ludja

thanks paul o'vendage... sounds very good. I would have been *afraid* to directlly saute the grated raw horseradish--ie. I would have had no idea whether it would burn or turn bitter etc. Since I'm far away from my mom's plant, I need to find some raw speciments out here...

I've always known they are similar to lingonberries (from Sweden) but did a little searching on the web to find out that Preiselbeeren are indeed the same as Lingonberries and a few other names... Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., Ericaceae. English.: Cowberry, Lingonberry, Foxberry, Lowbush Cranberry, Mountain Cranberry, Partridgeberry, Red Bilberry, Rock Cranberry. Deutsch.:Preiselbeere Bickelbeere, Fuchsbeere, Grantel, Kronsbeere, Mehlbeere, Rauschbeere, Sauerbeere, Steinbeere, Wilder Busch. Suom.: puolukka. Sven.: lingon, kröson. They are related to cranberries but are smaller in size and somewhat less tart. Here's a photo of them growing: click I've never seen the schnapps but it sounds interesting. I've basically seen it in sauces to have, as you guys mentioned, alongside vension or even schnitzel and also as a sweetened syrup. It sounds likely the tart was made with Preiselbeeren. Again, I love it when I learn something on egullet or else it prompts me to do some research!

This is true; my mom had horseradish growing in her garden in CT and nothing could kill it. Funny you should also mention the rhubarb; she had that growing next to the horseradish and both were on the end of the vegetable garden. They were so vigorous she was constantly having to prune them to keep them in their place!

I really love macarons and have been making them recently so I was interested to google this topic and find out more. Below is a link to a site with Danish cake recipes--looks like a bunch of interesting recipes--including the Kransekage. Not a home-tested recipe but maybe others can add to this: danish wedding cake Kransekage

Been interested in but never had a horseradish-encrusted fish--- Is the horseradish added to bread crumbs or is it part of a whipped egg white coating? Those seem to be the ways I've heard of itl Sounds like a wonderful recipe!

Amen. Fresh grated horseradish is also good on the side with sliced Easter ham or in a sandwich (rye bread, please). Also really like Apfelkren with Tafelspitz as Katie Loeb mentions above. Looked in some of my Austrian cookbooks for others uses and found a few interesting ones I haven't tried: Horseradish Soup (humble soup: milk, flour, saute horseradish in butter, swirl in cream) Iced Horseradish (elegant accompaniement to meat: stir freshly grated horseradish into whipped cream, add a dash of lemon juice, vinegar, pinch of salt; chill in fridge or freeze into a soft mousse) Rahmkren mit Eiern (Eggs with Horseradish Cream; chop hardboiled eggs, stir in sour cream and freshly grated horseradish; serve with sausages, smoked pork, grilled meat) Roter Rubenkren (Beet and Horseradish Relish-- beets, apples, horseradish, s&p, pinch of sugar, wine vingegar, olive oil) Mandelkren (Horseradish with Almonds; Whip cream with a pinch of confectioner's sugar; fold in ground almonds and freshly grated horseradish--chill or freeze and serve alongside boiled beef or roast pork) Erdapfelkren (Potato and Horseradish Cream; Mash cooked potatoes and mix with beef broth, cream and butter. Stir in freshly grated horseradish with a little freshly ground nutmeg) Preiselbeerkren (Cranberry Sauce with Horseradish; they have a small tart berry in Austria that is similar to cranberries (Preiselbeern-- cranberries, horseradish, mustard, salt, lemon juice, whip heavy cream and fold previous mix into it) Thanks for starting this thread; I didin't know I had all these interesting horseradish recipes; I think I want to try them myself! edited to add: a nice idea from Elizabeth David is to make a homemade mayonaise, fold in horseradish and parsely and serve over sliced tomatoes...

Stingers for after dinner drinks. (1 oz creme de menthe and 1 3/4 oz brandy; shake/stir with ice and strain)

I move to nominate bleudauvergne for performance above and beyond the normal egulleteer... Wonderful to have a bunch of these ideas all in one place. Maybe these will inspire me to transist between a diner of foie gras to a preparer of... part of my motive in starting this thread! edited to add: also loved your photos on the "What I bought today at the Farmer's Market" thread.

Hi Carolyn! This doesn't really help w.r.t. to the cheese pairing per se, but I love serving Acme walnut wheat bread (sliced thinly) with almost any cheese... Hope the evening goes well! (love that Bundlach Gundschu Gewurtz)

Here are a few other ideas that e-gulleteers came up with along with tips on preparation: other foie gras ideas...

There is a great German Butcher/Sausage Market in Mountain View on San Antonio called: Dittmer's Wursthaus. Lots of great sausages, cured meats and game also. It is also mentioned in the linked article but another great food place right around the corner from Dittmer's is The Milk Pail. Dubbed a "European Style Market" it has a great selection of dairy products and at great prices--lots of French cheeses, european butter, great bulk items for baking (high end chocolates, nuts, etc). Also carries Acme bread and has great selection of fruits and vegs. I know I can find quinces, etc there. Carries parmegiano reggiano for close to 1/2 the price of Whole Foods as an example... Mountain View Markets I second the request for fresh, reasonably priced seafood source in South Bay area.... edited to add: I forgot Schaub's at Stanford Shopping Mall for meat. Not cheap but good quality. Schaub's

This is amateur advice--but I grind the nuts with some of the sugar. Also, as per in Healy and Bugat's book, I grind until relatively fine using pulse mode; then sift through sieve to capture larger pieces. Then, regrind the pieces retained by sieve with some more sugar. Doing this in two steps yields finer, more uniform powder; not oily--and the macarons came out well. (Also, when I blanch my own almonds I wait an extra day to make sure they are nice and dry). I actually had trouble the second time I made macarons using pre-ground almond meal--almonds were not blanched. I changed a few other parameters though and I haven't isolated the problem yet.

Cool idea to have your bookcllub meet in the am for breakfast/brunches. Since I'm a huge breakfast fan I think this would be a fun way to come up with all kinds of interesting fare. Our club meets in the early pm though and don't know if they'd give up their wine to accompany our discussions... Looking forward to your blog and hearing a little about Sac-Town over here in the bay area.

Nice winesonoma! Here also is a nice panade from Paula Wolfert's new book, Wolfert's, "Panade of Leeks, Mixed Greens and Cantal Cheese"

Your question has made me think back on german/austrian recipes I've seen--interesting ways to use fresh rye bread crumbs. I have rye bread a lot but haven't been too creative in using crumbs, etc. so I was motivated to investigate my cookbooks a bit. "Gerostete Brotsuppe" (Toasted Bread Soup) is a rustic Austrian soup that uses dark bread as opposed to white bread used in the more common Viennese "Panadlsuppe". Dried rye bread is browned with onions and parsely in butter with a little flour. Some garlic also added towards the end. Beef stock and water are added and bread simmer until soft. Puree in blender and return to pot. In a dish blend 1-2 eggs, 2 T heavy cream and a pinch of nutmeg. Temper with soup; then add in to bulk of soup stirring constantly without coming to a boil. Serve garnished with some caraway and/or crisp croutons. (Other variations also have sliced carrots and/or meat added to the soup (sausages, frankfurters, ham). Can also blend eggs with sour cream instead. (This is no way traditional that I know of---but with visions of paprika dancing in my head from ronnie-suburban's recent thread, I wonder if that might fit in... add in towards the end of sauteeing onions???) I know you have rye and sourdough bread, but I found two interesting dessert recipes also that use pumpernickel/black bread fresh breadcrumbs: Schwarzbrotpudding mit rotweinsauce (a sweet black bread pudding with red wine sauce; also has ground hazlenuts) & Schwarzwalderkirschtorte (Black Forest Cake) The latter recipe has always intrigued me because I thought it might be less cloying than some versions of this cake which I typically don't like. I haven't tried it yet though. It uses a central european techniqe of substituting bread crumbs for flour and using separated yolks and whites to leaven. In the cake are also grated walnuts, chocolate and Kirsch. Cake layers are soaked with Kirsch, then filled with sour cherries and iced with Kirsch-Vanilla Whipped Cream. Covered with grated dark chocolate.... I need to try this soon!!! My *basic* way to use up fresh/slightly stale bread is to make what my mom called "Austrian Hamburgers" or Fleischlaibchen--basically little individual meatloaves in a way that are pan cooked. I usually use white bread but I think it would also work well with others. Soak bread in water, squeeze dry. Add to ground beef with egg, sauteed onions and parsely, s&p and little marjoram. Dredge in flour, egg, dried bread crumbs and cook in pan with a little butter/oil. After finished make a pan sauce to serve with by deglazing browned bits with beef stock. Add some grated lemon peel, s&p and finish with some butter to thicken. Simple but nice tasting especially with mashed potatoes or simple buttered boiled new potatoes. The sum is much more than the parts and the sauce is very good. Kids like eating these with ketchup.

Tyrolean Bread Dumplings... to serve as a starch side with something having a nice rich sauce. I sometimes make a nice mushroom ragout to serve with... Usually make with white bread but could be interesting with the ones you mention. Saute some chopped onions and parsley. Add diced pieces of bread and cook until crisp. Place in bowl. Seperately mix together some milk, eggs and salt and pour over bread and onions. Add in diced, smoked pork or cooked bacon. Blend in flour as needed to form dumplings. Cook gently in salted water. (can make without meat added; for 1 loaf of bread use about 1 1/2-2 cups milk, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup flour).

I finally dove in and made macarons at home. I used a recipe from Healy's The French Cookie Book (egullet-amazon link) for lemon gerbet macarons. They came out pretty well! Tops were smooth with few cracks and the insides nice and soft--got a few ruffled sides but not as much as I'd like. Anyone have hints to improve the ruffling? The cookies seems to come out better when I piped them small, about 1 inch diameter. I followed the recipe pretty close to the letter but used parchment paper rather than plain newsprint. Although I was initially intimidated by the steaming method for removing the cookies; I used it with success. I made and filled them the day before serving, storing in the fridge in a sealed tin. The filling was a little different than the few I've tasted at bakeries; beside butter, sugar, lemon and lemon juice there are also ground almonds. I brought them to a party where they were well received---even by a Frenchman who declared (probably to be nice...) that they were very good. He was pretty surprised that I made them at home. Thanks for everyones suggestions and comments on this thread! and chezcherie, I still plan on buying Rigo and Moore's American Boulangerie. (egullet-amazon link) Thanks again for the tip!

Here's some other good ideas on a recent thread turnip ideas I think there is a turnip cake recipe in there too (yum).

If it makes you feel any better, I've gotton a tip from e-gullet honchos that it is actually preferred not to use special accents on words because it makes searching more difficult, if not impossible... edited to add: another way to make rose-infused desserts (i.e. if you don't need the petals) is to use rose geranium leaves. Can grow the plant yourself assuring absence of pesticides and they have an incredible strong aroma. I've used them to make rose-flavored creme anglaise (served with a pound or angel food cake).

Although it is not exactly on topic, had seen this before and thought it interesting. Here are some recent state dinners for current admin.; the link has other info such as guests, table settings, entertainment, etc. gw bush state dinners Mexico State Dinner September 5, 2001 Maryland Crab and Chorizo Pozole Summer Vegetables Mi Sueno Chardonnay "Caneros" 1999 Pepita Crusted Bison Poblano Whipped Potatoes Fava Bean and Chanterelle Ragout Apple Chipotle Sauce Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon "Hillside Select" 1994 Salad of Gold and Red Tomatoes Mache and Micro Greens Sherry Dressing Mango and Coconut Ice Cream Dome Peaches Red Chile Pepper Sauce Tequila Sabayon Schramsberg "Cremant" 1997 Poland State Visit July 17, 2002 Lemon-Basil Seared Striped Bass Artichokes and Young Squash Roasted Golden Tomato Sauce Robert Pecota Sauvignon Blanc 2000 Pepper Smoked Beef Filet Fresh Corn Polenta Grilled Portobella Mushroom and Summer Vegetables BBQ Shallot Sauce Stags Leap Wine Cellars "Fay Vineyard" Cabernet 1998 Orange and Avocado Salad Crispy Potato Tartine Cilantro Dressing Peaches and Cherries Ginger Almond Ice Cream Assorted Cookies Bonny Doon Muscat "Vin Glaciere" 2000 Phillipines State Dinner May 2003 Maine Dayboat Scallops Brandade of Smoked Trout and Maryland Crabs Vine-ripened Tomato Gazpacho Bellewether Farm Lamb Red Wine Reduction Achiote Polenta Fresh Fava Beans, Morels, and Braised Cipollini Onion Du MOL Pinot Noir "Finn" 2000 Avocado, Tomato, and Goat's Cheese Terrine Spring Greens Candied Pepitas Calamansi Dressing Mango Coconut Lei Baked Pineapple with Sesame Crumb Assorted Cookies Schramsberg Cremant 1999 Kenya State Dinner Oct 6, 2003 Roasted Rack of Lamb Wild Mushrooms and Armagnac Sauce Sweet Potato Flan Autumn Vegetables Soter Pinot Noir "Beacon Hill" Avocado and Heirloom Tomato Salad Toasted Cumin Dressing "Best of Kenya" Arabica Ice Cream and Coffee Liquor Parfait Caramelized Banana and Pineapple Honig Sauvignon Blanc "Late Harvest" 2002

And while we are working on 'h's------ how about Amherst? And another crazy MA town.. Worcester... often has an "h" added in to become "Wor-ches-ter" rather than "Wuh-stah"... man, I hate reading these clam threads. They start an itch that is relatively difficult to satisfy out in Californeyeay... Seriously though, lots of good info in this thread.

I've been to the Carrier Dome (saw the Rolling Stones in Sept '89). ah... the young Stones...

Thanks for the additional info Fat Guy why not just buy farmer's cheese? (if think this would be better than drained cottage cheese; although nice to have this option if no other choice.) In practice I've found farmer's cheese to be a better substitute..

I've not tasted it yet, but I've heard rave reviews from a close friend re: "white honey" from Hawaii. Has anyone else had this? Here's a link I found: hawaii white honey I've also had incredible wild honey's in Styria, Austria (home of Ah-nold) but I couldn't find ways to purchase this on-line. There is a special store in Graz that sells natural honey and bee products. I love eating a good honey like this on a good roll or bread with sweet butter. Also, I like the strong taste of Italian chestnut honeys... a classic drizzled over some gorgonzola. Thank you sam salmon for your personal summary of such a wide variety of honeys; many of them sound very interesting.

just curious, do you know if it is really american "cottage cheese" or else is it farmer's cheese? (for at least some central/eastern european dishes the substitute for their "fresh chees" is often what we call farmer's cheese. (Eg. Austrian Cheese Strudel (sweet). I don't know the exact difference between cottage and farmer's cheese but the latter is a little dryer and to me richer tasting... sounds like a dish I would really like...