Food I love.. eating or cooking

[Sculpto]

Maple syrup demonstrations not allowed!  LOL!  

no no.. Marple!

[Ranetka]

no no.. Marple!

Everything is being watched!!!!Never ever use the proper spelling, putting R in the middle will confuse KGB agents....


See, I do not even know how to spell it!!!


Sandro Sandro, it's not Miss Marple, it's Jessika Fletcher!!!!! Just to confuse KGB agents more....

[Ranetka]

lol @ tradition.. well that explains everything!    in my neck of the woods we like to turn traditions upside down... so.. I propose goat meat pelmini with pesto infused with dill..

Hmmmm I would eat pesto woth tortellini. And pelmeni with horseradish. Different quisinnes, there is good in every quisinne, balanced by years and years, why to mix?. Mind you I shock people by putting sultanas and raisins in cottage cheese. (Forgive my spelling plz, I am not good today).

[Sculpto]

Hmmmm I would eat pesto woth tortellini. And pelmeni with horseradish. Different quisinnes, there is good in every quisinne, balanced by years and years, why to mix?. Mind you I shock people by putting sultanas and raisins in cottage cheese. (Forgive my spelling plz, I am not good today).

  And dear Ranetka.. you have just clearly defined the best of the old and the new world.. the best of the old world is tradition based on centuries if not millenia of practice.. and the new world is cut and paste of those traditions into something altogether new.. so where you want your pelmini with horseradish.. I can't help thinking how it might be with chipotle.. because everything that is good is better with chipotle. 

ok.. so wild mushroom pelmini with chiptole salsa

[Ranetka]

  And dear Ranetka.. you have just clearly defined the best of the old and the new world.. the best of the old world is tradition based on centuries if not millenia of practice.. and the new world is cut and paste of those traditions into something altogether new.. so where you want your pelmini with horseradish.. I can't help thinking how it might be with chipotle.. because everything that is good is better with chipotle. 

ok.. so wild mushroom pelmini with chiptole salsa

It will be nice probably but it will not be pelmeni anymore.

There are reasons behind dough consistency and what flour you use, there is a reason why you suppose to freeze pelmeni before boiling, there is a reason why the meat is raw. Change one thing and it will no longer be plemeni but something else. |May be good, may be bad but not pelmeni.

[Gator]

The answer is: Tradition :-)
Traditionally pelmeni is eaten with sour cream or butter+black pepper or vinegar. .... All my English friends eat fish and chips with salt and vinegar, no other sauce is ever used.

Not just any vinegar but malt vinegar (made from barley, so it is akin to beer/ale).  I stated earlier in this thread that I did not like pelmeni swimming in sour cream.  However, I enjoy it with malt vinegar, which enhances the taste and lowers the fat and calorie intake.  

Make sure the malt vinegar is aged, which makes it smoother.  Fresh maly vinegar can be too intense.   The following reports a blind taste test with three malt vinegars:

http://greensboring.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9656

[Gator]

It will be nice probably but it will not be pelmeni anymore.

Exactly.  It would be closer to ravioli.

[Ranetka]

Not just any vinegar but malt vinegar (made from barley, so it is akin to beer/ale).  I stated earlier in this thread that I did not like pelmeni swimming in sour cream.  However, I enjoy it with malt vinegar, which enhances the taste and lowers the fat and calorie intake.  

Make sure the malt vinegar is aged, which makes it smoother.  Fresh maly vinegar can be too intense.   The following reports a blind taste test with three malt vinegars:

http://greensboring.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9656

I HATE malt vinegar. And balsamic too. I do not know what is the Russian variety, I could not find the same type of vinegar in the UK. I gave up. I also gave up hope to explain to the butcher what cut of meat do I want (no otbivnaya for me, only boring steak). I gave up lots of other foods that exist in the UK but taste different.

[Sculpto]

It will be nice probably but it will not be pelmeni anymore.

There are reasons behind dough consistency and what flour you use, there is a reason why you suppose to freeze pelmeni before boiling, there is a reason why the meat is raw. Change one thing and it will no longer be plemeni but something else. |May be good, may be bad but not pelmeni.

lol.. traditionalist!    But thats the whole point of fusion cuisine.. obliterate the past and create something new..

now what I would like to understand here in SF is.. I can buy home made ravioli.. pelmini.. and vrenikyi.. pelmini is x2 cost of ravioli.. and varenyki is x2 cost of pelmini.. whats up with that?

and.. what about pelmini stuffed with rabbit and drizzled in extra virgin unfiltered olive oil, a splash of balsamic and pink tibetan salt..  

[Ranetka]

Gator,

try horseradish from a Russian shop, (unlike American its without cream or mayonesse addition), you will be pleasantly surprised how nice is it, cuts through fat better than vinegar.

[Sculpto]

I gave up lots of other foods that exist in the UK but taste different.

Ranetka I thought there are like 8 million Russians in London alone.. why can't you get what you want/need?  I bet in SF you can get everything you are accustomed to and probably for less than it costs in Moscow or StP.  The best Russian deli I have seen so far is right here in SF.. you would be in shock if you saw this place.. they have beers I never saw anywhere in Russia.. as a small example..

New World Market for any locals interested.. no web site.

[kbluck]

A quick aside. One ingredient I was utterly unable to find in Vinnitsa was baking powder. Baking soda, no problem, you can buy that by the kilo, but I visited four different grocery stores including the newer supermarket types, and none of them stocked baking powder.

I could fashion my own by mixing soda with an acidic ingredient or cream of tartar, of course, but it seemed odd that I could find Heinz-brand ketchup along with 8 other European brands, but no baking powder of any sort.

-- Kevin

[Ranetka]

lol.. traditionalist!    But thats the whole point of fusion cuisine.. obliterate the past and create something new..

ARen't you supposed to learn about the past first? Let's face it you do not know how to make pelmeni yet.

You can make pelmeni from goat or rabbit, no problem. You can mix meat with fried cabbage and use it as a stuffing.

A dish of pasta with filling in exist in many different quisinnes (spelling!), the reason we call them ravioli, tortelinni, hinkali, dumplings, vareniki, peorogi etc is not only because the filling is different, daugh and filling dictates how we are going to cook them.

You can not make pelmeni out of wild mashrooms, vareniki - no problem.

You can of course call anything pelmeni if you wish.

[Sculpto]

I never claimed to know how to make Pelmini.. I have only made ravioli a couple of times.. but..

I know how to eat and what tastes good.. and I know how to mess up traditional recipes and make something entirely new and delicious.  Its one of my specialties.

For example.. this is my signature dish..

The original comes from the Mexican city of Puebla and is called "Chiles en Nogal"  They are.. poblano chiles stuffed with seafood saute with onion, tomato and hard fruits, pepper is then dipped in batter and deep fried.. covered in sauce made from heavy cream, walnuts and a sharp mexican cheese almost like feta.. with pomegranate seed garnish

In the Eric version.. I use any kind of pepper I feel like using.. for example the purple bell peppers I got at farmers market saturday.. I saute the same but I add a lot more types of hard fruits.. apple.. pear.. peach.. plum.. cherry.. raisin.. and whatever else happens to be in season or around.. I do not dip and deep fry but instead bake to keep the fat content down and also it is a more subtle flavor.. I make the sauce with milk instead of heavy cream.. any kind of nuts.. even a mixture and have used a variety of different kinds of cheese but usually something blue.. gorgonzola works great.. i have used pomegranate.. chopped figs.. dried blueberries.. for the garnish.

I have served this dish to some very serious cooks in Mexico who loved it.

So.. how about a pelmini stuffed with seafood in white wine and cream sauce.. and garnished with a little bit of pink caviar

[Ranetka]

Ranetka I thought there are like 8 million Russians in London alone.. why can't you get what you want/need?  I bet in SF you can get everything you are accustomed to and probably for less than it costs in Moscow or StP.  The best Russian deli I have seen so far is right here in SF.. you would be in shock if you saw this place.. they have beers I never saw anywhere in Russia.. as a small example..

New World Market for any locals interested.. no web site.

Well, firstly I am not in London. We do have a few East- European shops around but the stuff there are mostly made in Germany or Baltic countries. Soured cream or milk of Russian taste goes sour in three days max for example, it is not cost efficient to bring it here. Most food taste different even if they look just like that. I could not eat chicken for six months for example, difference in food, water, medicine used etc. makes meat taste different. Not everything is bad, I like lamb here much better then in SaintPetersburg, but could not eat pork, tasted nothing what I used to. For example with pork, they do not neuter hogs here because of humaniterian reason (anesthetic costs money, in russia they do it without anesthetic) therefore the pork meat stink and has different colour.

You know half of my baking receipies from russia are not in use anymore, i could not get it work here, i am not complaining, I just do English.

I fully understand Ecock when he moans about baked potato. You know why? Because I dream about boiled (not new but old) fluffy, white, falling apart boiled old potatoes. I can not find any potatoes I'd like to eat boiled here. I am not complaining, I am cooking baked potatoes now. The shops are FULL of potatoes, but I can not find the type to boil....

[OlgaH]

So.. how about a pelmini stuffed with seafood in white wine and cream sauce.. and garnished with a little bit of pink caviar

Crab ravioli in a creamy shallot sauce 
http://www.examiner.com/x-34422-Nashville-Italian-Food-Examiner~y2010m4d9-Crab-ravioli-in-a-creamy-shallot-sauce

[Ranetka]

So.. how about a pelmini stuffed with seafood in white wine and cream sauce.. and garnished with a little bit of pink caviar

I think that's ravioli    Or may be even something french, not sure how caviar will go with it.and you will need slightly harder and thinner dough methinks

[OlgaH]

I'm cooking today Shrimp Alfredo Pasta. We both like it 

[acctBill]

Well, firstly I am not in London. We do have a few East- European shops around but the stuff there are mostly made in Germany or Baltic countries. Soured cream or milk of Russian taste goes sour in three days max for example, it is not cost efficient to bring it here. Most food taste different even if they look just like that. I could not eat chicken for six months for example, difference in food, water, medicine used etc. makes meat taste different. Not everything is bad, I like lamb here much better then in SaintPetersburg, but could not eat pork, tasted nothing what I used to. For example with pork, they do not neuter hogs here because of humaniterian reason (anesthetic costs money, in russia they do it without anesthetic) therefore the pork meat stink and has different colour.

You know half of my baking receipies from russia are not in use anymore, i could not get it work here, i am not complaining, I just do English.

I fully understand Ecock when he moans about baked potato. You know why? Because I dream about boiled (not new but old) fluffy, white, falling apart boiled old potatoes. I can not find any potatoes I'd like to eat boiled here. I am not complaining, I am cooking baked potatoes now. The shops are FULL of potatoes, but I can not find the type to boil....

Ranetka my wife and MIL, when she visited, found that easiest way to convert Russian recipes to use British foods was to ask the Russians working in the shops or restaurants.  Of course we lived in London so it wasn't that difficult to find a Russian, either a neighbour or someone working in a supermarket or butcher who had already figured out what to switch and what to leave.  As for boiled potatoes, everyone I knew used new potatoes even the Russians and they come out beautifully.  

[Sculpto]

LOl @ the ongoing potato debate!  I am telling you.. until you have had a little pink 'tater from Mexico you haven't tasted how a potato is "supposed" to taste.. lol.

I know what you mean about meat tasting different.  I didn't eat a lot of simple meat in Russia.. but I have done so in Mexico and its really hard to eat meats in the USA after.  Especially chicken.. I can't even touch a chicken here... the foster farms birds are so bland.. and don't even get me started about any chicken that comes from Arkansas.  So.. what I have to do here is simply go to the Mexican grocery.. where they have what they call.. "Gallina del campo" or farm hens.. these look, smell and taste like the chickens in Mexico.  Oddly.. they also cost half of what the Foster Farms birds cost.

We also have a very popular organic free range beef producer.. Niman Ranch.. the meat is good but it still lacks something compared to the Mexican beef.  I don't know exactly what it is.. I think maybe its because the cows diets are so controlled or something of the sort.. so, I do the same thing when I want beef.. right to the Mexican market.. and guess what.. then the meet tastes right and once again.. the price is awesome.. usually about 35% of the cost of Niman Ranch.  

So.. you keep shooting down my Pelmini ideas as being ravioli.. so.. what is in fact the exact and specific difference between a ravioli and a pelmini?  

and the pink caviar will be awesome.. when isn't pink caviar delicious?

[Ranetka]

Ranetka my wife and MIL, when she visited, found that easiest way to convert Russian recipes to use British foods was to ask the Russians working in the shops or restaurants.  Of course we lived in London so it wasn't that difficult to find a Russian, either a neighbour or someone working in a supermarket or butcher who had already figured out what to switch and what to leave.  As for boiled potatoes, everyone I knew used new potatoes even the Russians and they come out beautifully.  

New potatoes are fine. I boil them too. What I miss is boiling old potatoes, it's a different animal altogether :-) if I boil English they come out watery.
I am fine, honestly, it's just as I said I understand Ecocks, because you just can not get the RIGHT taste

I found the replacment so far for everything its just majority of food have slightly different taste so I either get used to it or stopped using Russian receipes, it does not bother me too much. (another example english mayonesse is more vinegary, at first I used to mix it with yogurt and then I jst got used to it, now mayo tastes strange when I am back in Russia )

[SANDRO43]

and.. what about pelmini stuffed with rabbit and drizzled in extra virgin unfiltered olive oil, a splash of balsamic and pink tibetan salt..  

Mandala ravioli ?

[SANDRO43]

I'm cooking today Shrimp Alfredo Pasta. We both like it 

Who's Alfredo ???

[Sculpto]

ok.. just to back up my blabbing.. here is my fresh pesto.. and some produce form the farmers market.. check out that heirloom tomato.. thats the last one out of five.. best for last lol.. and of course the tri color potatos.. notice all small.. they will go in the oven wrapped in bacon later tonight.. and the purple peppers.. I gotta go get some seafood to stuff them with tomorrow.

[Gator]

LOl @ the ongoing potato debate!  I am telling you.. until you have had a little pink 'tater from Mexico you haven't tasted how a potato is "supposed" to taste.. lol.

That makes sense as potatoes were first discovered in the Andes and brought to Europe by the Spaniards 400-500 years ago.