Duvel

That: For some historic reasons Mockturtlesuppe is popular in Lower Saxony, where I hail from. It features veal head and leg meat. My father likes it a lot. Consistency wise it goes into oxtail territory, taste wise stock and Madeira wine dominate. It does not really compare to the two Chinese turtle soups I was able to sample. But substituting the (elusive green) turtle in upper class soups has quite the history itself. I always enjoyed the Mock Turtle character in Alice in Wonderland …

200 g of regular flour 30 g corn meal 30 g chickpea flour 30 g rice flour 1 tsp salt 1 Tbsp baking powder 330 mL beer (Asahi)

While I was cropping a picture for the Scotland blog, my iPhone broke down. I couldn’t restart it. Nevertheless, the picture I was editing was of us eating fish & chips, so following the things I learned from Advanced Voodoo for Beginners™️, the best way to break a curse is to cook the dish … Everyone was happy !

No need: Imagine 3 oversized homies dancing around a burning barrel to the relentless rap of Ice-T in the Bronx ... Now replace the homies by naked disemboweled chickens, the burning barrel by a regular flame and Ice-Ts music by the sound of dripping chicken fat. And imagine that scene happening a few kilometers more to the south ...

It’s getting cold. Time for slaughtering the pigs and making warming food. Last weekend I went to my parents home in Lower Saxony. While here it is still 10+ oC, there at night it was snowing … A friend of my parent’s pays for raising a pig at a farm somewhere in a surrounding village. That pig had its last sunrise on Saturday. We get a few items as gifts, most notably some liters of Schlachtebrühe, the resulting stock from boiling meats, offal and sausages. Very rich, very porky - and the perfect base to make Grünkohl (kale) … 5 kg of Grünkohl, blanched and left overnight in the cold. Next day: Bacon … … and Weisswurst (sausage made from finely ground meat, onions & fatback) Boiled with the Grünkohl, onions and the Schlachtebrühe for 2.5 hours … The final product … Perfect today with some Bregenwurst (from “my” butcher in my hometown). Heaven 🤗

It was actually not so crowded. If you refer to the last picture, most of the stuff is actually from us ☺️ But - some camping sites were pretty booked, as Scotlands high season is August and hotels are not an option when you don't book years ahead ...

Nope, that’s a Swedish whiskey sampling glass, unbreakable edition …

Yes, correct. You get some little bottles in which you can fill your samples to take home. Scotland does have a reasonable alcohol limit for drivers, but it seems that the distilleries have an internal 0/00 policy, which in retrospect I find a sensible choice …

The second distillery of the day was Glen Moray. Truth to be told this was not my choice because of their excellent reputation or exciting products - I chose Glen Moray because they are the only distillery in the area that allowed kids on the tour, and I really want to show the little one what his father enjoys to drink and how it is made. Glen Moray was far more industrial (with proper process control, a DCS, you name it …), but the tour was well made and little one asked a lot of questions, with about half of them actually related to the tour. 1337 🤣 The most interesting part was the warehouse. Glen Moray is focusing on providing different cask finishes on their products, and they had open casks to showcase the different characters one can imprint onthe basic product. You could sniff & smell the differences. Accordind to the little one, the port finish was the best. I bought a bottle for his 18th birthday … They had quite a few warehouses, a contrast to the single one at Benromach … In the tasting room I added the samples to my drivers kit … By now we had all worked up an appetite and I started preparing linner: A coupe of snacks, pie, grilled lamb and steamed mussels in garlic sauce. All accompanied by a nice beer in the sunshine … The day was concluded a bit earlier with a lemon pie (commercial, very good) … Aaaand a belated sampling for yours truly 🥳

After a brief hiatus we are back online … A beautiful morning - warm and sunny. Perfect for … This was the day I was looking forward to - distillery visits at two Speyside distilleries 🥳 Of course being a German and all, nothing was left to chance. I even brought some Katerfrühstück (some preserved fish in a soucy tomato & pickled cucumber sauce) all the way from Germany, to strengthen my stomach and get ready to buffer the alcohol before the tasting tour … Little one was entertaining his new-found friend and trying to teach her all the games he had. So much patience in that young girl … First distillery was Benromach, one of the very few Speyside distilleries that produces a lightly peated whiskey. They had a lovely visitors center with even more lovely personnel (with the loveliest Scottish accents you could imagine). But then the lovely guide asked: “is anyone here driving ?”, which I unfortunately answered truthfully with “me”. This excluded me automatically from the tasting set after the tour 😪*. The distillery was very “manual” and the expertise on controlling the process was impressive. I had a talk with one of the distillers that was running around how they determine the change from the methanol-rich forerun to the real distillate in the absence of any proper process control equipment, and his answers (and willingness to share those) were really great. I was impressed … Filling casks with a hose would be my next dream job. The room, though well ventilated, was perfumed with the scent of nascent whiskey … All in all a great visit (minus - of course - the inability to taste). I bought a bottle of a rare expression, filled my tasting samples into a provided kit (for later, they were paid for) and headed to pick up the family for the second visit of the day … —- * they were adamant on that: I told them I am a big guy, and three little sips don’t do anything for me, but …

Streak of comfort food continues - today the Catalan edition (and coincidentally what little one requested for his 9th birthday today): Macarrons de l’àvia (or gratinated pasta with meat sauce). Very simple, just a sofregit, meat, tomatoes, salt, pepper and cheese - but full of childhood memories for my wife and obviously for him … Treat for the cook - more of a student memory, though …

Of course not - they have a rotisserie in their portfolio and wouldn’t cannibalize their own product … 😜

I have difficulty grasping the meaning of this sentence. It is coated in everything (you had lying around) except for the bagel seasoning (which would be unsuitable) ?

If they are crunchy and you have a proper fish to crust ratio, they are really good. The regular fish fingers here contain not enough fish. Ratio is 55% fish to 45% crust. The Rösti-coated ones had more fish, and because the coating has bits and pieces of potato sticking out, was also more crunchy. If all fails, you can just make breadcrumb-coated fried fish - DH will like that 🤗

I am wondering whether Breville or Anova will bring this to the ambitious home cook …

Nice ! How do you prepare your pork loin ?

Gluten free is quite popular, as are vegan products and meat alternatives. Basically all the major brands have their lines of products (see here for the one I cited above). The allergen warnings are there, but not as pronounced as in the US (mostly, because our law does not allow for “outrageous” settlements in lawsuits).

Yes, you are correct. This is the most popular brand here …

No, it pretty much what you’d call Marinara sauce (minus the red wine) …

Was a bit of a lousy day, and I felt not like cooking. So I went out to buy some Fischstäbchen (fish fingers), kind of my childhood comfort food. They have evolved - plenty of varieties: I picked the salmon variety and the cod one, coasted in a Rösti shell. Baked in the oven, they won’t win any gourmet competition - but they were crunchy and strangely quite tasty. Served with mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and tomato sauce - just like 40 years ago 🤗

Make miso soup with it …

Will do … soon 🙏

I understand, but kale is more of an alternative to what they like to use. This weekend I prepare a half-years supply of Grünkohl (kale), so maybe I am very biased …

Thanks ! Would gave never thought of kale in a soup (the German way of treating kale is … different) - but seems this is a different veggie. End result sounds pretty good to me 🤗

I prepared dinner on the occasion of my father’s 79th birthday … SV goose legs (18h @ 70oc, then roasted for 30 min @ 225 oC)). Some goose breast. Braised red cabbage with apple and lingonberry. Potato Knödel (half boiled/half raw). A goose sauce made from the carcass and - if I may say so - to die for …