Codillo Asado

Source

Made a roast pork shank over the weekend. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics, so you´ll have to make do with some from the internets - it really did look like this.

You can prepare them using a pressure cooker, but ours won´t hold a seal. For oven roasting - standard procedure seems to be simmering in water for a half an hour or so with bay leaves and black peppercorns - then transferring to the oven with a sprinkling of salt, pepper and thyme. Roast at 180 C for 45 minutes, add a cup of wine and continue roasting for another 45 minutes. You want to turn the shank several times.

I bought one big one instead of 2 small ones, thinking there would be more meat and less bone. I find it´s better to cover the joint completely with water while simmering or they can be noticeably salty when served - not inedible by any means, but a bit salty.

Instead of red wine, I used white - because I was roasting potatoes in the pan and I didn´t want purple potatoes. The potatos were excellent.

source

Then I used up the last of my split peas in a soup using the bone and the left over vegetables. I don´t believe I´ve seen split peas over here - anyone know if they´re hard to grow?

The Cold Winds are Rising

Squeee! Debuts April 1 in the US, can´t seem to find a target date for over here. Stephen Dillane has been cast as Stannis. I always had Mark Strong stuck in my head while reading, so this will be interesting. He does a good job with the voice-over.

And for a tiny bit more on the production:

More Beer

This will be uncannily like another post I did before - Beer.

Finally got around to making up a basic (mostly add water and stir) beer kit we purchased before Christmas at Cervezas del Mundo. Unfortunately, I have to report that this is the second time we´ve had to wait a while before the requested merchandize was available, and then wait another while for them to actually ship it. And this from a suburb of Madrid - you could drive there in about 20 minutes. I don´t believe they have a retail outlet, or that´s exactly what I´d do

Sterilizing

Heating the malt extract

Stirring

Cooling and more Stirring

Fermenting

Unfortunately, no bubbling yet. I think the bedroom closet may be a little cool - but we will be patient.

AND we´ve got a sack of Bavarian Pilsner for another 23 litres!

More Spanish Beer Making:

Cerberus
Origen - articulo

What Happens in Bookstores at Night

Goat´s Milk Soap

Experiments in goat´s milk soap. Maybe I´ll have a goat one day. Although the actual amount of milk in the soap doesn´t amount to much. You´d have to make a lot of soap to use up the production of a milk goat.

Anyway - introducing Milk Maid. A blend of olive, coconut, palm and castor oil, enriched with tussah silk and scented with a floral blend of orange, geranium, amrys, lilac and lavendar.

Not your Grandmother´s clogs

Wooden clogs or zuecos in Castellano and zocas in Gallego, have been the traditional farm wear choice for often muddy farmyards.



But lately, designers and the artesans who create this traditional footware have been re-imagining them. Images from an exposition called Zocas Novas.





And because there´s no place like home. . .

Holiday Goodies

It´s become expected that I bring something sweet to the big family dinner at Christmas Eve. I like to keep it small, so it´s easy to serve and I like to have 2 different flavors in case chocolate isn´t someone´s favorite.

This year I tried Nanaimo Bars and Empolvados a dulce de leche cookie from Chile.

The Nanaimo bars were challenging because I didn´t have custard powder and used cornstarch instead. That layer didn´t ever really set - I was expecting something like a cheesecake texture. That, and I got carried away on the chocolate top layer. So even though I tried to score the bars before chilling, and added some cream to the chocolate while melted to try to keep it softer, when it came time to cut them, the chocolate shattered into a million pieces and the creamy layer squeezed out all over the place. That said, they were delicious! Except one nephew who didn´t like coconut. You could halve the amount of coconut, or leave it out completely.

The Empolvados were educational - I´d never made a meringue based cookie batter before and I was concerned I´d have to have the bowl, beaters and eggs thoroughly chilled. Not so! In fact room temperature is better. Used a couple of drops of lemon juice instead of cream of tartar (which I´ve never seen here) and it actually folded into the other ingredients reasonably well. They do expand in the oven while baking, so keep them small. In the end they were a little too light and sweet for my taste - but they disappeared just the same.

An Epiphany

Give away!!

In honor of the Spanish custom of exchanging gifts on January 6th (brought by the Three Kings via camels)I´ll send someone a bar of the unscented Salt Soap. Just leave a comment telling me what you´d like to read more about in 2012, food, Galicia, whatever, or if you´d really rather I just shut up.

A very Happy New Year to all!

Update: Winner to be selected at random from comments received by Jan. 6th.