Hector

Hahaha.. that would be a treat to remember.. Comes to think of the Norveigian restaurant where they boil whole fresh cods and then keeps the head which they serve and then they throw away the rest of the fish.

You are joking, right? I mean, ALL of them? Even kulfi??? Or a delicate rice pudding, nicely chillled, and perfumed gently with rose water?? Come to Berlin, and I will feed you Indian desserts which will change your mind. I don't like rose water. and the Kulfi I got served was just some boring ice cream. Not very bad, but definitley not the best. And then there's those sticky deep fried cookies that are really hot and is so sticky they get stuck in your mouth and burn your tounge. Not fan of those "milk balls" either. But I have probably been unlucky in chosing what places I ate those things. There's probably some people and some dishes that are better!

Just try som Wiener Taffelspitz with Horseradish and apple sauce.. Slowly boiled meat as slow as you want it.

One sicilian classic: Ossi De Morti = the bones of the dead.

surely you jest yes, animal offal stuffed into its paunch must surely be "way better" than milk, cream, sugar, flour, and cardamom milagai ← Indian Desserts??? They are horrible.. Haggis is bloody gorgeous, everyone who disagrees doesn't know a thing about food!

yes, while the Poles call their filled pasta 'pierogi', everyone with a sense of making Pierogis outside Poland dissagrees. In Ukraine, Russia, Finland & Sweden. Pierogis are filled pies, like empanadas or Cornish pasties, and nothing boiled, pasta or dumpling like. In Finland there are good varieties filled with rice, meat and fish. Most Swedes and Finns believe Pierogs is originally from Karelaja in eastern Finland.

One classic is of course: Spaghetti alla Puttanesca e g "The whore's spaghetti!"

I've just returned on a trip from Campania and Lazio.. Must say that I must admire the city of Napoli very much, it has not much of the tourist friendly wealth and such, but it's instead very much an extraordinary busy and hot place which I like. In my dining experince around Napoli I've had some real authentic pizza. I think we shouldn't talk down on good pizza just because it being the most ubiqitious dish in the universe; it's sometimes a deliacy in it's own right, just cooked properly. Real pizza, made without flaws, is a hunt for perfection. There should be no soggy crust, no burned crust, no burned bail, no bitter tomato-sauce should ever be found on a real pizza, which should be steamy and tastefull. Really great and authentic pizza is found in Napoli. The real thing Margherita fresh tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, real crusty dough, fresh tomatoes mozzarella de buffallà..and Marinara with fresh tomatoes and garlick, is wonderfull. But I also enjoy the hardcore pizza fritta filled with salicchia and friarelli. true delicacies. The best pizza restaurants of the time in Naples so far has been: Da Michele very authentic, really great.. Pizzeria Port Alba Little bit more expensive, oldest pizzeria in the world. Brandi Birthplace of the margherita.. Any more great pizza experiences?

There's a chopped meat dish stew which in Sweden is called "hachis" wich can be very easily confused (when spoke about) to the drug Haschisch! There's a brand of Swedish Chocolate called "Plopp", think mainly Brits will understand that one. There was a French drink called Pschitte!

thanks for correcting my mistakes!

There is no spice sauce called "samak," as that word simply means "fish" in Arabic. But who knows what's happening to the dish in Trinidad. Take a look at this recipe http://www.cliffordawright.com/recipes/sam_harra.html. ← Yo archestratus. The man is right, in a way. Although "Samak" is the arabic transliteration and means "Fish". But Hector is talking about spice in a sauce in which case he is talking about Sumac!!! the spice widely used in the Levant and particularly in Lebanon for the Fatoush salad and other. And I suppose his friends made Sumac based sauce which would go well with fish. So it is a Sumac Samak. LoL, ← Well, let's ask. Hector, are you talking about sumac in the sauce for this fish, hence sumac samak? ← I'm a questionmark right now! I don't really know. In the list for ingridients it says... "Samak, a spice sauce" but I think it might be sumac, first I thought it had to do with the name samake harra (heera it says here). The recipe calls for a red snapper, and no tahini. The recipe has been translated from English to Swedish, I wonder what got lost in translation?

Restaurangan @ Fredsgatan 12, Bon Lloc. Try good Swedish food in the old city. ← Be careful with these names. The same owner has several places. One is called "Restaurangen". It is NOT at Fredsgatan 12 and while it is good it is not at the same level of food or prices as F12, which is at Fredsgatan 12. F12 has a website, this may get you to the English part. http://www.f12.se/generellt/index2.asp?lang=eng Bon Lloc is run by a different person then the other two above. It is less avant garde and I actually prefer it. But both are in the top 10 in Stockholm. Bon Lloc is modern Latino cooking. They also have a website with an English section. http://www.bonlloc.rgsth.com If you want something more traditional Swedish in style and are willing to travel outside the city (about half way between Stockholm and airport) and don't mind the extra expense of the taxis (do not even try to drink and drive in Sweden) Edsbacka Krog has a very Swedish atmosphere, uses a lot of traditional Swedish ingredients and prepares them in French inspired manners. It is the only 2 starred restaurant in Sweden. Their website http://www.edsbackakrog.se/english/index.html Enjoy your trip. ← Yes! it should have been & instead of @.. sorry.. I know Melker Andersson yes. Edsbacka Krog is very excellent. Very genuine Swedish food. Definitly a recomendation.

I had a recipe of a Samake Harra as it was served by the Lebanese/Syrian immigrants in Trinidad and Tobago. The recipe calls for a spice sauce, called "samak". I don't know what that is, or what "samak" means in Arabic. Can someone explain?

Restaurangan @ Fredsgatan 12, Bon Lloc. Try good Swedish food in the old city.

Yes, it's really great. Hungarian Foie Gras is a product almost equal to the French, and for a more reasonable price. Now that we talk about it here, I actually get cravings for it. aauurgh.

Hillareous! It must be pretty to take then over to dinner in the future them, just serve them canned stuffs and they are happy!

Looking for really Kashrut meals in the Basque Country must be like looking for a palm tree growing in Greenland. Great chorizo, lomo, Iberian Ham and squid, mussels, txipirones is served at it's ultimatley most delicious around here. Think you shouln't be worried about pork fat at least it's olive-oil country here. Try to look in a part of the city called Casco Viejo (the old quater). It's just across the river from the avenue of Lopez De Haro / Don Diego (can't miss it, when in Bilbao). Or the Guggenheim side. Nearly all the Restaurants here are on the same street, there are great places both to eat dinner or pintxos (tapas). My favorite is a simple and very cheap restaurant on a side street called: Kolumno (not sure of the name, eaten there several times) or something. If you're not sure of the location. Ask. English will do sometimes, sometimes not. The Spanish isn't so keen on mixing meat and pork either (only in stews like cocido, which isn't typically basque anyway). Pork meat will often be found in charcuteries than in solid form, so I'll guess you must order steaks. The Spanish wouldn't mix in pork with a steak, that's for sure. The fish is really good too. Salt dried cod / Bacalao is excellently served in different sauces. The most ussual being Bacalao A la Viscaína. Named for the region Viscaya which Bilbao is situated in. I know that many people is not so keen to try things that are salted and dried, but the salt cod in Bilbao is so smashing good. One "primo", which reminds me very much of Pisto Manchego, Samfaina or Ratatouille which is very typical for Bilbao consists of fried vegetables, peppers, onion + others stired witheggs. Remeber the name was "Pisto Bilabaina" or something. As for tapa/pintxo options on your local pintxeria, there many good options. Anything with bacalao (alguno con bacalao) can do wonders. Manchego cheese with anchovies and olive oil, or just a nice tortilla. Useable lingo: Anything with Salt Dried Cod - alguno con bacalao. sin carne de puerco = no pork meat sin charcuterias = no sausage (which will undoubtly contain pork) sin maríscos = no shellfish sin grasa de pello/puerco = no pork fat.

Really? I've bought this great copy of Culinaria Hungary.. Culinaria is those great cookbooks and "food travel guides" where food isn't sorted by the ingridient, it's sorted by which region it's from. In that book you'll get a really good glimpse of hungarian specialties far beyond guylas and bableves. From humble deep fried bread, prune raviolis, palacsinta, fried goose liver, weal bone soup to the luxurious dinner table of Gundel. From what I've read in that book, and from the recipes I've tried, Hungary seems to be a real food paradise. But when I read your post it stumbles me that the really great foods might not be so easily found.

So an abundance of wurst, rye bread and the finest north sea fish isn't good enough, ay?

Finally! gold among the rhinestone.. Daniel seems to be the only reasonable person around here!

I don't think the Italian breakfasts are "worst". I think they are only different due to a differen food culture. For us breakfast is important, but it isn't the most important meal of the day... ← Correct. My theory is that Italians eat small breakfasts because they want to eat five coarse dinner or three coarse dinner later: with anitpasto, primi piatti, dessert, meat or fishand all. But that's just my theory.

As others have pointed out, breakfast buffets in Europe are quite likely to look more like what we'd consider a luncheon buffet in the US. All sorts of cold cuts, pates, salmon and other smoked and/or marinated fish, assorted cheeses, sliced tomatoes, olives, and breads. And those wonderful machines that you throw an orange into, and out comes fresh juice. Boy would I like to have one of those in my kitchen. In southern Europe this is very different. In Northern and Eastern europe, these big buffets you talk about is always there. But in like Spain, France and Italy Nothing more than a cup of coffee is ussually eaten for breakfast. But the breakfast buffets at hotels are still there. In modified form though! Not with the meat, cheese and vegs. In France you'll get served piles of sweet croissants, pain au chocolate, ussually dry french bread, beure and sweet maremlade.In Spain, breakfast is just some white bread with olive oil and a cup of black coffee. Italian hotel breakfast is dried out cookies, biscotti, marmelata sweet things.. more dessert than breakfast. It's hotel breakfast buffets I'm talking about. I have traveled quite a lot all over Europe over the last few years, and found these types of breakfast buffets to be ubiquitous. I particularly remember a hotel in Granada a few winters back, watching families in ski gear loading up before heading off for a snowy day in the Sierra Nevada. I've not been lucky enough to enjoy breakfast buffets in anyone's home. But the large hotels where I stayed usually featured buffets that included the sorts of things I mentioned. I wouldn't say that they were necessarily "big buffets," but what was on them, as I said, reminded me more of luncheon buffets in the US than breakfast buffets. And frankly, I quite got the hang of cheese and pate for breakfast pretty quickly. ← OK; Me myself has experienced that there's a general south-north border in europe when it comes to breakfast. In south you'll only be served some kind of bread with sweet things, or sweet cakes, juice and coffee. And in the the north you get a more varied breakfast with cereals, porridge, rye bread, meat, vegs, cheese, yogurt (popular in southern europe too but not that well found in hotels) But I'll guess you can find this kind of breakfast in the south, nowadays too. Especially when there's an infux of german tourist in the area where the hotel is! But then I've experienced being served nothing more than cookies, biscotties, and amaretto biscuits in Italy, Sticky pain de chocolate in france, and a little bit bread with oil in Spain.

As others have pointed out, breakfast buffets in Europe are quite likely to look more like what we'd consider a luncheon buffet in the US. All sorts of cold cuts, pates, salmon and other smoked and/or marinated fish, assorted cheeses, sliced tomatoes, olives, and breads. And those wonderful machines that you throw an orange into, and out comes fresh juice. Boy would I like to have one of those in my kitchen. ← In southern Europe this is very different. In Northern and Eastern europe, these big buffets you talk about is always there. But in like Spain, France and Italy Nothing more than a cup of coffee is ussually eaten for breakfast. But the breakfast buffets at hotels are still there. In modified form though! Not with the meat, cheese and vegs. In France you'll get served piles of sweet croissants, pain au chocolate, ussually dry french bread, beure and sweet maremlade. In Spain, breakfast is just some white bread with olive oil and a cup of black coffee. Italian hotel breakfast is dried out cookies, biscotti, marmelata sweet things.. more dessert than breakfast.

Swedish breakfast: Traditional breakfast is any kind of porridge, remember my grandma serving me different varietys of breakfast every day: polenta (made with milk), oat meal porridge, grano duro porridge, rice porridge with milk and something called "mannah grain porridge". Ussually it's the oat meal porridge that's the traditional common porridge. but it's not popular. Another traditional dish was fava bean "porridge" served with molasses and pork fat. Not one of my childhood favorites though. Maybe now I would enjoy it more. A good swedish breakfast might be today, instead of porridge; consisting of different kinds of breads which you make open sandwiches with (sandwiches in sweden is actually refered to as "double sandwiches"), traditional swedish crisp rye bread, cheese, cold meats; like salami, diced bell peppers, fruits added to müsli (type of mixed cereals with oatmeal, raisins, nuts and stuff) served with milk (traditionally it's served with "fil" a kind of mixture between buttermilk and yogurt). Honey and marmelade. Milk to drink. Morning coffee. Most swedes have problems eating anything but this kind of food for breakfast. Remember taking a friend abroad to England, and he COULDN'T squeeze a bit of the fine bacon, the eggs, the sausage, the mushrooms and the black pudding I had cooked to himinto his mouth, just because it wasn't ussual breakfast food. The fact that some people eat such things as Dim Sum for breakfast is probably very worrying to most Swedes.

Oh I love the rice crust you get when boiling Persian rice, it's incredible.. Luvelee.. Anyone knows what the ingridients of Torshi Spice Mixture is?