This post has garnered more responses than almost anything except some of my polemical items. I wonder whether more food- and drink-oriented posts would get extra interest
Damn straight! People may fake passion about literature or history or politics but no no one is cooly objective about something they are going to put in their mouths.
Was I myself not lured here by your arriabata post?
Note on cilantro,though you may know this from your experience with Prezzemolo:
It does not taste like coriander and the one cannot be substituted for the other.
It is wonderful. I once knocked a few few sprigs of cilantro into my Pepsi and now I never drink Pepsi without it!
You must try Pico de Gallo (rooster beak)! All Italians and Frenchmen must, for reasons detailed below.
It's great with pork and especially with fish. Make ceviche with it. Arrange raw fish/shellfish in bowl, cover with juice of limes which you now conveniently have to hand. Whip up a batch of p de g, ommitting the lime juice which of course is aleady covering the fish. The linked recipe is huge so adjust proportions. Personally I prefer serrano to jalpaeno. Mix p de g with fish thoroughly and refrigerate overnight. Consume with any good thirst quencher but ideally Mexican beer.
You see, to persons trained in the traditions of French and Italian cooking a good sauce invariably means a thick sauce. In tragic consequence, they are foredoomed to ruin when they attempt Mexican salsa, as they always try to thicken it or make it more 'chunky' with excess tomato. They must simply learn to accept that the salsas with the most bite are meant to be runny. If you think of salsas as relishes rather than sauces it may help.
Soory, this is a hobbyhorse of mine. I drank way too much coffee this morning.
In that case my mother isn't Italian. She's stopped making her fabulous Porcini sauce (to go with rare steak) because it's fatty, but it's certainly not thick. And anyway Worcestershire sauce has always been a staple in our family.
Porcini. On rare steak. Does your sainted mother's recipe resemble this ? I note that it contains heavy cream, but that don't scare me.
It is true that many European meat sauces are made of butter, drippings, Worchestershire, wine, or herbs and run freely over the meat.
Nonetheless I have seen the lamentable atrocities I described committed on salsas, and under prolonged interrogation the perpetrators have confessed to Italian or French ancestry, or at least influence.
One has to admit that the very notion of a dip is not a natural one to most Italian cuisines (there is no such thing as Italian cuisine, only a few dozen if not hundred local ones), but thin sauces are known - you speak of "salsetta" for things with that sort of background. I should think that the background you are thinking of is pasta and pizza making, where thickness is a requirement because otherwise the sauce will flow off the dough.
Anyway, my mother's porcini-based sauce was simpler than that, I think, and I am certain that the fat used was not cream but the fat of cured, uncooked, unsmoked ham (Parma or Serrano type). Smoked or cooked ham would be too heavy, and bacon fat too strong a flavour.
About cilandro: there is nothing that can be bought that cannot be found in London. That is one of the reasons why I and eight million other people put up with the place. Cilandro is used in West Indian cooking, right? I'll just have to find the West Indian name for it.
Other Names Coriander leaves (Europe, Middle East, Indian sub-continent) Cilantro (Latin America, United States) Koriandron (Greek) Yuen Sei, Yan Shi, and Fan Yan Su (China) Chinese Parsley (Asia) Dhania (Hindi) Persil arabe (French)
Cilantro Lime Salsa Fresca Recipe Tex Mex Dip
Ingredients: 3 large tomatoes or 5-6 plum tomatoes, diced small 1 med. white onion, diced small 1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, diced (you decide if you want to seed it or not) juice of 2 limes, or one lemon and one lime 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro salt to taste
Directions: Combine everything in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight before serving..
I haven't tried the recipe, but it sounds good. Neat website too.
They are actually the same plant--coriander is the dried seeds, and cilantro is the fresh green leaves. (Gardening nerd + best friend's dad is from India.)
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Building up web hits
Date: 2010-02-28 11:18 pm (UTC)Damn straight! People may fake passion about literature or history or politics but no no one is cooly objective about something they are going to put in their mouths.
Was I myself not lured here by your arriabata post?
Note on cilantro,though you may know this from your experience with Prezzemolo:
It does not taste like coriander and the one cannot be substituted for the other.
It is wonderful. I once knocked a few few sprigs of cilantro into my Pepsi
and now I never drink Pepsi without it!
You must try Pico de Gallo (rooster beak)! All Italians and Frenchmen must, for reasons detailed below.
It's great with pork and especially with fish. Make ceviche with it. Arrange raw fish/shellfish in bowl, cover with juice of limes which you now conveniently have to hand. Whip up a batch of p de g, ommitting the lime juice which of course is aleady covering the fish. The linked recipe is huge so adjust proportions. Personally I prefer serrano to jalpaeno. Mix p de g with fish thoroughly and refrigerate overnight. Consume with any good thirst quencher but ideally Mexican beer.
You see, to persons trained in the traditions of French and Italian cooking a good sauce invariably means a thick sauce. In tragic consequence, they are foredoomed to ruin when they attempt Mexican salsa, as they always try to thicken it or make it more 'chunky' with excess tomato. They must simply learn to accept that the salsas with the most bite are meant to be runny. If you think of salsas as relishes rather than sauces it may help.
Soory, this is a hobbyhorse of mine. I drank way too much coffee this morning.
Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 12:07 am (UTC)Nose twitches. Mouth waters. Ears perk up. Whining in throat.
Date: 2010-03-01 06:13 am (UTC)this ? I note that it contains heavy cream, but that don't scare me.
It is true that many European meat sauces are made of butter, drippings, Worchestershire, wine, or herbs and run freely over the meat.
Nonetheless I have seen the lamentable atrocities I described committed on salsas, and under prolonged interrogation the perpetrators have confessed to Italian or French ancestry, or at least influence.
Re: Nose twitches. Mouth waters. Ears perk up. Whining in throat.
Date: 2010-03-01 08:18 am (UTC)Anyway, my mother's porcini-based sauce was simpler than that, I think, and I am certain that the fat used was not cream but the fat of cured, uncooked, unsmoked ham (Parma or Serrano type). Smoked or cooked ham would be too heavy, and bacon fat too strong a flavour.
Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 12:16 am (UTC)Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 01:12 am (UTC)And in London I'm sure you can find anything, including dilithium crystals to cure your breakfast ham.
Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 03:19 pm (UTC)From the encyclopedia of spices (online)
Other Names
Coriander leaves (Europe, Middle East, Indian sub-continent)
Cilantro (Latin America, United States)
Koriandron (Greek)
Yuen Sei, Yan Shi, and Fan Yan Su (China)
Chinese Parsley (Asia)
Dhania (Hindi)
Persil arabe (French)
Cilantro Lime Salsa Fresca Recipe
Tex Mex Dip
Ingredients:
3 large tomatoes or 5-6 plum tomatoes, diced small
1 med. white onion, diced small
1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, diced (you decide if you want to seed it or not)
juice of 2 limes, or one lemon and one lime
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste
Directions:
Combine everything in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight before serving..
I haven't tried the recipe, but it sounds good.
Neat website too.
Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 10:04 pm (UTC)The horror! Oh, the horror!
Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 10:12 pm (UTC)Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 04:54 pm (UTC)Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 10:06 pm (UTC)Do your fingertips smell like your armpit?
Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-01 10:29 pm (UTC)Re: Building up web hits
Date: 2010-03-02 03:47 pm (UTC)