Conference turris::cooks

    

    	Sverige (Sweden) - Open face sandwiches, boiled potatoes every day,
    			   pickled herring, Aquavit, Korv & mus (hot dogs
                           and mashed potatoes, you have to be there),
    			   meatballs.

        Canada - (my impression will be tainted by my French Canadian
                  upbringing). Toutier (sp? pork pie), pigs feet stew,
                  French fries and gravy, fish.

        Australia - When I was there I was very surprised at how much fish
                    I ate. I expected to eat more beef and lamb. Vegemite,
    		    chooks (chicken), very much like the English cuisine.

    
    
    Hi from Turkey!
    
    Here are some examples of turkish specialities; shish kebap, ayran (a
    drink made mixing yoghurt with some water), halva, raki (the famous
    alcoholic drink), baklava!
    
    Arzu

I'm sure the base noter gets the grand characteristics of some national cuisines
right (though I would have said cilantro rather than cumin for Mexico...). But
some national cuisines are actually conglomerations and interactions of the
cuisines of the nations or regions that make them up. 

The obvious example in the list is France, where the classical (Parisian and
court, I suppose) cuisine has little in common with Norman, Breton or Midi
cuisine. India is another obvious example. And even English food looks better
when you go into the regional variations (though none of it is low fat).

I'd add the following from limited but enjoyable experience:

	Belgium: fried potatoes (how do they make them so good?), moules et 	
	frites, pork dishes, apple dishes (both like but not like the Normand 	
	cuisine but often much grander). Oh, and chocolate. 

	Russia: sour cream, dark grains in all permutations and forms. (blinis 	
	with sour cream is the classic), Baltic-style fish (lots of dill 	
	flavourings). And vodka out of the freezer or off the window-ledge. 	
	(Forget chicken kiev, incidentally. It's Ukrainian's attempt to make 	
	like French haut cuisine.) Of course, Russia has it's own regions as 	
	well. I'm sure the central Asian Russion republics, or the far eastern 	
	republics, have their own very different cuisines.

Helen

    Thai, like most other "national" cuisines is actually an agglomeration
    of regional and local specialties.
    
    It is unique in being a true cross between Indian and Chinese.  They
    use the Indian spices, herbs, and coconut milk (of course, being a
    sub(?)-tropical country) but use Chinese cooking techniques including
    lots of noodles.  I'd be hard put to characterize the spices, but they
    do tend to the fresh rather than dried.  Lemon grass is common, as is
    the ubiquitous fish sauce. (see prior note)
    
    Most typically in Bangkok, people eat very soupy "curries" with lots of
    fragrant Thai rice.  No bread.  They happily adopted the use of forks
    for the solids and soup spoons for the liquids mixed with rice.  The
    food is *HOT*.
    
    They eat anything that flies and isn't an airplane, anything that goes
    through the sea and isn't a submarine.  (local joke)  Oh, and every
    part of animal bodies.  Nothing to waste.   
    
    A popular northern dish is Thai barbecued meat.  Also, sticky rice, a
    special variety steamed in bamboo containers.  Its fun to roll it into
    little marbles between your fingers.  
    
    Lots of seafood in the south, naturally, where Thailand forms a long,
    thin penninsula.
    
    Lots of varieties of snack foods sold on the streets, all prepared
    fresh by vendors, nearly all very good.  Probably most common is Pad
    Thai - stir-fried rice noodles.  
    
    Thai Singha beer, whiskey and soda with ice, coca cola, Thai iced tea
    (very sweet and light), are most common meal beverages, for adults at
    any rate.
    
    L

    Pick up a copy of the Frugal Gourmet's "Immigrant Ancestors" cookbook. 
    A chapter is devoted to the cuisine of each country that has
    significantly contributed to the American melting pot.  This will give
    you a very good idea of characteristic dishes of food prepared
    throughout the world.
    
    Also, Mexican cuisine is as well represented by the taco and burrito as
    Italian cuisine is represented by the pizza.

Portuguese food - as experienced in Southeastern Mass and Rhode Island:

  Bread made with a dozen eggs and pound of sugar (masa svada fait im casa)

  Olive oil
  
  Hot peppers
  
  Chouri�o cooked with eggs
                       onions
                       peppers
                       chicken
                       beef
                       pork
                       fish
                       shellfish
                       
  Chicken cooked with sausage, pork cooked with clams, beef cooked in
  chicken broth, mashed potato soup (sopa verde), baccala, malasadas...
  
...yum.

Art

    I was astonished to hear the Frug tell viewers to add chicken fat to a
    noodle kugel (casserole) made with cheese, to achieve what he considers
    a real authentic, Jewish, high-fat dish.
    
    A fundamental rule of kashrut is to not mix milk (or cheese) and meat
    (including chicken fat).  AND there's no requirement that traditional
    Jewish food be high in fat.  It's just a fairly common phenomenon
    shared by many other regional foods.  Deliberately adding fat is
    nonsense.
    
    I was so amazed at this major faux-pas (and the guy is supposedly a
    Protestant minister, right?) that I checked in his cookbook and found
    the same thing!
    
    Whoa.
    
    L

re: -1.

The chicken fat is usually a substitute for the cheese at a meat meal. I suppose
his excuse would be that comparatively few American Jews keep kosher. But it's a
feeble one, given how much the kashrut influences the cuisine in all its
varieties.

Nearly irrelevently, my old college had the following main course the night
someone had an Israeli colleague as a guest:

	Filet of Pork with prawns in cream sauce

The embarassed host asked his guest if he minded that they were serving pork.
The guest replied: "Filet is fine--there isn't too much fat on it."

Helen

PS What's the etymology of kugel? It's the German for "ball" or "sphere", which
would do for a number of edibles but seems odd for a casserole.

    Why would anyone in their right mind want to use chicken fat as a
    spread when there's perfectly tasty kosher margarine?
    
    I know you can buy kosher chicken fat in American markets, but I can't
    believe they sell very much.  And since the Frug wants us to believe he
    speaks for American cuisine, his lack of homework on this one was
    glaring.  Makes me not trust him on other ethnic cuisines.
    
    Root for kugel - (facetiously) well you can always grab a handful and
    mold it into a ball to lob in a food fight.
    
    (Ducking out of the way.)
    
    L

re: .-1, kugel.

Yes, that's probably it. I'm sure chicken fat makes it stick together better
than margarine, though.

My Jewish friends in England (though none of them keep kosher) don't use
margarine much at all, and use chicken fat for fat in traditional dishes where
appropriate (not in baking, obviously). In fact, my girlfriend from college
won't have margarine in the house. She buys bagels and other breads from her
local deli. Maybe it's different there from the US. 

Or maybe it's because stork isn't allowed by the kashrut....

Helen