Category Archives: World
France meets Maghreb – or is it Turkey?
by Ullrich
I owe this recipe to an excellent Turkish restaurant that I used to visit when I was living in Berlin many years ago. The place, called “Merhaba” (meaning something like “Hi, there!”), makes the Mediterranean cuisine shine. What I always found very intriguing was how the chefs there were elegantly adding acidity to their dishes by using (cold) yoghurt. Acidity, in fact, is one key element of tasteful cooking. Without any, your dishes will have a tendency to come across […]
Categories: chefs, Dinner, good food, hero butchers, signature dish, skills, World • Tags: Bouffe, Cuisinier, Essen, Food, Foodie, Kochen, Manger, Recipe, Rezepte
What is THE French signature dish?
by Ullrich
Think Germany and sauerkraut, Korea and kimchi, Japan and sushi, America and hamburgers. Think Spain and paella, Italy and pasta, Russia and borschtsch. But what is THE French signature dish?
Categories: Dinner, France, good food, signature dish, World • Tags: Food, France, recipes, World Food
Surprise! I’m off to South Korea!
by Ullrich
Yes, this is a blog about French food but read the subtitle carefully – I leave the city every now and then and this time it is South Korea. Last week, I’ve spent a working week over there, and foodwise, the best experience was a restaurant in Suwon close to Seoul named “Yeon Po Galbi” which means, if my interpreter wasn’t wrong: “Next to the pond ribs”. I don’t know what that could possibly mean but the food was pond-rib-excellent. Prime meat […]
Categories: Dinner, good food, hero butchers, signature dish, World • Tags: Beef, Cooking, Food, South Korea, World Food
France meets Japan: Delicious Fast Food
by Ullrich
A Japanese housewife named Harumi Kurihara has changed my life a few years ago. I bought her book Everyday Harumi just out of curiosity but it turned into one of my cooking bibles (and I fully agree with this excellent blog entry published by The Huffington Post in 2010 already). The subtitle of Harumi’s book reads: “Simple Japanese Food for Family & Friends” and that is true: it is a simple – yet highly refined – cuisine that makes everybody happy, family […]
Categories: chefs, Dinner, good food, signature dish, World • Tags: Cooking, Food, Harumi
Weird water chestnuts…
by Ullrich
…and yet not that weird when you chop them in tiny cubes, mix them with ground pork, ginger, spring onions, soy sauce, sesame oil and some tapioca starch – and fabricate your own filling for delicious dim sums. Still, I’ve always wondered how to use them in the kitchen and now I’ve even found fresh ones at a Chinese grocery store in the Marais. When I check the web, I find apéro chestnuts wrapped and oven-baked in a slice of bacon, […]
Categories: Whatever Works, World • Tags: Cooking Skills, Food, recipes
Fig chutney…
by Ullrich
…is easy-to-do and goes with all kinds of cold cuts and morsels. Serve it with a (home-made) foie gras, with some ham, some chicken breast or a thinly sliced pork roast; it makes a great companion for hard mountain cheeses like the beautiful Ossau-Iraty from the French Basque region or for soft blue cheeses like Roquefort or Italian Gorgonzola or the very British Stilton. In fact, play around with it – who knows which combinations you will come up with. […]
Categories: Apéro, good food, signature dish, Snack, Whatever Works, World • Tags: Cooking Skills, Food, recipes
The “white tuna” of Kabul…
by Ullrich
I know this might be a bit confusing but my work life as a world affairs reporter for SPIEGEL magazine makes me drive on the fast lane from time to time. Yes, I’ve been to Oslo two days ago, and after that in Brussels, yet since this morning I’m back to Kabul, flying in via Frankfurt overnight. It’s my fourth time in this country named Afghanistan and I will try to find out whether the situation here has further deteriorated, […]
Categories: Lunch, poetry, seafood, signature dish, Whatever Works, World • Tags: Fish, Food, Kabul
“Trancher Entrecôte”…in Oslo?
by Ullrich
Yes, and ten times: yes! This is an experience, a real one, and I bow to Marcus Jacobsen who is the head chef up there at Thorvald Meyers gate 78 in Oslo, close to the quite dodgy city centre of the Norwegian capital. If you call yourself a foodie, well then, book a flight to Norway just to eat there: it’s worth it, it’s special, it’s good. There’s not much choice though once you’re there. The menu consists of one […]
Categories: chefs, Dinner, good food, hero butchers, World • Tags: Food, Norway, Politics
Picturesque Oslo…
by Ullrich
…is offering weird views when you’re high up on one of the hotel towers surrounding the Norwegian capital. I had dinner tonight (or let’s say: a cocktail dinatoire!) on the 34th floor of the Radisson Blu Plaza where an international conference about world finance and job creation unfolds. You think I’m kidding, don’t you? But it’s true! The finance minister of Norway gave a welcome speech, a lot of policy celebrities were wandering around, then the buffet was open – […]
Categories: Dinner, Snack, Whatever Works, World • Tags: Finger Food, Food, Norway