Now that we are half way through our house move, our holiday to Tonga is behind us, and can almost see the wood for the trees, it's time to start concentrating on all things Field to Feast. We've already started the purchases for the new work kitchen, and whilst I know this is going to take some time to complete, the sheer fact that we have a floorplan, a new freezer, stove and a few tradies sorted is encouraging. In another month or two we'll have our purpose built work area set up and rearing to go.
Currently my time is spent between design work, chilli sauce making, manning market stalls and general house duties. Poor Happy gets lumbered with the planting, picking, growing, packing, weeding and anything that involves lifting weights. So we decided it's high time we learn to work more efficiently. Easier said than done.
One of our biggest jobs is keeping up with demand for the chilli pastes and preserves. We can spend a pleasant few hours bottling one night, and then on then next market day find we have sold out of most of the range. This is why we are planning on a bigger more streamlined kitchen.
The new stove is 90cm wide with an oven twice the size of a conventional oven. This alone will allow us to make twice as many bottles in one go. Not all preserves though are made in the oven. Some require hours of simmering on the stove and an occasional stir to stop the dreaded pot sticking. One of my favourite pots has already been ruined so a new workaround had to be found.
Enter my next favourite piece of equipment - my Breville Banquet Meal Maker. Basically a very large crockpot, with a difference. The surface area allows for greater evaporation which in turn stops food from having that dreadful boiled stew taste. It's also great too if you have a hungry man to feed at the end of a long winter's day at the markets. The crockery insert is a breeze to clean too - an added bonus.
Today I'm testing out the crockpot on my sweet chilli sauce. All my internet research suggested a good 2 hours or so with the lid on, and then the lid is whipped off for the final 2 hours until the preserves look like preserves. These instructions may have been okay for a smaller crockpot. At this moment we're nearing 6 hours so far and we're not looking like preserves yet. Luckily I"m at home today and can let this bubble away until it's done. Fingers crossed this technique will be a winner! If it works I'll have made twice the usual amount with much less fuss. If it doesn't work, then I'll have one heck of an icky mess to clean up, and hopefully won't have ruined another favourite utensil.
