Duvel

Or - as witnessed at far too many banquets in China - either ice cold red wine (of dubious origin) or baijiu, served from little 100 mL carafes, that magically refill themselves … In both cases, I’d happily go with whatever diet soda they could offer (hint: none) …

In these challenging times, a full summer vacation is not an easy task. For the last 1.5 years we have been mostly at home with the clear plan to visit Catalonia (or more precise my wife’s family) latest this summer. And it looked good for a while. Unfortunately, the recent rise in case numbers in Spain have resulted in … OK, let’s skip this part. Long story short - my wife and me are fully vaccinated, as are >90% of the people we care about in Catalonia. After some discussion (after all, Germans tend to prefer to be on the safe side of things) we simply fueled up the car, got each a test (for the transit through France) and started to drive … After a leisurely 11h drive we arrived at a small fishing town somewhat north of Barcelona around 3.00am. We unloaded the car and my wife an the little one went straight to bed. I found an expired beer in the elsewise pretty empty fridge and enjoyed the cool breeze on the terrace. Holidays, here we come …

It sounds even better if you add some lime and a generous splash of vodka …

While I agree and typically German dinner consists exclusively of similar open faced sandwiches (that we call “Abendbrot”), others feel very strongly about the number of bread slices involved per item as well as the “eatability” of the whole construct without utensils …

Adding to the “tonic” subject: as G&T is huuuge in Spain, they do carry a lot of tonic water varieties … My haul for this week …

As does the cake - the mere act of living is potentially fatal 😉

😉

Excellent point - me, I fear I am addicted to water. No day goes by without, getting classical withdrawal symptoms (dry mouth, headaches, dizziness) if I don’t drink for a while and fear I would die if I go a few days completely without …

I am not sure I understand this sentence: You are used to get premium anchovies in Spain and now you don’t (wherever you are) or you are used to get the premium stuff (wherever you are) and now in Spain you get the cheap stuff. The former I easily understand, the latter would raise a few questions …

Can’t decide between their Hungarian sausage … … and their Giniling 🙄

As much as I am intrigued by “Coco Mama”, the “unMeat” would frighten me to use the fan in public …

Dig out the fresh brains of live monkeys at banquets (as per Chinese culinary tradition) ?!

I use (salt water) boiled potatoes from the previous day, thinly sliced just before topping the pizza with it, occasionally brushing with oil (depending how much effort I want to put in)

Understood - my impression was that you wanted to go to the caramelized toffee stage. If you stay in the sirup stage(s), you will have residual water. However, your system changes from your initial e.g. an aqueous solution of sugar (what this boiling point discussion is about) to metastable sugar melt with residual water content < 20%, so a slightly better description would be sugar with a lowered melting point. A good reference can be found here. Sorry, @Bernie - this is not the definition of entropy. Your system starts from a random state of distribution, and will continue to maximize its entropy (or “randomness”) over time. This is the second law of thermodynamics. Your system will not return spontaneously to a state that has a higher order, e.g. by randomly forming a temperature gradient or changing part of its state above the transition temperature (irreversibility).

Yes. However, I do not see how From my point of view the statements given concerning the delta of temperature choices and the lid/no lid discussion will not differ, whether the braise is done by @BonVivant at sea level or by @Panaderia Canadiense somewhere above the clouds …

Maybe to assist here a bit: dissolved components usually increase the boiling point of the resulting (watery) solution. Notable exceptions are components, that themselves have a lower boiling point than water. In the kitchen context that is only ethanol. As @gfweb has rightfully pointed out, the effect is minuscule and does not contribute to the effects discussed here, though. This is not fully correct. The water initially added to melt and caramelize sugar is used in order to avoid burning. It will evaporate and the sugar will eventually caramelize (thus polymerize). This is not related to the above mentioned increase in boiling point. Water in this case is the solvent. As you agitate the solution (e.g. by boiling), concentration gradients will quickly dissipate. There won‘t be areas of „pure water“ left. The evaporation takes place all over the surface of the solution is a statistic process, depending on relative concentration and boiling point. Unfortunately, this is not correct. Entropy will ensure this does not happen. Yes, and even more importantly it is about the heat transfer medium. Saturated steam (e.g.) in a closed system will transfer heat far more efficiently than dry air (in an oven), and a rapidly boiling solution will do the same significantly better than a barely simmering medium. And this is where the major differences are rooted if you compare braising (a technique where the braised goods are not fully immersed in liquid) at higher vs. lower temperatures.

Again, this depends on what you want … If you strive for authenticity, you can have Italian meatballs in white sauce, baked in the oven, deep fried, in broth (btw: all with garlic 😉) and yes - also served in myriads of different tomato sauces. As for accompaniments: they are usully secondi (the meat course) and thus served with contorni (side dishes, e.g. cooked vegetables and such, NB: potato is considered in this group, too). Carbohydrates (other than bread and starchy veggies) are served before.

I think not, unfortunately. If you want to go “generic”, use milk-soaked stale bread, a mixture of fatty pork & beef, egg, grated hard cheese and some herb component (parsley, basil) plus a healthy dose of garlic …

I think the answer to your question depends on who asked it … Someone from your country (where do you live) ? Someone who saw an early Jamie Oliver show ? An Italian nonna (from Sicily / Tuscany / Sardinia / …) ? Someone who grew up with XXXX-italian roots and their respective food culture ? The expectation and thus the “meatball request” might be very different. Can you help to understand the background of the question ?

Funny enough, I have a Aritsugu knife, that I hold very dear for a lot of reasons - and have never used …

The reaction the respective components of your item undergo are irreversible and will occur at said temperatures. To stay with your example: If you take a piece of meat and drop it into a 80 oC bath it will reach the 55 oC internal temperature on its way to the target temperature, and said reactions will occur. Returning later to the lower temperature will not alter the result, as the reaction will have reached completion. If the overall time above 55 oC (e.g. at 80!oC) however is insufficient and does not allow the reaction to come to completion, then a return to 55 oC will drive the described reaction to completion. In the extreme, think searing meat, were you expose the meat to very high temperatures for very short time, thus leaving most if the interior unaffected by these temperatures.

A t-shirt ?

Now that deserves a bit more explanation …

Did you cry, too ..?! 😉

Looks great, @Tropicalsenior ! Nutmeg instead if Mace is a common substitute. Mace is a bit more intense, a bit more floral - you could up the nutmeg a bit if you like. But if you are happy with the results, why bother … The bright pink color comes from the nitrites in the pink salt - did you use that ? Again, great result ! I am happy that somewhere in the far western lands someone makes & enjoys authentic Leberkäse 🤗