Duvel

Om our drive back from our holidays in Spain we passed through the Franche-Comté area, and I picked up a raw milk Vacherin Mont d’Or. Today I stuck some garlic cloves in, topped it up with a bit of white wine and popped it into the oven … Served with good bread, cornichons, honey cukes, olives, some sausages, tomatoes, celery sticks, … Soooo good 🤗

That is simply beautiful 🤗

I had to dig a bit in the mancave (where my cooksbooks had to migrate some while ago), but I found this: Typical Wei Chuan publication from Taiwan: slightly odd translations at times, but reliable recipes with some background. Describes basic dough properties (cold water dough, hot water dough, laminated dough …) and examples how to use them. Many pastries are not traditionally baked, but fried, griddled or steamed. However, there are baked examples as well*. Example recipe (for the book, not the baking): Another book with a lower yield of pastry recipes on “Taiwanese night market snacks” … Both books are bilingual, yet with traditional Chinese script. I suggest to look for Wei Chuan publications (Taiwan) on “Chinese snacks” in the US. That should help you. If you need more details/pictures just PM me … —- * Contrary to popular belief, quite some folks in Taiwan and China own sophisticated microwave ovens with broiler function, and can bake at home. A (Chinese) friend of mine makes excellent peanut pastries in her home in Shanghai.

That‘s perfect - for that discount you can buy an additional Ooni, so your steak and your pizza are done at the same time 👍

Interesting … where did you get that inspiration from ?

Harzer „carpaccio“ and a cup of chicken soup …

Sorry, position's taken. They do have the male version of that already 😝

Yeap … dat one !

With DW and little one still sick-ish, I whipped up a chicken noodle soup …

Back to work today after two weeks in Spain - why do holidays always have to end 😪 At least I got a lunch meeting in our company restaurant. It’s called “quick lunch set”, but it did the job … Double boiled goose consommé with roasted apple pieces … Venison filet with Spätzle, roasted chestnuts, blanched Brussel sprouts and the most dense & aromatic sauce I’ve had a in while … Petit fours and coffee to finish. I am reconciled with the day ☺️

You are correct 🤗

For some reason everytime I spend my Christmas vacation in Spain, I get sick. Must be the absence of any stress or something. Regardless. after some crappy days today was my “convalescence” linner (a lunch taken from 16.30h-18.00) at a local restaurant with Catalan favourites … Menu for @rotuts … Amuse-gueule: Pumpkin soup with jamon serrano … I had the Trinxat, a mixture of potatoes, cabbage and bacon … DW chose the red beet soup with pickled fish and avocado … For mains she took the oil poached salmon (calling it Tataki was a bit misleading) with leek confit - this was excellent ! As was my squid with blood sausage and artichoke purée … Dessert: Tarte Tatin for her … Puff pastry filled with cream and strawberries for me … Coffee & a nap 🤗

I had a bottle of Corryvreckan some years ago. It was good - dense, sweet, mineral and quite peaty. At 57% the experience of course depends heavily how you dilute it - I tend to enjoy at slightly higher abv’s, so that’s when you get above notes.

Damn … that’s smart 👍

Ahh … and I thought its some kind of 3D printing pen for chocolate.

That should be feasible …

Simple dinner: xulleta (or entrecôte) and green beans with butter & garlic. The cuts here in Spain are always too thin for my liking, so you don’t get a proper crust without overcooking. Nevertheless, I managed a decent compromise …

I’d appreciate the effort 🙏

We render Schmalz mostly from pigs, but ducks, geese and sometimes chicken, too. If you do that with meat attached (and shred that once cooked), you’ll end up in all cases with rillettes. Otherwise, just Schmalz 🤗

Indeed. Griebenschmalz will contain pieces of the crisped skin and meat bits, but in this case from pork 🤭 … This one has onion and apple, too …

After the Christmas food marathon there are plenty of leftovers, and I like to turn them into something nice … This morning: Trinxat. Finely chopped cabbage, chopped potatoes and crumbled blood sausage, lightly bound with potato starch and fried up in bacon fat and served with a fired egg on top … And for the next days … all the meat turned into Canelons. Life is good !

After all the holiday food, I just baked a rye bread and put some cold cuts & cheeses on the table (plus pickles, Schmalz and - for some reason - octopus) … No complaints ☺️

They have, of course. But you are right - not to be exported. Hence I order when in Japan 😜

I think it is more of a service than an exploit - think “omotenashi”. You can order at any national Amazon: if Amazon as a transnational company would have any interest in blurring national markets, it would have been done.

Technically, just as my last Christmas “dinner” post, this is lunch. But as we start at 16.30h and go on for some hours, the dinner thread is appropriate as well … Second day of Christmas one of my wifes aunts is hosting the 30+ members if the family. Just as on Christmas day, the menu is hard coded, no deviations. I started the dinner by demolishing the iberico plates … As usual, kids got their fill of macarons, while the adults prepared themselves for the lunch … After aperitif & snacks, we were served small sweet red peppers, stuffed with bacalla, pine nuts and raisins, then dressed with beixamel and gratinated with some cheese … I could eat a lot of those (and actually did). This is followed by “veal” fillet, marinated in white wine, lemon juice and Dijon mustard, then briefly grilled on a plancha. Served with samfaïna … Followed by torróns, traditional Christmas sweets, brandy, coffee, the works. Champagne, of course, and good conversations …