Jump to content

ludja

participating member
  • Posts

    4,446
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by ludja

  1. Interesting thread; thanks for sharing some of your food experiences in Cape Town. Any tempting seafood, fruits or vegetables in the market that might be different from home? Gsquared blogged from South Africa a few times and I seem to remember that there were lots of different types of meats available as well.
  2. Anyone's CSA's delivering fresh produce now? As usual, I guess that will depend where you live... Or eating things you preserved from earlier in the year? Your CSA sounds wonderful, Rehovat--eggs, cheese and honey too! Although it's more work, I think it would be neat to have the amount of produce and incentive to preserve fruits and vegetables like Miriam described.
  3. The two pies look very nice; what are the toppings? What are your favorite toppings so far?
  4. ludja

    Oscars Party

    Perhaps another suggestion for a German appetizer/snack would be homemade soft pretzels. (I've not tried making them myself yet)
  5. Absolutely, I believe any Kosher "Dairy Meal" would work well since the only Lenten restriction is meat; fish, dairy and eggs are fine.
  6. ^I've since been able to check The Lee Brother's Cookbook out of the library and find that I love it! There is a slight emphasis on Low Food Cooking. I think they strike an interesting balance between classic and updated and original versions of recipes. The written backgrounds to each recipe are informative and fun to read. Although I have a lot of Southern cookbooks this will fill a new niche. So, here are the cookbooks from 2006 that I think are on my "must have" list so far: Lee Bros. Southern Cooking Happy in the Kitchen Michel Richard A Passion for Ice cream by Emily Luchetti Baking from My Home to Yours Dorie Greenspan Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen Possible: Cookng from the Heart of Spain: Food of La Mancha by Janet Mendel “Made in Italy” Georgio Locatelli Has anyone seen this cookbook yet and have comments? Black Forest Cuisine: The Classic Blending of European Flavors by Walter Staib and Jennifer McGlinn (Walter Staib is chef and proprieter of The City Tavern in Philadelphia and in this book covers the cuisine of his roots.)
  7. Another very interestng food-related book from 2006 is The United States of Arugula: How we Became a Gourmet Nation by David Kamp. Read it despite the title! It is a very interesting and well-researched history of food trends and important chefs, critics and other food figures since the 1930's or so. I've read bits and pieces about James Beard, Julia Child, the Chez Panisse story, etc but this pulls everything together in what I think is a more detailed and insightful manner. I just finished reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and enjoyed it very much. I recommended it as a book choice for my book club. Although I had heard him interviewed several times last year about the book and read discussions about it on eGullet I am very glad I read the book. There is so much "food for thought" in the book that is not captured in a single interview or article review of the book. (I also read his previous book, Botany of Desire and enjoyed it very much as well. He has a great writing style for scientific and technical-related writing this is clear but is also almost lyrical at times.) The memoir Heat by Buford was interesting and informative as well.
  8. I hear this is a big tradtion in Wisconsin also; maybe all around the Great Lakes?
  9. ^Good point, regarding following the spirit of the law, although I also think that one aspect of marking the Friday's is remembrance. Occasionally I have a work-related dinner on a Lenten Friday and end up eating a much 'fancier' seafood dish. I like your idea of choosing humble meatless meals from around the world as a source of inspiration for dinner. Essentially that is how we typically ate on Lenten Fridays although the traditions happened to be related to our own ethnic roots. Our home Friday lenten meals were pretty simple growing up. They were mainly egg and dairy dishes from Austria which my Mom was familiar with. An example would be "Palatschinken" or Austrian/Hungarian crepes filled with jam or with a mixture of farmer's cheese, sugar and cinnamon. We'd usually have some canned mandarins or pineapple with it. Another dish that we might have with the fruit is "Kaiserschmarren" or 'Emperor's Omelette" which is sort of sweet souffle-pancake with raisins that is torn up into pieces which are slightly browned in the pan and then served with powdered sugar. Yet another meal would be potato pancakes served with sour cream and applesauce. Salmon cakes (made with canned salmon) and served with rice and peas or tuna or crab salad sandwiches served with tomato soup. Oh yeah, and I think we sometimes had fishsticks too with tartar sauce! Nowadays I sometimes make these childhood dishes but I'll more likely make a white bean and tunafish salad, a vegetarian pasta or risotto, a cheese and vegetable omelette with a salad. cheese quesadilla or a bean and cheese burritto with greens. We didn't have hot cross buns as I don't think my Mom was familiar with that custom. I think it may be a more recent custom, but I know some Catholics and churches are increasingly celebrating Passover Seder dinners on Holy Thursday.
  10. I'm not sure; I may have accidentally hit upon a non-representative example with the Robuchon/Wells book. I don't have that many "higher end" chef books but I perused a few other books and don't see sugar being listed as an ingredient, optional or no, very often. As you say, whether or not one needs to use sugar will depend on the other ingredients. It would be helpful though, in some cases, if recipes listed sugar as an optional ingredient in cases where it fits. In some of the Robuchon recipes I would not have even considered thinking of adjusting with sugar. (Maybe now I will.) I wonder how regularly professional chefs for "gourmet" Western cusine actually do use sugar as a tool to adjust the final flavor of savory dishes? If they do this as a matter of course, perhaps they don't include this information in their published recipes. They may even avoid doing this for the very reasons that Fat Guy mentioned in his first post or they may feel that people would likely over sweeten the dish. The Robuchon book may be different than others in that Wells emphasizes that she left no stone unturned in trying to replicate how his dishes tasted. That is, if he often used sugar to adjust taste, perhaps she is passing on that information. This is all speculation on my part and is perhaps a bit farfetched!
  11. Interlibrary loan, if they have it, can also be your friend here. It's usually a free service or available for a nominal fee.
  12. Just to add to the thread for others and in case you become enamored with Asian noodle dishes, a nice general book on that topic is "The Noodle Shop" by Jackie Passmore. It features noodle dishes from China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. As an aside, I have several Vietnamese cookbooks but there is one from last year that is on my to buy list: "Into the Vietnamse Kitchen" by Andrea Nguyen. There is a great excerpt from her book on eGullet and she answered many questions about the book. A good friend has already been busily cooking out of it and is very happy.
  13. I agree; I just read the story a second time and like it very much! As someone with a parent from Europe and on the other side of the family, my grandparents, it resonates and in a truthful fashion. The article talks about her exploration of the dish she grew up with that has roots in the 'old country' but has inevitably evolved as a part of the larger American immigrant story. She is not manufacturing or glorifyng a "nonna concept"; that *is* her nonna; that *is* her story. Not only is it a true story for her, a similar experience is true for many other children and grandchildren of immigrants in the U.S. It's already been said, but in terms of Italian food, she does actually clearly discuss the different variations that abound in her grandmother's home town and how they are different from her family's version. I think the story is warm and informative, and I also learned something re:Bastianich's comments regarding not only substitution of ingredients and abundance of meat and other 'expensive' ingredients in the U.S. but also how the idea of amplifying remembered tastes may factor in transforming dishes upon emigration. Interestingly, in terms of considering the concept of a "master" or "true" recipe she not only shows the significant differences between her family's recipe and that of the Italian village but goes further to uncover that smaller, albeit real, differences exist even within those two places. Many different recipes exist in the small Italian town and even here in the U.S. she and her siblings struggle to replicate the dish their mother made! The dish is continually evolving and is influenced by each cook and famly, by ingredients and even elusive memories.
  14. If I remember correctly, some Chinese friends taught me another way to say "Happy Chinese New Year". My best phonetic attempt is, "Gonh-she, Gonh-she". (It looks like that could be a shortening of "Gung Hay Fat Choy".) Any comments, hzrt8w? Thank you for a wonderful blog!
  15. ludja

    Oscars Party

    These are just generic suggestions as I've not seen the movie: Obatzda (german version of Austro-Hungarian Liptauer Cheese which uses Camembert) I'd serve this with Rye or Pumpernickel bread. Pickled Herring or Rollmops ("plain" with onions, etc or in a cream or mustard sauce) You can buy these in German/Austrian/Polish delis. Also good with rye bread. Stuffed eggs with a slice of anchovy or anchovy paste on top or caviar, Another excellent stuffed egg variant is to mix the yolks with horseradish, lemon, mayo, s&p) Steak tartare with egg yolk, capers, anchovy, seasonings and served with minced onions and sliced pickles. Can serve on rye or pumpernickel. Buttered rye bread topped with very thin slices of Westphalian Ham or Bundnerfleisch (air dried beef similar to Bresaola) Other German coldcuts are Leberkase, Nusschinken, Schinkenspeck, Headcheese, etc. These could be served on a platter with German pickles, pickled mushrooms and Emmentaler swiss cheese A Fleischsalat (meat salad) (a good quality cubed Bologna type coldcut + swiss cheese, onions, olive or canola oil, white vinegar, salt and pepper, perhaps, mustard) Other types of Fleischsalat use diced cold beef, tongue or ham and have additions of dill pickles, capers, parsley, mustard, boiled potatoes. Marinate in oil, vinegar and cool beef stock. Top with sliced boiled eggs. The Fleischsalats are not seen so often here anymore but they deserve to be better known. They are extremely tasty. Have you seen the movie? Is it worth seeing?
  16. ludja

    Eggs

    I don't know, but I also once had a carton like that in which almost all the eggs were double-yolked. It was kind of freaky!
  17. Well, I was pretty surprised by how often Robuchon used sugar as an ingredient. I didn't necessarily expect to find any examples but was just curious to look. My personal experience and feelings tended more in the direction of what Fat Guy was describing earlier. That is, I only occasionally tweak the final seasoning of a dish with sugar (some vinaigrettes, cooked tomatoes, peas) I differentiate this use of sugar from the cases where one is explicitly making a sweet and sour dish like Sauerbraten or Harvard Beets, etc. I think all the Robuchon dishes except for the honey duck recipe fall into the former category; one would not necessarily recognize sugar as an ingredient but it is used to achieve a balanced flavor. This thread is making me think more broadly about when a pinch of sugar might improve a dish. (I'm not for or against it; I just never thought of using it beyond the few applicatons I was familiar with.) edited to add: It may be interesting to look at some other higher end "chef cookbooks" or hear from some chefs themselves. Thanks for reporting from some of your cookbooks, k8memphis.
  18. ludja

    Eggs

    Below is quote from Truman Capote's book, "Answered Prayers". I think it may be a fictional dish as I could find no mention of it on the net. I used this quote as my sig line for a time. "He tutted his tongue..."[souffle] Furstenberg is a great nuisance. An uproar." Delicious, though: a froth of cheese and spinach into which an assortment of poached eggs has been sunk strategically, so that, when struck by your fork, the souffle is moistened with golden rivers of egg yolk. "An uproar," said Ina, "is exactly what I want," and the proprietor, touching his sweat-littered forehead with a bit of handkerchief, acquiesed.
  19. So, last night when I was mulling over ideas that led to my post above, I thought of another exercise. I decided to look through the cookbook, Simply French by Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon. Of the French cooksbooks I have, this is the one that has very careful and explicit directions regarding the seasoning of the dish. Tasting the dish is of course most important, but I remembered that there was a lot of discussion regarding how to adjust the salt and seasonings in the dish. So, I thought it would be interesting to glance through it and see is sugar was ever recommended or used as an ingredient to balance the flavors in any of the savory dishes. I surprised to see that there were thirteen savory dishes that used sugar explicity as an ingredient! (Interestingly, in the introduction she carefully discusses the use of salt and pepper as being key to success, but does not mention sugar there. I guess this is likely due to the fact that salt and pepper work in almost any dish; sugar less often.) The dishes include examples where sugar is used with tomatoes or other tart flavors but also include some dishes that I would not have thought of. Here are the dishes with sugar in the ingredient list: Servings are for four unless otherwise noted. Savory Tomato and Basil Tarts (1 Tbs sugar) Tomato Mint Sorbet 3 cups (1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar) Fresh Terrine of Duck Livers 10-12 servings (1 tsp superfine sugar) Spring Lobster w Fresh Baby Vegetables (3 Tbs sugar) Roasted Duck w sauteed apples, honey and cider vinegar (1 Tbs honey) Whole Roasted Foie Gras w Caramellized Turnips (2 Tbs sugar) Rabbit w Mustard, Fava Beans, and Baby Onions (1 Tbs sugar) Thick Veal Chop w Wild Mushrooms and Asparagus (1 Tbs sugar) Pork Loin w Sage, Leeks adn Juniper 6 servings (2 Tbs sugar) Potatoes "Chanteduc" 6-8 servings (1 Tbs sugar) Confit of Fresh Chestnuts, Walnuts, Fennel and Onions 8-10 servings (1 Tbs sugar) Glazed Spring Vegetables 6 servings (~ 4 Tbs sugar) Braised Endives (3 Tbs sugar) So at least according to Patricia Wells, Robuchon does not consider sugar taboo as a key ingredient in a number of his savory dishes. It would be interesting to look through "The French Laundary Cookbook" to see Keller's use or non-use of sugar. For those not familiar with Robuchon, he has been a long time starred chef in France. (I'm not sure of his current status.) This book was an attempt to translate his culinary mastery so that at least some aspects of his cooking could be duplicated by a home cook.
  20. Thanks for the interesting and informative post, Adam. I wonder if another reason that sweetness via sugar in a savory dish may be downplayed in Western European-based 'gourmet' cuisine is related to pairing wine with the meal. For instance, although one could find wines to work with almost any meal, I don't think of pairing wine with meatloaf and (sweet) ketchup. (Although I’d consider having wine with the meal if I added a little chipotle to the ketchup or served the meatloaf with a non-sweet gravy.) It becomes easier to think of wine pairings when the sugar is extremely balanced with other flavors and does not explicitly register as sweetness. I realize that this is addressing “sweetness” in a savory dish as opposed to just focusing on sugar as an ingredient. In many dishes, I think enough sweetness to balance the dish is provided by other ingredients, like roasted or slow cooked vegetables. That is, one might not 'need' sugar to balance the dish unless tartness is in the mix. In addition to compatibility with wine, I think another factor may be the traditional absence of the hot counterpoint (hot sour salty sweet) as an option in European-derived gourmet cooking. This may limit the ways in which sugar can be successfully incorporated into a dish. A premise is that adding sugar in noticeable amounts to savory food and/or without the proper counterbalance of salty and/or sour and/or hot leads to dishes that are not generally considered balanced or nuanced in flavor. Besides the older historical examples that Adam gave, the western European traditional cuisines in which sweet (sometimes in the form of sugar) seem to play a larger role are German and Central European (pot roast, sweet and sour cabbage dishes), some traditional European Jewish dishes and Sicilian dishes. These dishes seem to primarily use sugar in counterpoint to sour (vinegar). The last mention begs one to consider how sugar is used in savory dishes in North Africa and the Middle East. And of course, as mentioned, a lot of Asian cuisines that use sugar in savory dishes also balance the flavors with hotness (i.e. chiles) in addition to salt, sour and savory flavors. Again, for a number of reasons, chiles have not traditionally been used very much in gourmet European-based cuisine with wine alongside. Lastly, I think that adding small amounts of sugar to adjust the final taste balance in some dishes has been 'accepted' in some instances of European-derived cooking besides the overt sweet and sour dish examples. Some examples are the tomato-based ones given above and also peas. Another place where I sometimes adjust the final taste with a tiny amount of sugar in addition to salt is in salad dressings or vinaigrettes. As Adam and others mentioned, sugar can be used to adjust saltiness and/or tartness (i.e. when using lemon or vinegar.)
  21. It also helps to know where someone is visiting from in order to suggest foods/types of restaurants that they might not have available wherever home is.
  22. In case you're just bypassing oranges and lemons without looking at the prices, here is a blurb from the SF Chromicle from last week: click I haven't been noticing avocado prices and I'm not sure what price they would usually be at this time of year.
  23. Mmm...was the crepe place near Union Square (which is between Moscone and Chinatown)? I can't think of one in that area but I think there are lots of little breakfast places around for the hotels and conference traffic. Has anyone eaten at Canteen for breakfast/brunch? I recently had a nice dinner there (click) and am intrigued about trying them out for weekend brunch. They used to have breakfast during the week as well but I've heard that has been discontinued since the neighboring hotel managment changed.
  24. I'd also be tempted to try this Champagne Grapefruit salad that I bookmarked a while back from Scott Peacock: click There is no flavored gelatin in sight; just unflavored gelatin, sugar, grapefruits, champagne, orange and lemon zest and lemon juice. I've seen some other nice versions that have ginger ale in them. One could make a nice naturally flavored orange gelatin dish as well.
  25. Oohh... let us know if you end up trying one and how it turns out. I think I saw a recipe in "Fine Cooking" awhile back but I have no idea in what issue that was.
×
×
  • Create New...