Duvel

Rana is a pretty solid choice for fresh ravioli, and most supermarkets have them (here). Their radicchio variety is terrific 👍

Nope - the other 2/3 of the family are a bit squeamish about spicy stuff. Half is a (Chinese) chicken/ham/mushroom based stock, the other is a (Japanese) dashi/kombu/yuzu peel stock … The hot oil is in one of the three sauce options 😎

It’s not that unusual, that these two events coincide, so yesterday we had “Chinese New Year meets (German) Carnival) … Hot pot (with a bit of Oden touch) … Followed by Fastnachtsküchle - ultrathin and super crisp wafers made from a sweet dough and deepfried (in lard 🥳), before being dusted with caster sugar. No complaints 🤗

Most likely they are just chicken powder formulated that way to withstand higher humidity environments. Chicken powder containing a fair amount of salts will be mildly hygroscopic, so formulating them in granules will reduce the surface area and retard (undesired) clumping ...

Labskaus - not as nicely plated as recently in Hamburg - but very good, nonetheless. Served in the traditional way with pickled herring, pickled cucumbers and red beets and a fried egg … No complaints 🥳

I‘d say so … although it doesn’t really fit to the dish. Or salsify, which doesn’t fit neither. Mystery of TV decorations 🙃

I know you all we be delighted that Chicken Maryland has even made it into the German National TV (ZDF). Of course they have the only authentic version, combining pretty much all features individually discussed here: breaded pan-fried chicken, mustard cream sauce, bacon, bananas (the former wrapped around the latter), … https://www.zdf.de/gesellschaft/volle-kanne/chicken-maryland-100.html Rejoice and replicate ✊

It really has been a while since we had a pizza & movie night … Tonight at least we had the pizza. I drove up north today to pick up my father, who will be staying with us for a week. He was looking forward to the pizza, but as today was the finals & the match for 3rd place of the European handball championships we had (much to the dismay of little one) „European handball finals & pizza night“. I was so busy juggling witty comments on the game, appeasing a disappointed kid and dishing out a dough-based dinner I forgot to take pictures. Luckily with my father around I could get away with making three large pizzas and thus take a picture of the (plenty) leftovers 🤗 Ham, salami & mushroom - spinach & gorgonzola - spicy beef, bacon & mushroom. No complaints 🥳

Chicken with a mala sesame sauce, agedashi eggplant*, tofu with fermented crab, mapo eggplant* and edamame with smoked salt. And I was able to Improve my score with the relevant demographic: while yesterday’s dishes found an approval of 3 out of 4, today we had 5 out of 5. Thus, no complaints 🤗 —- * these were a test run how well eggplants can be air fried in different shapes. Both did well …

Poached chicken with chili oil, cold potato slivers with Sichuan pepper, tomato & eggs and smacked cucumber …

It‘s a common (yet not traditional) side to cured meats, e.g. Kassler or Schäufele. You fry some onions, add bayleaves, juniper berries and maybe cloves, top up with 100-150 mL white wine. Add your Sauerkraut (800g, drained), salt (depending on your Sauerkrauts salinity) and simmer for about 10 min. Add sugar to get a sweet & sour balance, then add one pineapple, cubed and simmer for 20 min more. Adjust the sweetness and acidity to your liking. For these burgers I chopped the Sauerkraut a bit up, and made rather small pineapple cubes, so I could apply the mixture as a kind of relish. For big chunks of cured meat you want to have a more rustic texture … You can add bacon cubes or cured sausage links while frying the onions, then it becomes a meal in itself, if ypu serve it with some fried potatoes. Finally, the whole thing works with mango, too …

Yeap …

Add yeast, let it ferment for some days and voilà: cider ! Boil for a few minutes and the alcohol is gone. Or - for your recipe - use apple juice and substitute 5% of your liquid with apple cider vinegar. That‘ll give some tartness the juice is missing.

After a long walk through the frozen town … I stopped at the butcher and got my (preordered) Saumagen. 1.6 kg were a bit too much, so I froze part of it … While the rest became tonight’s Saumagen burger with pineapple Sauerkraut and baconnaise on a brioche bun. Served with fries (yay for airfryers) and more baconnaise … No complaints 🤗

Reminds me a bit of Apu …

Peas ? That’s a new to me …

Wow … you can get Kassler in the US ? It looks uncured, though ?

Peanuts with yuzu koshō … oishii 🤗

Got a nice 900 g “slice” of entrecôte on Friday and decided to go with a classic peppercorn cream sauce a la @Ann_T. While preparing I found out that unfortunately my glass of green peppercorns was somewhat off - and no possibility to get some on a Sunday night. Luckily, I had a fresh pack of shichimi tōgarashi (a blend with a high sanshō amount from Kyoto) opened last week and that made an excellent substitute - aromatic, medium heat and it worked well with the whiskey I used as well 🤗 So, with creamed spinach and fries from the airfryer as sides … No complaints 🥳

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 …