Abandon Strudel

I had my choice of poison when asked to prepare a dish for a friend's annual Oktoberfest party.  Hand stuffing 30 lbs of sausage didn't sound like a great time, so I thought I'd take the easy way out by making a strudel from scratch.  The morning of the event I found out just how silly this notion was, and won't be posting the recipe as a result.  There has to be a better approach and recipe out there, but this is what I've learned so far.  

Strudel is an ancient Austrian pastry most commonly filled with apples, making Fall a great time to eat it.  The key is to make a very elastic dough that can be stretched so thin a love letter can be read through it (I must assume all Austrian love letters are written in a size 100 bold font).  Onto the process.

Click to read more ...

Pork and Apples Finally Wrapped Up

Pork and apples- an American favorite- is going to be wrapped up.  The classic combination has been floating for years, and everyone has their own twist or preferred implementation.  Honestly, I can't think of a more boring dish.  Sure it's good but most 'variations' taste the same.  I've got to redefine them.

Allow me to open the gate to my thought process on how this dish came to be.  One of my favorite dishes to make is Vietnamese pork tacos.  I cook the pork down in sweet soy, or a home-made substitute, then plate with mango puree, salsa verde, cilantro, mint, and nam pla.  It's super good I swear.   Good base for pork.

The other day I was going through my spice cabinet and noticed that I had an unopened container of garam masala- shameful I know.  Now don't go running off too quickly, I haven't finished the story.  For the brave remnants of the peanut gallery let me assure you that this stuff is good- and that you like it.  It's a waste to nix Indian food and flavors.  Think you don't like Indian spices?  Do you like freshly ground black pepper- the yang to the base seasoning of all cuisine?  Black pepper is indigenous to Southern India- we wouldn't have it anywhere without them (and Marco Polo). 

Click to read more ...