I sure am sorry I didn’t think to post this recipe for International Talk Like a Pirate Day – I just missed it, on September 19. Ajvar is pronounced aye-var, and it’s awfully fun to say it with a little nautical sneer and swagger. Arrrr!

This is still an apt time of year to talk about this recipe, when the last of the eggplants and tomatoes are ripening. Somewhere between a spread and a condiment, ajvar is a Balkan staple and was at least partly responsible for my substantial weight gain in the years we were living in the former Yugoslavia. You can buy ajvar at almost any grocery store there, and we discovered that the uglier the packaging, the better the product. My personal favorites generally came from Macedonia, but homemade is really the gold standard. It’s not hard to make, I discovered, but messy. The smell of peppers roasting (often just cooked directly on the stove burners) is for me one of the characteristic aromas of the Balkans, just a whiff and you’re there.

As for the eating, my personal favorite is to use it rather like ketchup, on sandwiches. When Valerian and I were first living together, we bought a little sandwich press, and I proceeded to toast up many, many grilled cheese sandwiches with ajvar, to the point where it was getting hard to button my pants. Oof. I recommend a little more moderation, but ajvar really does perk up a sandwich, makes a great topping for crackers, and could easily work as a pasta sauce rather like pesto if you’re so inclined. The sweet peppers contrast with the very slight bitterness of the eggplant, all playing against a smoky backdrop – it’s a savory trip to Southeastern Europe, right there.

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Ajvar

The usual red bell peppers in the US are not quite the same as the peppers you’ll get in Europe, but they work fine in this recipe; if you can find a more typical European pepper, like Pritamin or the others mentioned in Valerian’s pepper guide, use those. Ajvar is often made with hot peppers, too, if you like things a little spicy.

Ingredients

Makes about 2 cups of ajvar

• 4 large red peppers
• 2 medium eggplants
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt & pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 450° F (230° C) and line a large baking sheet with foil.
• Pierce the eggplants’ skins a few times with a fork or tip of a knife. Place them and the peppers on the baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes or until the skins are blackened in spots and starting to shrivel. Be bold and let them get well cooked, the smokey flavor will be your payoff.
• Put the peppers in a large bowl and cover with a plate, then set them aside.
• Allow the eggplants to cool, then peel back the skins and scoop out the flesh into a medium bowl or the bowl of a food processor. Try to leave out the seeds, although this is very messy and difficult.
• When the peppers have cooled, peel off the skins and discard. Also toss out the seeds, core and stem. Roughly chop the peppers and add them to the bowl with the eggplant.
• Grate or finely mince the garlic, and add about half to start – since it’s raw, go easy at first and taste to see how you like it.
• Using an immersion blender or food processor, puree the mixture to a thick, still somewhat chunky consistency. Season to taste with more garlic and the salt and pepper, and stir it all together.
• Keeps in the fridge for at least a week; this is best a day or two after it’s made.

 

Last weekend I came across a competition on Chow for the best original muffin recipe. Now, I love muffins, quickbreads, that whole kind of snack/brunch category is right up my alley. (Remember pancakes, anyone?) But I don’t have a favorite recipe, I usually just throw together what’s at hand along the lines of a basic muffin recipe and enjoy the results, so I don’t know why I was seized with the competitive spirit and determined to enter the contest.

We buy a loaf of Struan bread almost every week – it’s just a prepacked sliced loaf made by Brother Juniper’s Bakery, perfect for morning toast or lunchbox sandwiches. A couple of times I’ve made my own, following Peter Reinhardt’s version in Artisan Breads Every Day, and it’s delicious, but it’s hard to make the timing work to end up with a nice fresh loaf at breakfast, which is when I would like it most. But muffins, those can be whipped up in a few minutes and out of the oven in just a few more, and aha! I had my original muffin recipe.

Granted, dashing off a new combination the day before the contest closed doesn’t quite live up to the “favorite muffin recipe” challenge, so maybe it’s no surprise it didn’t make the finals. I have to say, though, this is a sleeper. On its own, it’s basic without being plain: the texture from the oats, cornmeal and rice give it a fabulous crumb, and there’s something almost savory about it, past the sweetness of the honey and brown sugar. With a jam center, though, you have a surprise finale, and I think you wouldn’t go wrong tossing in some fruit or nuts as well. I may not have gotten to the second round of the contest, but a new and delicious recipe is no loss!

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Struan Muffins

Yes, this recipe calls for cooked brown rice. White rice is fine! Next time you make rice (or even get some with your takeout), just put a couple of spoonfuls in a bag and freeze it, then you’re ready to bake any time.

Ingredients

Makes 12 muffins

• 1¼ cups flour
• cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons cooked brown rice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• ¼ cup jam (optional)

Method

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
• Whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cornmeal, cooked rice, and brown sugar in a medium bowl.
• In a large measuring cup, beat together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and honey until well mixed. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and allow to sit for about 1 minute for ingredients to hydrate.
• Spoon into prepared muffin pan. For jam centers, spoon about 1 tablespoon of the batter into each muffin cup and drop a teaspoon of jam on top, then cover with the remaining batter. Sprinkle the tops with poppy seeds.
• Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring the muffins to a rack to cool completely.

Since the kids (mysteriously) don’t love the oatmeal pancakes as much as I do, I thought I’d try using the same method but with a smaller proportion of barley flakes than in the original oatmeal version. “I like regular pancakes better” was still the refrain at the breakfast table this morning, but I was really happy with how these turned out — and, it should be noted, no one left any behind for the freezer.

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Barley pancakes, adapted from Orangette (in turn adapted from the Inn at Fordhook Farm)

So you do have to plan ahead for these pancakes again, since the barley flakes soak in buttermilk overnight, but the result is fluffy, tender and has just enough bite to be interesting without being heavy.

Ingredients

Makes about 10 medium pancakes

• 1½ cups buttermilk, divided
• ¾ cup barley flakes
• ¾ cup flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbs butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for greasing the pan

Method

• The night before, stir together one cup of the buttermilk with the barley flakes in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.
• When you are ready to cook, stir together the flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs together with the remaining half-cup buttermilk and melted butter (don’t worry if the butter forms lumps), then stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold in the soaked barley and mix until everything is combined.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Once it warms up, coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of butter or oil.
• Using a ladle or muffin scoop, drop about ¼ cup of batter onto the pan. If it’s very thick and doesn’t spread a bit, stir in a little more buttermilk to the batter.
• Cook each pancake about three minutes on the first side, turning when bubbles form on the surface and the edges start to look cooked/dry. Cook about three more minutes, then regrease the pan and ladle out more batter.
• Serve warm with maple syrup, or eat hot from the pan with your fingers!

This is the kind of thing you throw together when your fruit trees are producing more than you can manage, or if you’ve gone a little crazy at the farmers’ market. Back in Slovakia we have an orchard of nearly 30 little fruit trees, but here in California we have just one rather bedraggled nectarine tree. It miraculously produced about 8 or 10 nectarines,

but then something took a single bite out of most of them, leaving only  a few untouched. Sigh. It’s  funny that here in the suburbs we have more trouble with wildlife than we did in the wide open spaces of Central Europe.

ANYWAY. Pair a not-too-sweet cake with your favorite fruit and you’ve got bublanina, a Czechoslovak summer classic (although I’ve been known to make it with canned fruit for a taste of sunshine any time). This is a very simple recipe, and infinitely flexible – try adding a little lemon zest, or a swirl of jam, or anything that takes your fancy.

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Bublanina – fruity snack cake

Almost any kind of soft fruit works here; we usually stick with stone fruit such as plums, peaches, or cherries; berries also work, although they will kind of melt into the cake. Apples and pears may not cook through in the short time it takes to bake the cake itself. I like to sprinkle a couple teaspoons of demerara or other coarse sugar over the top before baking for a little crunch.

Ingredients

Makes one 9×13″ rectangular cake, or two 8″ rounds

• 6 Tbs/85 g butter
• 1 rounded cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2½ C flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• About 1 cup fruit, cut into chunks

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 C. Grease and flour a 9×13″ pan and set it aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until fluffly, about 2 minutes.
• Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing gently until just combined. Don’t overmix or the cake will be tough – the batter will be quite stiff and doughy.
• Gently spread the batter into the prepared pan, and then press the fruit into the surface. Be generous, the batter expands quite a lot so you can use more fruit than you think.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when touched. Slice and serve.

We’re recruiting for the Emperor’s Crumbs Army on facebook. Don’t worry, this isn’t the draft; it’s a place to exchange recipes, photos, suggestions and more. We’re even offering an incentive! Anyone who becomes a member of the group Emperors Crumbs Army will be entered to win a selection of  classic Czecho-Slovak treats.

The winner will enjoy crisp wafers with various fillings, the weird and wonderful “soy stick”, unforgettable “Romanca”, indulgent chocolate “Fidorka” and more. You can bet we’ll be stocking up on these delicacies ourselves when we pack our bags for the big move to the US next month. So raise your butter-knife high and join up! The winner will be selected on March 12th, 2010.

The second competition is a bit more involved but it is worth every effort. Try one of our recipes and make a photo or a video. Post it on any photo/video hosting site like flickr, smugmug, YouTube, or vimeo, add the tag emperorscrumbs.com, and in the description of the photo put a link to the recipe. You can enter as many photos/videos as you want, just link to your creations in a comment here so we know where to find them.  We will pick the best submission by March 19th. Along with the amazing and nutritious prize of a fabulous assortment of the best candies and wafers from Slovakia and Hungary, you and your artwork will enter history when we publish it here for everyone to admire!

It’s Carnival season around these parts – before Lent the shops are decorated, kids’ costumes are on the racks, and doughnuts – sišky, fánk, or vdolky, depending on where you are – seem to be frying up everywhere you turn. I’m not complaining, or maybe I am, because it’s hard to get enough exercise in the winter to work off those deep-fried treats; anyway, a warm sugary puff is a pretty delicious way to beat the snowbound blues.

While I was researching recipes, I found most of them call for filling the doughnuts with jam after you fry them, using a piping tool. That was definitely more trouble than I’m willing to go to these days, but I remembered seeing a method for filling doughnuts before frying. It was an unlikely source – a Martha Stewart recipe for Hanukkah sufganiyot – but it was effective.

A couple of the doughnuts puffed up around the seal, but none of them leaked any of their fillings of jam or nougat (like Nutella). Success!

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Filled doughnuts

Ingredients

Makes about 12 doughnuts

• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 2 oz/28 grams butter
• 3½ –3¾ cups/400-420 grams flour
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1/3 cup/60 grams sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, separated
• ½ cup jam and/or nougat (or even frosting) for the filling
• Additional sugar to roll the doughnuts in

Method

• Heat the milk and butter together in a small pan until just below boiling. Set aside and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• In a large bowl, stir together 3½ cups flour, yeast, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt. When milk mixture has cooled, add it to the dry ingredients along with the egg yolks (reserving the whites for later). Mix to form a soft dough, then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and still a bit sticky, adding more flour a tablespoon at a time if it’s very sticky. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours or until doubled (or in the fridge overnight).
• When dough has doubled, turn it out onto a lightly-floured surface and roll out to about 1/8″ (0.5 cm) thin. Using a 2″/7 cm round cookie cutter, cut out circles; you can re-roll the scraps until you use up all the dough; you should get about 24 circles.
• Brush a circle with the reserved egg whites, then place about a teaspoon of filling in the center of the circle. Top with another of the dough circles, and pinch along the edge to seal. Repeat until all the circles have been used.
• Cover the doughnuts with a cloth and leave for 20-30 minutes or just until puffed.
• In the meantime, heat about 2 cups/0.5 liter of vegetable oil in a large pan. When a scrap of dough sizzles when you drop it in, the oil is hot enough.
• Fry the doughnuts in batches, being careful not to overcrowd them. Cook each doughnut for about 3 minutes or until golden brown, then turn and cook another 3 minutes.
• Place the cooked doughnuts on a layer of paper towels to cool for a minute or two; while they are still warm, roll them in granulated sugar and serve.

Today we have a classic from Czech pubs. Utopenci is a jar of pickled hot dogs, onions and spices. It is a necessary addition to all czech pubs, usually to be found near the tap.

The name Utopenci has deep roots in the Czech soul and humor. Utopenci were invented 100 years ago by Mr.  Šamánek who owned a mill and a pub in Beroun. The pickled hot-dogs were very popular and his pub was famous throughout the country. As life has its irony, he drowned on day while fixing his mill’s wheel. Czechs love black humor and they named this classic Utopenci – Drowned men.

I decided to post this video, because it reflects the era of socialist pub culture, which spans the late 50′s until mid 90′s of the past century. This is the period when the pub was the gathering place of ordinary Czech men, and a very important institution where the men had to fight for social positions and made their most important life decisions. At 3:30 pm the men came home after a hard day’s work, and after a well-deserved lunch they would set off to the pub. They had to rush, because the pubs were open only until 9  pm. As soon as the last round was called (usually known by the fact that the smoke in the air could be cut by a dull knife)  they had a hard “orientational” walk home where they would be shouted at and beaten by pasta-roller wielding Czech women – the wives.  This song reflects the hardship of the Czech men. In this video you could see the hard fight for social acceptance, and of course the original beer tap which was in use in all pubs in Czechoslovakia for almost 50 years. As a sign of the sour future to come, the main character helps himself to utopenci. During this presentation you will be able to see how the air thickens as a sign that time is running out and slowly they have to start the journey home.

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Utopenci – Drowned Men

There are plenty of variations for utopenci. Originally, utopenci were not spciy so you can leave out the chili. The very basic recipe is the first 10 ingredients. After that you can use your imigination – some people add mustard or mustard seeds, horse radish, pickled cucumbers, Worcester sauce, olives etc. I have added tomatoes because Katy likes pickled tomatoes so why not?

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups water
• 1.5 cups 8% white vinegar
• 10 whole pepper corns
• 4pc allspice
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 pounds of thick hot-dogs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 5 cloves garlic
• 4-5 big onions
• 2 chilies
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups of sauerkraut

Method

• Mix the water, vinegar, salt, sugar and the spices and bring them to boil. Boil them for 2 minutes and then let the liquid cool.
• Peel the hot-dogs, chop the onions into circles. Peel the tomatoes. The trick with tomatoes is to put them into boiling water for 20 sec. After that it is very easy to pop them out of their skin.
• Prepare a 4.2 pint (2liter) jar. Start to layer onions, garlic, hot-dogs, sauerkraut, chilies. You can do few layers. On the top I have put the tomatoes.
• Once the vinegary liquid is lukewarm, pour it into the jar. Shake the jar in order to get rid of bubbles. Do not leave out the spices and put them into the jar. Seal the jar and put it into a cool place or fridge for 2 weeks. If you are going crazy you can eat them in one week, but two weeks is the etiquette. In the fridge they will take longer to mature.
• Serve with rustic bread and plenty of pilsner. Do not forget to invite me over.

Here, I have split the fight against hangover into 3 parts: before, during and after. If you fight on all fronts your chances are better. The before and during stages are the most effective. So here are my tips.

1. Before, or prevention.

Eat. Eat a lot of fatty and salty foods a few hours before you drink. Go to the party with a full stomach and eat more there. Try to avoid very spicy foods, and concentrate on fatty and salty (like you need an incentive!). If you plan to drink a lot, take 2000 mg (yes 2 thousand milligrams) of vitamin C. With this strategy the alcohol will be absorbed more slowly. You can also try the ultimate Hungarian party food, “zsiros kenyer” (“greased bread”). Use lard, goose fat or duck fat, spread it on a sliced of bread, add thinly sliced onion, finish with a sprinkle of salt and red paprika over the top.

2. During.

Sometimes it happens that I am drinking a good wine with my friends and realize that I forgot my friend’s wife’s name, tell a story which is not true or have problems walking to the restroom. In most cases I manage to realize that I am getting/got drunk. At this point I switch to drinking mineral water, preferably non-sparkling or lightly sparkling. And I drink a lot of it. I mean really a lot of it, 2-3-4 pints. As much as you can fit into you. You can do this also after a party, before you fall asleep. Just keep yourself awake, watch some TV and drink and drink. This is the most effective method of avoiding hangovers if you are already drunk. If you smoke, then drink 2x as much.

3. After

So you fall asleep. If you need to pee every hour during the night, you will be saved. You took my “drink mineral water” advice. Otherwise, you are doomed. You woke up with church bells ringing in your head, while the road workers are breaking concrete in your brain. I told you! Drink water before you go to bed! What to do with you? Well, it happens to the best of us and here is how you ease your pain with more pain.

the nice way

Go have a shower. Alternate ice cold with warm. Do it for 20 minutes. It works, puts you on your feet. Go have a walk. Drink non sparkling mineral water, you can add a little bit of salt. 2000mg of vitamin C might help. Pickles? Yes! Fermented pickles? Double YES! Coffee? no. rich chicken broth or vegetable broth? double yes. Although I have heard that coffee with lemon helps. I tried it. It did help to empty my stomach which was effective in its own (unpleasant) way…

the hair of the dog that bit you

If you really have to be ok next day, drink more alcohol. It will be hard to get it into your body, but in most of the cases it helps you with your hangover. I have to warn you! You will have a hangover, you just postpone it. Also you are shocking your body – this method gets rid of the symptoms, not the drunkenness. Basically you trick your body that you are drunk again. Do it the nice way. I am mentioning this way only because in Central Europe it is a popular way to get rid of a hangover.

I hope this helped. We wish you a great party and a happy New Year ! Please do not end up as the leader of one of the governmental parties in Slovakia.

It is time to drink yourself to death in order to celebrate the new year. At least that’s what we do in central Europe. Along with huge amounts of alcohol we also serve plenty of food and we blow ourselves up with firecrackers and fireworks.  We have a  saying: “as it is on New Year’s Day, so it will be all year”. Maybe that is why Hungary has one of the highest suicide rates and Slovaks and Czechs are heavy drinkers.

I have a few tips for you how to avoid hangovers or “still drunk” stages on New Year’s day, and also a description of a typical Central European sandwich.

One of the classics for any celebration is a sandwich. It is not a sandwich as the world knows it, two slices of bread with yummy things in between.  No, no. This one is open, fancy and full of anti-hangover properties. Here is how you should make it. We do not offer this sandwich only on New Year’s but also on any occation, including long meetings.

Take a slice of white bread, spread butter, add salami (not too spicy, rather fatty), add a slice of pickle, slice of a hard boiled egg, blob of mustard or ketchup or both,  grate cheese over it and you are set. Make hundreds of these and your New Year party will be great.  Bread, butter, salami, cheese will fill your stomach so the alcohol is absorbed more slowly (the fats will especially protect you). The egg yolk, pickle and mustard are full of vitamin C and minerals so they will help you a bit to avoid hangovers – a perfect snack for your party!

There is nothing fancy, nothing sophisticated about lángos. It is simple, greasy and so delicious that when Katy’s friend came from NYC for her second visit to Central Europe, she refused all fancy restaurants and asked for lángos.

Unfortunately, modern ideas about health are killing lángos stands. What rubbish! The deep fried dough is full of vitamin B, and the salty garlic water, which you spread over the lángos, is brimming with allicin. If you decide to eat it topped with cheese and sour cream, you get protein and calcium as well! Why, it’s practically health food.

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Langos

Ingredients

Makes about 6 large or 10 smaller langos

• 12 oz/330 grams floury potatoes
• 3 cups/400 grams flour, plus more for flouring your work surface
• 1 sachet (7 grams) instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/3 cups/3 deciliters milk
• Oil to deep fry
• —————————
• To serve:
• Garlic
• Sour cream
• Grated cheese (Emmental or another firm, mild cheese)

Method

• Peel, roughly chop and boil the potatoes. While they are cooking, stir together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
• When the potatoes are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork (it doesn’t matter if they start to fall apart a little), drain off the water and mash them while still hot. Add the milk and make as smooth a paste as you can – don’t worry if there are small lumps.
• Stir the potato mixture into the dry ingredients; when it is well combined, turn it out onto a clean surface and knead for a few minutes (you could also use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment). The dough will be soft and sticky; if you find it too sticky to work with, add a little flour, but don’t worry too much. Place the dough in a large, clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk. You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight at this point, if you prefer.
• When you are ready to fry the langos, heat about 2 cups/half a liter of oil over medium heat in a pan (we used our big non-stick skillet). While it is getting to frying temperature, you can prepare the langos. Flour your work surface liberally, and have more flour ready to sprinkle on the dough. For each langos, scoop out about ½ cup of the dough and blob it onto the work surface. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough and pat it out to about ½ an inch/2 cm thick. If you use plenty of flour it won’t be too sticky, I promise!
• The oil is hot enough when you toss in a tiny scrap of dough and it bubbles fiercely. Carefully place the langos in the oil one at a time (2 might fit in a large pan, but don’t crowd them) and cook about 3 minutes or until the bottom is a deep golden color. Turn with a fork or tongs and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all langos are cooked..
• To serve, traditionally the langos is brushed with a mixture of garlic paste and water or oil. Crush a couple of cloves of garlic in a press or using a microplane grater, and mix with about 2 Tbs water or olive oil.
• On top of this, if you dare, spread sour cream and sprinkle with grated cheese. Enjoy!