Baked alaska
You really should just give it a shot–it’s not difficult, but I do understand the feeling of cooking up a new dish having no clue whether it’s close to what is intended or not. Here’s my illustrated recipe for beef goulash, as well as the noodles that are usually served along with it. The most important points are to use a good quality sweet Hungarian paprika (or unsmoked Spanish paprika–the quality is very important here), use about 2:1 meat : onions ratio by weight, and add the paprika to the fat and onions after they’ve turned translucent off the heat (so it doesn’t burn) and stir it around for about 30 seconds to a minute in the hot oil so the paprika dissolves and flavors the oil. If you add the paprika after adding your liquid ingredients, it does not flavor the dish as thoroughly (because of the fat-soluble flavor components of paprika.) And you do not need a lot of liquid at all (maybe 1/2 cup of water at most for two pounds of meat–the onions and meat expel a lot of liquid in the cooking process, and goulash is traditionally not thickened with flour or anything.) Unless you are make goulash soup, in which case you’d add a good bit of liquid, as well as a number of vegetables.
I still have not experienced rijsttafel (which isn’t a single dish, to be fair), and I know I’d love it.
I finally made poutine. I thought I’d like it but I didn’t.
A pasty. I read about them in Neil Gaiman’s book American Gods, and it sounded delish. I’ve wanted one ever since, but haven’t bothered to make one. No one around here (that I can find) sells them either.
I should get one that.
I was taking it for granted that they would be fried in animal fat. And anyway, the only way I’ve found to make decent fries at home involves copious amounts of bacon.
Huh, I did not know that about paprika. I wish I’d read this earlier today: I just made up a big casserole that had paprika in it, and if I’d known, I’d have added it like this.
And doesn’t goulash have potato in it, too? That would thicken it up. At least, that’s the way a friend of mine makes it, though he’s not Hungarian himself.
(filipino deep fried pig knuckle)
My neighborhood has had a bunch of restaurants opening recently.
I haven’t made it to one of the higher-end places, but just heard about an appetizer they feature: Deviled eggs topped with bacon and one fried oyster (per egg)…
Well, it depends on what you mean by “goulash.” Gulyás, in Hungarian, is really a thick soup, also known as gulyásleves (goulash soup.)
This is arguably what is really Hungarian goulash, and it often does contain potatoes, as well as carrots, parsnips, and sometimes celery root. But those are not a requirement.
However, on most English menus I’ve seen in Hungary, Austria, and Germany, that dish is listed as “Goulash soup” or Goulaschsuppe. The dish that usually translates into goulash in English and goulasch in German is what is known as pörkölt, and looks like this, often served with spaetzle (nokedli or galuska in Hungarian) or boiled potatoes. I grew up in a Polish family, and what was known as gulasz in Polish was pörkölt, as well.
While I make pörkölt quite often, I would say that soup version is far more interesting, especially when cooked outside in a traditional cauldron called a bogrács, for a dish that is known as bográcsgulyás (“kettle goulash”). You basically follow the same recipe as for pörkölt, but then add a bunch of water and root vegetables. Plus there’s variations that use beans as the protein, too (babgulyás.) That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about goulash.
Haven’t had that one, but the German version, Schweinshaxe, is delicious. (Didn’t realize it was roasted; the ones I’ve had tasted fried.)
Anything at The Fat Duck.
Been there, done that, all seventeen courses. The most amazing food experience ever. :smug:
They can be shipped, and they freeze well.
That said, they really aren’t all that great. I mean, they’re OK, but they pretty much taste just like they sound - meat and potatoes in a crust. No heavenly spices or anything like that.
If you do order some, eat them with gravy. They’re best that way. Don’t let anyone tell you they’re better with ketchup; they’re not.
Speaking as a proud Englishman, I think Athena’s scathing assessment of the humble pasty is absolutely accurate.
A good pasty fresh from a bakery in Cornwall is pretty damn good, but generally they’re quite bland. They’re designed to be eaten as finger-food, though, originally by holding onto and eventually discarding the pastry crimp, so gravy isn’t normal. But if you do use gravy, make sure it’s the brown sort. And I agree about the ketchup - an abomination, though I do like a little salt and pepper.
My desire for this list is kobe beef. I have access to it, but I want the experience to be perfect when I finally try it.
Poutine. Tell me how this could possibly go wrong.
Joe