Normally on Sundays we don’t have anything to do in the morning so I let Carrie sleep in.  I spend a few hours in the kitchen in the morning experimenting while listening to music.   Yesterday I made the brines for the corned beef and pastrami.  I picked up about 16 pounds of brisket yesterday which I split between the corned beef and pastrami.  Both will be ready for when our families visit.  I really look forward to the pastrami and making my own corned beef hash.

Corned Beef Batch II	Pastrami Batch I

Candied Orange Peels I

Next I peeled some oranges and began the process of making candied orange peels.  I think we will make some of these chocolate covered.  The one I tried before the peels finished drying was pretty tasty.

The last thing I was working on when Carrie woke up was

brandied figs.  I had been reading one of the library books on preserving and it had a recipe for the brandied figs.  Following the recipe to make the brandied figs there was a recipe for a gratin of brandied figs.  The writer declared that recipe was to die for so I had to make the brandied figs.

So this what I have been up to so far today.  And with this I leave you with a view of the top shelf of our refridgerator.  The corned beef and pastrami and about 6 pounds of Fickle Creek Farm pork back fat.  I use the fat to augment my sausage making.

Posted by Oak on Sunday, December 21, 2008
Categories: cooking, preservation · 2 Comments »