Charcuterie # 1 - For want of a better description!

I was given the brilliant 'Home Smoking and Curing' by Keith Erlandson as a present (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Smoking-Curing-Keith-Erlandson/dp/0091927609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338928839&sr=8-1), and would really like to put it into practice on some of our pig-meat.  We both love smokey bacon, and I have been really fortunate to discover a smashing 4 drawer filing cabinet in one of the outbuildings:

This will be the basis of my cold-smoker, there are several articles on the 'net about this type of smoker, of which this is one (http://www.downsizer.net/Articles/Cooking,_preserving_and_home_brewing/Filing_Cabinet_Hot%10Cold_smoker/).  I think Erlandson's basic method of using a gas-ring below a hot-plate is better than the charcoal idea above, but we'll have to see 'on the day'.  In terms of sawdust for smoking, on Tymawr Farm we have Oak, Ash, Wild Cherry, Eucalyptus, Beech, Birch, Apple, Poplar, Hazel and I'm sure many more.

Erlandson's advice is that 'Oak is traditional, but beech, ash, elm, sycamore and hickory are all perfectly suitable, or any mixture of these.' [ISBN 978-0-09-192760-8, page 27], so it seems sensible to start with Oak, although I think that Cherry and Apple sound quite appetising, so once we've got a bit of experience I think we should experiment with those.

Cider # 2 - Stone Age!

We have often thought of these stones as slightly dubious garden 'ornaments', especially with a toddler (soon to be two toddlers I think if Kate keeps up with her kicky-leg exercises!).  I had also thought that they were something to do with the milling of flour, and wondered how and why they had ended up in an area traditionally more known for permanent pasture than wheat growing.

However, a recent visit to the brilliant and eclectic Usk Museum of Rural Life (www.uskmuseum.org/) showed me the fantastic truth!  They are the two parts of the apple-juicing process.  I was very stupid on our visit to the museum and forgot to take any photos.  However, the first photo above is an apple-crusher, a device to make the 'pomace' or crushed apple needed for subsequent pressing.  I found the photo below:

On the Leominster Reclamation & Architectural Salvage website (www.leorec.co.uk/cidermills_mill_stones.htm).  It shows the two stones as they would have been assembled, with the woodwork.  This kind of pomace mill would have been driven by a donkey, horse or Ox I guess.

I haven't been able to find a photo for the second stone, but basically it is the base of a conventional screw-press.  Two large wooden uprights would have been placed either side, a large cross-member and then single or possible double screw assembly would have been used to apply the pressure to extract the apple juice.

My aim of course now, is to use these stones as a major part of the Tymawr Farm cider enterprise!  The current plan is two acres of traditional Monmouthshire cider apple trees, a simple shed, probably of 'modern' construction located within the orchard, and the stones located inside.  I need to think about the right way to re-activate these mechanisms, my current ideas are for a hydraulically operated 'bottle-jack' type mechanism for the press itself (much like a larger version of my current prototype, see Cider #1), and either a 2 stroke or possibly even human-powered mechanism for the pomace-maker.