community-resilience"> The Guardian (blog) | community-resilience">The state must promote community-led resilience initiatives The Guardian (blog) Many people seem to view the word resilience with suspicion. The word, which values people's ability to bounce back and to cope with life's challenges, can seem crude and unforgiving when used by the state in an age of austerity. It appears to shift ... |
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The state must promote community-led resilience initiatives - The Guardian (blog)
Show Me The Job Creators!
The Great Gildersleeve: The Grand Opening / Leila Returns / Gildy the Opera Star
Regular 05/22/12 Session - Norfolk City Council
The state must promote community-led resilience initiatives - The Guardian (blog)
| community-resilience"> The Guardian (blog) | community-resilience">The state must promote community-led resilience initiatives The Guardian (blog) Many people seem to view the word resilience with suspicion. The word, which values people's ability to bounce back and to cope with life's challenges, can seem crude and unforgiving when used by the state in an age of austerity. It appears to shift ... |
Ham Making Tips How To Make Ham
Of the many available preserved meats, Ham is one of the easiest to make. Ham has become one of the favorite dinner meats no doubt partly because of how easy it is to cook, serve and keep stored for future cooking opportunities. Done correctly, making your own ham can save you money, whilst also providing you the opportunity to create your own unique and delicious flavor.
There are many different ways to make ham but here is a simple tried and tested method you can start using to produce ham at home right away. In a nutshell, you make Ham by soaking a portion of pork, typically the upper portion of the hind legs, in salt brine solution for a length of time which is usually a function of its weight depending and then either cooking and/or smoking it.
Some people prefer to use the loin or parts of it to make ham.Simple though the process is, it can be ready to eat very quickly or can undergo 'curing' that lasts for months. (Curing is the process that gives ham its pleasing pink color while also protecting from botulism and other disease causing organisms.)
Here's a useful ham making tip worth noting...
Don't freeze the meat you plan to use to make the ham because freezing modifies the cell structure such that the salt brine is not able to be absorbed properly. The meat you plan to use to make the ham must be able to absorb salt, spices and undergo the curing process.
A dry rubbing method can be used as well but most people find using liquid brine a far simpler process.
Here's a handy brine recipe:
Brine Recipe
4 litres of Water
1 cup of Pickling Salt
1/4 cup of Sugar
1/3 cup of Prague #1 (Cure)
1 teaspoon of Pickling Spice
1/2 teaspoon of Cloves
Cool the brine to about 40F before placing the meat in it and keep it close to that temperature during the brining process.
The meat is then removed from the brine, rinsed and then placed in water at 170F. Hold the meat there until its internal temperature gets to about 155F, this usually takes about an hour for a fair sized piece of meat.
Cool the ham in cold water for about 30 minutes after cooking and then put in the fridge overnight.
For added flavor you can go on to smoke the ham for anything from 5 to 24 hours.
Remember to store your ham in the fridge after you're done.
Enjoy eating your ham!
Regional Cuisine: As American As Apple Pie
We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet – or so an old ad for Chevrolet tells us. Apple pie is as American as… well.. apple pie. If baseball is the All-American sport, then apple pie is the all-American dessert. And while the internet and book stores have spread the recipes far and wide, there are classic apple desserts in every region that are characteristic of the cuisine for that area. Wherever Johnny Appleseed spread orchards, there are recipes that make use of other regional ingredients and traditions to create unique desserts with apples and – whatever!
If you think of apple pie as having two crusts and a filling of apples combined with sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, some of the regional variations may surprise you. Apple cobbler, apple pandowdy, apple puff, apple crisp, apple brown betty are all variations of apple pie in different regions. The prevailing apple recipes for any region may be affected by the variety of apple that’s hardiest and most popular in that area, as well as the style of cuisine that’s prevalent.
In New England, for instance, most apple recipes call for Pippins, Granny Smith’s or other firm fleshed, sweet varieties of apple that cook up well and lose little moisture when being baked. In Maine, it’s not uncommon to find blueberries in your apple pie. In Massachusetts, cranberry apple pie is a favorite. In Vermont, the apples may be sweetened with honey or maple syrup. And in many restaurants on Cape Cod, rather than vanilla ice cream, your piping hot slice of heaven will be served topped with a slice of melting cheese.
In the Southern states, with their predilection for creamy, lightly spiced foods, the most common apple pie recipes include Apple Cream Pie (made with sour cream) and Apple Bourbon Pie, with raisins soaked in bourbon. Raisins soaked in rum are another popular addition to ‘apple pie’ in the South, especially in New Orleans. Other additions include rhubarb, diced peaches and walnuts.
Midwestern Apple Pie is the classic apple pie – two flaky crusts packed with thick, sweet, juicy apple slices mounded high and vented to let the fragrant steam escape. In Kansas or Missouri, your apple pie will satisfy any purist – served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that melts into the syrupy filling and adds the perfect touch of creaminess to the mix.
In the South and Southwest you’ll find deep-fried apple pie, a variation that matches melt-in-your-mouth flaky fried crust with sweet, diced apples in a syrupy sauce. And in Pennsylvania, the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch, Apple Crumb Pie and Apple Pandowdy take the place of Apple Pie a la Mode on most restaurant menus.
As American as Apple Pie … from coast to coast, Americans have done what they do best – taken a classic and adapted it to suit the ingredients and tastes that surround them. Whether you top it with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dollop of whipped cream or a slice of sharp cheddar, there’s no other food that comes close to being the All-American dessert.
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