anzu
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Posts posted by anzu
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Maybe I misread the page, but I didn't interpret it as saying that arrak, alcohol or the distilling of spirits was invented in southern France. I might be remembering this incorrectly, but I think the same writer has other things elsewhere about alcohol and distillation, and ascribing it to the Arabs.
I was interpreting the page as saying that the flavoring of pastis was inspired by locally grown plants (rather than, as in the first link, being ascribed totally to an abrupt desire to imitate the flavor of absinthe. That original link makes it seem as if all Mediterranean peoples were drinking absinthe, and suddenly and desperately needed to come up with a substitute).
So, to me, it seemed to be suggesting that flavoring of various anise flavored spirits around the Mediterranean were perhaps invented independently as people used those flavoring agents which were readily available to them. Whether this is true or not I don't know.
However, the connection made on the page between monks and pastis is an interesting one to me. After all, is it not the case that some of the confectionary from convents and monasteries in parts of southern Italy (and Spain also?) has preserved the Arab food connection even more rigorously than other types of food in those areas?
Is something similar going on with monks having preserved the distillation skills or certain preferences in flavorings that were first learnt from the Arabs?
(And then of course later failing to acknowledge any debt to the Arabs for this knowledge
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Horror in the thrift store bookshelf!!!!!
There was a shelf devoted entirely to me, every book i wrote. and of course they were all lovingly autographed to brother in law, sister in law and their three children who were really excited that i wrote cookbooks. however,! my b***h of a sister in law didn't want to cook i guess. I keep telling my husband: No More Cookbooks for Them!
AND she chose the thrift shop near ME not HER (neighbourhing village) just to be sure that i found them (she knows i check out the thrift shops regularly). it really hurt my feelings, though i know that its just her little way of being who she is. i guess that is what hurt, that people have to be that way.
Pearls before swine!
Anzu (who has some of your books and appreciates them greatly)
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So this person is essentially claiming that people in Lebanon, Greece, etc. were drinking absinthe!!?
I confess to total ignorance of the subject, but this other explanation - that anise flavored drinks came into being due to the availability of anise flavored raw ingredients, as in here (scroll three quarters down the page) for example - sound plausible to me!
This linked page also has the bonus of giving a pastis recipe.
Red-pepper hummus?
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I've actually never tried okra. Raised in Southern California, I never came across the stuff in any form. So I reserve my answer until I have tasted some to form an opinion.
Go to an Indian grocery store. Surely there must be at least one close to where you live? They'll have it fresh for sure.
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Tonight we decided to try to create our own "Indian Meatballs" that I saw in an earlier post.. They were good but didn't quite have the "Indian" taste that I thought they would. Made them with ground beef, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, TONS of fresh cilantro and ground coriander. We put that over couscous with toasted pita bread (no nan!) and had some fresh corn with lots o' salt and pepper. Desert was homemade brownies with Bryers Mint Chocolate chip ice cream and sprinkles. Anyways..on to the pictures!
A few suggestions for next time around on how to get meatballs with an "Indian taste".
First off, ground BEEF will always give the wrong taste (IMO). Unless you really hate lamb, try using ground lamb. I sometimes use ground pork and while it's not particularly authentic, it gives more "Indian" taste results than beef, I feel.
Secondly, I am sure that some people in India must actually use breadcrumbs to bind their meatballs, but it's not all that common. More common is besan (chick-pea flour). Brown lightly in an unoiled skillet (stir constantly) to ensure that it will not taste raw in the final product. The besan also brings its own flavor into the meatballs.
Some people will also add an egg for binding in addition to the besan.
Thirdly, try frying your spices before adding to the meat, this releases the oils in the spices and gives a tastier end result. Do this in the same way as the besan described above, i.e. in an unoiled pan. Do not do it together with the besan or other spices if using - each has a different optimal time for being heated to maximize its flavor.
Fourth, try a combination of: coriander, black pepper, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, red pepper (as dry spices), together with lime juice, onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro, fresh green chilies, as well as the besan for binding your meatballs.
Fifth, often Indian meatballs have a small amount of cooked filling containing things such as pistachios, raisins, almonds, fresh green chili, garam masala, etc. Personally, I'm usually too lazy to take this entire extra step of cooking a filling, but I do tend to make a filling of, for example, a couple of raisins per meatball that have been tossed with a little garam masala (that has again been toasted to bring out the flavor).
Sixth, instead of radically changing what you do with the meatballs (as in the fourth and fifth parts above), try serving your meatballs with a freshly made chutney or in a spiced curry sauce. This is a very common way of serving meatballs in India. My suspicion is that the meatballs are often served in sauce/curry in India to make a small amount of meat go further. However, it also tastes good!
Happy eating!
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- 2 kilo coarse bulgar or "frik" (what exactly is this stuff? It is some sort of "rubbed" grain, I assume wheat. since you probably won't be able to find it, let's stick with the bulgar.)
I've seen it also transliterated as fareeka, if that helps (and no, I don't want to start one of those 'what is it's correct pronunciation' type topics).
It's wheat that is harvested while still green, a fire is lit under it while still in the field, and it roasted on the spot. What you get is a cracked dried out wheat that is greenish-gold in color, with blackish bits in it from the roasting process. It is smoky and simultaneously fresh-tasting.
It is a bit of a nuisance to prepare, as you have to sort through it before cooking and pull out any overly burnt bits, little bits of stone, large chunks of wheat stalk, etc. The taste makes it worthwhile, though.
I keep it stored in the fridge to make sure it stays fresh.
It's not usually all that hard to find. It's often stacked right next to bulgur in grocery stores selling 'Mediterranean' ingredients. I don't think I have ever seen it actually labelled, though, so you might have to ask if in doubt. The color and the little burnt bits do make it quite easy to recognize once you know what to look for!
If you like smoky tasting foods, it's definitely worth looking out for.
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In one of her books, Diane Kochilis mentions that zucchini leaves are often eaten in Greece, boiled and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice (?? I don't remember all that clearly what she said, and I don't have the book).
There wasn't actually a recipe, it was more of an aside.
I've cooked pumpkin leaves and stalks quite recently, stir frying a little garlic, then adding the chopped leaves and water, and boiling until soft enough to eat. All that is required after that is a little salt. The recipe sounds Chinese or South-East Asian, but is actually Indian.
I don't see why the zucchini leaves wouldn't benefit from the same treatment.
BTW, as far as I know, ALL squash/pumkin leaves and stalks are edible. Some of the stalks do need to be peeled before cooking, though, to remove hairy or woody portions.
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I used to think this too, until I saw how the Japanese treat plain boiled okra. Basically, just blanch whole pods - definitely don't overcook. Eat cold, dipping one at a time into a sauce of your choice. In Japan, my friends make this with a thick sesame sauce.
It's good.
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I'll have to stand with my argument that there is no true Indian cuisine, the various kitchens of the country being so diverse in character as to be sometimes almost unrecognizable in other parts. In fact, because each of the hundreds of sects and religions in India has a unique set of food regulations and taboos, there is probably no nation with as many diverse culinary styles. As Madhur Jaffrey so well points out, Hindus do not eat beef, Moslems do not eat pork and some Indians, in respect for the reverence-for-life principle not only abstain from all meat and fish but also eschew eggs because they represent potential lives. Kashmiri Hindus cook with the spice known as asafetida and frown on the use of garlic. Moslems from the same area rely heavily on garlic in their cookery and avoid asafedita. Even some of the vegetarians in the nation have a problem. The Jains from the area of Gujerat, for example, will not eat beets or tomatoes because their color reminds them of blood. Some Jains are so orthodox that they will not eat root vegetables because in pulling them out of the earth an innocent insect might die in the process.
Going even a step further and still using Madhur Jaffrey as my source, at least several conquerors left very heavy imprints on regional Indian cookery. Goa, on the West Coast was ruled by the Portugese for 400 years and it was even those Europeans who introduced to the chili pepper to India. The Moghuls, who came to India via Persia in the 16th century, introduced the nation to the concept of cooking meat with yoghurt and fried onions. In truth, the only people who occupied India and failed to leave a mark on the dining habits of the people were the British.
If there is a single common denominator to all of the foods of India it is the heavy and imaginative utilization of spices, those including asafetida, coriander, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger, saffron and cayenne pepper. But, as couscous, baked beans or humous cannot define a national or regional cuisine, neither can the use of spices.
I'd like to add a little to these comments. This is by no means intended to be flat-out contradictions of what you have said, but is intended to add more detail to your comments.
Firstly, the statement 'the various kitchens of the country being so diverse in character as to be sometimes almost unrecognizable in other parts'.
I would actually say that they ARE unrecognizable in other parts. I am a non-Indian who has been married to an Indian for a long time now, speak Hindi, have lived in India for several years, and have a strong interest in regional Indian foods. I spend a lot of my time in India with other women, in their kitchens, and learning their recipes.
There have been times when, to show my thanks, I have cooked a dish from a different region of India for these ladies. Almost without fail, the dishes have not been recognized as Indian at all. To a certain extent, I am sure, some pre-judgement is occuring here - if I looked 'more Indian' perhaps there would be a stronger tendency to accept that these foods are Indian. However, the very foreign-ness I am bringing into this issue shows that, in these cases, it is preconceptions about the person who has cooked the food, rather than the food itself, which is being recognized as 'Indian'
To forestall the objection that maybe I have changed the food so much that it is no longer recognizable, I should add that, when learning these dishes, I have usually gone back to my own kitchen,, re-created the dish, taken it back for feedback to the original person who gave me the recipe, and have frequently repeated this process several times until they were satisfied with my version of their dish.
Incidentally, the rise of cooking programs on Indian television is starting to bring about a change in awareness of regional foods within India. The ladies I deal with are beginning to recognize certain non-local dishes, but in most cases (there will of course be exceptions) they show little or no interest in trying to cook these foods themselves.
Secondly, 'at least several conquerors left very heavy imprints on regional Indian cookery. Goa, on the West Coast was ruled by the Portugese for 400 years and it was even those Europeans who introduced to the chili pepper to India. The Moghuls, who came to India via Persia in the 16th century, introduced the nation to the concept of cooking meat with yoghurt and fried onions. In truth, the only people who occupied India and failed to leave a mark on the dining habits of the people were the British.'
For those who are interested in foreign influences on Indian cookery, I'd like to point out that the Moghul influence goes far beyond the cooking of meat with yogurt and fried onions. There is a vast range of foods in India which clearly have their roots in the Arabic and/or (more frequently) the Persian-speaking world. Tracing the permutations of burani, various types of halva, sweets such as jalebi/zaloobia, etc. across Persia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, India, etc. is one of my passions.
I would argue that the British DID leave a mark on the dining habits of the people. Tomatoes, for example, were brought to India about as late as 1850 from Britain, and while it was apparently the Dutch and not the British who first grew potatoes in India, it was the British who fostered their cultivation. Both now have wide-spread acceptance throughout India. (source: K. T. Achaya A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food ).
Perhaps (?) less significant on overall dining habits, but present nonetheless is the introduction by the British of Western-style yeast raised breads, the British-led cultivation of tea and the spread of the custom of tea-drinking in India, the introduction of what is now termed 'Indian-made foreign liquor' (gin, whiskey, etc. which are now drunk in immense quantities throughout India), etc.
Should anyone be interested, here is a link to a post I wrote concerning a fully 'Indianised' sweet that combines western-style bread with the very Indian method of reducing milk by boiling until thick.
Finally, this statement: 'If there is a single common denominator to all of the foods of India it is the heavy and imaginative utilization of spices, those including asafetida, coriander, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger, saffron and cayenne pepper'
In fact, there are actually some areas within India where spices are not used heavily at all. Kerala is one such example. I quote here from Vijayan Kannampilly, The Essential Kerala Cookbook 'Unlike North Indian vegetarian cuisine, in the preparation of vegetables the Malayali's reach, as a rule, does not extend beyond pepper, cumin and chilies. Traditionally, the use of spices, barring pepper and some of the green spices, were confined mostly to the preparation of Ayurvedic medicines.'
Even in North India, many dishes are characterised by very light spicing indeed. As a very broad generalization, meat dishes tend to be more heavily spiced with many of the spices mentioned above, vegetable dishes are often far less spiced, and may indeed be flavored with nothing other than fresh green chili. Here, also, regional and reiligious differences ensure that there will be a great variation in the use or lack of use of spices.
My apologies for hijacking your topic.
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Finally: I'm fascinated by the comment that mustard was used in the days before red pepper was known. I never think of mustard as being hot. Do I use wimpy mustard?
The heat of mustard depends on which mustard seeds you are using, and how you are grinding the seeds.
There are yellow, brown, and black mustard seeds. The yellow ones (sometimes termed white) are the most pungent.
Mustard contains an enzyme that becomes pungent when mixed with water. If you want 'unwimpy' mustard, grind yellow mustard seeds to a fine powder, mix with water to a fine paste, and let stand for at least ten minutes before using. It will be strong.
Coarsely ground mustard will be less pungent. Mustard mixed with vinegar rather than water will also be less pungent, as the activation of the enzyme is inhibited by the vinegar.
Frying whole mustard seeds will give you a sweet rather than 'hot' taste.
Incidentally, mustard, usually ground to a fine powder, is used extensively in Indian Bengali cuisine to lend heat to foods. There is a great mystique surrounding how the seeds should be ground to get maximum taste and heat.
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Added to this, I realised half way though my meal - as I uncomfortably struggled with a fork and no knife - that there were no chopsticks on the table, and I had to ask twice to get some. It may sound silly, but I think that Eastern food is infinitely better eaten with chopsticks, and frankly, their absence is worrying. Unfortunately they did little to lighten the half hearted food and when a plate of lukewarm, congealed noodles were served, we simply had to return the dish, wishing that we could return the lot without ruining the congenial atmosphere of our eveining. So, a big thumbs down to this place for its small servings of lack lustre, lazy food.
As far as I know the Thai have never traditionally chopsticks, either hands or conventionaly cutlery being normal, but the food I agree is pretty dull and very expensive for what it is.
Chopsticks are used in Thailand, but only for eating noodles.
Otherwise, it is usually a spoon, or one's hand.
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I don't know that much about Hamburg, but this might help.
Even Berlin has only one Japanese grocery store, and it is VERY small indeed. For Japanese groceries, the place to go is VINH LOI. It has three branches in Berlin, and one in Hamburg. The variety and produce of Vinh Loi is outstanding compared to other Asian groceries.
The Hamburg address is:
Klosterwall 2A
20095 Hamburg
Tel. 040/ 3258890
In spite of the Vietnamese name, they stock groceries from Japan, as well as Vietnam, Thailand, China, etc. They have a limited range of Japanese goods, such as Japanese rice, soba, udon, vinegar, soy, pickles, konnyaku, etc. They also have a number of frozen Japanese products such as sato imo, edamame and so forth, and also have fresh shiso (labelled in Vietnamese as tia to).
Their range is not ideal, but it's the best I've seen in Germany.
Of course, their Hamburg and Berlin branches might differ, but if they are the same, then the time to stock up there is Monday afternoons. Virtually every Asian grocery I've come across in Germany so far gets a once-weekly shipment of fresh vegetables which arrive Monday mornings. Go there too early on Monday, and they haven't yet got it onto the shelves, go later in the week, and the best stuff is already gone.
Vinh Loi does have an outstanding range of Thai and Vietnamese vegetables. (They have Chinese vegetables too, but these are more run of the mill rather than outstanding) These vegetables change with the seasons, but they ave a wonderful habit of bringing in new and obscure vegetables just to see if the demand is there. Often these are labelled only in Thai or Vietnamese, or are not labelled at all...
They also have a large range of freshly made Thai sweets (in Berlin at least), and things such as Vietnamese raw and sour pork sausages (nem chua - also NOT labelled
). Products like the sausages are brought from Paris, which has a substantial Vietnamese community and products to match.Re sushi:
Personally, I am very very wary about all sushi in Germany. Most of it is made by Vietnamese or Chinese people who have started making it because not because of skill or knowledge, but because it is trendy and can command higher prices than Chinese or Vietnamese food.
Of course, this is not to say that a Chinese or Vietnamese person cannot make decent sushi (which would of course be a ridiculous thing to claim), but I truly believe that most people making sushi in Germany have little idea of what they should be doing, and may very likely not be following hygienic enough practices.
I've seen these unhygienic practices being followed a few times in various places, and simply walked out. Now I've taken to avoiding ALL sushi in Germany.
I presume that your friends are aquainted with the correct names of Japanese dishes? One tip to help avoiding the worst places is to check out their menu. Major mistakes in the names of the dishes - and there are an awful lot of places where this is the case - are usually a pretty indication that they don't have a clue.
Vinh Loi (again) does have frozen sushi-grade seafood, so making one's own sushi could be an option.
I hope for your friends' sake that the Hamburg branch is as good as the Berlin ones.
By the way, if your friends are unacquainted with Germany, here is some good news for at least one ingredient of Japanese-type food items. Daikon is a very common vegetable in Germany, and is sold all over the place even at cheap discount grocery stores such as Penny Markt or Lidl.
This wasn't asked, but as a gratuitous piece of information concerning Asian food here in restaurants: most Chinese restaurant food in Germany is AWFUL. It's all sweet and sour, or 'chop suey'. Avoid.
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If you buy amchur, and end up with an excess of it with few ideas of how else to use it, the following is the most common way it is used in our house:
Put a puddle of amchur on a plate, smash out any lumps that have formed in it, and dip pieces of cut fruit into it before eating greedily. Most commonly, we do this with sweeter fruit, such as banana or guava, as we like the contrast between the sweetness and the tartness.
The only risk is when one tries to get too much amchur onto each piece of fruit (as we do in our greed), and then accidentall inhaling some of the powder, leading to prolonged coughing fits.
Incidentally, amchur has long shelf life. I don't really know how long, but I have kept it up to 2-3 years kept in an airtight jar with no noticible deterioration in quality.
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OK - my question is about soba noodles (100% buckwheat version). I've bought them from the Japanese supermarket, so all the packet instructions are in Japanese. I tend to cook them just for me, so I can stand a little stickiness/chewiness, but I'd really like to give them to guests, and I would welcome a foolproof way of getting them nice and slippery and tender and - most importantly - separate! any hints here? I tend to start mine in boiling water like normal pasta, but this may be entirely wrong.
I'm translating the Japanese instructions from packets of soba that I have at home right now, and adding a few comments of my own.
Bring a large quantity of water to the boil (at least 1 liter of water for 100 grams of dry soba). When the water has come to a boil, add the soba gradually, return to a boil, reduce the heat, and boil 4-5 minutes.
The second packet calls for a cooking time of 5-6 minutes, though the soba are the same width as the first.
Bite into a piece to check for done-ness. Drain, and rinse the soba thoroughly under running water - hot or cold, depending on how you are going to use the soba.
My own comments: if you've been cooking it like pasta, maybe you've been cooking it for too long and that's why it's sticking together?
Alternatively, maybe you did not have quite enough water, or did not rinse the cooked soba thoroughly enough?
For rinsing the cooked soba, I find the easiest way is to dump the lot in a sieve, then run fresh water into the original cooking pot, put the drained soba from the sieve back into this fresh water, and use your hands to separate out the noodles and, if necessary, to even rub them gently to rub away the excess starch.
Drain again, then serve.
If not serving immediately, store the noodles floating in cold, fresh water (I leave them in the sieve which is suspended within the cooking pot full of water, and when needed simply lift up the whole sieve out of the pot, thus draining the soba).
If you need to reheat, plunge the sieve still containing the soba into hot water for a few seconds, just long enough for them to be reheated.
If after all of this still your soba still stick together, some Japanese cooks advocate cooking the soba at a full boil for the entire 4-6 minutes, and adding a little cold water into the pot each time it looks as if it will boil over.
I never found that this method made any difference, in taste or texture, but I suppose it's worth a try if nothing else has worked for you.
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Thanks anzu for another good thought. Now instead of just tying the pandan blades into a knot I am going to try mincing it first. See if it yields a more intense flavour faster. While still on topic, did you know that the scent of pandan is actually the whiff you get when a breeze passses through a rice field close to harvest time? This is also one of the reasons why South East Asians throw a small blade in to their pot when they cook rice from the previous harvest, presumably to restore the newly harvested fragrance that has faded. Tisane made from pandan also goes very well with the various rice-based snacks (kuehs) we have there.
You're referring to the scent of the so-called jasmine rice, right? (I've called it 'so-called' because I always thought it would be better called pandan rice!). I personally find that the pandan smell is still pretty strong even when cooking older jasmine rice. In fact, after really overdoing it with the pandan essence from minced leaves the first time I tried making it, I actually had to avoid jasmine rice for a while and cook other types of rice, because the scent reminded me so much of my overly strong essence. I did get over it.
I presume the tisane you mentioned is made by pouring boiling water over pandan leaf, and then sweetening with sugar? Or does the pandan actually need to be boiled for a brief period?
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If you are going to use a commercial extract, there is a Thai extract available which does not have that brilliant green color.
It's labelled as Bai Toey extract, or Bai Toey Flavoring. Bai Toey is of course the Thai for pandan, and may be spelt slightly differently, as there is no standard transliteration in use for Thai words.
It's a very pale green, watery-looking extract, and smells a little different from the bright green Indonesian one. It still doesn't smell too much like the real stuff, though.
I'm not sure if this is how they are making it for the Vietnamese recipe, but I have a few Indonesian kueh recipes where they say to mash the raw leaves to a fine paste (I've used a food processor) with the amount of (cold) water you need for the finished dish, then strain this paste to remove all the leaf solids. I've tried it a few times and the first time ended up with a liquid so strong that it smelt and tasted almost medicinal. The first time was about ten leaves with half a cup of water, I think? After that I used less, but don't remember exactly how much.
I do think that you will probably get a more intense green color if you do it this way, or maybe if you do some combination of boililng some of the pandan and mashing and straining some of it.
Trillium, now I'm curious. Do they really have fake basil seed flavor, or was it just sarcasm? (Not that I'm about to rush out to buy it if it does exist, but still, it's nice to know of the weird and wonderful things that exist in this world.)
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A hint from a lazy cook here.
I always make about three times the amount needed of whatever paratha filling I'm going to use, and eat the first two thirds of it simply as a vegetable dish on the first day. On the second day, the remaining one third gets used as the filling.
I'm stating the obvious, but the filling should be as dry as possible. This is one reason why amchur is being used here - it's often used instead of lemon juice or tomatoes when you want a sourish taste without adding liquid. Sprinkling amchur on okra as you fry it is another example.
When I cook parathas - being a sloppy as well as a lazy cook
- the filling sometimes pierces the dough as you roll it out. It's less pretty, but this filling that's sticking out where it shouldn't be tends to fry up nicely as you cook the parathas, so it's not something to worry about.And a note concerning Episure's version. I'd suggest frying the onion first, then adding the spices once the onions are done to your satisfaction, cooking the onion-spice mixture for about 2 minutes together, and then adding the drained peas.
Working with powdered spices, the big risk is that they'll burn and turn bitter, and adding them together with the onions increases the chances of that happening as it takes some time for the onion to be cooked enough.
On the other hand, the powdered spices do need a touch of heat to warm up the oils they contain and to bring out their flavor, and a couple of minutes (depending of course on the heat of your pan!) is usually about right for coriander and cumin.
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Charring peppers over an open flame would count as burnt too, wouldn't it? Or does removing the peel from the vegetable disqualify it from this category?
If it is included, then there is also the vast range of eggplant dishes as well where you char the skin, peel it off, and then mash the flesh and use as desired, whether as the Indian baingan ka bharta, or in countless other dishes.
Oh, now I have to go and buy eggplant and lay it on the stove...
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As far as Macao is concerned:
I don't have the time to search out the name of the book right now, but there is a cook book written by a female author that goes country by country through places which were former colonies of Portugal. I seem to remember that the word Portugal or Portugese was in the title.
It's a long time since I read the book, but I'm relatively sure it had a section on Macao. I think there was mention of local versions of Caldo Verde and so on. (?)
I've travelled through Macao about ten times in all (it was the easiest way for me to get from Hong Kong to a part of China I was living in for a while), so although no stay was particularly long, I do have a passing aquaintance with the food. It didn't look to me as if there was a huge difference with the Chinese food in comparison to that available in Hong Kong or directly over the border in China. (I could of course be completely wrong about this).
There was quite a lot of Portuguese style food on offer as well, though, and maybe there are some interesting spin-offs there?
If you aim is to go through all the food in SE Asia (a most worthwhile aim
), have you checked out Cuzinha Cristang by Celine Marbeck? (Malaccan-Portuguese cooking)Edited to add: the book mentioned above is Cuisine of Portuguese Encounters by Cherie Hamilton. Among other cuisines, it covers the food of Macau, East Timor and Malacca.
There is also Taste of Macau by Annabel Jackson.
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No need to translate, as it's already been done
. The two links are referring to the same article. It's from a Hong Kong-based tabloid, so taking it seriously would be rather like considering an article in the Weekly World news to be truth.The second link is particularly worth checking out, though, as the writer has links to his/her own annotated bibliography to reports of monkey-brain eating, and a thoughtful article as well about the myth.
That's interesting to hear about Yunnan: is the perception of "foreignness" in that province associated with an idea that it's backward/primitive, or just "other"?Andrew, in my experience, there are extremely few instances anywhere in the world where the perception of 'foreignness/difference' is NOT laden with value judgements about backwardness/primitiveness, or the converse. China is not an exception.
Episure: my sympathies! Is it true that they can carry rabies in India? My in-laws, when we're in Delhi, are always telling me to keep all the doors to the outside closed, as otherwise monkeys will come in looking for food (even though we're in a highly urban built-up neighbourhood). They actually did go into our neighbour's place and plunder the fridge! (the neighbours were home at the time, closed all doors to that room, and waited till the monkeys left of their own accord). Even without rabies, I feel they could get pretty nasty.
Of course, one could always try eating them instead... that should solve the problem of marauding neighbourhood monkeys.
Maybe I should just send the address and a key of our Delhi apartment to Daniel, and let him at them.
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With the snake, it's not so much a matter of deboning as of having cut the snake differently. It can get cut along the length of the snake in rings, with all the flesh surrounding the bone still intact. That's when it's a nuisance to eat.
Sometimes, however, it's offered as 'shreds', and this usually means they've gone along the sides of the snake cutting it in long fillets, which are then sliced into smaller shreds. The bones in this case get used for soup stock.
Of course, some snakes just don't have enough meat on to make this feasible. I'm sure the meatier ones that won't have bones when being served will be way more expensive...
Turtles' FEET?! That's a new one for me.
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With the distinction between siah and shah, I would suggest that the Persian siah came first, hence the name siah zeera (black cumin) first. There are parallels: shahtoot in Hindi for black mulberry, while the name in Persian for these is siah toot.
The confusion then between shah as royal and shah as black probably came later, and arose probably in part due to the perceived prestige of 'black cumin' (as an aside, can anyone tell me if shahtoot are ever connected with the concept of 'royal mulberries'? My intuition would be that it's not the case, as they're less prestigious, but it would be interesting to learn otherwise).
There are also parallel processes happening with other languages, where 'si' has morphed into a 'sh' sound.
If you have black cumin (i.e. not kalonji/nigella/chernushka), there are also some very nice Indian meat dishes using it. I'd have to hunt them out first though.
With dried galangal, the difference in taste compared to fresh is parallel to that between fresh and dried ginger. That is, you have a very different tasting beast that should be used in quite different ways to the fresh root. I would suggest that you look up some historic European recipes on the Internet (there are a lot of sites, use galangal/galangale as a key word). It was used extensively in the past, and then dropped out of fashion.
Someone earlier suggested throwing it out, I think? A drastic response. It has its own interesting and authentic place, but not in modern Asian cuisine of any kind I know.
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Re the urban legend idea: a few years back (1992) I was taking an advanced Chinese language course in Beijing. One quarter of the course was a conversation course called 'Chinese culture', and the guy who taught it was of the opinion that Chinese culture meant food and nothing else (with the occasional excursion into beverages). Long, long discussions about all types of Chinese food went on. My kind of conversation course.
Anyway, this guy was so passionate about food that all his vacation time was spent travelling around China for the purposes of eating. (This included things like travelling for 4-5 days straight by train without any place to sleep or lie down - unable to afford that kind of luxury, as the tickets cost so much more).
One of the things he mentioned wanting to eat was the monkey brain stuff... Now it's possible that he got the idea at some point from foreign students, as that was who he was interacting with. However, he said that he had learnt the idea from other Chinese. This is also in pre-Internet times! So if it's an urban legend originating in the English speaking world, then it's managed to spread pretty thoroughly (though that is of course what such myths tend to do, particularly when they sound gross). Alternatively, it's origins as a myth may actually lie elsewhere. I don't know.
In China, the story was that you could eat them in Yunnan province. This backs up the usual aspect of this story - it's always some weird, foreign 'others' who eat this stuff. For those who don't know, China has 50-odd 'minority nationalities' (the number changes from time to time depending on who is counting, and how they've decided to categorize 'minority nationality'), and by far the greatest number are in Yunnan province - the area down south bordering onto Vietnam, Laos, Burma, etc. For a lot of Chinese from other regions, this is the place around which you centralize your fantasies about what 'exotic other people' do, whether it's bathing nude in public in the rivers, or eating monkey brains...
Now, this guy ate everything he could lay his hands on. Including protected species like pangolin (scaly ant eater) and so forth.
He couldn't find reference to people actually eating monkey brains anywhere at all, no matter how much he looked. And if HE couldn't find it... More evidence (anecdotal to be sure) pointing to it being a myth.And Daniel, do be aware that most of the less commonly eaten animals in China, such as snake, dog, cat, turtle, etc. are usually reputed to be aphrodisiacs! Strictly speaking, such foods are considered to be 'heating', and this can refer to how it will affect your body temperature, or hmm, 'other things' so if you eat them in winter, you are less likely to have people speculating about why you are eating them, or possibly even laughing at you behind your back!
I was living in a fairly small Cantonese town for some time, at a period earlier than studying in Beijing. My (female) friends would only eat snake and so forth in winter, as they considered it embarassing to be seen eating it at other times of the year - small place, lots of people knew each other, speculation about what they were up to, etc.
And a slightly off-topic rant. I would always get pissed off by foreign tourists in China who started assuming that any meat they ordered was going to have bits of cat, dog, or whatever sneaked into the dish. Some people would even go vegetarian for the length of their stay in China because the idea bothered them so much. Another urban legend.
These are luxury items, you pay more for them - often a LOT more - and usually have to go to restaurants that specialize in their preparation.
Also, if ordering snake, don't get snake with the bones still in, unless you like chewing meat out from around numerous small bones, in the same manner as chicken necks!
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LOL! Yes, I know exactly what a suribachi is (my screenname should be a clue!). I'd been thinking more along the lines of "food processor" and worrying that it would turn into an oily mass/mess!
About carrot halva, the best I've ever tasted was made by a Japanese friend from a recipe she'd gotten from a Japanese chef who apprenticed in fine restaurants in France. (I've long forgotten his name & wonder if he's famous now!) Once upon a time I had the recipe, but that disappeared long ago in my transition from hand-written notebooks of recipes to computer after computer. Wonder if she still has it... I'll have to email her.
Middle Eastern Codified Cuisine
in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking
Posted
It (I presume you are talking about A New Book of Middle Eastern Food ) covers a lot of ground, and she writes well, so if your looking for something which covers the foods from many different countries, I'd recommend buying it. I have a copy myself.
I believe, though, that more recent version(s?) have been revised and so there might be better or different content in the newer version.
I'm not going to answer the second part of your question. I don't know enough.