Baklava -- Undermining Humanity

[Carlene 12]

I'd never do a turkey or pork in the oven for Christmas day, its always in the weber.

Christmas comes during the summer where you live, so dinner in the Weber is an easy choice. Usually it's warm enough where I live too (Texas) and a lot of people here deep fry their holiday turkey, but most parts of the USA and just about all of Canada would find it a wee bit chilly to cook out in December.

Has the Weber overtaken the barbie in popularity? I always did love that expression: throw another shrimp on the barbie.

[Jachut 487]

Hehehe, well throw another shrimp on the barbie is an Americanism, since we eat PRAWNS here and you'd never ruin a good prawn by putting it on the barbie. Normally you eat prawns as part of a cold seafood platter - which is a very common Australian Christmas meal due to it being summer.

We've got a weber and a barbecue - the weber is great for entertaining and cooking a large piece of meat (or several) at once for company, but for most people its too much trouble to light the weber and allow it to heat for a few snags (sausages) or chops, when you have a gas barbecue that's alight instantly.

[Carlene 12]

Hehehe, well throw another shrimp on the barbie is an Americanism, since we eat PRAWNS here and you'd never ruin a good prawn by putting it on the barbie.

Well, that just ruins all my Crocodile Dundee fantasies. I guess you're going to tell me next that Koala bears aren't as cute and cuddly as they look!

[Jachut 487]

They're vicious, lol and have really long CLAWS!

[Wheetsin 714]

you'd never ruin a good prawn by putting it on the barbie.

Mmm, marinate that baby in some evoo laced with garlic salt and other seasonings of choice, wrap it in a slice of hickory bacon, and throw it on. The evoo bath will keep it from drying out, and the bacon just makes it straight up delicious.

My father has been to Australia several times (he loves telling the story of the time the wombat chased him down the street) and one thing he brought me (I was very young) was a stuffed koala covered with kangaroo fur. I was very surprised at how incredibly soft kangaroo fur was, I had always assumed it would be tough, matted, and scratchy.

[bitteroldhag 0]

Well, my thread took off in another direction. Rugulach or rugalach is a Jewish delicacy similar to baklava but without all that honey. It's good -- full of nuts and spices and stuff. You can look it up on the net.

I live in Oklahoma where beef is king and pork and chicken are next. We never, and I mean never, eat lamb though I once had lamb chops, and they weren't too bad. I won't eat veal or lamb anymore because I think little animals should get to grow up before we hit them in the head with a sledgehammer. This is probably because we had a flock of sheep near where I lived in grad. school, and the lambs were so cute that I couldn't even imagine eating one. Calves are cute, but lambs are really cute. When I was in England, they had "lamb" one night and I wouldn't eat it because it was a baby. They informed me that sheep that are a year or two old are considered lambs. I don't consider them lambs. I consider them sheep. But then sheep are not very common here in cattle ranching land. I also once ate an Irish stew with mutton in it. I would never do that again. Like someone said, it tasted like good beef gone bad and it was really greasy.

The oryx is interesting. I haven't eaten oryx though I know they are out in New Mexico from a Tony Hillerman book. Once my dad shot an elk. We ate elk for about 3 years. We hate elk. It tasted pretty good, but enough is enough. Elk are big and it takes a long time to eat one. Around here people deer hunt, and I don't much care for deer. Neither do they because they make Jerky or chili or barbecue it (for the Aussies, that means with a whole lot of barbecue sauce). I don't think anyone except possibly the full blood Indians eat deer roast or anything like that. However, my neighbors who are Indians, kill a deer every year and then my dogs bring the leftover pieces home to me. Joy! One got a deer leg fully furred from the knee down with hoof and dragged it into the house. One got a deer skull with hair in spots and dragged that into the house. So every fall, I dispose of the leftover pieces of deer that the neighbors shot. I suppose it pays me back for my dogs being so obnoxious the rest of the year. This year, they only got bones, thank God. Of course, they may just have not gotten to the worse stuff yet.

We have prawns which are gigantic shrimp here. I have no idea how to cook them so information would be good. On a cold plate, one prawn would take me most of the night to eat. I haven't tried shrimp since the band because I figure it would take me an hour to eat just one. But I may try some over Christmas. My dad learned how to cook bacon and shrimp in Mexico. You just wrap a little piece of bacon around a shrimp and fry it, or you can broil it until the bacon is done. We absolutely love these though the shrimp are a tad rubbery by the time the bacon is done. But the real way to cook shrimp is in Shrimp Creole, especially the recipe from Brennan's which is a famous restaurant in New Orleans. Never, never put a bay leaf in shrimp creole. If anyone is interested, I'll give you their recipe for shrimp creole though I'll be breaking copyright. It's the best in the world though.

Thanks for such a fun thread. Now I think I'll have a little baklava.:speechles

[bitteroldhag 0]

Since I live with a whole lot of Indians, I thought I might mention some of their foods. Every spring they have a wild onion/scrambled egg feast. This is a big deal because the wild onions grow in the early spring and so it signals spring is here.

The most delectable thing I've had is fry bread. They make a sort of flat bread, fry it, and then put butter and honey on it. Lord, it's good though off limits for me now.

I haven't had much other Native American food since the Five Civilized Tribes were from the South and ate Southern food mostly.

Regarding Indian food from India, I had some in England and it was good, but it gave me the worst case of gas I've ever had except for the lapband surgery. They had some sort of red thing that was really delicious. The English eat Indian food like we eat Mexican food, actually Tex-Mex, since real Mexican food isn't nearly as hot. I think I'm going to make a pot of chili this weekend.

Cheers!

[Carlene 12]

However, my neighbors who are Indians, kill a deer every year and then my dogs bring the leftover pieces home to me. Joy! One got a deer leg fully furred from the knee down with hoof and dragged it into the house. One got a deer skull with hair in spots and dragged that into the house.

You're lucky your neighbors don't eat dog meat! Are these people dressing out deer in their backyard, or what?

I have a friend whose husband hung a deer carcass in her shower to bleed and dress it. To me, that would be grounds for divorce.

[Jachut 487]

Um, I've never seen a wombat in the street, lol. They do poo on all the sitemarkers down at Wilsons Promontory though so you can never find your campsite!

Kangaroo meat isnt much to eat - pretty tasteless. Kangaroos can be a pest here so it makes sense to eat them but it doesnt sit well with me. Which is insane - its somehow OK to raise a sheep specifically for the purpose of killing it to eat, but I wont eat kangaroo, which is free ranging and in feral proportions?

[bitteroldhag 0]

You're lucky your neighbors don't eat dog meat! Are these people dressing out deer in their backyard, or what?

I have a friend whose husband hung a deer carcass in her shower to bleed and dress it. To me, that would be grounds for divorce.

Well, the title covers most of this. They dress out a deer in the backyard every fall. Apparently they gut it on the hunt which is good because I really don't want deer guts in my house. But the rest is available for the dogs. If my husband hung a deer carcass in the shower, he'd be history. But we butchered that elk my dad killed in the garage and it smelled horrible. Blood smells so metallic and there was blood everywhere. Elks have a lot of blood. I know from experience.

[GeezerSue 7]

here we say Roast Beef not Beef Roast, ditto pork, but roast lamb is also just called a leg of lamb. Roast chook for roast chicken. But simply a "roast" can mean any of them. ...

We say roast beef when we're talking about the finished product. As in, "I think I'll order the roast beef." Same with "roast pork." As in, "I'd like the roast pork with dressing." But when you go to the store, you buy a roast, or a beef roast or a pork roast.

I dont htink we ever mean chicken when we say "roast," but it could be in other parts of the country.

[Kat817 19]

Sometimes the mind is just set in a certain way--and I for one have chose not to fight it. We raise cattle. We graze them in clean alfalfa, and feed them well. We sell them to people to have them processed for eating. This way THEY choose how much is hamburger, or what thickness to make the steaks. Now me??? I buy my meat at Safeway!!! Is there a difference? Probably not. And I do occasionally end up with our own butchered beef in the freezer, but not of my own accord!!! DH is at fault!!!

Speaking of hanging the deer to bleed out for processing...my DD had my 2 year old granddaughter at a friends house, who had just shot a deer. They were taking it to be processed, and in NM this year there is a size requirement on deer, so you have to have the head, to prove antler points. So they had cut off the head, and it was sitting in the bed of the truck, and the body was hanging by a utility crane in the bed of the truck. My DD was not quick enough to catch the little one as she run out into the yard. She stopped, looked at the deer, then at the removed head, turns her hands up and says "Uh-Oh broken". Now if they were to begin her seeing this regularly and eating it regularly, she would likely be fine with eating it....and not shopping at Safeway!!!

Oh! If you like Fry bread with the sweet, honey and butter...try it with salt and crushed chile pepper (pequi).....it is not something I eat often. And when I do eat it now it is a bite or 2 of DH's....but mmmmm. Here, the Navajo's hand pat it out to a size bigger than a dinner plate, and fry it. yummmy!!! Like I say tho, 2 bites and I am done---I used to be able to eat the whole thing, smothered in Beans, and meat, with lettuce, and tomatoes....aka a Navajo Taco. The thought of that much food hurts now!!!

Kat

[Carlene 12]

Sometimes the mind is just set in a certain way--and I for one have chose not to fight it. We raise cattle. We graze them in clean alfalfa, and feed them well. We sell them to people to have them processed for eating. This way THEY choose how much is hamburger, or what thickness to make the steaks. Now me??? I buy my meat at Safeway!!!

My grandparents had a large working farm for all of my growing-up years. I was fine with the gifts of eggs and whole milk and home-churned butter. I loved my grandmother's pickles and her produce was the BEST. But the hogs and cows went to the lifestock auction and were never seen or heard from again. Once we meet it, we don't eat it.

[green 6]

We say roast beef when we're talking about the finished product. As in, "I think I'll order the roast beef." Same with "roast pork." As in, "I'd like the roast pork with dressing." But when you go to the store, you buy a roast, or a beef roast or a pork roast.

I dont htink we ever mean chicken when we say "roast," but it could be in other parts of the country.

Re roast beef and roast pork, we say it the same way as GeezerSue does up here in Canada. We also call all soft drinks "pop" whereas you Americans call them "soda." If you want a Coke or Pepsi or Fanta or whatever, you have to ask for it by name.

[A1ikou 0]

I live in Athens now after marrying a Greek and am surrounded by baklava...can't stand it lol, which is probably a very good thing for me!