The Hirshon Ethiopian Beef Tartare – ክትፎ

November 23, 2018 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Modernist Kitfo Image Used Under Creative Commons License From wikimedia.org

Citizens, there are three beef dishes that TFD – the veritable Caliph of Carnivores! – loves uncooked – Koi Soi from Thailand, Steak Tartare from France and Kitfo from Ethiopia! TFD has long been a strong proponent of Ethiopian cuisine, and I am delighted to be able to share this recipe with you today! 🙂

Kitfo – while similar to steak tartare at first look – is actually quite different in both seasonings and preparation.

Kitfo, sometimes spelled ketfo, is a traditional dish found in Ethiopian cuisine. Kitfo consists of minced raw beef, marinated in mitmita (a chili powder-based spice blend) and niter kibbeh (a clarified butter infused with herbs and spices). The word comes from the Ethio-Semitic root k-t-f, meaning “to chop finely; mince.”

Kitfo cooked lightly rare is known as kitfo leb leb. Kitfo is often served alongside—sometimes mixed with—a mild cheese called ayibe or cooked greens known as gomen. In many parts of Ethiopia, kitfo is served with injera, a flatbread made from teff. Though not considered a delicacy, kitfo is generally held in high regard.

It is served on special occasions such as holidays; it is commonly used on the “Finding of the True Cross” or “Meskel” holiday celebrated annually on September 27 in Ethiopia.

There are several unique ingredients in this recipe, specific to Ethiopian cuisine. The first is mitmita, (ሚጥሚጣ in Amharic), a powdered seasoning mix used in Ethiopia. It is orange-red in color and contains ground African bird’s eye chili peppers, cardamom seed, cloves, and salt. It occasionally has other spices including cinnamon, cumin, and ginger.

The mixture is used to season the raw beef dish kitfo and may also be sprinkled on ful medames (fava beans). In addition, mitmita may be presented as a condiment and sprinkled on other delicacies or spooned onto a piece of injera, so that morsels may be lightly dipped into it.

There is an excellent discussion of mitmita on this scholarly page.

Niter kibbeh is basically spiced ghee or clarified butter that uses several unique spices to Ethiopian cuisine. My recipe for it is here. Since Ethiopian goat cheese is unavailable in the states, I recommend a good, finely crumbled sheep’s milk feta instead. My recipe – if you’re bold! – for making injera is here.

You can get all of these spices as well as pre-made injera, niter kibbeh and mitmita at Brundo, my favorite Ethiopian market. They ship nationwide and were kind enough to send me a number of different spices as a thank you for my strong patronage! TFD salutes the entire team there and makes them all Citizens First-Class!

If you love steak tartare, you will absolutely adore this exotic variant, my Citizens!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Ethiopian Beef Tartare – ክትፎ

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds beef tenderloin, finely minced
½ cup spiced butter - Niter Kibbeh
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped Serrano chile
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
***
1 tablespoon mitmita (Ethiopian spice powder) made from:
12 pequin chilies
4 tsp cumin seeds
9 cardamom pods, peeled and seeds reserved
2 tsp black peppercorns
2 allspice berries
2 cloves
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. ginger powder
Sea salt
***
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh lemon juice
Injera (Ethiopian flatbread), for serving - get these at your local Ethiopian restaurant or make them according to TFD’s recipe
Ayib (Ethiopian cheese), for serving - if unavailable, and it probably is, used finely-crumbled sheep’s milk feta instead

Instructions

Make the mitmita:
Tip the pequin chilies into a dry frying pan. Toast for a few minutes until they’re lightly browned. Add to a spice grinder.
Tip the cumin seeds into the frying pan and toast for few minutes until they’re popping. Add to the chilies. Crush the cardamom pods and shake the black seeds into a spice grinder. Add the peppercorns, cloves and allspice and grind to a fine powder.
Stir in the cinnamon, garlic powder and ginger powder. Add a pinch of sea salt and stir to mix. Store in an airtight jar.
Place the meat in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Melt the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until it darkens.Strain into a bowl and refrigerate until thick and cooled, and then return to the skillet to melt.
Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the chiles, ginger and garlic and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until soft and aromatic, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the mitmita until well combined and cook, stirring, 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat, add beef and season with salt, black pepper and lemon juice and serve on a plate of injera with ayib on the side.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-ethiopian-beef-tartare-%e1%8a%ad%e1%89%b5%e1%8d%8e/

The Icelandic Hot Dog – Pylsur

October 6, 2018 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Pylsur Image Used Under Creative Commons License From deskgram.net

Citizens, those of you who have been with me since the beginning know that I am a frequent traveler to the Nordic regions, and in fact enjoyed my honeymoon in Iceland nearly 9 years ago! It was there that I – the always vigilant TFD! – tasted the world’s best hot dog for the first time! 🙂

Doubt me? Read on!

As noted on icelandairhotels.com:

What’s in them?

What sets Icelandic hot dogs apart is that they are made mostly from Icelandic lamb, along with pork and beef. And, this isn’t just any lamb, pork or beef. This is organic, free range, grass fed, hormone free – pick your positive metaphor – Icelandic lamb, pork and beef.

The sheep in Iceland literally roam the countryside until the fall eating berries and leaves. Pigs and cows in Iceland live on small loving farms in one of the cleanest, most pristine environments on Earth. And, the hot dogs are made with natural casings so they have the ‘pop’ when you bit into them!

What are the condiments?

Order an Icelandic hot dog as most Icelanders do and yours will be served on a warm, steamed bun topped with raw white onions and crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep, and remoulade, a sauce made with mayo, capers, mustard, and herbs. Maybe you are saying to yourself, “Ew, raw onions. I don’t like raw onions!” Like sushi, or other famous dishes that are literally the sum of their parts, you owe it to yourself to try an Icelandic hot dog with everything first, you will most likely change your tune – we have seen it many times!

How to Order

Assuming we have you convinced you to try one with everything, all you need say when you make it to the counter is “ein með öllu” (roughly pronounced: ane meth alt) will indeed get you one with everything, and may even a wry smile for attempting to speak Icelandic. Not ready to do that? No matter, Icelanders all speak English.

The most famous hot dog stand in Iceland

In downtown Reykjavik, not far from the newly built Harpa Concert and Conference Center is the unassuming Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand (which translates to “best hot dogs in town”). It has been open since 1937 and it’s likely that the vast majority of Iceland’s population has eaten a hot dog from here. It’s even had its fair share of famous visitors including Bill Clinton and Metallica – probably many, many other famous people in secret!

What are they called in Iceland?

In Icelandic a hot dog is called Pylsa or Pulsa (with conjugations). There is actually (not joking) an active controversy amongst Icelanders whether Icelandic hot dogs should be called Pylsa or Pulsa. It is a bit of a silly argument, and both sides think that the other is saying it wrong. It is likely that Pulsa is influenced by the Danish language. The word for sausage in Danish is Polser. The Norse influence (Swedish, Faroese, Norwegian) changes the O in Polser to a Y – Pylsa.

Where to buy them?

The short answer is, everywhere! There are hot dog stands in almost every city, town or village, If there’s no village, you can buy them at every gas station or convenience store. You can even buy them at the airport. All of which is further proof that the Icelandic hot dog may be Iceland’s national dish.

Bring some home and how to cook them

If you develop a Pylsa addiction, like many, you can buy them in the duty free shop on your way home as well as all the other ingredients. Then all you need to know is how to cook them correctly, here too we’ve found differing opinions. The main thing you don’t want to do is overcook them – the trick is NOT to boil them.

Some say to put a little malt beer in the water – that part we will leave to you. Then heat the buns a little before you put in the toppings (the microwave works well for this, but just don’t leave them in too long!) and you will be able to enjoy them at home…until they are all gone, which won’t take long. Then you’ll have one more reason to return to Iceland.

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur is a small chain of hot dog stands located in Reykjavík, Iceland.

The chain has been in continuous operation since 1937 when the first stand was set up on Austurstræti street at the very center of the city by the grandfather of the current owner, Guðrún Kristmundsdóttir. In the 1960s, it moved two streets north to Tryggvagata, across from the Harpa Concert Hall, where the current flagship stand remains today.

In August 2004, the stand was visited by former United States president Bill Clinton while he was visiting Iceland for a UNICEF conference.

This celebrity appearance led to a boost in popularity for the stand as it began appearing in tourism guidebooks on Iceland. Two years later in August 2006, the British newspaper The Guardian selected Bæjarins Beztu as the best hot dog stand in Europe.

Today, the chain is popular with both tourists and locals. There are three additional locations in the city, which together sell over one thousand hot dogs on a busy day.

A number of celebrity patrons have visited in recent years. Former US president Bill Clinton, Metallica frontman James Hetfield, actor Charlie Sheen and The Food Dictator are among the famous people who have ordered from the stand.

The main stand also appeared in the first season of Anthony Bourdain’s travel program No Reservations.

Citizens, there is no way I can improve on this recipe – you can buy the Icelandic hot dogs, crispy onions, remoulade and mustard at the apropos links. Shipping is expensive at $30 flat, but trust me – you will never try a better tube steak in your life! Just order lots of Icelandic treats to justify the shipping. 😉

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Icelandic Hot Dog – Pylsur

Ingredients

6 long white, fluffy hot dog buns
6 pylsur sausages
4 tablespoons Icelandic hot dog mustard
4 tablespoons ketchup
4 tablespoons Icelandic remoulade - recipe below if you aren't buying it remade
6 tablespoons crispy deep-fried onion slivers
6 tablespoons diced shallots
1 ½ cups water mixed with 1 ½ cups of beer (Icelandic Viking or Gull are classic Icelandic beers, but any lager will do)
***
Remoulade:
¾ cup neutral tasting oil
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons chopped gherkin
2 teaspoons chopped capers
1 tablespoon chopped chervil

Instructions

Braise the pylsur in the beer water just until they are hot.
Split the buns down the middle and lightly toast them, although steaming is the traditional way that TFD prefers.
Add one sausage and the raw onions to each bun.
Add a stripe of mustard, remoulade and ketchup down each sausage.
Top with the crispy fried onions. Enjoy the world’s best hot dog!!!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-icelandic-hot-dog-pylsur/

The Hirshon Oklahoma Onion Burger

October 2, 2018 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Oklahoma Onion Burger Image Used Under Creative Commons License From roadfood.com

My Citizens, a dear friend of mine who grew up in Oklahoma requested this Sooner State original recipe – Sonny, this one is for you, my man! 😀

In case you ever wondered where that name “Sooner” came from:

In 1889, people poured into central Oklahoma to stake their claims to nearly 2 million acres opened for settlement by the U.S. government. Those who entered the region before the land run’s designated starting time, at noon on April 22, 1889, were dubbed “sooners.”

Now, as to the origins of this particular and delicious burger:

As noted on cowboysindians.com:

Taste of the West: The Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger
BY JOSÉ R. RALAT
SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

Once called a Depression burger, the fried onion burger is a pungent bite of the history and cultural makeup that define Oklahoma and the West.

The air inside Sid’s Diner tingles sweet and pungent. The source? The restaurant’s famed fried onion burgers cooked on the salt pork-seasoned grill, an Oklahoma specialty whose epicenter is a network of two Sooner State towns: Ardmore (along Interstate 35) and El Reno (along Route 66). According to one legend, it was in 1926 at the latter burg’s now-shuttered Hamburger Inn that ribbons of caramelized onions were first smashed into a griddling beef patty.

At the time they were called Depression burgers, says Adam Hall, who along with his wife, mother, and father, Marty, works at and runs the family restaurant. Established in 1967 and named in honor of Marty Hall’s father, Sid, the restaurant has been in its current location for 30 years.

“During the Depression, hamburger meat was really expensive,” Hall says, “and they had to find a way to ration the meat.” The inclusion of onions stretched out the amount of protein available for serving in those lean years. “[The fried onion burger recipe] has since been passed down generation to generation, and we still have the burgers today.”

Of course there’s more than one creation story — such is the way of food. Another tale claims the onion burger was first served in the pre-boom postwar years. Whichever is true, one thing is certain: It’s not first-date material; the patty of beef and allium is an all-in order. The dish carries the weight of struggle and sacrifice of a people who came out of the 20th century triumphant and proud. The onion burger is a bite of the history and cultural makeup that define Oklahoma and the West.

The key to this simple burger is three-fold – the holy trinity of meat, the onions and the bun. For the meat, don’t use anything but 70/30 (lean to fat ratio) – I dare to use my own special blend of round (or chuck) for the lean and – wait for it – BACON trimmings!!! – for the fat. Your butcher can easily grind this for you – it is the ULTIMATE burger meat!!!

For the onions – they MUST be sliced paper-thin. Use a mandoline or this much cheaper but still awesome Japanese benriner for the task – nothing else will do!

The buns – I insist on Oroweat Country Potato Buns. Toasted as the original calls for or untoasted as I prefer – your call.

I add in my secret ingredient – a seasoning blend from one state south (Bolner’s Fiesta Extra Fancy Uncle Chris Steak Seasoning from Texas) that goes way past salt and pepper to make these beauties really sing! The dill pickles (and there MUST be dill pickles slices!) are from my fave brand and don’t even think of using ketchup – only French’s yellow mustard! You could – if you like – add a slice of Velveeta cheese to these, but this is a rare time when I prefer my burger sans fromage.

Try them just once and I guarantee you’ll be hooked – Sooners, I think you’ll approve of my version most stridently. 🙂

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Oklahoma Onion Burger

Ingredients

1 pound top-quality ground beef - TFD prefers a 70-30 blend of round (or chuck) and bacon trimmings - your butcher can and should make this for you!!!
3 white onions - sliced paper thin
6 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying, in total
Salt and pepper to taste
Dill pickle slices - TFD prefers Bubbie’s brand
French's yellow mustard to taste
Bolner's Fiesta Extra Fancy Uncle Chris Steak Seasoning to taste
3 fresh hamburger buns - TFD prefers Oroweat country potato buns

Instructions

Heat your grill or cast-iron frying pan over medium high heat.
When hot, grab ⅓ pound of ground beef and form into a ball. Season with steak seasoning.
Oil your pan with 2 tbsp. oil and place the meatball on top.
Smash this down into a nice round patty - you want it THIN.
Season generously with steak seasoning blend and fry for about four minutes. Don't mess with it.
Top with a nice big mound of sliced onion - ⅓ of the total, press it in.
While the burger is cooking, toast your buns (It’s not traditional, but TFD prefers untoasted buns for this).
Flip the burger over and fry on the onion side until the meat is cooked to your liking. I prefer mine to be nice and pink inside. Only serve rare if you have purchased good quality mince from a butcher - and you should have!
Repeat two more times with remaining meat, oil and onions.
Place the bottom bun on a clean surface and top with the patty so that the onion is facing upward.
Squirt with mustard and top with pickles and the top bun. Repeat with remaining burgers and enjoy!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-oklahoma-onion-burger/