Text 26042, 100 rader
Skriven 2015-04-16 00:11:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: standards 519
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 ML> Seldom if ever have I encountered a bad Popeye's. I've
 DS> In our Laurel runs for Popeyes, we do favor one over the other.  The
 DS> Popeyes we went with you and Benita just does not seem as good as the
 DS> one down the 198 road closer to Fort Meade.

That's likely true, but I do not recall having eaten at
a Popeye's where I said "that's worse than no Popeye's at
all" or even "that's not as good as a KFC." Even the least
appealing ones I've been to have adhered to a minimum
standard of goodness and hygiene. The least good one I
recall was in Charleston, SC; but making up for that was
a Church's a couple hundred paces down the road where the
food was truly excellent.

 DS> We got an announcement that the Safeway/Exxon gas discount will stop
 DS> the end of May.  That kills our usual excuse for going to Laurel. 

It was a decent run while it lasted. But there are still
ethnic groceries in Laurel.

 DS> OTOH, they will still have the discount at a Safeway gas station.  The
 DS> only one we know of is just inside the Baltimore beltway on Route 40. 
 DS> There is a Popeyes outside the beltway on Route 40, not to mention
 DS> Pioneer Beef and H-Mart.

Well, then, that's not so terrible, is it.

 DS> What has this recipe got to do with Caviar?  Any similarity escapes
 DS> me. 
 DS> Title: Country French Caviar

It's a spread meant to be eaten with toast or blini, and the
name has been explained to me in two ways. First, when cooked
in the oven in this way, the eggplant seeds become prominent
and might, if you have a good imagination, appear to look sort
of like fish eggs; plus you have the combination of a fairly
strong-tasting substrate with minced raw onion, which might be
imagined to impart a sort of caviar-on-a-budget experience,
hence the disdain for garlic or tomatoes, see below, which
would take away from that. The other explanation is that it's
a derisive or at least jocular name, similar to Welsh rabbit
or Scotch woodcock.

EGGPLANT CAVIAR
categories: appetizer, text only, vegan
yield: 1 text

ADMONITION: Recipe for eggplant caviar follows. It is the
type that was made throughout Siberia and North China - and
the kind that I've eaten since I could lift a fork. Some
other recipes may call for some tomato paste, garlic (or
whatever). IGNORE THEM. They are a deviation from
perfection, undoubtedly written either by some
non-cognoscenti, or Tatar barbarians, or by someone who had
his taste buds shot away in the Crimean War.

Read by Nadine Nikitin 8-30-81 (Sun)
From Book "The Russian Chef", 1942, NYC.

PREPARATION: Get 2 large blue eggplants; place in oven and
bake for about 45 min. at 375 degrees F.; when they are
completely soft and cool, remove their skins; place eggplant
in a wooden bowl and chop finely until it has the consistency
of coarse mashed potatoes; separately, finely chop a medium
sized white onion and mix with the eggplant; add a little
vegetable oil (Crisco or Wesson); add salt, pepper, and a
little vinegar to taste, mix all, put in a small dish and
place in refrigerator until served. Good appetite!

USE: A dab of the above on a piece of black bread makes a
super appetizer ("Zakuska" in Russian), especially if eaten
immediately after downing a pony of ice cold vodka in which a
little lemon rind had been instilled overnight!

Compiled by George G. Vitt, Jr.

--mm
Eggplant caviar
:Read by Nadine Nikitin 8-30-81 (Sun)
:From Book "The Russian Chef", 1942, NYC.

2 lg purple eggplant
1 md white onion, minced
2 Tb oil, more to taste
salt, pepper, vinegar to taste

Bake eggplant for 45 min at 375F. Cool and scrape flesh from
skin: discard skin. Chop flesh until it is the consistency
of "coarse mashed potatoes" and put in a bowl with onion and
oil and any juices remaining in baking pan. Season with salt,
pepper, and vinegar to taste and mix well. Serve cool or chilled
as a dip or spread for bread. [M's note: I'd use olive oil if
available, otherwise regular flavorless oil with a little brown
sesame oil. Also, I'd substitute either red wine vinegar or
lemon juice for the regular vinegar.][M's further note: ignore
the man behind the curtain and add garlic and tomato to taste.]
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