sazji

I made a batch from scratch, it came out wonderfully. I made a smaller batch a few days later for some friends at their restaurant, using a wide-bottomed pan, and discovered that slower is better. When I made my own, I used a tall pot, and had to boil it slower because it foams quite a bit and would overflow at higher heat. In the big pan, it got quite thick before it was too brown, so much that it stuck the teeth together of one of the guys who tried it. We added a bit more milk and brought it back to the right consistency, lowered the heat and darkened it nicely. I tried the boiling method in a big container on my woodstove. The first time it never got to a boil, so I left it in longer and tried it the next day. Well...it doesn't have to boil. The heat close to the bottom of the pan evidently got things pretty hot, because when I opened the can, it was dark, like chocolate, and tasted pretty weird...there can definitely be too much caramelization!

With all due respect, I don't think that's a good comparison. When Japanese cooks throw their knives through the air, the only connection to the food itself is the cutting; the ingredients are no different. But with noodles, the dough is different, it has to be softer, it has to be kneaded a lot more; those are both things that will inevitably affect texture, even if it is not an immense difference. But then what may seem trivial to one person may be very important to another. Two restaurants may make the same dish even, but due to subtle differences in preparation, we may really prefer one to the other. I don't yet seen the reason that cutting noodles is more expedient, when one has the technique. As for becoming a master...well, I don't think I'll ever eat that many noodles! And research grants...? What research grants? I sit and do translations of insurance policies and legal contracts (well, luckily it's not all that dull) to be able to survive here!

Why do they still pull them in China? Is it purely for the show? Not sure why rolling and cutting would be any more or less hygienic than pulling them. Well, clearly no economic difference one way or the other. I must say I do like the texture of them; I'd never had them before but I'll definitely do it again. It seems that once you have the technique even fairly under your belt, pulling the noodles is much faster than rolling out, stacking and cutting them. But the main reason I did it was because it's interesting, and it's fun. And I learned/am learning something new. Both good reasons to do something in my book. After all you never know when a skill might come in handy or apply somewhere else.

This picture was posted on another forum for identification, but no definite IDs yet. Does anyone recognize it? I've never seen a fruit with a leaf sticking out the side of it before! It evidently grows on a vine. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/mysteryfruitpost4yh.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>

When I lived in Greece back in the 70s, bananas were very rare and expensive. The dictatorship, in a frenzy of nationalism, said "Why should we be buying bananas from Africans, when we can grow them ourselves, right on our island of Crete?! So they banned banana imports. The Cretan ones are good - they are small finger bananas - but a kilo, back then, ran close to 12 dollars. It got absurd when kiwis came onto the market in the 80s - cheap as dirt - but bananas were still unattainable. I'm not sure when the ban finally lifted but the standard bananas are everywhere now. I can't remember having seen the Cretan ones in quite a while.

Here it comes onto the market every fall, but in its completely ripe, yellow state, opened with the red seeds showing. They call it "Kudret nari" (power/potency pomegranate) and it's more of a medicinal thing; nobody thinks of eating it as a vegetable. They do sell packs of seeds though and I may grow a few to see if they are one that is not horribly bitter.

Um....a blob of dulce de leche on top?

Did you have their profiteroles? Everyone goes on about Inci in Beyoglu but it is just nasty to me, flavorless. Beyaz has it right, they use really good ingredients.\ Do you know which shop it is in the spice market? I can't think of a baklava place there. The local famous one is Güllüoglu, and it's good but there is also one down on the Tünel end of Istiklal Caddesi that is very good. My neighborhood has lots of little shops run by people from Antep (the capitol of baklava), selling ekmek, baklava and different kinds of kadayif. I don't do it a lot, but my favorite kadayif is a flat one, only about 3/4 of an inch thick, studded with whole pistachios, and just enough syrup to make it moist. Could do a post on those shops too...!

(Megan, I didn't try everything...but I go there about once a month so I'll keep working on it..) Rice pudding: Quite different. The milk is boiled with not nearly as much rice as ours, then thickened either with rice flour (the cheap kind) or "subye," which is short-grain rice that has been soaked overnight, then either ground or zapped in the blender with just enough water to cover it. The result is a thick "milk" that is similar to cornstarch mixed with water. It's mainly boiled, then browned in the oven. Sometimes an egg is added too. But the thing that really makes the good commercial ones is that they are made with *whole* milk, and often with buffalo milk. Baklava...I could do a whole post just on that (maybe I will); there are so many different types and shapes. A few that come to mind are "bülbül yuvası" (nightingale's nest), "dilber dudağı" (beautiful girl's lips), "bohça" (bundle), "çubuk" (stick) and "Antep bülbülü" (nightingale of Antep). Most are in sugar syrup (never honey, it's too cloying). It may be filled with pistachio, walnut, almond, hazelnut, or "cream" (similar to the filling of galatoboureko but much less of it), or combinations. Some are mostly dough with a filling while others are almost all filling. There is a "kuru" (dry) baklava which has just enough syrup to sweeten it but not to make it drippy. There is also a "white" baklava that's cooked differently. The phyllo used to make baklava is also special, very thin, opened up to 13 at a time on the "oklava," the long thin rolling pin they use to open the phyllo. Baklava phyllo (yufka in Turkish) also has egg in it. You can make something passable with commercial doughs in the US but it won't have the lightness of the real Turkish item.

I did an adaptation of a soup from the Antep region of Turkey called "Shiweydiz/Shiveydis." Normally its made with lamb simmered with chickpeas, with additions of lots of green garlic and scallions cooked as mentioned above, then thickened with yogurt and egg. I omitted the lamb, used beef broth, and added a healthy couple of handfuls of spinach. Yumm. Half a pot left at home.... Recipe in recipe gullet. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-853S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>

It occurs to me (rather late actually) that as I had to work really hard to break down the gluten so that it wouldn't sieze, the call for pastry flour (which I can't find here easily) in the original recipe makes sense. With a little hard flour thrown in to give it strength.

Lamb and Green Garlic Soup with Yogurt Serves 6 as Soup. This soup is known as shiveydis or shiweydiz in the area around Antep, Turkey. Though it feels like a soup, they consider it more of a main dish. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-852S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> Ingredients 1 lb lamb shanks 5 c water 1 c garbanzos 1 lb green garlic 1 lb scallions 1 egg, room temperature 2 c yogurt, room temperature salt and pepper to taste red pepper 1/3 c olive oil 1 tsp dry mint Soak garbanzos overnight. Boil in water together with lamb until both lamb and chickpeas are tender. Remove from heat. Chop the green garlic using only the thick section, into 1-inch pieces. Cut scallions in the same way, using some of the greens as well. Cook covered in a small amount of water till tender, about 6 minutes. Add to soup. Add salt to taste, and black pepper. Mix yogurt and egg, take a cup or two of the broth and whisk into the yogurt mixture, then add back into the soup. Heat oil and mint together to infuse the flavor into the oil. Put a tablespoon or so on each serving. Personal variation (pictured above): omit lamb, use beef broth instead of water, and before adding garlic and onions, add a couple of handfuls of freshly chopped spinach. You can use canned garbanzos to cut down on cooking time, but it is good to boil them with the broth for at least 10 minutes to soften a bit and take on some of the flavor of the broth. Keywords: Soup, Middle Eastern, Main Dish, Easy, Lamb ( RG1627 )

What kind of flour: From the second to fourth attempts (third attempt was pretty much like the second), I was using a typical store-bought flour here, which is equivalent to a normal bread flour in the US. It seems the issue was more with dough preparation than flour, though I do want to try it with a baklava (very high-gluten) flour to see if it makes a difference.

Oh (um...starting to sound like Ling here), I fogot to mention the ice cream with homemade dulce de leche I had last night. There is a dulce de leche thread with a recipe; it's quite easy. It makes a lot. Which will sit in the fridge, calling you... "Come on...just a little spoonful....just a little tea stirrer full!" Though the coffee snobs will eat furniture when they read this, it's also quite good in coffee, mixed with a little fresh milk for color...

Okay, I promised pictures from Beyaz Firin; I had a good excuse to go to Kadiköy yesterday and make a pilgrimage. I had the white chocolate profiteroles with raspberries inside the profiteroles, topped with a white chocolate sauce. Here is the chocolate variety, white on left. To the right is sütlaç, Turkish rice pudding. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-828S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> They had some nice looking tortes... <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-829S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> tarts... <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-830S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> little babas... <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-831S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> and "dilber dudagi" (beauty's lips) baklava with pistachio... <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-832S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> I also took a stroll by Muhiddin Haci Bekir's, famous for their lokum (Turkish delight). The little white things in the upper right-hand corner are sugar-coated coriander seeds, which are very very nice. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-838S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a> They also do good "badem ezmesi" - similar to marzipan, but with several different flavors, and they also have pistachio version... <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-839S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>

Hehe, I live in Istanbul, I can't go out and buy udon, and I have nobody to supervise me... Besides, why miss an opportunity to reinvent the wheel? But I got it this morning! It's all about preparing the dough. Okay, technique is important and I'll work on that, but here's the thing - with a "normal" kneading as we do bread, it doesn't work because the gluten only relaxes to a certain point, then siezes up. This is a good thing when we are doing bread or (if you are ambitious) phyllo; it will reach its limit and hold its shape. With noodles we want to really break down the gluten. I called my yufka-making friends (now in Austria...) and it was helpful and not helpful. Turns out the long rests they gave the dough were more a matter of convenience and not so much of necessity. They knead it well, let it rest a half hour to 45 minutes, then give it an "elbowing" before forming preliminary rounds that are relaxed once more. I got this to work last night, and threw some halfway decent yufka (though if I had had professional baklava dough it would have been better). But it didn't work for the noodles, they would always reach that point where the dough would sieze and stretch no further, or even pull back.Not wanting to throw away my batch, I wrapped it and left it overnight. The next morning, I tried again, still no dice. So I tried a different kind of kneadin: I pulled the piece oblong, doubled it, rolled a bit oblong again, then gave a sharp twisting pull, doubled it again, repeated ad nauseum. After a few minutes of this, a big change took place - I noticed that gradually the dough began to pull more easily and smoothly. It took about 4 or 5 minutes. After a bit it got to a point where I could stretch it out full arm length in about 5 seconds. It also stretches *very* uniformly.I also found that it can get *too* relaxed, where you can't keep up with it.I started practicing with small pieces (say, a bit larger than walnut sized) and used flour to separate them rather than oil to start. Here is one successful result: You can practice a lot; the dough can actually take in some flour for several times before it gets too stiff because you haven't actually added that much. After practicing some more I tried it with oil; and here's the result from a similar sized piece of dough: After you do this several times, try it with larger pieces..Some notes: 1. When you take a piece of dough to work with, you will need to pull it a few times to get it into form. At first it will be a bit stiff. There is a "sweet" point where it will both hold its shape but stretch easily as well. You want it to be at a point where you have to actually pull it - at that point it will hold its shape. If you overdo it, it gets almost "runny" and you will find yourself trying to keep up with it. Also, when it gets this soft, the noodles will tend to stick together. This is especially important when you are using oil to keep them separate! 2. If you practice with oil, you will notice that each time you re-knead the dough, it will first sieze a bit then relax, but relax more and more with each try. 3. How I pulled: Take a piece of dough, roll it out to a cylinder. Grab the very ends (don't grab too much or you will end with a big lump at one end) and draw out. If you are right-handed, bring the right end to the left hand and loop it over the left middle finger. Run your right hand between the two halves thumb down, then with the left hand, unite the two halves and take them in your thumb and forefinger. Stretch with the palms up, repeat the process as many times a you want/can. The next problem is boiling them! Once again, using flour is easier, because the noodles don't stick together as much; if you have a successful pull you'll see the noodles holding themselves separate. I think it's a good idea to practice with a pot of boiling water with this as well, starting with small amounts. The noodles must not be stuck together or you will have long ridged bands instead of noodles! If you try and separate them after they are in the water with a fork, they will just break because the first thing the dough does in hot water is to stiffen up for a bit. In a minute or so they will relax.I haven't been very successful with getting the oiled noodles to separate; my dough may have gotten a little soft. I'll get myself some really high-gluten flour and try it again. I'll also have a friend with a camera take picturs because when you are pulling a big bunch of dough you can't be taking time out to futz with a camera!

...Fluffy...

Second attempt. Got another brand of flour. Made a slightly stiffer dough, using only 1 1/2 cups + of flour, kneaded longer, let it rest 30 minutes, kneaded again, still had it pulling back, so this time I let it rest about 2 hours, and it did relax quite nicely. But once again had even fairly thick strands ripping, which tells me again that there's still an issue with the dough. The fact that my kitchen is very cold also may have something to do with this! I decided to leave it all night. This morning I tried again, and wow, what a difference! The dough actually stretched, and fairly evenly this time. The trouble was that it was pulling back again; this I think is the result of the flour that got mixed in on the first couple pulling attempts; it also affected the ability of the dough to hold together. Even so, I ended up with something edible, if a bit thick: After three pulls. You can see a little bit "bunchiness" for lack of a better word, in the dough. This tells me that it has gluten that is not completely developed/relaxed and that there's going to be trouble. At four pulls I started having the predicted trouble but they were getting there. I also found that at this stage, you really can't afford to be putting them down and messing with your camera. I need an assistant! I dusted these with more flour, took the ends stretched once again; I'll admit to taking some individual ones and coaxing them out as well. But at least I could coax them, which was a lot more than I could do the first time. Here's the result after boiling: Next time, I'm going to try another long knead and secondary kneading, perhaps just a tad more water (but not as much as my first attempt) and let the dough rest all night in a warmer place before attempting any pulls. One thing that would help: somebody who has actually seen this process in action, how long do the chefs take on each pull? Do they shake as they are pulling or it just a long smooth movement?

I'd have to second that one. Along with sedentary lifestyles, fast food culture is a major culprit. But I still consider lack of physical activity the biggest proglem. I think of Greece, where I first went in 1975, and rarely saw fat youngsters. Certainly Greece has its share of sweet foods, and they use olive oil like it's going out of style; fried foods are fairly common as well. But they didn't drink entire liters of Coke when they ate, and servings weren't gargantuan. A gyros was something small enough that you had to get two to fill up. Fast forward to 2000, a new fast-food place opening every week it seems, loads of prepared sweetened foods on the market, the dab of yogurt on a gyros is replaced by globs of mayonnaise-based sauces, and kids are all addicted to Nintendo and Game-boy. Greece now has the highest rate of childhood obesity in all of Europe. Every time I go back to the US it seems there is a different food that has been declared evil. First it was sweets. Later it was fats and packages of things like maple syrup of all things, had big letters blaring "A FAT-FREE FOOD!" Last time back, it was carbs, and everyone was looking for "Atkins Safe" foods. But what sense does it make to eat all that stuff when you get into the car to go four blocks to the grocery store? Another thing is the way our cities are being built. I live in an older section of Istanbul. I can do all my grocery shopping on foot - there are small groceries, bakeries, butchers, cheese shops, fruit-vegetable vendors all within a few minutes walk from my house, not to mention the weekly markets with loads of quality produce at good prices. There is a reason to walk. Unfortunately, American cities are also being built more and more to accomodate cars rather than people; and even if you don't want to drive, it seems in many neighborhoods there is no convenient place to walk to; there is no choice but to drive or take a bus; neither are exercise. In light of this, finding yet another "culprit" food seems a bit absurd.

and then there's Borat's way: http://www.youtube.com/w/Borat-On-Manners?...A8&search=Borat

I have a pet scorpion! Most aren't dangerous. But I never put him in the freezer. I'm posting this vicariously for my mother, who once asked a neighbor if she could put something in her freezer that wouldn't fit into her own one at home. The neighbor said "sure, bring it on over." Half an hour later my mom arrives with a big plastic bag, inside of which is a (more or less) freshly dead black vulture. She does bird counts and helps with other studies; and a biologist at the U. of Arkansas said he'd be oh-so-grateful if she could find a dead one... Neighbor, knowing mom pretty well, was not all that...surprised.

I made a batch today from scratch. It came out quite well but could be darker; I stopped because it was beginning to stick on the bottom of the pot. I may try some of it in the oven. It certainly does foam up, doesn't it?! I heat my house with a wood/coal stove, and keep a tall aluminum closed pitcher (called a güğüm, for anyone who cares) on the top to have hot water always ready. When the stove is cranking, the thing boils, so perhaps I'll just drop my last can (it's not available in Turkey) of sweetened condensed into it and see how it works! If it does explode, it will be well-contained.

This weekend at the market I saw the first bunches of green garlic ("scallion stage") out for sale. It's one of my favorite "spring" vegetables; I've had it in soups, sauteed in olive oil with wild fennel, baby favas and new potatoes, and cooked with eggs in frittattas. How do you like to use it?

It's mostly dangerous for people with compromised immune systems, such as people with HIV or those who are undergoing chemotherapy. I think much of it is not only the fear culture but also the lawsuit culture. Silly laws - I remember when growing up in Iowa that grocery stores could only sell beer, not wine or hard liquor, and no alcohol on Sundays. They had to put a ribbon over the beer with a sign that said "Sorry, no beer on Sunday." Here you can't serve any alcohol within 100 meters of a mosque. This becomes an issue when trying to get a liquor license for a restaurant. I don't know what happens when a mosque opens within 100 meters of a restaurant that serves alcohol! To non-alcohol-related laws, kokoretsi/kokoreç (liver, kidneys etc. put on a spit and then wrapped in intestines, and grilled) was outlawed in Greece after it entered the EU. But it still gets made "underground" they say. Several years ago in Seattle, a friend wanted to do a Greek easter feast and wanted to get a whole lamb. But it was illegal for the locker to sell a whole lamb with its head on and all the organ meats. You had to get the lamb headless, but you could then buy a pack of 6 heads. Lamb intestines were not available as the FDA has ruled them "inedible." (Someone should inform the Greeks and Turks that they have been eating inedible food! Oh...forgot, Brussels has informed them, at least the Greeks. I hate to think of the kokoreç mafias that will spring up if Turkey gets into the EU!)

Try the recipe in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Tarte Normande aux Pommes. Very nice.