sgreen0

Well, the Hungarian Feast is history. Here is the menu (cum place card). Most of the recipes were from George Lang's The Cuisine of Hungary. A few were gleaned from other places on the net. My thanks to EvergreenDan in Spirits and Cocktails for his idea for the cocktail: "I also liked equal parts Kirshwasser, Zwack Liqueur, and Campari. Next time, I may add a bit of lemon to this, in juice, peel, or bitters form. " Now I'm looking for another country to raid for next year's feast! Thanks to all on eGullet for you suggestions... Stephen

Well, I got around to trying the Hungarian Egg Coffee I mentioned. the recipe I used is here: Hungarian Egg Coffee The result, in my opinion, was just OK. Just not worth the trouble. I suppose now we have good filter coffee systems, we don't need to fiddle with the egg, which I understand is there only to clarify the water... Stephen PS There is a video here that is similar to Hungarian, but is called Swedish: Egg in My Coffee S

Nayan! Thanks for the link. It looks wonderful! Stephen

Found it. Thanks. This could be an appetizer, couldn't it? It would be the first time I attempted a strudel dough... Stephen

Great stuff! I do like Cold Sour Cherry Soup. And George Lang has a Peach in Champagne soup that sounds summery... Stephen

Lora! I found a recipe for Kaposztas Gomboc - Cabbage dumplings. The cabbage is sauteed, spiced and rolled jelly roll style in dough. Then it is cut into pieces and rolled into balls that are boiled, then baked with cheese on top. That's not exactly a strudel... Stephen

Looking at the search results for Kaiser Melange, It sounds like the egg thickens the coffee - though I can't be sure. The Hungarian version with egg and shell supposedly clarifies the coffee. My guess is that it was supposed to ameliorate the water quality at the time... Stephen

It sounds like you definitely have some favorites! Would you mind translating. I do have George Lang's "The Cuisine of Hungary" to refer to, but I haven't found some of those terms in it... Thanks. Stephen 1. barack palinka 2. gulyas leves 3. more barack palinka 4. toltott kaposzta 5. szalonna 6. palinka 7. and maybe a meat dish and some palinka

I've seen the Google results for Hungarian Egg Coffee. That's the first thing I did. I was interested in the responses of the responses of the interesting people here. In fact, the first Google result is almost exactly what djyee100 quoted as Norwegian. Very interesting. Has anyone tried this? Stephen

It's almost time for me to host a big dinner again (for 8). I'm thinking of Hungarian. It will be summer California when I do this. Does anyone have suggestions for: Cocktail Appetizers (I probably need 3) Soup (I'm thinking Cold Sour Cherry, or another cold fruit soup) Main dish and sides Desserts (2 - almost certainly a Dobos Torte) Wines for any of the courses Thanks for any suggestions you may offer. Stephen

I have heard of using egg in Hungarian coffee. Does anyone have a recipe for this? I assume one can't use a modern filter coffeemaker. Thanks. Stephen

Thanks, everyone for the suggestions. I will certainly try some of them soon. For the dinner, I have decided to prepare a Coffee-Cocoa Spiced Rack of Lamb that I found on Epicurious. (Kona Coffee Crusted Rack of Lamb was a close second - from The Food Network). This will be part of a Coffee and Tea dinner where everything will be prepared with either coffee or tea. The probable menu: Espresso Cocktail Tea-Smoked Duck Breast Toasts with Soy Ginger Mayonnaise Coffee and Chestnut Pate Tea spiced Pecans Pear, Chevre, and Watercress Salad with Tea Vinaigrette Coffee-Cocoa Spiced Rack of Lamb Baby Root Vegetable Stew with Back Tea Prunes Tea Scented Asparagus Gateau Malakoff au Cafe ChaIce Cream with Blackberry Coulis Orange Cranberry Jasmine Biscotti Tea Buffet - with individual tea pots (Assorted Loose Leaf Teas) Recipes were garnered from several sources including Tea Cuisine, and A Little Coffee Cookbook. Stephen

I'm working on a dinner for 8. I was thinking of creating a theme around coffee and tea. Can anyone suggest recipes that include tea? That would be for appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and dessert. Thanks. Stephen There's a separate thread for coffee...

I'm working on a dinner for 8. I was thinking of creating a theme around coffee and tea. Can anyone suggest recipes that include coffee? That would be for appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and dessert. Thanks. Stephen I'll start a separate thread for tea...

After last year's successful Moroccan Feast, I'm setting out to create an Indian Feast for 8. I'd like to have appetizers, main dishes (a Thali, perhaps), desserts and... Any suggestions for menu or recipes would be greatly appreciated. I also need to find a source for serving dishes (trays with bowls...). Thanks. Stephen

Well! The Moroccan dinner is history. It went extremely well. The menu ended up like this: Spiced Olives and Nuts Bisteeya served with Ginger Pomegranate Champagne Cocktails Moroccan Orange Salad Harira Pomegranate Granita Tagine of Lamb with Prunes and Apples Tagine of Chicken with Olives and Lemon Spiced Couscous Spiced Carrots Moroccan Bread served with Amazir Maroc Beni M'Tir red wine M'hanncha (the snake) - we made small individual coils Moroccan Cake (Le Russe) Moroccan Oranges served with Moroccan Mint Tea and Spiced Coffee I want to thank everyone on this board who contributed to this thread. I learned a lot from you. Special thanks to Paula, whose recipes for Bisteeya, Tagines, Bread, Tea, and Coffee were nothing short of fabulous, and to BekkiM, who generously shared her recipes for the Champagne, Olives, Nuts, Carrots and Couscous. I had planned to include some photos, but our recently repaired camera didn't cooperate - back to Nikon it goes. I was surprised at how easy it was to use the tagines (one Rifi and one Beldi). I did use heat diffusers as it was my first time. They seemed quite efficient allowing the tagines to bubble away with the element set to 2 or 3 (out of 9). Both tagines had excess liquid - especially the lamb. I removed some and reduced some and all was fine. Both meats fell from the bone and melted in the mouth. The Graber Olives recommended by Paula were amazing - meaty and rich. I used Preserved Lemons from zamourispices.com. What an amazing depth of flavor! Next time, I'll try to find time to make some myself. I was unsuccessful in finding Mahia (Mahya) a Fig Eau-de-vie of the Moroccan Jews. In my search I was surprised to find a Fig Vodka (from Germany of all places). It is only 40 proof and on tasting was almost like an aperitif (fairly sweet). So I offered that to wrap it all up. I'm pleased to report that all our guest left happy and overfed! Thanks again to everyone. Stephen

Thanks. Some more questions (sorry). 1) I read in an earlier post that coking times are increased in traditional tagines. Did I understand that correctly - perhaps in was in a conversation about braziers. I'm cooking over electric elements covered with heat diffusers. The lamb is delicious when cooked for an extra hour in a tagine. I would change the chicken recipe and use legs and thighs. The cooking time will be about one hour. 2) I'm planning to prepare the filling for the bisteeya the day before. If possible, I'd like to do more that day.[ It's fine to prepare the three parts of the bisteeya in advance. Don't bake it until one hour before serving. your Harira II be made in advance. I could work it up to (and including) Step 4. The reheat the soup the next day and add the noodles and egg/lemon mixture. What do you think? I think it's fine. Can any part of the tagine recipes (Chicken Emshmel and Lamb with Prunes and Apples) be made in advance? I wouldn't cook the tagine in advance. Thanks. Report to come... Stephen

Thanks. Some more questions (sorry). 1) I read in an earlier post that coking times are increased in traditional tagines. Did I understand that correctly - perhaps in was in a conversation about braziers. I'm cooking over electric elements covered with heat diffusers. The chicken says 1 hour and the lamb 2. Should I allow for more? 2) I'm planning to prepare the filling for the bisteeya the day before. If possible, I'd like to do more that day. Can your Harira II be made in advance. I could work it up to (and including) Step 4. The reheat the soup the next day and add the noodles and egg/lemon mixture. What do you think? Can any part of the tagine recipes (Chicken Emshmel and Lamb with Prunes and Apples) be made in advance? I much appreciate your (and others') advice. Stephen

Thanks so much. I'll have to use Grabers due to time limitations. I should have asked earlier. I have read (in this thread) that traditional tagines need less water in the recipes. Do you have a suggestion for the degree of reduction - half, 1/3? Thanks again. Stephen

OK! It's crunch time. Dinner on Saturday! I'm having difficulty in the olive department. For Chicken with lemons and Olives Emshmel from Paula's book (Couscous, etc.), what kind of olives should I look for. I don't seem to find olives called "cracked" or "green-brown". I was in Gelsen's in LA and found most of the usual names including just "Green". I did find Picholines and "Moroccan oil cured olives" - these were very dark and dry. I've got two tagines from tagines.com. One Rifi and one Beldi - this one is glazed on the outside of the top and the inside of the bottom. I cured both - the Rifi with ashes and oil; it looks quite good now. I'm making the chicken in one (the Rifi, I think) and Lamb with prunes and Apples in the other. Sorry no pics - my digital camera is out for repairs... Thanks for any advice you can offer. Stephen Los Angeles

Thanks for the info. I'll check these places out and report back... Stephen ← Well, I've had no luck finding a Moroccan market here in LA. Hard to believe. I did find a Moroccan Import store (called, surprisingly, Moroccan Imports!) that carried furniture and some household goods (tea glasses). I almost bought a fez to wear for the dinner, but... I ended up ordering from tagines.com and zamourispices.com. BTW, I found Moroccan wines at astorwines.com. I still haven't found a sources for Mahia (Mahya), a Moroccan (Jewish) eau de vie made from figs - though I did find a fig vodka that I got just for fun (Kleiner Feigling). Stephen

Thanks, Pat! Great ideas. Not to late to implement some... Stephen

I PM'd this to you, but here it is in case anyone else is interested: Ginger Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail 2 cup pomegranate juice 2 tbsp sugar 3-inch slice fresh ginger (in ¼ inch slices) ½ cup fresh orange juice 2 teas of orange liqueur like Contreau or Grand Marnier 1 750-ml bottle brut Champagne or sparkling wine, chilled Combine pomegranate juice, sugar and ginger in a pan over high heat until mixture is reduced to 1/3 of a cup. Stir constantly. Set aside until cool. In each glass pour 4 tsp of pomegranate syrup, 1 tbsp orange juice, and ¼ tsp orange liqueur into each of four Champagne flutes. Top off with champagne or sparkling wine. ← Thanks so much. Sounds delicious! Stephen

Becki! Woud you mind sharing your Champagne Cocktail recipe? It sounds like a winner. So far, I'm going with: Olives & nuts with the Champagne cocktail B'stilla - I think I'll make a large casserole version and cut into diamond shapes for serving... Harira A Blood Orange granita Chicken Tagine with Lemon and Olives Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Apples served with couscous Mint tea, Spiced coffee with M'hancha (the snake) Any suggestions? Thanks. Stephen

Does anyone know where I might buy some Mahia? It is an Eau de Vie of Prunes that is typical of Moroccan Jews. I've searched online and found many references to it - even a picture of a bottle of Mahia. But I haven't found a source for purchase. Thanks for any help you can offer. Stephen Green Los Angeles