My cold is over and my head is out of the fog. It's been almost a week. Thank goodness I didn't get the dreaded "flu"-this was bad enough.
I had some grammar comments on my last blog-and they were justified, please excuse me. Remember my telling you that my old Dell was dropping "h's", now the "h's" are fine, but the "s" are dropping. I will try and catch them all, but if I don't-oh well. A new computer is in the making-soon, very soon. Actually, a new computer is here, but then I have to set it up and my brain is only starting to function again. I have been off work for the last five days, eating bread and Caesar's salad (yes, that's what I was craving).
I found an interesting book on my travels, called "The Gentle Art of Flavoring" by Robert Landry, originally written in French and translated into English by Chef Bruce H. Axler. There are hundreds of entries in this delightful book from all over the world. This book sells on my Amazon storefront www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks for $79.99-definitely a collectible. Here are only a very few new flavors I have never heard of before:
Fenugreek-it somewhat resembles a clover, which is why the Germans call it goat's horn club. It i rather widespread on the periphery of the Mediterranean and is often cultivated as forage. Its fruit pods contain several brownish-yellow, oblong, bumpy seeds. Their aroma is agreeable. lightly sweet, like sweet clover or Tonka bean. All these plants contain coumarin.
The Indians dote on fenugreek, which they call helbet. The dried, pounded seed is used in many condiment formulas (curry, chutney, etc). They export it as well under the name of ground methi. The Arabs eat the germinated seeds and the young sprouts of fenugreek, which are reported to be quite fortifying. In the United States, an aromatic oil is extracted from them and used as a substitute for maple essence in making ice creams.
In the West, this aromatic (often imported from Morocco) is not highly rated. It only flavors vinegar used for making pickle. The sole meat to which it is suited is the domestic rabbit in a gibelotte, with many garlic cloves and a point of cardamon to counterbalance the sweetness of fenugreek.
Lacquer-A sort of cooking varnish that is the glory of Chinese cooks who possess a certain high gloss of knowledge. It requires the use of a paint brush, as well as soy sauce, powdered sugar and great patience.
Molokheia-Also spelled mouloukheia andmeloukhie'. A cooking herb, that is highly appreciated in Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia. Fresh, it smells like melon: dried, like cut hay.
This herb is nothing other than edible Jew's mallow, corette, for the botanist, corchorous olitorius, belonging to Malvaceae. In the last century in France it was called mauve des Jifs (Jew's mallow) or guimauve ptagere'. Arabs, North Africans, Jews and Hindus consider molokheia a plant between cress and sorrel. It is eaten cooked in green, slightly limy sauces in chicken broth, even in the broth of Tunisian couscous. The gourmets on shore of the Nile's affirm that the smell is like that of snails!
Raventsara-A large Madagascan tree of the Lauraceae family whose leaves and nut are called cinnamon clove. After leaves have been boiled, they are threaded on a string and dried in the sun. The angular, oily units are dried for a long time on wattles. This exotic spice is very worthy. It's aroma is like a mixture of cinnamon and cloves, with cloves dominating. Unfortunately, its taste i a little acrid, which is why it is rarely exported. The Malagasy us it extensively , notably in zebra or squirrel stews.
That's quite a mouthful, but very interesting.
Happy Cooking!
Fenugreek-it somewhat resembles a clover, which is why the Germans call it goat's horn club. It i rather widespread on the periphery of the Mediterranean and is often cultivated as forage. Its fruit pods contain several brownish-yellow, oblong, bumpy seeds. Their aroma is agreeable. lightly sweet, like sweet clover or Tonka bean. All these plants contain coumarin.
The Indians dote on fenugreek, which they call helbet. The dried, pounded seed is used in many condiment formulas (curry, chutney, etc). They export it as well under the name of ground methi. The Arabs eat the germinated seeds and the young sprouts of fenugreek, which are reported to be quite fortifying. In the United States, an aromatic oil is extracted from them and used as a substitute for maple essence in making ice creams.
In the West, this aromatic (often imported from Morocco) is not highly rated. It only flavors vinegar used for making pickle. The sole meat to which it is suited is the domestic rabbit in a gibelotte, with many garlic cloves and a point of cardamon to counterbalance the sweetness of fenugreek.
Lacquer-A sort of cooking varnish that is the glory of Chinese cooks who possess a certain high gloss of knowledge. It requires the use of a paint brush, as well as soy sauce, powdered sugar and great patience.
Molokheia-Also spelled mouloukheia andmeloukhie'. A cooking herb, that is highly appreciated in Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia. Fresh, it smells like melon: dried, like cut hay.
This herb is nothing other than edible Jew's mallow, corette, for the botanist, corchorous olitorius, belonging to Malvaceae. In the last century in France it was called mauve des Jifs (Jew's mallow) or guimauve ptagere'. Arabs, North Africans, Jews and Hindus consider molokheia a plant between cress and sorrel. It is eaten cooked in green, slightly limy sauces in chicken broth, even in the broth of Tunisian couscous. The gourmets on shore of the Nile's affirm that the smell is like that of snails!
Raventsara-A large Madagascan tree of the Lauraceae family whose leaves and nut are called cinnamon clove. After leaves have been boiled, they are threaded on a string and dried in the sun. The angular, oily units are dried for a long time on wattles. This exotic spice is very worthy. It's aroma is like a mixture of cinnamon and cloves, with cloves dominating. Unfortunately, its taste i a little acrid, which is why it is rarely exported. The Malagasy us it extensively , notably in zebra or squirrel stews.
That's quite a mouthful, but very interesting.
Happy Cooking!
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