Dairy-free
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Product review: Lard & rendered beef suet from Feather and Bone
Feather and Bone is now selling pasture-fed pork leaf lard and rendered beef suet. Both are $12 per 300 gm jar, not cheap but worth every cent, in my opinion. Of course it’s cheaper to DIY at home but it’s way more convenient to buy it from the experts. Contrary to conventional wisdom, animal fats are not bad for you. I won’t go into the details here but you can have a read here, here, here, etc. What I will say, though, is that 1) saturated fat is much more stable than unsaturated fat (unstable fats lead to free radicals, i.e. DNA damage), 2) no natural food comes with just…
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Recipe: Crustless sausage & spinach quiche
I know, I know… this is getting kinda boring but we’ve been really enjoying the variety of breakfast quiches I’ve been coming up with. This crustless sausage & spinach quiche is easily customised to whatever ingredients you have available. For this one I didn’t even have to go to the market, as the sausages and spinach were already in my freezer. The snags were pork & ginger from Feather and Bone, the best quality you can possibly get: pastured-fed pork, no fillers (and therefore grain- and gluten-free), and amazing flavour. This recipe is gluten-free (depending on the sausages you use) and low-carb. This crustless sausage & spinach quiche is easily…
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Product review: Mae Ploy curry pastes
I used to be one of those people who prepare everything from scratch. I like being able to control what goes in my food, both in terms of quality and quantity. However, as I have less time to cook now, I’m always in the lookout for shortcuts to make life easier. As much as I like making curry pastes it’s a time-consuming process. Fortunately, my friend Sebastian (the one who loves Thai food) offered me a couple of Mae Ploy curry pastes. He knows I’m picky with ingredients, so he let me check them beforehand and I was surprised to find they are pretty clean, with zero MSG, preservatives, or…
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Recipe: Crustless bacon & zucchini quiche
Crustless bacon & zucchini quiche is another egg-based breakfast recipe featuring Trunkey’s products. This time it was the turn of everyone’s favourite: bacon. I used a mix of nitrate-free smoked and plain bacon, feel free to use your favourite. This recipe is gluten-free and low-carb. Crustless bacon & zucchini quiche is another egg-based breakfast recipe featuring Trunkey's products.
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Recipe: Crustless ham, mushroom & spinach quiche
There’s a new pork stall at the markets. Trunkey’s pigs are not pasture-fed but at least they’re farm-raised with no added hormones or antibiotics. They sell the usual cuts and pork products but the thing that really got my attention was nitrate-free bacon (smoked and plain) and ham. Both contain only three ingredients: pork, water and salt. Lately we’ve been alternating our meat breakfasts (some kind of minced meat with different veggies and seasonings) with egg-based breakfasts. I make a big tray, cut it in portions and put them in containers so they’re ready to be reheated and consumed during the week. Here’s the recipe for the latest crustless quiche…
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Product review: Kimchi
Kimchi rocks. I love the stuff but so far I’ve been too lazy to attempt making at home and I didn’t know where to buy it. One day after attending a tech event I decided to stop at Maruyu on my way to Town Hall. While browsing the refrigerated section I found Park’s kimchi. The ingredients list looked pretty clean (it does have sugar but at least is listed after salt). Good stuff. So far my favourite way of eating it is with sardines and avocado, wrapped in nori. Not long after that I stopped at Miracle Supermarket on King Street to buy some shrimp paste. I was pleased to…
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Recipe: Crustless morcilla & kale quiche
This crustless morcilla & kale quiche is a very tasty and easy to make 3-ingredient breakfast. It freezes well if you choose to keep it for longer than a few days. If you don’t like morcilla (blood sausage) you can use chorizo or your favourite sausage, just keep in mind you might have to use more than two if they’re thin. This crustless morcilla & kale quiche is a very tasty and easy to make 3-ingredient breakfast.
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Recipe: Chicken and mussel aguadito with cauliflower rice
Aguadito is a typical Peruvian soup. It means something like “soggy”, not a very appealing name, but it describes the dish perfectly: in essence it’s a watered-down version of arroz con pollo. I’m convinced that one of the reasons there aren’t too many obese people in Perú is that we tend to eat more home-cooked meals. Parties are no exceptions, and it’s not uncommon that the brave people who stay until the next morning are rewarded with a bowl of aguadito. For the record, I’m lame and tend to bail fairly early from parties, so I’ve never enjoyed a bowl of “morning after” aguadito. Aguadito is often made with chicken…
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Recipe: Gluten-free tonkotsu ramen
I had a lot of thick, gelatinous pork broth left over from the patita con maní I prepared a few weeks ago. What to do with it? Ramen of course! I must admit I sometimes feel I’m missing out on something given the number of apparently great ramen restaurants in Sydney, but I just don’t want to put my health at risk with the noodles. I found a couple of solid recipes for the pork and the eggs and made my version of the most decadent and comforting soup I’ve had in years. Please note that you’ll need to prepare the different elements of the soup in advance.
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Product review: Yerba mate
If you’ve ever been to Argentina or Uruguay, you may have noticed pretty much everyone walks around with a hot water bottle, a small round vessel called mate that contains green yerba mate leaves and a metal straw called bombilla. They sip yerba mate all day long, pouring more hot water as needed. That is the “proper” (i.e. traditional) way of consuming yerba mate, although the demands of modern life have driven the production of convenient teabags that you can pop in your mug. Yerba mate is highly regarded for its stimulant effects and antioxidant content. Another benefit that is probably less known is that it’s very good at keeping…
