I was deciding the best way to cook some calamari and found a good recipe in a Guy Fieri cookbook. (I find his shows tough to watch but his recipes are often amazing). His recipe is served in a bread bowl which you can eat. He seemed quite excited by this. The calamari part is good.
The edible bowl has always struck me as odd. I’ve seen ones made of hollowed out loaf filled with bread dip, potatoes fried together filled with Szechuan chicken, or giant taco bowl filled with beef and guacamole. There is always too much bowl, too many carbs, a novelty quick to wear off. I say this as a foodie who occasionally wishes restaurants would bring back the bread basket.
But perhaps I am just jaded. Do you like good in an edible bowl? Are there examples which are good? (The Szechuan food was great but the bowl was the weakest part).
A local legend, Suzie’s Dive Thru, offers cheese fries in a fried tortilla bowl. I sometimes bring them to parties, it’s about the next best thing to showing up with Mick Jagger.
It is a Rhode Island calamari, breading the calamari in corn starch, meal and flour then deep frying and serving with a sauce made from butter, olive oil, peppers, scallions and pepper-salt. I add lots of other spicy things.
The traditional liqueur is served all around Portugal, but is especially prominent in the Oeste and Lisbon regions. In Óbidos, Ginjinha is commonly served in a small edible chocolate cup.
Taco bowls can work out with the right filling. I use waffle bowls often, they’re made out of the waffle cone stuff and ideal for serving fruit or ice cream. I’ve seen ads for some thing to make a bacon bowl, which I think you can do using any bowl as a mold, and that is an idea I heartily approve of. I would also be fine with bacon plates, forks, and spoons also.
Excellent. Hope you didn’t overcook it. No matter what the recipe says, when it floats it’s done, and still tender and full of flavor. I’ve seen people’s jaws drop the first time they realize that calamari doesn’t have to resemble crusty rubber.
Also, a light egg wash helps hold the breading on. Just one egg in a cup of cold water will do. When I can I’ll saute onions and peppers seperately, deglaze with a little wine, then finish by tossing the sauce with calamari fresh from the fryer. For a crowd I’ll bread sliced pepper rings and fry them up with the calamari.
I’ve had those with other liquors. And frequently around here I can find little chocolate liquor bottle candies filled with some kind of real liquor in them at the grocery store. They aren’t allowed to be sold in grocery stores in every state, but I assume you might find them at some liquor stores. It’s kind of fun thing to bring to parties, but there’s nothing special about whatever alcoholic liquid is inside them.
Ginja served like that is a bit of fun and a novelty, but in this case it also works very well. Ginja is a nice drink to start with; and there’s a bit of astringency about the liqueur that is complimented by the chocolate.
Since it’s a Portuguese drink I’m surprised I haven’t run across it around here where he have a large Portuguese population across many generations. I’m going to ask around now though.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl is reason enough to drive to the coast, to my mind. I also like doing sourdough bowls (brushed with garlic butter and toasted in the oven) for filling up with lamb stew, makes sure you get every drop of gravy. Yeah, too many carbs but once in a while won’t kill ya and if it’s done right it’s a thin shell of bread that ideally gets perfectly soaked in whatever is inside. I mean, it’s basically a medieval trencher so TRADITION!
The bacon bowl just might change my mind on the issue. I’ll take mine filled with bacon.
Never had booze in a chocolate cup. I have never had a chocolate filled with liqueur which I have much liked, but a chocolate cup might work well with creme de menthe or Irish cream, avocaat or a chocolate or coffee liquor. For me, fruity or rummy chocolate is not so appealing.
Seafood in a bowl has some appeal. Red Lobster was built on cheesy biscuits and stuffing them with garlic shrimp might save us all a lot of time.
I agree with your cooking advice (@Tripolar) and limit the fry to three minutes - less is more.
This is one of my favorite desserts and is the primary driver any time I choose to eat at this particular restaurant. Sure, it’s basically praline brittle, but with the caramel, berries, nuts, and included ice cream on the side (not for long!) it just all comes together. I don’t literally lick the plate clean, but it certainly looks as if I did once finished.
Jake’s Famous Crawfish here in Portland (established in 1892!) did a dessert that was mindblowing in its utter simplicity–a dark chocolate “bag” filled with white chocolate mousse, fresh whipped cream and fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Eating the bag was a big part of the yumminess and it’s a perfect shared table dessert. I could murder one of those no problem.
I have an idea… but you guys might hate it. Please keep in mind that my taste buds were just treated to a Really good chicken sandwich with loads us super hot chipoltle sauce so my POV is going to skew towards “hot”.
I would need a Really hardy fresh small loaf of rye to try this; rye is about the only bread that I think could handle it w/o a Three Mile Island melt down. Hollow it, but not too deep as you don’t want the radiation to leak through to the plate. You are doing to fill it with super hot chipotle sauce.
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Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt European style yogurt
1-2 small chipotles in adobo (seeds removed) – adjust to taste based on desired level of spiciness
1 clove of garlic
2 shots of lime juice
Salt to taste (but remember: like Tequila, salt is bad for you!)
The Work
Combine it all in the blender and mix until it is completely smooth. Taste and adjust the spice level based on your preference.
Refrigerate until thickened and then use as needed as a condiment.
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The hollowed small loaf, now filled, is to be at the center of a serving tray. Outside of it, surround the tray with a thin layer of cooked thin fries. In top of that layer of thin fries add a layer of boiled shrimp, baked fish sticks, and home made chicken strips (if you have to, cooked breaded chicken cutlets that have been sliced into strips?)
The idea is to dunk the finger food into the Inferno Heat Chipotle while not melting into your sneakers like Godzilla.
If this works the way I hope, maybe it might serve 4? I’m thinking it’s for Game Day, The Oscars, DVD Night, etc.
Using a bread bowl is contingent upon the same issue of a lot of cooking - if the bread wasn’t good enough to eat on it’s own, I don’t want to eat it as part of the meal. Pretty much the same with cooking wine, beer, etc. If you have a hearty, well baked bread that was paired with the dish, then it’s amazing. I had an amazing French onion soup years ago from a French bakery that used their day old boules for the dish - and they were justifiably proud of it.
