el queso podrido tales of the gourmand

the ugly, the pretty, the tasty - takin' it back to the basics of food porn

[elquesopodrido]

Fall 2012 - The Nihon Files

Exactly 3 years ago today was the beginning of a quite amazing journey through Japan. For the next couple of posts I will share my culinary adventures while I was there and I’m starting with something quite characteristic - an onigiri eaten at the start of the lenghty shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Hakata (Fukuoka). Oishii!

[elquesopodrido]

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The Day of the Käsekrainer

If there’s free cheese involved, the gourmand comes running. Especially when the cheese is part of a truly Viennese culinary classic - the Käsekrainer. One of these meattubes boasts as many calories as eating three cheeseburgers at the golden arches, and there’s no successful party night without it afterwards. You can find it almost everywhere in Vienna and it’s usually cut up into pieces and eaten with mustard and bread. I got mine at Zum Scharfen René, which is one of the few sausage stands in Vienna which has a very wide variety of hotsauces to go with your sausage.

[elquesopodrido]

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Prototyping the Schweinsbratenweckerl at Zum Gschupftn Ferdl Vienna.

Here are some impressions from yesterday’s prototyping session - some versions came with 12-hour-sous-vide cooked Schweinsbraten, some with special marinated cabbage, some with hot pork greaves for extra crunch, some cut hot and thick, some cold and thinly sliced - and all of them organically certified (like everything on the menu at this Heurigen). Various types of bread shapes were also tested, but even after a couple of these savory little meatstacks a final verdict has yet to be reached. Thanks for the invitation and looking forward to the finished dish!

[elquesopodrido]

Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.

Oscar Wilde

[elquesopodrido]

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A gourmand’s dream come true. Last night we were fortunate enough to be invited to the 1st year anniversary of Heuer am Karlsplatz and it was a feast par excellence! A truckload of antipasti, quail stuffed turkey, delicious salmon, meatpie, a massive caramel-covered profiterole stack, a pig’s head, varieties of cheese and sausage, all sorts of exotic fruit - and a BATHTUB full of pastis! The gourmand approved - and went home stuffed like the turkey he ate.

P.S.: What I believed to be hummus was actually extra-spicy Dijon mustard - that’s why the portion on my plate just doesn’t seem to shrink...

[elquesopodrido]

The Quest for Tonkotsu Ramen - Part 1

Cooking is not always a pretty sight - especially if it involves meticulously cleaning and scraping pork bones and chicken carcasses until there is no red residue left. This is key for achieving that milky white color we know and love in our tonkotsu ramen.

But first things first: The stock is made from pork feet and chicken carcasses. These are put into cold water and slowly simmered - removing the foam is essential here. After that, the pre-soup is discarded and that’s when the “fun” begins. With a chopstick you now have to remove every tiny bit of gray-brown residue that is still stuck to the bone or else you’ll end up with a brown soup. Seems I didn’t try hard enough though - but more on that in part two.

After that, the soup is left to boil with vegetables (garlic, onion, spring onion, leeks), shiitake mushrooms - and - a slab of pork fatback for reasons that will be disclosed in the next issue of this quest.

[elquesopodrido]

The Burger. I have no clue where that was anymore, 2013.

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Udon with salmon leftovers, spring onions, sesame, shiitake mushrooms and chili oil.

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New Year’s Eve feast 2012 - surf’n’turf style. Prawns, roastbeef & truffled potato mash.

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Day 17 - the grand finale of the Nihon Files. What a pleasure!

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Day 16 - my final breakfast in Japan :'‑(

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Day 15 - vending machine snax at the hotel.

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Day 15 - Mix’n’match at the breakfast joint across the street from our hotel in Tokyo.

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Day 14 - The feasts became bigger and more challenging. I was fortunate enough to be taken out to dinner with the beloved rosa mosa crew. The final boss on this one was definitely grilled octopus with “reba” sauce. (Translates into liver sauce from the German word Leber) Apart from that, there was a variety of nigiri sushi, sashimi, fried baby prawns with shiso, taro potatoes, and so forth...

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Day 13 - Casual lunch at the subway station.

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Day 12 - Dinner (or should I say feast?) with Teppei and the crew. Including, but not limited to nabemono (Japanese hotpot with a variety of ingredients), gyoza and kushiyaki. Oishikatta desu!!

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Day 11 - Various treats for dinner in Asakusa - and my first ever chanpuru!