The food thread

I should mention my version of barley soup that I will serve to others starts with a full bottle of red wine, an equal amount of beef or lamb stock, barley, chopped onions, pepper and salt.

Well Ed, yours is certainly more elegant than mine. I would like to try yours. Mine seems boring in comparison.
Do you use pot or pearly?
 
My grandmother always used oxtail for barley soup and an herb peculiar to Austria and So. Germany, lovage.

Lovage is not uncommon here but I am surprised how few use it. It grows well even from seed.

Oxtail is just too darn expensive to throw into soup I find. Cheaper cuts of beef are quite good and if there's ever been a dish that is suited for the InstaPot, it's barley soup. Done in no time. I usually use the pot barley. I like to add the meat and barley together with water, cook and then add large pieces of mushroom and the seasonings after to get the right cookededness .

I only make it a couple times a year as my wife does not appreciate the fact it makes me sound like a motorboating amplifier.
 
Oxtail is just too darn expensive to throw into soup I find. Cheaper cuts of beef are quite good and if there's ever been a dish that is suited for the InstaPot, it's barley soup.

Shanks work too. Retired now I'm slow food only, spent 4 to 6hr yesterday just making a couple of quarts of beef stock for Christmas. Not enough gelatin in the meat it needed a long reduction.
 
I'm not sure if there's a difference in the flavour but I do like the larger size of the pot barley. More manly :)
I will have to experiment with the wine. Is it ok to use the cheap stuff and what % of the liquid would it be?

Use cheap wine and I use the same quantity of broth as wine. I let it cook until the barley is begining to almost dissolve and 10-20% of the liquid has boiled off.

Never tried it with a faster cooking method.
 
Picking up my lamb order tomorrow, around 80 pounds. It includes shanks, legs, liver, kidney, fat and parts to cure and smoke to make about 20 pounds of bacon like strips.

Most difficult part of the process is to get uniform slices. So I splurged on a slicer. I made sure it used a belt drive not plastic gears as I expect it to last.

Now to build a better smoker. Also considering buying a refridgerator!
 
Is that "Canadian" for "Jerky"?
Not jerky. Chew is thicker cut, it's not pounded and it's done in the dehydrator not the smoker. The only preservatives are the salt, sugar, sauce and dehydration. Chew is usually cut with the grain but my teeth are not as young as they used to be so it always cut across now.
and then the Pepper "Creeps-Up" on you.
No pepper this time unfortunately. It's close to the holidays and there are lot's of youngsters around whose palates have not been acclimated.
Here is a piece from before with pepper:
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0473.jpg
    IMG_0473.jpg
    188.1 KB · Views: 79