[capozzoli]

I have made them before. Just another one of those things I havent made as good as the original. There must be a trick.

Ive used the rice flour, turmeric and water recipe. They dont come out light and airy like at the restaurant.

If I make them again I think Im going to try some baking soda and maybe an egg or something.

If you try it let me know what you come up with. By all means try the original recipe first.

Maybe you will find the mistake I am making.

[gordonstrong]

I have absolutely no background in cooking that dish, but I have two suggestions based on other types of batter-like recipes.  Try either using something carbonated (sparkling water, perhaps) like you would in fish & chips, or ice cold water like you would in tempura.

If it has an egg in it, you could whip the crap out of it like in "diner-style omelets" (which I detest).  Is it souffled at all? Can you whip the whites and yolks separately?

Or submit the idea to Cooks Illustrated and let them try the 84 different cooking combinations and figure out what works best.

[nicneufeld]

Couple trips to ethnic markets this weekend, one to the Indian place for some nondescript spice/rice restocking, and one to the East Euro place for some more of that awesome suva govedina and ajvar.  Got some Bulgarian sheep cheese, feta style...wow, pungent stuff.  Not a huge fan immediately, maybe I'll try it in a shopska salad.  On my third jar of ajvar though, I'm bordering on addicted.  Olives, thinly sliced vegetables, cured meats, ajvar, and bread or crackers, make a fantastic little meal.

I'd probably enjoy that lamb, but less so picking from the skull.  That likely makes me a less adventurous foodie, but then, I'm ok with that.  I can debone a whole chicken comfortably and without qualms, but heads or "peripheral organs" are a bit off limits for me, and thanks to my economic position, need not enter into my repertoire.  Wasn't it Serbia that was into, well, the "testier" meats?  I'll pass!  Same with seal, or lamb eyeballs, delicacies or nay.

[capozzoli]

I have eaten eye balls from a pig. Pretty nasty. No more eye balls for me.

That brain was very tasty though. Buttery and rich, not gamey at all. A few of the guests and myself only got a taste.

I started after the tongue, but if you can imagine acquiring it was visually tough. I just left it. 

[beerocd]

East Euro place for some more of that awesome suva govedina and ajvar. 

You wanna kick that ajvar up a notch, heat up some olive oil in a pan with some garlic in it. Then warm up your ajvar in that and eat it warm on some fresh bread. You can't really over warm it, it can turn a little darker red if you leave it in the pan a while. That's the way I like it when I'm not being lazy. But out of the jar is even good. Not worth making it at home anymore except out of pure tradition.

[bluesman]

East Euro place for some more of that awesome suva govedina and ajvar.  

You wanna kick that ajvar up a notch, heat up some olive oil in a pan with some garlic in it. Then warm up your ajvar in that and eat it warm on some fresh bread. You can't really over warm it, it can turn a little darker red if you leave it in the pan a while. That's the way I like it when I'm not being lazy. But out of the jar is even good. Not worth making it at home anymore except out of pure tradition.

That sounds very appetizing at the moment.  The only way to make this is fresh.  I really love the melding of the flavors.
Do you have a specific recipe?

Looks like the commercial exampes are pureed a bit.  I like it as more of a ragu.

[beerocd]

Do you have a specific recipe?

We use a meat grinder - like the coarse ground beef type attachment. So, you char a bushel of peppers on the grill, throw em in a big pot and cover em to let them steam. It will help separate the skin from the meat of the pepper. Also 3-5 huge eggplants, cut em in half and roast em in the oven till they are mushy. About 5 heads of garlic, a handfull of hot hungarian peppers for a little zing but you gotta make it so everyone can eat it. After everything is peeled and deseeded you run it through the grinder, toss it in a big roaster, and let it go for about 3-4 hours. It's not the time - you're trying to slowly thicken it to your desired consistency. Mostly just salt and pepper. Garlic salt if you didn't nail the right amount of garlic down. About a cup of oil, not olive oil cuz it's weird in the fridge. So just keep stirring and waiting for it to condense down. We jar it - so to keep the color we hit it with a bit of fruit fresh and fill the jar to about a finger from the top - and then top it off with (usually corn) oil as an air barrier. You just stir it in when you pop the jar. I've eaten the stuff over a year old this way - no problems.

So, it's a loose recipe - it's what we do. Salt and pepper are to taste, we know when it tastes right to us.    Just remember as the whole shebang cools down the heat of the hot peppers goes up. We use one of those big electric roasters (like Nesco) and leave it uncovered while cooking as you want the water to escape.

[nicneufeld]

Got some Bosnian beef kulen sausage too but haven't tried it.  Any thoughts on what to expect?  So far in the realm of sausages I've tried ljuta sremska kobasica (good, has a dense jerky like flavor) and albanska sudzuk (slightly strange taste by itself but a lot like pepperoni and very good sliced thin on pizza).  I lean towards the whole muscle meats though...the beef has been our favorite but this last bit of it we bought had such large sections of fat my wife didn't like it (Brother and Sister brand...much richer smoky flavor though!).  The dried pork loin is good too.

[Robert]

Hatch Chile Time!!

Picked up a box Saturday morning and spent Sunday roasting.







Looking for some good recipes if you have any. I love these things in just about everything.

[nicneufeld]

I love them too!  I bought about 10, half went into a paella (pictured above) and half into a steak sandwich sort of thing.  I also tried one sliced up raw...really have to say, these chilies are not particularly good raw, at least to my taste!

The steak sandwiches were good though.  Roasted the peppers over charcoal, then peeled and chopped them.  Also grilled (and then chopped) some onion "rafts" and chopped them in with the peppers.  Grill a large > 1lb sirloin steak, well seasoned, until med rare, let it rest, then slice thinly against the grain (reserving any escaping juices and adding to the mixture) and mix with the peppers and onions.  Place on grilled or broiled slices of buttered French bread with some sort of cheese.  Good stuff!

[beerocd]

7 - course meal. 1 pound chicharon + 6 Victoria beers  



The mexican markets have it on the weekends; deep fried pork with the skin on.
The beer is good but not worth $9 a sixer.

[capozzoli]

Oh man, I love chicharon! It is sinfully delicious.

Freddy and Tony's , a land mark Puerto Rican restaurant in North Philly makes them fresh as well as other deep fried treats. They have deep fried pork ribs. OMG are they good.

I love Spanish food, I love that restaurant! Ya gotta love every restaurant that starts out the day roasting several giant pigs in a series of giant ovens.

Never heard of Victoria beer.

[beerocd]

Oh man, I love chicharon! It is sinfully delicious.
Never heard of Victoria beer.

I just chop em up into bite sized chunks, warm em up (last night they were warm from the store) and hit em with some hotsauce. There's a thread on here with some guy begging for Victoria beer to be shipped to him. I guess it's limited availability; but I'd say you're not missing much. $36 for a case is a bit steep.

[capozzoli]

I really love PR food. Its not great for a weekday lunch though. After sitting down to a PR meal dont expect to go back to work, .Just find a hammock somewhere.

I want to learn how to make some more Caribbean Spanish food. I got Cuban down but not a whole lot to learn there is is mostly just like American cooking.

I have to practice my papas rellenas.

Or pastillias

I may have to get up off my ass and make that happen this weekend.

[capozzoli]

Ghana





Clockwise from rea rleft. Pork stewed with tomatoes red peppers, ginger, onions and vinegar. Little cumin and salt and pepper. I would venture to say that dish has the same influences from the Portuguese that the Indian dish Vindaloo has.


 
Sweet potatoes stewed in onions, ginger and coconut milk.

The tamale looking thing is Ga Keneky, a mush of fermented corn meal dough steamed in a corn husk. It is very sour but nice. Kinda like sour fufu with a consistency of thick mashed potatoes.



I used store bought cause it seems very hard to make, havent tried to make it homemade yet.

These are dishes one might find in a "Chop Bar" they are popular eating and drinking social type places in Ghana.



In the illustration on that sign they are making Ga-Keneky in a large mortar and pestle.