What’s cooking?

Since the lard revelations of @historicalitalianfood’s book ‘Chewing The Fat’, I’ve been on a fats research mission. Digging into first Roman, and now Medieval fat usage in Italy.
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And this lard immersion has created even more enthusiasm for it in my kitchen. I’m rendering the fat I get from our local farmer, Flavio @valledelsasso and using the cracklings in a myriad of ways. Crackling bread (pan di ciccioli) has quite a history in Italy and I want to try combining cracklings and bread in myriad ways (enjoying the results!) until I find the one I love the most.
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Here we have a spelt sourdough focaccia, placed in my cast iron pan and topped with fresh cracklings. I baked it until golden and then added salt and pepper, and later rosemary. In my story today you can see how we ate it.
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If you know any crackling plus bread recipes, send them my way. Test kitchen at the ready 🙂

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Fermented sweet potato. I chopped it into discs (or as I called them, to encourage my 7-year old to help, pirate coins) and jarred with a 5g salt to 1 cup brine and some raw garlic and rosemary.
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This is the second time I’ve done these. I’d say ferment them for 5-7 days if you can wait that long and use the yellow-fleshed sweet potato as they are tastier than the orange-fleshed ones.
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I baked them for 25 mins, liberally daubed with lard, salt and pepper. I turned them half way through. Crunchy, salt, sweet and with that ferment tang that is indescribably good!
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Thank you @kirstenkshockey for, as always, inspiring me.

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Bran. It’s good for us, right? That’s what I thought; up to a few years ago, I’d always chose the wholegrain option.
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So why (as I’m doing here in this photo) did the ancestral Scots strain the bran out of their fermented oats and give it to the chickens/compost?
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And why did Galen and Roman physicians recommend white bread for optimum health benefits?
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The role of bran in our health is more nuanced than has been painted by modern health drives.
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Yes, the outside of grain, bran, does hold nutrients that the inside of the grain doesn’t. And yes, it’s fibrous which can help with elimination. But it’s harder for our bodies to digest and contains a larger percentage of the toxic compounds – for some people these two things can cause issues.
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I believe the way to intelligently work with this information is to not swing one way or the other, but to be measured and to call upon the ancestral techniques learnt by those who nourished themselves on the bounty of the land long before us.
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I bake wholegrain breads. I also bake breads with partially-sieved flour. I soak and sour all my flours (i.e. I make sourdough) which helps eliminate the toxins. And with other foods, like sowans, the Scottish oat ferment in the photo, I do as tradition dictates and strain out the bran before making my porridge!
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It’s harder than being all-or-nothing, but as with so many things in life, finding compromise is the best way forward.
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I have an article on my site titled “Are Whole Grains Healthy?”. I’ve popped it at the top of my linktr.ee if you want a read. And my course on sowans, the ancestral oat fermentation method is available at @thefermentationschool.

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If you know of Lardo, the Italian pork fat delicacy, you’ve probably heard of the one that hails from the town of Colonnata, which, for centuries, has been traditionally dry cured in huge marble basins. I tried replicating it late last year (without the marble basin) and we are still enjoying the fragrant fat that resulted.
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In addition to Lardo di Colonnata, there’s another historic curing method for pork back fat in Italy. It comes from further north, in the Val d’Aosta and is called Lardo d’Arnad. Instead of being dry cured it is held in a wet brine for months on end.
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Having read about it in an age-old paper from the @oxfordfoodsymposium I could not resist trying to replicate it with pork fat from @valledelsasso’s beautiful pigs. Not being able to locate any quantifiable instructions, I took some educated guesses – and now must wait, wait, wait now to see how it goes.
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The fat, shown here in the glass container it will rest in, has salt, rosemary, sage, bay and garlic keeping it company.
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I’m knee-deep in lard research, so expect more lard information and experiements from me over the coming months.
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I’d love to know if you’ve tried cured lard – either d’Arnad style or the famous Colonnata.

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Spelt sourdough with a millet and rye malt scald (you can see the bread in progress in my story today).
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Since learning about scalds a few years back, adding them into my sourdough breads is something I do so often.
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If you’re intimidated by giving them a go, know that they are simple. Hold a bit of your total flour back and, before mixing your dough, put it in a pan with 2-3 times its weight in water. Put the heat on and stir until it thickens. Let it cool, then add it into your dough when you mix.
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It’ll give you a longer-lasting crumb which is also softer, more sweetness and more brown on your crust.
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I have a recipe for a spelt with scald on my website, which Elly over at @ellys.everyday filmed a video of – there’s a link to that video in my linktr.ee.
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If you’ve got scald questions, fire away!

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My town has a sausage! This is bardiccio, it’s deep colour is because it’s made with offal and heart (a mix of pig and cow) and it’s flavour is zingy with fennel and garlic.
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Irene, the local veg grower, whom I bought this from at our town’s market #mercatointransizione told me it’s traditionally made here in Pontassieve, where I live, and cooked up on grills at the Christmas festivals that celebrate the nativity scenes Italy is famous for. I’m going in search of it next Christmas!
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I ovened them with local spring onions and beetroot. I recommend cooking sausage this way as all the wonderful flavours coat the veg.
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I love the local food traditions that still abound in my adopted home and will do all I can to support them (not that it’s much of a hardship eating these!)

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Gluten (and lectin) free sourdough made with three ingredients: millet, sorghum and linseed.
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I like things simple and fresh, so home-milling the flours for this and not using the myriad of ingredients a lot of gluten free breads do is important to me.
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Once I’ve got the flour milled, it’s easy – blob in some of my millet sourdough starter, add a pinch of salt and the stir. Leave overnight and, in the morning, spoon in to a greased tin ready to bake.
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I’m really hoping I’ll be able to get to the UK this summer and show this bread, along with some of my other gluten free ferments with @iamcultured_

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