Almost everyone heard of quiche Lorraine, most of you, dear readers, have probably eaten or even made it themselves. However, do you know that what is usually served as quiche Lorraine is not a proper one? A true quiche Lorraine should have neither cheese nor onions in it. It is mentioned by name at least…
Saltimbocca alla Romana in Trastevere (Rome) 🇮🇹
Some of you, my dear readers, might be puzzled about Italian food featuring in this Orient Express themed food blog. Notwithstanding, Italy has the same right to appear in it as has Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia – all of these countries lie on the Simplon Orient Express route, and Hercule Poirot travelled with a Simplon…
Manisa kebabı 🇹🇷
There are numerous variations on the topic grilled meat + yoghurt + tomato sauce + bread in Turkish cuisine, each with a specific name. The best known is probably İskender (kebap), where the meat is a döner and additionally to the basic combination you get melted butter poured over this very yummy, very non-slimming delicacy…..
Units of Measure – Temperature 🧮
A recipe says bake at 175 degrees Celsius, but your oven temperature units are Fahrenheit, to what temperature should you set it? Unfortunately, different temperature units of measure are not proportional, so it is not possible to state a number you just have to multiply or divide with to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit. The…
Ričet 🇭🇷
Ričet, as it is called in Croatia and Slovenia, or Ritschert in Austria (and Bavaria), is a thick soup (Croatian: varivo, German: Eintopf) from the mentioned countries. As a Croatian, I will describe the Croatian version, but as far as I know it is practically identical with the Slovenian and Austrian one. The essential ingredients…
Midye dolma (not only) in Kadıköy 🇹🇷
Stuffed mussels, midye dolma, are a popular street food in İstanbul and all along the Aegean coast of Turkey. I have enjoyed lots of them in Bodrum and İzmir too, but my first midye dolma I had in Kadıköy (one of the parts of Istanbul on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, best known as…
Atom meze 🇹🇷
Meze, an essential class of Turkish food, are something between hors d’oeuvres and tapas, and come in many varieties. Atom is not among the most common ones, but it is my personal favourite. It is heavenly for anyone into hot food (and those who prefer it mild should better avoid it 😂). It is very…
Units of measure – Weight (mass) 🧮
Just as for lengths, this blog also uses metric units of measure – mostly gram (g) and kilogram (kg, 1 kg = 1000 g) – to describe weight (in fact, mass, see note at the bottom of this page). Btw, many recipes improperly use gr to denote gram. The abbreviation gr however is the unit…
Frittatensuppe, an Austrian classic 🇦🇹
I never was a fan of soups. From my earliest childhood memories on, I associate soups with being ill and having to stay home. Thanks to the corona-pandemic, I am forced to stay home lots and even if I am not ill, I feel so, thus it is time to try cooking a soup from…
Christmas eve in Croatia: cod is obligatory! 🇭🇷
One of the most firmly held Croatian traditions, observed by catholics and non-catholics alike, is to eat cod (stockfish) on Christmas eve (December 24th). In most cases it is prepared as a brudet (from Italian brodetto), made from dried cod, with potatoes. But why, oh why? Cod is not a native fish in the Adriatic…
Cooker on the Orient Express 