Basil - Tear or Chop

Grapegirl and I were having a debate on whether to tear or chop basil.  I am chop, she is tear.  She suggested I ask twitter: 

"tweeps, please settle a household debate. Basil => tear or chop? And prove it! Blind tasting?"

Unfortunately no one actually said they done a blind taste test between the two versions, but the results were about 90% in favour of the tear over the chop.  Tho some people had tried mortle and pestle Vs food processor for basil pesto (mortle and pestle was favoured).  

I was unhappy that no one had actually tried both methods, but just took some TV chefs advice.  I am one for always doing trials and exploring what happens.  I am always asking the question "why?", and "is there a better way?".  

Aim: 

To investigate whether basil leaves should be torn or chopped

Method:

Part 1 - Visual inspection

Grab 2 leaves of similar size. Cut one in half, tear the other in half.  Below is a photo 5 minutes after cutting/tearing.  The bottom leaf was cut and showed more bruising.

After 15 minutes (who would have it hanging around that long?) I took another dodgy photo.  They appeared to have the same bruising.

Part 2 - Blind Taste Test
Grab 2 leaves of similar size. Cut one into 1/8's, tear one into 1/8's.  Soak in the exact same amount of water (1/3 cup) for 15 min.

We then performed a double blind taste test.  Both of us agreed that the glass on the left was not only higher in aromatics and fresher, but had less phenolics (bitterness).

Conclusion

Tear is better than chop.

And just for interest, my clever wife has tried something different this year for growing the basil.  A large pot with potting mix, no saucer underneath but buried a little into the soil, and a clear bag around the top.  Pot in the ground keeps it from drying out, black pot helps the soil warm up, bag keeps the top warm and moist.  I am a lucky husband.

Chocolate Pasta - WTF?

This Blog is part of the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - Death by Chocolate.  The idea is to post a recipe during this week and link it back.  

http://hungryaustralian.com/2012/01/15/death-by-chocolate/

Here is my entry, Chocolate Ravioli with Creamy Blueberry Filling.

WTF? you ask.  It is possible to make chocolate pasta.  Well I didnt think so, found a recipe and said game on, Challenge!

The recipe I have used is based on one from this book: Classic Italian

Don't ask how Chocolate Pasta is "Classic Italian".  Here is the recipe:

It is a little chocolate heavy, with a white chocolate filling.  I decided to make up my own filling based on Frozen Blueberries.

Instead of using cocoa powder for the pasta I used 75% grated Willies 100% Cacao and 25% of Droste Cocoa Powder.

Grate the Cacao:

Add to food processor the flour, icing sugar, cacao, cocoa and eggs

Bring it together

Roll into balls and cover. Stand for 30 min. (How do you like my chocolate balls?)

Now make pasta like you would normally.  At the beginning on the "1" setting, after each time through, fold into thirds, rotate 90°, and put back through the machine. Repeat quite a few times to build strength in the dough.  This is a pasta making trick I learnt of Maggie Beer

Roll it out probably until "8" on the machine.  I went to "6" and it was too thick

The blueberry, cream cheese and sugar filling, on the first try was a disaster.  Too wet.

Attempt at draining the filling, Fail.  The second attempt was much better.  Rough quantities are 3/4 cream cheese, 1/4 blueberries and enough sugar to sweeten

Here my expert wife is showing me how to form the ravioli.  A tip from her: paint the entire bottom sheet with beaten egg.  Makes it handier for joining

Place top sheet on

To get those perfect shapes, use a stencil, or up turned cup/saucer/bowl

Boil for 3-5 minutes (careful, they may stick to one another)

Voila. Chocolate Ravioli with Creamy Blueberry Filling.  This was dusted with icing sugar for the final photo.  Tip: If you want to do that, pat them dry first, the icing sugar dissolves in any leftover water.

Improvements:
thinner pasta
serve with a berry sauce
sweeten the pasta

HCC/Taste/Wine Update

First have a read of my earlier post about the Hobart City Council selling wine at Taste and my open letter to all the Alderman.

I have had some responses:

Bill Harvey called me within an hour of sending my letter.  We had an in depth discussion about my concerns regarding this issue.  He said that the sale of cleanskin was a poor choice and he would not want it to happen again.

Marti Zucco emailed a reply:
"The council Officers will provide you with the details below.
I will be as blunt as I normally am.
This will NEVER happen again! Well I will fight to ensure it NEVER happens again!
Hope that answers any future concerns"

Ron Christie emailed a reply:
"Dear Alderman,
What Mr Smart (me) has said below quote "I'll get back to you" should read "Response on the way". His email was forwarded to Director and Taste staff as per below in red on same day.  A response will be forwarded to Mr Smart in due course. However, feel free to respond (personally) if so desired."

Helen Burnet emailed a reply:
Thanks Paul - I have similar concerns and do not want to be tarnishing the tas "brand" but importantly not competing in this bizarre way with the winemakers and industry.  We'll work to make it better - this is certainly not the way to recoup money.
Happy to talk some more.

Other Alderman were not forth coming in a reply, and being fair, were probably on holidays.

So now I wait for the council officers to get back to me but what will anything achieve.  I feel like attending the next council meeting to air my concerns. Stay tuned

My Triple J Hottest 100 picks

Gotye - Somebody that I Used to Know


Florence & The Machine - What the Water Gave Me


Florence & The Machine - No Light, No Light


Florence & The Machine - Shake it Out


Nero - Promises


Lana Del Ray - Video Games


Seeker Lover Keeper - Even Though I'm A Woman


Justice - Audio, Video, Disco


PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder


Hermitude - Speak of the Devil


Would like to, but didn't

Hau Lautukefu - Yes, He Is
Architecture In Helsinki - Contact High
The Jezabels - Endless Summer

Dear HCC, A Tasty Question

I have sent the following email off to the Alderman of the Hobart City Council:


Dear The Mayor, Hobart City Council Alderman and members of the Taste Committee,

I am writing this open letter to you concerning the recent sale of "Taste" branded wine by the HCC at the Taste festival.

I have emailed Ron Christie (30/12/2011) with the following questions with the only response being "I will get back to you" on the same day.  I was wondering if someone else could please answer the following questions:

• Was the wine that the HCC sold at the taste Tasmanian?
• Where was the fruit sourced from?
• Who was the winemaker?
• Was this contracted (ie buy the grapes, make the wine under HCC direction) or was the wine bought  bottled?
• Were the other wine stall holders aware, prior to their application, that the HCC would be selling wine?
• How does the HCC selling wine fit in with the Taste objectives, and what are those objectives?
• How much wine did the HCC sell, and how much money did you make?

Now that the event is over I would like to look to the future event and perhaps persuade the HCC to not sell unbranded wine at the Taste.  I can understand that you need to recoup some costs of the event, but I think you can look for other avenues. 

 

As a producer of wine my biggest problems with this issue are:

• It is in direct competition to other fee paying stall holders, you didn't need to pay the fee to setup
• It is not the same as selling Cascade branded beer.  The major sponsor Cascade would be loving the fact that there is one more stand selling their product.  Try selling "Taste" brand beer and see if they like that.
• None of the other wine stall holders will kick up a stink because they do not want to jeopardise their future applications.  
• Will you setup a stand selling Coles cheese on Coles crackers, with a Coles sausage sizzle? It sounds absurd but that is the same as selling unbranded wine..

I would love to get a response to this, in fact I would love to have a chat about this.  The Taste is a great festival, lets make it better.

 

Cheers

Vineyard Paul

The Never Ending Pork Belly

If you have been following my blog the last few days you will be aware that I have made Toulouse Sausages and also Chorizo.  These tasty delicacies came from the same untrimmed pork belly.

It came with skin and a rack of ribs.  After trimming the ribs off so I could make sausages, I stated to my lovely wife that the dog would be getting a Christmas present.

She tut-tutted, wagged her finger and put my nose infront of this recipe:

Vietnamese Sesame Pork Spare Ribs

1 1/2 lbs (~600g) pork spareribs , the little ones

2 scallions , finely sliced (spring onion)

2 tablespoons sesame seeds 

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon flour

1 teaspoon sugar

Marinate the ribs

Grill on the Hibachi

Chargrill some zucchini and serve with roast jacket potatoes

Enjoy!

The Year of the Sausage - Two Point Whoa

My last post was about The Year of the Sausage and making some Toulouse Sausages.

Well I had a little pork belly leftover and put my hand to trying some fresh Chorizo.  Now this isn't the Chorizo you buy hanging from the deli, that morsel has been cured, either fermented or salted.  Fresh Chorizo needs to be cooked before eating, and needs to be stored in the freezer.

Here is my recipe from The Sausage Book, Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton:

2.2kg roughly minced pork belly (I used 300g and scaled down the recipe)
20g chopped garlic
50g Pimenton de la Vera (hot, bitter sweet or sweet)
40g salt
2.5m hog casings

Follow the method from the previous blog

This is the Pimenton de la Vera I used, and it is the BOMB!  

Finished product.  I made the sausage quite small, as they are packed with flavour.  I froze them each individually, that way I can throw one into a dish for added zing.

Thawed, Fried, KAPPOW!

The Year of the Sausage

The New Year has popped around, summer is here, good times.  Now is the time to make those New Years resolutions, which I don't.  But I am keen on doing one thing this year, and that is making this year "The Year of the Sausage".

Why? Cause home made sausage are better than sliced bread, better than organic sourdough made by an artisan baker using a wood fire oven, better even than your own home made bread.

When I first started out making sausages it seemed a very daunting and risky business.  But now that I have cranked out a few batches I think everyone should be doing it.  Yes you.

I will take you through a stock standard recipe, the first one I tried, and one that I keep coming back to.  Toulouse Sausage.  For those Tour de France fans, Toulouse should be familiar as the town in South West France that the tour passes through either before or after the Pyrenees.  It has finished there about 20 times. Mark Cavendish was the last winner in 2008.

Back to Toulouse Sausage, or Saucisses de Toulouse, it is about as basic a sausage comes but has an awesome flavour.  In fact, I make the sausages smaller so the servings are smaller, such is the huge flavour.  The recipe I use comes from The Sausage Book by Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton.

2 kg of rough minced pork belly
30g good salt
2g fresh grated nutmeg
5g fresh ground black pepper
100ml red wine (I always omit it)
20g chopped garlic
20g chopped flat leaf parsley
4g chopped fresh sage leaves
4g chopped fresh thyme leaves
2.5m of hog casings

The hardest part of sausage making is finding the casings.  Asking at your local butcher usually gets a shrug of the shoulders but I have hunted down my preferred suppliers in Hobart, Meat and More on Elizabeth St and Ziggy's out at Moonah.

Pork Belly

Sometime the pork belly will come with the skin on and or with ribs.  We don't want either in our snags.  Get the butcher to cut them off beforehand so you don't have to pay for them ;)  But the ribs can be used for something else, stay tuned.

Chop the pork belly up into strips.  This will make it easier to insert into the grinder.  Now freeze them for an hour or 2.  This will firm them up and ease the grinding.

While the meat is chilling, prepare the rest of the ingredients and place them into a large bowl

Once the meat is firm, not frozen, grind away.  I like to use the coarsest setting.

Get messy.  Mix all the ingredients together by hand.  It must be very well distributed.

Remember "personal development" at high school?  Place the skin over the largest sausage stuffer nozzle.

Stuff away.  Don't pull the skin off too quick or your sausages will be thin.  Careful to not get any air in the skins.

Seems easy? Yes?  But what if you don't have a groovy red Kitchen Aid?  I have the solution.

1. Ask the butcher to mince your pork belly (meat grinder solution)
2. Buy a calking gun, yes, the same used for liquid nails. (sausage stuffer solution)

It will do the stuffing job for you, and will only cost a few dollarydoos down at Bunnings.

So now there is no excuse, and I want to see pictures of your sausages during "The Year of the Sausage".  Tweet them to me @vineyardpaul, or put a link to them in the comments section.

Happy New Sausage Year