Growing vegetables and raising livestock is only the beginning of a successful homestead - that fresh food goes to waste unless you can properly prepare, cook, and preserve it. Andrea Chesman shows you how to bridge the gap between field and table, covering everything from curing meats and making sausage to canning fruits and vegetables, milling flour, working with sourdough, baking no-knead breads, making braises and stews that can be adapted to different cuts of meat, rendering lard and tallow, pickling, making butter and cheese, making yogurt, blanching vegetables for the freezer, making jams and jellies, drying produce, and much more. You'll learn all the techniques you need to get the most from homegrown foods, along with dozens of simple and delicious recipes, most of which can be adapted to use whatever you have available.
Introduction
PART 1 GETTING THE MOST FROM FRESH FOOD
• Setting Up the Homestead Kitchen
• Fresh Vegetables: Harvesting, Handling, Cooking
• Fresh Fruit: Harvesting, Handling, Cooking
• Grains and Beans
• Homemade Sweeteners:Honey, Maple Syrup, and Apple Cider Syrup
• Eggs, Birds, and Rabbits
• Fresh Milk
• Meat: Goat, Lamb, Pork, and Beef
PART 2 FOOD PRESERVATION
• Cold Storage
• Freezing
• Canning: Boiling-Water-Bath and Pressure Canning
• Drying
• Pickling
• Making Fruit Preserves
• Culturing Milk and Making Cheese
• Curing Meats and Making Sausage
PART 3 HOMESTEAD COOKING
• Breakfast and Egg Dishes
• Vegetable, Cheese, and Bean Dishes
• Poultry and Meat Dishes
• Desserts and Baked Goods
Appendix: Basic Cooking Methods
Resources
Metric Conversion Charts
Index
