Author: Alison Kay

Anyone else use cast iron on a halogen hob?
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We’re renting, and the stove-top (called hob in the UK!) is halogen. I use my Lodge cast iron pan on it daily. In order to do so, I have a small metal ‘converter’ disc that goes between the pan and the stove.
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My pan is 8 inches across, but the disc I have is only 5 inches. It’s been bugging me for a while and I’ve wanted to get a bigger disc…but there always seems to be a higher priorities for our budget and the reviews online for these discs are not that great.
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Does anyone have experience here that could help me?
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Thanks!
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P.S. I couldn’t resist snapping this photo of the glorious purple cabbage that @radiciumane supplied my kitchen with this week 🙂

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Want to up your pizza game?
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Recording today’s podcast episode was a total joy for me. An hour+ talking about pizza…almost (but not quite) as good as actually eating it!
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Listen in to hear the surprising history of the most-loved of Italian food (did you know that most Italians didn’t know our modern-day pizza until the 1970s or later? ) along with an in-depth discussion of the practicalities of making it (sourdough) at home – dough, toppings, baking and much more.
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You’ll also hear me confessing a pizza kitchen disaster to @farmandhearth which I’ve not been brave enough to share on here before 😉
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Everything we mention is in the show notes, including my recipe for spelt sourdough pizza, which you can also find in my linktr.ee on here if you want to have a go this week (I say do it :-))
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Find the podcast at @ancestralkitchenpodcast, on Apple podcasts and downloadable from my site, link also in profile.

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Want to get started with sourdough or need help with your sourdough starter? Next Saturday, I’m doing Zoom session dedicated to how to create and look after a rye sourdough starter.
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It’ll be an hour long, bring your questions…after talking you through the process, I’ll cover as many of them as I can.
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The session is offered free with option to donate and support my work.

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The crunchy bits left over from rendering lard are one of the most loved things in our kitchen.
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We often eat them straight, warm, with salt, on the top of our meal. But I also love to create with them. Here’s the latest experiment; rolled spelt sourdough buns peppered with the delicious crunchy, fatty ‘niblets’ (as my son named them) and some large salt granules!
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There are pictures of the process in my story today.

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Grain mills are expensive. But grain is so much cheaper than flour, and, if you can buy it in bulk, it’ll last.
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When I considered a grain mill a couple of years ago, I talked with my hubby, Rob, and knew we couldn’t justify an expensive mill. I’m not the only one with desires in the family, he’s been a musician without a guitar for most of the last two years!
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We ended up buying a manual hand-crank roller mill, the Marcato Marga. It doesn’t grind grain anywhere near as finely as a stone mill, and it requires arm power, not electricity. But we love it. Rob grinds and reads out loud to us in the evenings. And we are used to ‘rustic’ bread…
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…like this wholegrain rye sourdough. You can see the flour weaving through the crust in this picture. It’s dense but it’s delicious.
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If you want to get started with sourdough and love rye, I’m planning a ‘Make & Maintain a Rye Sourdough Starter’ Zoom on Friday 12th of Feb. More details coming soon.

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A pancake-stack-for-breakfast kind of morning. Spelt discard pancakes (literally just discard, flour and water) left out to ferment overnight and then cooked in the cast iron pan in lard.
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I eat my pancakes savoury, not sweet because I don’t eat sweet things (not even fruit). I often get asked why I don’t and how I manage it. Here’s the short version:
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Why – because if I eat sweet things I get vertigo migraines on my cycle. This is debilitating and not worth it. It took me about four years and much experimentation to figure this out!
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How I manage it – after some time, it’s not as bad as it sounds! Taste buds adjust; you taste sweet in other things. My ‘treats’ take other forms – 100% chocolate, freshly-made mayonnaise, delicious bread and butter. I want to live, not put up with stuff, and my tried-and-tested ‘experiment until you learn’ mindset means I’m totally up for changing habits to improve things.
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Going without sweet is not for everyone. It supports me, I think because I super-overinduged on sugar as a kid. Being twice the weight I am now messed me up somewhat! But still, if you want to lessen your sugar intake, know it’s do-able!
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Back to my pancakes: these are layered with linseed, barley miso and local olive oil. It’s misty and cold here this morning and they helped me ease into my day.
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If you want to share about sugar stuff or what you had for breaky, please do 🙂

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Yesterday’s lunch had to be quick as I had only a few moments in between sessions of my bean-to-bar chocolate course. This was prepped in 5 mins. It’s all from previously created food:
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Einkorn sourdough spread with home-rendered lard, lentils cooked in spices and stock, local greens/carrot salad and coleslaw coated with home-made mayonnaise.
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I haven’t made mayo for *ages*. Gosh, it’s good. Thank you @farmandhearth for getting me back into it. This one used olive oil; lard mayo next!
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Thank you to the ladies who created chocolate with me yesterday. You made my day 🙂

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I made some chocolate in preparation for the bean-to-bar workshop on Friday. Keeping little hands off it is hard!!
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As Gabriel sings, I tried putting a bit of sea salt in. Yet to try the result.
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If you can get yourself some raw cacao beans in the next 40 hours, come join me on Zoom and let’s make them into gorgeous chocolate together! The link with all the details is in my profile.

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These are Jaterničky, Slovak rice and offal sausages traditionally made at the annual pig butchery. They are part of a cannon of incredible Slovak dishes the Naomi at @almostbananas has documented, photographed and brought to life.
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As she says, “Slovak food is comfort food”. Listen in to today’s podcast to hear her describe mouth-watering dishes along with the rituals that surround the once-a-year community event that is a traditional pig butchery.
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This photo is from Naomi’s site. If you like not only good food, but also wonderful photography and writing, go check it, and all of her recipes, out. Thank you Naomi for curating and sharing such ancestral food wisdom.

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