Duvel

Lazy dinner: DIY hot dogs (please disregard the chaos behind) … For me: “classic” … … and “chili cheese”.

When I went to my butcher this morning to get my weekend fill of Mett, he had three veal shanks on display. Of course I had to get one, gave it a Marcella Hazan-ish treatment (EVO & butter, onion, garlic, anchovy, white wine) and braised it for around 4.5h … Cooks treat: bone marrow on toast with a sprinkle of salt & parsley - just sooo good 🤗 Great texture on the shank - tender, with just the slightest resistance to the bite. Served with creamy polenta and wilted spinach with almonds and raisins. And the strained braising juices, reduced and finished with a touch of butter. No complaints indeed 🥳

Hey, I cite that guy frequently, too 🥳

Okonomiyaki, edamame, pickled daikon and yakitori …

Hurra (hooray) for leftovers 🥳

Thanks - it’s actually a rather calm affair (and a lot less coordinated or graceful than a ballet 🤭). The cold dished were prepared over the course of the weekend, whenever I felt like it. The hot stuff plus the plating happened in half an hour, so when DW left & returned from picking up little one from his playdate everything was ready …

That would be simply Marillenkuchen. A Marillenknödel is a quark-dough based dumpling with a small apricot inside.

Family requested karaage … and I am more than happy to augment the fried chicken to make it a full Japanese dinner: Some pork loins turned into tonkatsu … And plated: Tonkatsu with sweet onion, tsuyu and egg (the classic Katsudon topping), fresh peas intheir pods (a seasonal substitute for edamame), (commercial) gyoza, and the karaage … Tuna tataki with yuzu ponzu … Homemade sides: Silken tofu with spicy meat topping, agedashi masu (fried eggplant in dashi), salt-pickled cucumber with kombu, soy sauce-pickled radish, menma, grated radish with yuzu ponzu, (commercial) Calbee potato sticks. Some sake from the mancave … And - to conclude the meal - a matcha flavored crema catalana … No complaints 🤗

The guy is topping a sweet yeast dough base with (deseeded and halfed/quartered) Marillen (apricots). They are hugely popular in the Alps region. After baking it will likely be glazed with slightly diluted apricot jam.

Still blurry on magnification, but based on color of the round objects layered onto what looks like a pastry base, their uneven size distribution and what looks like tiny dot on the surface I stick with Erdbeer Tartelette (or strawberry tartlet), a popular Austrian (and German) dessert. Shortcrust shell, filled with vanilla cream or pudding, topped with (sometimes macerated) strawberries and glazed with a bit of strawberry juice mixed with gelatine (cf. above posted link).

Bit blurry, but maybe an Erdbeer Tartelette ...? https://oberlaa-wien.at/produkt/erdbeer-tartelette/

Nice ! It does sound like a classic winning combo. I could imagine some leek oil in there, too. With the cracker-like crust it sounds a bit like an (unleavened) Flammkuchen, and potato & leek fits right into this. For white pizza’s I fell a more sturdy, sourdough bread type base is better suited, especially with potatoes. But then the appetizer idea is gone, of course …

Ok … that was a snippy reply. And I would normally leave it at that, especially given the OPs reputation of asking a plethora of questions without ever taking the conclusion of the discussion into any meaningful implementation. But … there have been serious contributions to this topic and I come from a poor area in Germany with an economy solely relying on potatoes and sugar beets, so I feel qualified to give a more or less definitive answer: Yes: the perfect conditions for storing potatoes are >= 90% humidity, very small, yet constant air exchange, the absence of sunlight, and just above 4 oC. They won’t shrivel (humidity), they won’t sprout or turn green (no light) and they won’t convert starches into sugars (min. 4 oC), leading to off taste and bad cooking/frying properties. This is (and has been) common knowledge for industrial storage (e.g. 6 months+ and large scale operations). In a home setup, a well ventilated cellar does provide good conditions to keep potatoes in a palatable state for 3-4 months (e.g. over winter). Yes, my grandparents did that, and my parents are still doing this: Temperature is ~10-12 oC, no light, and humidity is ~60%. No mold, no sprouting, no greening and only very slow dehydration. Best option in a household. You think you know better than a Lower Saxony family with literally dozens of potato varieties at hand … think again ✊

I don’t store my potatoes, I eat them …

Delicious - but that apple looks undercooked 😝