Author: Alison Kay

Us Brits are kinda attached to our bacon. Put a bunch of us in heavenly Tuscany, with all it’s cured meats, and we miss food the way we’re used to. I think it’s a human nature thing…being in an unfamiliar culture (even if you love it, like I do) sometimes makes one crave familiarity.
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So, how else can I respond, other than try and make my own Bacon?!
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So I have some beautiful #rigatino from Flavio at @lavalledelsasso and a recipe (that doesn’t include nitrates) from @rivercottagehq.
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This is the end of day 1. The puddle you can see is liquid from the meat, coloured by my cure which is unrefined dark soft sugar, coarse salt, rosemary and bay leaves.
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I have no idea how this is going to turn out. And I like that feeling 😉

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Russian Black Salt. It’s a mixture of my home-made rye sourdough and coarse sea salt, charred and then ground down.
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It came into our home thanks to @darragoldstein and her book Beyond the North Wind, in which I learnt just how prized this condiment is. It’s taken to church to be blessed and kept in the most special part of the home.
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What interests me most though, is that it’s an age-old health supplement, said to cure many afflictions. Through my reading, I’m learning over and over how ancestral food wisdom holds such knowledge, often practised many, many generations before our modern-day scientific awareness ‘proves’ it true.
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Activated charcoal is much touted as a health promoter. We made a charcoal-like block in the process of this. It wasn’t heated to as high a temperature as activated charcoal, but still, I’d lay money on there being truth in the Russian traditional wisdom of its health benefits.
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My current favourite way to eat in is sprinkled on lightly toasted sourdough that’s previously been spread with local lard. Crunchy, warm, bready, melty, salty and slightly burnt. Can you tell I’m enamoured?!
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Check out my story for more pics.

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My cook-up this month is actually a bubble-up! Kvass is a fermented, probiotic, fizzy drink made with rye sourdough, a bit of sugar and some water.
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With these three, simple ingredients you can bring to life an historic drink which has become known as ‘Russian cola’ – it really does taste like it!
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Follow the link in my profile to find me walking you through the process – clear instructions, lots of pics and a few videos too.

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This is me…apparently. With the t-shirt I want.
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If you click on the link in my profile and choose “Eat More Processed Food”, you’ll be magically whisked to my written piece of the same name.
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Writing is something I struggle not to do when I’m this passionate. I am honoured when others take the time to read.
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I wish you a good weekend in and out of the kitchen.

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Russian black salt being made in the Tuscan countryside 😉
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I’ve been wanting to make the `Thursday salt´ from Beyond the North Wind by @darra.goldstein for months and finally got there today. I took the battery out of the smoke alarm and we held the smoking charred block out of the window upon taking it out of the oven.
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Now onto the mortar and pestling. Looking forward to sprinkling my dinner with this stuff.

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I love making fermented chutney for non-ferment-eaters who come over for food. This has apple, pear and raisins, as well as onion, garlic and ginger. I think fruity ferments say, “come, eat me” more than sauerkraut. Especially when I serve them in my favourite spotty jug.

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Going without bread is hard, right? That’s why I created this millet sourdough. We’ve been experimenting a #lectinfree protocol and we missed the joy of (and calories of) bread.
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There are a lot of lectin-free breads around, but most use a large proportion of ingredients that are not grown in Italy. I don’t like that in my kitchen.
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Hence aiming for 98% millet 🙂 This loaf uses only 4 ingredients – millet, water, salt and psyllium husk. I got the idea for using psyllium husk (a plant seed shell that absorbs water) from the wonderful @ellys_everyday.
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After building a millet starter, it was super-easy. And kinda super-weird too…you can see why, and all the steps, in my story today.
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Some conclusions on Dr Gundry’s #plantparadox are being formed in our collective family’s brain. I’ll write on it soon, I think.
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In the meantime, I’ll get finishing this loaf!

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Here’s my sourdough pancake going in and then, if you swipe, you’ll see my flipping technique and a beautifully golden crispy result. Am I making you hungry?! Recipe is in my profile, I wrote it up as this month’s #ancestralcookup.

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