Today was the day for sorting out the bacon.
We (or, more accurately DH) had cured a piece of loin, a piece of belly, and another piece of belly for lardons. The large electric slicer came out of the cupboard and, as theblade was sharpened, we discussed whether we should get a bigger one. We agreed (as I think we concluded last time) that (a) a bigger one was yet another jump cost-wise, (b) it wouldn't fit in the cupboard at all and (c) the day of slicing was a bit too late to think about it all.
We have a breakfast bar. DH stood one side, driving the slicing. I stood the other side, retrieving the rashers and stacking them into 2-person-portions then wrapping them and putting them into bags ready to vacuum seal. The end bits I cut up into lardons.
Next, the back bacon, same procedure. Then DH cut up the lardon-piece by hand, while I vac sealed everything else. Lardons weighed into 50g portions and bagged and vac'd. I then printed labels, and everything went into the freezer. Loads of bacon, loads of lardons!
Spring was in the air. No point in spring cleaning as we're still using the stove (and I want to repaint the living room this spring. And the kitchen)..so instead I satisfied my need to clean by targetting the fridge.
I emptied the fridge, washed all the shelves, cleaned all the permanent contents and checked sell-by dates. I decided it was time to chuck ut the Jif lemon and limes. The sell-by dates for both was 2007; they've been open for several years and I think I probably last used them 3 years ago (we have fresh lemons as I like hot water and lemon first thing, and cold water and lemon during the day). I also threw out a half-used pack of shop bought lard, which was a couple of years past its sell-by date. . There is still a rather old unopened pack of shop bought lard in the fridge, but it's unopened. This has happened because for the last year we have been using our own lard.
Other than that, nothing else needed to be thrown.
We (or, more accurately DH) had cured a piece of loin, a piece of belly, and another piece of belly for lardons. The large electric slicer came out of the cupboard and, as theblade was sharpened, we discussed whether we should get a bigger one. We agreed (as I think we concluded last time) that (a) a bigger one was yet another jump cost-wise, (b) it wouldn't fit in the cupboard at all and (c) the day of slicing was a bit too late to think about it all.
We have a breakfast bar. DH stood one side, driving the slicing. I stood the other side, retrieving the rashers and stacking them into 2-person-portions then wrapping them and putting them into bags ready to vacuum seal. The end bits I cut up into lardons.
Next, the back bacon, same procedure. Then DH cut up the lardon-piece by hand, while I vac sealed everything else. Lardons weighed into 50g portions and bagged and vac'd. I then printed labels, and everything went into the freezer. Loads of bacon, loads of lardons!
Spring was in the air. No point in spring cleaning as we're still using the stove (and I want to repaint the living room this spring. And the kitchen)..so instead I satisfied my need to clean by targetting the fridge.
I emptied the fridge, washed all the shelves, cleaned all the permanent contents and checked sell-by dates. I decided it was time to chuck ut the Jif lemon and limes. The sell-by dates for both was 2007; they've been open for several years and I think I probably last used them 3 years ago (we have fresh lemons as I like hot water and lemon first thing, and cold water and lemon during the day). I also threw out a half-used pack of shop bought lard, which was a couple of years past its sell-by date. . There is still a rather old unopened pack of shop bought lard in the fridge, but it's unopened. This has happened because for the last year we have been using our own lard.
Other than that, nothing else needed to be thrown.
