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eG Foodblog: gsquared


gsquared

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Here is a pic of my stove. It dates from the 1920's and I am, despite the fact that it is completely useless for anything other than roasting meat and warming plates, inordinately fond of it. I recived sad news a few weeks ago. The company that supplies piped gas to my home informed me that they will, in March, be switching to LPG gas. This implies that I will have to retire the old fellow, as it cannot be converted safely. I think a wake will be called for. The idea of getting a new, modern range has its appeal, but I have a relationship with that stove, dammit! Simply discarding it like so much scrap iron seems almost immoral. The wife tells me "It is only a stove, after all". She can be so callous at times.

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Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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Minor unexpected snag with the lunch today: one of the guests is Muslim and eats halaal. So:

Tomato tart and tapenade will be ok.

Gewurtz and mussels - the wine is out, mussels maybe ok. I will do a grape jelly and hope that the mussels are fine.

Duck rilette is out, the duck I used was not halaal. I went to the local Halaal butcher and bought a chicken breast. Challenge is to make a quick chicken rilette. We'll see.

Kudu fillet is out. Bought halaal beef fillet and halaal ghee to pan fry it in.

I need to remember to cook the halaal stuff seperately and to check that I do not inadvertently chuck something that is non-halaal in.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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If you used wine in cooking and all the alcohol burned off, would it still be haram? (Haram=forbidden, the opposite of halal=allowed; spellings may differ as there is no worldwide standard for transliteration from Arabic.) I frankly don't know and have never asked any of my Muslim friends about that. We did have a thread on eGullet about how much alcohol remains after some has burned off in cooking, however. It was interesting, and did show that there is usually some percentage of alcohol left over, which would tend to demonstrate why cooking with alcohol would be haram.

Do you keep a separate set of halal pots, cutlery and so forth out of consideration for your Muslim friends?

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Interesting, Michael. Thanks for that. I had better play it safe and not add any brandy to the sauce for the Muslim guest.

Do you keep a separate set of halal pots, cutlery and so forth out of consideration for your Muslim friends?

No, I borrow from a Muslim neighbour.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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You could always ask around for future reference. The Muslim country I lived in was Malaysia, and Malay villagers simply didn't keep alcoholic drinks around for any reason, unless they were being very wicked. :shock::raz: (The scuttlebutt was that fishermen drank palm wine when they were out at sea, but the fairly widely accepted intoxicant in Malay villages on the East Coast of Malaysia in those days was definitely not alcohol, but betelnut.) Anyway, if alcohol is not kept in the house, whether it is halal to use it in cooking really isn't at issue. And anyway, Malaysian (and not just Malay) cuisine is not characterized by the use of alcohol in cooking to any great extent. I guess rice wine is used in some dishes Chinese Malaysians make, but I don't think they're the most common items. It occurs to me that you may have some familiarity with Cape Malay cuisine, though it's from another part of your country.

Anyway, on the East Coast of Malaysia where I used to live, they did and do have something called tapai during Eid, interestingly enough. It's fermented tapioca root or rice, and the liquid on the bottom of the bag can be intoxicating enough to get a 10-year-old high, as I remember. :laugh: They drank the liquid, reasoning that it was a food and not an alcoholic drink. :wacko::laugh:

Sorry for the digression. I'll see whether I can get an answer to this question about using alcohol in cooking.

[Edit: I just posted a message to the soc.culture.malaysia and alt.religion.islam newsgroups and will let you know if I get some authoritative-sounding replies.]

Edited by Pan (log)

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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After all that, the Muslim guest could not make it - problem with a patient. Oh well...Had she pitched, I would have been ready. For the rest the lunch went well. Very well. The signs for a sale by my SO are promising.

On to the lunch:

The tomato tart with tapenade and young greens dressed in a basil vinaigrette:

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The Gewurtz and mussel jelly:

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The duck rilette with fresh fig and chevres with a teriyake sauce.

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The fillet of kudu on a bed of orange scented spinach and polenta with a green peppercorn sauce. Spinach was a last minute addition. I know the sauce is a reprise of last night's, but it worked so well with the ostrich that I thought it a perfect mate for the kudu.

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Strawberry ice with creme fraiche and black pepper

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One meal done. What to do for dinner? Methinks a post-prandial nap may just refresh the creative juices.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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Forgot to post a pic of the table set for lunch. Here it is.

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Dinner tonight presents a slight problem. Under normal circumstances I would, given that we had a large lunch, have just done toasted sandwiches or something. My wife has a works from 6pm until 9:30pm and thus has to be fed before she leaves. Our sleep-in guest returns at 8pm and would, I think, have a reasonable expectation of something more. So, early sarmie for the wife and maybe just a stir-fry (chicken and noodles?) later for the guest. Maybe I will also be more nibbly by then.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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You have a beautiful home...and your food presentations live up to it.

Do you have a speciality, or special meal or signature dish?

Barbara Laidlaw aka "Jake"

Good friends help you move, real friends help you move bodies.

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Do you have a speciality, or special meal or signature dish?

I guess it will be the gewurtz jelly and mussel jelly. Not really a dish, I know - more of an amuse, but it is one of the first things I thought up all by myself. It has probably been done in various forms, but I devised it without outside reference. Hence my pride, albeit perhaps misplaced. But, what the heck, when you are learning how to cook, small triumphs like that feature large. One other dish I make regularly and can make some claim to originality, come to think of it, is tempura prawn on lemon grass. The innovation (at least I think it is an innovation), is to sharpen a fresh lemon grass stick, scrape the end with a sharp knife to leave curls of lemon grass on it, impale the prawn on the end and then tempura and fry. The lemon grass flavour permeates the prawn to some extent - sort of prawn and lemon all in one.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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No problem, Jake. A lemon grass stick is not exactly a firm skewer - you need to take care when threading the prawn and sort of coax it onto it.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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Thanks. I have quite often used lemongrass sticks to grill scallops...lovely flavour.

Barbara Laidlaw aka "Jake"

Good friends help you move, real friends help you move bodies.

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Dinner for the guest will be stir fried spaghetti (I have some fresh, not dried spaghetti that should be good) with stir fried chicken (strips of breast). Maybe some ginger, garlic, lime zest and lemon grass into the oil in the wok, with a few pinches of Chinese 5 spices. Stir fry the cooked pasta until coated, add in some soy sauce and Nam Pla. Keep warm. More oil into the wok. Add lots of ginger. Stir fry the chicken. Generous amount of coriander over the pasta topped by the chicken. Hmmm...this is sounding sort of Thai-ish. I am very, very weak on oriental cooking and just have no idea of the flavour balance of Thai food. Maybe less of the orient. I dunno. Maybe I'll just make it up as I go along.

I really do not agonize lengthily about every dish I make. But this is, after all, a blog and I am honour bound to share my thoughts. The above thought process would normally occupy only a few seconds in real time.

In any event, something will be cobbled together and duly reported upon.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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It occurs to me that you may have some familiarity with Cape Malay cuisine, though it's from another part of your country.

Pan, I do have a reasonable knowledge of Cape Malay cooking. As does practically everyone in S.A. The Malay influence has permeated our cooking to such an extent that is is almost ubiquitous. I am fairly confident that alcohol in any form, overt or covert, is shunned.

Please post when/if you get more clarity on this issue.

Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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Stunning pictures. Your set table looks like a tableau from a home magazine. It's the perfect antidote to the snow outside my window. :smile:

And the food looks amazing as well.

Edited by bloviatrix (log)

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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I am really enjoying your foodblog. Thanks for sharing your food and dining photos. The alfresco dining area looks like an oasis of peace and relaxation for enjoying meals. Your plating photos are an inspiration to me.

I love seeing your kitty - big cat person here. :wub:

note to self to try peppercorn sauce soon.

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Dinner was, well, ok. I had planned on having to prepare it only for the sleep-in guest, but two friends showed up unexpectedly and I had to expand a bit. Did the stir fried pasta thing with chicken, and I am not driven to desperation with the result. Not ecstatic either.

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Did a quick dessert - mango sauted in a little butter with Cointreau added after 3 minutes. Served with vanilla ice cream. The mango was great and carried the dessert. I could have been more generous with the Cointreau. The marriage between mango and orange deserves further exploration.

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Gerhard Groenewald

www.mesamis.co.za

Wilderness

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