Soft whole wheat pretzels and saudade

There is one thing that unites us all, wherever we are from.

I am not going to get all philosophical or peace-and-lovey on you (not that I don’t appreciate and share all those thoughts and feelings, I do, really). It is just that I am writing of something a tad more…well, mundane. Food.

I mean, after all this blog is called Nuts about food, not Nuts about Seneca.

So, back to food, the thing that unites us all, whether we are expats, have moved just a few hundred miles or simply just grown up is what I will call food saudade.

Don’t deny it, I know you have experienced it.

The feeling of wanting something you love badly, something that isn’t available where you live. You know, like the bagels from that corner store you used to eat in the morning before you moved to the West Coast, or NY pizza, because the pizza here just isn’t the same, probably because of the water. Or the delicious biscuits they served pretty much anywhere in restaurants back home, and while we are at it let’s face it, Yankees have no idea how to make corn bread. I have watched American expats look for a decent burger all over Europe, I mean how hard is it to make a meat patty and stick it between a bun? I have heard Italians dreaming of their nonna’s cappelletti on the other side of the ocean. In my family things get even more convoluted: Germans living in Spain, the land of Pata Negra, missing the prosciutto they used to eat in Italy; Americans living in Italy missing smoked eel from the days back in Sweden. And so on and so forth.

But never is saudade more pronounced than when what you are missing is a food from your childhood. A taste, a smell that brings you right back to a time when your knees were scraped and your toes were stubbed from running around outdoors barefoot. It jolts you back to a time when you watched grandma cooking, when being tucked into bed at night was the safest feeling in the world. Maybe that recipe was made or shared with someone special that is no longer around.

We all get that look, those glazed over eyes, when describing something we love from some other part of the world or from the past. Through blogging I have realized that a lot of those things we can’t buy can be replicated in our very own kitchen. I still jealously stash away pecans from the States and big bags of poppy seeds from Germany, because some things you just can’t make, but I have learned that there are more things you can make from scratch than things you can’t. You just have to overcome the fear and push your boundaries.

I happen to be one of those New Yorkers who misses bagels and soft pretzels. I still haven’t made my own bagels but the other day I decided to attempt soft pretzels. It turns out they are easier to make than you would imagine. Granted, it is a little time consuming and requires a few steps so don’t make them late on a Friday night like I did. They looked pretty and were really good when I took them out of the oven, but I think I didn’t let them cool off enough before storing them in an airtight container. The next morning they had gotten a bit soggy and the salt had melted. Nothing a few minutes in the oven couldn’t solve, but not great for my pictures. So even if they feel completely cool to the touch, wait longer before storing them. They keep up to 3 days.  

Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking.

Homemade Kê-chiap (better known as ketchup or catsup)

The thing I love about blogging is that you discover all kinds of useless interesting facts.

Did you know that even ketchup was originally invented by the Chinese?

In the 17th century, according to Wikipedia, the Chinese invented a concoction of pickled fish/sea food and spices pronounced kôe-chiap or kê-chiap (鮭汁, simply the word for brine), reminiscent of Asian fish sauces and the various popular condiments of Roman times, among which garum, made from fermented fish, spices and vinegar. It found its way to modern day Malaysia, where it was called kĕchap, and then picked up by the British, who were already using it as a household staple by the mid-eighteenth century. Tomato only started being used about a century later and tomato ketchup was important in changing early Americans' perception of this fruit, considered poisonus by many. For a long time ketchup was the most popular way to use tomatoes, as people often still believed they could not be consumed raw. Sugar was a later addition and salt was originally used in great quantities for its preservative qualities. It was a popular condiment, made in most households despite being quite timeconsuming. The first industrially made catsups were thus very successful.

Back to me. The other day I wanted to make some burgers. After buying everything we needed for our meal, I realized we were almost out of ketchup. There was no way I was going back to the supermarket with a toddler in tow to pick up a bottle. I decided the time had finally come to try making my own. I decided to use a recipe I found in the Joy of Cooking.

Now, I was making this on the spur of the moment with what I had in the fridge. Eyeing my ripe tomatoes and my red pepper (hey, how lucky was it that I actually had one!) I thought I would be able to make just enough for our meal. I have very little experience with canning (another kitchen phobia of mine), so I was more than happy to make a small amount for immediate consumption. I also didn't have all the spices required and I had to approximately calculate the proportions according to my weight in tomatoes in grams (my math sucks!), so it was a real experiment.

The result was pretty good. The texture was perfect, if a little less liquid (note to self) when compared to the leftover store-bought ketchup we had, and the flavor and color more vibrant. The difference in taste was noticeable when sampled right after the Heinz we had in our fridge. We are so used to the oversweet, tangy flavor of industrial ketchup, that it is addictive. The spices in the homemade stuff had a more distinctive flavor, not so overshadowed by the sugar, which takes some getting used to.

All in all it was definitely a success and very satisfying, sort of like when you make your own cheese, butter or vanilla extract. It was quicker than I thought it would be and you have the added bonus of knowing what you are putting into it. The next time I will try using the same spices used in the original recipes and balancing them differently (I went a little heavy on the cinnamon because I didn't have a stick) to get a closer match but let's face it, the great thing about making your own catsup is that you can decide how sweet, sour or spicy you want to make it. The whole point is that it is similar, yet different from the industrial product.

I am posting the original recipe and my changes so you can play around with the ingredients and decide what you like best. Have fun!