My Edible Waltz- 2/20/09

I love to travel. I hope that one day I will visit every place in the world but for now, I'll settle for simply pretending. Tonight I used food to take myself to Hungary. This month's Gourmet had a menu of Hungarian inspired recipes and I made all 7. I started this morning by making the Borscht Horseradish Terrine on page 74, the Paprika Veal Shanks on page 78, and the Apricot Almond Linzertorte on page 77. These 3 recipes needed some advance prep and as I knew I'd be out for some of the afternoon, I wanted to get these 3 finished ahead of time.


The Borscht Horseradish Terrine was about as labor intensive as any recipe I have ever made. It wasn't cooking or stirring but the number of bowls and the in and out of chilling the terrine. I really thought the one in the magazine looked so pretty with the contrasting layers of gelatin. One look at my picture shows that I was not so successful. I gave the gelatin more than enough time to set. I had finished making it by 10:00 and we didn't eat until 5:00, much longer than the 4 hours recommended. I really can't tell you what happened there. The flavor, however, I can explain. All three of us, Richard, Ben (my brother who is visiting), and I could barely stand to eat a bite. I think it's more a cultural difference than an actual aversion to the flavor of the terrine. Things made of gelatin in my experience are sweet (ie, Jello). I just can't seem to synthesize savory with the texture of gelatin. I think the bright red Borscht made it even harder. I could almost feel my mouth rebel as soon as I at it, screaming this isn't right. Now if I had grown up with savory gelatins as a common part of my diet, I may have been able to enjoy the flavor for what it was, Borscht, beef broth, ham, and sour cream, all things I can eat easily in other settings.
The Paprika Veal Shanks were easy to make with a few quick chops and a long braise. I unfortunately braised too long and though the meat still tasted excellent, it was not very visually appealing as it fell apart. Veal shanks are an expensive cut and I would have liked to have that wow factor at about $11 a shank. Oh, well.
The Apricot Almond Linzertorte is a classic European dessert. The crust drew heavily on the almonds for flavor and was only lightly sweetened. I did not grind my almonds finely enough, perhaps I should have used my coffee grinder. That made my crust very textured and made it hard to use for lattice. It made a thicker crust than I wanted but it still worked and Ben had two pieces. The apricot puree was delicious and added a wonderful tart sweet center.

When I got back home in the afternoon, after Gymboree and a play date, I began the other 4 recipes. The Mushroom Strudel on page 74 smelled wonderful as the mushroom filling cooked. The addition of the porcini mushrooms added a very rich earthy flavor that white mushrooms lack. My only frustration was that only 2 layers of phyllo did not give the pretty exterior like the picture on page 75. The brown of the mushroom filling showed through and though it did not affect the taste, it was not as attractive. Eyrleigh wouldn't even try one and I think it was just that the black color of the filling was off-putting.
The Tiny Dumplings with Dill on page 78 were yummy, buttery little spaetzle dumplings but I do not have a spaetzle maker. About 20 or 30 little dumplings came out of the colander nicely and then the hot steam rising from the pot started causing the dough to stick to the colander. I then got huge glops of dough. I tried my potato ricer and found that the holes were too close together and again produced huge glops of dough. Eyrleigh ended up getting most of the good little dumplings while the adults ate the rather large unruly lumps of dough.

The Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Caraway Seeds and the Endive with Walnut Vinaigrette, both on page 79, were easy and good. I'm still not sold on brussel sprouts, they are a bit bitter to me, but the roasting made them soft and cut some of the bitterness. The endive was excellent. I have not used endives much and I used very small endives for this recipe so they were not bitter at all. The dressing was basic Dijon dressing but still very good.
The final question is did this meal transport us to Hungary in our minds. When I made international meals as a child, I often played music from that country while we ate, tried to dress in something resembling the traditional dress of that country, and made place settings with important facts about the country or culture that the food was from. I didn't do that tonight because Eyrleigh is not very patient with my research and prepartions. I was doing well to get the meal on the table and yes, there were a few meltdowns along the way, most for not picking her up. I am very excited for the day that she can enjoy the music, the clothes, and the facts as well as the food. I hope she gets just as excited about cooking and traveling as I do.