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This is soup. Or it will be, once I’ve tamed all that gorgeous natural gelatin into a liquidy submission with some heat!
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My son wasn’t keen on the “blobby bits” (i.e. the cartilage) in my oxtail stew. So I hid them by blending the stew up and renaming it a soup. After leaving it for a day in the fridge this is what I found!
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So not only does he get the “blobby bits” without realising, but he’s also getting all that collagen in the jelly goodness.
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Sometimes it’s just about tweaking the packaging, as it were. A skill I’m acquiring through necessity as my son ages!
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Happy weekend to you all.

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I love sauerkraut. But making it can often seem like a chore. There are other things I’d rather be doing…baking some bread, reading about the joys of lard, trying to replicate a dish I just heard about…
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Creativity in the kitchen is important. Anything we can do to to minimise the time we spend on the routine – the things we want but the making of which doesn’t fire us up – allows us more time to engage with our passions, which keeps those fires of inspiration burning!
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Sauerkraut doesn’t need to take all day, bread doesn’t have to be complicated, your sourdough starter should not run your life, herbal ‘supplements’ can be easily incorporated into food…all things that @farmandhearth and I talk about in this week’s podcast. Listen in to hear some easy ways to make your kitchen quicker and simpler.
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And if you’ve got your own ‘easy way’, a time/energy-saving method that you’ve honed, do let us know!
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You can find us as @ancestralkitchenpodcast on your app, or download/stream via the link in my profile.

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Have you wet-rendered fat?
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I finally got some local grass-fed beef fat and since Ximena over at @thefunctionalforce opened my eyes to using water and salt in rendering I’ve been excited to give the wet method a go!
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I watched Marisa’s @bumblebeeapothecary video on You Tube twice then dove in! It was more fiddly and took more time than my usual dry rendering *but* I’ve ended up with a tallow that is really clean and virtually odourless.
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It’ll keep longer like this and I’ll be able to use it for face cream, something I’ve been wanting to make for ages.
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This pic is from the first render, I’m straining the ‘cooked’ fat through muslin and catching the liquid (a mixture of tallow and water/salt) underneath. After this I did a second render of the tallow, with more salt and water, to help eliminate impurities.
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Check my story today for more pictures and some video of the final product!
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Happy July 4th to my USA friends 🙂

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Here’s the beautiful broth from the beef bones in my story today.
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I’ve 6 jars like this. They’ll set like jelly, the fat layer available to take off or break up and mix back in.
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I’ll drink the stock on it’s own, sprinkled with salt. I’ll use it to cook grains in. I’ll let it loosen up leftovers when I pull them from the fridge to heat up for a quick supper. I’ll add it to one pan meat and veg dishes for extra richness.
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Do you have any unusual uses for stock you want to share?!
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If you haven’t yet, check out the @ancestralkitchenpodcast on stock (it’s number 26), our most downloaded episode – there’s obviously a whole lot of goodness there!
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Happy weekend from my kitchen to yours.

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Creativity in the kitchen – how do you express it?
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With me, it’s often in my bread and it often comes to life based on what needs using.
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I wanted a basically spelt loaf and I also wanted to make it up as I went along. There was a packet of rye flour in the cupboard that needed finishing so I added the remains of that. Whilst in my cupboard-clearing-out mode, I noticed the end of a tub of dehydrated orange slices. I whizzed them up in the spice grinder with a generous handful of caraway seeds and added that to the dough.
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There was some four-day-old rye sourdough starter in the fridge. I put a big blob of that in, added some honey, salt and water and got stuck in with my hands.
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The resulting loaf is delicious and makes me want to play some more with orange and caraway.
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Thank you to @ellys.everyday for making me feel OK about using ‘old’ sourdough starter and to @elliemarkovitch for being a wonderful intuitive baking ambassador! If you don’t already, go follow what they are up to in their exploratory kitchens 🙂
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I’d love to hear where you most like to ‘play’ in the kitchen.

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What’s your favourite grain?
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I think mine are oats. It’s that creaminess they create. I guess it comes from their higher-than-normal fat content.
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And I love to ferment oats. This picture is of a fermented oat bake – I fermented the freshly-rolled oats overnight and then mixed with eggs and cheese before baking. I want to try this again and add some bacon and onions, as well as herb-it-up!
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Check my story today for more fermented oats goodness.

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Is crunch important to you?
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The crust of a sourdough, pork crackling, toast…all things I love largely because of the crunch. I miss the satisfaction of that noise and sensation if I don’t have it!
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Crunchy pork skin hits that spot 110% *and* it’s made at home, local and a ‘waste’ food. So good that I wanted to glorify the treats in some arty pictures!
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Check my story today for videos of the process (and the crunch!) and click on my profile to find the youtube video recipe

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How can something so simple brighten my day so much? Purple of borage flowers against the orange of carrots and the green of chives and rocket.
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In the background sourdough spelt topped with bone marrow, some red cabbage sauerkraut and two types of local unpasteurised cheese – one with sheep’s milk, the other cow’s.
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Everything here is Italian, most of it from less than 5 miles away. The borage and chives are from the garden.
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It’s hard to put into words how eating locally and using traditional wisdom in my kitchen makes me feel. It’s something like peaceful, but with hints of deep belonging and gratitude.
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Happy weekend all.

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I finally got serious beef marrow bones locally and I’m using the marrow fat in everything…on toast, to fry, in bakes and to add a beautiful touch to warm grain salads.
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Turns out in the past, in England, bone marrow was used to make a forerunner of rice pudding – with sugar and spices. See my story today for the details.
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What’s your favourite way to eat marrow?
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Thank you @fontedeiserri for the amazing bones (and fat and meat!)

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Do you have this book? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the shear number of recipes in it?
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I remember when I got my copy of Nourishing Traditions. I wanted to make *everything* in it!! A decade later, I haven’t managed that feat, but I do have favourite, go-to recipes that I make over and over again. And so does my podcast co-host @farmandhearth.
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Listen in to today’s @ancestralkitchenpodcast episode to hear us share the six recipes we love the most in this amazing ancestral food bible.
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We’ll tell you why we love them and share our tips on making them. Once you’ve listened you’ll be enthused and inspired to bring them to life in your own world!

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