Windy harbour and Jaffles....
One of my favorite places to holiday is a little bit of nowhere call windy harbour its a spot that last time i was there was still so far back in time that not only time forgot it but so did history. They didnt have mains power and most of the huts/shacks/houses dont have flushing toilets. I mean I just did a google on it and only managed to bring up a handfull of paragraphs that were relevent its that far out of touch... Its a bueatiful plave where a man could turn up driving a ratty old series rover and instead of the usualy disdane that it attracts from people in flashy cars you can feel proper and at home. ITs one of the few places that I feel quite happy saying "yep, this is my kind of place moving at my kind of speed" and to give that statement some depth remember I drive a two and a quater diesel series three.
its got that great rustic feel to the place... its cold and not surprisingly its windy.... so many nights you'll find yourself snuggled up by the wood fired stove with your ugg booted feet poking out from under the blanket nearer the warmth if your lucky you'll be there with a loved one...
now its true a man can live on love but eventually his belly will want something more. And usually it will be while its freezing cold that you'll hear these words "if you loved me you'd get me something nice to eat" the optimum time for this to be uttered is when it feels about 30 below and your thinking about climbing inside the freezer cause its got to be warmer in there. So you need to be able to make something thats easy to make, lets face it ladies in the kitchen most men can only find the fridge cause thats where the beer is, the pantry cause thats where you keep putting the pretzles and think that the tupperware cubboards and appliance draws are lke womens handbags. In theory we know what we should expect to find in there but we never want to find out in person and wouldnt know a soupe tureene from an olive fork so its in everyones interest to keep the time he spends in the kitchen to a minimum.
You need something thats quick to make at the end of a day a roast is a fairly simple thing to make but a 4 hour cook time? forget it. You also want something thats got a minimum of clean up If most blokes are like me dishes isnt something you do they're what the pay TV guys come round and install so I can get 400000 channels to flick though duing each others add breaks.
So you need something thats quick simple and leaves almost no prefreabley no dishes. you need a Jaffle. It appeals to the blokey side in full the preperation of one should be nearly a primevel experience the gathering of the raw matirials to build the fire to cook on, tearing and carving hunks of raw ingredients to stuff into the iron to be seared to perfection and thats without the side trip into fantasy land where you can see yourself as a black smith sweating over an old openside forge complete with leather apron hammer, tongs and anvil to hand make the Iron yourself.
theres lots of ways to make a jaffle but the basics are all the same, something hot,a jaffle iron, some bread, your main ingredients and about 5 minutes. Everyone will tell you about what goes into a jaffle to make the best jaffle but heres my secret, It doesnt matter so long as you keep a few of simple things in mind.
Firstly keep it simple less is more you only have so much space if you try to get too many flavors in they will fight with each other and overcomplicate it. Jaffles tend to mix all the flavors together a bit like taking a top deck block of chocolate and putting it in a microwave and stiring it... its just not the same.
Second dont use stuff thats too wet or too dry too dry and the thing will fall apart on you, your relying on some of the moisture to "melt" the bread where the iron squeezes the 2 pieces of bread together at the edges. Too dry and it wont seal up, too wet and it will go soggy while you're eating it, you're more liekly to burn your mouth on the liquid and you'll drip lots.
3rd dont worry if you burn the bread a little, just scrape the bread on the jaffle iron and the charcoal falls off leaving a perfectly edible jaffle
and finally.. NEVER WASH THE JAFFLE IRON... you may rinse it if it gets dirt or crud on it but the only way to clean it is with a batism of fire. Get a cranking hot fire going (or a gas ring) and get that thing roasting hard when all the moistures gone out of whatever was sticking to it if you tap the iron on something hard that wont melt most of the carbon will come out of it then wipe it with some cooking oil and let it cool then heat it up again... Do that a few times and you'll have sealed up the jaffle iron. The bread wont stick to it so your laughing... getting that bit rights a fine art but once youve got it providing you never use detergent or scourers on the iron it'll last forever. for more details look up seasoning a pot on the net.
for your ingredients you want to aim at 2 maybe 3 key ingredients and a sauce or sealer, if your using primarily dry ingredients (last nights roast with some mixed cold roast vegetables for example) you would want to add a sauce or sealer to put some moisture into the jaffle and you could use anything from a thick tomato sauce through to gravy.
Cheese is a great jaffle ingredient it almost always gets the bread to seal, it gives just the right amount of moisture and it carries flavour but you have to be carefull with it.. it bridges the gap of key ingredient and a sauce if you use it as a key ingredient count it as one and dont be shy with it 4 of those craft singles makes a full jaffle but if your using it as a sauce or sealer then you only need one slice tops.
ok so what makes it onto my top jaffles list...
the most complicated one I usually make is my breakfast jaffle its got ham(or bacon occasionally both depending on the prepwork) fried egg, onion and cheese as the primary ingredients I like this jaffle for a few reasons mostly it tastes great but its also fun to make when theres a few people around theres a bit of movement involved in making it so you look like your doing more than you are.. which does 2 things 1, it looks flashy sort of like those shows where they flip ingreints around like cotail makers and 2, it gets you moveing first thing in the morning and helps blow the cobwebs out.
next is the cheese and varients the jaffle at its simplest grab 2 pieces of bread, some cheese and something else be it a meat, vegetable or sauce slap it together heat it up and its done I like them cause they're simple and the cheese pretty much guarentees a properly sealed jaffle every time. remember if your using cheese as a key ingredient your pretty much limited to 1 other key ingredient my 2 goto varients for cheese and is "and tobasco"
and "and vegemite". 3 slices of coon sliced cheese the kind without the individual plastic wrappers with a wipe of either tobasco sauce or vegemite between each of the layers.
finally is the SPAM jaffle, that tinned meat is great stuff for jaffling it now comes in small tins that will make 2-3 jaffles without left overs and is wet enough to allow you to use it along with your other long term foods like onions and potoatoes without having to worry about a wet ingredient for moisture. A few brands are even pre flavoring it in the can.
The best thing about jaffles is this if you pick out your ingredients the meal before or you keep some stuff ready to jaffle theres no dishes except for maybe a knife and fork these things are the original MRE a package of food ready to eat. As for the knife and fork thing if your cooking on a fire lightly toast a piece of bread then wipe the knife/fork down with that then chuck it on the fire...
so whats so great about jaffles and windy harbour... simple really windys a place dad used to take us when we (dad, me sis and mum) were going on a short holiday and its the first real food thing that I remember dad teaching me to make from whoa to go starting with making the fire "just right" in the oven to picking ingredients and how to tell if a jaffle is cooked.
up next, with pictures and all is how to make my breakfast jaffle.
