Visitors to the renowned Bibliotheca Yumblog will notice in the recent additions cabinet a small but essential tome called ‘Ferment from scratch’ by Mark Diacono. This is number four in the ‘…from scratch’ series, the other three being Brew, Sourdough, and Chartuterie. Mr Diacono is also the author of a much-loved and oft-consulted cookbook here at Yumblog Villas called ‘Sour: …
As an AI language model, I do not have personal experiences nor emotions to feel fun but here’s a funny story about gut microbiome: Once, a man went to the doctor with severe stomach pain. After running some tests, the doctor discovered an overgrowth of harmful bacteria in his gut microbiome. The doctor asked the man about his diet and …
I know a handsomely moustachioed Frenchman who once ate an entire tub of pickled ginger in a sushi restaurant in Berlin. Not something I’d recommend, especially with the recipe below, which is a lot hotter and gingerier than anything commercially available.
Strolling through the orangery here at Yumblog Hall it became clear we were going to have a glut of oranges again this season. A bumper crop no doubt thanks to both the skill of old Mr Fothergill the head gardener, and the relentless sunshine and arid terroir of West Yorkshire. We decided to use some of this surplus to make …
Who’d have thought you could pickle and eat watermelon rind? Preparation time: 10-15 minutes plus 6 hours brining, 2 hours marinating and 4 weeks maturing Cooking time: 45 minutes Skill level: easy Ingredients watermelon rind – 900g – roughly 2 small or 1 very large watermelon sea salt – 50g water – 900 ml granulated sugar – 450g white wine …
‘A true taste of Mediterranean tomatoes to bring a touch of sunshine to British fish and chips. It’s the ultimate sauce to enhance your haddock or perk up your pollock’. Not my words you understand, but those of Jme (Champion of the people) Oliver describing his ‘Real Tomato Ketchup’ which he is flogging on his website for an impressive £3.50 …
Delia prefers to bake rather than boil her beetroots and then pickle them in red wine vinegar rather than the more usual malt. This, she told me over a Cherry Bakewell, goes to make a milder more beetrooty pickle. Preparation time: 20-30 minutes Cooking time: 2-3 hours Skill level: easy Ingredients fresh raw beetroot – 450g red wine vinegar – …
You may need some emotional support for this recipe as peeling 2kg of onions can be a long, tedious and tearful process. Not dissimilar to listening to an entire Coldplay album. Preparation time: 20-30 minutes over 24 hours Cooking time: 5 minutes Skill level: easy Ingredients pickling onions – 2kg (1.6kg pealed) malt vinegar – 750 ml pickling spiaces – …
Just to recap, yumblog has been going for almost five months now and in that time we have picked up a readership of three – a friend, a sister and a nice man from Terroni & Sons. Quality rather than quantity I feel. So Mr Prudence, Toria and Nunzio, this recipe for piccalilli is for you. Happy New Year. x …
