Recently in Kitchen Category

 A Question from a Reader:

Laurie has asked:

Do you know why my home grown eggs are difficult to peel once they are hard boiled?

 

Yes, Laurie, I can help you with that.

Fresh eggs are very difficult to peel. It's because they are fresh. It's because backyard flocks get better nutrition and makes the shells tougher and the membranes thicker.

There several tricks people use to peel them. I use salt and vinegar in my water. Sometimes people let the eggs age in the fridge before using. Some even poke a hole in the large end before covering with water.

Here is a video of the coolest way I know to peel eggs perfectly every time.

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Does anyone design blogs for MT? I am in the market for something to make over several areas of my blog and website. Email me if you can help.

When I have dirty eggs I don't bother to wash them. I set them aside and once a week we crack them and along with a quart of buttermilk the pigs get a treat. I have a little kitchen helper that automatically cracks these eggs for me.

Wanna see my handy dandy egg cracker?

Do you have a kitchen accessory that comes this cute?

My budding chef.

He is very intent on his job when performing master culinary skills.

He can crack them one handed, too.

Most often he doesn't make a mess either.

Careful with the shells.

Wipe off the hands when finished.

All done.

No shells in the eggs either. I have even been known to let him crack eggs when I am cooking. Of course those times we wash all the eggs any way. He cracked a fair amount of eggs and was quite pleased with himself.

"No more pictures."

"Me say, "No more pictures!"

I wanted to show you more of the bottles in my kitchen that I use to hold oils, vinegars and other items I like close at hand when cooking. For those of you that might have missed it Part I of my series on decorative and engaging vessels in which to store potions and notions in your kitchen can be found here.

This is one of my favorite bottles. It is for Sinclair's pure cottonseed salad oil. I have never seen pure cottonseed oil available on the store shelf. If I did I would buy it and run home rejoicing about the soaps I would make with it. Not so sure I would eat it but I would absolutely make soap with it. I know nothing of the company that produced this oil. I have Googled and hunted and so far come up with nothing. If anyone has any clue about this oil and the maker I would love to know. The bottle reads "Sinclair Oil Salad Pure Cottonseed Oil". The outer ring of writing reads "Bottled by Tillman & Bendel, Inc. San Francisco".

Next on the counter top is a White House Vinegar jug. For as long as I can remember my Grandma and my Momma only used White House vinegars. It is a name I know. Those things familiar from my childhood, even a lowly vinegar name, evoke such huge emotional repsonses in me. I can smell and see the bowl of cucumbers and onions marinating for dinner on my Grandma's kitchen counter. I know the scent of bowling vinegar used to pickle peppers and cukes and a steaming hot summer kitchen. Vinegar also invokes the memories of years up years of easter dying with the colored tablets, tablespoon of vinegar and a small cup of cold water. This bottle was a must have.  

The last bottle is another bottle that I haven't been able to find a clue as to what it was originally intended for. It is a bottle that is representative of George Washington. I know this because it is imprinted in the glass at the bottom "Washington".  I wonder if George was a novelty to sell distilled spirits. So far my research has turned up nothing whatsoever. For now George is overseeing the pouring of balsamic vinegar.

So, you can see, I have some odd delights and uses for bottles. I figure you can't shove everything into a cabinet. If you have to leave it sitting out it may as well be useful but above all it should be pretty, engaging, novel and a conversation starter.

I have had many people comment on my bottles. At first they appear nondescript and just a part of the kitchen clutter nestled near the stove top. Then someone pays a bit closer attention to what is really there. I have never asked, nor looked, but I do wonder how many people go home and look for something interesting to store their oils and vinegars in.

Fall is almost here! Woot! I love fall. I love apples and pumpkins and falling leaves.

The apples and pears freshly harvested look so pretty in my baskets I almost hated to do anything with them.

In the end I made applebutter, pear preserves, and jelly and syrup from the left over juices.

The jars will fill my winter larder and will look pretty neatly stacked on the shelf. They will taste wonderful on biscuits on cold frozen winter mornings.

But for right now, I much prefer the look of full fruit baskets on my counters.

This bottle is a 1968 Mrs. Butterworth syrup bottle. She is fun. She is funky. She is hip. Everything old is new again. I use this bottle to store my really good vanilla extract in. When my mother goes on her yearly cruises to the island she brings me back a big bottle.  My last vanilla is in this bottle. She needs to take a cruise!

Mrs. Buttersworth is special. She is the syrup bottle I wanted as a kid. I wanted Mrs. butterworth to keep me company as I had my breakfast. But we never had Mrs. Butterworth. We came from a long line of Alaga and cane syrup eaters. Mrs. Butterworth was what the fancier, richer kids that lived in the city got on their pancakes - or was it waffles? We were country kids. We always had pancakes. Waffles was fancy smancy eatin'. Hmmm, I have some deep seated trama associated with Mrs. Butterworth. Hahaha!

Do you have any bottles I should see?

How sad.

Now you can't make this wonderful quick chocolate treat.

Angie's Chocolate Choclate Chip Mini's (from starter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powde, baking soda, salt and chocolate pudding.

In another large mixing bowl mix together the sweet starter, eggs, oil and vanilla.

Combine the two mixes by gradually stirring in the sifted ingredients to the wet ingredients until just blended. Add chocolate chips. Mix well.

Spoon into mini baking cups.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes 96 mini cupcakes.

Careful to watch them. They may cook faster depending on your oven.

These are a cross between a great brownie and a good chocolate chip cookie.

Gonna make the starter now?

- then you will like this recipe.

I am in the mood for fall. Have been for a couple of weeks now. I love fall apples and baking.

Go get some apples.

We have baking to do.

Apple Pecan Bread (from starter)

2 c. flour (I use self-rising to get extra lift)
1 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 c. sweet bread starter
3 eggs
2/3 c. vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 c. chopped pecans
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
 
In another large mixing bowl mix together the sweet starter, eggs, oil and vanilla.

Combine the two mixes by gradually stirring in the sifted ingredients to the wet ingredients until just blended.

Add the nuts and apples.

Divide the batter evenly between two 9x5 inch loaf pans coated with floured baking spray.
 
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean.

I love sour dough bread. I love rustic grilled sandwiches made with thinly sliced meats and melty cheese. Nowhere in the world will you find better sour dough than in San Francisco but you can make awesome sour dough bread in your own kitchen from naturally occuring yeasts in the air. You just have to catch them!

1 cup bread flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk

Combine until smooth - I use a wire wisk.

Pour into a container that can sit on your countertop.

Loosely cover with cheese cloth or a dish cloth. The mix needs to breath. Wild yeast bacteria naturally occuring in the air we breath should make a home here and do all the work.

Look! I caught a wild yeast. Woot!!! It bubbles and rises. It is a living food culture.

See that line of liquid that is rising to the top? That is the 'hooch'. It is the fermented sugars we used to feed the yeast cultures. The mix does smell like rich beer. No worries! When you bake with it the alcohols cook away.

Every day the mix needs to be stirred. Every 5 days it needs to be fed. I feed it the same simple recipe - 1 cup bread flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. After the first 10 days you can begin to bake with it. Lovely breads and sweets. Anything you can do with a yeast recipe you can do with this starter. You can search google and turn up tons of awesome easy recipes for your dough starter.

If you have trouble catching a yeast you can still make your own with some starter help. In your original recipe add 1 package of dry yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water allowed to sit to for 10 minutes to activate. Then continue feeding the mixture the simple recipe above (1 cup bread flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk) every 5 days. On day 10 you begin cooking with it.

You much tend your starter. You must feed it. Without your TLC it will die. If you find yourself in a position where you have too much starter or you don't have time to use it you can freeze it. After having been frozen you will need to let it thaw and come up to room temerpature. Then you want to watch for it to be to activate again. You want to feed it and help it to grow. If you don't want to freeze it you can give it away by the cup full to your friends and neighbors.

Think about it. It is the perfect sharing food. You feed it and it feeds you and your family and your friends and their families.

Now go get busy. It will take you 2 minutes to make the mix. The rest of the work is done by nature.

Chop. Chop. Get to moving. I haven't asked you to do anything in a long time. ;)

My readers ask such good question! In the post about hatching my goose eggs renn of rennratt left this comment.

renn said: What are the differences (overall) between different breeds of geese? I understand appearance, but are there qualities that shine in the various breeds? Do you eat goose eggs? Or geese in general? I am fascinated by this.

Let's talk about the incredible edible egg. Not just chickens eggs. Most every fowl egg that I know of is edible. They are. You can eat all sorts of delicious eggs and probably have and may not have known it.

Goose and duck eggs are great for baking. They have a much bigger yolk and make a much richer baked product. Cakes are to die for when baked with duck eggs in place of chicken eggs. Quail eggs are often used for gourmet hors' dourves. You just never know where a different fowl egg will pop up in your diet. People also eat ostrich, rhea and emu eggs too.

In this photo is a sampling of eggs I have on hand. From largest to smallest are goose, duck, chicken, jumbo guinea and smallish guinea. The very small guinea egg is about the size of a bantam chicken egg. It would take 3 of those to make a large standard egg in your cooking recipes.

A farm fresh egg has a different taste when compaired to a commercially produced egg. It does take a while to get used to a fresh egg because they are so much richer and have a better flavor. Eggs don't take on flavors when the hen eats wild onions or garlic. But that is not to say what they eat doesn't cause a difference in the eggs when compared.

Farm fresh eggs from a small backyard coop are generally much deeper orangey in the yolks. The whites look cloudy. All of this is a good thing. Hens that are able to freely choose what they eat and are given a much wider diet have a more healthy egg. It has been proven under laboratory testing. Backyard, free range eggs have much higher Omega-3 fatty acids.

The orangey yolk is from the wide diet the chickens eat. Chickens are naturally omnivours. They do eat meat and they do eat pleants. Factory hens are fed a commercial mix of feed that is manufactured to have the least waste material and the most utilization in the chicken body.

Backyard chickens get more than feed. They eat bugs and green grass. Many are catered to and get treats just because they are pets more than egg producers.

My own chickens get all of the meat scraps from my kitchen and alot of my vegetable scraps - I have to give some to my goats too. Also my chickens eat grass. They eat bugs. I often cook rice and mix it with yogurt for good probiotics. Chickens will also catch and eat mice, lizard, small snakes and other little critters. This makes deep rich yolks. When I make my 12 eggs pound cake the cake turns yellow/orange from the yolks not a pale yellow or white. Also a cloudy tight white  means an egg is super fresh as the carbon dioxide hasn't had time to dissopate through the shell. You want the yolk to sit up high on top of a tight white. This is getting the best of egg goodness.

This is true for most eggs. Turkeys, ducks, chickens, guinea, pheasant, quail, etc all eat the same things. The eggs are enrichened in the same manner. Geese, however, are different.

A goose is a herbivor. It only eats plants. It might swim like a duck but it doesn't eat fish or bugs or other creepy crawlies. Geese are best when they pasture graze. Their diet consists of good green grass in a nice wide field and a clean water source to keep their nares clean and clear.

It was once customary and still is with the English to raise geese. Christmas goose has been popular since Victorian days. Having spent the past 3 years looking for a goose for Christmas dinner and not finding one I decided I was tired of searching for the mountain. I started moving dirt and am building my own moutain -so to speak. I went in search of eggs for breeds of geese that were noted to make the best table birds. There are breeds of geese raised for their liver - mmmm, pate.

There are many kinds of geese. African, American, Buff, Emden, Toulouse, Brecon Buff, Buff Back, Grey Back, Pomeranian, Chinese, Pilgrim, Roman and more including canadian and wild geese. Even some real eye candy geese like Sebastopol. I should be getting some eggs for some Sebastopol next week. I am thrilled!

The heavier breeds are good for eating. I did a lot of research and found the most recommenations for embdens as table birds. Those are what I am raising for meat. There are others that are better at laying more eggs. I have some mutt geese growing out and who knows if they will fatten out for meat or be good layers. I have to wait and see. My embdens should be ready late this month. It takes 28 - 35 days for them to hatch. An entire month! The waiting is long and the hatching is longer. Geese are the hardest to hatch.

I don't have a pond. I bet you wonder how I will be able to raise waterfowl on dry land? They live just find with a kids wading pool to dip in to. It would be perfect to have a pond, even a wet weather pond. I am asking Steve repeatedly to build me one. We'll see. Maybe by next spring I'll have one. Fingers crossed.

My oldest geese are four weeks old. They don't need as intensive care as chicks. In fact my geese are turned out now. No heat lamps, tending to themselves. I make sure they have clean water and they graze and nap in the sun. I also give them a dish of game bird feed to supplement them as they are still growing and have not feathered in yet.

I am raising Chickens, geese and guineas.  Turkeys will come this month and hopefully in 2 weeks my ducks will hatch. This is mostly breeding stock for next years big meat harvest for the winter freezer.

Steve hunted this past fall and the wild goose he brought home was delicious. I hope our home grown Christmas Goose is equally as good.

I have a barn full of pullets. A pullet is a female chicken under one year old. After one year they are hens. So, I have about 40+ pullets who became 19 weeks old monday. When they start laying I can expect at the height of the season to collect somewhere around three dozen eggs a day.

Between the ages of 18 - 24 weeks most pullets will begin to lay eggs. They will be small at first but will get bigger and more uniform as the pullet matures. There is no magic number to predict when the pullets will begin to lay. It is sort of like with us females. Mother natures takes her own course and you just can't predict the day and time that the moment will happen.

The cycle for the eggs often follows a 25 hour pattern. If an egg is laid at 8am today it might be 9am tomorrow before that next egg gets laid. But that is not always the rule. Some hens will lay like clockwork at the same time every day. Some hens might lay an egg every other day.

It is very exciting as you approach the age of laying. It is also very frustrating looking each and every day for those first eggs. I am guilty of checking often and then checking again.

Now here is a little lesson - you do not need a rooster to have eggs - beautiful farm fresh eggs. You only need a rooster if you want those eggs to eventually incubate (with or without a hen) and hatch out lovely little chicks.

Please take note of what I am about to tell you -

1. There is not one bit of difference between a brown and a white egg. Nor is there any difference between those and any of the colored eggs from chickens who carry a color gene from an ancestor cross bred with a true ameriaucana.

2. You cannot tell the difference between a fertiled egg and an unfertilized egg. People who say the little white string in an egg is rooster sperm is an idiot.That is the chalaza and it is what attaches to the membrane at the shell to keep the egg yolk centered in the egg.

3. If you did have a fertiled egg the only way to tell is to look VERY carefully at the yolf after a few days and look for a tiny speck called a bullseye where the cells are beginning to form.

4. You can eat fertilized and unfertilized eggs and NEVER know the difference. There is really no difference. You won't be eating a baby chick if you eat a fertilized egg.

5. Fertilized eggs can sit for as long as 10 days or so before the hen has enough to sit on if she goes broody. They do not begin to develop into what will become a chick until they have started the incubating process. It takes lots of continuous warmth provided by a nice fluffy feathered hen or a monitored incubator to begin the process toward a hatching chick.

6. Never count your chicks before the eggs hatch.

I wrote all of this to tell you this story.

Last night I was finishing up with cooking supper (chicken stew from one of our own processed chickens!) so Steve and Colby and Gracie went out to the barn to check the feed and close up. The girls came in first.

Gracie says, "Can I show momma what we found?" 

Colby says, "No, not yet." I said, "If my chickens laid an egg and you all didn't come get me my feelings will be hurt." Not really but maybe? LOL

Steve comes in and the conversation is repeated with him only this time Gracie holds out her hands and in each hand is a little pullet egg.

So I have no idea which two started laying yesterday but I do have an idea since they were found in the nest boxes closest to the door that it was most likely one if my RIR and one of the barred rocks.

You know threatening them is what I think did it. I went out there yesterday morning and said to them all as I filled the feeders, " I took 3 boys out here for being lazy and mean do you girls want to be next? If not, you better get to producing some eggs!"

The photo is two small pullet eggs. They are very light brown. They may or may not have a yolk in them. I'll find out later when I crack them to cook.

How cool is that?

My chickens make me breakfast!