Hello!

What a tumultuous year... I quit my job at the orchard & enrolled to train as a chef; I've been working in a local restaurant honing my craft, not to mention just starting a stint as a breakfast chef. I've lost weight, sleep and doubtlessly some hair, and picked up a keener appreciation of food, not to mention some horrible eating habits. I swear you'll get details on my life but not till I get some time to myself, which will probably be early next year - I plan on relaunching the blog so pleeeeeeease persevere. A big thanks to those of you who have emailed asking what's been happening and apologies to those of you I've inadvertently forgotten - your interest is keenly appreciated; I just simply haven't had the time to keep up with the blog. When I'm not working, I've been studying and when not doing either of those things, I can be found doing laundry (damnable chef's whites!).

So again, stay tuned - I'll do my best to throw stuff up but the really cool things will happen next year. Bye for now...

Say hello to my little flan!

Hello there! Want to know where this lovely creation came from? Want to know what I've been up to since my last post? Stay tuned, dear reader...

Happy New Year!

Before I leave the house to see in the new year, wearing naught but a smile and a set of bagpipes, I want to wish you all the very best for the new year. It's going to be an interesting one for me - I've handed in my notice at work to pursue a career in food. More on that at some later date; just to say for now that I've finally realised that there's no such thing as 'the right time' to do something, and that I'm not getting any younger...

Enough homilies. Make sure you have lots of fun tonight, get rowdy, kiss someone...

Again, all the very best for 2008.

Free Rice

Free Rice is a food-linked word game. How to play? A word is offered and your job is to select the right definition for it from a list. If you get it right, the next word offered is harder; if you get it wrong, an easier word is offered. Each correct answer generates 10 grains of rice for distribution by the United Nations World Food Program.

Free Rice has two goals:

- Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free

- Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free

The rice is paid for by advertising on this incredibly popular site, run by One World Projects.

Clicky to play.

Limoncello - Conclusion

It's been four weeks since I started the limoncello. The liquid smells very lemony and the smell of the alcohol made my nose wrinkle. The peel should be completely colourless, so it's now time to separate it from the alcohol. Once done, we'll be adding the sugar syrup.

Firstly, find a container large enough to hold the alcohol, as well as the sugar syrup you'll be adding later - it needs to be about a litre or so in size. Moisten a paper coffee filter with water (to stop it from absorbing the lemon oils and alcohol) and place inside a funnel. Pop the funnel in your container and then gradually add your alcohol - allow this to drip through and hopefully you'll have a nice, clean liquid. When you finally get to the peel, squeeze the filter (gently) to get as much of that lemon oil out as you can.


Make your sugar syrup by combining a cup of sugar and a cup of water in a pot. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes; remove from the heat and allow to cool. As you add the syrup to the alcohol, give it a stir and sample it - add more or less syrup according to taste. Finally, pour into your bottle, seal and then place in a cool, dark spot to infuse.

It's drinkable after a week or so but clearly the longer you leave it, the better it will taste. Enjoy!

Whoops - for those who didn't already know, chill it before drinking. It's also a sipper, not a quaffer...

Beer Can Chicken (with a Lime & Paprika Rub)

Hello! Just a quickie post today - I made beer can chicken on the barbecue for dinner and thought I may as well grab the camera and show you how it went. It's super easy to do (this is the first time I've ever made it), with the most splendidly juicy outcome!

All you need is an uncooked chicken, a can of beer and an oven or barbecue to cook it in/on. I also made a rub for the chicken:

• 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 2 limes
• salt
  

Roughly grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle. Add garlic and zest; grind until you have a rough paste. Add juice, paprika and a smattering of salt, mix well and apply to the chicken. I used this particular rub because I thought it would go well with my choice of beer, Monteith's Radler, a zesty lemon and lime flavoured lager. Seeing as it only comes in bottles, I poured it into another can I happened to have handy.

On to the chicken: remove the giblets, rinse the chicken inside and out and dry with a paper towel. Apply some of the rub to the interior and the remainder on the outside - use your hands, rub vigorously. Now, you'll only need half a can of beer for cooking purposes, so discard the portion you won't need down the nearest throat. Once that's done, punch another two holes in the top of the can.

Now for the tricky part: holding the chicken upright, lower it onto the beer can so the can fits into the cavity (see photo above). The chicken's legs should be leaning forward with the brunt of its weight supported by the can.

This is best cooked on a barbecue with a hood; failing that, your oven will work just as well. If you're using gas, turn the heat on full while you're prepping, and turn down to medium or medium/low when placing the chicken on to cook. Place the chicken on a dish (this will collect the juices, otherwise they'll run off and onto the flame causing flareups). Pop it on the heated barbecue plate, away from direct heat and leave to cook with the hood down for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Test the meat with a thermometer poked in the thickest part of the chicken - it needs to be 85 degrees celsius to be cooked. You can also jab it with a fork - if the juices run clear, it's ready.

Once done, grab some oven gloves and remove from the heat. Using tongs, carefully remove the can from the chicken - bear in mind everything will be very hot and the can will still have some (hot) beer in it. Once done, leave the chicken to rest for ten minutes before carving.

There are German businessman who'd pay good money to have this done to them...



And there we have it! A wonderfully crisp, juicy and aromatic chicken. It really was quite simple to do and was very tasty - give it a whirl!



There are concerns about subjecting aluminium cans to heat due to possible toxicity arising from the can's plastic lining, metals and paints. According to this article, the risks are negligible, due to the relatively low heat involved in the cooking process, compared to that of its manufacture clickety.

The following link discusses beers worth experimenting with when making beer can chicken - the article is American, but their core advice is sound clickety.

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