piazzola

No way I would even attempt to eat that looks gross and unappetising

mushroom barley soup in Ukraine is known as krupnik vareniky also known as peroghy in West Ukraine (pierogies). Traditionally blintze, mliny or bliny are made with of whey or sirovuchka (white or farmers gvina lavana, cheese water). may be you were served nalisniky similar but crispy. I do not know potato bliny I personally know these as deruny or Jewish name latke.

The traditional way is to make a roux or as Eastern Europeans use mouka lightly fried in butter to thicken sauces.

Like most recipes and just laugh at the suggestion of peeling veryone of them. Imagine doing a kilo of them spend the night peeling them to prevent flatulence LOL! Here in Oz canned chickpeas were known as that, then food marketers came in and change the labels to garbanzo and now some cans sport the name ceci (understandably people and suckers pay more) perhaps we should wait a little longer and with the recent large influx of Indians, marketers will change can labels to channa dal.

India has many hard water areas and Indians are mostly vegans The solution use a small pressure cooker, and yes add salt at the sart of your cooking because salt gets absorbed into the beans during the cooking process. I have hard many cons about using baking soda as it draws most of the goodness of the beans out.

Yes smaller than cod but so long as it is dry salted as cod I do not see a problem making such recipe.

I am enjoying your explanations Chad keep up the good work. Is your book available in Australia?

To me the meaning of salad is something to "refresh or cleanse" (although the word salad implies salt and indeed in most countries salt and oil is and has always been used since time immemorial) always used the palate and often served alongside a main dish the palate especially me a big meat eater. Other intended salads could be interpreted as side dishes or accompaniments except for fruit salads where the intention is the same that s to refresh the palate but after ones meal. However when I first arrived in Australia and for many years later many people mostly office workers used to refer to unseasoned (no dressing) sandwiches as salad(carrots,onions,lettuce and beets) sandwiches which for me (mainly Mediterranean diet) would not strictly fit the description nor I would eat them anyway.

I see you don't seem to live in the country as I did or have access to farm milk straight from the cows or mucche. Cosa me ne frega, tanto è inutile questo post.

Yes you can add 10% semolina finely grinded (use a spice or coffee grinder) to the normal Portuguese flour.

To me this sounds like pure marketing milk unpasteurised straight from the udder and warm untreated milk without added water is delicious and not uncommon nor where I live nor in my old country so I do not understand what's the fuss in your neck of the woods.

Thank you all so far @AdrianB reminded me of Argentinean pickled pig trotters or beef tonges and Ukrainian holodiets or holodets, again pig's trotters cooked pork meat in jelly or aspic with both carry loads of garlic great for hot weather. Never have been a fan of gazpachos myself I find it too hard to get a good flavour especially with bough vegies. @Syrah you reminded me of a famous pizza in Buenos Aires prepared with uncooked tomato sauce. @Shinboners well yes small goods yes but prices go through the roof when shopping for quality luckily I pickle my own olives.

recently I was given a kilo of yellow plain roasted chickpeas. I eat them as a snack but what other uses they may have in recipes? Thanks

As far as I know the morcilla is of Spanish origin that is Spain it is made at home or "en el campo" with pure pig's blood normally during the Autumn season when pigs are processed for ham, other smallgoods and morcillas as the blood is collected in vats. I know that apples, rice,cloves are used in the mix. Sory cannot be of much help perhaps the European section can help you further.

Not quite! There is another chimichurri called "salsa criolla" which does incorporate lots of chopped green onions. @argentinadave Yes, dry herbs version may be for people that do not have gardens. I use fresh produce is far better. Basic chimichurri is salt, pepper,parsley,garlic, lemon juice and oil. Add some type of other Mediterranean type of herbs,use various types of vinegar alternatively and you got a tremendous variations in flavours. It's all about combination and permutations. Surely it is hard for someone who does not know what kind of flavours he/she should be looking for. There are Southern chimichurries based almost on crushed chilles and very hot very red yet the flavours is what Argentines are looking for cannot be easily described.

It seems to be what the word imply and nothing else i am afraid. I would use for cooking since it may be too dry to eat just like that but all depends. Just my two cents

Interested to know what do you cook when the high temperatures strike? I do make falafels, dal vadas, mexican style refried beans with tortillas to spare, cold borscht,cold meats with salsa criolla.

Is this actually true? Are there fewer and fewer bakeries in my part of the country because of the economy, or because demand for premium products has diminished, or both? ← Yes it is true but much of the recent closures is by small or smaller bread manufacturers due to unprecedented price escalation of ingredients. I as a former Baking industry executive have written few articles on baking subjects and still contains many useful industry links around the world and I am sure you would find interesting and or informative my old industry blog http://australianbakers.blogspot.com/ I am talking about from an industry and professional point of view not just baking artisan breads and so on as a true baker you must develop the skills you may be asked to work for not the ones you bring in that is a a contentious point but it is the real world of baking. In later years and when you get to own a bakery or proven your skills you may call the shots but until then its all learning experience as an apprentice baker. If not you ca develop your own business from scratch provided you have the room to bake bread and sell at Farmers market for instance. May be too costly initially but is is a humble start. Then again you have drive and motivation to become a baker which in itself is plausible. Good luck!

I was involved with the bakery industry in Australia and New Zealand and I can answer some of your questions Some questions, if you've read this far: 1) Is this really the way to go about getting a job, given my lack of professional experience and training? Well I would rather do it with the support of industry associations and other guild. 2) Will I gain anything, besides a small income, by working in a supermarket bakery, even a Wegman's? I do not know the bakery scene in you country that well but plants are the largest employers of bakers. 3) If I'm primarily interested in breads, but enjoy all types of baking, should I try working in a place whose focus is bread, or does it matter? Bread baking is the has been considered to be the easiest form of baking however there has been a growing trend in other forms of bread baking practices by independent bakers but they are the minority the majority are large plants where the bread baking is largely mechanised and structured. 4) Do I ask to become a baker's apprentice for no pay, shoot higher and only settle for a non-paying job if I have to, or take any kind of job I can get and hope they'll eventually let me pitch in with the baking? 5) If I do manage to become an unpaid apprentice, approximately how long should I expect to work for free before I know I'm being taken advantage of? Bakeries are always short of people willing to work and comply with punctuality and hard work. In short I would not offer myself as volunteer because bakeries are just one of the few business not affected by recessions nor depressions. However they are affected by supply and demand of the ingredients they use. Besides bakeries must strictly comply with industrial relations and accident prevention acts 6) Will those three guys in the back of the bread bakery try to kill me if I volunteer to work there for free, potentially displacing one of them? Yes! here in Oz you may have a hard time and just quit 7) Assuming I'm not hired by the shop in which I volunteer my time, will other bakeries consider this free work valuable experience and be more inclined to hire me for pay? No don't think so unless they want to advantage of you. So if you were to do so try to offer yourself via some employment agency or industry association that contact owner bakers. Most have come from lower ranks or apprentices themselves unless they have bought a franchised business. 8) Is a bakery the only game in town or are there other opportunities I am ignoring, such as restaurants? Cheffing is different and even more unreliable trade but perhaps more formalised in some countries thanks to TV personalities 9) Related to question #8, do bakers basically bake in bakeries for their entire careers, or is there some higher baking goal to be met? Most apprentices dream of becoming owners of a bakery or chain of bakeries however there is a proposal in Australia to formalise a study close to Master Baker at universities degree. That includes human resources management, best practise, finance and accounting, industrial relations, health and safety, nutrition, energy and environmental studies. Where or by whom they are hired is by plants by far the largest employers in the business or by franchises, supermarkets or independent largely owned bakeries To become a baker an apprentice is expected to go through stages for about four years the progress into a professional mixer and or branch off into areas like pastry cook and master pastry cook. One thing though keep safety in mind at all times bakeries because industrial accidents do often happen and this is what detracts bakers from hiring voluntary staff because liability is the same 10) One day, long into the future, will lending institutions be more inclined to help finance my own bakery with a few years of professional experience under my belt, or am I just kidding myself? Yes but you would still depend of your business plan skills including cost accounting, human resources or people management, inventory management, marketing and presentation skills of you and your plans to financial institutions. Better learn benchmarking or whatever your bakers call it over there. I'll be happy to assist you more if I can help you further Any help/advice you can give would be great, and much appreciated.

Lisbon variety is a good one

Not very often I use evoo except when I visit my wife's relos where I would bring a good size demijon back to the city. Other than that I use the normal store bought tins and since olive oil was the only cooking oil available in the country since time immemorial then again I grew up eating and using the stuff anyway I do not make much fuss about it. Evoo is often too strong to cook with as it tends to overpower and also expensive. To me Italian oil too light, Spanish and Portuguese often bitter or overrated and Greek too strong so my tendency is to use the normal average. But do not rely on store bought oil too much as a benchmark batches do vary greatly.

many Eastern Europeans will drink apple vinegar regularly with honey and diluted with water for breakfast. It is said to have some curatives properties.

I sometimes prepare a Summer dish with fresh "sardinas in escabeche" but better ask for a recipe in the Spanish section.

Much smaller than empanada fits between the palm of the hand but nice flaky pastry dusted with icing sugar a deep fried pastry from Argentina "Estrella Federal" Basically a small square dough with a teaspoon size filling of quince paste or other hard sweet pastry may be guava or sweet potato or pumpkin paste. Then it is closed by another square on top but this time the top square is aligned pointing at the middle size of the lower pastry sheet giving you a star of six points in reality the federal star has eight points. Traditionally made and eaten in the afternoons with the regional drink tea "mate"

I usually prefer the one that walks in all four grassing around that is "natural" lamb usuallyvery tender and nowhere near the taste of mutton as I have tried in US. Some prefer NZ over Aussie lamb because of tenderness. Not sure of that but in any case feed me Aussie or NZ any time mate.