Saturday 2 February 2013

Cornmeal and Prickly Pete the Porker


I have been having a little discussion with Shara and Lizzie about cornmeal and cornflour. It seems that I can't assume everyone knows what I am talking about with certain ingredients I use here in  the UK.  Below is a picture of cornflour on the left of the plate and polenta (coarse cornmeal) on the right of the plate. I haven't any fine cornmeal in at the moment to show. Does this help or confuse even more !? Lizzie talks about Panko Crumbs, which I have never heard of, interesting isn't it?
The recipes we were discussing were for fish in crumbs and I hadn't realised how lucky we are in England to be so close to the sea that we can always get fresh fish. 1,000 miles from the sea is difficult to conceptualise Lizzie !


I have had a request ( happy to oblige Clarissa ! ) for a picture of Prickly Pete. 
Prickly was weighed today and he now weighs  800g.  I reckon we should call him Porker Pete !
Here he is with my youngest granddaughter.


Same granddaughter needs a rock and roll skirt for a school "do" so we have had a bit of a sort through the stash, a quick measure up and grandma's projects drop down a place on the project list again! I wouldn't have it any other way.
 Home grown lamb again for tea tonight. The family were round and they usually choose lamb with apple crumble to follow.
I have arranged with youngest daughter for a get together around the demi-johns next week. Looking in the cellar I see that there are 8 demi-johns (each holding a gallon) of red wine of different ages and from different fruits. We need to rack off and taste and blend if necessary. She tells me that it will have to be when her daughter is not at work and can drive her here and back... I wonder why!!!
I reckon that is all for now. The temperature is dropping here again, keep safe all
Gill

2 comments:

  1. I am amazed at your life ! You make wine as well as everything else.
    Yes, I drop everything very often to make for my grandchildren.
    So wonderful that she can interact with the little hedgehog, they can become wonderfully tame.
    Yes, we use the cornmeal on the right to make cornbread (so easy) and cornflour on the left for thickening.
    Panko are just coarse japanese breadcrumbs which are quite nice for a change. I make most of my own breadcrumbs and freeze.
    Yes, it is hard to be away from the ocean but we do have family in Maine and look forward to the fresh fish and lobster when we visit.
    Lamb is something that americans dont eat much of. Beef, pork and chicken are more the thing here.
    It is Super Bowl Sunday here and we are roasting a pig - it is about 24 lbs but as we are expecting a crowd I dont thing there will be much left.
    Love your blog !

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  2. I'll show photos of what our cornmeal looks like as soon as I can.
    The polenta looks a lot like grits, which we eat as a side dish or a breakfast cereal.

    What cute hedgehog. We really don't have them in my area, but we've got plenty of wild critters.

    Lizzie is right. Lamb is not sold a lot here. I see it around Easter and that is about it. People here have a tendency to raise more chickens and pigs...with a few raising beef cattle.

    Wish I was closer...I'd be glad to help with a wine tasting. :-)
    Scuppernong grapes grow wild here and a lot of people make a sweet wine with them.

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