ludja

I'm pretty fascinated with the food of this region partly because my family comes from slightly north of the border in southeastern Austria. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences in the cuisine and how it has melded together in both regions. I've been reading La Terra Fortunata and I have Lidia's first book so I'll be looking at them for guidance and ideas. Here are some recipes I found on the internet: Jota—Bean and Pork Soup Link Fruili recipes Link Patate alla Triestina Pasta of choice, potatoes, butter, onion, stock, salt and pepper. Raviolini di Pere Dried pears, fresh ricotta cheese, butter, onions, flour, salt, hot water, oil, milk. Frico Cows' milk cheese, very mature cheese, potatoes, olive oil. Salame all'Aceto con Polenta Tender smoked 'nostrano' salami, onion, vinegar wine, olive oil, polenta. Schweinsbrotn Loin of pork, garlic, thyme and cumin spices, quarter liter of water. Gubana Sultanas, butter, broken nuts, pine nuts, candied fruit, almonds, bread crumbs, eggs, caster sugar, lemon, orange, 'Malaga' wine, white flour, Aquavite. Punte di Cuscino Flour, butter, yolks, 'panna', white wine, sugar, pinch of salt. Venison Goulash Link

My mom and I sometimes substitute mild goat cheese for cream cheese b/c my sister can have goat but not cow dairy. It does have an extra tang, but in many applications it works very well.

Traditionally what oil would have been used for deep frying a 'sweet' dish in Poland or other northern climes while keeping kosher? I think the most common fat for frying there and in other North European countries was lard. I'm not familiar with recipes for sweet goods that were deep fried in chicken or beet fat, and I'm not sure if there were vegetable oils appropriate for frying available then. Clarified butter could be used for shallow frying (eg. blintzes) and further south, olive oil would have been an option. Pardon me in advance, if I'm blanking out on something obvious!!! ← I see now that sufganyiot are a traditonal Jewish doughnut served often at Hanukkah. Maybe deserving of it own thread, but where do these originate from and what was the traditional oil used before more modern vegetable oils were available?

It is a shame regarding the high price of clotted cream, especially in the US, because that is an item I would really look for and enjoy in a tea room. Alligande's and Jackal10's comments reminded me of something though that perhaps would be a nice substitute, in addition to whipped cream. It's called "Cold Cream Sauce" which I've seen in some of Damon Lee Fowler's cookbooks on classical Southern cuisine. He describes the texture as being similar to clotted cream. For 2 cups: 1 pint heavy cream (minimum 36% milkfat) 1/2 cup sugar 1 lemon (zest of whole lemon and juice of half) freshly grated nutmeg Dissolve sugar in cream without heating. Grate in lemon zest of 1/2-1 whole lemon and add in juice of half the lemon. Stir mixture until it begins to clot and season with some freshly grated nutmeg. Refrigerate until fully thickened; at least 3 hours and serve cold. This *is* sweetend, but it is very tasty and the consistency is lovely. As I remember it (from last summer when I was eating it with berries and other fresh fruit all the time) it does not have a particularly tangy flavor. The nutmeg should be added sparingly so that it adds to the flavor but is way short of being identified as nutmeg in the final cream. I haven't experimented with decreasing the sugar, but that may be one avenue to explore. Try it and see if you like it! I was amazed when I tasted this that it wasn't a more widely known recipe. It is so simple and is very delicious.

Thank you for continuing to give us updates on the project as well information regarding how to donate money to help things along. In case the link in Mayhaw Man's previous post (#36) goes away, here is the information for how you can help the restoration of Willie Mae's restaurant.

Here is a link to a photo of Faschingkrapfen that I found: click edited to add: Looking at some photos and recipes on-line, the German Berliner Pfannkuchen looks to be the equivalent of the Austrian Faschingkrapfen. This link has a recipe.

Traditionally what oil would have been used for deep frying a 'sweet' dish in Poland or other northern climes while keeping kosher? I think the most common fat for frying there and in other North European countries was lard. I'm not familiar with recipes for sweet goods that were deep fried in chicken or beet fat, and I'm not sure if there were vegetable oils appropriate for frying available then. Clarified butter could be used for shallow frying (eg. blintzes) and further south, olive oil would have been an option. Pardon me in advance, if I'm blanking out on something obvious!!!

These look so great, Pille; thanks for posting the photos. Dare I hope that the recipe will be on your blog???

The traditional Austrian treat for the "Fasching" or Carnivale season (the period between Epiphany on Jan 6 and Ash Wednesday) and including Shrove or Fat Tuesday are "Faschingkrapfen". They are delicous fried, yeasted doughnuts that have a very light texture. The batter has rum and lemon rind in it, which along with frying in the traditional lard, gives it a wonderful and unique taste. (Also good very good when fried in vegetable oil.) They are shallow fried so that you have a tell-tale paler ring around the circumference of the round fritter. They are topped with vanilla powdered sugar, are delicious eaten warm and can be filled with apricot preserves. I wish I had time to make them today!

Too funny. Going back in the mists of time this sounds very familar. We used to hang out at a bar (that I think it no longer in business or has another name) in Carrbaro that I seem to remember had these bathroom doors. The place I'm thinking of was the left hand side of the main Carrbaro drag (coming from Chapel Hill) and was just past the RR tracks. (Basically, it was across from Carrbaro 'mall') and near the split in the road. All the booths in the bar were pine and were heavliy shellacked. And, as it turns out, not perfectly level, so there would be fun times with sliding beers. Was this the same place??? Oh--- I just remembered the name of the bar--it was "Sidetrack" or "Sidetracks". (Sorry if this is a silly OT comment...) ← ← I can't remember if I did or not, but I think the reason that I remember it is that it must have stymied me for a moment too... I don't remember a hunting theme persay, although the inside of the place almost looked like a cabin with all the pine wood. The Sidetrack became an illicit hideaway sometimes for us during the day when we wanted to escape writing our thesis'. The bartender would give us quarters to pick out music on the jukebox as long as we "didn't pick any sad country music songs". It was a friendly laid back place and as grad students we liked it in later years b/c it was somewhat out of the fray from some of the other college bars in Chapel Hill. I just noticed that I misspelled Carrboro about a dozen times in the previous post!

I've happily made Patricia Well's recipe from "Bistro Cooking" several times but I have not done comparison yet. I really like her Pate Sable recipe used in that and other tarts. There is some creme fraiche in the filling as well. I need to try the Bouchon recipe though; it sounds great. Another one that is different than a typical Tart Citron but sounds very good is the recipe from Joel Robuchon in Patricia Wells "Simply French". The pastry shell is filled with lemon curd and then topped with lemon sections (supremes) that have been poached/candied in a sugar syrup. Finally, the top of the tart is abrushed with an apricot preserve glaze and sprinkled with finely minced candied lemon zest.

France begins vaccinating poultry in parts of the country and some countries that import French poutry have institued bans: click (from the London Times) They are also mobilizing to have vaccine available to administer to birds in zoos in France. The article also mentions that the infection rate and geographic spread is increasing in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria.

Too funny. Going back in the mists of time this sounds very familar. We used to hang out at a bar (that I think it no longer in business or has another name) in Carrbaro that I seem to remember had these bathroom doors. The place I'm thinking of was the left hand side of the main Carrbaro drag (coming from Chapel Hill) and was just past the RR tracks. (Basically, it was across from Carrbaro 'mall') and near the split in the road. All the booths in the bar were pine and were heavliy shellacked. And, as it turns out, not perfectly level, so there would be fun times with sliding beers. Was this the same place??? Oh--- I just remembered the name of the bar--it was "Sidetrack" or "Sidetracks". (Sorry if this is a silly OT comment...)

Don't forget Kibbe - the Lebanese version as well! ← Germany and Austria have a history of steak tartar as well but I don't know the historic timeline associated with its consumption and developemnt there. Does anyone know if, in Europe anyway, there is a known historical progression for the dish between countries like Germany, France and Italy? I've seen some online sources that do speak of the derivation as comng from interaction with Tatar peoples but I couldn't tell how reliable the sources were. I"ve had it in Austria quite a bit but I can't remember if there are distinct accompaniements that are different from typical French versions. (From what I recall they are pretty similar). One version I have on hand from an older Austrian cookbook has: s&p, raw onion, raw egg, anchovies, capers. Other optional garnishes are beets and pickles. In any case, I think Germanic restaurants and immigrants were at least one, if not the primary, conduit for bringing and popularizing Beef Tatar or Tartar in the US. From what I've seen it seems to have been a standard item in older 'grand' German restaurants in cities like NY and Chicago, including, for example, Luchow's in NYC. Thanks for bringing this thread back up. I'm happy to be reminded of the Korean version which I've not yet tried.

Hmmm... I need to see if they're still carrying the out there. I wonder if these could be replicated at home though using Trader Joe's raw cashews, wasabi powder, salt and pepper. I would probably try pan roasting the nuts with butter and then toss them with the spice mix.

Intriguing...I have a feeling I'm going to learn something new about my own environs... edit: Thanks for a wonderful blog, Megan and for sharing your week off with us. As a visitor to NY, I'm often near the UES while visiting the Met so I've enjoyed getting some additional tips about the neighborhood. Regarding a nice place for sweets, have you had a chance to visit Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Gallerie? It's nearly the spitting image of a real Viennese coffeehouse and serves wonderful Austrian pastries in addition to non-sweet meals.

On a thread regarding dishes to serve at tea, Swisskaese just pointed out a nice website "The Great British Kitchen" that has a section on Scotland here that also includes recipes from some traditional Scottish baked goods.

Thanks for the response, Patrick. I remember you recommending her caramel sauce made with creme fraiche a while back, but I just finally got a copy to look over.

Original Joe's in San Francisco since 1937 and San Jose since 1956. It's an old Italian-American restaurant institution around here, but I've never been to either one. One of the dishes they are known for is the "Joe's Special"; you'll see the recipe in some regional cookbooks. Joe's Special Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Spinach, Mushroom and Ground Chuck

La Tourangelle: California Gourmet Oils producing walnut, hazelnut, almond, grapeseed and sesame oils. A review from SFGate last June: click

And I'd wager that the Indian and Afghan restaraunts in Silicon Valley/lower Esst Bay would stack up very well in comparison to other places in the US too. I'll come back with some specific recs later.

Ludja, the proportions for the 2 large cakes were: 500 grams selfraising flour, 500 grams butter, 500 grams sugar, 9 eggs, 250 grams finely ground hazelnuts. This gave the cake a delicate hazelnut flavor, I'm sure you could up the amount of nuts for a more intense flavor. The olives were supposed to be stuffed with fresh italian sausage (recipe here, thanks Wendy!) but I stuffed them with fresh chorizo instead. I breaded and fried them about 2 hours before serving and they were very good at room temp. It's a bit of a fiddly thing to do, and I almosted decided not to make them, but I'm glad I did because everybody loved them! I did most of the cooking and prep work myself, I'm not very good at having helpers. But he did help me scrape the cake off the floor ← Thanks much for the pointers on the cake and on the olives. I notice that you've made a few cakes where there is a cake split in half and then filled with a wide band of creamy filling, no frosting. I love this type of cake and have had some very good one in Austria like that. Two favorite types I've seen there are for the middle filling to ba a sweetened lemony "topfen" (in Austrian German) or "quark" (in German German). I''m not sure but there may be a little gelatin and cream in there also to stablize and smooth the filling. The other type has a wide band of chestnut cream (no chocolate) and is amazing as well. The one French style recipe I've made like this had a thick band of raspberry mousse in the center and was served with a Chambord- or Kirsch-enhanced smooth raspberry coulis. I've also had fried green olives stuffed with anchovy. The combination is very good and has an incredibly savory or umami kick. I'd think that many people that don't normally like anchovy even might like it because the total flavor is something unique. There are some places here that sell anchovy-stuffed olives so one could bypass the stuffing step. Thanks again!

Awesome! Everything looks beautiful and I love the selection of the menu. Congratulations on a job well done and a special evening to remember for a long time. The cake looks beautiful. I think I may try something like this in the future as a variation on the zabaglione cake I made before as I really like hazelnuts. Had you made the fried olives before? Were they stuffed with anything? These are one of my favorite Italian antipasti, but I have not tried them at home yet. Any tips on how to carry them off? How far in advance did you bread them and fry them? Thank you for taking the time to share this with us as well. I'm glad for you and your husband's sake that you are able to photo-document the meal so nicely. Was your husband involved with the prep work at all? It sounds like you did plan things nicely so that much it could be done in parts ahead of time. edited to add: I see I used the same opening exclamation as Susan in FL. Notwithstanding that I've lived in surfer dude country for a number of years, it is really the first word that came to mind!

I've seen Stroh rum in the U.S. so if you can't find it in the best stocked store in your area perhaps they can order it for you. Thanks for mentioned the other liqueurs; they sound interesting.

Yum. Great idea. Another nice option might be to flavor the whole ice cream as a Toblerone. For example, a chocolate honey or vanilla honey ice cream with roasted almonds or chopped nougat. I may need to try this in my ice cream maker while waiting for this to show up on the shelves...