Ethnic crossover

Subject: Ethnic crossover
From: Den
Date: 27 Jul 99 - 10:25 PM

This came to me tonight as I was preparing one of our favourite meals. We have it at least once a week. Now I have to mention at this stage that I'm not talking about musical crossovers such as the Chieftains and just about...well, everybody. No I'm talking food. I come from N. Ireland and I have to admit that our diet can be pretty bland, we don't have the ethnic diversity of the USA or Canada eg so for us, and all you people from Ireland that had cooked ham, lettuce and sliced boiled eggs (locally known as salad)... please stand up.

Every Sunday at (depending on ethnic diversity) 5:30 pm (times may vary) we had cooked ham, lettuce and sliced boiled eggs, to be polished off with ...the Angelus, at approximately 6:00 pm.

Until the advent of the Chineese immigrant. They made curry. Yes Chineese immigrants making curry. Now I don't know all the details behind this particular phenomenon but I do remember my brother and I discovering for the first time curried chicken and fried rice after a night in the pub which involved copious pints of stout.

The local chineese beckoned and we ordered the delicious meal...heaven.

If your still with me at this stage...good. I have been ever since a lover of spicy food. As I stated earlier it has become a staple for our family. Once a week we have curried chicken and rice and a vegetable such as peas or corn. Even Frank the dog (late of the Mudcat Tavern Act 1) loves the leftovers.

I was back in N. Ireland a couple of years ago and discovered that the ethnic crossover had married the chip (french fry to our N.American friends) and curry sauce...ohhh double heaven. you gotta try it. When we came back to Canada my wife and I craved for weeks on end that taste.

Any way I throw it open...ethnic food diversity? yours still missing curried chips, Den

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: alison
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 02:24 AM

Hi Den,

Yes I agree, chips in curry sauce was a great invention. My dad (typical Irish) "it's not a meal unless it has spuds" claims he has eaten chinese.. he has had chips and gravy!!

Don't forget the good stuff... big plates of champ, Ulster fries, black pudding, potato bread, soda..... and real pasties .....yum.......

I miss them in Oz. I was from Belfast. What part where you from?

PS.Our salads were slightly more adventurous than yours.. we had a quarter of a tomato too. My dad still whinges all summer about having to eat rabbit food for tea on sundays!!

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 02:53 AM

One of my favorite recipes is for curry (I make huge amounts so we can freeze some for a few more meals). I start with lots of chopped yellow onions (four or five of the largest I can find) which I sautee in a cube of butter. I add several tablespoons each of chopped garlic and ginger (I buy these in small bottles (4 oz?). I also add several tablespoons of curry powder (I used to make it from scratch), a tablespoon of cinnamon, and a couple teaspoons of salt, plus a teaspoon or so of cayenne pepper and then grind black pepper over it. Then I brown three or four pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces, add these to the onions and spices, add a couple of cups of water, and let cook on low heat for an hour or so. Then I add a half pound or so of baby carrots, a pound of red potatoes cut into 8ths, skins and all, a pound of apples cored and cut up like the potatoes, and another cup of water. Another half hour of cooking and I add a cup of plain non-fat yogurt and about half a cup of flour shaken in a bottle with a cup of water. I leave on low heat until the rice is cooked (I use Japanese style rice, rinsed, two cups of rice brought to a boil in three cups of water, then reduced to low heat for 16 minutes. Japanese rice is sticky--my wife is Japanese so that's the way we eat it.

We serve it with shoga (pickled ginger), kimchee (spicy Korean pickled nappa cabbage), Major Grey chutney, and if I'm really ambitious, white raisins, chopped walnuts, and shredded coconut, all in small bowls or a divided serving platter. I usually make a green salad, but sometimes my wife makes a yogurt and cucumber salad (w/salt and garlic).

We just finished off the last batch I cooked, so I've got to get back at it.

--seed

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Ana
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 03:01 AM

And then if you go to India, great efforts are made to accommodate the tastes of Europeans (invariably vaguely poor backpackers). Menus in the many eating houses can be seen to proclaim such things as "all our meals are cocked up", or "cooked children" (meaning chicken, though my kids didn't grasp that one immediately) and "scrabbled eggs".

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Ana
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 03:46 AM

and then if you visit India - the land from where curry was first corrupted - you will find great efforts are made to pander to the tastes of the European (usually scruffy and vaguely impoverished packpackers). Some menus I spied at eating houses included "all our meals are cocked up", "scrabbled eggs" and "cooked children" (meant to be "chicken"). My kids took a while to be convinced of the latter. In one place we asked if the chicken was really fresh - we were assured of this when the waiter ran through the eating area with a flapping chook under his arm, into the cooking area; sounds of the execution then followed. It was a somber meal that night.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Ana
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 03:51 AM

ohmigod - sorry guys - when I checked, my 1st message didn't show - so yes, you guessed it - I rewrote it! People will now look at the submissions and think "oh...that must be a scintillating thread...6 messages!" but it's only anaanaana - what an ego huh ..meglomanic etc etc.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Den
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 08:43 AM

Hi Alison, I lived for quite a while on New Bonn street (in the markets just off Crummick street) which sadly has made way for ...progress I suppose. New Bonn street is no longer there.

I have to agree with you though on pasties Barney Gee's on Crummick street had the best pasties in town. I used to go to Nora's right by the corn market for my Ulster fries. If you go up the coast to Newcastle they have the Mourne fry, every bit as good and every bit as likely to stop your heart. Den

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bert
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 08:52 AM

I was making steak & kidney Pie one time. My second wife, who was raised in Opelousas, LA. decided to help me. It finished up with green peppers, hot sauce & cayenne pepper in it.

Good though!

Bert.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: MMario
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:01 AM

My family still talks about the "United Nations" dinner my mother served once...

Spanish rice and sausage, made with Polish sausage,Portugese bread on the side served in an Italian-american home to a Japanese guest.

MMario

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:02 AM

since Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs have taken over many local fish 'n' chip shops (including my own local one), the enhanced range of dishes on offer allows for much creative mixing.
I remember being in the queue behind one eclectic soul who had a bag of chips, a saveloy, a pickled gherkin, a spring roll, all topped with curry sauce.
I'm glad I wasn't behind him later...

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: alison
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:14 AM

Hi den,

I lived in East Belfast for most of my life, (Shandon Park), before having a few years in Castlerock, then I moved to Australia.

Have to disagree with you... best pastie supper..... definately The Castle on the Castlereagh Road *grin*

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Den
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:25 AM

Hi Alison, Castlerock, thats interesting this is a long shot but did you happen to know any McLoughlans there? The reason I ask is because I used to play in a band with a guy here in Canada who was married to a girl from Castlerock her name used to be McLoughlan. Apparantly she came from a big family, lots of brothers and sisters.

The castle well I never had a pastie there so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Did you ever have a burger from Ken's? Great stuff. Gee I'm getting hungry and its only 10:30 am. Better get back to work. Den

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Margo
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:32 AM

Did you know that curry was an English invention? The British in India needed strong spices to camoulflage the taste of not so good meat.

From my family comes an all time favorite: Eggplant salad. If you like vinegar and oil type marinades or dressings, you'd love my eggplant salad.

Margarita

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:49 AM

Cookery is a branch of folklore that's never been covered adequately in the literature. If Mucat Chefs would like to, we can keep a useful and entertaining thread foing on recipes---particularly regional variants.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: alison
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:55 AM

I knew McLoughlans in Belfast, none in Castlerock.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Den
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 10:04 AM

Great idea Dick the Mudcat cookbook. Den

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Rana
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 11:05 AM

Hi,

News article on what is now the "cuisine of Britain" the other week mentioned how the chains were jumping on the band wagon. Apparantly Burger King have a "Curry in a Hurry" and a friend confirmed McDonalds have a McKorma and Nan.

Reminds me also of a BBC documentary when visiting on History of British Cuisine. The one on Indian restaurants told of the louts coming in after the pubs closed for a curry. They spiced it up depending on how obnoxious the customer was. Apparently for one bad one they put in at least 4x the peppers for a vindaloo than they would normally and then watched as he was too proud to admit he couldn't take it.

Actually, when I go back I'll stick to curries at home and go out for a nostalgic Fish n' Chips - oh the days of 6 pennyworth of chips! One thing to avoid at chippies (especially north of Hadrians Wall are deep fried frozen pizzas and deep fried Mars bars in batter.

hungrily (but still an hour from lunch) Rana

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 11:22 AM

Perhaps I was being obnoxious when my sister-in-law put a tablespoon full of chilipowder instead of a teaspoon full in a chilli con carne. "Well Roger's eaten all his" [and Sid's and Bill's..".-bbc wireless joke-], though no-one else finished it, but I couldn't taste anything else for some time afterwards. My mother-in-law calls me the human dustbin (I think it's a compliment) "Roger'll finish it up" is the family cry, and then they say it's the drink that makes me fat!
Tara a bit
RtZ

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: M
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 11:22 AM

Here's one… my grandfather, who was born and raised in what is now Karachi, Pakistan, (and had a British father and Irish mother, though he looked an awful lot like Ghandi in his later years), made the SPICIEST (traditional) curry around. He and my mother were the only ones who would eat it. Not my grandmother, who was from Burma, not my aunt. And not me, as a child. Probably not even the dog. My earliest smell memory is of his piquant curry wafting through his house on campus at Vassar College (in New York state). I have never smelled that particular blend of curry spices since. My mom said he used to friends send him back spices. (deep inhale) I miss it.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 10:19 PM

I would contribute to and buy a Mudcat Cookbook.

I grew up in the American South, where they don't let girls outdoors until they've learned to make a decent gravy. The first thing I learned to cook was fried chicken with gravy, then roast beef with gravy, ham with red-eye gravy, fried pork chops with gravy served over rice, and Swiss steak with gravy. And biscuits, of course.

Then I moved to New Mexico after my kids' dad and I divorced and I felt as though my tastebuds had just been born. Red chile, green chile, homemade tamales, chicken enchiladas ... I became friends with an old, old family there and hung out in the kitchen, learning to make authentic carne adovada and bizcochitos. Nummie.

Then I moved to Wyoming three years ago and my tastebuds have been lonesome ever since. I've found a couple of Mexican places here that actually serve a pretty tasty chile, but ... well, it's just not New Mexico.

Food and music are very tied together in my consciousness. Probably those early memories, learning to cook with my two sisters, my mom and me in the kitchen, singing every second.

ww

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: harpgirl
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 07:05 PM

for years our family Sunday night dinner was boiled beef and kidney with lard dumplings...a splendid (NOT!!!)recipe from Blackburn England where my rum running granddaddy grew up...harpgirl

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bryant
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 07:58 PM

WyoWoman,

I'm down in Albuquerque (been here nearly all my life) and have long been an unabashed, dyed-in-the-wool green chile addict. So I can understand your fond memories for the local cuisine. I'm going to be moving to Portland OR in a month or so and I'm worried about how I'll get by without my fix of eye-waterin', belly burnin' green chile and all the other great stuff you mentioned. I have absolutely stopped ordering "Mexican food" from places when I'm away from NM. Sometimes it's ok, but it's never like home. Anyway, there's a lot I'm looking foward to leaving behind when I head up north (like this damn 100 degree weather), but the smell of roasting green chile on a cool October afternoon is not one of them. Nor is coming home on a February evening to the smell of a crock pot full of green chile stew that's been simmering all day. Ahhhh, viva la chile verde!

Bryant

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 10:12 PM

Bryant, in Portland you will get to discover Asian cuisine. Aaaah! I fell in love with Thai food a long time ago.

(Tried Sushi when I lived in Miami, but it was $$.)

Only in America:

Hawaiian pizza barbecue pizza taco pizza shrimp pizza

My Grammy (WASP to the core) used to make a little well in her flour bin, throw in salt and baking powder, then some water, roll it until it was the right consistency, then plop it out, roll, cut, and biscuits!

When I moved out West, I found out they think the pioneers invented it: they call them flour barrel biscuits, but once upon a time, it's the way biscuits were made ...

MAG

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 10:30 PM

ahh, the arguments you can get into about how to cook/spice/serve/garnish "X"

Imagine my surprise when I first moved to Wash DC from Kansas, and asked for a BBQ beefsandwich at a little diner..(not really expecting it to be 'excellent', but hoping)..and the guy plops a BIG scoop of coleslaw right on top of the meat!...arrrgghhhhh....(even the 'good' local BBQ and Mexican places just do NOT follow tradition...I asked at a Mexican restaurant why I could not get HOT sauce, only sauce with more ONION..(yuck)..and they told me they tried it, but the eastern taste buds were not adapted, and not enough people would eat it)...I am used to BBQ and Mexican food that cleans the pores!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 10:38 PM

MAG,

My dad used to make those kinds of bicuits for Sunday morning sometimes. We always just called them baking powder bisuits....really original, huh?

BUT, I went to a friend's house once and proceeded to put butter and sugar on my biscuits and they thought I was nuts! They'd never ehard of it and instead used gravy.

Later on I met someone from way down South who said they did the butter & sugar thing, too and my dad and I concluded that since a lot of his family was from Virginia, maybe that was where it got passed down from.

Even later, when I moved to New England, I found out they did the same thing, so now I am really confused:-). None of it seems really logical or tied to one geographical spot, so maybe it's just each family? Either way I love those biscuits.

When we moved to New England, those of the family who drink coffee had to be sure to order it black, if they didn't want cream & sugar 'cause just ordering coffee would get it with both as a matter of course.

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 11:01 PM

and I used to drink mostly tea!...and I almost had a fight or two with those who were bound and determined to serve me tea that was half milk!..I can understand people growing up doing it 'their' way..but WHY do they almost demand that I do it their way/

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 11:09 PM

Well, my Gram was from West Virginia; the other side of the family was Maine, mostly we food the Maine way ...

as my Mom STILL says: You can tell a man from Maine, but you can't tell him much ... never in front of my dad, oddle enough ...

MAG

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 11:35 PM

Ah....so you're descended from a bunch of Mainiacs! Somehow, I should've known!**Big Grin**

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 29 Jul 99 - 11:50 PM

Bryant -- I made the move from SAnta Fe to Portland for one year. I suffered for chile -- honestly -- and for posole. Oh, my, how I love posole with red chile...

What I finally did was pay friends to send me care packages. If I were you, before I moved out there, I"d make sure I had a "connection" to provide red chile and dried posole. The only way you'll get green chile, unless things have changed since 1990, is to have it fedexed to you on dry ice -- and that either takes a commercial operation or a really good friend.

But I agree that Thai food will certainly keep the tastebuds happy -- it's not the same sort of happy as fiery green chile stew, or carne adovado burritos, but enough to distract you.

I have now seen frozen green chile up here in our local supermarket, so maybe there's a movement afoot to expand the loveliness of chile throughout the country.

KAT -- I'm ambi-biscuitrous. I eat 'em with gravy, but also with butter and sugar. Or -- best of all -- butter and wild honey. mmmmm.

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 12:11 AM

WW: LMAOWROTF! That's a great turn of phrase, better post it to that thread! Ambi-biscuitrous, indeed!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 09:58 AM

..."and it's pans of biscuits, bowls of gravy,
....pans of biscuits, we shall have"...from a Hedy West album...

NOTHING bettern' biscuits 'n gravy...'less it's biscuits 'n honey....or is it the other way 'round?

(Rita and I were driving from Texas to Wash DC years ago, when we approached breakfast and Memphis about the same time...we drove past various fast food places, and 'something' told me, so I started down a side street, and made a few turns at random until....THERE!...a little store-front restaurant...went in and found it family owned and run, Grammaw cookin', granddaughter waiting tables...and PANS OF BISCUITS & BOWLS OF GRAVY!!...lawsamercy!...(this was sausage gravy, browned bits of sausage in a perfectly mixed gravy, served in a crockery bowl, so one could dip, spoon it over biscuits or drink it right from the bowl.....

I 'spose there are lots of places like that, but I don't get south much...

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: harpgirl
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 10:10 AM

...Bill, I have been looking for a recording of that song!!! What album is it?? harpgirl

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 10:53 AM

Sounds like the kitchen of my home when my kids were around!

I've often entertained the idea of opening a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant in which I would serve only those dishes I make that people have said feel so much like home -- mainly my soups and breads, but also chicken-fried steak and fried pork chops, etc. The only items I'd serve for breakfast would be breakfast burritos and/or scrambled eggs with sausage gravy, biscuits, butter and lots of wild honey.

Any venture capitalists out there just aching to bankroll a restaurant that would never make a pence, but would make people so very happy? (I love feeding people. I've missed my calling...)

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bryant
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 12:19 PM

WyoWoman -- I will most definitely set up a "green chile pipeline" to Portland before I go. However, it's encouraging to hear you've come across some the frozen stuff up there. Maybe the cat's out of the bag and the folks down in Hatch will start expanding the market.

I agree -- Thai's a pretty good alternative if you're looking for a belly burn. But it is a different heat. Kinda like the difference between a beer buzz and a wine buzz.

Bryant

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Llanfair
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 12:48 PM

How exactly do you make your American biscuits. They sound really good and versatile. If you like, I'll exchange it for the recipe for Yorkshire pudding, which can also be eaten with gravy or syrup. I am not a great lover of spicy food, particilarly since I stopped smoking, but I love a good Chinese meal. Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 12:57 PM

Bron,

My dad always just threw together some white flour, a teaspoon or two of baking soda stirred in really well, then took shortening (like Crisco, although some probably use lard) and cut it in with a fork, add a little milk to get them the right consistency to be rolled out.

He always put the pan in the oven with a little bit of Crisco in it to be melted.

Then he'd cut the biscuits out using a glass (usually one that was left over form having chipped beef in it, as it was a good size).

After that, he'd take the pan out, hold it with a hot pad, take each biscuit, pat one side in the melted shortening, then the other side and put it in the pan. He did that with each biscuit, then baked them until golden and risen.

When I get a chane, if someone doesn't do it before, I'll look inmy odl cookbook and get you the exact amounts, though we never measured.

kat

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Penny S.
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 02:33 PM

Ah ha, scone dough, but different baking method, so they would work like yorkshires, which also depend on hot fat - read very hot fat. I'll leave the recipe to Llanfair.

Can you tell us about this magic gravy?

Penny

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Alice
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 02:48 PM

pan gravy, from sausage, pork chops, or chicken or turkey drippings.
Cast iron skillet works best. After frying the meat, add enough white flour and mash with a fork to absorb the fat. (Drain off some fat if there is too much.) Scrape the pan to include the bits of meat stuck to it, and make sure the flour is all mixed with fat (avoids lumps that way). Slowly pour in milk as you whisk the fat-saturated flour with a fork or wire whisk. Add enough milk or milk and water to get the right consistency, then simmer while stirring until it tastes 'right'. Add salt and pepper as needed. If you get too much salt in, slice a potato and add some slices to absorb the salty flavor, removing before you serve. Pour over biscuits, pork chops, mashed potatoes, etc.

Here's an 'ethnic' recipe from the way a friend in El Salvador showed me how to make her version of guacamole.
Mince half an onion. Mash one ripe avocado, gently to keep the color from darkening. Mix with fresh lime juice and a bit of heavy cream (not sour cream). Add picante sauce if you like it spicy (that could be tobasco, here), salt and pepper, and if you want, diced tomato.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Llanfair
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 03:40 PM

Well the gravy's much the same, except that we use stock instead of the milk. Penny's right, that recipe is the same as our scones, we have them with jam (jelly) and whipped cream. Yorkshire pudding is plain flour, a few ounces, with a pinch of salt. Break an egg into a well in the middle and mix round so that the egg picks up some flour each time round. When it gets very thick, start adding milk, until the mixture is the consistency of thick cream. Leave to stand in the 'fridge for at least half an hour. Put a little oil or beef dripping in the bottom of each space of a patty tin, the ones you cook jam tarts or mince pies in, and put this into a very hot oven until it is smokin'. A tablespoonful of mixture in each one, and put in the oven for 10-15 mins. The batter will rise very high at the edges, and leave a hollow in the middle if you have done it right. Fill the hollow with gravy or syrup, or whatever. Who says the British have boring food.!!!! Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 04:47 PM

Okay, even though I've been a vegetarian for umpteen years, I am now doing some chicken and fish. BUT, there is a recipe you all might like that I used to make...learned it from mom. The gravy made me think of it.

Pork Chops & Apples

brown the chops in a skillet on the stove, cast iron is best

make a gravy as mentioned above with the drippings

place chops in a baking dish

halve some apples and clean out the cores. put brown sugar and a raisan or two in with the sugar

pour the gravy over it all, so that the chops are covered and at least some parts of the apples

bake in the oven until the chops fall off the bone or the apples are soft when you poke them with a fork

it all should just melt in your mouth!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 31 Jul 99 - 01:06 AM

I am now officially starving. I had a nice salad and some broiled fish for lunch, thank you very much, and a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast for dinner -- have this figger to protect, don'cha' know -- and now, I want a big ol' bowl of gravy in the absolute worst way.

When I lived in Santa Fe, home of more beautiful, wonderful, exquisite restaurants than you can imagine -- every cuisine on the planet represented there, just about -- and I was living with Michael the Chef, who absolutely insisted on "splendid" food on our table -- some days, I'd just get so hungry for REAL food. So I'd go to the Zia diner for lunch and order two sides of mashed potatoes with gravy -- and of course a spinach salad because I felt I SHOULD. I hardly ever really get a hankering for sweets, but good ol' potato-based home cookin' -- I simply die for it sometimes.

Here's an "ethnic" recipe completely unrelated to biscuits and grave:

Carne Adovada

*Get a pork roast or chopped pork stew meat (If you make it with beef, call it Carne Asada) *Rub all over with chopped garlic (I want someone to do this to me some day...) *Dump in a package of dried red chile powder (or crumble up dried red chile pods, if you happen to have a ristra -- that's actually what they're for, rather than decoration) *Pour water over the meat. *Salt a bit *Put in the fridge *Baste with the garlic/red chile/water mixture off and on for at least a day. *Put in oven on low heat -- 300 degrees F. *(Or in crock pot) * Cook slowly for hours and hours, basting periodically, until the meat is so tender it falls apart. Serve on hot tortillas, with a side of sour cream so your guests can cool the chile if they need to.

The best red chile comes from New Mexico -- the tastiest is from the Chimayo valley in Northern New Mexico. Green chile is a specialty of Hatch, N.M. If anyone is seriously committed to the Carne Adovada Project, I can help her or him score some chile.

Salud! WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Jul 99 - 06:08 PM

To those who insist on lighting their palates on fire!:

Using WW's clues, I went to Yahoo, typed in Hatch new mexico red and green chile and the first that came up was this southwestern chile co.-Hatch, NM Looks like they do it all, including shipping. There was another company that came up, but I stopped with this one.

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 31 Jul 99 - 09:43 PM

Oh... MY .... GAWDDDDD...

I have bookmarked this site. I am so completely thrilled to find this. This winter when I think I might die if I don't get some good Hatch green chile stew, I'll order some and think warm wuzzy thoughts of you, Ms. Katlaff. (Havin' a daughter who's a vegetarian, I"ve even learned to make some pretty good veggie green chile -- maybe you'll join me?)

Bryan, are you taking notes?????

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jul 99 - 11:25 PM

ahhh..harpgirl...if you are still reading this thread...sorry I am slow answering, it has been a busy week, and I am going out of town for most of NEXT week..

but, the album I got "Pans of Biscuits" from is just called 'Hedy West'..old Vanguard album from late 60s..it has been thru a lot with me...if you don't have access to it, I could maybe coax a tape from the poor old thing..*grin*....email me so I don't forget after I get [e-mail]....(I still owe someone else a tape I promised...so..)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Andres Magre
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 06:26 AM

A small contribution: if you like beef, go to an argentine butcher (at least in U.S. there are many) and ask him for a piece called BIFE DE CHORIZO (it's like T-bone but cut in another way, without the bone), about 2 inches thick. This is the star of the argentine meat, even when the cattle is not from the argentine pampas. Trim fat, cook beef at the bar-b-q carefully avoiding direct flame, always use wood charcoal, first close to the heat to obtain a brownish surface by both sides, then more slowly and not so close, to keep juices inside the crust. Add salt at the first heating. Burn two or three $5.- beefs until you get the exact point, but never cut the beef "to see if it is cooked" because it ruins the poor thing.

And if you come to Argentina, you may be disappointed by those country restaurants where they serve "asado criollo" because you will be served half meat and half fat, this is the way that traditional gaucho cooks: natural juice lost, tons of greasy taste and 2 inches of fat. "Achuras" are the most incredible internal organs, guaranteed cholesterol-full. You may ask for a cup of detergent in place of wine, it will go better.

Instead, try fine restaurants in downtown or the less expensive small restaurants at Montevideo and Sarmiento streets in Buenos Aires. When asked how you prefer it, "bien cocido" is brown, almost dry; "medio" is brown-red and very juicy, "a punto" is reddish, and "semi crudo" is raw meat.

For the wine, you have an enormous variety (this is a wine-exporter country), but if you want a not very expensive and marvelous wine, ask for Don Valentin Lacrado. Best regards - [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Penny S.
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 10:58 AM

I'd just like to add to Bron's Yorkshires recipe that the proportions of flour to egg can be critical. After believing myself to be incapable of cooking a decent one, following a supposedly infallible cookbook, I was told that the quantities are one-and-a-half ounces of flour to one egg (half the flour in the recipe I was using). And if you cook them in the real dripping from meat, unclarified, so it still has the meaty flavour, they are particularly good. Though not with syrup.

The scones with jam and whipped cream - what you really need is clotted cream, which has body, and flavour, and richness, and cholesterol, and cholesterol ... Why is it that our favourite ethnic foods are so darned fatty?

Signiong off, thunderstorm approaching, and I'm in a house with a history of strikes.

Penny

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Alice
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 11:30 AM

OK, Andres' message makes me want to tango down to Buenos Aires for some steak.

My friend in El Salvador is married to an Argentine who was the Capitan of the Sultan's Table at the top of the old Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. They had met and married in Las Vegas, and were building their retirement home on the coast of El Salvador. She told me the story of going to Argentina to meet his family. She was a tiny thing that ate mostly fruit and vegetables. The entire day was spent around a dining table, with a half of barbecued beef, course after course of food, and the Papa playing his concertina and singing, telling stories. The sight of it was too much food for her, she had to go lay down to take breaks from the all day feast.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 06:22 PM

I felt that way when I went to visit my roommate's family in Mississippi when I was in my early 20s. We were both skinny little things and her mother was determined that in our week home over Christmas break, she was going to move us up at least one dress size. I have never felt so uncomfortably full in my life. At the end of the week I felt that if one more plate of ANYTHING had been offered me -- and the food was absolutely delicious -- I would hurl.

But the Andres' Argentine posting made my mouth water.

:-}

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Andres Magre
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 03:27 AM

>But the Andres' Argentine posting made my mouth water

Ha! That was the intention. (slurp) :))

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bryant
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 12:22 PM

Thanks katlaughing! Now I'll be able to have greenery and green chile. Misty skies and watery eyes. Mmmmm!

Kinda weird that a "Contacts in Oregon" thread showed up over the weekend. Synchronicity.

Bryant

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 11:14 PM

Andres --

Muy sabrosa. Trying to get us all hooked on Argentine bisteca, que no?

I had "achuras" at a restaurant specializing in "South American" cuisine once. I have to say they would never be high on my list of things to order again. I also had something I think was grilled beef heart, and I could just feel my cholesterol cranking up as I ate.

Is Argentine food spicy like what we think of as "Mexican" food here? (Which is mostly "New Mexican" or "Tex-Mex.")

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Andres Magre
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 02:20 AM

>Is Argentine food spicy like what we think of >as "Mexican" food here? (Which is mostly "New Mexican" >or "Tex-Mex.") >WW

No, Argentine food is a mix of european tastes, mainly Italian, Spanish and French, with touches of German, Arabian, Russian and British, in that order. Native cuisine is very simple and not spicy except some small northern regions influenced by Peru and Bolivia. We have a tradition of natural, non-industrialized food that is still not broken by corporations despite their efforts. The bad side of local food is that excess of fat I mentioned, which contributes to raise coronary diseases to the first cause of death in the pampas. I believe that the problem is the same in USA and less in Europe.

I recently discovered Mexican chile that was sold as a curiosity in the supermarket, brought it home and was delighted (in minimal amounts) while my wife and sons looked at me, terrified.

Onions and garlic are much more accepted than chiles. In any way, it's advisable to not talk very close to us (or to listen to us singing) when we have just finished dinner. :) [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Easy Rider
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 09:41 AM

My family hails from Eastern Europe (me), Japan & Amurica (my wife) and Guyana (our daughter), so our meals are extremely diverse. I can't begin to explain.

Curried hot potato salad, matzoh brie with ham, okazu with hot dogs and whatever else is in the refridgerator, Paella with hot dogs or bratwurst or chorizo or ... and whatever else is in the refridgerator. I make kim chee and sunomono (Japanese pickled cucumber), but I put hot peppers in the sunomono.

EZR

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bert
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 01:44 PM

Bron and Penny have the recipe for Yorkshire Pudding just right. If you've not made it before, you may need to try a couple of times before you get it just right. It takes a little practice but it's well worth it.
When making Yorkshire Pudding in Colorado Springs, we used to add an extra egg to compensate for the altitude of over 6000 feet, otherwise it was too heavy.

Use the same batter for 'Toad in the Hole'. Put either link sausages or tender lamb chops in a baking dish and pour the batter over them before popping them in the oven. You still need to get that pan 'smoking hot' first though. Mmmmm delicious.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Penny S.
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 02:53 PM

And a really good onion gravy with the Toad. See above.

Tomorrow I head for the land of scones and clotted cream, of saffron bun and bread, and the slighted pasty: the Cornish are in revolt again, this time against The New York Times, and its comparison of the pasty to a ceramic door-stop. A good dough and a trusty hand, a well-cooked filling, too; and burger men will understand what Cornish cooks can do!

But I won't be eating starry-gazy pie.

Penny

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bert
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 03:05 PM

Ah! a Cornish Pasty and a pint of scrumpy.

But don't forget the 'Figgy obbin' if you're going to Cornwall, Penny.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: paddy
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 11:29 PM

katlaughing- pork chops & apples, hmmmmm good. had a similar thing in the mountains of virgina years ago, but with lots of cabbage mixed in. it was then a novel thing for me, but turned out to be delicious. have made it on ocassion (never can remember how to spell that word), but add a few bunny bullets (aka raisins)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 11:32 PM

Growing up in Oklahoma, our idea of spices was salt and pepper and to be really, really "out there," maybe a bit of oregano. Now I favor recipes that start out, "Take all the garlic you can find in the house; chop fine...."

ww

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 07 Aug 99 - 08:10 PM

OK, I tried the carne adovade recipe and it is truly delectable; used a crockpot and now I've got food for a week!

MA

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: McKnees
Date: 08 Aug 99 - 09:51 AM

I wonder if anyone has tried the old cheese and jam sandwiches and the fried bread and home made raspberry jam, both are wonderful. As to the Yorkshire puds have you tried putting sliced apple in them when having roast pork. Or making stovies with left over roast beef, by frying up chopped onion with the chopped up beef and mixing with creamed mashed potato and serve with the remaining gravy. must go and make a sandwich.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: McKnees
Date: 08 Aug 99 - 09:53 AM

I wonder if anyone has tried the old cheese and jam sandwiches and the fried bread and home made raspberry jam, both are wonderful. As to the Yorkshire puds have you tried putting sliced apple in them when having roast pork. Or making stovies with left over roast beef, by frying up chopped onion with the chopped up beef and mixing with creamed mashed potato and serve with the remaining gravy. must go and make a sandwich.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: McKnees
Date: 08 Aug 99 - 09:55 AM

~Whoops got hickups sorry folks

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 08 Aug 99 - 06:47 PM

MAG-- I'm so happy you tried the carne adovada. Isn't that just yummy? I like it with a skosh of sour cream and loverly warm flour tortillas. GAWDAMITEY, I'M HUNGRY!

Just got back from a four-day road trip and only have mushy spinach-in-a-bag in my fridge. I want someone to cook me something! Guess I'll have to shuffle off to the market...

At any rate, I'm happy to have hooked someone else on carne adovada.

Wait 'til I post my Tortilla Soup recipe. mmmm

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bob Landry
Date: 09 Aug 99 - 12:16 PM

If your vacation plans permit and you're looking for a way to overdose on foods of the world, check out Edmonton's Heritage Festival, held each year during the first weekend in August. This year, local residents from over 50 countries (all continents) offered an average of three ethnic dishes as well as demonstrations of music and dance from their homelands. If you like it hot, you can get hot. If you like it bland, you can get bland. Whatever your tastes, you'll find somtehing that satisfies you. While standing in line for French crepes in Grand Marnier sauce, we listened to mouth music from Pakistan. Admission is free, but donations to the local food bank are welcome. Food costs are a lot lower than in Niagara Falls, ranging from $1 to $4 per sample.

Geez, I just reread this post and it sounds likes a commercial. Ah well, so be it!

Bob

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 09 Aug 99 - 01:02 PM

Ok - my list of crimes against the digestive system are - Biscuits and Gravey/Pecons - not know in Britain, English Cheeses not know in Ireland (weird as they are very yummie and it is only a couple of hundered miles from UK mainland to Ireland) Boxty an Irish food - mega yummie - not known anywhere except there. Alison and Den take note.

I made a pile of Tater Scones (Potato bread) for a party and they were devoured by a bunch of Basket Ball phreaks in a couple of minutes!!.

Andres - you can cook me a steak any time :)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 01:45 AM

Bob, It may be a commercial, but it sure sounded good to me. Wish it were closer to my neck of the woods.

WW

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: alison
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 05:16 AM

Boxty is good... does anywhere else make champ?

you cook your spuds, make it really creamy with milk, cream whatever and add scallions (or shallots, eschallots, spring onions whatever they're called.) mix it all up and serve in a huge steaming dollop, on the plate... I still have visions of my dad making his into a volcano type shape... putting even bigger dollops of butter into the middle, closing up the "volcano" and spiking the sides to see the butter oozing out....... YUMMMMMM......

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bob Landry
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 11:32 AM

WyoWoman, we're not that far from you. If Steve Parkes can find this place all the way from Merry Olde England (we had a good time last night at my place) then you can, too. Make your way to Sweetgrass, Montana, and head north on Highway 2 for about 7-8 hours. Ya can't miss it! Next festival, the first weekend in August, 2000.

Bob

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bert
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 11:35 AM

Alison, we used to make something like that only we used regular onions and fried them up a bit and added a good amount of grated cheese. We didn't have a name for it though, it was just 'that cheese and potato oniony thing'

Now you've got me thinking about food from when I was a kid.

Anyone remember 'egg and bacon pie'?

and how about some 'bread and drip'?

and 'Welsh Rabbit'

and 'Buckling' and 'Bloaters'

Bert

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 12:15 PM

And what IS Boxty?

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 01:02 PM

Boxty is a Secret weapon devised by leperachauns in ancient times in case they were ever caught flying them UFOs. It is a food and after a victim is captured by the aroma, are then led by the nose to the location. Next while they dally at the trap their taste buds are bewitched by leperachaun spells. Now captive the unfortunate prisoner is byond hope and will next take a little bite. They are gonners. Caput. See Alison's recipee, but mark me, that is not the most potent mixture by a long measure, a variation called Col-cannon- I think :) Mind you I'm no expert being a travelling person and never spending more than the width of a week in any one place. But the land of the leprechaun is hard to find and when found hard to loose again. Some Greeks once went there and were lost for a day, the mist fell on them and not knowing up from down, they never did find their way back home. (See Dublin history) This explains why the travelling people of Ireland are travellers. Once you decide to leave - it's a whole new deal finding the exit.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 01:35 PM

Keerist! Jo77! We've a band in Wyoming called Col cannon! D'ya 'spose? I thought Alison's recipe was called "champ", but if it is the pratie volcano thingy then it's what we called mashed potatoes with a little onyun and cheese added. Still yummy no matter! Now, finding that land and then looking for an exit, that's not something I'd mind too much.....kinda like being here at the Mudcat, enchanting!

Thanks for the info!

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: M
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 02:03 PM

As I know them, champ and colcannon are pretty much the same thing. The key ingredient to both of them, though, is GREENS - whether they be scallions, kale, finely shredded cabbage or (your choice here). Onions are a good addition. Cheese? Could work, but that's not what makes it champ. Oh, and lots of butter. Champ is definately more on the oozy, liquidy side than regular mashed potatoes.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 02:26 PM

Boxty - from a secret cookbook 'Broth & Blarney' by Anne Morris.

1 lb potatoes - peeled and grated

You must grate em using a tin lid with holes made by hammering a nail through at 1/4 inch spacing - or use a regular grater. Experiment, try medium grade first :)

6 oz - plain flour

1/2 5mil tsp - baking powder

3/4 5mil tsp - salt

4 fluid oz - milk

Cooking oil OR

Any dripping, fat/lard etc...

Sieve flower, salt and baking powder together. Mix with grated pototoes, add milk to thicken the batter. Heat frying pan/skillet, add lots of oil. Pour batter onto pan/skillet. Cook on either side for 3/4 minutes or untill golden brown. Serve hot with a little butter on each slice.

Kinda like Pitza but not fattening and I've added partly cooked burger pattie meat to the batter. That is both nourishing and very very yummmmieeeeeee.

Book is not on Amazon, I already looked. I can get copies if any one wants them :)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 02:41 PM

Hmm I await help here 'haps Missy Alison can educate me - but I always thought that Col-cannon had to have some extra vegitable like 'Kale' - now i ain't an expert as I have to use a Cookery Book. Champs - hmmm never heard the term but according to ma trusty Leperachaun Book it is similar but NOT the same thing. Researching that very thing right now ....BRB

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Terry
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 04:16 PM

My American mother was a sophisticated and fantastic cook. You know the kind of resourceful, confident woman who can whip up, at a moment's notice, a delectable souffle for 10 unexpected guests from nothing but the remaining half of a wrinkled tomato, a hard rind of cheese and two eggs in the fridge, and some spices. Over the course of their 49-year marriage, she "improved" my father's favorite Irish foods so that she found them almost palatable, too, using onion, garlic and various spices in Irish stews, boxty, colcannon, etc. Mom's and Nana's versions were so different as to not be the same food at all.

My 81-year-old father's brother died last week and, since then, Dad has been having nostalgic cravings for the comfort food of his childhood the way his mother, not mine, made it. It seems to be what his tastebuds need to ritualize mourning.

One of the things he's craved is a dish he calls "rissoles," which is Spam dipped in batter and deep fat fried. The result is similar to toad in the hole, I suppose.

(Getting to the point of my post...) Another is boxty. j077's recipe is pretty much the way my grandmother made griddle boxty except that she used mashed potato, not grated. You can make a pan version by baking the same ingredients in a 9x12" pyrex dish and cut it into squares, split each square and put a pat of butter between the halves.

My Nana used to say, "Boxty in the griddle, boxty in the pan; if you don't eat boxty, you'll never get a man."

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: MMario
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 04:26 PM

we just called 'em "potato cakes" - pretty much the same - but depending on what leftovers were available to go into them could be anywhere from almost fluid to really cake-like. Potatoes and an onion or cabbage type green were always the primary ingredients though.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 05:02 PM

Err ummm - Tatie Scones/ Potatoe Bread are about the same thing but entirely different from Boxty.

The difference is this Potatoe Bread can be baked - but is usualy fried. It is a dough made from boiled mashed taters and flour (do add salt to the flour!!). This is the most basic recipe. Also ,like regular dough, it must be proved!

To Proof Dough - Put in a warm place for a couple of hours and when it starts rising *carefully* place in oven or in this case, the skillet. BTW Potatoe Bread needs only bout half hour to prove.

Boxty is a Batter not a dough! It must be made with grated uncooked taters! Do peel em first:)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: M
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 05:29 PM

"Boxty in the griddle, boxty in the pan, if you can't make boxty you'll never get a man."

All the boxty receits that I have call for grated potatoes, alomg with the potato starch (and water) that leaches out of them.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Terry
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 06:36 PM

THAT explains why I don't have a man! I can't make boxty and I've been eating too many potatoes. Thanks, M!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: alison
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 02:24 AM

Boxty

2cups raw spud
2cups mashed spud
2cups plain flour
125ml -ish milk or buttermilk
1tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
melted butter

peel and grate raw spuds, squeeze out liquid into a basin using linen teatowel (I assume clean tea towel*grin*)
Mix grated and mashed spud
when the starch has separated form the spud water pour off water and add starch to spuds (sounds healthy doesn't it)
add dry ingredients and mix well
add buttermilk ot make a dropping consistency
beat well and fry in dollops in a greased pan
fry both sides, serve with butter and sugar,...

book next appointment with cardiologist *grin*

(isn't this hash browns?)

How about an Ulster Fry?.... grab everything you can see and fry it.... easy!!!!

couldn't find a recipe for Colcannon, but isn't it just champ made with cabbage? Got one for donegal pie and Guinness cake..... ah the joys of Irish cuisine.......

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: alison
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 02:29 AM

Who needs the recipe when you can have the song

COLCANNON

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: M
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 10:49 AM

Alison, yes, colcannon is basically champ but with cabbage. Thanks for posting the recipe. Hash browns don't have the mashed potatoes in them, do they? I think that's the difference. The starch helps bind the cakes together. Whan I was in Ireland last year, I had the BEST food!! Didn't get up North for an Ulster fry, but definitely want to. Loved black pudding! Ah, yes…Irish cuisine. The thought behind the rhyme is, I guess, that making boxty is (kinda) labor intensive , what with the grating and mashing and all, but also kinda basic. So if one goes to the trouble to make it, then, well…the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. (Especially if he can't cook!) This applies to all different cultures--in traditional Hopi society, young girls had to perfect their (manual) corn-grinding skills to become more suitable spousal material.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Allan C.
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 11:03 AM

Alison, yes, in some parts of the U.S. this is (more or less) hash browns. In some places hash browns are little more than grated raw potatoes which are mixed with beaten egg and salt and pepper (lots of both!); made into patties then fried. (Do I really need to say "in an iron skillet"? - after all, doesn't EVERYTHING taste better cooked in a cast iron pot or pan?) In some areas chopped onions, scallions, or even ramps are added. (Does anyone else besides me know what ramps are?) However, in various places, the potatoes are cubed rather than grated and left loose - not pattied. Some folks even coat them in a seasoned mixture of bread or cracker crumbs before frying. Still, all who make these will swear that theirs are the "true" hash browns.

I have recently been to a Malaysian restaurant where a large number of their dishes are potato-based. Many dishes are made with a potato batter of varying thickness to create patties or crepes as needed. I am working on getting a better idea of what goes into them. A lot of peanuts are used in wonderful ways as well. Delicious!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Hutzul
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 11:17 AM

OK I have to add a note for the Slavic race. Nothing warms a chill winter night like a bowl of Ukrainian borsch. It is a red beet soup base with beef stock and lots of veggies. Peter Orstroushko, the mandolin player, actually put his mother's recipe to music and sings it on one of his albums, dedicated to the "church ladies". These are the old dolls who whip up a huge "banyek" (soup pot) every weekend at Ukrainian church halls all over the world. "Smoch Mnoho!" Happy eating.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Bert
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 11:19 AM

Ramps? are they those skinny little wild onion things?

I don't think we should be discussing fried potatoes without mentioning 'Bubble and Squeak'. So many of us Limeys grew up eating Bubble and Squeak as the 'standard' Monday evening meal. Mmmmm! Yum!

Bert.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: M
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 11:57 AM

Ramps are a wild onion/scallion-type plant. They look like lily-of-the-valley. Right, Allan? I have yet to eat one, them being somewhat regional and hidden in the woods. Sorta like truffles. Ramps are exceptionally pungent, no? (This coming from someone who teethed on onions.)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Allan C.
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 01:08 PM

Both of you (Bert and M) are right. They are extremely potent. There is a ramps festival in West Virginia each year. There is also a significant drop in local population expansion about nine months after this event. Eating them raw is not for the timid but they do very well in cooking. One of my favorite ways to prepare them (scallions can be substituted) is to grease a large Pyrex casserole dish or oblong pan with drippings from the pound of bacon you'll need to fry. Crumble three quarters of the bacon over the bottom of the dish or pan. Cover the bacon with a generous layer of chopped ramps. Grate about a quarter pound or more of cheese (I like a mixture of sharp cheddar and monterey jack) and sprinkle half of it over the bacon and ramps. Separate a dozen eggs. Beat the whites until soft peaks can be made. Beat the yolks until creamy and add salt and pepper. Fold the beaten yolks into the whites. Gently pour the egg mixture over the bacon and ramps layers. Sprinkle the rest of the bacon and a few more chopped ramps over the eggs. Top with the remaining cheese. If desired, you can decorate by dipping three whole ramps in bacon grease and lay them on top of the top layer of cheese. Then bake in a moderately hot (400 degrees F.) oven for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the topping browns a bit and the middle won't jiggle when you move the pan. Time will vary depending upon size of pan. A layer of green chiles put on before the eggs are added is also wonderful! This last was taught to me by my grandmother who learned the basic recipe from her French mother but adapted it after learning Mexican cooking from a brother-in-law.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: annamill
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 01:35 PM

I've just gained about 5 lbs. Those boxty things sound an awful lot like the potato pancakes my Southern Mom used to make. She'd serve them with apple sauce and pork chops or Southern fried chicken. Ohhhh.. I'm droolin'... I'm going to go saute some tomatos and peppers from my garden. I'm starving. See ya.

Love, annap

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 02:23 PM

Allan, is there any way for a poor, un-ramped New Hampshirite to get her hands on some ramps? Does anyone export? If I send money, could someone mail me some? I really would like to try them - I like all kinds of stinky food!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Llanfair
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 02:38 PM

In the UK, your Ramps are called Ramsons, or wild garlic. The woods across the road from us are thick with them in the spring. I haven't tried eating them yet, though. Allan, I shall have to try your recipe, and Bert, Bubble and Squeak is one of my favourites. Why is all the good stuff full of fat? Like me, I suppose!!!!!! Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Allan C.
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 03:17 PM

Jeri, unfortunately I do not know of anyone who grows them commercially. You would think they would have the potential of the not-exactly-from-Vadelia Vadelia onions which are now so easy to find in the U.S.. M-m-m-m-m I may have to re-think my career plans...

If I could easily lay my hands on some, I would gladly send you some. But the people I used to know in West Virginia who used to supply me moved away. I have yet to stumble upon some in my wanderings through the woods. Places where they grow wild are kept as family secrets like the location of good morel patches.

But you could take a look at these sites to learn a little more about them:

Ramps

Ramps festival and pictures of ramps

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: WyoWoman
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 10:39 PM

I just touched back into this thread after several days' absence and I've gained 5 lbs. from simply READING these recipes. Interesting, isn't it, that none of the food that really comforts us involves a broiled chicken breast and fat-free raspberry vinaigrette?

I think because of my Irish-Scots heritage I gravitate towards potatoey, starchy, buttery things for comfort, rather than sweets. Think this is an ethnic inclination?

ww

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 11:30 PM

Colcannon - according to my Leprechaun Dictionary means -

'White headed Kale'

Don'nt know what that is but it must be fun :)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: j0_77
Date: 11 Aug 99 - 11:45 PM

The Book 'Broth & Blarney'- Easons Book Store in Dublin Ireland - that's where I got my copy. Or you could try Amazon - I did but it could not locate the book. Kinda weird as they claim if a book is in print they have it on their database.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Aug 99 - 12:05 AM

WW: I am living proof that being Scots/Irish with a little English and Native American thrown in is NOT a guarantee against all things sweet being comforting!

Interstingly enough, though, a lot of the things in this thread are allowed in my food intake, except the potatoes, too many carbs! I've lost almost 40lbs, so I am going to stick with it and enjoy the butter, eggs, sweet cream, broiled chicken, etc. The doctor who came up with this is a cardiologist, has treated people for a lot of years, and has good reasoning along with scientific backup for what he advocates, which is anathema according to all of the diet gurus. LOW Carbs, HIGH protein! Works fer me:-)

Oh and the sweets thing? He's got scrumptious chocolate brownie food bars, baking flour, recipes, etc. all of which are lo carb, so no prob. I'm in heaven!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Allan C.
Date: 12 Aug 99 - 05:34 AM

40 pounds!! Goodonya, Kat!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Aug 99 - 06:03 AM

Thanks, Allan! Just made delicious brownies and blueberry muffins tonight, all using his low carb flour and recipes. Really tasty.

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Allan C.
Date: 12 Aug 99 - 06:06 AM

Sounds like a great diet. But, you say it keeps you up all night? *grin*

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Allan C.
Date: 12 Aug 99 - 06:45 AM

This is a great thread! I am learning a bunch about what people really like to eat. And since food is one of my favorite subjects, I have created a NEW THREAD to continue this delicious discussion. Ethnic Foods Crossover (Cont'd)

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Art Thieme
Date: 24 Oct 99 - 09:05 PM

A Scotsman who wears pants is guilty of this... ;-)

Art

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Jul 03 - 03:12 PM

Found Hatch frozen green chile in my grocery store today!! Oh, frabjous day!!

Subject: RE: Ethnic crossover
From: Deckman
Date: 13 Jul 03 - 01:49 PM

Sorcha ... Thanks for opening this thread again. Re-reading it has made me very hungry, and lonesome, for the comfort food of my childhood: "Ruisileppa", "Villi" and goat stew. My Grandmother, who immigrated to America from Finland in 1886, used to serve this meal to me. Ruisileppa was a large, round loaf of very course sougdough rye bread. The Villi was a cultured milk, something like a mix of yougurt and buttermilk. (I still have her original starter). And as she raised nanny goats for the milk, we also eat goat meat stew. CHEERS, Bob