Posts Tagged ‘cooking’
Bacon in Queenstown, New Zealand
I’ve eaten a lot of bacon in my time, and IHEARTBACON is the first website I visit every morning (that might actually be a lie), regardless, I couldn’t think of anything better at 2pm in the morning (hangover or not) than bacon and eggs and maybe a little bit of toast. This could actually have been the breakfast and that Moses cooked before he led his people from Egypt, well he would have apart from the fact that Judaism prevents the touching of the flesh of pigs. Maybe I should steer clear of religion.
Don’t get me wrong, bacon isn’t just for breakfast, the BLT is a great meal, especially at lunch and the fat and flavour of bacon is extremely complimentary to a number of other meats, chicken the most notable.
Having sampled quite a bit of bacon in my time, I was very disappointed when I first not only purchased but prepared some here in Queenstown. First let me say that I’m not sure if this is endemic across the nation, but the situation here in Central Otago is dire. There is a few problems with it, first of all bacon here is ridiculously expensive (I wonder how it weighs in on the Bacon and Eggs Index). The cheapest (and worst quality) comes in at about $10 a kg, that is for some dodgy extra fatty, extra salty shoulder bacon, as you improve the “quality” the price increases to around $20 a kg. This is usually American streaky bacon – I don’t really know what that is supposed to mean, but it certainly doesn’t mean meaty. They are long rashers, with not a great deal of anything on them, what sets them apart is the saltiness and this meat does at least taste good, but it doesn’t go very far for a hungry man.
Compare these prices and quality to the 9.99kg Woolworths bacon in Australia and it makes this bacon lover want to cry.
You should follow me on Twitter.Fried Mushrooms: A 5 step guide
Frying mushrooms is an easy process, which can be repeated time and time again. There is a few things to remember when you are cooking mushrooms, mushrooms are quite fragile so the heat doesn’t need to be scorched earth setting. A medium heat is where it’s at and whatever you do don’t let them dry out. The steps:
- Select your mushrooms. I prefer Swiss Browns, but button mushies are also good. Definitely keep clear of bigger dark mushrooms such as Portabello, the flavours are overpowering.
- Slice, don’t dice. There is no need to peel the mushrooms, or even take off the stalks. Though if it so inclines you, wash them all and slice the mushrooms, not too finely.
- Heat your saucepan to a medium heat, add the mushrooms and a good dollop of butter to them. It’s really important not to burn either the butter or the mushrooms. If you don’t stir (I prefer to shake,) the mushrooms will form a golden crust on them. That’s exactly what you want.
- As the butter melts, add seasoning. This means cracked pepper and cracked rock salt, not too much salt but the pepper you can go crazy with.
- Reduce the butter slowly and serve on some fresh toast.