The next experiment with sous vide cooking has been very simple and very successful. Sous vide is claimed to make relatively tough “pot roast” joints tender and delicious.
I bought a piece of silverside, salted it for 18 hours, then vacuum packed it and popped it into a water bath controlled by the Sansaire. That was it – no additions other than the brief brining period. I left the customary piece of basting fat attached to the beef.
As we’re getting more used to the caravan, we’ve come to realise that it’s a bit too heavy for us to shift by hand. Although we’ve got a nice flat pitch at our secure storage site, there’s a little slope up to the path which is just too much for us to manage.
Continue reading
Posted in Caravans
Tagged Bigfoot motor mover, caravan manoeuvring, Rhyno motor mover
After our brief absence on our Suffolk jaunt, Saturday’s weather remained kind to allow more tilling and planting. The chickens benefited from the uprooted remains of the purple sprouting broccoli:
After our visit to Woodbridge, we spent the afternoon at Sutton Hoo.
Woodbridge is home to Britain’s Best Bakery (from a recent TV series), but as we found out, also a contender for Britain’s worst coffee.
We chose a walk from the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty guide.
It started out by taking us past the marina and boatyards. It wasn’t foggy, as the pictures may suggest, but a day when sand from the Sahara blew across East Anglia!
… and stayed at Run Cottage Touring Park, which is a lovely peaceful place to stay. Here’s the view from our caravan window:
The title says it all, really. The first shoots of asparagus are just coming through. This is year 4 for our asparagus bed. Last year we got a reasonable crop. This year, who knows? But there’s always an optimism at the start of the season as the fruit trees flower, the seedlings are planted out, and the artichokes and asparagus start to make new growth!
It looks as though the threat of frost has been lifted for the next ten days at least, and the waters of the spring monsoon have receded somewhat. So we’ve made a start on planting out the broad beans, a mixture of a modern variety called Greeny, and some heritage seeds swapped with our friends at Allotments4All.
Posted in Allotments
Tagged Charles Ross apple, Greeny broad beans, Heritage broad beans
Today was cleaning out the henhouses day. We use a product called Aubiose for litter. It’s intended as horse bedding, but it’s absolutely brilliant for poultry. With an interim top-up, it means we only have to do a deep clean once a month.
We start by cleaning the house out thoroughly and checking for red mite, especially on the roosting bars. If we find any, the bar ends are dipped in creosote, and we also creosote the entire house every year. No problems today, I’m glad to say. Then the house is given a good scattering of diatomaceous earth, which also acts against mites.
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged Aubiose for poultry, diatomaceous earth, henhouse cleaning, Ixworth chickens, red mite
We’ve tried eggs and we’ve tried chicken. Both have been successful, both have produced interesting results not readily obtainable by other methods. But neither prompted me to say, “You must buy a sous vide machine, if only for this”.
But sous vide steak is a game-changer. This is why sous vide is so worthwhile:
John Norman's Blog 