The Gentleman’s Relish – Make your own!
For all the lovers of Patum Peperium out there! Yes, I can show you how to make your own Gentleman’s Relish. Here is how I have managed to make this centuries-old delicious spread that goes on or into ANYTHING. From a humble piece of stale bread stolen from the ship’s galley to the most delicate of wafer thin Melba Toast. I even stuff Giant Green Spanish pitted olives with it, as well as adding a new dimension to Jamon Serrano. You can also toss it with pasta, spread on steak, or add to your Asian curries instead of Nam Pla น้ําปลา. Besides spreading it, there is just NO LIMIT with how you can cook with it! This is the original UMAMI! Continue reading →

Hailing from the border of eastern-Europe and Asia, khachapuri is one of those dishes that’s been around for so long its origin has been buried in history. There are countless variations of the egg- and cheese-filled pastry—which is the national dish of Georgia—but remarkably little written history. The oblong delight is believed to have originated by the Adjarians in southwestern Georgia, but regardless of when this genius combination of cheese, bread and egg emerged, its appeal is unmistakable and recipe relatively simple.
A yeasted dough is rested and formed into a football shape, edges folded over and filled with a combination of creamy, fresh and sharply aged cheeses, and a single egg. Continue reading →

The history of this dish is not well documented, and various sources make controversial claims about its origin. One of these sources claims that Chicken Kiev was actually created by a French chef, Nicolas Francois Appert, in the early 1800s Since the 18th century Russian chefs have adopted many techniques of French haute cuisine and combined them with the local culinary tradition. The adoption was furthered by the French chefs, such as Marie-Antoine Carême and Urbain Dubois, who were hired by Russian gentry. In particular the use of quality meat cuts, such as various cutlets, steaks, escalopes and suprêmes became widespread in the 19th century, and a number of original dishes involving such components were developed in Russia at that time. Continue reading →

In al die lande wat aan die noordsee grens, is geregte met skaapvleis en groente baie gewild en die spesifieke een wat in Noorweë die gewildste is, Farikal, wat lamsvleis en kool as bestanddele het, het sy oorsprong in Duitsland, alreeds vanaf die die 18de eeu.   Van daar het dit noordwaarts versprei na Denemarke en verskyn dan ook later in die 19de eeu in Noorweë se resepteboeke waarna dit vroeg in die begin van die 20ste eeu, deel word van die noorweegse nasionale dieet.

Die naam, Farikal, wat letterlik lam in kool, beteken, het sy oorsprong in Denemarke en pogings is aangewend om die naam te verander, onder andere na, Lam-i-kal, om enige verbintenis met die Deense gereg te probeer verbreek.   Dit was egter nie geslaagd nie en Farikal het dit gebly.   Maar ten spyte van sy oorsprong is die gereg so geliefd in Noorweë aangesien die bestanddele Noorweë so eg verteenwoordig.   Lam, uit die berge met hul ongerepte natuur, vars kool wat dwarsdeur die somer gegroei word en vars ge-oeste aartappels, wat saam met dit bedien word. Continue reading →

According to Uta Beyer, intrepid traveler, photographer and eater, she has over her years of travel, rarely seen such a busy people as the Mongolian peasants. That is, busy making a living in the rather inhospitable steppe of their vast country. As a result, the people in Mongolia don’t have much time to spend with sophisticated recipes. Not to mention rare ingredients. Thus, the diet is dominated by meat – in the winter – and dairy products – in the summer.
Boortsog is a famous exception. It’s the traditional deep fried, sweet, butter cookie with its origin in Mongolia but which can be found all over Central-Asia, with similar names: bauirsak (Kazakh), boorsok (Kyrgyz), bog’irsoq (Uzbek), and busrok (Tajik). Continue reading →

(Uzbekistan meat and rice pilaf)

Plov is the king of Uzbek cuisine, served during a wedding feast, to celebrate the arrival of honorable guests, at the crowded major celebrations as well as within the family circle. Neither a friendly dinner nor funeral repast can do without plov. Dishes made of rice are known in almost in every country of the region, but the Uzbek plov, the recipe for which was created in ancient times, is claimed by locals to be a masterpiece of culinary art. There are many folk parables and legends about the healing and nourishing qualities of plov. Uzbek people believe that the very name for plov – “osh-polov” contain the first letters of the names of the dish basic ingredients: onion, carrot, meat, oil, salt, water and rice. – By Rustam Miszaev

Plov has always been the favorite dish in Uzbekistan. A few centuries ago plov was cooked within rich families almost every day. Well-to-do people ate it once a week – every Friday eve. For the poor people plov was an infrequent dish which was served only during big holidays.
In the Uzbek family, day to day food is cooked by woman, but it is the male who is reputed to possess the skills of making real festive plov. Continue reading →

Romanian recipes bear the same influences as the rest of Romanian culture. The Turks brought meatballs (perișoare in a meatball soup), from the Greeks there is mousaka, from the Austrians there is the șnițel, and the list could continue. The Romanians share many foods with the Balkan area (in which Turkey was the cultural vehicle), and Eastern Europe (including Moldova and Ukraine). Some others are original or can be traced to the Romans, as well as other ancient civilizations. The lack of written sources in Eastern Europe makes it impossible to determine today the exact origin for most of them.

One of the most common meals is the mămăligă, the precursor of polenta, served on its own or as an accompaniment. Pork is the main meat used in Romanian cuisine, but also beef is consumed and a good lamb or fish dish is never to be refused. Continue reading →

As daar een gemeenskaplike gereg is wat in alle Skandenawiese lande en Oos Europa, vanaf die grense van Duitsland tot by die Ural gebergtes in die Noorde van Oos-Europa, raakgeloop sal word, dan is dit kluitjies. Hierdie kluitjies verteenwoordig trooskos wat gebore is uit armoede en skaarsheid van kos – die nodigheid om meer te maak van min en om so maniere te vind om ‘n maaltyd te maak van klein hoeveelhede vleis.
Dit word beweer dat die Poolse pierorgi tuis geskep is tydens ‘n 13de eeuse hongersnood. Hulle verteenwoordig die vindingrykheid van ‘n verhongerde nasie wat probeer om te oorleef. Dit het baie geslagte geneem vir hierdie nederige kluitjie om van ‘n arm mans gereg opgehef te word tot die geliefde Poolse stapelvoedsel wat dit vandag is.
Elke land het natuurlik sy eie weergawes en daar is kluitjies vir Kersfees en kluitjies vir Paasfees. Voorgereg kluitjies en nagereg kluitjies. Continue reading →

Swedish husmanskost denotes traditional Swedish dishes with local ingredients, the classical everyday Swedish cuisine.  The word husmanskost stems from husman, meaning ‘house owner’ (without associated land), and the term was originally used for most kinds of simple countryside food outside of towns.   Genuine Swedish husmanskost used predominantly local ingredients such as pork in all forms, fish, cereals, milk, potato, root vegetables, cabbage, onions, apples, berries etc.
Examples of Swedish husmanskost are pea soup (ärtsoppa), boiled and mashed carrots  fishballs (fiskbullar), meatballs (köttbullar) and the very popular potato dumplings (kroppkakor) filled with meat or other ingredients Continue reading →

When discussing Russian cuisine, it is inevitable that the conversation will turn to dishes such as Borscht with Smetana, a spicy sour soup with beet as main ingredient, served with sour cream, or Blini, ‘n thin Russian pancake, traditionally served with red caviar and Pierogie, that delicious dumpling filled with savoury or sweet fillings and cooked in boiling water.

However, one of the most popular dishes in Russia, is the famous Rasstegai.   Rasstegai was one of the most popular types of pies in Russian homes and inns during the tsarist times. Innkeepers in St. Petersburg and Moscow competed with each for the right to call their rasstegai the best.

Vladimir Gilyarovski wrote about the rasstegai in “Moscow and the Muscovites”, his encyclopedia of Russian life at the turn of 20th century: “This is a round, pie stuffed with minced fish and notochord [the nerve chord of a sturgeon] which takes up the whole plate, the middle is open and in there on a slice of sturgeon is a piece of burbot liver. A gravy for the pie was served for free in the boat…” Continue reading →