Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

Let me start and spill the beans from the beginning. This cut of meat does not have enough fat for smoking. On the outside it ended up a little chewy. However the taste was great. Th rub is a keeper. The rub: 2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp garlic powder 2 tsp dark brown sugar 1 tsp allspice powder 1/2 tsp Chipotle powder Remove the meat from the fridge about 1h before you want to put it on the smoker and let it come up to temperature. Mix all the spices in a bowl. Wash and pad dry the meat. Try to get it as dry as possible. Cover all sides with the spice mixture. My piece of meat was less then 1" thick. It will not need a lot of smoking time. In about 2h at 220F the meat was ready. 1hour into smoking I added 3 potatoes, washed and each wrapped into aluminum foil. (Turned out, I should have added them from the beginning...). Smoked potatoes are actually really good. The potatoes still needed about 30 min at 450F in my counter top ove...

I am exploring red beets these days. Until a couple of weeks ago I literally never had them.  My first try was a salad. I was not to sure about the textures and taste. Now before I put them  into the category "I don't like them", may be a different preparation might be a good idea.  I remembered, I stayed at a Courtyard downtown Austin a few years ago. Behind the hotel in a small side street was an authentic Russian restaurant named the Russian House. My friend Sue is always game for some fun food experiences. So we ended up there a couple of times. She had borscht there and she liked it. I am lucky that my colleague Larissa is into cooking as well, so I asked her for a good recipe. She gave me the link to a Russian website and translated it for me. Larissa, you are such an angel. Despite me taking a few liberties as I couldn't get some of the things, it turned out to be a home run. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Larissa. For the broth 1 bag of frozen bones for soup...

There is nothing more German then Curry Wurst. It is a very popular street food in Germany, just like hot dogs in New York. There are many articles how to make Curry Wurst sauce and what sausages to take. If an article suggests Weisswurst, don't continue reading. They don't know what they are talking about. Weisswurst is eaten before the clock shows noon and with sweet mustard. Italian style sausages are not suitable either. I like Octoberfest Bratwurst the best as a sausage.  Any kind of Bratwurst will do. If pictures show the sauce sprinkled with curry, this is not good either. The curry must be inside the sauce. 2 tbsp olive oil 2 small onion finely chopped 1 small clove of garlic 2 tsp high quality curry powder 1 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 tsp onion powder 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrin, for something one just uses the best) 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar 1 cup of water 1 cup Sir Kensington's Classic Ketchup (Heinz really does not taste ...

I like my potato soup rather chunky and not watery.   I cooked 4 medium potatoes and then let them cool down a bit.   In a separate pot  bring 2  cups of water to a boil, add  1 1/2 tsp of Knorr Tomato bullion 1/2 tsp Allspice 1/4 tsp Tumeric 1/4 tsp Thyme a pinch of cinamon a pinch of ground smoked paprika a pinch of nutmeg a pinch of ground cloves. Turn off the heat and let it cool down. Put all into a blender and blend to the level of chunkiness you like. Back into a pot it goes and then heat it up again. Serve with a spoon of sour creme and a chopped parsley -Mahlzeit-    

I was seriously not feeling well yesterday. My stomach could only tolerate water for most of the day. And then I got hungry. This is a good sign.  Chicken noodle soup did sound like a good idea. 3 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on (can be frosted) 1 cup copped celery (stalks or roots) 7 carrots chopped 1 large onion coarsly chopped 2 tbsp veggie oil 3/4 of a gallon of water 8 tsp of Knorr tomato bullion 1/4 tsp of thyme 1 tsp of ground allspice 3 kaffir lime leafs  3 bay leaves 3/4 inch of fresh grated Turmeric root Add the oil to a stock pot and add the carrots, onions and celeries. Over medium heat cook until the onions get translucent. Then add all the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to simmer. Cook until the meat falls off the bone on the chicken over . For me it was about 90 minutes. Remove the meat from the bones and put them back into the soup. There are many things one can add, noodles, couscous, rice, quinoa. It all depends what you l...

This week was very busy at work. My outlet is cooking something nice on the weekend.  After all the meat, Salmon is in order. I went to Wegman's grocery shopping as I had an appointment close by. The store is usually very expensive, but once a quarter I treat myself to spend some money there. I got 2 nicely cut 6oz of salmon and lots of other goodies. I will talk about those in future posts.   The plan: Salmon filet with  potatoes, German cucumber salad and as desert cucumber, melon, feta salad  Melon, Cucumber, Feta Salad The melon, cucumber salad take the most time as it should be marinating overnight in the fridge. 1/2 cucumber (peeled or not, your choice), sliced into 5mm slices (the thickness of your little finger where there nail is). Then quarter the slices 1 cup of grape tomatoes cut in half 1/2 cup of feta (crumbles or little chunks) 1 tsp of onions finely chopped 2 cups of melon cut into bite size chunks 2 tbsp olive oil 3-4 sprigs of fresh mint In a bowl m...

Meat prices are up pretty much 100%. I better don't budge anything. This Sirloin Tip Roast did cost me a pretty penny. Spice rub 2tsp salt 2 tsp black ground pepper 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp ground allspice 3 tsp dark brown sugar 1/2 tsp onion powder Heat the smoker to 225F. I used hickory pellets. Cover the meat in well mixed spice rub on all sides and put it on the smoker. I have a Traeger smoker, for the first 2h I had the extra smoke added. I decided I want some baked/smoked potatoes. When I turned off the extra smoke , I added a few potatoes in an aluminum foil pouch into the smoker. When the meat reached 142 (medium rare in my case) I put the smoker into shut down mode.The potatoes were not done yet. In a countertop stove I turned it on convection at 450 for 30 min, added the potato pouch,  and all was hunky dori. Time for dinner.  Serve with sour cream for the potatos and if you like with a side sald. Remove the net. -Mahlzeit-