Surf the net and find a dish with an interesting history from any country. It might also include a tradition which people still keep in this country. Make sure you have chosen the dish which you'll be able to cook later. Adapt the story of your dish: shorten and simplify the language so that your classmates will understand it. Share the story on the blog in 10-15 sentences.
Risotto
ReplyDeleteThe present-day risotto preparation is the result of a long evolution: at first rice was prepared with milk, almonds, sugar and spices. Then people started cooking it in broth and rice soups were born. In the 18th century, broth was added a little at a time and the dish was a kind of soft, dry soup.
The risotto recipe was finally born in 1829, when chef Felice Luraschi described it in detail. His recipe included 3 basic steps: roasting the rice with butter and onion, then cooking adding the broth little by little, and the final mixing to serve it soft.
The main feature of the Milanese risotto is its yellow color because of saffron. In medieval cuisine chefs wanted to impress the guests, and the yellow color reminded of the gold and was a symbol of nobility.
During the 14th century cookbooks offered a great variety of dishes based on rice.
The term ‘risotto’ wasn’t used until the 18th century when Milanese rice, as it is known today, took shape. The term was first found in a household book by Antonio Albertazzi, a lawyer living in northern Italy.
ReplyDeleteMuffins
Muffins came to us from England. First muffins made from oats, wheat or corn, were not so sweet, and especially their composition was not so varied as it is now. As a stuffing used apples, raisins or nuts. The story goes that muffins was food for workers at home. From scraps of dough servants in the kitchen cook their own meals. Learning of this, and then try the delicious product, the owners told them to serve their favorite breakfast muffins. Early in the morning and in the afternoon Muffin men’s trade them. They attracted the attention of the Bell Tolls, praising their fresh muffins. Muffins have become so popular in all parts of society that served them tea in private homes and clubs, roasted over an open fire or in the pans. And about the sellers «Muffin men» piled poems and nursery rhymes. At the beginning of XIX century there were special industrial enterprises, where baked muffins.
Great stories, Lada and Dasha! Some facts are really fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThe first mention about ice cream was about 356-323 BC: historian says that Alexander the Great loved to eat snow flavored with nectar and honey. The idea of using a mixture of ice and salt appeared in Asia.Middle East ice cream was made of frozen juices with rosewater, diced fruits and nuts, this ice cream was made without milk from real ice.
ReplyDeleteIn late 13th century Marko Polo brought ice cream recipe from China to Italy. Thomas Jefferson brought vanilla ice cream to the United States. In 1780s, Thomas Jefferson wrote his own recipe for vanilla ice cream. Till now vanilla flavor is the most popular one. In 17 century English king Charles I was impressed by the "frozen snow" and offered his cook a lifetime salary if he would keep the formula secret. He said ice cream is a royal dish.
By the early eighteenth century, recipes for ice cream had appeared in France. The French added eggs in the recipe of ice cream. One of the first ice-cream recipes was published in french cookbook L'Art de Faire des Glaces in 18 century. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the recipe, has brought "French-style" ice cream, to America. He also made an ice-cream-making machine "sorbetiere". In 19 century the French started to use vanilla in recipes of ice cream.
First time ice cream appeared in shops in 1851 in Boston, United States. In 20 century ice cream was used as summer-time cure.
Wow! I like the terms 'frozen snow' and 'summer-time cure'.
DeleteCrème brûlée is considered to be a French dessert. It can be translated from French like roasted cream. It is cooked from custard with caramel crust. But there are several versions of its creation.
ReplyDeleteThe first one.
This dessert was prepared by the British in the St.Trinity College of Cambridge University in the XVII century. It was called by the name of the institution – the Trinity Cream. It’s very interesting that up to the XVIII century the French called this dessert «English cream». And only later the name was changed to the familiar crème brulee.
The second version.
In France people are convinced that crème brulee is invented by Francois Messyalo. At that time he was in charge of the Duke of Orleans cuisine. And the royal chef mentioned this dessert in his book in 1691. It is very strange but the recipe is the same as the Catalan cream. So the Spanish say that Messyalo brought this dessert from the trip to Catalonia where he probably tried it.
The third version is the Spanish legend.
In the XVI century the nuns of the Catalan monastery prepared vanilla dessert with sugar crust to treat the Catalan bishop. The dessert was very hot, straight from the fire. And the bishop burned himself. He exclaimed: «Crema!» . In the Catalan language it meant «burnt». So the name stuck to the dessert which later became known as the Catalan cream. Nowadays in Spain it is traditionally served on the day of St. Joseph.
(⌒ω⌒)
Very impressive!
DeleteChocolate brownie
ReplyDeleteThere is no clear record of how brownies were first made. They were first made in the late 1880s. The first known recipe for brownies was in the 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. The most popular story about the origin of the brownie is about a housewife in Bangor, Maine. It says that the house wife forgot to add baking powder to a chocolate cake she was making. The cake did not rise but it was still delicious.(A prominent Chicago socialite, Bertha Palmer, whose husband owned the Palmer House Hotel there, asked a pastry chef for a dessert suitable for ladies attending the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. She requested a confection smaller than a piece of cake, though still retaining cake-like characteristics, easily eaten from boxed lunches. The first brownies featured an apricot glaze and walnuts, and are still made at the modern hotel according to the original recipe.
Mixing melted butter with chocolate to make a chocolate brownie
The first known printed use of the word "brownie" to describe a dessert appeared in the 1896 version of the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer, in reference to molasses cakes baked individually in tin molds.The earliest known published recipes for a modern style chocolate brownie appeared in the Home Cookery (1904, Laconia, NH), Service Club Cook Book (1904, Chicago, IL), The Boston Globe (April 2, 1905 p. 34), and the 1906 edition of Farmer cookbook. These recipes produced a relatively mild and cake-like brownie.
By 1907 the "brownie" was well established in a recognizable form, appearing in Lowney’s Cook Book by Maria Willet Howard (pub. Walter M. Lowney Company, Boston) as an adaptation of the Boston Cooking School recipe for a "Bangor Brownie". It added an extra egg and an additional square of chocolate, creating a richer, fudgier dessert. The Bangor Brownie, which appears to have got its name from the home town of its creator, Bangor, Maine, went on to be rated third in the top ten snacks a few years later.)
I have been to Boston but I haven't tried chocolate brownies. I hope you will cook them and treat us :)
DeleteSushi
ReplyDeleteThe history of sushi takes its origin in South Asia,where boiled rice began to be used for the cooking and conservation of fish. Peeled and sliced into pieces fish is mixed with salt and rice and then placed under the stone press. So the fish does not spoil during the year.
In the 7 century through Thailand and China this method spread in Japan.The tradition of eating fish is still popular in the countries of South Asia,though the tradition was lost in China. In the 19 century the chef from Tokyo Yohei Khan refused from pickled fish in the cooking process so that the time of cooking was reduced to a few minutes. There appeared the two styles of coocking sushi -the first one is Kansai ,the second one - Edo.
What is the difference between Kansai and Edo?
DeleteHVOROST
ReplyDeleteMany people think that hvorost is a Kazakh national dish, but it isn't true. In fact hvorost is the Greek dish but it became famous in Russia and Belarus. In the 19 century it was a dish for villagers and in the 20 century it was one of the most favorite desserts in cities. Often it was cooked by not rich people, the commoners (мещане), Office workers, students. It was cheap food that could be cooked for many people paying less money. Also hvorost was popular as delicious dish for fast (пост). In Ukraine it has the name “Verguns” and Russian people called it hvorost because of cookies are thin and crunchy. In the 20 century people stopped cooking hvorost because they could buy all at the shop but many families have their unusual recipe of this fascinating dish.
This dish was very popular in my childhood.
DeleteSoup - Zurek
ReplyDeleteEach dish has its own legend. The appearance of soup Zurek refer to the legend of miserly owner inns, which often deceive their visitors. Disgruntled residents tentatively agreed with the man who walked into a diner with a large bag, scored the eyeballs money. He called the owner and told him that he was ready to eat the most disgusting concoction that he will be offered, and if after drinking soup stomach problems he will not, he will buy the recipe for this soup. If the dish is badly affected his health, the owner of the diner get a bag with all the money.
Greedy owner decided to make the most disgusting pudding in the world, using all the remains of the kitchen: sourdough bread, spoiled vegetables, mushrooms old and bad piece of bacon. All filled with boiling water. To conceal the taste and foul smell, added a lot of garlic sauce, and pleased with his work, gave it a guest. The visitor tried it and was surprised dish was quite edible. Since he won the bet, bought the recipe and was in the money. A menu inns, a new dish - soup Zurek.
I have heard of this famous Polish dish. Its story is quite unusual.
Delete