I recently discovered an early recipe for Baked Cheese Babka, a Ukrainian Easter dessert, in an out-of-print 19th century cookbook published in western Ukraine. What intrigued me most was the fact that this Baked Cheese Babka is flourless. After researching other baked cheese babka recipes, I realized the uniqueness of this recipe. Other baked cheese babkas […]
Baked Cheese Babka Read More »
I first tasted reindeer stew at a Bavarian dinner in the lovely chalet home of Hermann Pfieffer, a German steel cable manufacturer. Hermann’s wife Sieglinde, an accomplished cook, served hirschgulasch (reindeer stew in German) and I was a little anxious about eating reindeer. I was torn between being a gracious guest and my affection for the Rudolf
As we ate our way through my list of must-try dishes, we discovered that Peruvian cooking is a fusion of traditional indigenous practices, local ingredients and imported food practices. Each wave of newcomers to Peru added their cuisine atop that of centuries of indigenous pre-Incan and Incan cooking. Absent familiar ingredients, new immigrants adapted their recipes
Discovering Peru’s Foodways — Part 2 Read More »
Preparing for a recent family trip to Peru, I researched Peruvian cooking and arrived in Cuzco armed with a list of must-try dishes. After a brief reading of Peru’s long history, I was captivated by this multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society going back ten millennia which melds numerous Amerindian civilizations, Spanish conquerors and settlers, imported Black
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I was thinking recently about making crèpes when I stumbled on this Spinach Nalysnyky (Crêpes) recipe from a Ukrainian food blogger at panistefa.com. The Ukrainian language recipe, written with a chatty narrative, and its accompanying photos inspired me to try it. So I translated the text and made a batch. The nalysnyky turned out great
Spinach Nalysnyky (Crêpes)* with Veal Stroganoff Read More »
Tiny multi-lingual Switzerland is a country of culinary contrasts. In her Cooking in Switzerland, Marianne Kaltenbach writes, “Switzerland’s cuisine is as varied as its landscape.” Ingredients vary from canton to canton depending on whether in a mountainous area, the shores of a lake, or a fertile valley. In cantons where cows and sheep graze on alpine
Swiss Dried Pear Bread — Bündner Birnbrot Read More »
Over the years, I spent more time in Istanbul than any other foreign city. Some visits were for business, some for fun. Istanbul, located 657 or so miles south of Kyiv, provided an easy escape from the Soviet dreariness that I encountered when I began working in Ukraine in 1993. Usually, at the end of
Istanbul and Turkish Mezze Read More »
There are many reasons to visit Cuba, but its food is not one of them. Cuba is a poor country whose current diet is limited to a few staple items, and food in today’s Cuba is markedly different from the varied Cuban cuisine available in US-based Cuban restaurants run by pre-Revolutionary refugees. The variety and
Cuba – Restarting the Clock? Read More »
I always loved noodles, perhaps because this was the first dish I learned to cook. Well, not really cook from scratch, but I helped my grandmother drop the fresh dough into boiling water. Watching the transformation of this lump of raw dough into a delicious noodle, I was hooked for life. During my childhood, I
Spaetzle – the Ubiquitous Noodle Read More »
A few nights after the Little India on a Plate tour, we embarked on another Frying Pan Adventure, www.fryingpanadventures.com. Arva Ahmed, Farida Ahmed’s sister, took us on the five-hour Middle Eastern Pilgrimage Food Trail through the streets and alleys of the Al Riqqa section of old Dubai to savor assorted Arabic dishes brought to Dubai
Exploring the Foodways of Dubai — Part 2 Read More »