As I’m sure you know, the quality of the balsamic vinegar will make a difference. I’ve always wanted to try a simple balsamic reduction on vanilla ice cream (just balsamic vinegar, cooked down to syrupy consistency) and as I understand it, one should only use a very good quality balsamic for that (which makes sense, since you’d want it to be smooth and not harsh, and since it’s the only ingredient) but I’ve never had anything more than middle-quality on hand. Which works well enough for me in the rhubarb compote, with the ginger in there too, though I suppose I just don’t really know the difference.
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The real stuff if incredibly expensive, we only have the middling stuff. We shall see!
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I like to make avgolemono (egg and lemon) soup. It’s heavenly.
Here’s a random reference picture from somewhere on the internet:
Here’s how I do it:
- Make some really good homemade chicken stock. Reserve the chicken meat.
- Cook some white rice in the chicken broth. You might use a cup of white rice for 2 quarts of broth. Keep the stock hot but not bubbling once the rice is done.
- Meanwhile, whisk together a ton of eggs. I’ll often use a dozen or so for a couple quarts of chicken broth. If you want it really decadently rich, you could supplement with yolks.
- Once the eggs are beaten, drizzle the juice of like 4 or 6 lemons into the eggs, while constantly whisking. The whisking is important to minimize the risk of coagulation from the acid being added to the egg protein. Or so they tell me.
- Make sure the stock is (still) hot but not boiling – no bubbles. Take a ladleful of broth and slowly slowly drizzle it into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Do this again and again until the broth is bathwater temperature (It’s ok if some rice gets in there). As the egg mixture gets warmer you can speed up a bit.
- Now take the tempered egg mixture and slowly whisk it into the remaining stock.
- Slowly warm the mixed soup base, stirring frequently, without letting it bubble. When it coats a spoon thickly, it’s ready.
- Whisk in the reserved chicken meat and bring back to temperature if necessary.
- Add in a ton of black pepper and fresh chopped mint.
- Serve and garnish with additional mint.
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I don’t think the real stuff is what you want for cooking down into a reduction, anyway - middle-grade stuff is probably ideal for that. The good stuff is already quite thick to begin with, and I suspect the heat would kill a lot of the flavor.
I have a tiny bottle of real balsamic. When I bake sourdough, I drizzle a little bit of the balsamic onto a slice of fresh bread with a little squirt of olive oil and some salt. Heaven.
I think I’d try just drizzling really good balsamic on ice cream as-is. Next time I splurge on some worthy ice cream, perhaps…
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BTW. I tried Tortillas (white corn and wheat) in a toaster. They came out crispy on the outside and steamy on the inside and bent in a Taco shape! Win/win.
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I didn’t know that! Thanks for the tip.
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I just got back from my first trip to an ALDI. One recently opened just .9 mile from me. (Still not as close to me as the co-op grocery store, though.)
What prompted the trip to ALDI was a search for canned goods to donate to the mail carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger food drive this Saturday. (I think it’s U.S.-wide? It’s the National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) + other postal workers and volunteers. We got a card about it in the mailbox the other day. Today they left blue plastic bags to put donations in and leave by the mailbox. It’s every year on the second Saturday of May, and the donations are taken to local food shelves.)
I don’t use a lot canned or boxed foods myself, so I bought two of some things so I can try one myself and see how ALDI is.
I have heard, though, that it’s better to make a monetary donation to the food shelves than to donate actual cans of food, because it takes them a lot of work to sort the canned donations, whereas they can use the money to buy in bulk and get deals, and they may have matching grants (in fact, the printing on the blue bag we received says if we donate online to the local food shelf our donation will be doubled). I still put out some canned goods for the carrier, though, because:
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I figure the individually-donated canned goods still provide some part of all the food that goes to hungry people, and if the foodshelf didn’t want that kind of donation they wouldn’t ask for it.
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Often I don’t see that many filled blue bags left out for the carriers to pick up, so I do it as much for the carrier as for the people who will get the food. I mean, if you were a carrier participating in a program like that, making the effort to publicize and pick up donations, wouldn’t it be disappointing if no one donated? While I always think about the extra work it makes for the carriers, I always imagine they’ll feel good if people participate.
And…I’ve gone astray from discussion of cooking and recipes. It was still some thoughts about food, though…hope that’s okay.
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I love NHK! You ever watch “Lunch On”? Or the program about Tsukiji Market? Many great food shows.
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Wow! dig this.
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I like NHK. My favorite show is Nodojiman. That show called Japanology was terrific too. Some episodes were about food.
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Me too! TV-Japan shows it every Sunday Afternoon,
Its like watching NASCAR. The people doing it badly are more fun than the skilled ones. They usually are more enthusiastic as well.
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Yum! Can also recommend warming olive oil in a pan, adding a small amount of crushed garlic and a few finely chopped anchovies. Sauté until the anchovies are dissolving, add the steamed asparagus and turn. Add lemon juice and parsely. Worth it.
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African brazilian food and also a religious dish.
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I made my favoirite baccala dish a couple of weeks ago for the first time in ages. It was growing up with Italian neighbours and reading about the importance of salt cod in early Christian dietary traditions that first got me onto salt cod, but it’s the firm, resilient texture that keeps me coming back.
Salt cod - it’s not just for medieval fast days!
Rinse the superficial salt off and soak for a good 24 hours, changing the water a few times. Simmer in fresh water until done (15 mins?). Flake and remove bones.
Layer equal proportions of thinly sliced potatoes, onions and flaked fish, and maybe half as much tomato, in a baking dish with a lid. As you go add lots of olive oil, parsely and black pepper. Add a big splash of water and bake for 45 - 60 min until the potato is cooked but still firm and all the flavours have merged. Contemplate how much better life has become since the Middle Ages, and acknowledge that while salt cod is more expensive, wine is way cheaper. You’ll want some bread.
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In my experience, the canned/boxed stuff they sell is on par with name-brand versions, as are their frozen foods and dairy. Their produce is weirdly terrible most of the time and their packaged meats are to be very much avoided (the fact that their ham is labeled “water and ham” should tell you something).
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Salt cod made North America. Early development of New England was based on fishing and salting cod for the British Navy.
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and @anon3072533
That it doesn’t contain anything weird like Salt, Preservatives:Potassium Lactate, Sodium Acetate, Sodium Nitrite:, Dextrose, Stabilisers:Triphosphates:, Antioxidant:Sodium Ascorbate?
Although I suspect it probably does list those as well. So will any cheap sliced ham you get in any supermarket.
I’d suggest sticking to things like the Salami or the Parma Ham at Aldi rather than the weird processed sandwich meats (although as I say that goes for all supermarkets really).
Their Bratwürste are also very welcome to the hungry ex-pat stuck in a land where bread is considered a reasonable sausage ingredient (to the extent that cheap sausages, i.e the great British banger™ are best described as a pork flavoured breadsticks; Yes Minister or Prime Minister did a nice joke about that).
The US experience may well vary considerably of course.
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Oh, it has all of the usual preservatives as well. But it has so much added, injected water that it’s legally required to be Water and Ham rather than ham with water added.
But yeah, their European-style meats are definitely better. Stick with what they’re good at.
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