Soup! [General]
2007 Dec 12
I had Polish Zurek, a creamy sour soup made from fermented rye grains filled with smoked sasauge bits at the Polka Delicatessen (1574 Walkley Road
Ottawa, ON, Canada (613) 260-2546). This was about 6 years ago, so I woill not post this as a review in the Buzz section.
It took then a week to ferment the grains before making this sour soup. MMMMmmmm Goood !!! I had it with a sandwich. I don't remember the sandwich.
But that soup.... can't forget it.
Can anyone tell me if they still do this soup there ? I'll drive there at lunch someday just to revisit it.
2007 Dec 13
This is right up your alley , Zy.
For those who may not know, a zymurgist is someone who studies or is into zymurgy. : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zymurgy
The grains used here are not malted first. ... but I speculate there is some malting going on at the same time as the fermentation, because of the warm water content in the soak. Also, there are starchs being converted to fermentable sugars which allows the wild yeast to 'have a good time'.
Yeesh ... getting to techie here.... even for me.
Anyhoo... I think of sourdough breads and lambic (wild yeast) beers when I have this soup. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic
Zy... you may have to be careful here ... what may start as Zurek soup may turn into something you may want to bottle or keg. ;-)
For those who may not know, a zymurgist is someone who studies or is into zymurgy. : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zymurgy
The grains used here are not malted first. ... but I speculate there is some malting going on at the same time as the fermentation, because of the warm water content in the soak. Also, there are starchs being converted to fermentable sugars which allows the wild yeast to 'have a good time'.
Yeesh ... getting to techie here.... even for me.
Anyhoo... I think of sourdough breads and lambic (wild yeast) beers when I have this soup. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambic
Zy... you may have to be careful here ... what may start as Zurek soup may turn into something you may want to bottle or keg. ;-)
2007 Dec 13
Zurek Soup recipe here:
www.recipezaar.com/14161
includes Kwas.... huh? what's that ?? me says ... and lo and behold we reference the almighty Wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwas
www.recipezaar.com/14161
includes Kwas.... huh? what's that ?? me says ... and lo and behold we reference the almighty Wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwas
2007 Dec 13
Whenever I cook black beans, I use the crock pot method given by eGullet's Rancho Gordo (a grower of heirloom beans), and follow his tip to cook the beans with a lot of extra liquid (in his words...free soup!). When they are done I remove the amount of beans that I want for tacos, pupusas or whatever and enough of the liquid to keep them nice and wet. The rest gets made into soup. Since the beans are already seasoned, the transformation into soup involves little more than some corn kernels, a small can of V-8 or chopped plum tomatoes with juice and whatever other embellishments I like. You could use chicken stock but I have a kid that doesn't eat meat but loves black beans.
Chimichimi...the last time I ate tamales at Cabana, the texture reminded me so much of dumplings that I'm thinking of making a black bean soup with "tamale" dumplings this weekend. If you would be kind enough to post your tamale recipe I might be able to adapt it into dumpling form.
Oh, and for recipes for soup (and other things) involving beans, check out
ranchogordo.com
Chimichimi...the last time I ate tamales at Cabana, the texture reminded me so much of dumplings that I'm thinking of making a black bean soup with "tamale" dumplings this weekend. If you would be kind enough to post your tamale recipe I might be able to adapt it into dumpling form.
Oh, and for recipes for soup (and other things) involving beans, check out
ranchogordo.com
2007 Dec 16
The soup guy in world exchange! There is a soup guy at the Muffins Plus vendor upstairs. He is a soup chef and had about 10 different soups everyday and they are absolutely delicious. I particularly like his roasted red pepper and pear and turkey with cranberry.
His name is Claudio Fracassi and he is also on Living in Ottawa every week: www.cbc.ca/livinginottawa/
Seriously...such good soup!
His name is Claudio Fracassi and he is also on Living in Ottawa every week: www.cbc.ca/livinginottawa/
Seriously...such good soup!
2007 Dec 16
Mousse, I cannot find my recipe that I adapted from, though, I can give you a list of ingredients and general method to follow off the top of my head (I usually cook w/o recipe), though I think a tamale would probably disintegrate into a soup due to the corn flour:
1) MaSeCa instant corn flour masa mix,
2) adobo seasoning, or a mix of salt, pepper, ground cumin, chili/hot or smoked paprika, ground oregano, powdered garlic, (this is all very personal, some people use less or more seasoning, it's up to you here)
3) shredded BBQ chicken (storebought just makes this whole process much easier),
4) corn husks/shucks, plantain leaf, whatever you can find to wrap these suckers up.
5) chicken stock, or any stock, just don't use water!
6) corn oil, or veg shortening
The general ratio is approx, 1cup stock : 2cups corn flour : 1tbsp of adobo seasoning : 5 tbsp oil/shortening, it should be a very thick mixture, I'd say like peanut butter or tile grout (LOL). If using shortening, beat in a separate bowl to a light fluffy texture and then add the wet corn mix to the shortening and fold in.
Then using a spatula and some well soaked corn husks (1 hour in hot water), smear the husk with this corn mix using a broad spatula, and then place some shredded meat in the middle and roll it up, and fold the ends in. (hard to explain the technique, maybe I should make a video of this and put it on youtube, LOL) You then steam the tamale for 30 minutes, I've also seen some slow grilled to char the husk which gives the tamale an interesting taste...
Anyway, I think the main hurdle will be to create a mix that will withstand being supersaturated in a broth. Good luck, let me know how it turns out.
1) MaSeCa instant corn flour masa mix,
2) adobo seasoning, or a mix of salt, pepper, ground cumin, chili/hot or smoked paprika, ground oregano, powdered garlic, (this is all very personal, some people use less or more seasoning, it's up to you here)
3) shredded BBQ chicken (storebought just makes this whole process much easier),
4) corn husks/shucks, plantain leaf, whatever you can find to wrap these suckers up.
5) chicken stock, or any stock, just don't use water!
6) corn oil, or veg shortening
The general ratio is approx, 1cup stock : 2cups corn flour : 1tbsp of adobo seasoning : 5 tbsp oil/shortening, it should be a very thick mixture, I'd say like peanut butter or tile grout (LOL). If using shortening, beat in a separate bowl to a light fluffy texture and then add the wet corn mix to the shortening and fold in.
Then using a spatula and some well soaked corn husks (1 hour in hot water), smear the husk with this corn mix using a broad spatula, and then place some shredded meat in the middle and roll it up, and fold the ends in. (hard to explain the technique, maybe I should make a video of this and put it on youtube, LOL) You then steam the tamale for 30 minutes, I've also seen some slow grilled to char the husk which gives the tamale an interesting taste...
Anyway, I think the main hurdle will be to create a mix that will withstand being supersaturated in a broth. Good luck, let me know how it turns out.
N8
A quick search on soup hear reveals a number of Asian vendors (pho, etc), but I wonder... are there any take out or casual sit down type places that serve up a great homemade soup?