Leberkäse is an emulsified sausage mixture that is shaped into a block, baked, and sliced to order. Picture hot dog filling, only instead of stuffed into casings it’s packed into a loaf pan.
Yes: a hot dog terrine.
For the record the name literally means “liver cheese,” but usually contains neither liver nor cheese. There is, however, a preparation called Käseleberkäse, which is Leberkäse studded with cubes of cheese in the style of a Käsekrainer.
Where would you eat Leberkäse? Austria and Bavaria, for starters. More specifically sausage stands, beer gardens, grocery stores, and any other place that might hot-hold food for quick service. The loaves are baked till they have a … Continue reading.
This is a guest post by the Button Soup Sr. Backyard Correspondent Lisa A. Zieminek.
My name is Lisa. You might remember me from such posts as “Candied Lilac” and “What to do when your boyfriend hides food experiments all over the basement” (link not available). Today I’m here to talk to you about worms – not the kind that you get from eating street food in Thailand; the kind you use for composting. That’s right, we’re going to talk about vermicomposting.
Vermicomposting is a fancy name for putting worms in a bin and letting them eat your food scraps. It’s a great option for people who live in apartments or don’t have space for an outdoor … Continue reading.
I like lemons. Tarte au citron and lemon meringue pie are two of my favourite desserts. A quick squeeze of lemon adds friendly punch to everything from salads to roasted chickens and pots of tea.
However.
To me lemons are the epitome of our thoughtless dependence not just on imported ingredients, but imported cuisine. Every week of the year the happy yellow fruits are shipped by the ton into our city to spread the insidious influence of Mediterranean and Californian food.
What is frustrating about our lemon dependence is that our region and its local plants do “sour” very well. We are awash with tart, flavourful ingredients like … Continue reading.
Quick-pickling is simply cooking vegetables in vinegar, in contrast to traditional pickling methods that require fermentation or canning. Quick pickling is generally done to small pieces of vegetable, such as sliced onion or carrot, as opposed to large pieces like whole cucumbers. The cut vegetables, raw or par-cooked, are exposed to a hot brine of vinegar, sugar, and salt, then left to infuse for a greater or lesser amount of time depending on the vegetable and how it has been cut. Since the vegetables have not been fermented or extensively heat-treated, the pickles are not shelf-stable and need to be stored in the fridge. The specific process changes from vegetable to vegetable, but I always use the following recipe for … Continue reading.
I’m strongly considering printing and laminating the above photo so I can carry it in my wallet and periodically offer it as evidence.
I’ll start at the beginning. In some ways I hate quinoa. Not quinoa the food, but quinoa the fad. Like açaí berries, quinoa is a “super food” promoted by nutritionists as if everything that your body needs to be healthy could not possibly be grown in the province in which you live, but needs to come from the canopy of the Amazon rainforest, or an Andean plateau.
On the other hand, from a strictly gastronomical point of view I really like quinoa. It’s tasty: it has a nutty flavour, sometimes verging on peanut butter, often with a … Continue reading.
Originally posted July 4, 2013. Reposted for Eat Alberta.
When I was little there were only two types of cheese: cheddar and marble cheddar. This was in Ontario, in the 1990s. Most meals were accompanied by a small plate of pickles and orange cheddar.
Anemic, industrial versions of two classic French cheeses were my first glimpses into the wider world of cheese. One was “Brie”, and the other “Goat cheese.” Both were vapid compared to the samples I would eat later in life, but I remember them because they were so different from the blockish, pressed, firm-textured cheddar of my youth. They were both bland and comforting, yet they both had very interesting textures in their own rights: the Brie … Continue reading.
This post was originally published on December 3, 2010. Re-posted today for Eat Alberta. I chose buffalo jerky for this year’s Eat Alberta tasting board because of the significant role that similar preparations played in the history of this province. Please read The Story of the Buffalo for more information.
Jerky is my nominee for best representation of southern Alberta by a single food preparation. This is partly because of its historical connection to the buffalo hunt and ranching, but also because it takes advantage of the arid landscape. In dry regions jerky can safely be made on hot days, when the temperature is around 30°C, simply by leaving the sliced meat to hang outside.[1]
This past weekend we held the fourth annual Eat Alberta conference at NAIT here in Edmonton. Eat Alberta is a one-day conference designed to teach Albertans how to find and prepare local food. We do this with hands-on kitchen sessions, classroom presentations, and critical tasting sessions, all of which are led by local farmers, chefs, and other food experts.
At the end of the day guests are given a tasting board that features some notable regional products. I’ve prepared these boards for the last three years, and this year I promised to reveal the details of how each component was made. Over the next week I’ll be posting recipes and procedures for each of the following:
This week I am giving a presentation at Eat Alberta about how to make cider. I’m not an expert by any leap of the imagination: I’ve only been making cider for three seasons, and truthfully everything (everything!) that I know I learned from Kevin and Chad and a handful of websites.
The preamble to my presentation is called “Why Cider Matters”, and I thought I’d share the gist of it with you.
Backyard cider-making is the single most exciting movement within our local food scene. A bold statement, I know. Of all the burgeoning activities related to food production – gardening, fishing, visiting farms, joining CSAs, foraging mushrooms, hunting – cider-making may be the most accessible, and the most … Continue reading.
Frankly most sprouts aren’t too flavourful, but I think they’re good for the spring shoulder season, when we’re starting to crave fresh vegetables, but nothing has popped up in the garden yet. When we pull out the seed box to sow the veggies that will be transplanted, we also make some clover or alfalfa sprouts. Clover seems especially appropriate around St. Patrick’s Day. Both are great accompaniments to the Easter ham.
How to Make Sprouts at Home, from Seeds. You can buy or make proper “sprouting bags”. We use one quart mason jars and cheesecloth.
Soak the seeds at room temperature overnight. Two tablespoons of small seeds like clover or alfalfa will
Leberkäse is an emulsified sausage mixture that is shaped into a block, baked, and sliced to order. Picture hot dog filling, only instead of stuffed into casings it’s packed into a loaf pan.
