Kuchnia Niemiecka multi-kulti co jedzą Niemcy ?

Gastronomia w Niemczech jest tak różnorodna jak multinarodowe społeczeństwo tego kraju. Jak połapać się w tym kalejdoskopie? Kilka pożytecznych wskazówek...

Niemiecką gastronomię podzielić można z grubsza na kilka kategorii. Na samej górze hierarchii są restauracje wielogwiazdkowe. Znakomitym przewodnikiem po tych świątyniach haute-cuisine są słynne międzynarodowe przewodniki w narodowych wydaniach, czyli niemiecki Michelin, Gault-Millaut, przewodnik Varta czy bardziej popularny "ADAC-Schlemmeratlas" czyli "atlas obżarciucha".

   Wszystkie one zawierają sprawdzone rady, gdzie można dobrze zjeść. Z grubsza można powiedzieć, że południe Niemiec jada lepiej niż północ. Badenia-Wirtembergia, a szczególnie okolice Schwarzwaldu wykazują największe zagęszczenie nobilitujących gwiazdek, kucharskich czepków i łyżek.

Syci mieszczanie

Jeżeli ilość programów kucharskich w telewizji miałaby odzwierciedlać gusta i smaki Niemców, to należałoby ich okrzyknąć wyrafinowanymi degustatorami. Lecz aż tak pysznie nie jest.

  Ludzie o tradycyjnych gustach najchętniej odwiedzają lokale zachwalające swą "gutbürgerliche Küche" - czyli kuchnię mieszczańskiego dobrobytu. Czysta zupka - krem ze szparagów, pomidorowa, cienki rosołek - na rozgrzanie żołądka, potem kotlet w panierce, z paprykowym "Zigeuner- " lub grzybowym "Jäger-" sosem lub jako alternatywa krwisty stek z dodatkiem sosu śmietankowego z zielonym pieprzem. Jako "dopychacze": frytki, krokieciki lub ziemniaki z wody. A na dobry humor: deser - nieśmiertelne lody waniliowe z gorącymi malinami albo trzy kulki pospolitych lodów.

Także wystrojem lokale te przypominają typowe staromodne niemieckie salony: ciężkie dębowe meble z dodatkiem zielonego pluszu i przykurzone w kolorze (czy rzeczywistości) zasłony.

Sympatyczna tradycja

  Zawsze godne polecenia są lokale firmowane przez regionalne browary. Oferują one nie tylko warzone czasemi tuż obok piwo, lecz także przysmaki regionalnej kuchni po przystępnych cenach. W lokalach tych tętni zawsze życie, obsługa jest sprawna, potrawy świeże, bo ruch jest duży, klienci stali, a turysta może zanurzyć się w codzeinnego życia Niemców. Takich lokali jest mnóstwo w Bawarii - często mają także swoje ogródki piwne, ale też i wszystkich miastach słynących z piwa, jak Kolonia (Frueh), Duesseldorf (Ueriges) czy Muenster (Pinkus).

Przyszło nowe

   Dla średniego i młodszego pokolenia zaczęli natomiast gotować "młodzi gniewni" - gastronomowie z zamiłowania i z fantazją, którzy nie boją się zaoferować gościom swoich eksperymentów. Wystrój ich lokali jest już bardziej umiejscowiony w aktualnym wzornictwie, a karta dań świadczy o otwartości na świat i poczuciu humoru. Same lokale nazwają się na przykład "Krisenherd" ("zarzewie kryzysu"), "Teufelsküche" ("czarcia kuchnia") czy "Die Konkurrenz" ("konkurencja").

Do wyboru oferują menu o szerokich horyzontach: zupa-krem ze ślimaków, placki kartoflane z łososiem i kwaśną śmietaną czy piersi perliczek z żurawinami. Jest miejsce na eksperyment, swobodne zachowanie, regionalne wina i produkty.

Wyłącznie z takich produktów gotują swoje menu natomiast restauracje ekologiczne, wegetariańskie czy wegańskie. Stanowią one jednak margines gastronomii i obsługują barwną klientelę: od studenta po czerstwego staruszka, który dożył sędziwego wieku właśnie dzięki zimnej kuchni wegańskiej.

Kolorowy żywioł

Sztukę robienia dobrej pizzy opanowały także inne nacje...Powojenne Niemcy tkwiłyby wciąż jeszcze w "kuchni mieszczuchów" gdyby nie fala gastarbeiterów, która zaczęła docierać do Niemiec w latach 60-tych XX wieku. Reszty zmian w gastronomicznym krajobrazie Niemiec dokonało zamiłowanie Niemców do podróży za granicę. W najmniejszej niemieckiej mieścinie jest więc zawsze jakiś "Włoch", "Grek" czy "Hindus". Chińczycy i Turcy odpowiedzialni są raczej za "małą gastonomię" - niezliczone "Imbisy" czyli knajpki "na stojaka". Jest to z reguły kuchnia świeża, pożywna i niedroga.

Z kuchnią multi-kulti wiąże się zdaniem Władimira Kaminera, rosyjskiego Żyda, który stał się 200-procentowym Berlińczykiem pewien fenomen, który zafrapował go przy zgłębianiu tajników tej gastronomii. Włoskie pizzerie prowadzą z reguły Turcy, tureckie "imbisy" - Hindusi, a włoskie lodziarnie jakiś bałkański klan.

World Record in Pickled Jalapeño Eating Broken

How many whole pickled jalapeños do you think you could eat in a row? 7? 10? Try 275; that's how many chiles Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti ate to become the 2010 La Costeña Jalapeño Eating Champion last weekend in San Antonio, Texas. He beat runner-up Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas by 1 jalapeño in a special double overtime individual challenge after they tied in the first round, with both of them beating the world record. Thomas and Bertoletti, as well as third place winner Erik "The Red" Denmark, are all professional eating competitors; fourth place went to Gary Klucken of Waco, who had the highest amateur standing with 73 jalapeños.
A few things: one, who knew eating champions had nicknames like professional wrestlers? Two, what kind of practice regimen do you have to have that enables you to eat 200 jalapeños more that your average bear? Three, WTF? Ponder these mysteries and more while you watch the video, below.

Microwave You Use It Every Day But Can You Make It Cook?

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Początek formularza

Dół formularza

By MARK BITTMAN

Published: April 2, 2008

FOR years, I hadn’t used my microwave for much besides reheating leftovers and softening ice cream. I make popcorn the real way, I steam my vegetables on the stovetop, and everyone knows a potato doesn’t really bake in a microwave.

Related

The Curious Cook: On Food and Zapping (April 2, 2008)

Steamed Chocolate Pudding(April 2, 2008)

South Indian Eggplant Curry(April 2, 2008)

Cauliflower With Tomatoes and Pimentón (April 2, 2008)

Times Topics: Microwave Ovens

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

READY THE SPOON Chocolate pudding made in a microwave oven can be served warm or cold.

Readers' Comments

"Even though it may rearrange my DNA and make me go blind, my microwave will be forever the workhorse of my kitchen."

Kitty, Florida

·         Read Full Comment »

But after all, the thing is sitting there, built into my wall. You have one, too, unless it broke and you haven’t replaced it (understandable but unusual). Shouldn’t you be using it for more than reheating coffee?

I thought so, and so I decided to revisit the microwave. The push came as I was hurriedly putting together appetizers for a dinner party. I’d decided to make a combination frittata and Spanish-style tortilla (impure, I know, but they’re close enough), and it occurred to me to nuke my medium-size waxy potatoes instead of parboiling them. A few minutes in the microwave, a few minutes’ resting, peeling, then quickly browning in olive oil; I went on from there. (You can see the results, read the recipe, and check out scores of readers’ comments about microwaves on my blog.)

This success inspired me to give the thing another shot. I called Barbara Kafka, who wrote the bible “Microwave Gourmet” (William Morrow, 1987), and has devoted a portion of her life to refining her technique ever since. What did she use her microwave for most, after a quarter century of experience and experiment?

“Vegetables,” she said, without hesitation. “Their color is better, their flavor is better, you have no water dripping, and there are studies that show they retain more vitamins.”

I don’t know about the vitamins (although Harold McGee makes the same point in his article today on the science of microwaving), but in other respects, she’s right.

For any vegetable you would parboil or steam, the microwave works as well or better, and is faster. Put the vegetable in a bowl with a tiny bit of water (or sometimes none), cover and zap. Asparagus: two minutes; artichokes (a revelation): six; cauliflower (try my cauliflower with tomatoes and pimentón): five; potatoes or beets: four; spinach: one or two; eggplant: we’ll get to that. Timing, though, is tricky, especially if you strictly follow an older recipe.

“I did my original work on a 700-watt oven, which is very low power by today’s standards,” Ms. Kafka said. If you have an old oven, you can use the old times. But your current oven is probably 1,100 watts or more, which is more than 50 percent more powerful; check the label to see the wattage. So, Ms. Kafka said: “Go slowly — you can always add, but you can’t take away.”

It’s the starting and stopping, the opening and closing, that can make microwaving annoying. But Ms. Kafka is right: if you err on the side of undercooking, you can’t go far wrong. So if you’re using an older recipe, start by cutting either the time or the power in half. Take notes; they will help you the next time you make a recipe from the same source.

One of the real beauties of the oven is that when the timer goes off, the thing stops heating. You can set your asparagus for two minutes and go for a walk; when you come back it’ll be “parboiled.” Try that on top of the stove!

I was starting to think the microwave needed a new name that would reflect the thing it does best. Something like “the whiz-bang steaming oven.” Reinvigorated and inspired, I reviewed the reader suggestions I’d asked for on Bitten.

Most, not surprisingly, were for vegetables. Some went farther afield, and these I pursued with mixed and mostly unconvincing results. Toasting nuts and spices: yes, but not easier than stovetop. Poaching or scrambling eggs: fast, but unreliable beyond belief. (I have never had a harder scrambled egg.) Melting butter or chocolate: yes, but if your timing is off, you’ll make a mess and possibly burn the chocolate. “Baked” apple: a nice snack.

The microwave does a fine job on rice, saving you a pot because you can do it in your serving dish, as long as you can figure out how to set your oven so that the water doesn’t boil over, meaning you have to wash the carousel. (One-and-a-half times as much water as rice, salt, plastic wrap with a vent slit cut in it, about 12 minutes at full power.) But risotto, no, at least not for me; all the stirring makes it more trouble than it’s worth. It’s the same for chicken stock, which I’d rather make by the gallon than by the quart, thank you.

My conclusion to that point was, if you can steam it, you can microwave it. But only with vegetables was the improvement clear.

The Healing Power of Cockroaches

July-August 2011

http://www.utne.com/Science-Technology/The-Healing-Power-Of-Cockroaches.aspx

by David DiSalvo, from Mental Floss

Image Gallery Science Pictures Limited / Photo Researchers, Inc.

The next time you step on a cockroach, think about this: The tiny brain you just crushed is loaded with so many antibacterial molecules that it makes prescription drugs look like sugar pills.  

For years, researchers have wondered how cockroaches manage to thrive, and now they finally have the answer. Scientists have identified nine antibiotic molecules in the brains of cockroaches and locusts that protect them from voracious, lethal bacteria. The implications of these findings cannot be overstated. Right now, even the most cutting-edge antibiotics can’t keep up with bacteria’s ability to constantly evolve and mutate.  

Consider our ongoing battle with MRSA—a type of bacteria that flourishes in hospitals, locker rooms, and playgrounds. When a human comes into contact with MRSA, the bacteria burrow into the skin, forming a welt. If the victim is lucky, the welt turns into a painful abscess, which can be drained. But sometimes, the bacteria burrow deeper into the body, driving their way through muscles, joints, bones, and vital organs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), because scientists haven’t been able to develop a drug to treat this type of infection, in 2007 more people died from MRSA than from AIDS.  

Researchers at Britain’s University of Nottingham found that when MRSA is pitted against the antibiotics in a cockroach brain, the bacteria don’t stand a chance. The cockroach molecules wipe out 90 percent of MRSA bacteria on contact.  

And that’s not all. According to the CDC, six people infected with E. coli, associated with undercooked meat and dirty water, die each year from complications because our best meds are ineffective. But when a cockroach cocktail was used on E. coli in the lab, it knocked out the bacteria.  

There are many technical hurdles to overcome before cockroach brains are available at the local drugstore—isolating all the right molecules and decoding how they defeat bacteria, for example. In the meantime, if you see a cockroach scurrying across your floor, say a quick “thank you” before you squash it. Someday, one of those little buggers might save your life.

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