Le Couvent Diary

Sam the Ham has been hanging in the chilly hall for 48 hours (we didn't have time to see to him yesterday) and is now out of his jolly muslin coat and hanging on a hook above the fire in the kitchen.

In theory he'll stay there for 24 hours bathed in oak smoke. I'll pick an armful of wild juniper when I walk the dogs at lunchtime. The oak isn't making as much smoke as I'd like and I don't want the ham to just slow cook over the fire.

Frankly I have no idea what I'm doing, so it'll be a miracle if this is edible at the end, but it's worth a try.

Meanwhile I'm chuffed to bits with the flour I found at the wholesalers yesterday. It is choc-a-bloc with different flours and grains. I actually went to find a 500g pack of yeast. I hate those tiny packs of yeast from the supermarket so I was very pleased to find this pack. This afternoon I'll make a loaf and report back. It sometimes takes a while to get good results with a new flour or yeast, so it could be disastrous.