Ask a chef

[attimus]

I love granola. Especially home made. I always use alot of cinnamon and nutmeg. Even allspice and the occasional cracked black pepper give it a nice kick.

Not a big fan of lobster, maybe I just haven't had the right piece yet.

As far as pork goes, have you seen the slow roasted karabuto pork belly that we've served at the restrauant? Simple bacon is a shadow compared to the sweet salty candy goodness of that dish.

Mmmm bacon.

A.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

I love granola. Especially home made. I always use alot of cinnamon and nutmeg. Even allspice and the occasional cracked black pepper give it a nice kick.

Not a big fan of lobster, maybe I just haven't had the right piece yet.

As far as pork goes, have you seen the slow roasted karabuto pork belly that we've served at the restrauant? Simple bacon is a shadow compared to the sweet salty candy goodness of that dish.

Mmmm bacon.

A.

lots of lobster consumed in my family (we hail from the coast of Maine)
I dont like it, but you probably have also never had FRESH lobster
i love shrimp though

 

[attimus]

lots of lobster consumed in my family (we hail from the coast of Maine) 
I dont like it, but you probably have also never had FRESH lobster
i love shrimp though

correct I've never had a fresh lobster just off the boat but I find that they are all mostly prepared the same way. Boiled then drowned in butter. To me lobster is a much more delicate piece of meat with a variant of applications, I enjoy a good lobster bisque for example. I feel the same way about shrimp. To often they are ill prepared and way overdone. Again this is a delicate piece of meat but the per pound cost compared to its larger counterpart allows for a lot more play in its preparation. Basically it's cheaper to screw up shrimp than lobster. But both deserve the creativity that only one so often gets.

I think ill stop my rambling now.

A.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

i agree, i like it in bisque, and other ways but not steamed or boiled
and its your thread, Ramble away!! lol

 

[Akrnaf2]

i agree, i like it in bisque, and other ways but not steamed or boiled
and its your thread, Ramble away!! lol

Did you try to make a hamburger from it?
Or put it in a Paeya?
Or a fresh pasta with creem chees?

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Did you try to make a hamburger ftom it?

nope, but i have had it mixed into a "cake", with crab and shrimp breadcrumbs and stuff

 

[perchie.girl]

Best lobster I ever had was in Las Vegas. When we lived there mom would get fresh ones and cook em up. Vegas used to be known for having a very good selection of food simply because of the tourist trade.

as far as shell fish with legs goes my favorite is snow crab then shrimp. I do a decent shrimp dish... Quick saute in butter lemon ju9ce garlic and dill. Served over sour bread croutons.

Oysters on the half shell was ruined for me after having oyster shooters at my favorite Sushi restaurant. They fix em with Ponzu fresh ginger and Smelt eggs on top.. and a drop of tobasco....

But I still love fried oysters.... Oh yum.....

As far as clams go I have switched to prefering mussels....

A boyfriends Italian mom taught me how to make Linguini with clam sauce... and Spaghetti sauce...

Linguini with clam sauce is stupid easy...

Two tuna sized cans of clams....
Olive OIl
Fresh garlic cloves

peel and smash the garlic I like two cloves.
Saute in a couple of table spoons of Good Olive oil
pour in the juice from the clams
Heat till it bubbles
Toss in the Clams and as soon as the sauce bubbles pull it off the heat

Have the Linguini cooked aldente and ready for the sauce.. Toss the sauce over the top.


She made spaghetti sauce the old way cooking all day with fresh ingredients... But at the time I was about sixteen and she taught me the easy way and said it was almost as good as her all day sauce.

Two pounds of good italian Sausage casings removed
Garlic cloves smashed and chopped to taste
Olive OIl
1 cup Onion diced
Tomato paste two cans

Saute the onions in olive oil
toss in the garlic
As soon as you smell the garlic cooking add in the sausage
When the sausage is browned
Add in the Tomato paste
its thick so you need to smash it up some before adding pasta water
simmer till its all bubbly and the thickness you like

toss some with the pasta and serve the rest a the table.

deb

 

[Akrnaf2]

Best lobster I ever had was in Las Vegas.  When we lived there mom would get fresh ones and cook em up.   Vegas used to be known for having a very good selection of food simply because of the tourist trade.

as far as shell fish with legs goes my favorite is snow crab then shrimp.   I do a decent shrimp dish...  Quick saute in butter lemon ju9ce garlic and dill.  Served over sour bread croutons.

Oysters on the half shell was ruined for me after having oyster shooters at my favorite Sushi restaurant.    They fix em with Ponzu fresh ginger and Smelt eggs on top..  and a drop of tobasco....

But I still love fried oysters....  Oh yum.....  

As far as clams go I have switched to prefering mussels.... 

A boyfriends Italian mom taught me how to make Linguini with clam sauce...  and Spaghetti sauce...   

Linguini with clam sauce is stupid easy...

Two tuna sized cans of clams.... 
Olive OIl
Fresh garlic cloves

peel and smash the garlic I like two cloves.
Saute in a couple of table spoons of Good Olive oil
pour in the juice from the clams
Heat till it bubbles
Toss in the Clams and as soon as the sauce bubbles pull it off the heat

Have the Linguini cooked aldente and ready for the sauce..   Toss the sauce over the top.


She made spaghetti sauce the old way cooking all day with fresh ingredients...  But at the time I was about sixteen and she taught me the easy way and said it was almost as good as her all day sauce.

Two pounds of good italian Sausage casings removed
Garlic cloves smashed and chopped to taste
Olive OIl
1 cup Onion diced
Tomato paste two cans

Saute the onions in olive oil
toss in the garlic
As soon as you smell the garlic cooking  add in the sausage
When the sausage is browned
Add in the Tomato paste
its thick so you need to smash it up some before adding pasta water
simmer till its all bubbly and the thickness you like

toss some with the pasta and serve the rest a the table.

deb

You can always add some Basil to it and use some Italian crushed tomatoes insted the past.

 

[CanuckBock]

Indeed I must agree to that!
I am very impressed wite the very deep genetic knowledge of your animals.
I agree thst this year yiu should wait, but I think that you will need another Ram from a different blood line. In this case you csn breed the Rsms with the daughters of each other.

A new purchased ram from a different blood line may be five or so years from now.

First things first..."I" need to learn about breeding Dorpers first hand. I have not even EATEN a Dorper yet to establish what lamb meat they are able to provide me for cooking. Not wanting to throw good money and resources after bad...how will I know I even like Dorpers unless I invest some time into this equation. Time well spent in the company of my sheep is my friend.

I also need time to develop relationships with other producers, trust is not a given when dealing with animal purchases...caveat emptor (buyer beware) and you need to know your stuff upside down and backwards not to end up screwed with a ram you risked bringing in that does not compliment what you are breeding towards when you do not even know yet what your flock is lacking or even has.

Feed prices for ruminants remain stupid. Down from last year's $145 for a minimal amount of alfalfa per bale...to $120 a bale but at 40% flower instead of the much better 10% flower (too wet, no dry time to cut and bale it properly so much of the forage is overripe ... grazing was great but putting by for winter, not so much this year). Put up dry, green, probably 19% protein in the forage I will purchase...so will be EXCELLENT feed for lactating ewes this spring and creep feeding the lambs with. Normal for a bale is about $40 to $60...so three times higher than normal. With the world weather patterns changing...this could be our NEW normal?

A mutt meat sheep of all of 80 pounds is selling for $322...cannot imagine what a nice breeding Dorper ram would cost if unregistered stock for slaughter is going for these prices. Use to be happy to get like eighty dollars for a 100 pound lamb...increase of like four times the normal. Again, could be the NEW normal?

Finding another producer with the same or better biosecurity as we have...that may be a hassle. My ram is from the same closed flock the ewes came from which means I had no issues with parasites, diseases differing than what was already IN that flock. You add a new animal, you open your farm up to potentially NEW PROBLEMS. New blood often means new goods AND new bads.

I am looking forward to the ram lambs we produce from this spring...for eating and for breeding potentials. For now, nothing stopping me from breeding same ram to foundation ewes year after year (we are a small hobby farm!)...the ram is proven and is only two years of age, so he has three good years potential breeding in him, maybe more...plus his sons. There is a chance as I investigate the relatedness of these ewes to each other, what is stopping me from breeding a son of this ram to other ewes since I did choose ewes sired by different rams than each other? Ewe lambs will continue as my Jacobs did, eating grass, left barren/open, not producing lambs in a holding pattern for when or if I need an outcross by acquiring a new blooded ram. I have five breedable ewes right now...how many do I need to breed each year to be flooded with more lamb than I and the dogs can eat!! Keep mindful, ewes can have twins, triplets...blink and the maximum 27 ruminants I have had in the past could be broken. This is a luxurious hobby, not a money making enterprise for us. We will get premium products, but none of this playing is needed to sustain ourselves as in life or death.

So many options to investigate that for now, I may just sit tight and see what daughters of the ram are produced and if they warrant breeding more from. Or eating of...LOL Thing about meat sheep...it IS perfectly acceptable to EAT OUR MISTAKES...unlike canine breeding...bwa ha ha...everyone gets a leg...leg of lamb, eh!

Hybrid vigour, inheritance and environment weigh heavily on what kind of lambs you can produce for meat. I have viewed South African Dorpers (place of origin of this composite breed) and there does not seem to be any real negative foundation effects in the breed that I am aware of yet. What seems to be the bother is finding unrelated genetics for breeding forward on here in Canada. A limited gene pool in some cases, but hey, I see some in Ontario and Quebec that might match up well with progeny I hope to be creating. A little more money thrown at the problem and no problem!

I have found from playing with poultry...that sometimes UNrelated birds that suit the Breed Standard will not express hybrid vigour for you. Just because the line is not related ... sometimes the SAME GENETICS bred to the SAME kind of GENETICS is no better than breeding sister to brother. I have taken completely unrelated Call Ducks and bred them together expecting the F1 generation to be these BIG and FAT ducks and been mystified as to why they are lean and tiny in the first generation...ready to suit the Breed Standard in the first generation...how can that be...other than I chose birds that had the same genetics, though NOT related. Homozygous unrelateds...ancestors not matching but the genetics are the same...

Now with sheep for meat...if you choose a big meaty well conformed sire and mate them to the same type of dam...the genetics do not know they are UNrelated...and the same results MAY take place but in the case of sheep for meat...you DO want big specimens....but maybe there will be more fat from hybrid vigour which would be an unwanted characteristic in meat sheep...lean big meat sheep being the objective. LOL

A slower but more reliable/uniform method is to breed for say a fast gaining big animal to the same kind--more meat than fat in both individuals...you get big, fast growing babies from that but skip the FAT part. A more guaranteed method than the sometimes more instant unrelated to unrelated, hybrid vigour expression in an animal. The factory farms keep wiggling themselves into tight places looking for new genetics when they keep using hybrid vigour to make big fat meat animals for consumption. Three way crosses work well for them but even though it is said that hybrid vigour enhances disease resistance...factory farmed chicken and turkey are far from disease resistant. They are usually heavily medicated with chemicals just to reach market weights without keeling over dead!

Hybrid vigour (heterozygous compared to homozygous...different compared to same or like begets like) will enhance longevity, disease resistance (not a huge factor here for us with a closed biosecure facility), and aspects like number of lambs born, reared and weaning weight. Carcass qualities are studied to be inheritable...so choosing a ewe lamb like Duro for her big meaty butt is a good choice, conformation qualities like Boss Man has a long back (more tender meat cuts in a long backed sheep)...these will ensure I hope to have good meat lambs for consumption (COOKING!). Now we do have to pause and know...the limiting factor is genetic potential IF and only IF we have the type of environment where we raise them up to their full potential.

Just because you create a lamb with genetic potential, does not mean it can overcome poor feeding practises, vitamins or minerals lacking, bad water intake, heavy parasite loads, stressors, poor housing, etc. Often a well produced lamb can never reach its full genetic potential because of HOW it is raised--environment is the limiting factor, not the animal's genetic potential. If you plant a seed and never put that seed in good dirt, it never gets enough moisture or sunshine...that is how the environment limits the genetic potential THAT good seed had before being planted.

Hybrid vigour in sheep is low in fleece and conformation traits, moderate in growth (carcass), and high in reproductive traits, longevity and disease resistance. If I had my heart set on triplets, unrelated and unlike each other to unrelated/unlike is going to help there as will the one ewe that is a triplet herself...but if I want a whole flock of big butted meaty Dorpers, I need to select for that in each individual to complement each other. The full genetic potential is not going to just happen if I do not have the animal husbandry skills to provide a positive environment where the Dorpers can reach their full genetic potential.

So long as all the qualities I want are in the mix, you can hopefully create the reflection of the vision you have for your breeding program. Right now, I am totally blind about what my flock may produce until I breed some lambs, grow them up to slaughter weights, and begin cooking the meat.

In a nut shell...influences and expectations rely on these factors when making meat animals for consumption ...

- Hybrid vigour - Positives are more vigorous, disease resistant, less frequency of hereditary defects (deleterious recessives stay hidden more often than lining up to be expressed in unrelated or different animals--the more related and the more similar, the higher the incident bad hidden recessives line up and show themselves), larger number of lambs born & weaned, and fast growth. Negatives may be outcrossing depression where progeny are less uniform/predictable and in breeds where fat and large size are not wanted, these traits can be expressed. Big lean lambs are preferred over big but FAT lambs.

- Environment - 95 to 85% influence on prolificacy, 75 to 55% influence on growth of carcass (meat!), 55 to 40% influence on conformation (and fleece traits and in my instance, perhaps hair shedding?). I can provide a less stress place for the sheep to live in and also try to grass feed as much as possible for a good meat product too. I know I can raise sheep, I have happy geriatric ones to prove that.

- Inheritance - 15-5% influence on prolificacy, 45 to 25% influence on growth of carcass (meat!), 45 to 60% influence on conformation (and fleece traits)....ah but the best part about inheritable traits...things like growth and carcass qualities (meat traits) ARE highly inheritable. I would like to breed big to big and get big...not use hybrid vigour to prop this up.


I may not get reproduction qualities like triplets without having unlike sheep bred to each other every breeding, but carcass qualities for meat (and wool) are highly heritable...I may however use feeding techniques like flushing the ewes and ram with better nutrition to increase the number of healthy lambs born (eggs shed, fertilized, and carried full term)...plus some studies have been done that show letting ewes get bred on their second cycle (not first, so wait another 17+ days for the ewes to cycle again) results in higher birth numbers too.

If I do want more uniformity in my flock, a bit of linebreeding may be the answer in future but the simple fact that we have five acres and will easily max out on the number of ruminants we can justify supporting...not like I will ever be a force to reckon with in sheer numbers. Some nice high end animals may be in our future...or not. Only time, effort, and good luck will reveal our fate in this experiment.

Tara is also an expert in Chicken genetics....

Nope, not me--no expert. Benny has more expertize in his little finger than I ever hope to have regarding understanding genetics. What I DO have is hands on application of genetics, more so than a scientist funded for a study who goes home from their "place of work." I live and work with my genetic experiments daily right here at home! I DO like knowing about genetics to help me sort out the inheritance of traits that I want to see in (and want to remove from) my livestock, canines, and poultry. Thank the heavens we have all these scientists allowed to report studies they do on what is recessive, dominant, and how to go about BREEDING for better animals and birds. We are then armed and dangerous...ready to make good food we can use in our recipes, eh!

My forte is teaching people (especially children!) colour genetics...in canines, ducks and chickens. I use all sorts of methods like Lego (nfi) blocks, Punnett Squares with plushy fuzzy ducks to move about on the matrix, games; simplistic games to take the mystery out of genetic inheritance. Just a big pot of genetic soup we get to flavour, mix, stew over and eat...for the magic is not in the making of the pudding, but in the consumption of a delicious dish...

Blue Dilution examples in Call Ducks ​

I prefer waterfowl colour genetics to chicken genetics...I own alot more colour pattern varieties in the bantam ducks than chickens so have played colour my bird alot more with them. I have been working for about a decade on bantamizing a large sized breed in the Chantecler chickens. My mindset is unless I can prove the science in my breedings, I don't fully believe what is written in a study. If I cannot apply it, I cannot completely believe it. My problem obviously!

Rarest colouration in ducks of Mallard descent...chocolate and no bigger than a pound of butter
Make a fist...not sized very well for consumption!​

I do not prefer to cross breeds (shape) and have very rarely resorted to crossing breeds. I figure crossing varieties (colour pattern) in a breed is one way to easily capture hybrid vigour. Hybrid vigour (heterosis) is largely unwanted in bantam ducks for exhibition. You do not want large, FAT bantam ducks...now for roasted duck a l'orange...different set of criterion!

Indeed, the best genetic around!

At first I was not sure why so many studied genetics using living beings like poultry, corn and insects like fruit flies...until I understood they are simplistic animals...AND with a quick fast life cycle...you can certainly study fruit fly inheritance quicker than say in dogs...canines. LOL

Sep 1, 2016​

I did manage to steal/harvest some more garden potatoes.

At the top; Amarosa, French Fingerling on right, then bottom is Russian Blue and then the yellow fingerling, Linzar Deleketess​

Got a heavy frost Monday night...so some of the potato plants are looking bad...but good enough...now I may guilt free harvest potatoes knowing the growing season is pretty much over!

Tomatoes are flowering and still setting GREEN fruit​

Short growing season this year I suppose...no matter, no vine ripen tomatoes but I can manage that. Inside where they do not freeze and a ripe apple, dark dry and cool spot and then I can watch the tomatoes colour up and use in recipes then.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[DwayneNLiz]

​

Blue Dilution examples in Call Ducks ​

I prefer waterfowl colour genetics to chicken genetics...I own alot more colour pattern varieties in the bantam ducks than chickens so have played colour my bird alot more with them. I have been working for about a decade on bantamizing a large sized breed in the Chantecler chickens. My mindset is unless I can prove the science in my breedings, I don't fully believe what is written in a study. If I cannot apply it, I cannot completely believe it. My problem obviously!

Rarest colouration in ducks of Mallard descent...chocolate and no bigger than a pound of butter
Make a fist...not sized very well for consumption!​

I do not prefer to cross breeds (shape) and have very rarely resorted to crossing breeds. I figure crossing varieties (colour pattern) in a breed is one way to easily capture hybrid vigour. Hybrid vigour (heterosis) is largely unwanted in bantam ducks for exhibition. You do not want large, FAT bantam ducks...now for roasted duck a l'orange...different set of criterion!

At first I was not sure why so many studied genetics using living beings like poultry, corn and insects like fruit flies...until I understood they are simplistic animals...AND with a quick fast life cycle...you can certainly study fruit fly inheritance quicker than say in dogs...canines. LOL

I love your chocolate colored call duck!!
She's beautiful, so are your other calls too