Frozen Turkeys @ Lidl and Dunnes

Here is a quick analysis of frozen turkeys purchased @ Lidl and Dunnes

4,5K Turkey @ Lidl = 10 euro

3.5K Turkey @ Dunnes = 6.5 Euro

I roasted both on a Monday. We had sambs etc. on the Tuesday and I made a casserole fella on Tuesday night.

There was a whole breast of turkey left, after making the casserole using the Lidl turkey. Not with the Dunnes one.

This would suggest that the carcass was the same size and the difference in weight was meat. So, and extra Kg in breast meat, perhaps.

Lidl turkey is better value then the Dunnes one. Bloody Gemermans.

This is in now way scientific and is just a perception of a single comparison which was not measured fully.

Easy Roast Venison Recipe

I recently got a leg of venison from the beautiful Paul. It was just over 1.5kg in weight, and was from a Sika calf. Milk fed is best, I always say.

I am a big fan of the slow roast method, so I decided to do the same with the venison. Slow roasting is like half roasting half steaming and usually results in a very tender outcome. I have some cast iron pots with heavy lids, which is great for this task. If I am roasting a large piece of meat, I use a standard roasting pan covered with a tin foil tent. It is just as good but more work.

I usually put a head of celery under the meat when I am roasting it. This helps protect it from the heat of the roasting pot. I failed to see the celery that was hidden in plain sight in the fridge, so I used some carrots instead.

Preheat the oven to the highest.

As venison is very lean and the muscles contain virtually no fat, lay some streaky rashers over the top of the meat to help keep it moist.

Simply put the meat on the veg, pour in some hot water, maybe 500ml. I usually then bring it to the boil on the hob before bunging it in the oven. Put it in the oven at max for 20 - 30 mins, then turn it down to 150 degrees centegrade.

Cook it for a further 2 hours. Remove from the heat and let it rest for about 30 mins.

I made the gravy with the remaining juices and some chicken stock I had in the freezer, with a dash of light soy sauce.

The result was truely fantastic. Totally fall off the bone texture. No need to cut it, it just flakes away. So tender. It didn't have a strong gamey flavor either. It was like the best roast beef, only it tasted better.

It was so nice, I even forgot to use the almost obligatory Red Current Jelly.

I will certainly use this method again.

Dovecot Failed after upgrade

I upgraded my SheevaPlug server which runs PlugBox.

It operates my email and internet server, plus other services.

Anyway, I ran 'pacman -Syu', as you do to upgrade the OS.

Among other things, Dovecot was upgraded.

Having restarted Dovecot, I got the following error:

doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-ssl.conf line 14: ssl_key: Can't open file /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.key: No such file or directory

My response was something like, Feck, Feck, Feck.

Consulting Dr. Google gave me no solace.

I decided that I needed to generate a new certificate and key. I ran the following:

openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -config /etc/ssl/dovecot-openssl.cnf -out dovecot.cert -keyout dovecot.key -days 365

and gor the following output:

Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
.................++++++
............................................++++++
writing new private key to 'dovecot.key'
-----

I moved the files to where /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-ssl.conf expected them to be.

After restarting dovecot, I had to change the connection settings in Thunderbird to:

Connecting Security: SSL/TLS

Authentication Method: Normal Password

Happy Days........