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My first ever home-cured lardo with local back fat from @valledelsasso!
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If you’ve not tried lardo, look out for it; it’s amazing. Traditionally-cured in marble basins for months, it’s mouth-melting and so flavourful.
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I don’t have a marble basin (or a hanging shed) so I played with process a bit, using baking paper and weighing it down with water-filled olive oil bottles!
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The cure was rosemary, juniper, salt and sugar. I left it on for a few weeks (not sure exactly how long, gotta write down what I do next time!), and then rinsed off, re-wrapped and left for a couple of months.
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Having tasted some raw (yum!), we’re going to cover one of my spelt pizza doughs in it today and let all that deliciousness soak into the crust as it cooks.

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To convert Euros to other currencies, you can use a tool like this.… Read More

How many books do you have on the go at the moment?
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Want some more?!
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I’m reading four right now and holding myself back from many more!
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The four I’ve got on the go are:
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@historicalitalianfood’s Chewing the Fat (top in the stack!)
The Essential Herbal Medicine by Simon Mills
How to Brew by John Palmer
Contadino 2.0 featuring Flavio at @valledelsasso (in Italian, started this *ages* ago and am determined to finish it!)
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Lined up for after these, I have Defending Beef by Nicolette Hahn Niman, Eating to Extinction by @dan.saladino, Wild Brews by Jeff Sparrow and ValdiSieve e Lode (again in Italian, again featuring my farmer!)
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After even these, there are two or three more I definitely want to get to – including Nourishing Fats by @sallyfallonmorell and Taste and the TV chef by @foodgillysmith.
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Will there be time for *anything* else this year?! After recording today’s podcast with @farmandhearth and hearing all the books she is diving into, I’m not sure.
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What are you reading?
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What do you want to read this year?
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Inspire me some more!

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“Find who inspired the person who inspired you.” – Andrea We got together to share our book stacks for 2022 with each other and both our lists got longer in the process! Alison dived in depth with a few titles … Read More

Starting the year as I mean to go on: With a beautiful sourdough spelt crust made by wild yeasties!

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My sous chef, fermentista-in-training, joy-infuser and part of the reason I have spent so much time focusing on health-giving food the last 7 years.
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Happy new year from our kitchen (and all the ferments, including this ginger beer!) to yours.
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Thank you. I look forward to more wonderful interaction next year.

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Slow-cooked beef heart is a staple in our house. It’s simple, economical and can feed my family all week. Those three things in one dish feels like the holy grail to me! A lot of people feel intimidated by organ … Read More

Want to move forward in your kitchen? Been meaning to try that new ferment? Find a bread recipe for your family? Tackle that recipe you’ve been avoiding?! Looking for ideas, support and encouragement? The Ancestral Kitchen Challenge is here to … Read More

Honey-fermented chestnuts enveloped in home-roasted 100% cacao chocolate.
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I cannot believe my “I wonder what happens if you ferment chestnuts” rabbit hole resulted in these. The chestnut is sweet, smoky and squidgy and permeated by a spicy, mead-like liquor. Then the chocolate comes in and gives it all a dark, bitter, fortifying note.
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They are *so* good. I wish you could taste. If you have chestnuts, put them in some 50/50 honey/water solution with some spices and ferment them! Then, in Jan, I’m going to do a bean-to-bar chocolate with no special equipment day. If you can save them till then, you can cover them in that deliciousness 🙂

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I’ve been waiting so long to do this: Wassail!
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In case you don’t know, wassailing was a traditional UK custom involving a warm, spiced alcoholic drink (which obviously would have been farmhouse-made) known as wassail.
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It generally included apples (wild ones, much more tart than we’re used to now) and winter, immune-enhancing spices.
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I did two versions. The first was with a home-made, non-flavoured rye ale (that had been bottled for 2 days). To this I added roasted apples and lots of warming spices. The second was with the same rye ale but from a bottle that had been second fermented with a wild apple and juniper paste that was made locally. I just added spices to this one, no extra fruit.
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We’d just been for a long walk. Up a hill. In the rain. It felt amazing to cuddle up on the sofa and wrap our hands around this.

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