Ya Rayi Our Rai

THE SAVORY FOODS OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC by Habeeb Salloum

THE SAVORY FOODS OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

by Habeeb Salloum

-----------------------------------------

      From a poolside restaurant at Casa Colonial Beach Resort & Spa, a luxury abode on Playa Dorada, Puerto Plata’s top resort, I gazed over the inviting sands of the beach while we enjoyed our crab dish, cooked in a gourmet Dominican Republic style.  I was purring in contentment relishing this fine sample of that country’s traditional cuisine encompassed in an aura of luxury.

      Like most of the Spanish-speaking Central American and Caribbean countries the cuisine of the Dominican Republic is a mixture of the European and Middle Eastern foods, as well to some extent that of the Western Hemisphere's Indigenous peoples.  In the majority of dishes, the Spanish element predominates, giving the Dominican food its overtone.  Since the indigenous population, early in the Spanish occupation, were either killed off or died from European introduced diseases, its contributions have been minimal.

      The Spanish introduced into the New World bananas, carrots, coconuts, coriander, figs, garlic, ginger, grapes, lemons, lime, olives, oranges, plantains, pomegranates, pork, rice, sugar, tamarind, and numerous other foods - a good number brought to Spain by the Arabs - and these have become the true basis of the Dominican kitchen. 

      From the gentle Tanio Indians of Hispaniola, which today includes both the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the country's foods only inherited allspice and cassava.  On the other hand, from the other Indians in the Americas, the island's cuisine was enriched by avocados, beans, callaloo, corn, guavas, hot and sweet peppers, papayas, pineapples, squash and pumpkin, tomatoes and various types of potatoes. 

      Through the years, from all these foods, a tasty and varied Dominican kitchen was developed, overwhelmingly influenced by the Spaniards.  The heavy utilization of coriander, garlic and olives has given the island's cooking an Iberian Peninsula flavour.  The use of dried fruit with meat in cooking - a Moorish legacy in Spain - is popular throughout the country.  Such well-known Spanish foods like  cocidos (stews),  huevos flamenco and all types of seafood are today as Dominican as the merengue - the lively dance which impregnates every home in the country.

      The Dominicans, who call their country ‘the breadbasket of the Caribbean’, because it grows almost all the known fruit and vegetables, love their foods prepared fresh.  They are enamoured with starchy foods such as beans, cassava, plantains, rice and sweet potatoes, and these serve as the basis for many of their dishes.  In the daily fare, usually served peppery hot, allspice, garlic, hot peppers, oregano and fresh coriander leaves are the most used herbs and spices.

      If visitors are brave they can try the Dominican popular street food: boiled green bananas, fried blood sausages, fried beef, fried lungs and fried yucca offered by street vendors.  They are tasty and very reasonably priced.

      The mid day meal is the big event in the lives of the Dominicans.  While diners feast on their savoury dishes, cervaza (beer) and rum flow freely.  In the background, the passionate merengue is always to be heard.  The Dominicans love to dance and sing and, hence, enjoy music with their food.  This does not even stop when dessert - often made from bananas and coconuts - is being relished.  As the black coffee, to end the meal, is being sipped, the young are often dancing in an empty space - their way to cap a tasty Dominican meal.

Puerto Plata-Street Food

    Sample the Dominican kitchen by trying these easy to prepare dishes made from ingredients easily found in North American markets.

 

Almost Italian- Thanksgiving Message

Holly Chase and Skip Lombardi of Almost Italian are asking readers to do a bit of culinary sleuthing. Click on the link to their online cookbook and send them your comments and stories.

I’d love to hear stories and speculation on this from other Italian-Americans. Alas, I’ve no one left in my own family to interview.

It’s easy enough to ascertain how certain traditional Italian recipes morphed into Italian-American dishes; that’s what the Almost Italian project is about. But how did the original recipes arrive intact? We need to ask how they made the trip from Italy to America in the first place, especially since we already know that many of the immigrants were so poor in Italy they couldn’t have afforded to cook them back home.

Best Bad Food Writing Contest by Ji Young Park

I neglected to mention that I want to include a food writing contest with the recipe contest. A few categories come to mind.

"Best bad restaurant review"
"Best bad food and travel story"
"Best bad road map menu"

Chicken Liver Pâté without Butter by Ji Young Park

I co-taught a Thanksgiving dinner cooking class today. A question came up about chicken liver pâté. The student had been using a recipe with butter. I have always made my pâté without butter using the method I learned in France and from my French chef husband. It's really very simple- the chicken livers are processed into a puree raw in a food processor with whatever seasonings that a recipe calls for and packed into a terrine for cooking in a bain marie (hot water bath).

Curious about chicken liver pâté with butter I googled and found numerous recipes for cooking the livers in butter and then pureeing the livers. The student told me that her chicken liver pâté always came out too hard and was unspreadable even after being left at room temperature for an hour or so. I explained to her that she should slice this kind of pâté and that the butter solidifies in the refrigerator.

Los Angeles Food Scene by Ji-Young Park

I have a job offer for a regular writing gig and enough freelance contacts to spend most of my days exploring and reporting on the food and lifestyle scene in Los Angeles.

I'll post short reports here fairly regularly.

I'll take my handy camcorder out and post some foodcasts here. Maybe interviews with local farmers, vendors and chefs I know. I'm also reviewing restaurants. And, no I won't be reviewing restaurants where I am a friend of the house or chef or known to them. In these cases my reports will clearly state any kind of relationship and will be very different from restaurant reviews. The LA restaurant scene is vast and I am anonymous in the majority of them.

And finally, if things go according to schedule it looks I'll start traveling a lot more next year, mostly in California, New York, the Mediterranean countries and Southeast Asia. A trip to Mexico is also a strong possibility at the moment.

 

Jitlada Southern Thai Menu

Good News! By Farid Zadi

Dear readers 10 days after Charles Perry Los Angeles Times article about me came out (Tagine Dreams, January 2007) I was contacted by Endeavor Talent and Literary Agency. Shortly after I met with them and it was a wonderful meeting. Ivo Fischer and Brian Lipton were incredibly smart and they had spent time really thinking about my platform. They completely understood who I was and what I've been trying to accomplish. I was on cloud nine after I met with them.

Those of you who keep up with Publishing news know that Richard Abate, formerly of International Creative Management, is now the head of the literary department at Endeavor. I spoke with him last week and he told me my book proposal got it exactly right. So I'm really happy about that. I'll keep you posted.

And apologies once again for the delay in getting back to those who offered to test recipes or be test readers. Thank you again.

Wiki entry for Endeavor Agency. Fans of HBO's Entourage have heard references to them. They are considered to be in the top 5 (some say 3) agencies in Hollywood (some say the world). They are considered the most innovative, progressive agencies out there. I was considering other agencies, but they really blew me away during our first meeting. They were sharp. My friends who are with ICM or William Morris even told me that Endeavor was the best choice for me.

Press Release for Grains, Greens and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy

For Immediate Release                         
Contact: Ammini Ramachandran                                     
Phone: (972) 612 2712             
Email: ammini@peppertrail.com

Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts
Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy

In this passionate celebration of her ancestral cuisine, Ammini Ramachandran skillfully interweaves history, geography, religion, tradition, and especially, evocative personal anecdotes to bring a delectable story to life.

With Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts, Ramachandran has integrated her recipes into a Western-style menu and offers suggestions for home cooks to expand their repertoire without having to create an entire menu of dishes. A comprehensive glossary provides the origins and history of every grain and spice used in Ramachandran’s recipes, its importance in the cuisine, and the associated folklore.

But even more, Ramachandran explores in detail both the cuisine and its relation to Kerala’s history and lifestyle, creating a cookbook distinctive in today’s market. Over the past seven years, Ramachandran has researched the ancient Indian Ocean spice trade and its influences on the cuisine and culture of her home state Kerala, India. In a richly detailed chapter, Our History and Heritage, she traces the development spice trade that began long before the birth of Christ, and lasted over many centuries; gradual colonization by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British; and the indelible imprint of spice trade on Kerala’s culture and cuisine.

Delving into the lifestyle and traditions of Kerala’s matrilineal society, she sheds light on this often-mystifying culture while simultaneously presenting recipes in their historical framework. Born in Kerala, India, to a Nayar joint family, Ramachandran’s grandfather and father-in-law were members of the royal family of Kochi. This heritage permitted her personal access to the authentic vegetarian recipes Kerala. With Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts, Ramachandran creates a surprisingly approachable cuisine in its cultural context.

Visit www.peppertrail.com

Available from Ingram Book Group, Baker & Taylor, iUniverse, Inc.

Amazon.com

BarnesandNoble.com

booksamillion.com

ISBN: 0-595-40976-8  6 x 9  Trade Book  $23.95

ISBN: 0-595-85332-3  6 x 9  Adobe E-Book    $6.00

Advance Praise for the Book

“Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is a wonderful book: a moving glance into a world that I would never otherwise have encountered. Recipes that make me want to rush to the kitchen, intriguing techniques that could be used with other cuisines, fascinating personal stories about growing up in a big Kerala household, all embedded in a deep understanding of Kerala as a pivot of Asian history. It’s a wonderful tribute to Kerala and a stunning gift for the rest of us.”     

—Rachel Laudan, culinary historian and       
Author of The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage

“Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts is a jewel of a cookbook---from its authentic recipes (many published here for the first time) to Ammini Ramachandran's evocative personal anecdotes of Kerala's culinary traditions. It is at once scholarly, yet accessible, and especially charming for its delicious recipes and intriguing stories from the royal kitchens of Kochi".       
—Grace Young       
Author of The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen & The Breath of a Wok

"In this passionate celebration of her ancestral cuisine, Ammini Ramachandran deftly interweaves history, religion, tradition, geography, and especially, intimate family memories to bring the delicious Keralan story to life. Her recipes were savored not just at home but at temples too, where priests doled out scrumptious spicy brown chickpeas or sweet rice pudding treats. Foods that have been blessed, she says, "had a very special taste". A lush area of diverse vegetation on the southwest coast of India, Kerala is unique not only for its age-old interaction with foreigners, but also for its matrilineal society. Ammini makes it all very accessible, beginning with thorough explanations of the fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables emphasized in the Keralan kitchen. She demystifies all the various kinds and types of grains, flours, and legumes I had always stared longingly at in Indian groceries. And she shares her discoveries: sensible substitutions, invaluable trucs, and suggestions for integrating these traditional recipes into non-traditional menus. The world that Ammini chronicles may have vanished, but her food, enriched with memory and love, offers a very special taste for us all".    
   
—Jayne Cohen       
Author of Gefilte Variations

Algerian Cuisine Cookbook by Farid Zadi

So, about that book that so many of you have been asking about. A book deal is pending. If you want to test recipes for the book email me at bookofrai AT yahoo DOT com. I'll let you know more details later. Maybe I'll write posts about the whole process, since I know quite a few readers of my websites aspire to be published food writers.

Update- Thanks to everyone who responded. I was a bit slow about responding to everyone individually. I would also love to hear from people who've already tried the recipes that I've posted on my websites. I did find a few bloggers here and there who posted about trying my recipes if you can send me links I'd appreciate it.

The book deal is actually for a series of books. The first one is about Algerian Cuisine in general, the second about Algerian breads, pastries, preserves and sweets and finally Algerian charcuterie and offal dishes (the whole lamb and cow from head to tail or the whole bird from beak to tail feather). After that I will begin work on a French regional series. There's more but it looks like my schedule is pretty packed for the next 10-15 years already.

I'm also looking for test readers. A more general audience type reader. Readers who are new to Algerian cuisine, but maybe familiar with other Mediterranean cuisines.

Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts by Ammini Ramachandran

An Excerpt from Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts: Recipes and Remembrances of a Vegetarian Legacy

By Ammini Ramachandran

Chapter One Our History and Heritage

Along the coastline of tropical southwestern India, where the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea converge, set among picturesque lagoons and backwaters and separated from the rest of the Indian subcontinent by the rugged Sahyadri mountain range (also called the Western Ghats), lies a land of spectacular beauty and proud heritage: Kerala, the land of coconut palms and spices.

The story of our spices is an ever-changing history of lands discovered or destroyed, favors sought or offered, treaties signed or broken, wars won or lost, and kingdoms built or brought down. Ever since ancient times, the monsoon-soaked rain forests of Kerala, home to several spices: including the world's most widely used spice, black pepper (piper nigrum) were a prime destination for many explorers. The abundant black pepper attracted Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch, and British from the west and Southeast Asians and Chinese from the east.

The spice trade not only brought prosperity to our region, but it also left an indelible imprint on Kerala's culture and cuisine. From the pre-Christian era onward, trade between the kingdoms of south India and ancient Israel and Arabia resulted in the formation of the earliest Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities of Kerala. When foreign traders arrived at the port of Muziris, near the capital of the Chera kings (ancient rulers of Kerala), the reigning kings treated them with respect, extending facilities for their settlement and the establishment of their faiths in the land. Foreign traders brought with them numerous new plants and trees, which thrived in our tropical weather. Several fruits, nuts, spices, and vegetables we associate today with Kerala cuisine were unknown in ancient times. All these were slowly but surely integrated into our cuisine.

Arab Trade

Despite the fame of overland trade along the Silk Road, much of the significant trade between Europe and Asia was carried out in specific sailing seasons along the Indian Ocean. The Arabian Peninsula was home to Arabs, Hebrews, Ethiopians, and Syrians. These pre-Islamic tribes of central Asia, along with Indian and Southeast Asian merchants, were active traders and intermediaries in early Indian Ocean trade. The port of Muziris became one of the main trans-shipment ports for goods from the east. Spice traders took native spices and other commodities that had arrived at the port across the great expanse of the Indian Ocean to Africa and Arabia, and from there, to points farther west.

Tagine Dreams

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Charles Perry. We spent a little time cooking together and talking about Algerian cuisine. It was a pleasure to spend time with someone who is so inquisitive and openminded. Tagine Dreams, article by Charles Perry.

I have been asked by many readers if I give private cooking lessons. Yes, I do. There is a kitchen I can rent in Pasadena or I can travel to a site. My specialties are obviously North African, classic and regional French and International Fine Dining style.

I have taught recreational classes for the homecook at Whole Foods Market, Sur La Table, and Central Market.

THE FOOD OF TAMPICO: A TASTE OF NORTHERN MEXICO by Habeeb Salloum

THE FOOD OF TAMPICO: A TASTE OF NORTHERN MEXICO

by Habeeb Salloum

    For a while we gloried in the 21st century luxuries of Club Maeva Miramar, Tampico’s seaside resort.  Our food matched the lavishness of our abode, but we knew that it was not the real cuisine of Mexico.  When Mexican dishes were on the menu they were altered to comply with most of tourists’ tastes.  For the authentic food of Mexico’s northeastern Caribbean coast we had to dine in the restaurants downtown - in the heart of the city.  Of course, the decor in many cases, could not match that of Club Maeva Miramar’s Doña Juana Cata Restaurant, but the dishes were the true cuisine of the city.       

    Situated on the northern shores of the Pánuco River on the Gulf of Mexico, 400 km (248 mi) south of the American border, the present Tampico, is surrounded by a complex river and lagoon system, mingling together to give the town a unique setting.  Together with the sister cities of Altamira and Madero, forming a metropolitan zone in the State of Tamaulipas, it is a traditional Mexican urban centre, replete with history and a locally developed cuisine.  The city is noted not only for its cuisine but also for its petrochemical industry, and for its historical downtown, full of architectural elegance, lively markets, fine parks and historic structures that date back to the beginning of the 1900s - the golden era of the city.       

    An important trade centre and the second most important port on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, it was once the original ‘Mexican Riviera’ - the choice resort area of royalty and the rich.  Here they came to spend their winters, long before the concept of tourism was invented.  However, by 1960, Tampico was all but forgotten as a desirable destination.  Oil tankers from the nearby port facility fouled the once-gorgeous beaches and tourism almost died out.       

    Today, Tampico's tourist fortunes are beginning to return, thanks to a newfound awareness in environmental protection, and a change in government priorities.  This has given the city a new lease on life and has retrieved some of its tourist allurement from the past.  Still unspoiled by mass modern tourism, Tampico, a city of some 307,000, remains the place where a traveller is able to see, feel and experience the real Mexico and its local kitchen.

Kebab: An Ancient Mesopotamian Treat by Nawal Nasrallah

Kebab: An Ancient Mesopotamian Treat by Nawal Nasrallah
Adapted from a previously published article in Radcliffe Culinary Times vol. xiii, no. 2, fall of 2003)       
Iraqi Cookbook website

    If ever you order kebab at an Iraqi restaurant, brace yourself for a surprise. Instead of the familiar marinated skewered lamb cubes, you will get laffat kebab (kebab wrapped in bread). It consists of an elongated ground meat patty, seasoned with salt and pepper; grilled on a brazier till succulent, speckled with tangy red sumac, and garnished with thinly sliced onion, chopped parsley, tomatoes and probably pickles. The whole mixture would be rolled in flatbread or stuffed in diamond-shaped bread called samoun.        

 
    Kebab to Iraqis is what hamburger is to Americans. Specialized restaurants are everywhere. There was a time in downtown Baghdad where two major kebab restaurants competed with each other, like McDonald's and Burger King in the States. The best kebab, however, was provided by the small carry-out restaurants at the roofed sug (marketplace) next to the holy shrine of Al-Imam- Al-Kadhum, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad. As children, our eagerness to pay homage to that place was not motivated by our religious zeal as much as by a much more mundane desire to enjoy once again those delicious kebab sandwiches. They came with lots of greens, herbs, onion, pickles, and an ice-cold creamy yogurt drink. We devoured this treat picnic style, sitting on a spread blanket at one of the cool, breezy, roofed niches surrounding the huge yard of the shrine.        

    That was the kebab we knew growing up in Baghdad. To watch an actor in an Egyptian movie sinking his teeth into grilled rib chops or chunks of meat and call it kebab used to puzzle us. Why on earth were they calling that kebab? Surely that was tikka!  We also used to dance to an imported tune, Shish Kebab, twisting and twitching our `shoulders; we didn’t know that the kebab in the title was not the same as ours. The world outside is not as particular as Iraq in its kebab terminology. It is all kebab to them-- cubed chunks of meat, vegetables, even fruits, or patties of ground meat. To distinguish between the two types of grilled meat, sometimes the word kufta (ground meat patties)1 is used, as in the Turkish kufta shish kebabi as opposed to the Hindi tikka kebabi used to designate cubed chunks.       

 

MAPLE SYRUP - QUÉBEC'S LIQUID GOLD by Habeeb Salloum

       MAPLE SYRUP - QUÉBEC'S LIQUID GOLD
                         by Habeeb Salloum
               -------------------------------------------       

photo copyrighted by Montérégie

    The first time that I stepped in the midst of a sugar maple forest with sap dripping into  buckets, attached to almost every tree, I felt an air of excitement.  A few minutes later as I entered a sugar shack, listening to a syrup-maker relating the story of maple syrup, I became intoxicated with the enticing odour coming from the steaming vats.  All the time we stood by the smiling syrup-maker, he kept an eye on the boiling sap - called by some of its fans 'liquid gold'.  As happens to the gold ore in its raw stage, the maple sap was before us being refined into a valuable commodity.       
    The Québec cold and harsh winters, followed by warm and sunny spring thaws give that Canadian province an advantage when it comes to the production of maple syrup.  The ideal weather conditions produce the sweetest and most flavourful maple syrup not only in Canada, but around the world.  This, combined with the thousands of acres of natural maple forests, makes Québec the number one place on the globe when it comes to the production of maple syrup - more than  90% of Canada's maple syrup production and 70% of the worlds' supply.       
    The making of this natural sweet was inherited by the early settlers from the aboriginals who lived in Québec, southern Ontario, and the northeastern region of the U.S.A.  In all these areas of North America, the top of the six species of sugar maple trees, Acer saccharum (the true maple sugar tree), is found.       
    The Sugar Maple, also called Rock Maple, can grow up to 23 to 30 m (75 to100 ft) tall, with trunk diameters of 0.9 to 1.2 m (3 to 4 ft).  Its leaves are 7.5 to 13 cm (3 to 5 in) across and usually have five lobes, separated by rounded, shallow indentations.  The margins of the leaves are indented with sparse, large, pointed teeth.  Canadians esteem the leaves of this tree important so much that they are inscribed on the country's national flag.  A very useful tree, its sap, taken from the trunk, is used to make maple syrup and its wood is used in the manufacture of furniture.       
    After the French began to settle in what is now the Province of Québec, the Indigenous Peoples taught them the art of producing maple syrup.  In the ensuing years, harvesting this sweet sap evolved into becoming a basic part of the settlers' lives.  Before the 19th century, the major source of high quality pure sugar consumed in Québec was produced from this Aboriginal gift to the incoming Europeans.       
    For Québecers, from February to mid-April, when the sap flows, it's a looked-forward-to time to enjoy this gift of nature.  For hundreds of years the Indigenous Peoples employed clay pots to boil the sap over  a blaze, topped only by a roof of tree branches.  For the settlers, over the years, this simple fireplace evolved into the sugar shacks, where, besides boiling the sap, they became gathering places to socialize and enjoy a traditional meal.       
    Even though all over North America and other parts of the world, maple syrup is known as a breakfast delight, the Indigenous Peoples used it to enhance wild game and, later, the French settlers added it to all kinds of dishes.  Today, when the sap runs, family and friends gather at the sugar hut, where tables overflow with the traditional maple syrup foods.  After gorging on these gourmet delights such as maple-baked beans, maple omelettes and maple desserts, family and friends stream outside for the usual hot maple taffy, served on a bed of fresh snow.  For the true Québecois, a visit to the sugar shack in spring has become a type of pilgrimage.    

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Life Stories by Kamal Mouzzawak

Note from Farid Zadi. Kamal and I have been discussing doing something food related on a Pan-Arab level, encompassing all the countries of the Arab speaking world. The project is from the ground up for farmers and producers and providing space for them to sell. It will be promoted locally and internationally through multiple media (print, web, TV) outlets in Arabic, French and English. Sponsorship and support will come from various sources. There are also research and education opportunities. I will provide more details as ready.

Souk el Tayeb website

If you know of a farmer or producer in the Maghreb or Mashriq please let me know.

Life stories by Kamal Mouzzawak 

How to find few moments to write these lines, and forget for a while about killing, air strikes and massacres ... 

This is not about not about death, destruction and war ... that are happening night and day since nearly 3 weeks, but about families, children and individual trying to live and go on. 

This is about small farmers and producers, from all over Lebanon, who gathered and formed Souk el Tayeb, Lebanon’s first farmers’ market, more than 2 years ago, beyond their religious, regional, political or confessional believes. They all had a dream, a vision and a reality of respecting, loving and producing the best of their land. 

“Souk el tayeb” is the “market of “good”; in Arabic “tayeb” means good tasting, good as a person, and most important good as alive, still living. An attribute difficult to keep and maintain these days. 

Today, Souk el tayeb family is scattered and wounded.

Ali Fahs is stuck with his family in Jebcheit, a village near Nabatyieh, completely cut from the rest of the world and in a constant threat.

Book of Rai Forum Personal Blogs by Farid Zadi

A couple of weeks ago the forum attached to this blog www.bookofraiforum.com started it's first personal food blog by Swiss Chef in Piedmont.

This week were are in Burundi with Diana Buja.

Click on the links and join the conversation.

Anissa Helou and Farid Zadi Demonstration Classes at Central Market Texas Locations August 2006

Central Market Classes

Anissa Helou's Website

Chef Farid Zadi's Algerian Cuisine Website

The California School of Culinary Arts, Le Cordon Bleu Program
where Farid Zadi is an instructor

AUSTIN
North Lamar at 40th St.
512-458-3068

Sat., Aug. 5, 6:30 – 9 pm
MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD
Anissa Helou, Guest Instructor
Anissa Helou, Guest Instructor As a child in Beirut, Anissa Helou longed for the enticing foods like grilled lamb sandwiches sold by the street vendors, but her parents told her girls from good families didn’t eat street foods. So these foods became the “forbidden fruit” for Anissa and have remained the focus of her travels as a food writer and author of such cookbooks as Café Morocco and Lebanese Cuisine. A resident of London and an extensive world traveler who speaks fluent French and Arabic, Anissa has carefully translated and tested these recipes for the American home kitchen: Hommus; Vegetable Fritters; Meat Bread; Feta Cheese Salad; Marinated Meat & Chicken Kebabs Served with Assorted Salads & Dips; and Moroccan Shortbread Served with Mint Tea. $65 (price includes one copy of the paperback book)

Sat., Aug. 26, 6:30 – 9 pm
The Algerian Table
Farid Zadi, Guest Chef
Born in France to Algerian parents, Chef Zadi has combined his passion for both cuisines throughout his career. He will delight your taste buds with Orange & Onion Salad with Mixed Greens & Shallot Vinaigrette; Salata Meshwiya; Shrimp Brochettes with Chermoula; Chicken Brochettes with Preserved Lemon Sauce: Algerian Flat Bread; Merguez Sausage; and Harissa. $65

DALLAS
Lovers Lane @ Greenville
214-361-5754

Wed., Aug. 2, 6:30 – 9 pm
MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD
Anissa Helou, Guest Instructor

Thu., Aug. 24, 6:30 – 9 pm
THE ALGERIAN TABLE
Farid Zadi, Guest Chef

FORT WORTH
Interstate 30 and Hulen
817-377-9005

Tue., Aug. 1, 6:30 – 9 pm
MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD
Anissa Helou, Guest Instructor

Wed., Aug. 23, 6:30 – 9 pm
The Algerian Table
Farid Zadi, Guest Chef

HOUSTON
Westheimer at Weslayan
713-993-9860

Thu., Aug. 3, 6:30 – 9 pm
MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD
Anissa Helou, Guest Instructor

Tue. Aug. 22, 6:30 – 9 pm
THE ALGERIAN TABLE
Farid Zadi, Guest Chef

SAN ANTONIO
Broadway at Patterson
210-368-8617

Fri., Aug. 4, 6:30 – 9 pm
MEDITERRANEAN STREET FOOD
Anissa Helou, Guest Instructor

Fri., Aug. 25, 6:30 – 9 pm
THE ALGERIAN TABLE
Farid Zadi, Guest Chef

Clifford Wright  will be a guest instructor at Central Market in October. Class and dates TBA.

Molly’s Moxie: A Recipe by Karen Resta

There’s a scene in “Mostly True” that puts into a nutshell what this book offers. We are in artsy, hip Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Molly has become a chef. With the able help of two of her brothers (who also have learned to cook very well), she has prepared dinner for her parents and youngest brother, come all the way from staid Columbus, Ohio to visit. As the family strolls through town, towards Molly’s apartment, Molly and her two brothers try to redirect their guest’s attention away from any “potentially disturbing sights”.

“Look at the boat!” I cried, directing their attention to
the huge sails of the Hindu on the bay as a man wearing a studded leather strap-on approached us on the sidewalk.
“Look at the hydrangea!” I cried as we drew close to the
guesthouse whose front yard had been transformed in to an
S and M playground for Barbie dolls.
“Look at your arm,” said my mother, stopping to gape at the red, lash-shaped burns that scored my right forearm. “What are you doing to yourself?”
“Oh, steam burns,” I said. “From the lobster pot.”
“You’ve got to stop this, Molly, said my mother. “You could be marked for life! What will people think?”

BESIDES TACOS AND FAJITAS, MEXICO HAS ALSO A VEGETARIAN CUISINE BY HABEEB SALLOUM

BESIDES TACOS AND FAJITAS, MEXICO HAS ALSO A VEGETARIAN CUISINE
                                             by Habeeb Salloum
                     ------------------------------------------------------------------
    From the border of Mexico to the Arctic Circle 'Let's go and have a fajita' is now almost as common among the teenage crowd as 'let's go for a hamburger' .  The words of a traveller who wrote, "Mexican food excites the passion, seduces the body, then sends one into ecstasy" are now becoming a reality in North America. 
    Mexican dishes, complex, delicious and rich, still rest firmly on their Aztec and Maya origins - once one of the most varied and exotic cuisines on the globe. The cooking of that country, one of the oldest in the world whose history goes back some 5000 years, is spreading like wild fire from the northern borders of Mexico to the Arctic Circle. Besides fajitas, empanades, enchiladas, tacos, tamales, toastadas and tortillas, are now to be found throughout the Americas.
    It is said that Montezuma, the last Aztec ruler, selected his daily meals from some 300 exotically prepared foods and, no doubt, from among these were a good number of vegetarian dishes.  In fact, the central core of the indigenous kitchen included, besides chillies and tomatoes, corn, beans and squash - called by some food writers `the holy threesome'.  Even though, in our times, most Mexican foods are served with meat, there are numerous delightful vegetable dishes in that country, with roots that go back to pre-Columbian times.  Some still carry their Indian names like mole, a series of well-known sauces , deriving their name from the Aztec molli.

MANSAF: THE PRIDE OF JORDANIAN CUISINE by Habeeb Salloum

    The first time I sat down to a feast featuring mansaf was in the countryside near Amman, the capital of Jordan.  Surrounded by distinguished-looking men in flowing Arab robes, I reclined quietly beside my host around a steaming platter of rice covered with lamb and nuts. The conversation was almost zilch as we gorged ourselves on tender and succulent meat served over steaming rice, made even tastier by the yogurt and spices.
    Being an honoured guest, my host picked out for me the choicest pieces of meat as he urged me on.  In the best tradition of Arab hospitality he made sure that I was overfed.  Of course, I did not need much encouragement.  Every mouthful of the appetizing food made me crave for more.  It was a feast that I have always remembered.
    In Jordan mansaf, the pride of Jordanian cuisine and the national dish of the country is usually prepared for and served to esteemed guests primarily on special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries.  The dish possesses an important symbolic function within social gatherings, it being offered as the ultimate to the honoured guest.  The daily family food of the people is often not as sumptuous but healthier - much of it relating to earlier times when most of the inhabitants of today's Jordan were poor Bedouins, peppered with a few peasants.
    Mansaf stands as the ultimate of Jordanian cuisine - a part of Arab gastronomy, which is one of the world's most sophisticated and elaborate cuisines.  Jordanian food, although having some unique attributes, is part of this Middle Eastern distinctive culinary heritage, but stemming more from traditional Bedouin cooking.
     A mansaf feast is taken seriously, and hours are spent in its preparations.  A dish of lamb seasoned with herbs and spices, it is served on a large platter on a bed of rice in a tangy yogurt sauce and sprinkled with almonds and pine nuts.  Traditionally, the yogurt used is jameed, a type of salted dried goat milk.
    The main course of a mansaf meal usually begins with several varieties of mazza, or hors d'oeuvres and with several salads as side dishes.   Bread, usually khoubz sh'rak, a large thin, round unleavened bread, accompanies every meal and a dessert or fresh fruit ends a meal.  Lastly, comes the famous Arabic coffee without which no meal is complete. 

 

Questions I recieve via email and through comments by Farid Zadi

I get a lot of emails and comments with food questions. Over time I have found many repeat questions. Rather than repeat my answers via email or on the blogs I will post them this thread in bookofraiforum.

You can also join the forum to post the questions yourself. There are other members who can help you with your questions,

Conversation with Paolo Ferrero by Swiss Chef (Ed McGaugh)

The Book of Rai Interview with Paolo Ferrero

Born in Turin, Paolo is a native Piemontese and speaks English, French, German, Spanish and of course Italian. He comes from a family of restaurateurs and managed the family restaurant Canestrello d'Oro for many years and has made a passionate career out of fine Piemontese food and wine. Paolo also writes a column for the Italian wine magazine called Barolo & Co. and has an extensive knowledge of the local wines. Paolo is closely connected to a never-ending network of wine makers, restaurateurs and shop-owners, all of whom he knows personally.

Swiss_Chef: Hello Paolo and thank you for joining us at Book of Rai. Please tell us a little about your restaurant the Canestrello d'Oro in Cinaglio near Asti.

Paolo Ferrero: First let me say thank you for your interest in the Piemont and more importantly the Monferrato! I ran he "Canestrello d'Oro" ( a "canestrello" is sort of a cookie traditionally prepared by the cooks of my small village, Cinaglio...) for eight years, from 1998 till 2004, since my mother Adalgisa, who was one of the restaurant's two chefs, decided to retire. For 20 years Canestrello was our family's restaurant but it was my mother, chef Ezio Musso and maitre ‘d Paolo Smaniotto and I who succeeded in transforming the "Canestrello" from a popular Pizzeria to a distinguished country inn. We had limited seating, white table-cloths, Bohemian crystal glasses, fresh country flowers and jazzy background music. Regarding the food, our mottos were : "tradition with a modern twist".
We wanted to rediscover the beautiful traditional Piemontese recipes while looking forward to a more modern style of presentation.

Typically we started with an antipasti tasting, dictated by season’s bounty. For example:
-Tuna and black Taggiasca olive mousse refined with parsley.
-Hand minced raw veal and goat’s milk cheese tartar.
-Roasted red peppers and stewed veal tongue with anchovies, capers and Barbera vinaigrette sauce.
-Leek and Parmesan cheese soufflé.
-A selection of made-in-house tajarìn, agnolotti, gnocchi, and pappardelle.
-Risottos (too many to mention but always following the season).
-During the winter- a thick bean and "maltagliati" soup.

The main courses always included pork, beef, rabbit, chicken as well as a fish offering usually cod, bass or sea-tout.

Fresh porcini and white truffles always in season
Always a wide selection of local artisanal cheeses.

Three desserts completed our menu, usually accompanied by a Moscato or Malvasia sparkling sweet wine.

In a few years we were rated by the main gastronomical Guides in Italy, such as "Espresso", "Luigi Veronelli", "Paolo Massobrio", "Accademia Italiana della Cucina" ( Unfortunately the consequence of a misunderstanding- we were somehow overlooked by "Gambero Rosso" what a pity! We did manyge to rank in the top 1.000 restaurants in the whole Italy. Something for which we are very proud.

The wine list was heavily centered in the Monferrato's wines and consisted of 80 labels. The price of our multi course was about 35 euros, wines excluded. Monthly we organised a gastronomical degustation dinner based on the season; aromatic herbs, spring flowers and fish, black or white truffles, porcini and game and so on...

Returning to the Piemonte

I reached the Alps: the soul within me burned
Italia, my Italia, at thy name:
And when from out of the mountain’s heart I came
And saw the land for which my life had yearned.
I laughed as one who some great prize has earned.
Oscar Wilde

Piemonte is slowly becoming mine. I am not only coming to understand the “how” of the Piemonte but I am beginning to appreciate the “why”.

Newsletter by Farid Zadi

Dear readers

It is finally coming...

In a month or so this blog and my Algerian cuisine blog will be organized differently. The new format will be visually cleaner and easier to read. Look for more contributors as well as videos and podcasts from around the world. The internet is merging (has merged)  with different forms of media. The future of food is the internet.

As usual our goal is to focus on food as it relates to history, culture, arts, economics, politics, education, etc... plus some fun stuff thrown in to keep your attention.

Join www.bookofraiforum.com to post about what you know and to ask questions about what you do not know. It is as simple as that (probably not so simple). Book of rai forum is a friendly place  to share, to learn with an open mind.

We have some interesting topics and projects such as 18th century cooking in Mexico and the Philippines, the foods of Africa and the African diaspora*, Medieval cookery, The Spanish Lake, etc, If you have a research question post it on the forum, chances are you will recieve feedback.

*This is leading into a documentary series with a group of chefs and writers of African descent from around the world.

Mystery Fruit by Farid Zadi

Please help identify this mystery fruit. Discussion on bookofraiforum .

Grasping Grappa by Ed McGaugh

I would have to admit that I am more of a rhum and cognac man, but in the last 8 or 9 years I have become interested in grappa, mostly because of my discovery of the Italian kitchen.

When we were in the Piemonte in October we had the good fortune to visit a grappa distillery called Vieux Moulin which you can’t miss if you drive along the road from Asti to Alba because there are several large signs pointing the way. The place is pretty unassuming, there is a big dog chained-up in the court yard who heralds your arrival with a never-ending series of barks and the whole place has a pretty home-spun air about it.

From Peasant Cuisine to Palace Cuisine By Ammini Ramachandran

        From Peasant Cuisine to Palace Cuisine
   An Introduction to the culinary history of India

From ingenious vegetarian offerings with a wide range of flavors to the elegant meat-centered feasts of Mogul emperors, India’s culinary traditions are rich, and as varied as her land and people. The country’s geography and climate ranges from landlocked high altitude mountains, to fertile river valleys, to arid plateaus, to verdant tropical coasts. In times past food production was totally dependent on geographic and climatic conditions, from which evolved the various peasant cuisines of India. Until the British conquest at the end of the eighteenth century, each region of India was ruled by its own royal family and each had its own provincial language, local customs, culture, and unique cuisine. The proficient palace chefs of these small independent kingdoms perfected the many elegant palace cuisines of India.

India’s population is very diverse and they follow many different religions. Food related taboos differentiating the sacred from the disrespectful are taken very seriously. Hindus and Sikhs won’t eat the sacred cow. Strictly vegetarians, mostly Brahmins, and Jains refuse even the spices associated with the preparation of meat, such as onions and garlic. The descendants of the Moguls of Delhi and Punjab, being Muslim, refuse pork, but are great experts in the preparation of meat dishes. Christians of India have some excellent beef and seafood dishes.

Mappila Cuisine of Kerala

         

Mappila Cuisine of Kerala by Ammini Ramachandran

The Muslim influenced Tandoori dishes of Mughal cuisine with its unique technique of marinating meats and vegetables with a careful blend of choicest spices and aromatic herbs have been a gourmet's delight the world over. With the migration of Indian workers to the west during 18th and 19th centuries, the tandoori preparations of Mogul cuisine and the hardy food of the Punjab region were the first to reach the western world. Even today this is the type of food that is served in most Indian restaurants abroad.

Mahmud of Ghazni (modern Afghanistan and northeastern modern Iran), lured by tales of the fertile plains of the Punjab and the fabulous wealth of Hindu temples first attacked northern India in 1000 AD. The Mogul emperor Baber conquered India in 1526 AD and this Muslim dynasty ruled in an unbroken succession for nearly 200 years. North Indian food went through a profound transformation during this period. Meats and breads grilled in clay ovens called tandoors and elaborate dishes – Kababs, pulavs and biriyanis - and sweets garnished with thin sheets of real gold and silver became the mainstay of Mogul banquets.

Many years before the advent of central Asian Muslim invaders to the northern frontiers, coastal region of the Indian Ocean between India, the Persian Gulf, East Africa and the China Sea was an area of active commercial exchange. People along these coasts, blessed with wide open waters and natural harbors, excelled in maritime trade with distant lands. Indian merchants and the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf regions were active traders and intermediaries long before the birth of Prophet Muhammad.

For Europe and central Asia, spices were the envoys from enchanted orient. From ancient times, the monsoon soaked rain forests, home to several spices, especially black pepper, became a prime destination for many explorers. Ancient southern Indian kingdoms enjoyed a flourishing spice trade with the Arabs of coastal Yemen and Oman. By the early Christian period south India was transformed into a commercial hub linked to the West and the East through emporiums located along the coastal and inland routes. Spice trade was as profitable an undertaking as it was complex.

When the maritime trade routes spread beyond the Nile and Euphrates, Greeks, Romans and later the Portuguese ventured to trace new routes to the source of spices and exotic things. However, the old Arab channels of trade continued to flourish thanks to the age-old alliances and agreements between the original Arab and Indian traders. Interestingly cinnamon, the spice that made fortunes for the Arab traders in earlier times still remained an Arab monopoly. The Romans could find it only at Arab ports; the source of cinnamon in India was scrupulously guarded from them. Throughout the Malabar Coast the Romans were offered only malabathrum, the leaves of the same tree that produced the fragrant bark.  Such was the loyalty between the ancient traders of the Indian Ocean.

Announcement By Farid Zadi

Dear readers and contributors

I know I've been promising to organize this blog and the other one as soon as possible. The thing that is holding me back is the potentional rise in web fees. Some days both blogs get a combined page view count of up to 4000 and the blogs are pretty new, that plus projected readership growth and the forum can potentially translate into exorbitant web fees. Those are the reasons for the delay. I'd like both blogs to be organized more like this blog.

A note to food writers

Posting on certain food forums is a great way to make some contacts and to exchange information. However the really knowledgeable people are easier to find in the blogsphere and I hope more food bloggers join the forum I started. To keep your name as writer out there, you really must blog. The future of food is here and it is blogging, they have search engine supremacy over more static appearing websites. There is absolutely no other medium through which the contributors here could have reached an audience that densely covers North America, Western Europe, the Mediterranean countries, the Indo-Malay archipelago, Australia and to a lesser extent South Asia, North Africa and Latin America so fast.

If you are concerned about google and yahoo's projects to make available cookbooks online, divert the traffic to your blog or if you do not have the energy to start your own blog, contact me about posting occasionally here.

Naengmyun, Chilled Noodles by Ji Young Park

www.bookofraiforum.com discuss cuisines and cultures.

Naengmyun is a Northern Korean cold noodle dish from the Pyong-an-do and Hamgyong-do provinces. Traditionally naengmyun was enjoyed during the winter.

Pyong-an specializes in mul naengmyun made from buckwheat noodles and a pheasant and beef broth with radish kimchi juice added. Hamgyong specializes in bibim naengmyun made from starch noodles with Hong Hwe or seasoned flounder. Mul means "water" or "liquid" and bibim means to "mix". As the dishes traveled further away from their origins, Koreans from other regions began adding different ingredients soon naengmyun became a summer time favorite.

The beef broth for the mul naengmyun is not the same as white beef stock made from bones. Brisket is used to make a light stock, then thinly sliced for garnish.

 

My mother learned this dish through an "adopted" relative from North Korea who opened a restaurant in South Korea shortly after the war. It's hard to imagine now, but 30 years ago the restaurant scene in Seoul was a fraction of what it was now. It wasn't really until the Olympics that Seoul began exploding into the dense, vibrant city it is now.

Korean Mother Sauces and Stocks by Ji-Young Park

www.bookofraiforum.com discuss cuisines and cultures.

The three most important sauces in Korean cooking are kangjang*, toenjang** and koch'ujang***. All are made with meju, blocks of fermented soybean paste. Commercially packaged meju comes in different sizes and forms, from pellets to powder.

The basic stocks are white beef stock and sun dried anchovy stock. Chicken stock is NOT common at all. And there is no such thing as vegetable stock in authentic Korean cooking. Authenticity is a tricky word and I do not have a single benchmark for it. How is that for straddling the fence? I will try to place recipes within context. That is the best I can do in terms of what is authentic or not.

Beef stock is also more of a restaurant item in Korea. Korea is a soup loving country and bones are in high demand. The last time I was in Korea about 4 years ago the beef bones were just as expensive as the best cuts of meat. And the price of beef had just started to become more accessible. Beef stock as a home pantry item is more of a Korean-American thing. In the past in Korea it was more for the wealthy and it still is for the most part.

Baechue Tong Kimchi (Whole Cabbage Kimchi) by Ji Young Park

www.bookofraiforum.com

discuss culture and cuisine.

Anyone who has ever read a Korean tourist brochure knows that kimchi connects the Korean people to our ancestors, our land, our children, our culture, our sense of identity and past struggles for survival during the bitter cold winter months.

To say that kimchi is a cultural icon to Koreans is a bit of an understatement. It might not be an exaggeration to say that kimchi is a part of The Korean cosmos.

I can't find the source of this quote, "As one eats kimchi, one eats the universe, and in so doing becomes part of the universe and the universe becomes a part of man."

Kimchi is also touted as a cure-all, mostly coming from Korean sources. Food writers have waxed poetic about the health benefits which sometimes include elaborate charts. Lots of energy and money are spent on scientific studies about kimchi. Most recently bird flu, before that SARS. I haven't read the papers, I'm not sure how the birds were fed kimchi*.

Thanks to Alan Alda's MASH** and Veterans from the Korean War, the most famous kimchi in America with the over 50 crowd seems to be "the buried in the ground" winter kimchi. This type of kimchi is still made, but mostly in rural areas. Anyone who has been to Seoul in the last 20 years or so will know that it's difficult to find a spot to dig a hole in the ground without a concrete drill. Even 30-35 years ago in Seoul my family never made this type of kimchi. I do remember some of our neighbors making it though.

The (in)famous "buried in the ground kimchi" is kimjang, the most prized version is from Northern areas. The seasoning tends to be milder with more refreshing kimchi "juice". Kimjang is a topic for a whole other post.

In reality the most ubiquitous kimchi is baechue kimchi or nappa cabbage kimchi.

Note to Contributors

DO NOT approve comments to your posts. I will do that. Recently there have been alot of spam comments. Spam comments containing advertising or potential viruses that can do damage to the blog.

I'm not sure if "virus" is the correct word, but I've participated in forums for bloggers where there has been discussion of spam comments having deleted entire blogs!

I back up the data frequently but to put it all up would be really tedious and time consuming.

Korean Soy Sauce Marinated Raw Blue Crab, GaeJang by Ji Young Park

I invite Korean bloggers to join book of rai forum as well as the readers from the University of Hawaii who have been following this series. I'll be posting some different Korean recipes in the forum.

Gaejang is an intensely flavored dish. It's piquant with hot fresh peppers and red pepper flakes. The texture of the raw crab is a bit slimy and rich.

If you're concerned about eating raw crab then don't eat this. I've been eating gaejang since I was a child and have never had a problem. I've also made this with frozen blue crab many times.

Last 100 visitors 9:20 AM Pacific Standard Time

The demographics change according to the time of day. I thought it would be fun for the readers and contributors to see a "random" sampling of visitors.

1.  Montbran, Bretagne, France    
2. Danbury, Connecticut, United States    
3. Las Vegas, Nevada, United States    
4. Flavion, Namur, Belgium    
5. Burnsville, Minnesota, United States    
6. Toronto, Ontario, Canada    
7. Chiswick, Slough, United Kingdom    
8. Greensboro, North Carolina, United States    
9. Delhi, Delhi, India  
10. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada  
11. Portland, Oregon, United States  
12. Shreveport, Louisiana, United States  
13. Arley, Coventry, United Kingdom  
14. Derendingen, Solothurn, Switzerland  
15. Oslo, Oslo, Norway  
16. Toronto, Ontario, Canada  
17. United States  
18. Kampong Melayu Kebun Bunga, Selangor, Malaysia  
19. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States  
20. Delhi, Delhi, India  
21. Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
22. Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden  
23. Normal, Illinois, United States  
24. Walnut, California, United States  
25. Slough, Slough, United Kingdom  
26. Nice, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France  
27. Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom  
28. Slough, Slough, United Kingdom  
29. Slough, Slough, United Kingdom  
30. Font Rousse, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France  
31. Aurora, Colorado, United States  
32. Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico  
33. Jurong Town, Singapore  
34. Bergenfield, New Jersey, United States  
35. Short Hills, New Jersey, United States  
36. Reims-la-Brulée, Champagne-Ardenne, France  
37. Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom  
38. Orlando, Florida, United States  
39. London, Lambeth, United Kingdom  
40. Pully, Vaud, Switzerland  
41. Reykjavík, Gullbringusysla, Iceland  
42. New York, New York, United States  
43. East Grand Forks, Minnesota, United States  
44. Vanves, Ile-de-France, France  
45. Algiers, Alger, Algeria  
46. Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia  
47. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States  
48. Villejuif, Ile-de-France, France  
49. Kampong Baharu Cheras Batu Sembilan, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia  
50. Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Dosa Sale at Chez Panisse

Hello All,

We thought you might like to know about a clothing sale that the Chez Paniss