The Hirshon Georgian Kubdari – კუბდარი

October 15, 2018 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Kubdari Image Used Under Creative Commons License From tasteatlas.com

Citizens, it has been FAR too long since I have posted a recipe from my spiritual homeland – the proud country of Georgia! As such, allow me to share yet another superb recipe from this garden of earthly delights! 😀

Kubdari or Kubed (Georgian: კუბდარი, Svan: კუბედ) is a popular Georgian bread that is traditionally filled with veal or beef, pork, or a combination of the two, along with spices such as cumin, dill, coriander, blue fenugreek, red pepper, onions, garlic, and salt. The dough consists of flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, and eggs. Interestingly, the meat used in this savory pie should be cut, not minced. It is recommended to glaze kubdari with butter and serve it hot.

Kubdari is is particularly a national dish of the Svans and is also traditionally made with cannabis leaves or cannabis seed paste, as the plant grows wild in the region. Kubdari was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia list in 2015.

Who are the Svans, you ask? I’m so glad you did!

The Svan language (Svan: ლუშნუ ნინ lušnu nin; Georgian: სვანური ენა svanuri ena) is a Kartvelian language spoken in the western Georgian region of Svaneti primarily by the Svan people.

With its speakers variously estimated to be between 30,000 and 80,000, the UNESCO designates Svan as a “definitely endangered language”.

It is of particular interest because it has retained many archaic features that have been lost in the other Kartvelian languages.

Svan is the native language of fewer than 30,000 Svans (15,000 of whom are Upper Svan dialect speakers and 12,000 are Lower Svan), living in the mountains of Svaneti, i.e. in the districts of Mestia and Lentekhi of Georgia, along the Enguri, Tskhenistsqali and Kodori rivers.

Some Svan speakers live in the Kodori Valley of the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia. Although conditions there make it difficult to reliably establish their numbers, there are only an estimated 2,500 Svan individuals living there.

The language is used in familiar and casual social communication. It has no written standard or official status. Most speakers also speak Georgian, the country’s official language, and use it as their literary and business language.

There is no official instruction in Svan, and the number of speakers is declining due to the dispersal of the Svan population in the face of increasing economic hardship. The language is regarded as being endangered, as proficiency in it among young people is limited.

Svan is the most differentiated member of the four Kartvelian languages and is believed to have split off in the 2nd millennium BC or earlier, about one thousand years before Georgian did.

My recipe for Kubdari is based on one from georgianrecipes.net – a fantastic site for all info on perhaps my favorite country in the world! 🙂 I choose to make my Kubdari with Svanetian salt – სვანური მარილ – a blend of salt, garlic, herbs and spices that will truly rock your world, Citizens!

Since using the leaves or seeds of Cannabis is virtually impossible in the States, I have chosen to substitute finely-ground hemp seeds instead as a very close substitute. Buy it here – and no, you won’t get high off this! You can also buy genuine Georgian marigold and blue fenugreek (Utskho Suneli) from here. I’ve left the dough measurements in metric as it is far more precise that way.

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Georgian Kubdari – კუბდარი

Ingredients

Slightly more than 1 pound (500 grams) pork
Slightly more than 1 pound (500 grams) veal
1 medium sized onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. finely-ground hemp seeds
3 tsp. Svanetian salt, made from:
2 heaped tbsp. dried coriander
1 heaped tbsp. dried dill
1 heaped tbsp. blue fenugreek
1 heaped tbsp. dried red pepper
1 heaped tbsp. marigold (can substitute turmeric, but marigold is better)
½ tbsp. dried cumin
6 ½ heaped tbsp. coarse white salt
150 grams (5.3 ounces) top-quality fresh garlic
***
dough ingredients:
900 grams of flour
400 ml warm water
1 level tbsp. yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 egg (optional) and 200 grams of all-purpose flour for dusting and kneading
Butter for glazing

Instructions

Make the Svanetian Salt:
Remove skins from the garlic and crush the cloves.
Put the garlic to one side and use a spoon to thoroughly mix all of the other ingredients.
Add the crushed garlic to the mixture.
Use your fingers to mix the crushed garlic with the other ingredients.
Ensure that all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together.
The mixed ingredients will feel a little moist and should look like the picture below. Store in a dry, cool place in a glass jar that has an airtight seal.
Serving: Use as a condiment instead of table salt. It can also be used as a flavoring when cooking a variety of meat, fish, potato and soup dishes.
Cube the beef and pork and add to a mixing bowl.
Finely chop the onion and garlic and add to the mixing bowl, together with Svanetian salt and finely-ground hemp seeds.
Use your hands to thoroughly mix and squash the ingredients. This helps to ensure that the kubdari is juicy and the spices blend with the meat.
Preparation (dough): Kubdari requires a robust pastry that uses more flour than usual dough. To make it, add 400 ml of water (heated to 35 C) to a bowl and stir in the yeast.
Add 900 grams of flour to a mixing bowl and make a depression in the flour. Add the yeast water and a raw egg (optional). If you want the pastry to have a golden color you can add 1 tsp of sugar.
The dough should be formed into a soft ball.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm place for 2 hours for the dough to rise. Once the dough has risen, add the 150 grams of flour and firmly knead the dough.
When ready, place the dough on a flour dusted preparation area.
Cut the dough into 4 pieces.
Mold the pieces into balls. Cover the dough balls with cling film and leave for 10 minutes.
Roll out each ball of dough and add the filling. Wrap the dough around the filling and pinch the top to seal it.
Carefully press the filled dough into a circular shape that is less than 20 cm (8") diameter. Don’t flatten it too much. Some cooks make a little hole in the middle before baking. This can help to prevent the dough bursting during baking but if the dough has been made correctly it should not be necessary.
Bake on a flour dusted baking tray at 200 C (about 390 Fahrenheit) until the dough becomes golden brown. The meat will cook in its own juices.
Serving: Glaze the surface of each Kubdari with butter and serve hot.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-georgian-kubdari-%e1%83%99%e1%83%a3%e1%83%91%e1%83%93%e1%83%90%e1%83%a0%e1%83%98/

The Hirshon Hungarian Wild Boar Stew – Gombás Vaddisznótokány

October 13, 2018 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Gombás Vaddisznótokány Image Used Under Creative Commons License From susaukstuaplinkpasauli.blogspot.com

Citizens, I am a tremendous fan of Hungarian cuisine, wine and song – few people have hit the trifecta as well as the Magyar! 🙂

One recipe, rich and delicious, that is near and dear to my heart is Gombás Vaddisznótokány – wild boar stew, a dish using game that has now become very common in the country. Add in the wild mushrooms found in abundance throughout Hungary’s forests, as well as paprika, demiglace and sour cream? Heaven!

As noted on naturhun.co.uk:

Wild boar hunting is the most popular hunting experience for hunters in Hungary. Hunting them from lookouts or by stalking is the most beautiful by moonlight.

The only European representative of he boar family is the wild boar, also resident in our country, which is traditionally from Europe, Asia and the northern part of Africa, but it has been settled in North- and South-America too.

The most populous knuckled beast of our woods can be found primarily in Transdanubia, in the Northern Mountain Range and in the Pilis (the famous hunting area of the former Hungarian kings), but now they can be regularly spotted at the Great Plain as well.

The habitat of the wild boar is the broad-leaved forest with widespread underwood, wet ground, swamp and marshland. You can find this game in coniferous wood, bushy terrain and sometimes at reedy lake-shore and in fields. In the daytime, the animals rest on large corn- or sunflower-fields, and they only go out to the woods at night to dig for food. After a rain it likes to stay in the fields and meadows as well, looking for worms.

Thanks to being widespread and its reproduction abilities, today the wild boar is a species, which is available in Hungary for all the hunters, both on individual or collective hunts.

Wild boar hunting is the most popular hunting experience for hunters in Hungary. Hunting them from lookouts or by stalking is the most beautiful by moonlight. The careful behaviour, good hearing and smelling ability of the wild boar and its intelligence makes hunting them a real challenge.

For smaller groups, the driven hunt is a popular hunting experience. In some areas you can also hunt fallow or red deer, mouflons and Roe deer cull, besides the wild boar. Sometimes you might hit a fox or very rarely a golden jackal, of course. This type of hunting method is done within a small area, with a few hunters participating, without using dogs.

The top of the wild boar hunting in Hungary is the well organized driven hunt in wintertime. The big drive is hold in a big terrain with a large number of professional drivers, beaters, dogmen and boarhounds.

When driven hunting for boar, you cannot shoot at other animals, your prey might only be varied by some fox and golden jackals. Wintertime driven hunts organised in the snow are an unforgettable experience, when you are listening to the barking dogs chasing the approaching wild boars, waiting still for the wild boar pack to appear, or to spot the carefully escaping hermit boar.

There are some fenced areas, where the daily bag can be between 50-200 pieces. The wild boars inside the fences are not one bit tamer than those outside the fences, because the animals are captured from the wild, and the professional hunters take special care that the wild boars do not get used to the proximity of man.

Should you be fortunate enough to have access to wild boar – you will find few dishes that match Gombás Vaddisznótokány in savor! You can of course make this with regular pork, but try and use an heirloom breed as opposed to factory-raised pork. My version is resolutely traditional.

Battle on – the Generalissimo

The Hirshon Hungarian Wild Boar Stew – Gombás Vaddisznótokány

Ingredients

4 ounces smoked bacon, diced
1 pound wild boar shoulder (preferred, or just use heirloom pork), trimmed and cut into small pieces, as you would do for stir-fry
2 tablespoons smoked sweet Hungarian paprika
1 large carrot, peeled, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
8 ounces top-quality fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles or morels, for example), diced
2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
2 cups homemade chicken stock
2 cups demiglace (4 cups of unsalted veal stock reduced by ½)
1 cup full fat sour cream, Daisy brand strongly preferred
1 tsp minced fresh mint
2 tsp. minced fresh thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Soak dried mushrooms in the chicken stock (heated to boiling first) - soak mushrooms until supple and re-hydrated. Save stock and mushrooms, if any sand is in bottom of bowl, discard it.
Cook meat: Brown bacon in a heavy bottom pot on medium heat. Add wild boar or pork, stirring often until cooked through. Add paprika, carrots, onion and garlic. Continue to stir ingredients until paprika dissolves.
Simmer: Pour in white wine and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow white wine to reduce by half.
Cook mushrooms: Add fresh and re-hydrated mushrooms and cook until soft. Incorporate the chicken stock and demiglace. Reduce the liquid by half until slightly thickened. Gently fold in sour cream, thyme, mint and season to taste.
Pairs well with potatoes, rice and pasta.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-hungarian-wild-boar-stew-gombas-vaddisznotokany/

The Hirshon Old Fashioned

October 13, 2018 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Old Fashioned Image Used Under Creative Commons License From iconiconline.org

Citizens, TFD prefers the classics in both food AND drink – and nothing is more classic than the Old Fashioned cocktail!

The Old Fashioned is a cocktail made by muddling sugar with bitters, then adding alcohol, originally whiskey but now sometimes brandy, and finally a twist of citrus rind. It is traditionally served in a short, round, tumbler-like glass, which is called an Old Fashioned glass, named after the drink.

The Old Fashioned, developed during the 19th century and given its name in the 1880s, is an IBA Official Cocktail. It is also one of six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.

The first documented definition of the word “cocktail” was in response to a reader’s letter asking to define the word in the May 6, 1806 issue of The Balance and Columbian Repository in Hudson, New York. In the May 13, 1806 issue, the paper’s editor wrote that it was a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar; it was also referred to at the time as a bittered sling.

J.E. Alexander describes the cocktail similarly in 1833, as he encountered it in New York City, as being rum, gin, or brandy, significant water, bitters, and sugar, though he includes a nutmeg garnish as well.

By the 1860s, it was common for orange curaçao, absinthe, and other liqueurs to be added to the cocktail. The original concoction, albeit in different proportions, came back into vogue, and was referred to as “old-fashioned”.

The most popular of the in-vogue “old-fashioned” cocktails were made with whiskey, according to a Chicago barman, quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1882, with rye being more popular than Bourbon. The recipe he describes is a similar combination of spirits, bitters, water and sugar of seventy-six years earlier.

The first use of the name “Old Fashioned” for a Bourbon whiskey cocktail was said to have been at the Pendennis Club, a gentlemen’s club founded in 1881 in Louisville, Kentucky. The recipe was said to have been invented by a bartender at that club in honor of Colonel James E. Pepper, a prominent bourbon distiller, who brought it to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel bar in New York City.

With its conception rooted in the city’s history, in 2015 the city of Louisville named the Old Fashioned as its official cocktail. Each year, during the first two weeks of June, Louisville celebrates “Old Fashioned Fortnight” which encompasses bourbon events, cocktail specials and National Bourbon Day which is always celebrated on June 14

From bogost.com:

The Old Fashioned is one of a few common cocktails for me, both when I’m at home and when I’m out. However, when ordering one at a bar, the likelihood of something going mildly to terribly wrong is disturbingly high.

That in mind, I present the Top 10 Ways Bartenders Screw Up My Old Fashioneds, followed by instructions for how to make one properly.

(10) Garnish

This is not a girlie drink. I do not want a garnish with an orange peel and a cherry attached. A plain swizzle stick is fine.

(9) Glassware

An Old Fashioned is served in an old fashioned glass. Why do you think they call it an old fashioned glass? Don’t get cutesy with me. The sides of the glass should be straight, unless your bar has only stupid angled glassware, in which case I’m not sure why I’m there in the first place.

(8) Bitterless

There was an Angostura bitters shortage last year, and I think a number of bartenders never stopped scrimping. 2-3 generous dashes is appropriate. If I can’t taste the bitters, you did something wrong.

(7) Default Liquor

If you are just pouring from the well instead of asking for a liquor preference, you are cheating me out of a chance to tune the drink to my mood. Unlike a vodka drink, an Old Fashioned’s taste changes considerably based on the type and brand of liquor used. Whiskey, rye, and bourbon are all appropriate choices. I tend to choose different ones at different times.

(6) Warmth

This is just bartending 101, but don’t serve me in a glass you just took out of the dishwasher. Bars ought to keep chilled glasses anyway, but if you don’t, then fill one with ice for a bit while you measure the liquor. Then dump and mix.

(5) Fruit failure

The fruit in an Old Fashioned is an integral part of the drink. If you’re just dropping in a cherry and an orange and the end, may God have mercy on your soul. The fruit should be muddled along with the sugar and bitters. And when I say muddled, I mean lightly disturbed, not mashed into a heap.

(4) Sugar packets

The glass should be prepped with Angostura bitters and simple syrup. Any bar that doesn’t have simple syrup pre-prepared and chilled is mismanaged. It’s appropriate to muddle a sugar cube as an alternative. But dumping sugar packets in the mix and hoping for the best? Unforgivable. (Yes, this has really happened to me.)

(3) Cocktail shakers

Why are you putting my Old Fashioned in a cocktail shaker? Are you crazy? This should be a felony.

(2) Pinkification

While getting a bit of juice from the maraschino cherries into the mix is inevitable, there shouldn’t be more than that. By no means should you be using cherry liquid as a shortcut, to substitute simple syrup. If my drink is pink you are my enemy.

(1) Soda water

Yes, I know this was once common practice. But it’s simply wrong. Utterly, completely wrong. If you absolutely insist, give it a splash and only a splash of soda water, and use it to dissolve the sugar cube; do NOT top off the glass with soda water, ever. But really, just don’t.

Citizens, my version of this deservedly classic drink is as follows, based closely on Dr. Bogost’s version – plus my inimitable tweaks of course! These include using an ice sphere for ultimate chill and minimal dilution, tangerine instead of orange plus a hint of cardamom bitters! Luxardo Maraschino Cherries are not optional! Feel free to abandon any or all of my changes to go with – wait for it – the old fashioned Old Fashioned. 😉

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Old Fashioned

Ingredients

A chilled old fashioned glass
Crushed ice to chill the bourbon
An ice sphere
1 shot Woodford Reserve bourbon
ICE COLD simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fee Brothers Cardamom Bitters (highly optional, use Angostura Bitters for classic version)
2 slices Satsuma Tangerines
2 Maraschino Cherries, drained - Luxardo brand ONLY

Instructions

The glass shouldn’t be frosted, it just ought not be room temperature either. If needed, fill with ice and leave sit for a bit while you cut fruit and gather materials. Fill another glass ⅔ with crushed ice.
Measure out 1 shot of Woodford Reserve bourbon.
Here’s why I measure out the liquor so early: you should take your metal shot measurer and nest it in the glass of crushed ice you set aside. This will lower the temperature of the liquor before you mix it.
With prepared, ice-cold simple syrup, just coat the bottom of the glass. Add 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters and 1 dash of Fee Brothers Cardamom bitters - this is a TFD affectation, the original recipe calls for all Angostura bitters.
An Old Fashioned normally has an orange slice and two maraschino cherries. I prefer to use Satsuma tangerines, because they are a better size for fitting in the bottom of an old fashioned glass. Due to the smaller size of the Satsuma, use two slices.
Don’t put the fruit in the glass until the liquor is cold. Don’t use vile neon red fake maraschino cherries - use the originals or go home.
Rotate the glass to coat the bottom and at least ½ the sides. This will spread out the sugar and bitters and help the drink mix itself when you add ice and bourbon. Then drop in the fruit and muddle them.
You don’t want to muddle them too much, just enough to break apart the fibrous pith. Add ½ the chilled bourbon and let sit for 5 minutes, then fish out tangerine slices and cherries. Eat them. 🙂
Add the ice sphere you set aside. Then pour the remaining bourbon over it, and give the works a turn or two with a swizzle stick or a cocktail mixer.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-old-fashioned/