Adam Balic
-
Posts
4,900 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Adam Balic
-
-
I'm not sure by what you mean by this? I'm not sure that anybody is suggesting that flour can only be "Italian" if it is made from Italian grain.
Ash content and extraction rate between flours (say Italian, French and German), but I'm not sure that this makes them the same. A single mill in Italy can produce a range of tipo 00 flours for different purposes for instance.
It might be true that different countries produce equivalent flours (one of the better 00 flours for pastry I used was Scottish), but in a practical sense for many it is easier and better to buy the Italian flours. In a typical Melbourne supermarket there is a range of flours sold, but the only flour that is a close match for the Italian tipo 00 flour is the imported Italian tipo 00 flour.
I haven't heard of an Italian tipo 000 flour, this is an Argentinian classification isn't it.
-
Pisanello da Bruschetta (a selection of Costoluto Fiorentino)
I haven't heard of this one. I have grown both Genovese and Firointino side by side in the past, and ended up preferring Genovese, but like to keep an open mind.
Have you already had some personal experience with it, and can tell me more, or is it new to you as well?
I grew Sara's Galapagos at another property, and it turned into a real weed, volunteering year after year. It became worrisome for seed saving because it will cross with your beefsteaks. Tiny fruit, but very big flavor. It is fun to have around for the novelty, and kids love them.
I think that the Galapagos I have might be a different variety or strain as it is larger then a currant type, but I will post some images in a few months to comfirm (it is Spring here, plants have just gone into the ground). As it is drought and salt resistant I wouldn't mind a few hybrids for my parents farm.
I'm not sure that Costoluto Fiorentino and Genovese are related, both a ribbed (hence the name) but not sure about any further relationship. What I am looking for is a tomato type sold extensively around Florence for Bruschetta and panzanella and also cooking. Very soft texture, tending towards a paste tomato. It has the propery of melting easily, so works well for certain dishes fresh dishes and in cooking.
Last year the growing tomatoes was a disaster, the plants self destructing due to heat stress, the few fruit that survived were terrible no matter what that variety. I was disapointed in the Pisanello (the few fruit I got were not ribbed at all), so this is it's second and last chance.
-
I missed this until now, it looks really great. A Zimbabwean friend tells me that they have a very similar dish for special occasions called "Dovi". In fact it is near identical (sometimes okra is added), but the spice level is lower. It would be served with Sadza (cornmeal mush/polenta) and greens like pumpkin leaves. I will give it a go over then next few days.
-
Partly due to the drought and partly due to the soil quality the tomatoes grown in the ground failed last year, so this year everything will be container grown.
Varieties:
Galapagos*
Pisanello da Bruschetta (a selection of Costoluto Fiorentino)
Kellogg's Breakfast
Black Krim
Brandywine
Green grape
* A different species to the normal gardent tomato (Galapagos tomato is Lycopersicon cheesemanii rather then Lycopersicon esculentum). No idea how it tastes, growing it as a novelty.
-
Fish and Brewis
Pronounced "broose" or "bruce" and not "bruise" as the Wiki suggests -- this is an extremely traditional dish from Newfoundland and Labrador, but one can find similar stuff here in Nova Scotia. The idea is to use up old bread and salt fish when you're floundering off the Grand Banks in foul weather or simply having a Sunday meal at home.
You'll need:
- salt cod, or fresh white fish
- hardtack, also known as seabiscuit or hardbread
- salt pork, diced
- onion
Brown the pork and soften the onion, add fish. Soak the bread until soft and add to the mixture and mix it all up in the pot.
There are many, many variations but that's the gist. Often the scrunchions are sprinkled on top. Most versions are one-pot help-yourself affairs.
For my own version, I used my homemade pancetta with a monkfish steak and diced brown bread. The only place I've ever seen actual hardtack is at the Marine Museum, held by an able-bodied mannequin dressed like Frank Sinatra in Anchors Aweigh. It was not made of plastic.
Fish and pork together is a bit unusual, and the bread turns into a kind of strange porridge. When it comes to monkish, I'm afraid I have an unnatural affection -- so that was my favourite part. The pancetta adds a nice crunchy-salty dimension . . . but I don't think I could eat this way very often.
Amazing to see another very old recipe preserved in N. S. Thanks very much for posting this.
-
Could someone enlightens me the history behind these 2 Italian eggplant creation
namely "Egg Plant Parmigiana", and "Gefuellte Auberginen"?
Ringraziarla molto
Alex
Food Historian Clifford Wright gives an excellent summary of the origins of the former dish here.
Gefüllte Auberginen is German for filled/stuffed egglplant, so I'm not sure that the is anything specifically Italian about it.
-
They tell me that it is impossible to find an adult wild fish in the Atlantic ocean that doesn't have at least one parasite.
From my experience of parasitologist and fish eater I would say that was correct. My fishmonger in Scotland refused to eat cod on the grounds that it was always filthy with worms.
-
The whole issue with having to cook pork through was because there used to be a relatively high incidence of trichinella in pork. Today, that is exceedingly rare. Unless you have serious doubts about the origen of your pork, it is most likely fine to eat. From what you describe, that is generally how I cook my pork, depending on the cut.
Trichinella spiralis is classified as being absent in the UK pig herd, however it is present in Continental Europe. Also with increasing consumption of free-range foraging pork/wild boar/hybrids there is a increased chance of these animals encountering the sylvan trichinelliasis depot (say by eating a hedgehog) and infection being reintroduced. The risk is still very small though.
-
I am a professional chef that is going to have a lot more time on my hands when it slows down through the winter season. I want to get a classical book to cook all the way through. I was thinking a Esscofier or Point book. Any suggestions?
I think that with Escoffier you will need more then one winter or even ten. Is language an issue? There are some interesting classic and regional French cookbooks that came out in the 1920-30s.
One suggestion would be "La Bonne Cuisine du Perigord" (1929) by La Mazille. Published by Flammarion, copies can still be found and it is still considered the book on Périgord cooking. The Prix la Mazille is still the award given for the best cookbook in French.
-
The NYTs article is very interesting. Fascinating to see how a dish evolves through time like this.
-
HAHAHA,as first I thought it was something brilliant with many colors, it turns out to be just chestnut pudding . Does not sound very appealing .
Actually it is delicious and now that vacuum packed chestnuts are readily available it is easy to prepare.
-
In Australia a lot/most "Cornflour" (meaning corn starch) is made from wheat or even rice. "Corn" here is used in the older sense of "grain or seed", rather then "maize" (which is Indian Corn). White Wings produce a gluten free Maize cornflour.
The recipe looks like American style pancakes, rather then crepes. You might be better be better off asking in the general forum for help.
-
Did the farmer look like this?
Your eggs are likely to have high amounts of riboflavin (vitamin B2), which gives a yellow/green tint to the whites sometimes.
-
The root of the word originally meant bag or sack so it often refers to the stomach or other internal organs (fish maw is often the swimbladder, sow maw is sometimes the stomach, sometime the womb). Maw as used as a reference to the mouth/jaws/gullet is a reference to this area as the opening of the sack of the stomach.
Its an old fashioned sort of word now, but I wonder why it is used so much now in context of a translation of a animal internal body part.
-
Can you get whole/pearl spelt rather then the rolled type? If the process is anything like with oats they will have been steamed and then squashed, which means they turn mushy very quickly. The whole variety remains intact much better and you end up with a texture closer to risotto. A basic dish of this flavored with cheese/butter herbs served with a mutton stew would be good.
-
Glad yo liked it. Eh, so what was the food?
-
No "Cod" in the Med., but it is often used as a generic term for white fleshed fish fillets. However the fish in the Rialto market was most certainly a cod. Compare it with the fish in #30 of this link.
A little bit difficult to tell from the images, but the above look like the same species of Hake.
"Nasello" seems to be a very generic term, in Tunisia Poor Cod, Hake, Whiting and Blue Whiting are all "Nazalli".
-
If you follow the link I provided you can see some images of these Hot-pot vessels. These large versions appear to be shallow pancheons (bread/dough bowls). Not really conical at all (although if you extend it into a giant cone I guess). Small versions have an appearance like a flower pot.
If you really wanted to maximise the surface area then you would use a baking tray ( and in some recipes they do), more practically these vessels have a flat bottom which is stable in the oven (unlike say a mixing bowl or pudding bowl, which were also used).
-
You should eat the buggers, they have the reputation of being delicious. Although, I not sure of the species involved. Salmon fed after all.
-
Hot smoke and eat cold?
That's the way its usually done here. I posted a few smoked eel pictures here on post #2. Unless you catch them yourself fresh eels are hard to come by. I had them fresh many years ago -- a bit like catfish.
Home many do you have? Don't forget King Henry I of England never recovered from a 12th century eel bender:
-David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History WebsiteHenry found it expedient to spent an equal amount of time in both his realms but, on 1st August 1135, he left England for the last time. An eclipse the next day was seen as a bad omen and by December, the King was dead. He apparently had a great love of lampreys (eels), despite their disagreeing with him intensely. He had been ordered not to eat them by his physician, but, at his hunting lodge at St Denis-le-Fermont, near Gisors, the monarch decided he fancied some for supper. A severe case of ptomaine poisoning ensued, of which gluttonous King Henry died.Lampreys aren't eels, not even closely related.
Eels can have a lot of fat, especially larger specimens, so this is often why you will see recipes that involve grilling. With small (but still adult) specimens, this isn't a problem and you can cook them in all sorts of different ways, including stews and braises.
The flavor is delicate, but the flesh is rich, so often something to compliment this is good. With small eels they are good chopped into sections, cooked with a little garlic,/shallots then parsley and white wine is added. This would be horrible with bigger eels.
-
More information on the Hot-pot. This time the type of Hot-pots that the Liverpool poor were eating in the 19th century. Guess what, these Hot-pots contained beef....
-
I guess the point is that in many cases food processor/blender etc doesn't grind the garlic well enough. Not an issue in your case. Not that cleaning up after mushing some garlic is a huge job...
-
Regarding the pressed loaf without gelatin, you can add a layer(s) of something like goat cheese to lighten the dish. Using thin slices of eggplant around the loaf and pressing it is a good idea so that it so that it holds together. I usually pre-cook the veg, drain them separately and wrap in cling film, then press.
-
I like the idea of a gelatin mould to balance out the cassoulet. Make something like a gazpacho and set this with gelatine or if you have the time, make tomato water and use this so that the colours of the veg stand out?
Italian Flour - types and uses?
in Italy: Cooking & Baking
Posted · Edited by Adam Balic (log)
What I mean is that I never seen mention of tipo 000 flour in the Italian classification system.
So if we get away from the strict definiton that Italian flour doesn't exist as it isn't made from totally Italian produced grain and that while Italian mills produce a huge range of flours for specific uses there may be a similar product somewhere else in the world, the it would seem that for many people (say Australia and the UK) then the only real option for buying flour of a quality that is the same as Italian flour - is in fact to buy Italian flour.