Show me your breakfast

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That is indeed. I don't know if I believe the claim that the water protects from spoilage, but I do like using it.
I have one and used it a few years ago and my butter actually got moldy. Now that I saw your pic, I am going to dig it out and give it another go.

So - how does a 'butter bell crock' work? Where does the water go...?
 
Seems really odd to me to have toast alongside porridge. Not that I've eaten porridge for decades...

Oh really thats my standard winter breakfast. Porridge with fruit, a slice of toast with salted butter and a cup of tea. In summer I eat yoghurt instead of porridge.

The Scottish kind of porridge Tastyreuben mentioned by the way.
 
Oh really thats my standard winter breakfast. Porridge with fruit, a slice of toast with salted butter and a cup of tea. In summer I eat yoghurt instead of porridge.

That is fine - if they are served separately. It was the fact it was tucked on the side of the bowl of porridge which somehow made it look odd to me - as if it was going to be dunked in - and indeed it was. :giggle:
 
So - how does a 'butter bell crock' work? Where does the water go...?

Ok, see the matching white container in the back to the left a little? It kind of looks like a ceramic cup. That's the other half of the butter crock.

What you do is take (for Americans) a stick of butter and work it into the upended bell portion (the brand name of this is actually Butter Bell). Then you add about a half-inch of cold water to the cup portion, just enough to reach the edge of the bell when inserted into the cup. It supposedly forms an airtight seal around the bell, keeping the butter fresh and spreadable.

That's what the marketing fiction...er, I mean well-researched science says. :)

It's also supposed to be very French and tres chic, except that I've been in a few kitchen shops in Paris and have never seen them for sale. Maybe is a rustic French thing. :wink:

Here's the thing, though - you can just keep the butter out anyway, and except for a couple of months in the summer (here, anyway) it's fine. In the hottest part of summer, it still has to go in the fridge, or else you'll go to pull that bell out of the container and the too-soft butter will blop right out into the water.

The thing I like about it is that it's decorative, it holds a stick, and it stores more vertically than horizontally (like the usual butter dishes we have), so it takes up less space.

French butter dish - Wikipedia
Official Butter Bell® Store - Original ButterBell Crock
 
A bit overcooked, but that's ok.




As always, there was also bacon, but that didn't survive to the photo shoot. :)

Pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes... bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes pancakes bacon bacon.....! :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: :hungry:
 
34799

Mushrooms and tomatoes on toast
 
As promised, biscuits and gravy.

Traditionally around these parts, the white gravy would have no meat in it, although it's since become more and more common to find crumbled breakfast sausage in it at restaurants (the dreaded SOS).

My wife, being the Yankee girl that she is (Yankee in the American sense, meaning anyone from above the Mason-Dixon Line), didn't grow up with biscuits and gravy, but did have chipped beef on toast (which just sounds utterly disgusting to me, while biscuits and gravy are divine), so when we have this, it's a compromise - chipped beef on biscuits. I suppose this dish is a culinary representation of a good marriage - compromise. :)

The biscuits are frozen Pillsbury Grands. They're ok, and definitely preferred to Grands from a tube. They're like two completely different things. I always make two extra, so the wife (again, Yankee) can have butter and jam on one, while I (being a son of the South, once-removed) can have sorghum and butter on mine.

I used a blue plate to try and combat the beige-on-beige. :)



I will also add...cream gravy is the single thing my wife can/will cook, and she does a good job with it, even if she is from NY. :)

To give you an idea of her kitchen familiarity, though, her cooking this morning went like this:

"Ok...where's the nonstick pan?"

"On the pan rack...with all the others."

Puts pan on the stovetop.

"Do we have any bacon grease?"

"Of course. In the red container in the fridge."

Adds dollop of bacon grease.

"Um...where would the packets of beef be?"

"In the fridge, in the meat drawer."

"Thanks."

Gets out meat and milk. Grabs the canister of sugar.

"This is sugar. Where's the flour?"

"Cabinet right above you to the left."

Opens door.

"There're like...five things in here. Which one do I want for regular flour?"

"The red bag."

Gets out flour, starts on the gravy.

"Where's the salt?"

"That wooden bowl right in front of you."

"Do we have any pepper that's not in this twisty thing?"

"On the spice shelf."

"Where's that?"

"Cabinet to your right. I just put them in alphabetical order."

"I can't find it. Is it b for black or p for pepper?"

"It's p for pepper."

"Well, it should be b for black."

Trust me, if it was b for black, she would have said it should be p for pepper. :laugh:
 
As promised, biscuits and gravy.

Traditionally around these parts, the white gravy would have no meat in it, although it's since become more and more common to find crumbled breakfast sausage in it at restaurants (the dreaded SOS).

My wife, being the Yankee girl that she is (Yankee in the American sense, meaning anyone from above the Mason-Dixon Line), didn't grow up with biscuits and gravy, but did have chipped beef on toast (which just sounds utterly disgusting to me, while biscuits and gravy are divine), so when we have this, it's a compromise - chipped beef on biscuits. I suppose this dish is a culinary representation of a good marriage - compromise. :)

The biscuits are frozen Pillsbury Grands. They're ok, and definitely preferred to Grands from a tube. They're like two completely different things. I always make two extra, so the wife (again, Yankee) can have butter and jam on one, while I (being a son of the South, once-removed) can have sorghum and butter on mine.

I used a blue plate to try and combat the beige-on-beige. :)



I will also add...cream gravy is the single thing my wife can/will cook, and she does a good job with it, even if she is from NY. :)

To give you an idea of her kitchen familiarity, though, her cooking this morning went like this:

"Ok...where's the nonstick pan?"

"On the pan rack...with all the others."

Puts pan on the stovetop.

"Do we have any bacon grease?"

"Of course. In the red container in the fridge."

Adds dollop of bacon grease.

"Um...where would the packets of beef be?"

"In the fridge, in the meat drawer."

"Thanks."

Gets out meat and milk. Grabs the canister of sugar.

"This is sugar. Where's the flour?"

"Cabinet right above you to the left."

Opens door.

"There're like...five things in here. Which one do I want for regular flour?"

"The red bag."

Gets out flour, starts on the gravy.

"Where's the salt?"

"That wooden bowl right in front of you."

"Do we have any pepper that's not in this twisty thing?"

"On the spice shelf."

"Where's that?"

"Cabinet to your right. I just put them in alphabetical order."

"I can't find it. Is it b for black or p for pepper?"

"It's p for pepper."

"Well, it should be b for black."

Trust me, if it was b for black, she would have said it should be p for pepper. :laugh:
I know I shouldn't laugh, but the conversation between you and your wife was brilliant! :p:
 
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