“Basically butchery of any sort is a reductive cost incremental process.” Easy for my old colleague Geoff the butcher to say! What he actually meant was the more time and effort required in the butchery process, the more you have to charge for the end result. So generally with Chicken for example, you are better buying the full bird and cutting it yourself.
It's not often we have much leftover, but sometimes there are offers at the supermarkets you can't refuse. If you find yourself awash with vegetables of any description and you like pickles, Lacto-Fermenting is your friend.
If you want something which has a bit of heat a quick Chilli is always good. Served with boiled Rice, salted Nachos or in Jacket Potatoes.
We roasted our own Chicken, but a cool roasted bird will do the job just as well.
Lacto-Fermenation is one of the oldest food preservation methods still regularly used. It is not Witchcraft or Sorcery and it's effective tasty and pretty much bullet proof. If it tastes good, then it's good. Plus the resultant pickles have the benefit of home made probiotics. Lacto-Fermentation has nothing to do with dairy products, the lacto refers to lactic acid. All fruits and vegetables have beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus on the surface. In an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, these bacteria convert sugars into lactic acid, which inhibits harmful bacteria and acts as a preservative. It's also what gives fermented foods their characteristic sour flavour. The earliest record of fermentation dates back as far as 6000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent -and nearly every civilization since has included at least one fermented food in its culinary heritage. From Korean kimchi and Indian chutneys to the ubiquitous sauerkraut.© 2025 Eat Well on UC