The Hungry Boy goes fishing.

Went fishing in Kettering at 5a.m. yesterday morning hoping to catch just a few mackerel, I ended up with quite the fisherman's basket. It was amazing catching these fish, watching the sunrise over Bruny Island knowing that a great dinner was to come..

3 Blue Warehou? Not sure what the top one is. Can anyone identify these fish?

  1 Squid, 6 Mackerel, 1 Wrasse

 Mackerel sashimi

Whole pan fried fish, simple is great.

Book Review- Fast Food Nation

Author- Eric Schlosser

Released- 2001

Pages- 288

A great book by Eric Schlosser, it tells the story of the birth of fast food in southern California to its place in global culture today. It also covers worldwide obesity issues, marketing tactics of fast-food corporations, the poor conditions for immigrants working in the meat packing industry and reveals the horrors of cattle yards and intensively farmed animals.

What I found truly shocking was the lack of governance in the entire industry, farmers were allowed to feed their cattle with feed that had amongst other things dead pigs and horses and chicken manure rendered into it. These practices lead to the birth of mad cow disease. They were also responsible for the wide spread of meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

When I was going to Uni I would eat McDonald's and KFC almost every day, since reading this book I haven’t eaten from a single fast food franchise not because I was gaining weight or for health purposes but only for ethical reasons.

Verdict- 5/5 stars This book is highly informative and written in a captivating style a great read but beware you may be in for a series of shocks.

Slippery Jacks

So I haven't got quite used to blogging just yet, I keep forgetting about all the little things like slippery jacks. Just last week after the rains we were able to collect a full 20 litre bucket of these gems. These mushrooms are found in areas where pine trees are growing but as with all mushrooms don't pick what you don't know as they can be extremely dangerous or fatal.

Dried mushrooms, perfect for soups and casseroles. These were dried simply by

                                                               slicing and placing on racks for a few days.

Sauteed mushrooms and onions on a scotch fillet steak with toasted sourdough.

My Food Heroes- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Browsing in the library one day I came across the river cottage meat book, after flipping through just a few pages I knew I had to buy this book. Hugh has so much passion for local seasonal products, animal welfare and nose to tail eating. Reading his book really made me think more about the end product and ethical eating.

Hugh is well known for his series of river cottage books and shows in which he tries to live self sufficiently. 

 

  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Fearnley-Whittingstall

http://rivercottage.net/

Panna Cotta

I found a recipe for panna cotta on the net a while ago and tweaked it a little.
I didn’t have any suitable moulds so I bought a 12 pack of plastic tumblers from woollies. I made a quick syrup/sauce just by crushing raspberries and a little icing sugar. With the quantities below I made 7 servings.

Ingredients:
4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
powdered gelatine 4 1/2 teaspoons
100ml cold water
few strips of lemon rind

Method:

1. Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the powdered gelatine in. Give it a stir and set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Using a small, sharp knife, split the vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the seeds. Place both the seeds and the rest of the bean into a saucepan with the cream, sugar, and lemon rind.
3. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring gently. Add in the gelatine mixture and heat through, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes. The gelatine should be completely dissolved by this stage.
4. Discard the lemon rind and vanilla bean. Pour into moulds and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
5. To serve slide a thin knife around the panna cotta and flip onto a plate. It is delicious as is but you could also add any sauces, shaved chocolate, lightly dust it with coffee just use your imagination.

They turned out really well, during the cooking process I tried the cream and it was really rich but as they set they mellowed out. Next time I may replace one quarter of the cream with a low fat cream to make it a bit lighter.

My Food Heroes- Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain definitely the first chef to inspire my gastronomic exploration. I first discovered Tony on his show A Cooks Tour which led me to reading Kitchen Confidential where I learned about the wild behind-the-scenes world of chefs and restaurateurs. I find him to be one of the most honest figures in the food world not afraid to speak his mind at any time. His passion for traditional home-style cooking is inspiring proving that it’s not necessary to have squeezy bottled, towered food prepared by Michelin star chefs to enjoy a great meal.

From Wikipedia-

Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain (born June 25, 1956) is an American author and chef. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
A 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a 28-year veteran of professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently a chef-at-large, whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, New York where he was executive chef for many years.

Oysters- Chew or Swallow?

So I Prepared a few platters of local (introduced) Sydney rock oysters the other day and for the first time I noticed that some people swallow their oysters whole. To me that was a new and very unusual way of eating oysters. I've always chewed my oysters because I mean why wouldn't you? There's three distinct textures and flavours; the frill is slightly hard and salty, the main muscle is soft, creamy and sweet and the adductor muscle is firm and sweet like a mini scallop.
When you swallow an oyster all you get is the briney liquor without the flavors and textures.
So the big question is how do you eat your oyster and why?