STIR THE POTS

Kornspitz

Kornspitz is an Austrian bread often found in  bread baskets. They are similar to Stangerli or pretzels. I re-worked this batch with fantastic heritage grains and a wheat sourdough. Served with a spread of butter, ham and or cheese, mmmm.

 

Revolution Bread Enkir

Always experiment. Or so it's said. And so I did recently, the results being this tight specimen. My thanks to Eli Colvin from Revolution Breads for sharing his Enkir formula, giving me a base to explore.

 

Here's the mix

EX-T85 Flour Shots

Sunrise Flour Mills gifted me a 5-pound bag newly-milled EX-T85 flour. Remarkable flour. Here's some visual evidence. 

 

Arepas Cafe

Arepas are a mainstay of Venezuela and Colombia. They are actually one of the few pre-Colombian traditional foods still popular.  Recently I went to try some from experts in this dish, namely the Arepas Cafe in Astoria. Home made food, with a line out the door, it's a family business that's been serving happy customers for 13 years. Here's what we tried over a series of repeat visits.  

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Fling

This year's annual Spring Fling event at work was insane. Of course, it always is insane. Ritually celebrating a mix of Italian basic-but delicious mainstays, we produced a range of goodies. Below are some shots of what went into our "fling," including Pizza alla Romana. 

City Hops

Beer is like mothers milk. Okay, that's kind of an aspersion of motherhood (or their offspring), but, hey, there's a reason cliches have staying power. I like beer. Not like Brent Kavanaugh "likes beer," a guy who belongs on the Supreme Court as much as Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. But hey, let's forget the noxious malevolent creeps packing our courts and corrupting our nation and focus on something we can control. Namely what goes in our mugs, then down to the warm hearth known as our bellies. Beer. Where was I? Oh, yeah, the other day I passed by a great beer bar called City Hops. Filled with unique ales, beer, ciders with different stories... hey, check it out. It's wonderful. Up yours, Brent Kavanaugh, you can't ruin this guy's brew! 

Delicatessen Rye

Perfect rye bread, light colored rye, delicatessen glazed.

Already found the perfect ham on rye,(Ruti Eastman)

character is caraway and cornmeal, that's a Jewish rye.

 

Pupusas

When my brother first described pupusas, the flat filling-based bread of El Salvador, he was verklempt, a fine Yiddish word to describe anything from deliriously happy or sad. In this case, let's say these suffed flatbreads made his belly smile. He discovered them while living in Los Angele's Echo Park, a neighborhood which at that time was home to many immigrants from El Salvador, home of the pupusa.

A masa dough shaped and filled with vegetables, meats, cheeses and cooked on a griddle and then served with a vinegary coleslaw, pupusas are a serious treat. I recently enjoyed a batch at a 25-year old restaurant near me in Woodside, Queens.  Called Izalco, they served theirs with the requisite coleslaw, along with a tomato sauce and chillied-speckled salsa. If you get to Woodside, look up Izalco, or if you see pupusas, try them. You'll be verklempt. Or just say "uno mas, por favor!"