Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

Growing up in East Germany, Hungarian food was always popular. And there was a picture of Kesselgulasch. It must be like 40 years, that I had it last. Ok, 20 recipes later (some of them claim orignal and are very different) here is my version. Note it takes time to simmer. Part 1: 1 large onion, chopped 4 cloves of garlic chopped 1 cup of a dark full body red wine (optional) 8 cups of beef broth 6 oz tomato paste 2 cans of diced fire roasted tomatoes 3 tbsp of diced pimento peppers 2 lbs of beef stew meat (a piece of chuck roast will do as well, just cut it to bite size pieces) 2 slices of bacon chopped 3 tbsp ghee Spices 1 tbsp smoked paprika powder 1 tbsp of sweet paprika powder 4 bay leaves 2 tsp ground all spice 1 tsp ground cumin Part 2: 6 medium potatoes 3 bell peppers, color does not matter I used my big Dutch Oven (DO) for this. The cooking process ended up in 2 parts, as life's plan were different from what I had in mind. The cooking needed to go into a 2 day process. In t...

I watched Ali Güngörmüs cooking with hobby cooks. The concept of the show is, a hobby cook makes a meal for Ali and then he takes the same ingredients and makes a different meal out of them for a home cook. There are plenty of inspirations on this show. This is based of one of his shows. I used 1 lbs of boneless beef short ribs 1 medium onion chopped 2 cloves of garlic chopped or minced 1 can of tomato sauce 1 can of diced tomatoes 1/2 cup of chopped celery root (optional) 1/2 tsp of paprika 1/2 tsp of ground allspice 4 tbsp of harissa 2 bat leaves olive oil water i9f needed) Pad dry the short ribs and cut them into bite size pieces. In a Dutch Oven heat up the olive oil, add the onions and the celery and cook till the onions are translucent. Add the meat and let it get some color. Then add all the remaining items. For the spices and the harissa you can use more or less depending on how spicy you want that to be. Taste it. One can always add. The meat should be covered with liquid....

It has been a long time since my last post. My pressure cooker decided to not keep the pressure anymore. l. I think I bought it 10 years ago for 99$. With all the dishes I cooked, I got a lot of milage out of it. In the summer I started to research a replacement and found an Instant Pot. The price back then was $149.99. That was more then I wanted to pay. This year the Black Friday deals came in very early. The price was now $119.99. That is a price I could live with. Gulasch = beef stew is something that many cultures have. Time to explore how I can use my Instant Pot for this and change the recipe a bit.  Here we go 2tsbp veggie or olive oil  1 large onion coarsely chopped 2 lbs of beef stew meat 2 tbsp tomato paste 1 can tomato sauce 1 can diced tomato Spices 3 bay leaves 3/4 tsp ground all spice 6 juniper berries 1/3 tsp of dried thyme 4 cups of water 3.5 tsp of beef bouillon 1 tbsp ground paprika 1/2 tsp smoked paprika Turn on the Instant Pot and select Sautee. Add the oi...

The original intent was to make Beef Wellington Ravioli. While cooking I changed my mind. The noodles turned out decent. It was only my 5th time to make noodles myself. I think I will do that more often. The meat Wellington style was good as well. I don't think the recipe for red wine reduction was great. I think it may even be incorrect with some of the measurements. So I am not going to post it. Here is what worked. Noodles: 1 cup and 2tbps of all purpose flower 2 eggs 1tbsp of olive oil. In a bowl mix all of it. Because it was really hard to get a nice dough, I added 1 more tbsp of olive oil and about 4 tbsp of water to it. I could still feel flour pockets, so I did run it a few times through the paster maker. Then I folded them all over, pressed them down, put it into plastic wrap and did set it aside for 30 minutes.. In the mean time fill a big pot with water, season it with salt and bring it to a boil. Meat: beef tenderloin, chop it in small pieces 4 medium mushrooms chopped ...

A traditional German Gulasch is mainly pork and beef cubes and spices. While stores here general offer  beef stew meat, for pork this is a different story. I decided to got 1 piece of beef and 3 extra thick pork loin pieces. 2 of them were cut into cubes as well as the beef.  Ingredients 1 lbs pork and 1 lbs beef meat, cubed 1 red bell pepper chopped into pieces 1 medium onion coarsly chopped 1 tsp ground allspice salt and pepper to taste 2 tbsp tomato paste 1 can of chopped tomatos 2 slices of bacon chopped into small pieces 2 tsp of margarine or oil 3 bay leaves 3/4 tsp thyme 3-4 cups of water In a pot melt the margarine together with the bacon, add the onions and the red bell pepper. Let the onions get translucent.  Remove all from the pot, but let rendered fat in the pot. Then add the meat and sear it. Depending on the quality of the meat, water may come out. Most of this needs to evaporate during the cooking process. Then add the tomato paste, and stir. Now make sure...

It is Christmas and I didn't want to go for the standard potato salad and wieners on Christmas Eve and the duck on Christmas day. I decided on a beef and pork stew. I just posted a few days ago on my Hungarian  version of a beef stew. This is a bit different. I was planning to use some peppers here  as well, but then forgot to take them out of the fridge and then of course forgot about it. I don't plan cooking upfront. I go by what comes to mind. Ok, that requires me to write down what I used, so I can write here. This time I go with: Not on the picture: salt and pepper 2 tsp of tomato paste 3 tbsp of salsa 1/2 cup of red wine 1 tsp of smoked paprika 1 tsp of ground paprika 1 tsp of ground Allspice 1/2 tsp of thyme 2 tsp of margarine 4 cups of water In a pot, melt the margarine and add the onions over medium heat. Let them get translucent. Add the meat (I actually counted the pieces. it was 12 pieces each. I just didn't want to have so much left over.) When the meat is sear...

On Facebook, I read a couple of food groups. This is a good source for inspiration.  Growing up we had a lot of Hungarian dishes, or what we thought to be Hungarian food. This is my version of a Hungarian Gulasch. We need Not on the picture: 2 bay leaves 1/2 tsp of thyme 1/2 tsp of ground allspice 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp of margarine 2 cloves of garlic 4 cups of water It pays to prep everything up-front. Cut and clean the peppers. Bell peppers work just as fine. Coarsely chop the onions Pad dry the meat and cut it into bite size chunks. Coarsely chop the garlic In a big put heat up the oil and the margarine, Add the onion and let them get translucent. Add the meat. and sear it. Add 1.5 tbsp of the tomato mark. Keep cooking for another 4-5 minutes. Keep paying attention so things don't start to burn. Add 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika, 2 tsp of paprika, 3 tbsp of salsa, 2.5 tbsp of bullion paste. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring all to a boil then turn the heat down and let it simme...

Last night I went to Walmart. I wanted to get some tomatoes and cucumbers. It turned out a different kind of shopping. The tomatoes and cucumbers did not look good. I ended shopping for other things. There was a nice piece chuck roast in the meat section. Now that is going to go on the smoker tomorrow. I have not used the smoker much this year. The spice rub: 3 tbsp light brown sugar 1 tsp of ground Allspice 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp ground chipotle 1 tsp onion powder 1.5 tsp fine sea salt 1/2 tsp of black pepper Rub the meat all over. Also cover the sides.  Any left over can go into a little glass container and be used for the next steak. While in the kitchen I was watch the Pioneer Woman make bacon wrapped steak. Wait, I got bacon last night as well, I am going to put a few pieces of bacon on smoker. They taste so much better then coming out of the store. The smoker goes on 220F. I left the bacon on for about 1 hour. The meat was smoked until the inner temperature was 131F. The ...

It is time to get rid of some of the things in my freezer. This weekends plans: 2 ground beef patties and 1 lamb shank steak. Aside from the ingredients I need 2 small baking forms and some margarine. In a blender I added 2 large ground beef patties (80/20) 1/2 of a small onion, don't bother cutting 1 tsp of ground Allspice 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika 1/2 tsp of dried thyme 1/2 tsp of black ground pepper 3/4 tsp of kosher salt 1/2 tsp of ground cumin 1/4 cup of crushed ice Blend until all is really fine mashed. In the picture I added a stick of margarine next to it (a bit is already missing, but the dimensions can be guessed). Blend until it is really smooth. I don't want to see any texture anymore. The blender did a good job. This time I didn't use any curing salt. Next time I think I will do that again. Heat the oven to 450F. Now my counter top oven can do 450F. The second thermometer I have in there takes 100F off. I am not sure which one is right.  The baking forms need t...

It is Independence Day. Time to get the grill out again. Instead of a steak, I decided it is hamburger time.  1 lbs of beef 93/7 ground beef 2 tbsp of capers 1/2 onion finely chopped 4 tbsp of ketchup (Sir Kensingtons or another good one, I don't like Heinz) 2 tbsp ground bread (don't use panko) 1 egg salt and pepper to taste Mix all of this together in a bowl and from patties. I tend to make them rather thin. Preheat the Grill to 350F. Add the patties. This are plenty of patties. I will be eating burgers for the rest of the week. Well, I may freeze a few. 30 min before starting the burgers on the grill, I added a corn on the bbq. I may not get all the grill marks, bit it is going to be sweet and juicy. 90 minutes before starting dinner preps, I took 2 potatoes wrapped them in Alufolie and through them into the countertop oven. My dinner plate: Of course this deserves a nice cold Wernersgruener. -Mahlzeit-

On Facebook I saw a picture that showed layers of beef with filling in between. I was not sure, if that was a joke or not. It intrigued me. I decided to invent something like that. For the beef layers: thinly sliced beef chuck not (not more then 3 mm thick) 1/2 slice of bacon per beef slice sliced onions mustard salt and pepper tooth picks for skewers Lay out the beef slices, salt and pepper them and drizzle some mustard over it on all of them but 2. Those 2 will become the top layer. I used Dion, but any mustard will do. Add the half slice of back on it and sprinkle some beef slices. Add the next layer on top of it.  I had an uneven number of slices, so my layers were 3 and 4. Tuck them together on the long side with the tooth picks for the skewers. In a Dutch Oven melt 2 tbsp of margarine. Add the 2 packets of beef and sear from both sides to get some color. Then add  2 cups of water 1 tsp of ground all spice 2 bay leaves 1 tsp of thyme slices of 1 medium onion 15 slices of ...

I ordered 2 bones prime rib roast from a butcher  in a grocery store. Lucky me. With all the power outages, they were still handing out orders, but anything else needing cooling was off limits on Friday. One could watch the thermometer how temperature dropped. I still had to go on Saturday and get the remaining items from my shopping list. (Note to self, don't procrastinate).   So this is going to be rather lengthy. The original recipe and the menu idea is coming from Recipetineats . Of course I ended up changing a few things, as I had some other things in mind and some of the things I didn't have. I actually did turned on my alarm clock for 7:30am to get the rib roast out of the fridge. This is not a time I want to be waken up when I am in vacation. Eventually I got up at 10am.   1. Step: make garlic butter 8 oz of unsalted butter (=226g, I wanted to have more, so I can use it for the garlic mash and spinach and what ever is left over goes nicely with some home made brea...

This weekend is cook weekend. I found a soup cookbook and I am going to cook from it a bit.   2 lbs boston butt cut into bite size pieces 2 lbs of neef stew beef 1/2 stick of margarine small can of tomato paste 1 medium onion coarsely chopped 2 cloves of garlic chopped 2 bay leafes 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1 tsb ground all spice salt and pepper to taste 5 cups of water 4 tsp Knorr Tomato bullion 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes     In a Dutch Oven, melt the margarine. Add all the meat and sear it. Add half of the tomato paste (1 generous tbsp) and stir. Sear a bit more. Add all the remaining ingredients. Bring them to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer and cook till the meat is tender. Serve with potatoes or couscous or noodles or potato dumplings. -Mahlzeit-  

This is a dish that needs a lot of time to wait until things are ready. The recipe comes from  here . I didn't have any leeks. So this all works without them just fine. I decided that I let it sit in the fridge for 1 week. Turn the meat over once a day if it is not fully covered. It looks ugly when it comes out. The red wine does give it dark color. Do not discard the marinade. Add 3 tbsp of margarine into a Dutch Oven and melt it.  Sear the meat from all sides.      When done add the marinade back in the Dutch Oven and bring it to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 2.5 to 3 hours. Mine needed about 2h 45 min. Strain the sauce into a pot, bring to a boil and thicken it. The rest can be discarded now. Serve with noodles or potatoes and red cabbage. -Mahlzeit-

I had a small pack of ground beef in the fridge. Time for a BBQ. Feta burger sounds like a good idea. 1 lbs of ground beef salt and pepper to taste a few dashes of Worcestershire Sauce 1 egg,  2 slices of feta, chopped into small chunks   Mix everything except the feta in a bowl and season to taste. At the end add the feta chunks, mix and form patties. Keep the feta pieces in the inside of the patties. I got a fresh french baguette, so some garlic bread is a good add-on. Cut a piece from the baguette, and then cut the piece in half. Add some butter and a few slices of fresh garlic. Wrap it in aluminum foil and put it onto the BBQ. A few minutes later add the patties. Cook them to your liking. A few minutes before it is done, unwrap the garlic bread and let it on the grill with the butter side down. Serve with the condiments you like. For me it this are a few spicy pickles, some sriracha mayo, half a slice of the BBQ bacon from yesterday and a the same side salad from yesterday...

I saw beef tenderloin on sale. So I had to buy. 4 lbs for 50$.  I have not had old fashioned Sunday dinner in years.Here we go. Garlic Butter: remove 1/2 stick of butter from the fridge the night before mince 2-3 cloves of garlic  mix in a small ramekin and put it back in the fridge Mushrooms and Brussels sprouts: I cheated for the Brussels sprout, I had a bag of frozen ones in the freezer, that had instructions for the microwave peel 1 medium onion and cut into smaller pieces melt 2 tsp of margarine in a frying pan, add the onions when they start to get translucent add the mushrooms.  cook over medium heat, stir occasionally, season to taste When they are done, add 2 tbsp of creme fresh or sour creme and the Brussels sprouts Garlic Mash: peel and cook a more starchy potato till done and discard the water. add 2 tsp of butter, 2 minced cloves of garlic, a hint of nutmeg, butter milk. Mash until it has the desired thickness. Steak: I cut 2 steaks about 1/2" thick. This eno...

I always wanted to make some bread dumplings. Together with a mushroom ragout this is delicious. I found a recipe that sounded good, all posted in German and a ton of commercials on the page.  So this post will be a rather lengthy one.   Bread Dumplings I dried hot dog buns. Big mistake. They have a sweet after taste. Not what I want in my dumplings. Right now there is a french baguette, cut in half in over the length and it is drying now for the next week. The recipe calls for 11 oz of dried bread cut into cubes 1 cup of hot milk 1 medium onion cut very finely 1 tbsp of butter a hand full of chopped parsley (I used flat leaves parsley)  1/2 tsp of salt 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper a little bit of ground nutmeg If needed bread crumbs if needed In a big bowl add the dried cubes of bread crumbs.  Heat up the milk. On the rim it should start to show little bubbles. Do not cook it, but should be to hot to stick the finger in. Pour the milk over the bread crumbs. Stir i...

With that big roast I made on the 22. , of course I had left overs. I cut the slices really thick, more then 1" thick. The idea behind was, I can put that on the BBQ or use a cast iron skillet on the stove. Both variations would get high heat, and then sear the slice 4-5 minutes each side. That gets nice grill marks and still keeps the medium center. One plate is with fresh cooked potatoes and the other plate is with fried potatoes. I make fried potatoes from left over potatoes, left over night in the fridge.  A little veggie oil into the pan and then fry over medium heat until there is color. I was a little impatient this time and also left out the onions I usually add.  -Mahlzeit-