I am very much a believer as a traveller in the idea of ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’, and more to the point, as a foodie, eat as the Romans eat! As I’m sure you have all become aware by now when we are on the road I try all of the local dishes that I can get my hands on.
Recently we went to Holland and while we were there one thing we knew we wanted to try was the famous Dutch treat, stroopwafel. This delightfully and deceptively simple snack is a bit of a Dutch institution and literally translates as syrup waffle. Some (or indeed many) of you may be familiar with these courtesy of Starbucks who sell their own caramel version. I have had these on a number of occasions and while they are nice enough, they are not a touch on their traditional Dutch counterpart! The origin of the stroopwafel came from a baker who simply tried to find a use for his daily leftover biscuit wastage. In order to make them sellable he added syrup and sold them as a cheap sweet treat…from this moment of economical and characteristically Dutch waste averse ingenuity the stroopwafel was born! To create the slightly more refined version of a modern stroopwafel, flour, cinnamon, sugar, eggs and butter are combined to make a dough, which is then quickly cooked up in a flat iron waffle press (or similar contraption). As soon as it is cooked through it then has to be sliced in half (this is the tricky bit if being done by hand rather than some kind of industrial machine) and a hearty filling of thick syrup is placed in the middle before being pressed down to fill all the space between the two halves. Job done!! These can obviously just be eaten as they come and are absolutely delicious. However, having tried a fair few of these while in Holland and actually tried my hand at making some myself when we went to a stroopwafel making class in their birthplace of Gouda, I believe there is only one way that these syrupy delight should be consumed! Obviously if you get one that has just been made then the waffle will still be hot and the syrup inside soft and gooey and they are perfect! If they are bought from a bakery or a supermarket they will no longer be in their optimum state…but all is not lost. The Dutch are a smart lot and they have made their standard stroopwafels very slightly larger than the diameter of the average mug, this is no accident! Taking a stroopwafel and leaving it resting over a piping hot mug of your chosen beverage brings all the joy of a warm waffle and melty syrup back to glorious life!! It will not come as any surprise to any of you that my beverage of choice is always a cup of tea, but coffee, hot chocolate and any other number of steaming hot drinks would work just as well! A lot of yummy things come out of Holland, not least their pretty extensive selection of regionally produced cheeses like Gouda and Edam but I think these biscuity wonders might just be my favourite! Go on, try them, you will not regret it! I can promise you with this one
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So for the last week we have been travelling with a friend of ours from Ireland who just so happens to be a meat eater. I make this rather odd reference to her eating habits as it opened up a world of culinary joy to me that I have yet to have indulged in on our trip around Europe so far...the wonderful world of the meat platter in Germany! Over the course of our week together so far my new partner in meaty crime and myself have indulged in 3 different (4 in total but one was repeated) meat feasts and they have all been fabulous in their own wonderful way! Our first such carnivorous delight presented itself to us in Munich and was called the Everest Platter. While this was not exactly a platter of variety it certainly earned it's 'Everest' title. It consisted of a mountain of chips, beautifully crowned with not one, not two, but eight large and perfectly golden pork schnitzels. This platter was advertised on the menu as being suitable for 4, so we ordered it with the genuine intention of consuming the leftovers (in theory two schnitzels each) for lunch the next day. Upon the arrival of the platter I was simultaneous delighted and terrified by the sheer size of each of these incredible looking schnitzels. Under such circumstances I often choose to avoid wasting valuable stomach space with carby boringness and focus solely on the star of the show. This was no exception! We quickly tucked in and served ourselves with a schnitzel each. 2 minutes later and my first one was gone, it was time for number two! A further 5 minutes later and the second one had been swiftly demolished and at this stage nothing had really touched the sides of my stomach. I served and consumed number three, this time at a slightly more socially acceptable pace. By this time I was starting to get pretty full, but it almost felt unfair to just leave one lonely schnitzel sitting all on it's own...so that went down the hatch two. My meat consuming buddy made a valiant attempt with 2 1/2 schnitzels before finally throwing in the towel, but in her defence she did also have a fairly decent go at the chip mountain below the schnitzel goodness. This was a good, if not entirely nutritious start to the enormous plates of meat that were to pave our culinary way around Germany.
Our final and probably most epic tray of animal, landed on our table in Alpirsbach. This particular epicurean treat came with the title of the Balkan Platter and I feel it was named such on account of the fact that it could have very easily fed most of the region! Literally piled high on the plate was sausage, kofta, burgers, schnitzel, steak, bacon and skewered pork medallions, with two hefty heaps of rice and an overly generous portion chips thrown in for good measure (oh and a side salad to make it look like this was not entirely unhealthy)! I'm not going to go into too much detail regarding the almost embarrassing levels of excessive meat consumption that followed, but suffice it to say that neither my right hand man nor I failed to do some serious damage to the baked, fried and breaded farmyard that had befallen us!
So one thing I learned from travelling around Germany with a valiant and gutsy fellow meat eater is that the Germans really know how to do meat, and that doesn't just extend to their almost endless regional varieties of sausage. If meat is wanted in Germany then meat can be got and they don't do it lightly. I can highly recommend one of these meaty madnesses, but I'm not sure any cardiologist would, so consult your GP prior to consumption if you are concerned! Raclette - The only answer to all the cheesy dreams you haveFrance…land of all things delightfully indulgent about food; rich sauces, decadent deserts, hearty regional delights guaranteed to make your tastebuds sing and your heart stop! This great country presents a unique culinary hurdle for my wife being a vegetarian. Throughout our time on the road, she has become accustomed to the universal misconception that certain meats ‘don’t count’ and is often required to remove unwanted animal additions from meals. However, in France it appears that the idea of being a vegetarian is about as comprehensible as complex astrophysics or the offside rule! How and indeed why would you opt to eat a meal without meat…?! This attitude on the surface would appear to be almost prohibitively problematic for a vegetarian visiting France were it not for one very significant saving grace…cheese! This countrywide obsession continually provides my darling wife with ample sustenance and very little chance of monotonous repetition as this country boasts over 1000 varieties of the stuff!
One of her favourite types of cheese actually originated in Switzerland but is widely enjoyed by the French and is called raclette. Raclette refers to both the variety of the cheese and the dish in which it is used as a whole. Since discovering this dish some three years ago on her first visit to France it has been right up there on the top of her list of favourites. Unfortunately our ability to recreate it outside of France is distinctly hindered by the limited accessibility of both the right equipment for preparation and the right cheese! As a result of this notably sporadic enjoyment of one of her favourites it became of primary importance to acquire as soon as possible after arriving in France. And so it was done… In and of itself raclette is a fairly uninspiring and plain cheese compared to some of the weird and wonderful varieties available in France, however, it’s not so much about the cheese on it’s own but the method of preparation and consumption. Traditionally the cheese would be hung in front of an open fire to slowly soften, and as it did so, strips would be cut off and then eaten with potatoes, cured meats, breads and pickles. The accompaniments to the melted cheese have remained the same, however modern culture has developed the rather more practical cheese melting method in the form of an electric hotplate. Nowadays you can simply slice small squares of raclette and then place them on a small tray under the heating elements to slowly and dreamily liquefy. Once it is sufficiently melted the cheese is then added to your side dish of choice and voila! It may sound uninspiringly simply but the result is something pretty special. I’m not sure it would have exactly the same appeal with a slice of melted cheddar on a piece of supermarket sliced white bread and a piece of luncheon meat, but with a nice fresh crusty baguette and some delicately cured ham or locally grown heirloom French tomatoes it definitely takes on a more delectable form! I don’t think this can be described as being an example of one of France’s top dishes, nor would it make the list of most nutritionally valuable, however, it is certainly delicious and something which should definitely be tried on a visit to France. Bon appetit! |
Follow us on Instagram or send us a messageAbout Foodie FridaysWe love food, as most people do! And when we are on the road this doesn't change. We, like many people, believe that food is one of the best ways to really get to know a culture and it's people, as so much about the way people live their lives around the world is centred around food. This means that when we travel we actively seek out the local foods and delicacies. Sometimes that comes in the form of unusual and exotic produce from markets and sometimes from street food vendors serving an array of barbecued, fried, steamed or entirely indistinguishable goodies. Having tried and tested these goodies for some time now, on our adventures around Asia, Europe, North and South America we have discovered some pretty wonderful treats that we have decided should earn a bit of publicity. So, as the working week drifts away and the weekend winks at you like a naughty temptress we will share with you one of the delights that we have encountered from around the world! We hope you enjoy reading about these as much as we enjoyed eating them! Archives
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