The Cooking Thread

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  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    So I am hoping that SirHenry's cafe or restaurant is open by the time I finally fly back to the States. I will be a regular customer, I can tell you that now. Yum! All of your cooking sounds incredibly delicious.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    So I am hoping that SirHenry's cafe or restaurant is open by the time I finally fly back to the States. I will be a regular customer, I can tell you that now. Yum! All of your cooking sounds incredibly delicious.

    I am probably too old, too inexperienced, and too poor to enter the very competitive restaurant business. And alas, there just aren't people in this area who appreciate a great Southern cuisine like that of Louisiana's. But, you will always find an open door to my home and a seat at my table :)

    I made a change to the apple cider recipe, a step that I no longer do and forgot to omit from my recipe when I first posted it, which is to not use the cornstarch. After trial and error, I found that it makes the cream sauce more into a pudding, with lumps of cider in the cream. You will find after cooking the cider for a while that the sugars will break down and it will thicken up all by itself. So now you have some choices. If you don't want to thin out the thickening cider sauce with the broth (which will contrast the "bite") and the cream, and just want pure caramelized apple cider base to top the chops with, you're the cook and that's your call. If you want a cream sauce, then follow my directions and whisk, whisk, whisk to break down the cider into the broth and cream. If you still have lumps, add to a food processor and finish that way.

    Depending on the thickness of your chops, if not fork tender enough for you after 15 minutes, take the chops out, add a little more cider to thin out the base sauce, and return the chops to cook 5-10 minutes more and remove when they are as tender as you want them to be. Then proceed for the cream sauce. And if it's not "apple" enough for you, serve some apple sauce or have a glass of ice cold cider!

    Hopefully by Wednesday we'll start foods with the letter B, so get your chef hats back on and get ready to "dish" :)
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    Before the list of foods that begin with the letter B, unfortunately I was remiss in not mentioning a delicious sauce called aioli while we were discussing the letter A, and have an easy to do recipe for my favorite of the many flavors of this sauce that you can experiment with. If anyone comes up with a letter B food that I missed, please suggest!

    Aioli is mainly known as a traditional dipping sauce used in the southeastern region of France called Provence. In it's original Provencal form, it is made of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and egg yolks. The most common of many variations includes the addition of Dijon mustard. It is usually served at room temperature.

    Aioli is, like mayonnaise, an emulsion. An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally not mixable, such as water and oil. Milk is an emulsion, as are vinaigrette dressings.

    A typical aioli sees egg yolks, garlic, and Dijon mustard combined first with a whisk, then the oil and the lemon juice are added slowly with whisking to create the emulsion. The additions of the dissimilar ingredients must be slow to start and once the initial emulsion has formed you will whisk faster and faster to incorporate.

    For some ingredients that can't be whisked, or just to save time, it is perfectly acceptable to use a food processor. Aioli goes very well as a sandwich spread. This is one of those sauces that variates and an internet search will yield all kinds of possible combinations and flavors. My personal favorite is a roasted red pepper aioli, as I just love to spread it on a sandwich or use it as a dip for french fries and seafood like shrimp and sea scallops.


    Roasted Red Pepper Aioli-


    INGREDIENTS-


    1/2 cup roasted red pepper, drained
    2 garlic cloves, chopped
    1/3 cup mayonnaise
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    salt and pepper


    DIRECTIONS-

    In a blender or food processor, combine 1/2 cup bottled roasted red bell peppers, drained, and 2 cloves of garlic chopped. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. Add 1/3 cup mayonnaise. Cover and blend until smooth. With blender or processor running, gradually add 2 tablespoons of olive oil through the opening in lid or the feed tube, until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl. Season with 1/8 teaspoons salt and a dash of black pepper. Cover and chill for up to two days. Makes about 1 cup.


    FOODS THAT BEGIN WITH B-

    Bacon
    Bagels/Baguettes
    Baked Beans
    Baked Potatoes
    Bakewell tarts and pudding
    Baking Powder
    Baking Soda
    Baklava
    Balsamic vinegar
    Bamboo shoots
    Bananas
    Barley
    Basil
    Bass (fish)
    Bear Meat
    Béarnaise sauce (one of Fleming's favorites)
    Bechamel sauce
    Beef
    Beer
    Beets
    Beignets
    Bell Pepper
    Beurre blanc
    Biscotti
    Biscuits
    Bison Meat
    Bisque
    Black Beans
    Blackberries
    Blintzes
    Blondies and Brownies
    Blood Orange
    BLT
    Blueberries
    Bok Choy
    Bologna
    Bolognese Sauce
    Bone Marrow
    Bordelaise sauce
    Borscht
    Bouillabaisse
    Bouillon Cubes
    Bourbon
    Bran
    Brandy
    Bratwurst
    Brisket
    Broccoli
    Broth
    Brown Sugar
    Bruschetta
    Brussels Sprouts
    Buffalo Wings
    Burritos
    Butter
    Butter Beans
    Buttermilk
    Butterscotch







  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,266
    Aioli we normally use as a dip souce for bread you eat in a restaurant before the first course is served. I really love it!

    Well, baked potatoes as I made them tonight:

    slice the potatoes in half a centimetre thick slices. Do not remove the skin! boil them for about five to ten minutes. Use a sieve to get rid of the water then put them in a frying panand bake them in butter . Add some sliced union. At the very end, when they're baked golden brown, add very small blocks of old Dutch cheese. I prefer old cheese as it's salty so you don't need to add that anymore, and it melts rather quick. keep on turning the potato slices until all the cheese has melted and sticks to the slices. while turning them over use a wooden spatula to keep the cheese on the slices and off the bottom of the frying pan.

    You should end up with potato slices with cheese crusts and unions stuck to them. To quote Borat: 'Niiiiiceee!'
  • Three other B foods:

    Béarnaise sauce (one of Fleming's favorites)
    Beurre blanc
    Bordelaise sauce
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited November 2013 Posts: 12,480
    Bok choy :) (however it's spelled)

    I am so hungry again reading these lists!

    and I want to mention one of my favorites:

    Bacon-wrapped scallops. (Ok, it can come under "S" category, too)
    The bacon is incredible with the scallops.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Black eyed bean salad, one of my ultimate comfort foods.

    Soak the beans ON and boil them in salted water. Remove from the water and allow to cool. Boil a few eggs (depending on the number of people) and cut into slices or cubes, set aside. Finely chop onions and set aside. Do the same with parsley. Open enough cans of good quality tuna (I'm talking about lovely tuna fillets in olive oil, preferably) and cut into small bits, set aside. Season the the beans with good quality olive oil (lots of it) and vinegar. Serve in a tray with the other ingredients around for people to mix in their own plates according to taste or mix everything in a bowl. It might not sound like it but it is delicious, healthy, perfect for a summer lunch.

    A variation might be done with raw or grilled desalted cod instead of tuna.
  • @PerilaguKhan- good additions! Now added.

    @4EverBonded- you are always hungry ;) Indeed, bacon wrapped scallops are awesome, and when I wrap them in pancetta bacon and add a little Italian seasoning, they go BEYOND AWESOME :)

    @Sandy- that black bean recipe sounds absolutely awesome. I wish I wasn't the only one around here who liked them. I swear that I am going to find a meal using them that I can finish in one night when there are leftovers for the kids. I'm thinking as a side with a tuna steak.

    I can't wait to start talking about bacon, bagels, bearnaise sauce, etc, etc. So much good stuff to eat that begins with a B. But for now, it's off to the grocery store. This week's menu will be baked ziti, Cajun smothered seven steaks, spare ribs, and velvet shrimp. Next week it will be New Orleans BBQ shrimp and then it's Thanksgiving, where I will have made so much food that I won't have to do more than eat leftovers for several days :)
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    When I was a kid it was the only kind of beans that I liked. Later I found that I love all of them (except broad beans). This recipe is one that you can finish in one meal, I know because I have done it :D
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    Okay, let's get the B's started off with of my favorite foods ever- BACON! My philosophy is that "bacon makes everything better" :)

    HISTORY OF BACON-

    Bacon is a meat product prepared from a pig and usually cured. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon (also known as green bacon). Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, or it may be boiled or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon is typically cooked before eating. Boiled bacon is ready to eat, as is some smoked bacon, but may be cooked further before eating.

    Bacon is prepared from several different cuts of meat. It is usually made from side and back cuts of pork except in the United States, where it is almost always prepared from pork belly (typically referred to as "streaky", "fatty", or "American style" outside of the US and Canada). The side cut has more meat and less fat than the belly. Bacon may be prepared from either of two distinct back cuts: fatback, which is almost pure fat, and pork loin, which is very lean. Bacon-cured pork loin is known as back bacon.

    Bacon may be eaten smoked, boiled, fried, baked, or grilled, or used as a minor ingredient to flavor dishes. Bacon is also used for barding and larding roasts, especially game, e.g. venison, pheasant. The word is derived from the Old High German bacho, meaning "buttock", "ham" or "side of bacon", but the Old French bacon is the most commonly used term.

    In continental Europe, this part of the pig is usually not smoked like bacon is in the United States; it is used primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient, valued both as a source of fat and for its flavor. In Italy, this is called pancetta and is usually cooked in small cubes or served uncooked and thinly sliced as part of an antipasto.

    Meat from other animals, such as beef, lamb, chicken, goat, or turkey, may also be cut, cured, or otherwise prepared to resemble bacon, and may even be referred to as "bacon". Such use is common in areas with significant Jewish and Muslim populations. For safety, bacon may be treated to prevent trichinosis, caused by Trichinella, a parasitic roundworm which can be destroyed by heating, freezing, drying, or smoking.

    Bacon is distinguished from salt pork and ham by differences in the brine (or dry packing). Bacon brine has added curing ingredients, most notably sodium nitrite, and occasionally potassium nitrate (saltpeter); sodium ascorbate or erythorbate are added to accelerate curing and stabilise color. Flavorings such as brown sugar or maple are used for some products. Sodium polyphosphates, such as sodium triphosphate, may be added to make the produce easier to slice and to reduce spattering when the bacon is pan-fried. Today, a brine for ham, but not bacon, includes a large amount of sugar. Historically, "ham" and "bacon" referred to different cuts of meat that were brined or packed identically, often together in the same barrel.


    CUTS OF BACON-

    - Side bacon, or streaky bacon, comes from pork belly. It is very fatty with long layers of fat running parallel to the rind. This is the most common form of bacon in the United States. Pancetta is Italian streaky bacon, smoked or aqua (unsmoked), with a strong flavor. It is generally rolled up into cylinders after curing.

    - Middle bacon, from the side of the animal, is intermediate in cost, fat content, and flavor between streaky bacon and back bacon.

    - Back bacon (rashers or, in the United States, Canadian bacon) comes from the loin in the middle of the back of the pig. It is a very lean, meaty cut of bacon, with less fat compared to other cuts. It has a ham-like texture. Most bacon consumed in the United Kingdom is back bacon.

    - Cottage bacon is thinly sliced lean pork meat from a shoulder cut that is typically oval shaped and meaty. It is cured and then sliced into round pieces for baking or frying.

    - Jowl bacon is cured and smoked cheeks of pork. See Guanciale.

    - Slab bacon typically has a medium to very high fraction of fat. It is made from the belly and side cuts, and from fatback. Slab bacon is not to be confused with salt pork, which is prepared from the same cuts, but is not cured.

    Bacon joints include the following:

    - Collar bacon is taken from the back of a pig near the head.
    - Hock, from the hog ankle joint between the ham and the foot.
    - Gammon, from the hind leg, traditionally "Wiltshire cured".
    - Picnic bacon is from the picnic cut, which includes the shoulder beneath the blade. It is fairly lean, but tougher than most pork cuts.

    Vegetarian Bacon- Soy products such as tempeh and tofu are used to create this. Apparently, the animal rights group PETA sent some vegetarian bacon to our current Bond in 2008, although is not known if he actually ate it.


    AROUND THE WORLD


    Traditionally, the skin is left on the cut and is known as 'bacon rind', but rindless bacon is also common throughout the English-speaking world. The meat may be bought smoked or unsmoked.


    Australia and New Zealand

    Middle bacon is the most common variety and is sold in 'rashers'. Middle bacon includes the streaky, fatty section along with the loin at one end. In response to increasing consumer diet-consciousness, some supermarkets also offer the loin section only. This is sold as 'short cut bacon' and is usually priced slightly higher than middle bacon. Both varieties are usually available with the rind removed.

    Canada

    An individual piece of bacon is a 'slice' or 'strip'. In Canada:

    - The term bacon on its own or, more specifically, side bacon typically refers to bacon from the pork belly.

    - Back bacon refers to either smoked or unsmoked bacon cut from the boneless eye of pork loin; this is called 'Canadian bacon' in the United States.

    - Peameal bacon is back bacon, brined and coated in fine cornmeal (historically, it was rolled in a meal made from ground dried peas).

    United Kingdom and Ireland

    Grilled or fried bacon are included in the traditional full breakfast. An individual slice of bacon is a 'rasher', or occasionally a 'collop'. Bacon is made in a wide variety of cuts and flavors:

    - The term bacon on its own suggests the more common back bacon, but can refer to any cut.
    - Slices from the pork belly (with streaks of meat and of fat) are referred to as 'streaky bacon', 'streaky rashers' or 'belly bacon'.
    - Slices from the back of the pig are referred to as 'back bacon' or 'back rashers', and usually include a streaky bit and a lean oval bit.
    - Middle cuts with an eye of meat and an extended streaky section are common.
    - Heavily trimmed back cuts which may consist of just the eye of meat are available.

    United States

    A side of unsliced bacon was once known as a 'flitch'- it is now known as a 'slab'. An individual rasher of bacon is a 'slice' or 'strip'. The term 'rasher of bacon' is occasionally encountered (e.g., on restaurant menus) to mean a serving of bacon (typically several slices).

    American bacons include varieties smoked with hickory or corncobs and flavorings such as black pepper, red pepper, maple, honey, molasses, and occasionally cinnamon. They vary in sweetness and saltiness and come from the Ozarks, New England, and the upper South (mainly Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia).

    The term 'bacon' on its own refers generically to strip bacon from the belly meat of the pig, which is the most popular type of bacon sold in the US.

    'Canadian Bacon' or 'Canadian-style bacon' is made from the pork loin, usually the lean ovoid portion (longissimus muscle or loineye). It also can be made from the sirloin portion of the loin (gluteal muscles), but must be labeled appropriately. Similar products made from the ham are used as less expensive substitutes.

    Japan

    In Japan, bacon is pronounced "bēkon". It is cured and smoked belly meat as in the US, and is sold in either regular or half length sizes. Bacon in Japan is different from that in the US in that the meat is not sold raw, but is processed, precooked and has a ham-like consistency when cooked. Uncured belly rashers, known as bara, are very popular in Japan and are used in a variety of dishes (e.g. yakitori and yakiniku).


    Well, I think that pretty much covers bacon in every possible term except for one that I would like to expand on for the benefit of my fellow cookers. In paragraphs 3 and 4 in the history section, it speaks of the French word lardons, or the fat of the bacon and/or pig, being used as a flavoring ingredient. When the famous American TV chef and restauranteur Emeril Lagasse exclaims one of his catchphrases "pork fat rules!", he is not kidding about that! Some may think of this as strange or perhaps even disgusting, but whenever I fry or microwave bacon I do save the fat in a jar. It is part of the French heritage of cooking that contributed to Cajun/Creole cuisine, and in certain dishes like etoufee, as well as the Southern classics shrimp and grits and cornbread, it is a key ingredient in the flavoring of the overall dish that is often omitted from recipes you'll find on the internet, and I find it indispensable. If you've cooked dishes like these with bacon fat and without using an olive or vegetable oil, you will know exactly the dimension of flavor I am speaking of. I cannot express enough why this is so important to use instead or oils or butter in the French dishes of Cajun/Creole cuisine, to not use is the same as not using olive oil in Italian cuisine.

    Indeed, pork fat does rule! So let's hear about how much you love bacon, and your favorite ways to enjoy it. I will come back in a day or two to comment and then talk about bagels, for which I have several ways to use them past breakfasts that my children and I enjoy and occasionally use for a quick and fun dinner!











  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    edited November 2013 Posts: 4,012
    I'll add my contribution. In Portugal it is called Toucinho and made mostly from pig belly. It can be prepared by salting or smoking. It can be used so add taste to food (for example in duck rice or to lard pieces of meat or even fish) or boiled as part of one of the national dishes "Cozido à Portuguesa" or with Beans (Feijoada, mostly the Transmontana variety). Perhaps the most unusual use of bacon possibly is in the most delicious pudding you can imagine "Pudim do Abade de Priscos".
    In Germany it is called Speck and I've seen mostly the salted variety. It is used for example in Rotkohl, Sauerkraut and added to various sauces.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited November 2013 Posts: 12,480
    Yes, for this thread I have renamed myself: 4EverHungry.

    Everything above sounds so delicious.
    I'll just add that one of my favorite breakfasts EVER is a simple bacon sandwich on fresh buttermilk biscuits - nothing else needed on it. And yes, Cracker Barrel chain restaurants do have (90% of the time in my experience) quite good bacon and excellent biscuits so you can make your own in seconds. Good lord, I want one now - and that is not possible until I go back to the States.

    Just fyi: My Japanese friends here pronounce bacon as "bacohn" with a long a sound (not an e sound) and a stronger almost long o sound. Bits of ham - looks like sliced ham product for sandwich meat - are surprisingly everywhere: in salads, all kinds of salads, including seafood salads at times; on pizza: in soup: as part of any sandwich. If you are a true vegetarian here you have to ask specifically at restaurants because even when limited ingredients are listed they often leave off mentioning any kind of meat. And they say often "bacon" for any kind of pork product.

    yakitori is chicken and maybe some also offer pork or beef but many do not
    yakiniku is meat and will have both pork, chicken, beef, and often seafood

  • Somewhat of a coincidence, I spose--I'm making an Alsatian wurst and kraut casserole tonight that includes a fair bit of bacon. It'll be quite delicious with a couple of glasses of viognier, and some buttered pumpernickel.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    I've been meaning to eventually look very closely at Alsatian cuisine, funny that you mention it. Many of my maternal ancestors were ethnic Germans from the capital of Buhl Bas-Rhin. My first ancestors to arrive in America were from Steinwenden-Pfalz in the Rhineland/Palatinate just across the Rhine from the Alsace. That was in 1738. The French have tried very hard to erase the German identity of the Alsace, renaming towns and dishes and what not in French, but as long as Germans live there, that will never happen. I hope in my lifetime to go there and find the graves of my ancestors with the last names of Steck, Huss, and Walther (how funny is the last one, right?).

    Sandy's mention of the German word speck brings back a lot of memories. Never those of bacon, which was always called just that. Every other New Year's Day, we would go to my maternal grandparents and eat speck und sauerkraut, in this case pork roast baked with sauerkraut. That's what my grandfather said the Germans called it in the native tongue. Mashed potatoes, usually a vegetable, and shoo fly pie for dessert. If we stayed home, we still ate this dish. It's a German tradition for good luck in the New Year, and my wife's family, who came more from Austria, celebrated the same exact way. So I always associated speck with pork itself and not all products of the pig such as ham. A February dish we eat to celebrate roughly the "Carnival" season, was schnitz und knepp. That translates to apple slices and dumplings, with schinken (ham) as the main course. Between this and strudel as my earliest memories of eating, it's obvious the Germans loved to marry pork products and apples and no wonder why I love apples and cook more than just dessert with them. But for our food exercises, ham and pork will have their own treatments when it's time, and maybe I'll share my centuries old family recipes for those at that time.

    @4EverHungry- that's great and it's so you! :))
  • I've been meaning to eventually look very closely at Alsatian cuisine, funny that you mention it. Many of my maternal ancestors were ethnic Germans from the capital of Buhl Bas-Rhin. My first ancestors to arrive in America were from Steinwenden-Pfalz in the Rhineland/Palatinate just across the Rhine from the Alsace. That was in 1738. The French have tried very hard to erase the German identity of the Alsace, renaming towns and dishes and what not in French, but as long as Germans live there, that will never happen. I hope in my lifetime to go there and find the graves of my ancestors with the last names of Steck, Huss, and Walther (how funny is the last one, right?).
    Sandy's mention of the German word speck brings back a lot of memories. Never those of bacon, which was always called just that. Every other New Year's Day, we would go to my maternal grandparents and eat speck und sauerkraut, in this case pork roast baked with sauerkraut. That's what my grandfather said the Germans called it in the native tongue. Mashed potatoes, usually a vegetable, and shoo fly pie for dessert. If we stayed home, we still ate this dish. It's a German tradition for good luck in the New Year, and my wife's family, who came more from Austria, celebrated the same exact way. So I always associated speck with pork itself and not all products of the pig such as ham. A February dish we eat to celebrate roughly the "Carnival" season, was schnitz und knepp. That translates to apple slices and dumplings, with schinken (ham) as the main course. Between this and strudel as my earliest memories of eating, it's obvious the Germans loved to marry pork products and apples and no wonder why I love apples and cook more than just dessert with them. But for our food exercises, ham and pork will have their own treatments when it's time, and maybe I'll share my centuries old family recipes for those at that time.

    @4EverHungry- that's great and it's so you! :))

    Yes. And if you've read Ian's Moonraker, you know that one of Hugo Drax's chief confederates is a certain Professor Walter. Pronounced Valter, naturally.

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    edited November 2013 Posts: 4,012
    Now that you speak of Alsatian cuisine you reminded me of one of my favourite things with bacon: Flammkuchen (German) or Tarte Flambée (French). I like it better than pizza (and I love pizza). Here's how I do it:
    Mix 200g flour, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 125mL water and a pinch of salt to make the dough. Work until it's not sticky (add more flour if necessary). It's OK to do it in a food processor, it's an easy dough. Roll out the dough very thinly to the size of the baking tray, in fact you can roll the dough on top of the baking tray to make it extra easy (don't forget to flour first if you want it to come out). Spread Créme fraiche on the dough (I would guess sour cream would work as well), spread sliced onions (purple ones look very nice) and sliced bacon on top and season with salt and pepper. Put in the oven (high temperature) and bake until the bread looks crispy (10-15 minutes, but depends on the oven).
    This is the simplest, most traditional way of doing it however I've had it with just about any topping you can imagine, including sweet versions with apples and cinnamon, or strawberries and chocolate (delicious).

    EDIT: Photos of Flammkuchen.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    @Khan- I always associated Walther with Bond's gun, and MR is my favorite of all the Fleming novels. Now you must surely understand why I dislike the movie as much as I do.
    Sandy wrote:
    Now that you speak of Alsatian cuisine you reminded me of one of my favourite things with bacon: Flammkuchen (German) or Tarte Flambée (French). I like it better than pizza (and I love pizza). Here's how I do it:
    Mix 200g flour, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 125mL water and a pinch of salt to make the dough. Work until it's not sticky (add more flour if necessary). It's OK to do it in a food processor, it's an easy dough. Roll out the dough very thinly to the size of the baking tray, in fact you can roll the dough on top of the baking tray to make it extra easy (don't forget to flour first if you want it to come out). Spread Créme fraiche on the dough (I would guess sour cream would work as well), spread sliced onions (purple ones look very nice) and sliced bacon on top and season with salt and pepper. Put in the oven (high temperature) and bake until the bread looks crispy (10-15 minutes, but depends on the oven).
    This is the simplest, most traditional way of doing it however I've had it with just about any topping you can imagine, including sweet versions with apples and cinnamon, or strawberries and chocolate (delicious).

    I was just reading about flammenkuchen and I have to tell my son Alex about this. He loves sour cream, onions, and bacon, he will go crazy and beg me to make that and the sweet versions too! Unfortunately, my kitchen doesn't lend itself well to making fresh pasta as far as room to work with. I always have to buy the dough and it's a shame because I know how to make it myself and I've been wanting a pasta machine for the longest time. Someday I'll get my kitchen redone :)

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing it's amazing how little room you actually need to do this. You don't even have to roll the dough to be honest. If you have an oven and a tray you can do it, just thin the dough with your hands on the tray, actually the more "rustic" the better. It's truly delicious and I'm sure you son will love it. Here this kind of dough is sold everywhere already rolled out but I prefer to do it myself.
  • Sandy wrote:
    Now that you speak of Alsatian cuisine you reminded me of one of my favourite things with bacon: Flammkuchen (German) or Tarte Flambée (French). I like it better than pizza (and I love pizza). Here's how I do it:
    Mix 200g flour, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 125mL water and a pinch of salt to make the dough. Work until it's not sticky (add more flour if necessary). It's OK to do it in a food processor, it's an easy dough. Roll out the dough very thinly to the size of the baking tray, in fact you can roll the dough on top of the baking tray to make it extra easy (don't forget to flour first if you want it to come out). Spread Créme fraiche on the dough (I would guess sour cream would work as well), spread sliced onions (purple ones look very nice) and sliced bacon on top and season with salt and pepper. Put in the oven (high temperature) and bake until the bread looks crispy (10-15 minutes, but depends on the oven).
    This is the simplest, most traditional way of doing it however I've had it with just about any topping you can imagine, including sweet versions with apples and cinnamon, or strawberries and chocolate (delicious).

    EDIT: Photos of Flammkuchen.

    Sounds good, Sandy. What temperature for the oven? 425? 450?

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @Perilagu_Khan actually my recipe doesn't state the temperature, just says maximum temperature. I usually heat to 200-250ºC. I'm not too familiar with Fahrenheit but I used a converter and that corresponds to 392-482 :)
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    Here's another article with more "Americanized" instructions and a history. YES! I finally have a old Alsatian tradition back in the family, this is something my ancestors no doubt knew and loved and something my grandparents never made. I'll have to ask my aunt about it. @Sandy, tell me if this works since you make this :)

    Flammenkuchen- a German Specialty Recipe

    Flammenkuchen, literally 'Flaming Cake', is one of Germany's favorite 'fast' foods, and is enjoyed everywhere from restaurants, cafes and beer gardens, served meal-sized and on a wooden board, to by the piece as an 'on the go' snack from street and market stands. As well as baked in old fashioned ovens during any festive celebrations, such as Weihnachtmaerkte, Germany's Christmas markets.

    Although it looks a bit like a type of thin pizza that is not how it tastes, and it is one of those traditional German dishes which are well worth trying by anyone who is visiting the country. Its origins are in Alsace, a region that has been a part of Germany several times over the last centuries but is now one of France's smallest states, and which lies along the west bank of the Upper River Rhine bordering present day Germany and Switzerland. There also it is known as 'Flaming Cake', a 'tarte flambe'.

    In the seventeenth century Alsace was seized by the kings of France, Germany reclaimed the territory after the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, France took it back at the end of WWI, 1940 saw it once again in German hands following their invasion of the country, and it was finally 'liberated' and returned to France by U.S. troops in 1944.

    The story behind Flammenkuchen goes back to the days of wood fired bread ovens, when Alsatian bakers used any left over dough as a 'trial run' to gauge their temperature before loading them with that days loaves. The thinly rolled out dough was placed in the centre of an oven and at the correct heat baked in less than two minutes, however if the temperature was too high the Flammenkuchen would burn or catch fire earning it the name 'flaming cake.

    The crust is a pizza style dough which has been rolled until it is wafer thin to make a crisp texture similar to a cracker, and you can easily use any good quality ready made pizza dough, your own favorite pizza dough recipe or failing that one for a bread dough.

    It just must be really thin, and pizza dough 'bubbles' as it cooks which also adds that 'extra something' to the finished baked good. Here is a traditional and authentic German recipe.


    The classic Alsace Flammenkuchen topping

    1 tbsp olive oil
    2 red (if possible) onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
    1/4 tsp ground black pepper
    12 oz smokey bacon, chopped or thin slices of Black Forest type ham torn into smallish pieces

    - Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
    - Heat oil and fry onions in skillet until softened and beginning to caramelise, about 7 to 10 minutes.
    - Chop the bacon, or tear the ham
    - Add black pepper to sauce and stir through
    - Spread the sauce mixture over the base leaving a half inch rim. Lightly turn up edge of dough.
    - Place the caramelized onions evenly over sauce (either creme fraiche or sour cream). Sprinkle the chopped bacon or ham, which will shrink during the cooking, over the onions.
    - Season with additional salt and pepper

    Bake in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes or until crust turns golden and the edges of the onions are browning. Good idea to keep an eye on the Flammenkuchen because it turns from 'browning' to 'burnt' quickly.

    Decorate with a little chopped parsley or chives and serve at once.

    Savory Flammenkuchen is often served on a wooden platter, then rolled up and eaten with the hands, accompanied by a green or cucumber salad, Federweisser in the autumn, chilled Rose, red or white wine, apple wine or beer.

    A sweet Flammenkuchen can be topped with sliced sour apples, pears or blueberries sprinkled with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon and baked, after which it can be served as it comes out of the oven, or with the addition of a little warmed alcohol such as Calvados or rum, and flambeed.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing I can see this recipe working, certainly! All the Flammkuchen (I notice you use a different spelling) I ever ate had raw onion on top but the caramelized version you present here must be delicious!

    A week from now the Weihnachtsmarkt will open here and I intend to eat all the good things that are sold there: Elsässer (Alsatian) Flammkuchen, Reibekuchen (potato pancakes, delicious), Bratwurst im Brötchen, Currywurst mit Frites, Fleischkäse im Brötchen, and to finish off Heiße Schokolade mit Sahne (hot chocolate with cream). The only traditional thing I will pass is the Glühwein, I personally don't like it.
  • @Sandy- if I am not mistaken, flammen is "flaming" and flamm is "flame", so for "flaming cake" it would properly be called Flammenkuchen. No big deal I'm sure.

    Heiße Schokolade mit Sahne is served all year round in my home. Alex loves it and will sometimes drink it in the summer if the air conditioning makes him feel chilly. We are now in season for it and I'm sure I will bring it up again when we get to the C foods. That and @4EverHungry's hot apple cider, yes, these two drinks were definitely part of visiting my German grandparents during the holidays, getting out of the car and rushing into their warm home, Grandma having some ready for her grandsons :)

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    edited November 2013 Posts: 4,012
    Well, here everybody calls it Flammkuchen, so I "do as the Romans" :D
    I'm also a big fan of hot chocolate and drink it all year long, but there is something about drinking it when you are freezing to death with your friends at the Weihnachtsmarkt and then keeping the mug that makes it extra special.

    EDIT: A bit of online searching solved the mystery regarding the spelling. Flammkuchen is the common name, Flammenkuchen is the old spelling and currently considered an uncommon denomination in German. Actually flammen means flames and flammkuchen means flamed cake. German is one tricky language :)
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited November 2013 Posts: 12,480
    Danke to all, especially @Sandy and @SirHenry, for these marvelous recipes.
    You are an inspiration to me ... sitting here in my old (currently cold) Japanese house, with a minor kitchenette (refrigerator, stove, and one new big electric cook pot).

    Your avid cooking thread reader,
    4EverHungry, who will be making lots of hot apple cider, wassail (oh yes!), and any version of German and Italian food that can be cooked in a 2 liter electric cook pot.
    Ganbatte to me!!

    P.S. SirHenry, all you need now is to find a distant relative of yours named Peter Paul Karl (Walther). ;)
  • CommanderRossCommanderRoss The bottom of a pitch lake in Eastern Trinidad, place called La Brea
    Posts: 8,266
    Well, in the Netherlands, if you say spek (Bacon), you're saying spekpannenkoek. Ok, perhaps not, but anyway, it's the best 'pancake' there is. Wikipedia has this to say about them:

    'In the Netherlands pancakes are called pannenkoeken and eaten at dinner time. Pancake restaurants are popular with families and serve many sweet, savory, and stuffed varieties. Pannenkoeken are slightly thicker than crêpes and usually quite large, 12" or so in diameter. The batter is egg-based and fillings include such items as sliced apples, cheese, ham, bacon, and candied ginger, alone or in combination. Stroop, a thick molasses-like fruit-based syrup is also popular, particularly in a classic filling of bacon and stroop.'

    So, pancakes:

    200 gram flour
    10 grams buckwheat (optional)
    2 eggs
    1/2 a litre of milk
    pinch of salt
    pinch of cinnamon powder

    Bacon (obviously)

    Making the batter: put the flour, buckwheat, cinnemon powder salt and eggs together and while stirring slowly add the milk. Make sure to add the milk slowly, giving the batter time to form so you won't have small pockets of flour left. If you do, keep on stirring 'till they're gone.

    For natural pancakes one puts a small block of butter in a fryingpan. As soon as it turns brown the pan is hot enough and you can poor in the batter until 3/4 of the bottom is covered. Then move the pan around to cover the bottom completely. After the edges turn brown you should turn it over by throwing it up in the air (professional way) or just using a wooden spoon.

    With the bacon version you first put in the bacon after the butter has turned brown. as soon as it turns crispy you add the batter. Then the procedure is the same.

    Serve with 'stroop' or sugar syrup, allthough maple syrup works as well.

    The good thing about these pancakes is that you can eat them for dinner (the above recipy is for about 8 pancakes, good enough for 2 to 4 people) and the 'left overs' are nice for breakfast as well, as they're as good cold as they are warm.
  • Sandy wrote:
    @SirHenryLeeChaChing I can see this recipe working, certainly! All the Flammkuchen (I notice you use a different spelling) I ever ate had raw onion on top but the caramelized version you present here must be delicious!

    A week from now the Weihnachtsmarkt will open here and I intend to eat all the good things that are sold there: Elsässer (Alsatian) Flammkuchen, Reibekuchen (potato pancakes, delicious), Bratwurst im Brötchen, Currywurst mit Frites, Fleischkäse im Brötchen, and to finish off Heiße Schokolade mit Sahne (hot chocolate with cream). The only traditional thing I will pass is the Glühwein, I personally don't like it.

    I discovered currywurst several months ago and absolutely love it. In fact, I even came up with my own currywurst sauce recipe.

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @CommanderRoss that sounds delicious, I'm a fan of pancakes, crépes, etc.
    Ah the Currywurst, that underestimated delicacy. You are right in loving it @Perilagu_Khan. Can you share the recipe?
  • I'll post it when I can find a bit of spare time! Perhaps tomorrow night.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 3,494
    @4EverHungry- would you settle for Magdalena (nee Walther) Huss (1765-1823)? My 5 time great grandmother. Born in the Alsace and since her husband Mathieu (1765-1849) is buried there I must assume she is as well. In case you are interested, at that point their daughter Maria Anna (1797-1883), was born in the Alsace and died in Mahanoy City, PA (where my mother was born and I have been to her grave) married one Anthony Steck (1798-1873), same place of birth and death. Their daughter Maria Eve Steck (1819-1884), again same place of Alsatian birth and death, married a Berliner named Jacob Keim and their son Jacob Jr (born in Mahanoy City 1846) was my "witchy" great grandmother's father. My great grandmother (or Grammy as my Mom called her) was Margarethe (Margaret) Keim (1880-1964), and yes I very vaguely remember when a picture of her was taken holding 2 year old me the same year she passed away, and have many, many wonderful stories about her as well as my equally vague memories of how much she loved me up that my two get to hear about.

    And then there is my great grandfather and Grammy's husband Robert Cowley (there's my now trace of Scotch-Irish), whose mother Hannah (1853-1933) was a Fritz (Friess) that dates back to her ancestor Johan Michael Friess (1699-1762) who was born in Steinwenden-Pfalz and the first of my ancestors who arrived a century or so before the Stecks. My Grandpa was a Pell (Mom's maiden name), shortened over the years from Von Pellmann, a noble Prussian name. His mother Ida (nee Coombs) we are not sure if she is English or Irish, she was born in Ireland but Grandpa claimed she was English so who knows, and there it is as my father was Lithuanian (my Nana) and Swedish/Welsh (Pop-Pop). Does that make me a mutt? Probably. But on both sides of Mom's family, I am definitely very proudly German and come from a long line of excellent cooks :D
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