1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (95 page)

The rustic sausage-like meat, with an array of fixings.

Smart grillers the world over ought to consider adding
ćevapčići
to their repertoire. Virtually ubiquitous in their native lands (and understandably so), the skinless homemade sausage-like treats are economical, quick-cooking, and delicious. Enhanced with garlic, black pepper, and hot, dried red chiles, they are most often grilled over charcoal but are sometimes seared on well-oiled iron griddles. To gentle their hefty flavor, thyme or rosemary may be added before the ground meat is formed into chubby sausage shapes and allowed to mellow for an hour or two prior to cooking. As the meat sizzles away, it acquires a lusty patina, juices mingling with spices for succulent results.

Meats vary depending on country and cook. The Jewish-Romanian version called
karnatzlach
will always be made of beef from the forequarters of the steer for reasons of kashruth. In Slovenia, it might be a combination of mutton and beef, while in Romania some suet is considered desirable for the moisture and flavor it adds to the
mititei
, made solely of beef. Lamb might be the meat of choice in Greece, and in Serbia a hunter’s version uses venison and rabbit.

Regardless of where the ćevapčići is made, accompaniments tend to follow a pattern: crispy fried potatoes, sauerkraut, cooked red or green cabbage, the eggplant-sweet pepper spread
ajvar
, and a rainbow of pickled vegetables such as red peppers, green tomatoes, and small bronze cucumbers, all piled high on what’s traditionally a wooden plate. Not easy to navigate, but well worth the trouble.

Where:
In Sarajevo
, Cevabdzinica Zeljo, tel 387/33-538-426;
in New York
, for karnatzlach, Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse, tel 212-673-0330,
sammysromanian.com
;
in Queens, NY
, Bucharest Restaurant, tel 718-389-2300,
bucharestrestaurant.com
;
in Chicago
, Restaurant Sarajevo, tel 773-275-5310,
restaurantsarajevo.com
.
Retail and mail order:
In Queens
, for mititei, Parrot Coffee at three locations,
parrotcoffee.com
(search mititei).
Further information and recipes:
Planet Barbecue
by Steven Raichlen (2012), see Balkan Grilled Veal and Pork “Burgers”; for Albanian and Romanian versions,
The Balkan Cookbook
by Vladimir Mirodan (1989);
The Balkan Cookbook
edited by Snezana Pejakovic and Jelka Venisnik-Eror (1987);
Yugoslav Cookbook
by Spasenija-Pata Markovic (1963); for karnatzlach,
From My Mother’s Kitchen
by Mimi Sheraton (1979);
findbgfood.com
;
food.com
(search yugoslavian cevapcici; cevapcici with paprika lecho; balkan country sausage).
See also:
Wursts to Walk With
;
Sauna Sausage
.

A cake with a secret jolt of calcium and magnesium.

It always seems a lucky break to find a mass of poppy seeds encrusted on a bagel, a bialy, a Jewish Sabbath challah, a cookie, or a braided yeasty coffee cake. The tiny, dark seeds of
Papaver somniferum
add a playful needley crunch and a pleasantly smoky, earthy, and mysteriously nutty flavor that enhances every food they grace.

From the Sumerians to the Egyptians to the Greeks and Romans, the ancients knew the charms and the powers of these tiny seeds, relying on them as a cure for insomnia, pain, and assorted stomach troubles. Now, of course, we know why. Poppies and their seeds contain the opium that can be transformed into morphine and heroin. If opiates are desired, the seeds are harvested when they are green and their pods contain liquid; when kitchen-bound, they are harvested fully ripe, after the seed pods have dried. Even so, just a small sprinkling of these merry seeds on a bagel can result in a positive drug test, so be warned—if you expect to be tested, opt for a croissant.

Poppy seeds grow in various parts of the world and come in a few colors. In India, white seeds are prized for their oil. Although jet-black seeds are generally preferred throughout Europe for their dramatic appearance, blue-gray Dutch seeds have the best flavor.

In eastern Europe, Germany, and Austria, black poppy seeds are specially prepped to fill airy dumplings, rolled yeast cakes, the inspired Austro-Hungarian strudel, or the triangular pastries called hamantaschen with which Jews celebrate Purim. Cooked or soaked in milk or water and then ground to near paste, either with special grinders or mortar and pestle, they are then mixed with honey or sugar, cinnamon, and cloves to add a mystical richness to baked goods of all sorts. Unadulterated and whole, they are equally tantalizing tossed into buttered wide noodles or mixed with melted butter as a topping for hot Czech prune dumplings.

Retail and mail order:
In Chicago, Milwaukee, and two other locations
, The Spice House,
thespicehouse.com
.
Mail order:
Penzeys Spices, tel 800-741-7787,
penzeys.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The New York Times Jewish Cookbook
edited by Linda Amster (2003);
George Lang’s Cuisine of Hungary
by George Lang (1994);
Spice
by Ana Sortun (2006);
easteuropeanfood.about.com
(search top eastern european poppy seed recipes).
Tip:
Because poppy seeds contain oil, they turn rancid if they are not stored in a dark, cool place. Purchase seeds from markets frequented by eastern Europeans who know their poppy seeds and buy them in bulk. Ask to taste a few—these very expensive seeds should be bright and sharp in color without any traces of webby dustiness, and they should taste nutty and sweet. Avoid those sold bottled on market shelves.
See also:
Hamantaschen
;
Mohn Kichel
.

Rich, creamy, and useful.

How did Bedřich Smetana, the composer considered the father of Czech opera, feel about his last name? In a country that shares the rest of eastern Europe’s passion for that thick and ethereally creamy dairy product, sour cream, or
smetana
, one can only imagine that it was a badge of pride.

Surely the eastern Europeans—as well as the Germans, the Austrians, and the Ashkenazic Jews who emigrated from those countries—are onto something. “Sour cream with everything” might well be their motto, by which is meant the thickest, richest, most piquant cream soured and thickened by its own
Lactobacillus
, sometimes with the help of other bacteria such as
Streptococcus
and
Leuconostoc.
Rich in protein and calcium, and delicious enough to be a dessert all by itself, sour cream works magic on all sorts of berries, bananas, and peaches, perhaps enhanced with a sprinkle of brown sugar or a drizzle of golden honey.

Best when it is made with full-fat milk, sour cream also enhances countless savory courses. On native ground it is combined with hot boiled potatoes, herring, pot cheese, or a colorful mix of chopped scallions, cucumbers, and red radishes for a light lunch or summer supper. Such a meal might be followed by a plateful of blintzes (see
listing
) or
palatschinken
(see
Schokoladen Topfenpalatschinken
), decked out with sour cream. The stuff is also whisked into sauces as a thickening and refining agent. The canny cook who plans to use it buys twice as much as the recipe calls for, allowing for irresistible tastes as the preparations progress.

Stores’ refrigerator shelves now abound with versions of sour cream containing less butterfat, many resorting to thickeners, such as guar gum and the natural seaweed carrageen, to make up for its loss. By law in the United States, full sour cream must contain 18 to 20 percent butterfat, an amount that accounts for creamy drifts and a luxurious mouthfeel as the subtle, sour-salty, and quintessentially dairy flavors register on the palate. There is good souring and bad, and sour cream is not beyond spoiling. Once a container is opened it ripens quickly, and if kept for several days the sour cream should be thoroughly stirred so that any liquid that has separated out is recombined.

Further information and recipes:
The New York Times Jewish Cookbook
edited by Linda Amster (2003);
George Lang’s Cuisine of Hungary
by George Lang (1994);
saveur.com
(search romanian polenta with sour cream; sour cream ice cream with strawberries and brown sugar; old-fashioned sour cream donuts).
Tip:
Most reliable brands in the U.S. include Daisy, Hood, and Breakstone. When buying sour cream, be sure to check the expiration date. If cooking with sour cream, know that it curdles at the boiling point. To avoid that, blend it with a little flour—about 2 teaspoons per cup of cream—before heating, unless the sauce it will go into already contains some flour.
See also:
Schav
;
Pickled Herring
;
Transylvanian Baked Sauerkraut with Sausages
;
Pelmeni
;
Pierogi
.

Roses are not the only edible treasures of Bulgaria’s Valley of the Roses (see
listing
). The walnuts grown in the region’s forests are almost as highly prized throughout the Balkan countries for their woodsy flavor and crackling texture, and they find their buttery, crunchy way into dishes generally not seen elsewhere.

Sumptuous nut tortes layered with walnut buttercream and flaky, crisp, phyllo-wrapped pastries may be expected, but a walnut and egg salad is more unusual.
Aselila
is a supple blend of finely crushed walnuts, chopped onions sautéed in butter to a soft, golden puree, and finely chopped hard-cooked eggs. Seasoned with only salt, white pepper, and a drop or two of lemon juice, and served at room temperature, this amplified egg salad is especially good on slices of cucumbers, endive leaves, or thin toast.

Tarator
can be a traditional Balkan soup or, in thicker form, a sauce, both of which beg to be rediscovered as cutting edge. A restorative, cold elixir, it combines whipped yogurt with diced or grated cucumbers, minced dill, garlic crushed with coarse salt, lacings of sunflower oil, and a topping of crisp chopped walnuts, with an ice cube or two added to each serving.

Scordolea
is the surprise dressing you might find enhancing cold shellfish or chicken breasts. Here, the walnuts have been pounded or blended into a paste and then stirred into a little milk-soaked white bread seasoned with crushed garlic and lemon juice. Walnut oil, sometimes blushed with a pinch of sweet or hot paprika, is whisked in to form the mayonnaise-like emulsion similar to the Turkish sauce prepared for Circassian chicken (see
Çerkez Tavuğu
).