clever gretel
Across the former Yugoslavia grilling meat (more specifically, red meat) outdoors is something of an obsession. So much so that in the city of Leskovac in south Serbia, every September they celebrate rostiljada – a week-long festival where the streets are closed off and dedicated entirely to the rostilj or barbecue. Until I visited Shepherd […]
Pierogi have always been a strictly annual affair in my family. On Christmas the whole household would be involved in the venture: dad would make the stuffing, mum would knead the dough, and my siblings would cut the dough into circles and before we would all fill and seal the dumplings. We would eat the […]
If you promise not to tell anyone, I will confess that when it comes to my favourite dumpling dishes, it is not Polish pierogi, Russian pielmieni, or Polish uszka, that truly rule my heart, but baos. As far as I am concerned, these fluffy Chinese steamed buns filled with meaty or sweet goodness are the […]
Said to have begun in China around 7000 BCE, fermentation is one of the oldest food preparation techniques. It involves the adding of bacteria or yeast to spur a breakdown of organic substances into smaller ones. Meanwhile, pickling – which entails preserving foods often in salty brines or vinegars – has roots that go back […]