Frying

Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts)

December 21, 2009 by Charles 8 Comments

In a country divided between twelve political parties, finding common ground can be no easy task.

Indeed, Israelis are as likely to disagree about politics as they are about food. Ashkenazim (Jews of European ancestry) have their culinary traditions, and Sephardim (Jews of Spanish and Middle-Eastern ancestry) have theirs. Even the origins of falafel and hummus have been bitterly debated, with Arabs and Jews alike claiming the food as their own.

Fortunately, all Israelis can rally around sufganiyot. Sufganiyot, or jelly doughnuts, are…

Falafel Sandwich

September 29, 2009 by Charles 3 Comments

Every dish has two stories behind it. The first story describes the origin of a dish, and sets out the historical underpinnings behind a recipe. The second story centers around the making of a dish, and notes the step-by-step details of assembling the meal. In several cases, my posts have focused on the former story. But in this case, Caitlin assured me that the second story of falafel was far more interesting than its first.

The Sunday before Labor Day, Caitlin suggested we make falafel. Together. We printed off a recipe, and went to the store to collect the ingredients. Since we were making it later that night, we bought canned garbanzo beans, though we also went ahead and purchased the dried version as well. We followed the recipe, but with little success. Upon hitting the oil, our chickpea mixture slowly disintegrated. We added a little flour, but that did not help. Our joint effort at falafel was a disaster.

The next day, I tried shaping a few more falafel balls, hoping the lengthy period of refrigeration might have shored up the chickpea mixture. Again, no luck. The canned garbanzo beans were apparently not going to cut it. I remained undeterred.

Later that night, unbeknown to Caitlin, …

Three-Cheese Suppli al Telefono

April 19, 2009 by Charles 3 Comments

I wasn’t quite sure what to name this dish.

After making my three-cheese risotto, I ended up with several servings of left-over, cold risotto. Cold risotto, it turns out, is perfect for making fried risotto balls, alternately known as suppli or arancini.

Suppli is short for “Suppli al Telefono,” which translates as “telephone wires.” Traditional suppli is fried risotto that has been stuffed with mozzarella cheese. The idea, of course, is that biting into a good suppli produces a low-hanging mozzarella string, reminiscent of telephone wires.

Arancini is Italian for “little orange,” because …

Spaghetti and Meatballs

March 3, 2009 by Charles 1 Comment

In August 2002 (back in the early days of blogging), Julie Powell began an interesting project on her blog. Frustrated with her job, her marriage, and her living arrangements in one of the “outer boroughs,” she vowed to master the art of french cooking. That is, Powell decided to make every one of the 536 recipes contained in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year’s time. The project’s simplicity, balanced with its sheer scope, soon captured the interests of her fellow bloggers and several media outlets (and eventually earned her a book and movie deal).

On a much smaller scale, the Barefoot Bloggers make it their goal to blog roughly twenty-four of Ina Garten’s recipes every year – or two every month, which…

Home Fries

January 18, 2009 by Charles 3 Comments

Whenever I go out to breakfast with my siblings, my two brothers always order hash browns. No matter where we go or what they order, there is going to be a side of hash browns. They love their hash browns – or so they think.

What my brothers really love are home fries. And the confusion is not their fault. For whatever reason, hash browns, especially outside the South, has become a generic term to describe almost any sort of fried potato. This is incorrect, and I’m here to set the record straight.

Hash browns are shredded or finely diced potatoes that are pan-fried to a crisp brown. Typically, hash browns do not have anything added to them. Home fries, meanwhile, …