Michael's bread

Michael's bread this Thursday evening. Good tasty and chewy, it is an 80% spelt loaf which was easy to bake, except towards the end when the loafs turned crusty a bit too fast. I am not sure I noticed. It will be good tomorrow with sliced sausage for lunch. Thank you Michael and friends.

Cook book of the moment is "Testicles  Balls in Cooking and Culture" by Blandine Vie and translated from the French by Giles MacDonogh. I spotted a review earlier this year and bought it a couple of weeks ago for a present. It looked so good I had to get a copy for myself as well. Although there is a concentration on the cooking and eating of the male animal's tenderest parts it is also a compendium of phrases and expressions pertaining to and on the subject of balls. Probably not one that is going to get a great deal of use in the kitchen, unless I am able to procure some lamb's from Edges, but worth dipping into. The occasional section, especially the one on castration, will have the average male reader crossing their legs in imagined discomfort.

There is a recipe for Clear soup with cock's bits and set out below Bull's balls pate

Boil  half a dozen bull's balls, cut them in slices after having added salt and pepper and garnished them with nutmeg and bay leaves. Intersperse them then with a finely mixture of lamb's kidneys, ham, thyme, garlic and oregano, then serve them hot.


This in turn is taken from a book called Sorcerer's Handbook of Love by Ange Bastiani who adds that this was cooked by the pope's cook Bartolomeo Scappi who worked the ovens of Pius V.

I have had bull's balls once. We bought them in a market on Menorca 20 years ago and took them back to our villa, sliced them and fried them in olive oil. I hope I was listening to Jerry Lee Lewis.