Too Hot for Fire!

It's bee quite a while since I posted on here.  That doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking with fire, I have but just haven't either deemed it worthy enough to post about or it was simply a repeat of previous successes.  I mean, how often can I post pictures of bread coming out of the oven?

When we designed the outdoor kitchen we decided to include a back wall of open work bricks.  The idea being to allow heat to escape.  During the summer we experience temperatures up around the 40C mark on a regular basis and on these days cooking in the house becomes problematic (i.e. it raises the temperature in the house to unbearable levels) and it should in theory be more comfortable to cook outside. Here you can see the open work bricks let the beetles in too!

This has only been partially successful.  The bread oven is simply too hot in summer.  Open work bricks or not I am now not baking bread at all.  This is a bit sad because I do prefer my own home baked bread but I find that not only is it too hot, working in front of a raging hot oven is not something I can cope with at the moment, but also it is sooo hot I have very little inclination to do much beyond some very basic cooking.

Fortunately the BBQ really comes into its own now.  Simple grilled meats and veggies from the garden accompanied by a salad make for the best of summer lunches.  Here the sweet corn are steaming inside their own natural covering (the outer leaves) only seconds from being harvested in the garden.  Pork chops sprinkled with a little salt and paprika will be teemed up with a warm lentil and pea salad (sage, oregano and spiced vinegar give it a summery lift).

The spiced vinegar is left over from making pickled cucumbers and will be fine used in salads.  The little pot is full of butter, a little smoked salt and some cumin, this will be mashed together and then smeared on our warm corn on the cob.  What could be simpler?

No not a Molotov cocktail that's the vinegar bottle that doesn't have a cork!

Yum!

First Fire of 2016

There is no bread in the house, I made a quick soda bread to keep us going using the indoor oven, but then planned a day off from the Olive harvest to get a few loaves done.  (it was also a very welcome rest from the aches and pains of harvesting).

The day dawned very cold - 6C - I know that isn't so cold compared to some places but its chilly for Cavewoman and the oven.  Sadly the wood was damp.  Everything felt damp.  A lesson we thought we had already learned obviously needs reinforcing.  A good fire needs good wood.  Note to self... start the day before and sort out some decent wood ready for the following day.


So... with the fire going very slowly indeed I had to knock back the bread dough more than once to delay its readiness for the oven.

The day continues very miserable and grey.  I don't want to go inside and leave the fire, it might just die on me.  But we haven't had breakfast yet and Man is already out working hard on the olive harvest.  So.  Have you ever seen one of these?



This came with the finca when we bought it.  It had never been used judging by the nice clean dry wicks.  It runs on paraffin so is incredibly cheap to use.

Breakfast for the Man (who is working hard) and the Woman (who is fretting over the slow fire in the oven).  And an opportunity to use more of the cast iron cookware bought especially for this kind of thing.
















The first egg stuck on the bottom of the pan but the rest were fine.  Cast iron is like that, it takes a few goes to get it working just right.  And when breakfast is over and the pan has cooled down, a scrape with a metal slice and then a wipe out with kitchen roll and the pan is ready for the next time.  I love it... no washing up!

The fire continues to be of concern.  It will not get hot enough and if I add more wood that seems to retard the process of 'whitening' the oven dome.


I think the big log is too big.  Having watched the Victorian Bakers on UK tv last night and seeing that they use bundles of faggots (little thin sticks) to get their oven up to temperature, I think small fast burning (hot burning) wood is the way to go.  I wasn't prepared for this so when next we are sorting the wood store we shall have to cherry pick some pieces specifically for the oven.  Who knew that it was going to be this complicated? Actually Woman knew but experiencing it is a bit different.

In the meantime... lunch has to be thought of.  Two very large potatoes are pierced with a skewer and then wrapped in a loose foil package.  Loose because they are still damp from being scrubbed clean and I want space in the package for them to steam slightly.  The oven is taking far too long to get up to temperature so I popped the potatoes in while the fire is still raging.  Hope they don't burn.  Hope they cook.

Once again the bread dough is ready but the oven isn't.  Determined not to have a failure - such a waste of ingredients (and we have no bread in the house so needs must) I closed the oven door to quench the fire and crossed my fingers that the oven was hot enough.  The roof of the oven is still black, it has only just started to turn white and closing the door of the oven has meant clouds of black smoke rising up to the top of the dome and turning it black again.  I know... you are not supposed to cook with the oven dome black with soot... but what can I do?  We have no bread in the house!

The issue now will be... how long to give the bread?  I have rarely given my bread more than half an hour to cook but on the Victorian Bakers they left their loaves for a full hour.  Perhaps with the oven temperature lower that would work... they also threw a glassful of water into the oven... I know that it produces steam that helps the bread to rise but it also cools the oven and I could only do that if it was really really hot.  I haven't tried that yet.

The tin loaves were left in the oven for almost an hour.  I turned them after 20 minutes.  The free form loaf was also in there for an hour but it didn't colour as much as the others.  It is cooked but its a bit pale - it won't be as good.

The potatoes were transferred to the estufa oven... after more than an hour in the bread oven they were as hard as when they were first put in.  Now usually I will zap a baked potato in the microwave first before finishing it off in an oven... I didn't do this but it just goes to show that baking potatoes from raw takes a very very long time.  Or a hotter fire.    Lets face it, everything takes a hotter fire.  THE FIRE MUST BE BIG AND HOT.  All is not lost.

Macaroni cheese is quick to prepare and a couple of apples in the top of the estufa take only 20 minutes to bake.  The potatoes will be ready by this evening (woman crosses fingers).

I think I have dropped the ball a bit with the bread oven.  I started thinking it was easy.  Of course it is if you pay attention and do it right.  The first fire I did was sooooo hot.  I haven't really had as good a fire since.  Mmmmm.  Woman philosophical.  Man still hungry.

Seasoning a Cast Iron Pot

Some cast iron pots that you buy come pre seasoned.

My set which includes the dutch oven has been pre seasoned and silly me, I forgot all about seasoning when I decided to use the mini cauldron for the first time... with disastrous results.

In more ways than one.  The handle broke the instant it came out of the oven.  What the....???

The inside was well and truly rusty once I cleaned out the iron tainted soup.  Historically the cast iron pots were responsible for topping up the iron intake in the populations perhaps less than ideal diet.  Not a bad thing really when you think about it.  But they did understand how to season their pans and would never have made the mistake I did.

So.  What is seasoning?  An unseasoned cast iron pan is prone to rust.  Food is inclined to stick to it and it can taint the food with a metallic taste (ask me how I know?)  The process of seasoning will give it a virtually non stick coating that protects the food from the 'raw' cast iron and also stops the food from sticking.  Minute traces of iron do still enter the food but nothing harmful.

and so.  How do you season a cast iron pan?  First you clean it with soapy water.  If it is already rusty then you need to scrub off the rust.

This is easily done with a raw potato cut in half and a handful of salt.  A little hard scouring and the rust comes right off.  Well normally this is very easy but the shape of my pot made it very tricky indeed.  This should be the only and the last time you ever use such a rough method to clean the pot.

After the pot is clean.  You must dry it thoroughly.  Once dry you coat it with an edible oil or lard and then you bake it in a hot oven.  The idea is... that the oil or lard (actually I think lard is best but all I had was olive oil) bakes on to the metal giving the pan a protective coat.  You are advised to cook bacon or fried food in the pan several times to increase this protective layer... only wiping the pan with kitchen roll or a dry cloth between uses.  Now this is fine if you are talking about a frying pan.  But this is a cauldron.... I was thinking of cooking stew or soup in it... not frying bacon.

Anyway.  The fire is lit.  The oven is hot.  The cauldron is coated in oil - both inside and out because I read somewhere that sealing the outside is also a good idea???? who knows????

Am I going to fry bacon in it tomorrow?

I don't know.  It was really hard to clean because of the shape of it and I scratched my hands and rubbed them with salt something terrible until I had to stop because of the stinging.

I am not convinced that it is clean enough.  I might bake it a few times with lard before I try putting food into it again.

There must be a way to protect it.  Macbeth's witches were stirring a potion intended for human consumption after all.  I can't believe any witch worth her salt would have tainted the batch by using a non seasoned cauldron!

Woman with hands stinging and red.  Man looking at the Ikea kitchen section online.

Alfresco Lunch 1st December

Sometimes its great living here in Spain.  Yes it was cold this morning and it is going to be cold tonight but during the day the sun shines bright and the sky is blue and so why not light the BBQ?  There is a reason why so many people love barbecued food.  The direct heat and smoke from the coals caramelises, and flavours the outer skin of the meat in a way the cooker grill just isn't able to.

Woman had defrosted some belly pork and coated it with a mixture of treacle and soy sauce, salt and pepper and left it to marinate in the fridge for about 12 hours.  

The coals are left to turn white hot.  Actually I should have used more.  Six belly pork slices did not fit on in one go.  Alarmingly the grease dripped from the pork onto the coals and huge flames shot up.  At this point Woman moved the whole grill up a notch so that it was farther away from the coals.

The smoke is supposed to go up the chimney but just as much is coming out the front of the BBQ.  I am not sure this is right.  The BBQ chimney top has actually been fitted around the wrong way but Man says this isn't the issue - and Man should know.  Further investigation is needed once the BBQ cools.

Woman is starting to get the hang of this.  The knack is to have everything ready before you start cooking.  Home made baked beans in tomato sauce are warming in among the coals.

The kitchen is still not totally finished.  A bit of plaster needed in places (Man's work) and the curtains are yet to be sewn (Woman's work).  But even so... there is nothing nicer than eating outside in the sunshine.

Man Smiles ergo Woman Smiles back.

Not Hot Enough!

OK.  Day Two on the Bread oven and I am on a high after eating several slices of bread with cheese, jam and the Man had marmite.

It only took roughly an hour to get up to temperature this time.  But it took half an hour to get the fire going in the first place.  Only practice will improve that I think.

Because the fire was ready so quickly, the bread was not ready and so by the time the bread was ready I had let the fire burn out and the oven had cooled.  It was still hot but not roasty toasty hot.

The bread is a little anaemic.  The small loaves are cooked but on cutting the big one in half it was just a little underdone.  T'will make toast.

Sun dried tomato and cheese biscuits are a BIG hit - they took about 20 minutes longer than usual to cook.  Should I rekindle fire and wait or give it up as a bad job?

Some of the embers from the oven are moved to the BBQ and lunch is cooked over a small fire.  The fire goes out constantly and a certain amount of blowing is required to rekindle any heat.  Did Cavewoman's furs smell of smoke?

The food cooks.  Chilli mince with the remains of yesterday's meatballs.    Woman is messy and drops tomato passata all over the yet to be tiled kitchen floor.  Man raises eyebrows and goes to get some kitchen roll.

The chilli mince tastes a tiny bit smoky.

Followed by stewed fruit (apple, pears and plums with brown sugar and knobs of butter) which is served with a huge dollop of Mascarpone.

It's also a bit smoky.  Not sure if that's good or bad.  It tastes good but might be better minus the smokiness.  Woman learns quickly though... fire must be hotter before you start.  Man made lunch disappear quickly and then went back to finish the tiling in the kitchen.

Woman happy ergo Man happy.

Fire Fire!!

Man want food.  The bread oven sat in all its cold mocking glory begging me to warm it's belly.

It took several attempts to get the fire lit.  No firelighters for me... after all I intend to cook things on the floor of the oven so the chemicals from firelighters is A BIG NO NO.

It's hot.  It's getting hotter.  I am uncomfortable with the crackling and roaring of the flames.

Man takes a peek.  He is reassuring but he knows that this isn't his territory and backs off quickly.
Yes... you go kill the woolly mammoth... the oven belongs to WOMAN!

The BBQ also belongs to WOMAN!  Yup you heard me right.  Man Provide....Woman Cook. (oh and man finish the DIY on the outdoor kitchen too).

You can't see it but it WAS smoking!

The outside of the dome starts to smoke. Woman panic.  Is it broken, is there a leak?  It definitely is smoking or steaming... a frantic call to the builder ... did I hear a loud crack?.... er. no.  Well it's not broken then.  The steaming or smoking of the oven dome when it is fired up for the first time is apparently normal.

Bread requires the embers to be removed.  I have nowhere to put them so they are scraped to the back of the oven and the door is closed.  Fire starved of oxygen goes out.  The bread goes in.  Half an hour later the bread comes out.....

It's bread!  A tad overdone for my taste but otherwise perfect with an amazingly tasty crust.  And possibly beginners luck.  The oven is still warm so biscuits go in.

With mixed results...

And finally soup for slow cooking overnight.  Which, with the addition of meatballs the next day, makes lunch.

Man happy ergo Woman happy.