Lunch 2020

My cold seafood “platter” comes in parts as I have no big fridge/freezer to keep everything. First instalment is North Sea crab claws. Notice I usually eat seafood from around these parts. I avoid Chinese (seafood) at all costs.

1.5 kilos. Took me 2 meals to finish it all (the partner is not a fan of shellfish).

2 years ago today.

Roman ruins in Morocco

And in Appenzell (yes, like the cheese), Switzerland.

It was a bit cold but no snow.

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Thanks, Rooster. I finally did it. The partner was delighted and now looks forward to my poppy seed Stollen.

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Cheese is the best food in the world. Nothing is above it.

I didn’t use the brebis. The round/wheel is Tête de Moine.

One Christmas we holidayed in Konstanz, Germany for 10 days and also visited a German friend who had relocated his family to Switzerland. It’s a short and easy local train ride from the German side where I stayed. And of course we had cheese fondue. His was much better of course.

He knew we liked beer and cheese so he got both. No Swiss beer at home so it was nice to drink many with this meal.


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To cross the border we would walk right through and there’s no passport control. One time I practically begged a customs official to give me a stamp in my passport.

Literally as soon as you cross over to the German side the first business you see is a kebab shop.

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Your stollen looks good.

I checked the facts, France is biggest producers of duck and foie gras in Europe, Poland is the biggest producer of goose. Hungary comes 2nd in all these 3 sectors in Europe, which is impressive for a country of 9 million population vs 67 m in France.

Possibly @Presunto just forgot to write (or their informer forgot to say) “per capita” - I think that would probably make everyone right.

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It’s likely possible to prove by some kind of numbers that the kebab is one of the biggest German specialties. :smile:

Ease of transportation, and in some areas improved freedom of movement, have transformed a lot of things, but certainly the existence of regional specialties that are hard to get anywhere else must be one of the big ones. In Western classical music and styles related to it (which I’ve studied more than food) there is an older generation (sadly nearly all dead now) who grew up knowing vastly different regional styles of playing, in which you could tell by the way someone played not only which country they were from but often which city. There are a few traditions still self-consciously maintained, such as the different design of the horns in Vienna, but the former situation - in which every Russian pianist sounded distinctly Russian, trumpet players from Boston sounded very unlike trumpet players from Chicago, Blues music was a very different thing from one city to another and players could not always be expected to know how to play another city’s style, and so on, has been obliterated by the ease and frequency of travel for ordinary people. Recordings have made a big difference too of course.

But cooking is “recorded” now too, through TV and the internet, and the effect of everyone moving everywhere, and living next to and learning from people who in past generations they would never have had a chance to meet, is the same.

We ate at that kebab place once. We weren’t too favorably impressed.

I think that something else is involved here. The French, it seems, are allowed to import foie gras from anywhere, package it, and then label it as a French product. Unless this has changed in the last years, the French production numbers are unreliable.

I try to read more on this. For the goose foie gras, Hungary and Bulgaria is the top exporter, it’s 5% of the market. 2/3 of the foie gras (when not specified, it means duck) in the French supermarket, they come from Hungary and Bulgaria, and the brand are probably French, but they don’t hide the origin as French produced but you need to read the label carefully.

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A lot of the so-called French foie gras used to come from Israel. But I think I read that Israel has stopped production of fatted geese.

Spinach and cheese omelette with a leftover homemade roll from Christmas dinner.

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Personally I don’t particularly like goose foie gras, duck ones are much more tasty.

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I like both. But not too often, and in small quantities. It was forbidden in Switzerland for a time, but for the last 10 years or so it has been allowed again.

Puff pastry cases filled with various things: sweetbreads, Speck, rehydrated boletus, cream and some cheese leftovers from the fondue.


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This is one kilo of calf’s sweetbreads I ordered from my organic butcher. Want to try if the Turkish butcher can order lamb’s sweetbreads for me. Anyway, it’s the most expensive offal that ever exists. Actually, more expensive than any meat in this country. 50 euros per kilo.

I cooked it sous vide, 60C/1hr.

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Blast from the past… Medieval themed Christmas market in Esslingen, Germany. We like things medieval.

A few things they sell at the market: quark balls, Flammkuchen, “fire cheese”, waffles with icing sugar/cinnamon/sugar.

Drinks: smoke beer, abby beers, mulled wine (from white wine), elderberry wine.

A type of pastry with apples. Waffle rig with old-fashsioned waffle iron. Bottom photo says “enjoy the freedom”.

A stall dedicated to Maultaschen. Swabian pasta parcels filled with mince.

The houses are so close you could see everything in the neighbours’ rooms. Half-timbered buildings have very steep roofs. Wouldn’t want to be a roofer in medieval Germany.

Christmas market in Esslingen.

The market was so crowded, much better up here. There are vineyards right in the town. You can see the christmas market down below.


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Esslingen is a lovely small medieval town in Swabia.

Dinner after all the walking. “Maultaschen” and lentils with Speck and veal sausages. Both are home-style Swabian dishes. Restaurant brews own beers, too.

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Squeezing in one last homemade lunch during 2020.
Sweet sausage, peppers and potatoes (with scrambled eggs).

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A Florentine Omelette ! Looks great.

An elegant job …

Best wishes for a healthy, successful and happy new year 2021.

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Same to you @Barca!

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Thank you Greg.

It is 21.10 here and we are about to begin our amuses bouches (appetisers) and a glass of Prosecco.

Champagne for the 12 grape ceremony at 12am midnight.

Happy New Year …

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5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Lunch 2021

The new lunch thread 2021 is here.