[food] the most ridiculous injury
Jan. 27th, 2021 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettOn Monday, I made tagine (to so as to use two jars of passata, thereby gaining two jars) and Dundee cake (to use up the end of a jar of marmalade, thereby gaining one jar)...
... and then (having paused to very nearly cry over how good the tomato passata from my tomatoes smelled, so, thank you to everyone who encouraged me to actually get on with it even though it seemed ridiculous at the time when I was Drowning In Tomatoes) I got started on the citrus miscellaneous, which was why I needed jars in the first place, because It's Marmalade Season (and I'd sent off a thesis chapter and wanted a break, and sometimes "a break" is "... processing 2.5kg of citrus into marmalade by hand, for some reason").
I was about 750g in and congratulating myself on having picked a day when I didn't appear to have hands covered in microabrasions when I... started noticing... a suspicious burning sensation in the top knuckle of my right-hand little finger.
I'd been scraping the pith out of the citrus peel, you see, and resting my little finger on the chopping board as I did so, and using it as a pivot.
Which is how I gave myself a friction burn from the chopping board I'd covered in citrus.
Anyway, I now have thirteen (ish) jars of bergamot marmalade. I'd stack them up into a castle and post a picture captioned LOOK UPON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR [it's funny because they're inherently consumable, you see] but they're insufficiently regularly shaped and I'm uncertain of my ability to engage in Architecture and also it's bedtime.
Lessons for next time (probably not until 2023, given that the last time I made any was 2018): 1kg of oranges is Enough for one year, and also while this is tasty you do like a more aggressive bergamot flavour, so, make it two bergamot per kilo of Seville, not one. (And also leave out the lemon pith and see what that does to the flavour in terms of bitterness.)
... and then (having paused to very nearly cry over how good the tomato passata from my tomatoes smelled, so, thank you to everyone who encouraged me to actually get on with it even though it seemed ridiculous at the time when I was Drowning In Tomatoes) I got started on the citrus miscellaneous, which was why I needed jars in the first place, because It's Marmalade Season (and I'd sent off a thesis chapter and wanted a break, and sometimes "a break" is "... processing 2.5kg of citrus into marmalade by hand, for some reason").
I was about 750g in and congratulating myself on having picked a day when I didn't appear to have hands covered in microabrasions when I... started noticing... a suspicious burning sensation in the top knuckle of my right-hand little finger.
I'd been scraping the pith out of the citrus peel, you see, and resting my little finger on the chopping board as I did so, and using it as a pivot.
Which is how I gave myself a friction burn from the chopping board I'd covered in citrus.
Anyway, I now have thirteen (ish) jars of bergamot marmalade. I'd stack them up into a castle and post a picture captioned LOOK UPON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR [it's funny because they're inherently consumable, you see] but they're insufficiently regularly shaped and I'm uncertain of my ability to engage in Architecture and also it's bedtime.
Lessons for next time (probably not until 2023, given that the last time I made any was 2018): 1kg of oranges is Enough for one year, and also while this is tasty you do like a more aggressive bergamot flavour, so, make it two bergamot per kilo of Seville, not one. (And also leave out the lemon pith and see what that does to the flavour in terms of bitterness.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-27 11:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-27 11:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 03:48 am (UTC)https://theetonatheist.tumblr.com/post/640233365539323904/oh-i-hate-this
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 03:53 am (UTC)I'm sorry for the additional comment; the marmalade sounds nice
and I actually haven't managed making a good marmalade yet.(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 10:01 am (UTC)(this one hasn't actually set properly because I could not face squeezing the bag out as much as I ought, but it's perfectly well cohesive enough to go on toast and That's The Important Bit.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 03:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 10:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 12:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 09:57 am (UTC)I was absolutely astonished to find fresh bergamot in a physical supermarket three years ago now, which are what tipped me off and which I have never seen since. It had not previously occurred to me that it was possible in this country. But! Apparently it is, so I get to make myself fancy marmalade, which is delightful.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 01:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 03:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 09:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 05:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 09:59 am (UTC)It helps to convince me that it's worth the hassle of making it myself (when I'm halfway through the fruit prep with no end in sight) because it can't trivially be bought, let alone at anything remotely resembling a reasonable price, so I get enthusiastic about it in the Times Before and also subsequently the Times After and just need a bit of a rallying cry for myself, well, During. ;) Even though I very much enjoy having done it!
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 08:41 am (UTC)I've traditionally not liked marmalade much, I think because most people are less thorough on removing pith than I am. We'll see. If I also dislike this batch, then next time I will just be chopping up whole oranges and treating the lot like a jelly (straining through jellybag overnight etc), because this is an awful lot of work for something I'm not sure I like.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 09:34 am (UTC)I became Convinced I Liked Marmalade Actually on the Eurostar on the way to a friend's wedding several years ago, specifically the Tiptree orange and tangerine, but yes it is a lot of work and I fully support Not Bothering if you don't actually positively like the outcome.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 09:36 am (UTC)Yeah, thing is I can't decide if it's a Texture Thing (in which case treating it like jelly will work a treat) or whether it's a bitterness thing (in which case, not sure), or possibly some combination of both.
ETA: and also, the other two people in the household do like marmalade, so, this is a good time for me to figure it out.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 09:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 11:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 01:24 pm (UTC)I was extremely high on painkillers the first time I saw them and was half-convinced I'd hallucinated them.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-30 02:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 05:25 pm (UTC)It will also allow you to find every single microabrasion on your hands. Ow. And doesn't require clean jars first.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 06:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-01-28 10:44 pm (UTC)such good jam