Monday 29 October 2012

Week 13 - New York

BAGEL AND LOX

Well we're back from our mini-vacation in New York and as always the city was amazing!  The lights, the hectic pace, the array of life to partake in.... it's really a special place.  It's particularly special for me and Jon as we got married there one year ago in an intimate ceremony with our close friends and family.  What better way to celebrate our 1st anniversary than to feature New York's specialty breakfast item - the Bagel!

Of course, the bagel is found all over the world.  We used to eat them in Manitoba all the time.  But many people will argue that it's not really a bagel unless it's from New York.  (I won't even touch the New York Bagel vs. Montreal Bagel debate)



A New York Bagel has to be tough and chewy on the outside and soft and pillowy on the inside.  It's always best eaten fresh (don't toast it!) and since the invention of Philadelphia cream cheese in 1872, it's rarely been eaten without it.

The history of the bagel is obscured in Polish folklore, (many claim it was invented  by an Austrian baker as a horse stirrup-shaped gift for the Polish King Sobieski after Poland saved Austria from Turkish invaders) however it is certain that mass waves of Eastern European immigrants brought the bagel to New York sometime in the 19th century.  Once entrenched in New York, the secrets of bagel-making were closely guarded and entry into the International Bagel Bakers' Union was through father/son relationship only.

Fortunately for me, excellent bagel recipes can now be found online.  (wouldn't those Bagel Artisans of yore be mad!)  The recipe was quite simple and even with the extra boiling step only took about two hours in total.

Bagel toppings are a personal preference affair; they can simply be topped with butter or can be stacked high with ingredients.  For the sake of our experiement I went with the classic set-up:  cream cheese, lox (cured salmon), tomato, cucumber, red onion and capers.



Eating this much on a bagel was a new experience for me - and I liked it!  Despite my reservations, the homemade bagels were well-formed and delicious, and the array of toppings added a great variety of tastes and textures.

The Verdict:

 For Ease of Preparation:






For Degree of Separation:





For Guestability:







Who doesn't enjoy a nice bagel?

For Sustainability:






Bagels can pack a wallop of nutrition and calories.

For Overall Appeal:







If I had fresh New York bagels readily available I would eat one of these every morning.  (although maybe without the lox)

Next time.....SPRINKLES!!!! (for real)


Monday 15 October 2012

Week 12 - Frühstück - Germany

Hello there!  In honour of that bombastic festival Oktoberfest, I decided to feature Germany this week.  More specifically I settled on Munich and the traditional mid-morning breakfast of Weisswurst!

Weiss-what you say?  Weisswurst is a traditional white sausage from the state of Bavaria.  It is made from finely minced veal and fresh bacon and a selection of herbs and spices that can range from parsley, lemon, mace, onion, cardamom, to ginger.  If you're wondering why sausage in the morning, the answer is actually very pragmatic. Weisswurst is made without preservatives and since refrigeration is a relatively new phenomenon, this sausage was (and is) traditionally made and consumed before the church bell chimes twelve.



Weisswurst is a breakfast snack rife with traditional customs - one of those being that Weisswurst must be accompanied by a Weissbier (wheat beer), a Brezel (soft Bavarian Pretzel), and some sweet Bavarian mustard.  The standard pretzel to sausage ratio is 1:2. (1 pretzel to 2 sausages)  Finding a Weissbier didn't prove very difficult (thank you LCBO), but buying a fresh pretzel was a bit tricky.  Pretzels, like baguettes, are made with little fat and consequently need to be fresh. So what's a girl to do but bake them herself?

At first I was dubious to try this endeavour at home, but in the end I'm glad I took the chance.  The pretzels were A-MA-ZING when done fresh and actually weren't that tricky to prepare. They required very few ingredients (water, baking soda, yeast, brown sugar and flour) and only took about an hour.  One caveat, Brezen are normally dipped in lye before baking and that is what gives them that dark pretzel look.  However, any ingredient that requires googles, gloves and a face mask doesn't seem like a good idea (especially in the morning).  I substituted a baking soda bath instead and still got excellent results.



Weisswurst is made with a thin pork casing that isn't eaten and makes this breakfast a little tricky to eat.  Many web-sites warned of the dangers of eating Weisswurst incorrectly and the apparent dire embarrassment that would follow.  The traditional method of eating Weisswurst even has a name - zuzeln.

Here's how zuzeln works:  You bite off one end of the sausage and then ever so carefully suck the meat out of the casing.  When you get to the half-way point you turn the sausage around and repeat with the other half leaving the used casing discreetly on your plate.  Very... interesting wouldn't you say?



The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:





For Degree of Separation:






For Guestability:





I wasn't entirely convinced with the sausage but the pretzels are fabulously hospitable!

For Sustainability:






Yeah, lunch didn't really happen after this....

For Overall Appeal:






Like so many of these experiments I was a little anxious about trying this one.  But once those hot pretzels came out of the oven I was totally game.  The Germans were right, the beer, the pretzel, the mustard, the sausage - it all worked together perfectly!


There are actually several breakfast entries waiting to be written about at the moment and I'm going to try my best to get them finished soon.  Because next week we travel to NYC!!!  (for real, not just in my culinary imagination)


Week 11 - Samoa

SUPOESI

Okay, so we didn't really go on vacation to Samoa (that would've been wonderful), but we did spend a lovely weekend visiting family in Ottawa.  I wasn't inclined to force a random breakfast upon them, but everyone was enthusiastic to join in our project.  So I brought out a recipe I've been saving for awhile - Supoesi, a breakfast soup from Samoa.

I don't have a lot of information about Supoesi and the breakfast culture in Samoa.  From what I've read, food is quite important to Samoans (as it seems to be in most countries) and their national cuisine features lots of local fruit and vegetables like coconut, breadfruit, taro, and bananas.

Supoesi is quite a simple recipe and features only five ingredients - papaya or paw paw, water, coconut milk, sugar and tapioca flour.  It took a while to boil the papaya down to a mushy texture, but other than that it was a snap to prepare.

I've read that even in Samoa, Supoesi isn't a universally loved dish and the taste test results among us reflected that.  I personally didn't enjoy it very much.  It tasted like melon (I hate melons) and had the texture of tapioca pudding.  However, there were several in the crowd that seemed to like it.  And I even heard tell that some ate it days later as left-overs!

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:







For Degree of Separation:







Like Chilaquiles this isn't even close to your morning bowl of Cheerios.

For Guestability:






Everyone was very polite about eating it, but I don't think it has a very big wow factor.

For Sustainability:







I think we all cheated and had some toast with our Supoesi.  Actually, I'm not sure if people in Samoa eat it by itself either.

For Overall Appeal:







This gets a solid three Cheerios rating.  In general, I don't feel completely comfortable judging other countries' breakfasts when I know so little about them and I prepare the recipe myself.  Who knows, maybe I absolutely missed the mark when I prepared it?

Next week - Oktoberfest...

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Week 10 - Mexico


CHILAQUILES & ATOLE

Who here loves Mexican food?  I know I adore it.  I was hooked after that first Taco in Grade 7 Home-Economics class and many a Taco later love it more than ever.

Researching breakfast in Mexico was a bit overwhelming because there really are a lot of breakfast options, and each has its own endless regional variations.  There's Huevos Rancheros, Migas, Gorditas de Harina, Breakfast Tacos...but the winner of my attentions was Chilaquiles - or more simply, breakfast nachos!



As soon as I learned that Chilaquiles existed, I had to try them.  Nachos, normally relegated to the dark of night brought into the morning light!  Very exciting.  And as it turns out, simple to make.

Chilaquiles perform the same function as many other breakfast foods - to use up last night's dinner.  Just like Sinangag last week used up left-over rice, Chilaquiles use up left-over tortillas.

Very simply, you fry up strips of tortillas to make Totopos (or nacho chips as we North Americans know them), quickly cook in a pot with Salsa, drizzle with Crema Mexicana (a thinner version of sour cream) and Queso Fresco (fresh, unripened Mexican cheese) and serve alongside Frijoles Refritos (refried beans).



Awesome.  Spicy, delicious, and lots of protein to start your day!

But wait... it gets better.  Unlike 99% of the countries I've researched, Mexicans don't all drink coffee at breakfast.  The predominant drink of choice is Atole.  Atole can be traced back to Mayan times and is a creamy hot drink made with Maizena (corn flour or corn starch), milk, sugar and vanilla (when mixed with chocolate it becomes Champuraddo).  It is fragrant, delicious and wraps around you like a hug on a cold winter's day.  A definite keeper!



The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:






If you use pre-made tortillas chips this recipe is a cinch.

For Degrees of Separation:





Not even close to Cheerios.

For Guestability:






For late night sleep-overs with friends - yes; for a nice brunch with the family - maybe not.

For Sustainability:





I could eat a lot of these before I felt truly satiated.

Overall Appeal:





I think it is easy to tell that I loved this breakfast.  It was easy to make and super delicious - hallmarks of a great morning meal.

This was a fun spicy way to wake-up, join us next time for the island-vacation special brought to you by Samoa!