salsa…was some of the best salsa I have ever had in my life.
My mom (Step mom) made home made marinara sauce, and old family recipe from Italy, again was one of the best sauces I have ever had. I need to make it with her and take notes so I can continue that in the family.
Something about fresh prepaired food seems to be lost in the busy lives people have. At least from what I have seen. Taking the time to prepair food really makes such a huge difference. Even if it’s not the healthiest. My Oma and Opa (German for Grandma and Grandpa) made some of the best food I have ever had. We used to take pictures of opas roasts they were so good. They used everything of what they prepared, and leftovers were made into meals for the next day.
One of my opas secrets were was duck fat, and used bacon oil. Added so much flavor. I luckily before he passed got a cook book he wrote.
Cooking in general is becoming a lost art. I like to challenge myself to make anything outta nothing, ppl in the kitchen at work bitchin if they don’t have bitter for buns.
This is cool. I’ll need to bug my mom about canning soon. We have 20 crates of jars (help)
Bacon grease and duck fat are fantastic cooking tips.
I think family / community cookbooks are disappearing, and have been since the advent of the Internet. It’s really sad. They’re like time capsules for your life.
the air lock is the only modern addition to this recipe for kimchi
1 head purple cabbage
4 leaves of living cabbage
4 Chinese leeks chopped
10 cloves of Chinese garlic
1 tub of Gochugaru paste
fish sauce and salt for the cabbage bath
take the cabbage leaves and remove them from the knot place them in a brine bath with fish sauce
after 3 days in the bath remove and prep the rest of the ingredients in a bowl
it really doesn’t matter how much fish sauce you put in it will take in the flavor you need the salt water to basically be a brine so heavy salt
mixing everything adding the fresh living cabbage leaves at the end
put in your container (air locked) and let sit in a dark cool area for 3-6 months
place in the fridge DO NOT TAKE IT OUT AFTER IT WILL GO RANCID and serve
this is based on a recipe my Vietnamese neighbors taught me as a kid its really really good but takes the whole winter and spring
lasts till about the start of winter and we make another batch
Fat is the secret to good and savory food. The fat literally helps to suspend the seasoning and flavors. If you are not cooking with some fat (animal or plant based), then you are missing out on a whole dimension of food preparation.
Spicy is the food of my people. I would love to try it out. Especially since I will probably never eat at Nandos.
We need to get Pete in here. I am sure he cans. The dude is a wiz in the kitchen, even if he doubts himself.
It’s super easy. I’ll give you general ingredients, you have to play it by eye somewhat. Commercially they bind everything with xanthan gum, and I can’t be bothered even though I have it.
This is for one 500ml ball jar.
300g bird eye (piri piri) chillies. You can substitute Cayenne if you can’t find these. Use red ones. One or two green is fine.
One large onion.
5 decent sized cloves of garlic.
50-100 ml oil - any vegetable oil is fine, I’ve used olive, sunflower, and corn.
Thyme. Fresh or dried is fine. Loose the stalks if you’re using fresh. you want a good couple of teaspoons worth, but “to taste”
Juice of 2 lemons. Again, vary this to taste.
Process
Remove stalk from Chili, peel onion and halve or quarter it depending on the size of your blender.
Throw everything into blender, blitz until it’s as smooth as you want it. It should be a slightly orange colour.
Transfer to a saucepan and cook gently for 5-10 mins. We’re trying to thicken it up slightly and remove the raw vegetable taste.
Adjust the liquid level with water to achieve your desired consistency.
Once it’s done, you can either just transfer to a container and eat it quick (I could eat this in a day if i had a bbq or something, i am hopelessly addicted), or you could pressure can it.
Try it on fried chicken, roast chicken, pork chops stuff like that.
Without xanthan gum, I would expect this to separate after canning but this shouldn’t be a problem.
Edit: I’m a big believer in learning techniques over individual recipes. Obviously you need a recipe as a structure, but this recipe gives you a basic structure for making “Nando’s style” piri piri sauce. You can make it as liquid as you like or as thick as you like, you can adjust the heat etc.
This looks amazing. I am not sure how you tardis’d so much cabbage into that ball jar, but kudos.
I’ve tried to make Kimchi before, and wrecked it. I’ve made all kinds of fermented stuff and not had a problem, but I’ve never managed to pull of kimchi.
