Hug A Farmer

My farmer is Christina Bakombo. She is stay at home homeschooler and mother of six and a holistic eating advict. She is located in Bowmanville and she grows her produce in her garden and near by rented land.
She produces small scale and tends to only sell at small local gatherings. She shares most of her producce, with friends and family.

Purchasing Meat and Game

Pork - Picnic Ham

 

         I choose to do pigs and I choose a picnic ham cut it is a cross section of meat from the shoulder of the animal. I choose this because my family loves pork and it’s generally a cheap and flavourful cut of meat.

 

        Pigs we eat today have been around for at least 11,000, with evidence of them as domesticated animals in central Asia and parts of eastern Europe. Pork is eaten world wide but in many religions like Judaism. Pork can be used for hundreds of different uses. All parts can be used, top to bottom, and nose to tail. There of tens of varieties cuts that can be derived from the the carcass of the pig. They can be cooked a variety of differentways which all vary based on what the muscle was used for. So muscles that work harder need to be cooked longer and have moisture added while less worked muscles it isn't as necessary.   

When purchasing pork you must consider these factors:

·         Fat content: Meat marbling -how fatty the piece is so you know how you need to treat it

·         Colour: The meat should be light red/bright pink, if it is grey or greenish, it has begun  to  go bad.

·         Slimminess: the meat should not be slimy if so its going bad

·         Firmness: The fresher the meat the meat is, you should not be able leave marks in the meat if you touch it.

·         Grading of meat: the letter grade given to get meat

 

          I choose a picnic ham cut it is a cross section of meat from the shoulder of the pig. Since this is a working muscle it is a tougher  cut of meat. I needed to use a method that going to soften and moisten the meat. So this cut can be roasted or cooked in liquid. I choose to braise mine, braising is a mixed cooking method, where you sear the meat and then add liquid for it to cook in  for a long period of time and to soften and become tender and to be able to pull apart.

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Explore your local market, retail grocer or butcher. While there, select an animal, and a specific cut from that animal. During this activity please complete the following:

• Identify your chosen animal, cut and reasons for this selection.
• Provide a brief 250 word background on the animal, cut, cooking methods, etc.
• Describe the cut and what part of the animal it is from. 
• Discuss cooking methods that can be applied to this cut and the reasons why these methods are suitable.
• Are there considerations you need to make when purchasing?

Please provide pictures and supporting resources as well. The purchase of this meat is not required.

Innovate

 Julia Child...

 ....is an innovator of the idea of female chefs in the kitchen and cooking at home.

                                                                                                                 

Julia Carolyn (McWilliams) Child was born on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California. Although she passed away from kidney failure in 2004, at 91 on August 13th, she left behind an amazing legacy and influence globally. 

In 1948, she moved to France with her husband, Paul when he was assigned there as the U.S. foreign Information Service at the American Embassy in Paris. Bored just at home and at social events Julia looked for a hobby and her passion and appreciation of good food lead her to the Cordon Bleu Culinary School. This led her, with the help of two fellow cordon bleu student, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle to form the cooking school L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes (The School of the Three Gourmands). Where together they taught American women who much like Julia had were looking for something to do and to learn how to cook like the French. Their school and the gross demand of their skills inspired them to write a cook book. This lead to the 1961 creation of the now world renowned 734 pages long 3-lb cookbook, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking', which to date has sold over 2 million copies.  

       

                In 1962, the popularity of the book and her overall enthusiasm and large warm character, made Julia an instant hit on her TV show, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. After that she went on to film The French Chef which was aired to 96 stations throughout America. For her efforts, Julia received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award in 1964 followed by an Emmy Award in 1966. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Julia made regular appearances on the ABC morning show Good Morning, America. She also had other programs Julia Child and Company (1978), Julia Child and More Company (1980), and Dinner at Julia's (1983). Her most recent cookbooks included In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs (1995), Baking with Julia (1996), Julia's Delicious Little Dinners (1998), and Julia's Casual Dinners (1999), all had television specials as well

Julia Child is an innovator in the category of the innovation of the idea of French cook as well as the idea of women. She accomplished this by not just being allowed to be put in remedial classes at the Cordon Bleu she strived for the top and she worked with the best which included private lessons with master chef Max Bugnar and only cooked with the best ingredients. She never let herself be held back or discouraged. This is important because at the time Julia was an anomaly, a rarity. She was an American woman who wanted to be a French chef, a profession to this day is dominated by men. She once said “In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.” And yet she made things look easy and yet showed their elegance and beauty as she cooked. This is important because she became an inspiration she did something would assume women didn't do.

Julia Child's innovation of the views of women cooking affects me greatly because she is what I aspire to be one day. I want to write cookbooks and be my own brand and to inspire through my food. With the profession of a Chef being so male dominated it’s nice to have a positive strong role model to have not to duplicate but to watch and learn and form my own way of achieving greatness. In her biography 'My Life in France' Julia is quoted, 

"You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made,' [Chef Bugnard] said. 'Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always.” 

Which is something that resonates with me allot because I struggle sometimes with feeling satisfaction when my food is gone. I love cooking but I want it to last forever. I love Julia's extreme passion for food and its simple beauty.

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ASSIGNMENT THEORY OF FOOD II - BLOG 5

Select an innovative Product, Service, Process, Idea or Technology. It can be from the past or present. 

• Identify the innovation or innovator
• Describe the innovation or innovator, and provide a brief, 250 word historical or contextual background.
• Illustrate how it falls into one of the categories above. 
• Discuss how it was accomplished
• Explain why it is important

Reflect on the question "How has this affected me?". Discuss this on your blog.

Broccoli Soup For Two

I wanted to make a soup to counter act the cold weather, but since I am often home alone or left with my sister. I decided to make a very small amount so it doesn't go bad because there would be no one to eat is.

I got my recipe offline from the taste of home website

Recipe Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• Dash pepper
• 3/4 cup 2% milk
• 2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• My additions to the recipe were
•  a pinch of : salt, nutmeg, and crushed red chili flakes and  a teaspoon of butter
• Using a mix of Monterray jack and Parmesan cheese instead of cheddar

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/broccoli-cheese-soup-for-2

Preparation:

I placed a teaspoon of butter in to my sauce pot and let it melt.

I then added the dicd onions and let them cook until soft but colourless.

Add minced garlic and allow garlic to soften as well. Stir so it doesn't burn because garlic burns very quickly.

Once the garlic has softened enough that you can easily mash it with our spoon. Next add the flour mix in immediately and fast making sue to watch the sides of the pot that all the flour is incorporated in to the mix.

The flour acts as an additional thickener to the soup. The flour forms a roux with the butter. A roux is a cooked paste made of fat and flour, used to thicken something. This is a white roux because I didn't allow i  brown and cook for too long.

Next add in the the chicken stock, slowly but whisk quickly so no lumps form from the roux not mixing in properly. Now allow to come up to a boil,

Once Boiling, now add the broccoli and mix

I then now added Ground black pepper and dried thyme as well as freshly ground nutmeg, salt, and crushed red chilli flakes

 All the soup to come up to a boil again and the add milk. Allow to simmer and at this point broccoli should be soft enough to blend

Pour mix into blender. If Blender does not have a vented lid remove lid center. This allows the pressure that is built up to be released other wise the mix will explode because the mix is still hot. Cover the top with a clean rag or towel and blend on low speed to begin to break down the broccoli and then on high until  smooth.

  

 If you have a blender like mine. I  found that he closest thing to actual staged settings was you to chop for a few seconds ans then puree the mix, and then liqueify the mix until smooth.

Although this is pureed and does thicken some because of this it is still considered to be a cream soup which are soups thickened with roux, beurre manié (an uncooked at and flour mix) or other added thickening agents, plus milk and/or cream. So it needs be put back in the pan allowed to to simmer. The soup thickens considerably after this  as seen that when I ran a line on the back of my spoon it didn' close up.

Lastly I added 3/4 of my cheese and mixed it well into my soup  and i is complete and the whole thing took about 40 minutes to start to finish.

Garnish at bowl with the remainder of cheese. The recipe makes about 500mL or 2 cups of soup


Overview:

The soup overall had a nice feel and texture. The colour was a pale green. It smelled like broccoli. The soup on its own is slightly bland bu with the addition of the cheese garnish it was much better and the flavours of nutmeg and thyme were more pronounced. The flavour of the broccoli wasn't overwhelming.

I got my sister to taste it as well she stated that it lacked flavour but she agreed that he cheese brought the other milder flavours out from under he broccoli

My biggest challenge was following the recipe. I had been looking specifically for a recipe for broccoli soup and I found many different ones but I chose this one because of its size and I was able to make a small portion sized. But I found the recipe needed more flavour that I feel like the mirepoix usually offers. It may be because I haven't developed my palate for simpler foods but I found it lacking even after my additions. Besides this I feel like my soup was success and I feel ,ore open to trying new things because this is my first time ever making this soup. I will apply my knowledge of making a soup to everyday things like making sauces and when ever I need to thicken liquids.