Back to winter'14(a bitter smile), Lviv, Ukraine! After no luck on job-hunting@UK/western Europe, I decided to go to Plan B, going reverse'N' towards Greece through balkan countries. Speaking of Ukraine, it was my 50th country on my world tour......Start off 2010, took me 5 years.... YES!!!
Due to my budget, no stage set up(I did sent my CV, but no response) & time concern to get to Turkey before Christmas time, I went through fairly quick from Ukraine to Greece. But I did quick peep n' bite Ukraine cuisine in 4 days.
Lviv/Ukraine culinary web links:
Munch N' Inspiration:
Banosh: This maize grits polenta is usually made with sour cream just like cream fraiche for polenta / mascarpone for risotto. And it's typically garnished with bryndza(sheep milk cheese), pork cracking(one of the best fixin!) & fried mushroom. I'm not a big fan of polenta, but I really enjoyed Banosh.
The key of banosh is sour cream working as great supporting (f)actor. Avocado/chorizo, stroganoff/rice... adding sour cream make difference. 'Simple delicious dip' would be sour cream+mayonnaise and roasted vegetable, could be pepper/beet/eggplant.... I realize I use yogurt quite often, but maybe time to play around with sour cream & banosh!
Salo: Cured fatback, simple yet... delicious! It's hard to avoid ordering when I see on the menu. Simple culinary rule: More fat, more better! Bone marrow, chicken but, pork/lamb/salmon belly..... these are the items love to order for me. Many chefs go 'lighter' and less butter on the sauce, but I love throwing some butter, especially winter time.
Speak of 'fat', there's 'grease' which makes everything dogshit! Talking how to make soigne jus, hundreds of chefs say different things. In MY theory.... out of many, 3 important factors makes difference. Caramelization, deglazing & the hardest of all.... -controlling fat-. It's a bit tricky... skimming all the grease which come up at the beginning and keep off right amount of fat... -the flavor essence-. Simple to say, hard to explain.... The world of making jus is surly deep.
Anyway salo is usually served just as sliced over crostini / bread. It can be perfect canape/perfect one bites. Flavor companion could be wide, pickle, compote, salsa.... and also seafood. I like adding meat fat over seafood, especially shellfish because they are low in cholesterol. Would be great to keep salo handy in the kitchen.
Long way to Greece, CJWDT'14 'Balkan bomber bound' European tour.... Romania next!
*Due to PC crash/data lost back in January, all the pics/images are borrowed from multiple websites.