Duvel

Time for a lunch snack, time for baozi …

Nice ! Would you share your rye to wheat ratio ?

If you are fond of Einkorn, please try Emmer flour. Even stronger nuttiness, but better baking properties …

Given the cold weather (there seems to be a pattern here), I was in the mood for a warm and nourishing soup. So I went out and bought mussels and fish for a fish chowder … Back at home, little one discovered the mussels and was excited he would get Moules Frites, and - of course - my wife was also feeling more like that. Not feeling like prepping fries from scratch and only finding another potato convenience product in the freezer, they got Moules Rösti instead 🤭 … That left me with a large fish fillet and still desire for a rich soup. I went with my instincts and made the Sichuan classic water-boiled fish (shui zhu yu, 水煮鱼), with an extra helping of Sichuan pepper. I used my rather potent home-made chili oil, but still it was more ma than la. There is a huge pile of bean sprouts lurking under that fish dotted chili oil surface … No complaints !

Open Leberkäse sandwich (man-sized version) …

From the peppers or the tomatoes ?

Yeah, this was unexpected, but not bad: basically pickled veggies (no potato, but yellow carrot, and other) braised in the same pot as the sauerkraut. Don’t ask me how they keep it separated. But is was good - kind of sweet and sour … This was distilled pear Schnaps, diluted from cask strength with pear juice (instead of water) and a small pickled pear ball in it … very pear-y 🤗

Hah ! I can‘t count how many times we went there for lunch - their lamb and carrot dumplings are still unrivaled in my books !

Heading out tonight to the Augustiner Bierkeller … Dinner was: Wiener Schnitzel mit Bratkartoffeln and a mixed plate with roasted duck, Haxe, braised suckling pig and a Nuremberg sausage … And of course the beer - fresh from wooden barrels ! Chase by a Williams pear Schnaps ! As the sign says „The world will rather end badly before a Bavarian will die of thirst“ No complaints !

Hmm … Indonesia is about 15h flight distance from here, NYC only 8h. I think I know my next gastronomic holiday destination 🤗

Looks nice - so, the tacos are made from cauliflower (like a low carb pizza crust) ?

Excellent, @rotuts 🥳

Loooong day at a conference (semi-)far away from home. Was not feeling to go out anymore to source food, so I had to make do with what I bought on Monday, when I arrived … Spiced nuts, Parma ham and Balvenie 14 🤗 No complaints !

According to the Catalan Wikipedia entry, sofregit is mostly made up from tomatoes and onions, however, “a little bit of pepper” may be used. It seems in the south of Caralunya - Valencia county - a sofregit made from tomatoes and onions alone is used for fish and seafood, while the one including small amounts of peppers is used for meat and (likely salted) cod. Interesting - it’s all a continuum 🤗

So true ! I better not show this to my MIL 🤭

Fantastic, @blue_dolphin, just fantastic 🤗

One question to all - the two recipes vary in one important aspect: the inclusion (or omission) of vinegar. For me, the sweet & sour aspect was always the hallmark of peperonata. In fact - at least in my head - it was was differentiated the dish from the similar French or Spanish vegetable stew ... So: vinegar or no vinegar ?

Strangely, no. The Catalan sofregit is just comprised of tomatoes and onions (or garlic). I asked my MIL, if she knows sofregit with peppers and her answer was "you can put it, but its more of a sofrito then". So, acoording to her the Spanish sofrito might contain peppers (which contradicts some recipes I found online), but it also contains variable amounts of different onions, carrots, celery, garlic, even herbs - so maybe it doesn't matter to have pepper in there as well 😜

I think ~30, all well stored in the mancave under the watchful eye of a Suntory ad girl 🤭 …

Technically, yesterday … Two nice examples of a distilled alcoholic beverage of Scottish origin, made from fermented sprouted barley mash …

Damn enablers here at eGullet: two days ago I hadn’t even heard of Vadouvan, now I have a pack winking at me from the cupboard …

I very much like peperonata, but make it not very often. Our household uses bell peppers mostly in samfaïna (which contains quite some amount, even if the English wikipedia entry suggests otherwise) and escalivada (a mix of roasted and skinned peppers and aubergines). The latter is a great topping for flatbread, sometimes with sardines added, known in Catalunya as coca de recapte … My personal favorite, however, is simply roasted yellow peppers (roasted until the skin is black), skinned and mixed with the best anchovies you can buy. A bit of garlic and some olive oil. Best eaten at room temperature with some bread and a good wine.

“Keto” is an umbrella term for all ketogenic diets, meaning those where the body primarily breaks down fats into so-called keto bodies, which can be detected in your bloodstream, in your breath or in your urine (there are neat little testing strips, so you can see if you are “ketogenic”). I order for this to happen you need to restrict carbohydrates significantly. The Atkins diet starts like this, restricting carbohydrates severely (<20 g/day), while fat and protein can be consumed ad libitum. This phase of the diet is called „induction“ and leads to a ketogenic state of your metabolism. Later, carbohydrates are stepwise reintroduced, leading at ine point to a mixed metabolism, so this part of the diet („maintenance“) can’t be called „ketogenic“ or „keto“ anymore. As fat is pretty much always accompanied with protein (unless you intend to drink/snort/… oils or animal fat directly), all ketogenic diets lead to an increased protein intake, which makes them less suitable for people with kidney issues (who can’t take the nitrogen load). Regardless what some of the different diet flavors prescribe, a diet of 70+% fat in the absence of significant dietary fibre (that is usually accompanying carbohydrates) is not workable from a gastrointestinal point of view. Don’t ask me 🙄 …

Si tacuisses …

Keto is meant to be relatively low carb, in order to induce ketosis (the use of keto bodies converted from fat). Therefore it is high in fat and relatively high protein.