you're not in Hataitai now, Dr Ropata pt. 1
Sunday 1 April 2007 by kinakoJam
The 'you're not in Hataitai' series will be about the as-faithful-as-possible reconstruction of new zealand favourites...
Because there are some things you just can't get in Germany (parsnips, feijoas, watercress, creamed corn for starters) sometimes we flown-the-kupu kiwis have to improvise...
Tinned spaghetti is clearly not an institution in German kindergartens. Erik hadn't ever heard of it until I pointed out a few lonely tins at the supermarket. When I told him & Demian about the NZ tradition of tinned-spaghetti-toasties they had a good laugh and told me about their friend, a drum n bass producer in Essex, who likes putting baked beans on pizza. Somehow I couldn't come up with a clear argument of why spaghetti toasted sandwiches are much more elegant and sensible than baked beans on a pizza, but I still knew I needed to eat such a toastie sometime in the near future.
I chose some nice-looking Peter & Paul rye sour dough bread. Note: amazing bread is a sort of birthright of all Germans, even the supermarket bread kicks ass. White Tip Top
bread like I used to squash salt & vinegar chips and vegemite between is seen as tantamount to child abuse by Germans who encounter it abroad... However there is a strange crust-less refined wheat flour bread variety known as TOAST (other than small crustless toasted sandwiches and paninis and other foreign inventions, bread is normally never toasted). Why anyone would choose that stuff over delicious German bread is beyond me.
The final toasted spaghetti sandwich was quite good - mostly due to the bread toasted with a smear of olive oil. This tinned spaghetti is cut into short lengths so doesn't have that familiar worms-in-a-can comfort. If I'm going to impress the virtues of a spaghetti sandwich upon Erik I'll need to put something a bit sharper or tastier inside... some chopped Mettwurst, parmesan or anchovy-rosemary sauce, though that would seem to be departing from the whole "in praise of blandness" aspect.
Because there are some things you just can't get in Germany (parsnips, feijoas, watercress, creamed corn for starters) sometimes we flown-the-kupu kiwis have to improvise...
Tinned spaghetti is clearly not an institution in German kindergartens. Erik hadn't ever heard of it until I pointed out a few lonely tins at the supermarket. When I told him & Demian about the NZ tradition of tinned-spaghetti-toasties they had a good laugh and told me about their friend, a drum n bass producer in Essex, who likes putting baked beans on pizza. Somehow I couldn't come up with a clear argument of why spaghetti toasted sandwiches are much more elegant and sensible than baked beans on a pizza, but I still knew I needed to eat such a toastie sometime in the near future.
I chose some nice-looking Peter & Paul rye sour dough bread. Note: amazing bread is a sort of birthright of all Germans, even the supermarket bread kicks ass. White Tip Top
bread like I used to squash salt & vinegar chips and vegemite between is seen as tantamount to child abuse by Germans who encounter it abroad... However there is a strange crust-less refined wheat flour bread variety known as TOAST (other than small crustless toasted sandwiches and paninis and other foreign inventions, bread is normally never toasted). Why anyone would choose that stuff over delicious German bread is beyond me.
The final toasted spaghetti sandwich was quite good - mostly due to the bread toasted with a smear of olive oil. This tinned spaghetti is cut into short lengths so doesn't have that familiar worms-in-a-can comfort. If I'm going to impress the virtues of a spaghetti sandwich upon Erik I'll need to put something a bit sharper or tastier inside... some chopped Mettwurst, parmesan or anchovy-rosemary sauce, though that would seem to be departing from the whole "in praise of blandness" aspect.
Koln food, not to be mistaken with colon food?
Can you ask the German's to improve the bread situation in Thailand? Surely they should give something back in exchange for all their grossness on Thai beaches. I think from now on bread improvement should be the focus of any German-Thai relations
Thai people have really taken on the whole German pork knuckle thing though, but have improved it in my books. They take a knuckle and slow cook it German style, then they plunge the whole thing into hot oil and deep fry it so it is crispy on the outside and serve it with mustard and a spicy Thai dipping sauce. If only the food exchange could now be extended to flour products.
;(
You won't believe how glad I am that you didn't start with a German version of the paua fritter.
haha, no fear! i am quite distrustful of seafood in general here, (mostly I am distrustful of the cost) - except for the smoked salmon and trout, and sardines.
to Maytel, those pork knuckles sound amazing!! I really miss the ribs from Zap in Food Alley, Auckland. Are Thais the world champions of deep fry technique?
bread...maybe you could import from Vietnam?
or buy one of those home breadmakers?
sometimes i feel I would be glad to have all the bäckerei disappear... too much stodgy temptation.
forgot to mention... I made new improved toastie versions today with the rest of the canned spaghetti... one with ground black pepper, a little dijon and parmesan shavings... which made it just tasty enough but still comfortingly plain. The other had a smudge of hot karashi mustard and some chopped mettwurst plus ground black pepper... that one was the best. Erik said it was 'pure junk food but good'.
He hasn't eaten baked beans on pizza so he can't comment on whether the toastie was better...
no creamed corn!!!!! really, even the Thai's have creamed corn, but they make sweet desserts with it (she mutters shaking head)
I can send you some although I can't guarantee that it will be organic or even GE free, I don't think there are any labelling laws here except the ones that goes "all nutrition labels written in English must be duly covered up with a sticker replacing it in Thai that must not ever peel off cleanly but instead rip the below said english label to such a degree that renders english label illegible"
just one of the many wonderfully infintesibly small but annoying factors in my life that makes me start to wonder if it is time to leave asia. we do at least have creamed corn though
life in a white expat ghetto huh....tough
hahah... fo sho or as I like to say to Erik 'fo sicher'.
so funny about the labels, yes, same thing with Japanese foodstuffs here. Many layers of indecipherability for me to scratch through.
mm, creamed corn, well if it comes with a Maytel-patented chinese corn soup recipe, I would trade you for a jar of feigen-senf-sauce (fig mustard jam)!
xox