Back-Engineering a Recipe

All over the world are people converting standard recipes to short-cut versions. Instead of doing this...buy this. Half the work is done for you. Don't bake a cake from scratch, use this box, and add this, it changes it.

Well, OK, if that's what you want, none of my business. I find these short-cuts to be mostly useless. Often they don't save any time. They certainly don't save money. But the main thing is, they generally aren't as good.

Now, before you all roll your eyes at me, I'm not totally against cheating. If it tastes fine, isn't too expensive, and saves HOURS, I say go for it. But anyone who thinks that adding things to a boxed cake mix saves you a lot of time is deluding themselves.

My main objection to some of these recipes is that the cheat ingredient is either poor quality or really not good for you. Nobody eats healthy food all the time, not even me, but given a choice between two thinngs, that do the same job, why choose the unhealthy one?

So last night I promised to back-engineer this:

Lemon Delight

Ingredients:

1 stick butter - melted

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cup pecans - chopped (reserve 3/4 cup for topping)

1 16 oz. container Cool Whip

8 oz. cream cheese - softened

1 cup sugar

2 boxes Lemon Instant Pudding - regular size (made to directions and refrigerated)

Directions:

Making 4 layers in a 9 x 13 glass dish

1st layer - butter, flour and 3/4 cup pecans mixed together and pressed into the bottom of glass dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 min until light brown. COOL completely.

2nd layer - cream cheese, sugar and 1 cup Cool Whip. Blend until creamy and spread over 1st layer.

3rd layer - Lemon pudding (made to box directions) spread evenly over 2nd layer.

4th layer - extra Cool Whip spread evenly over 3rd layer and topped with remaining pecans.

Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Let's begin with a complaint to the recipe-maker about the stick of butter. That is no freaking help to those of us in place where butter is not sold in sticks. It's the usual Americentric rubbish. But it's a 1/2 cup or 4 ounces or 113grams. 

While I'm here I'll add that 1 cup of flour is 4.4 ounces or 125 grams. 

The first item there I will change is the Cool Whip. I'll eat it, I'm not totally opposed to it. But it really serves no purpose. Use whipped cream. It's cheaper. Don't pay for AIR, that's just silly. To achieve the same final quantity (volume) as 16oz container of Cool Whip, you don't need 16 fluid ounces of whipping cream. Half that is plenty. 

Now the Lemon Instant Pudding. When I've had a similar dish to this it was not the lemon flavour, and in fact you can make ANY flavour "pudding". There are two ways. Simplest first.

Pudding is essentially a commercial version of blancmange, and nowhere near as good. All you need are sugar, milk, cornstarch, and flavouring. 

Cornstarch is funny stuff, and can mess you around when you try to mix it. Always add sugar to it, and then just a little milk, to make a thin paste, before you add anything else.

Pudding 1

You'll need:

3 tablespoons of cornstarch (cornflour)

1/3 cup sugar (2.65 ounces or 75 grams)

pinch of salt

2 1/2 cups milk (1 pint or 1/2 litre)

1 tsp real vanilla extract

So, as I said, add a splash of the milk to the cornstarch, sugar, ands salt, along with the vanilla, then heat the rest of the milk, but don't boil it. Then add the hot milk to the rest while whisking, and continue to whisk while heating gently, it will thicken. So long as you keep whisking and don't overheat this (i.e. don't burn it). You will have a perfectly good blancmange. Flavour as required. This is the basis of simple CHOCOLATE pudding, simply add 2 1/2 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder along with the cornstarch. Any other flavour can be made.

Chill.

HOWEVER

With lemon pudding, you are better making a slightly more complicated pudding, that includes eggs.

Pudding 2

You'll need:

1/4 cup of cornstarch (4 tablespoons or 1 ounce or 22 grams)

3/4 cup sugar (6.6 ounces or 187 grams)

pinch of salt

3 egg yolks, beaten together

2/1/2 cups milk (1 pint or 1/2 litre)

1/2 cup lemon juice (8 fl oz or 227ml)

2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons melted butter

Start with the cornstarch, sugar, salt, and a splash of milk, then add hot milk while whisking as before. Now add in those egg yolks, and the lemon zest, and continue to whisk while it thickens. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and melted butter. If you want this absolutely smooth you can put it in the blender, but for pity's sake let it cool first, because if you don't you're cleaning up the mess, not me.

Chill. 

The second version can be adapted to any fruit, and is the better choice, in my opinion.

Please note the tablespoon is a standard measurement (15 ml).

The question that remains, is how much is equivalent to 2 boxes of commercial pudding? Well, how much milk do you add to the box ingredients? Compare that to the milk in these pudding recipes, and you can figure it out. 

Questions?

Curry

If you Google this word you'll get so many hits your brain will implode. Let's take it one step at a time.

Curry is an English word which is used to refer to vegetable and/or meat dishes that are stew-like, that is to say small pieces in a gravy, with Asian spices. This is generally served with rice and/or a flatbread. Because there are a lot of these type of dishes in India, it has often been mis-used to refer to most or all Indian food which is quite wrong. The word curry really refers to the gravy arrangement.

However it's not as wrong as what happened next. The vague idea of an Indian flavour gave rise to the idea of "curried", in other words, foods cooked with Indian flavours. As there are hundreds of different spices used in India, and two dishes can be cooked with exclusively different ones and still be seen from the West as curry, this is pretty hard to explain, but people seem to know what they mean.

Possibly the greatest silliness is the idea of a "curry sauce", which could be seen to be a "gravy gravy". But there it is, people say it all the time, AND, again....everyone knows what they mean.

I have joked over the years that the typical British way of serving Chili con Carne over rice, makes the dish a Mexican curry, but I get funny looks. Prove me wrong.

Now then, you can become an Indian food purist. A real snob. Go ahead.

OR, you can say, "well, I'm not Indian, but I like this type of food, can I just make it up as I go along?".

Yes.

What do you think Indian cooks do?

Look - I'm English. Curry is the national dish of England. The first curry house opened in England in about 1780, and we never looked back. Some of the top dishes in the world thought of as Indian were in fact created in England. I grew up on the stuff, I am intimate with it. What I cook is NOT Indian food. So don't bother telling me it isn't, I know. I cook English curry, and I do it well.

So.

Here is the non-Indian way of making avant garde curry, as a quick, tasty, and cheap meal. I do it all the time.

First choose your base. Meat or vegetable? This is a great dish for vegetarians (or people trying to save money by skipping meat) because the rich flavour replaces the umami missing from non-meat meals. Chick peas, lentils, and beans are typical ingredients in a curry anyway, and used instead of meat they make it hearty.

If you are using meat, decide if it needs long slow cooking or not. Chicken breast does not. Lamb or beef, the cuts intended for stew anyway, need to be started at least 1 1/2 hours before you plan on eating. Dried legumes need about the same time. So if it's to be a long cooking time, plan ahead accordingly (you can also use a slow cooker).

If it's all vegetable, it doesn't take quite so long, although some root vegetables benefit from longer cooking.

Start by heating some oil or the traditional Indian ghee (clarified butter, tastes like heaven) and sauté some onions in it. You add your spices NOW, but we'll discuss that in a minute. The hot fat draws the flavours out.  Add diced meat, brown it, and any veggies that you need to add now (if unsure, ask me). I would certainly add carrots, rutabaga, and potatoes at this point. Also add garlic now, and lots of it.

Once the meat is brown, and the veggies are tender, you need to add liquid. It doesn't really matter what it is, it can be a frugal stock (when flat broke I've used water, frankly), but you can't go wrong with passata (tomato juice) and/or coconut milk. I often use half and half. If you don't like the taste of coconut, fear not. You won't taste it. But it lends a creaminess without that risk of burning you'd get from milk. Cover everything with your liquid. Now is when you add legumes. Put a lid on this and simmer it until everything is tender, adding short-cook vegetables as appropriate. Test the flavour 10 minutes before serving, as you can add a bit more spice if need be then.

What are good vegetables to use? This is where English curry differs from Indian curry. Use what you have and what you like. In India - a HOT country - lots of exotic vegetables grow. Do you need them? No. Indian cooks use them because that's what they have. I use carrots, peas, potatoes, cauliflower, zucchini...whatever is lying around.

Now then, if you want to use chicken breast, or fish, or sausage (oh yes you can), it doesn't need so long. You can even do a stir-fry version. Just figure out how long each ingredient takes to cook, plan ahead.

You can use leftovers, and this is a perfect way to hide things that didn't turn out well. No, I'm quite serious, If you have a stew, a soup, or anything that went wrong, you can recycle it into curry. I hate waste.

You can tip everything raw into a slow cooker in the morning and come home in the evening to a fantastic curry. It won't be as good, but it'll be good enough. Meat is always better if it is browned first, don't ask me why (I'll tell you in the Fall, I'm taking a gastronomy course!) it just is. But it will be OK effectively boiled with spices.

So, the spices.

You can cheat. You can buy "curry powder". Each brand is different and you can find a favourite, or just vary it up a bit. OR, you can use this ratio:

3 parts coriander
3 parts cumin
1 part turmeric
1 part ginger
1 part cayenne
a little cardamom (optional)

Mix this in whatever amounts you like, and then use 4-6 tablespoons of this. If you are a bit nervous, use less at the start, and adjust at the end. You can reduce the cayenne (or save it until the end) if you prefer a mild curry, as this is the heat. There are lots of other spices that can be used, but you will get a flavourful sauce with this. I should mention, at this point that a lot of people are using cinnamon in curries, and you can too if you want, but I don't.

You will also need some salt and pepper, about a teaspoon of each is plenty.

So, when everything is tender, and you are happy with the spices, serve with boiled rice and/or naan bread.

Questions?

Licker

An oddity here this morning just so I can post a link elsewhere.

In England, most specifically around the London area, is a traditional dish known as Pie and Licker. This used to be sold in fish & chip shops but is gradually disappearing. Licker is one of those things you either love or hate, but it's certainly distinctive (bright green). You will see it written as liquor in books, as if to correct the spelling, but it's wrong.


You'll need:


2oz butter
2oz cornflour (*cornstarch)
Pint of good chicken stock (*2 cups)
Large bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped.

Melt butter slowly over low heat, whisk in the cornflour to make a roux. Add stock slowly, simmer gently two minutes, then add parsley. Stir continuously until thick to avoid lumps.

A Bit of a Survey

We're having burgers for dinner, it's Tyler's turn to cook and he's scratching his head a bit...have I remembered everything?

I always find myself doing that too. OK, got the pickles, got the cheese.......and I am always convinced I've forgotten something. (Sometimes, I have).

It's not the sort of thing you can ask anyone either, because we all have our own preferences of what's included. On the other hand the list of possibilities is long.

The same applies to pizza, only more so. Here, the possible toppings are virtually endless. So, what do you like? What do you put in your burger, or on your pizza? There are no wrong answers. When I was a child it never occurred to me that you could have anything more than ketchup and fried onions in a burger(and I still like them that way now, from time to time).

So, if I show you mine, will you show me yours?

My choices:

Burgers

Usual:

Sliced chedder
Ketchup
Mustard
Lettuce
Tomato
Dill pickles
Raw onion rings

Maybe:

Bacon
Salsa

Pizza:

Usual:

Tomato sauce
Cheddar Cheese
Mozarella Cheese
Green Peppers
Onion
Mushrooms
Salami
Italian Sausage
Olives

Maybe:

Artichoke Hearts

Tom's Week - Day 5

Which I didn't eat.

Tonight Martin requested chili, and quite frankly, I'm not keen. The chili in this house is good, but I am just not a chili lover. Can't tell you why. Just something about it leaves me stone cold. So I had salmon.

Before I share the chili recipe with you I want to be quite clear on something. I do not claim to offer an authentic chili recipe. I am not from the part of the world where chili comes from.

My early experience of chili was in England, obviously, where it was ALWAYS called chili con carne, and was always served over rice. I don't really care for rice. It tastes of nothing, and it dilutes the flavour of the food. To me it's like pouring water on your dinner. But because the English are used to eating curry, and chili is sort of Mexican curry, it was served with rice. I did not invent this, so don't blame me.

IF I eat chili, these days, I have it with cheese on top. Somehow it needs that. But I'd rather not bother.

Anyway, this is our "everyday" chili recipe, simple, quick, ten minutes prep.

Brown ground beef, pour off fat and give to dog or cat. Add diced onions and peppers, cook until veggies are soft. Add tomato sauce and the Mexican flag seasonings. NO, silly, don't dice up a bloody flag. It's a mnemonic. For the green - oregano. For the white - garlic. For the red - chili powder. Then throw in beans and corn. Simmer. It's always well-received.

Oh sure you can spend all day slaving over a chili, but if you want it fast and still pretty good? Never had a complaint yet.

Tom's Week - Day 4

There's a new (to me) dish that is all the rage, and it has a very ugly name - Pulled Pork. What is wrong with people that they name a dish like that? Why not have Splatted Chicken, Trampled Beef, or Thrown Against The Wall A Few Times Fish? Back in the day dishes had nice foreign names. Hey ho.

I call it Shredded Pork which is marginally better.

The first time I made it, it was great, and it's never been as good since, I should have written it down.

Today is Tom's turn and there are great smells coming out of the slow cooker.

We won't be eating it in buns. I'm sorry, that's just revolting. We'll have it over rice so we can eat it with a fork and not need a shower afterwards.

So, I asked him what he used as a sauce so I could pass it on to you, and he said "Umm....". So if it's good we won't be able to repeat it again. But depending on how it turns out, it may prove what I've always believed...THERE IS NO RECIPE.

As far as I can tell you throw together whatever you have on hand. Tom started with a bottle of passata, and went from there. I can smell cumin and garlic anyway, and it occurs to me we could do a fully Indian version, so I'll do that next time. But as far as I can tell it's a bit of this, and a bit of that, he's been watching his sister.

Tom's Week - Day Three

Last night was Fisherman's Pie  and I know this is going to annoy you. Like many of the dishes I write about, we don't have a set recipe for this, it varies tremendously.

Fisheman's Pie is a potato-topped pie like Shepherd's Pie, and as a "peasant" dish it makes use of what you have rather than insisting on set ingredients.

So the first thing you need is fish, any fish, and plenty of it. Cook as much as if you were serving fillets. At least 4 ounces cooked weight per person. You don't need to fuss over this part of it, I just bake it, covered with foil. We used sole last night, but you can use a mixture, and you can include seafood if you wish.

Then you need some mashed potato. Please see previous blog if you need help there. (You could also use potato slices, if you are into au gratin).

Crumble the fish up, or leave it whole. Doesn't matter. Make sauce or don't bother. Add vegetables and/or seasonings, or not. Top with potatoes and bake. Yes, THAT flexible. This could really be an ultra-basic two ingredient dish, with everything else on the side.

But last night it was as follows:

Melt butter in pan, add diced onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. Lots of garlic too. Cook vegetables until tender, then add flour to make a roux. Add rich fish stock and then milk to create a thick sauce. Stir in cooked peas. Add black pepper and thyme. Mix this with fish (crumbled) and then top with potatoes and bake.

This was exceptionally good, but could probably even better. There's really no limit to the vegetables you could cram in here. Herbs are very much to your taste. My fish stock included salt and some herbs and spices (mace, parsley, bay leaf) yours may differ, or you can add these separately, and you can use whatever you like. If you have no fish stock (it probably has to be home-made, it is almost impossible to buy in a store in many places) don't worry, just add more seasonings.

The point is you can use up leftovers, or just eat it simple. You could fry the fish first for a different taste, you could add things to the potato. All I can tell you is that when this is on the menu here everyone goes wild with excitement.

Tom's Week - Day 2

Toad in The Hole.

One of those dishes that everyone makes jokes about, but if they've never tried it, they don't know what they're missing. It is a favourite in this family, so they've all learned to cook it but it's Tom's week, so he's making it tonight. They are counting the hours. No joke.

It's really very easy, but a few steps are crucial. So you need two things. Some sausages, and some Yorkshire Pudding Batter.

As this is a traditional English dish, an English sausage would be quite appropriate, but they are of...intermittent availability and quality in North America. Just because it says "English Sausage" on the label means nothing, unfortunately. A local supermarket, Zehrs, was selling something to this effect for years, which was OK,  and then they changed the recipe. The new version was vile.

(BTW, while I'm here, a "banger" is not really any old English sausage, it's a certain type, but you can't get genuine bangers over here, so that's that.)

What I suggest is that if unsure, use a good quality "country" sausage, that is to say a coarse texture, with herbs in the recipe.

BUT. We discovered, thanks to research by my soon-to-be-son-in-law, that it is not really an English dish at all, but was invented by an Italian chef, who was believed to have created it based on an Italian dish. So we tried it with a mild Italian sausage and never looked back. I'm probably going to have my passport revoked for saying so, but I prefer it that way.

So, opinions vary on whether to cook the sausages first or not, but I do, and for a good reason.

For Yorkshire Pudding to work properly it needs to be cooked in hot fat, in a hot pan. If you cook the sausages in the dish you intend to use, all you have to do is make sure the sides have some fat on them, pour the batter over, and you get great results. Even if you pre-heat the dish, using cold sausages cools everything down.

So here's the batter recipe, no weighing necessary.

4 large, fresh eggs, measured in a jug

Equal quantity of milk to eggs

Equal quantity of all purpose/plain flour to eggs

Pinch of salt

Multiply as required.

The traditional way to do this is to make a hole in the flour, beat the eggs in gradually, and add the milk last, but quite frankly if you use an electric mixer it's not so important, just make sure there's no lumps. Make this ahead of time as it's best if allowed to sit for up to an hour before use.

The oven should be hot. Opinions are divided as to how hot, but what we do is cook the sausages at 170C, then turn the oven right up to prepare the dish (230C) and as soon as it reaches that, pour the batter over. Then after replacing it we turn it back down again. This seems to work magic on the batter, without burning anything. The time it takes to cook varies a bit, but it's done when the top is golden and the batter is set firm. Check after 20 minutes, anyway.

This should be served with gravy, and a vegetable of some sort. Peas and carrots work well. You don't really need a second carb, but men like potatoes, so we usually also serve mashed potatoes with this.

So, as a special service I'm going to teach silly people how to make mashed potatoes. Are there any silly people reading this? Maybe. A few months ago I found myself reading multiple opinions about mashed potatoes being a lot of work, or difficult, or some such thing. I confess I was confused. But for the sake of completeness......

Peel some potatoes. Two per person is about right. Cut into quarters.
Cook in boling salted water until they fall off a knife inserted into them.
Drain water.
Add a knob of butter and a splash of milk and mash them.
There, that was hard, wasn't it.

Tom's Week - Day 1

"Tom, nobody needs a recipe for spaghetti bolognese, it's in every woman's brain."

"But this is MY recipe. Might be different."

It might.

We are having a busy week here at Boxallville and Tom volunteered to cook EVERY night to avoid other jobs. Well, fair enough, somebody has to do it.

Tonight is that old standby, spaghetti bolognese, and here's precisely how he does it.

Tom did the following:

Brown 2lbs of ground beef and pour off the fat. (Give it to the dog).
Add two diced onion, one diced green pepper and a lot (?) of crushed garlic to the meat and residual fat and sauté until tender. Add a lot (?) of chopped mushroom, and cook them quickly.

Now add two litres of tomato sauce (note: any type, home-made, store-bought, any flavour, plain crushed tomatoes, whatever) and stir in.

Now add:

1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp thyme
2 tblsp oregano
1 tsp ground rosemary ("not effing twigs")
1 tblsp parsley

Stir it all in. 

Right. Turn the heat down low and let it simmer.

Now cook some pasta (multicolour rotini is good). 

When it's done, drain it, melt some butter on it, then add grated cheese (half a bar of old cheddar) and stir it until it melts. Serve topped with sauce. Crusty bread on the side is good. 
Garlic is better. 

Service with garden salad.

QUESTIONS?

Budgeting Hard

The initial purpose of this blog was not just to discuss food, but to discuss economical food. It must still taste good, and be healthy. I haven't done enough of this.

It has been brought to my attention by friends in several places (US) that in their area, it is cheaper to buy junk food than healthy food. That is just about the worst thing that can happen to you. Obviously it can happen anywhere if there are transportation issues and the only food shopping available within walking distance is processed, packaged, etc. I must make more effort to understand this problem when handing out advice.

For now I want to get you lot involved in creating a thinktank for money-saving ideas. We all have different situations, and a variety of ideas is more useful than just one experience. So I urge anyone reading this to write their own blog on the topic, and link to it in the comments below. Please give the reader an idea of your situation, here's mine....

We are a family of 5, me aged 50, and men aged 53, 20, 18, and 16. Two of the men do heavy manual work, mostly outdoors and require more calories than the average person. One is partially active with me here on the farm, and one is still growing. So I cook hearty meals, and keep my own portions down to allow for that.

We are on a fairly tight budget, of around $600 a month, some of our meat, eggs, and vegetables are our own produce, but I take that into account when talking figures (it's not free, animals need feed, and butcher's fees etc. can put meat prices per pound almost at supermarket rates). The main advantage economically is salad and herbs in season, and of course there is the quality factor. It is not possible, this far north, to be self-sufficient unless you adopt a very strange diet. More on that later.

We have plenty of storage space, some a little unorthodox (potatoes under the bed), but we do not have the common problem of not being able to buy in bulk. We also have several freezers. So we have a tremendous advantage there. AND we have a truck. That's a huge advantage.

I believe (not certain) that food prices in the area we shop, are some of the lowest in Canada. That helps too.

I still think my biggest advantage is my ability and willingness to cook the majority of our food from scratch. In this house ketchup counts as processed food. (I did make it myself once, it was horrible).

There are several other points that make it possible for me to spend less money.

1. We are not picky eaters. I can put almost anything on the table and it will be devoured.
2. Nobody has any special dietary needs.
3. My family accept any restrictions I place. They don't complain about lack of certain items. They're all happy for their main drink to be water.

So, co-operation is a huge aspect.

I'd like to examine several key areas that I think are important:

1. I think it goes without saying they we eat out very rarely, once a month or less. Nobody buys lunch out unless it's from their own personal money, i.e. not from the housekeeping budget.

2. We buy hardly any snack foods. Snacks here are restricted to fruit, crackers, cheese, yoghurt, and grazing leftovers. Snacking is not encouraged. I lead by example.

3. The main family treat (when it's on sale) is ice cream. I feel this at least has some food value. Chips, likewise are an occasional treat and not a food group.

4. We try very hard not to waste food. Leftovers can be your lunch, or can be included in another meal, such as soup or stew. If it is beyond human use an animal can eat it. If all else fails we compost it. Zero food goes in the garbage. I am offended by food in garbage, anywhere, at any time.

5. We only have dessert about once a month. There is always a selection of fruit in the house if people want it. When we have dessert it's usually a special occasion, but it's still something home-made and nutritious.

6. We shop infrequently. There is some meal planning, with room for change. But it's better to shop less often, and pick up fresh foods in between, than to shop little and often, unless of course you are lucky enough to have a market nearby (as in farmer's market).

Obviously, as I said earlier, every family is different and what works for me might not work for you, but these are tried and tested ways I keep my food bills down.

A typical day then...

Breakfast is usually toast-and-something. Eggs, cheese, peanut butter, or occasionally the boys like jam. We have a variety such as bagels, English muffins, home-made bread, and store-bought multi-grain bread, to stop it getting samey. We look for bargains. We tend only to have bigger breakfasts at the weekend, with bacon or sausages. The boys also eat oatmeal. If the price is good I will pick up the more substantial boxed cereals such as Mini Wheats.

Lunch is usually sandwiches or leftovers. Everyone is responsible for their own (we did this even when the children were very young). If you pack your own lunch, in theory you will eat it - no complaints, no waste. It's not a big deal really. I will buy lunch meats if they are on sale, but I won't pay full price for them. Currently the local supermarket is doing cheap bulk packs of ham, roast beef, roast turkey, and salami so I am picking a few up, but our standard selection is cheese, tuna, salmon, egg, and leftovers from meats we cook ourselves. There is always salad items in the fridge to add to these. There is nothing wrong with a cheese sandwich.

Dinner is a hot meal, with meat most days. The basis of my cooking is the potato, and I use it whenever possible. I am not personally keen on rice but as I can buy it cheaply in sacks, I do use it. Pasta less often, although I buy that in bulk too. I aim to put a minimum of 3 vegetables into dinner, one way and another, although one of those is usually onion. I try to have something green in every dinner, even if it's only a bit of pepper, or zucchini in a tomato sauce. I'll do a side salad if nothing cooked works. In summer we have salad every day. I cook a wide variety of dishes, from all around the world to keep things varied. We try not to eat the same meat two days running, aim for fish at least once a week, and red meat twice a week, with the exception that if there's lamb in the freezer, it takes priority.

OK, open to questions, and don't forget to do yours.