Things to grow, make and do

[Aimless]

Looking for inspiration, tips, suggestions! Spring and summer are when I most want to live up to my post-neolithic homo sapiens sapiens heritage

Sourdough bread, sprouted beans, sprouted wheat bread

Yoghurt, cream cheese, ricotta

butter, buttermilk

home grown herbs and veggies

Candied ginger, ginger beer

more? all suggestions are welcome, but esp. looking for ingredients that can be used in different recipes, traditional things from our slower-living days, celebrations of man/microbe love, things that are hard to find in stores, things that are cheaper and/or more fun to make at home, etc

[Flixy]

I hear home grown magic mushrooms are fun!

My mum grew cherry tomatoes once that were very tasty.

[Bitter Jeweler]

Beef suet and marrow, as a bread spread.

[Aimless]

i have a dream. it's a sourdough pizza with homemade tomato sauce made from homegrown tomatoes, basil and garlic, homemade mozarella, some sort of home-cured meat, washed down with home-made ginger beer, followed by oh i dunno maybe some sort of dessert made from homemade yoghurt or ricotta. and stolen strawberries in stroh rum

any ideas for this meal? entrées? maybe many small courses including pizza? dessert alternatives? salad?

[Dreadnaught]

http://www.google.com/search?q=Pastrami+Pizza

How about make real beer?

[Flixy]

i have a dream. it's a sourdough pizza with homemade tomato sauce made from homegrown tomatoes, basil and garlic, homemade mozarella, some sort of home-cured meat, washed down with home-made ginger beer, followed by oh i dunno maybe some sort of dessert made from homemade yoghurt or ricotta. and stolen strawberries in stroh rum

any ideas for this meal? entrées? maybe many small courses including pizza? dessert alternatives? salad?

You have your own buffalo too?

[Illusions]

traditional things from our slower-living days

If you're going to make everything, why not your own knife too...

You could also learn how to make paper...

[Nessus]

You have your own buffalo too?

In a petri dish, an abomination before god, science and gourmet

[Dreadnaught]

Reminds me of a bit in Archer. I think you'd like that show...

[GGT]

If you're going to make everything, why not your own knife too...

You could also learn how to make paper...

And soap! Dandelion or herbal teas! How about learning how to sew some awesome wild Hawaiian type shirts? Take pictures wearing them, then put them in a scrapbook.

Scrapbooking! With your own homemade paper and homemade shirts, eating homemade pizza!

[Aimless]

hehe a scrapbook of my DYI endeavors why not first attempt at multigrain sourdough bread nearing completion. not 100% perfect due to some issues with the levain among other things, but looks like it'll be pretty good even so

[Illusions]

not 100% perfect due to some issues with the levain among other things

Are the other things that it was cooked in a modern oven, with supplies bought from a supermarket, where it and your ingredients arrived via modern transportation methods, and kept fresh using modern technology?

Spring and summer are when I most want to live up to my post-neolithic homo sapiens sapiens heritage

[Aimless]

another reason why the neolithic is terrible

[Bitter Jeweler]

You could make a kite, and then go fly it.

[Catgrrl]

I was tempted to buy a kite the other day Thought of you whilst in the kite aisle in a hardware store.

[Bitter Jeweler]

It wont be long till you are out teaching your little one to fly!

...a kite, that is.

[GGT]

another reason why the neolithic is terrible

That's why people enjoy camping.

[Dreadnaught]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[Aimless]

When you knead wheat and water together you make gluten. When you wash the dough you rinse away the starch. You're left with a lot of gluten. You can fry the gluten. It's fun as hell

[Nessus]

Try sticking your finger in molten lead. The magic of science at work!

[Illusions]

Try sticking your finger in molten lead. The magic of science at work!

Burn the witch lest it damn us all! Suffer not a witch to live!

[Aimless]

Looking for inspiration, tips, suggestions! Spring and summer are when I most want to live up to my post-neolithic homo sapiens sapiens heritage

Sourdough bread, sprouted beans, sprouted wheat bread

Yoghurt, cream cheese, ricotta

butter, buttermilk

home grown herbs and veggies

Candied ginger, ginger beer

Sourdough bread was fun and delicious but the project's been shelved as we've dramatically reduced our bread consumption. May start it up again if we decide to experiment with other kinds of bread-like foods.

Haven't really done much sprouting yet, and no sprouted wheat bread. Still on the to-do list!

Yogurt, cream cheese and ricotta were all fun. However, crème fraîche was a lot more rewarding. I used most of it to make butter and buttermilk, so, in the end, I had three delicious home-made ingredients to play with. The buttermilk went into marinades, sauces and buttermilk biscuits. Next time it or the crème fraîche will go into frosting and/or ganache.

Herbs and veggies are an ongoing project and so frickin' nice... the ginger loves the gardening and I love the eating homegrown cucumber, squash, lettuce, spinach, chard, paprika etc etc are all delicious. That being said, I think the tomatoes have been the best, esp. the various heirloom tomatoes. When ripe, they're fantastic in salads, roasted, etc. When green they're just the BOMB when pickled in cinnamon, ginger and some other spices. I can eat whole jars of the stuff if no-one stops me

Ginger beer is still on the to-do list but candied ginger was easy and tasty, esp. in biscotti.

Other useful things I've made are ghee (clarified butter, easy), chicken schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), lard. The ghee was the most useful and versatile, the schmaltz the most flavorful. The lard was fun but proved to be of limited use in our kitchen.

I have spent a great deal of time putting things through the grinder with pleasant and useful results. Grinding meat at home is great because you can adjust the composition to your liking. Grinding chickpeas is the best way to make falafel!

Lately I've gone nuts over nut-butters which have been used in things like cookies, frosting and "ice-cream". I understand now why those paleo diet folks are always so happy

Anyway, making ingredients and/or transforming one food into another very different form is extremely satisfying on so many levels. It's like playing with your food, but in a good way. Sometimes it makes for more flavorful ingredients, often ingredients that aren't all that easy or cheap to purchase. You get the pleasure of knowing you've made something "for real" and in the process you learn a lot about food. It's also a good way to slow down If you aren't doing this sort of thing, you should def. give it a try.

My to-do list is never-ending. Recent additions are fruit- and vegetable leathers, dehydrated foods, modernist cheese sauce.

[GGT]

I've had difficulties putting a tomato vine trellis in place, let alone figuring out the right time to pick dangling peppers.

minx, I have no idea how you manage to do all that you mentioned, while attending medical school, and planning a wedding. Seriously. Does that make you a Superman or a Superswede?

[Aimless]

I've had difficulties putting a tomato vine trellis in place, let alone figuring out the right time to pick dangling peppers.

minx, I have no idea how you manage to do all that you mentioned, while attending medical school, and planning a wedding. Seriously. Does that make you a Superman or a Superswede?

None of the above you'll note most of these things involve little work and what work is involved takes much less time than what I routinely spend on fucking about on the internet

[GGT]

Has anyone here ever planted the stumps of their kitchen potatoes, carrots, onions or other tubers that begin to grow "eyes" or new roots...and had good results?

[Timbuk2]

Have tried to plant both a budding garlic clove and a budding onion in the ground.

I forgot about both but nothing ever appeared where I planted them, so I'm guessing they failed.

Supermarket garlic/onions probably take a bit more care to regrow than the free, wild-grown versions.

[GGT]

A good thing to make: cream cheese dip, using fresh horseradish. Quite good with hard pretzels. Add some cocktail or chile sauce for a shrimp dip.

[GGT]

My serrano del sol peppers are hot growers. More proliferate than expected, practically falling off the vines. Too spicy for chipmunks and other garden rodents, also too much for my household kitchen. I'm giving them away now, practically pushing them. *burp*

[Aimless]

Has anyone here ever planted the stumps of their kitchen potatoes, carrots, onions or other tubers that begin to grow "eyes" or new roots...and had good results?

Have tried to plant both a budding garlic clove and a budding onion in the ground.

I forgot about both but nothing ever appeared where I planted them, so I'm guessing they failed.

Supermarket garlic/onions probably take a bit more care to regrow than the free, wild-grown versions.

I mostly just do that so I can use the shoots


New list:

Things with cashew butter and cashew milk (cookies, cakes, ice-cream, yogurt, various desserts)
Weird things with avocado

Different kinds of zabaglione

Different kinds of chicken ballotine

Chicken skins in various ways esp. inspired by helzel

DUCK

duck breast prosciutto

Artichoke vichyssoise

Lots of sprouting

Sprouted grain/bean bread

Bean-based desserts

The perfect seitan

Meat-substitutes based on seitan and tofu

[GGT]

minx, you sound more like a gastronomist than a gastroenterologist. Are you sure you're following the 'right' profession?