William Penn Life, 2005 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-10-01 / 10. szám
The Hungarian Kitchen with Főszakács Béla The Best Recipe FÁRADJON BE A MAGYAR KONYHÁBA. Was that a great picnic or what? It was my first time in five years because school always starts before the picnic, and I am obligated to be at Harvard for the first weekend. This year, school started on the 13th, and yours truly finally made it. A good time was had by all that day. We should all be proud that our fraternal society chooses to have a picnic where all members can come and be a big family for the day. I came all the way from New Hampshire and wasn't disappointed. My job was to make sure the food Pasta and noodles have a tendency to stick together whether hot or cold. To make your pasta or noodles clingfree, just loosen with a little sprinkle of cold water and loosen with your fingers or a wooden spoon. The water dissipates the starch on the pasta or noodles making them slide away from each other. To keep hot pasta from sticking together, toss lightly in a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil. Not only does the oil make the pasta non stick, it also adds flavor to the dish. line did not run out. The time went by so fast, I didn't even get a chance to sample all the food. Oh well, there is always next year. I will admit to having a few hot dogs because they were easy to gobble on the run. I didn't get a chance to have a langos, and they looked great. What I really wanted to do was go to the bacon fry under the tent at the Lakeside Lodge. I remember having a bacon fry with my grandparents at the Jersey shore. Who knew that 40 years later I would still enjoy all the memories? I am grateful I belong to a fraternal association that can provide events like this for the membership. The more support we give the picnic, the better we can make it in the future. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to send them into the Hungarian Kitchen and I will make sure the right people hear what you have to say. Last month, I talked about the cookbook and the amount of recipes it will have. This month, I'm going to continue with another lesson on recipes and what makes them perfect. Get out your notebooks and pencils as we go into the kitchen and work on the perfect recipe. RECIPE: a set of instructions or formula for making a hot or cold food dish from various ingredients. The recipe or formula makes it possible to recreate a dish made by someone other than the original creator. The more details and specifics in a recipe, the higher the success rate you will have. A recipe lets a chef make immortality of his creativity. Let's say you have put together the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and want everyone to enjoy your cookies. You could make cookies the rest of your life feeding everyone in your neighborhood, city or state. We all know that is not possible and would never happen. So how could you accomplish this task without doing all the cooking? Just write the perfect recipe that others can follow and prepare on their own. Now let's go over what makes up a perfect recipe. Every recipe should contain these four items: name, yield, ingredients and method of preparation. Name describes what's in the recipe, or refers to the origin or has a generic meaning. "Chicken & Dumplings" tells you what is in the recipe. "Hungarian Goulash" tells you the origin. "Gravy" is a generic term that could be made for chicken, beef, pork or veal. Yield lets you know how many servings you can expect. This number can be changed for lesser or greater amounts without changing the integrity of the recipe or its outcome. If you're expecting 12 for dinner and the recipe yields only eight portions, you had better order pizza or hope not everyone is hungry. Once again, being the perfect host, you want to have more than enough food. Checking the yield guarantees just that. Ingredients. This is the most critical part of our recipe or formula. You must be very specific with the items and the amounts. Nothing should be left vague or to the cooks imagination. If a recipe calls for onions, it should say what kind of onions, how to prepare the onions and how much we Practical Pointer When you’re chopping or cutting garlic cloves, wet the sides of your knife with a moist paper towel. The pieces of garlic will slide off easier and not stick to the knife. Dipping your fingertips in water will also keep them from sticking together. 8 William Penn Life, October 2005
