Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Potato salad to Germans is a blank canvas to project their identity on. There are regional varieties, but every household has their own favourite recipe, and home-made potato salad is as a rule more delicious than the stuff you'll find at restaurants here.

The potatoes are almost always cut into slices - not the parboiled chunks that seem to characterise potato salad in english-speaking countries.
Some regions of Germany favour the use of mayonnaise. Similar to Japanese potato salad, or the Spanish 'ensaladilla rusa', it's more of a mélange, so it's often hard to tell where the potato ends and the mayo begins. I prefer the vinegar-based recipes, which really show off the savory waxy yellow German potato.

Though naming this stuff 'salad' is a bit misleading ('cold starch dish' might be more honest), potato salad can be a refreshing counterpart to meat or cheese dishes. Our workmate Wulf does an excellent vinegary potato salad with cucumber slices, to accompany his Käsespätzle, baked cheese noodles. The salad and the noodles are both specialties of the Swabia region.

But my favourite potato salad might just be our friend Andreas' spin on a potato salad recipe from Baden-Württemberg (pictured). He made it for a party at an art curator's office on New Year's eve in Berlin, and it was a great way to start the year, after viewing chaotic fireworks from a rooftop above a McDonalds on Alexanderplatz.

Little fat-free bacon specks add a toasty flavour to the mellow acidity of the vinegar-dressed potatoes, dill adds its herbal punch, and Andreas' addition of gherkin adds a little extra crunch & acidity. It really is a work of art.



(Adapt this recipe according to taste...e.g. vary the herbs, the vinegar, leave out the bacon or the gherkin, etc).

1 kg waxy potatoes
6 tbsp wine vinegar
1/8 litre of hot beef broth (from a stock cube)
1 red onion
125g finely chopped bacon without the rind/fat
Salt & Pepper
Pinch sugar
1/2 bunch of parsley dill & chives (Andreas just used dill)
A few gherkins.

Scrub potatoes and add to covered pot of boiling water. cook 30 min. Drain, rinse under cold water and peel off the skins. Cut into slices while still warm, add to a bowl and put the bowl in a warm water bath. Mix with the vinegar and stock/broth.
Finely dice the onion and add to the bowl.
Finely dice the bacon, heat the oil in a pan and sauté the bacon until golden. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Pour this over the potatoes and mix carefully.
Let the salad bowl sit in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. (Andreas skipped this step)

Wash your herbs, dry them and finely chop along with the pickled gherkins. Add to the salad and serve.

Serve with smoke machine, flashing lights, gin, Britney Spears 'Toxic' and Prince 'U got the look' (optional).

The "Potato Salad Dance"



Dance Your PhD Winner Brian Stewart "Refitting repasts: a spatial exploration of food processing, sharing, cooking, and disposal at the Dunefield Midden campsite, South Africa."

In my opinion mashed potatoes are sad and forlorn without a spot of gravy.

In case you feel that way too, here are two handy gravy recipes that are easy to whip up any time. They don't rely on your having a roasting tray swirling with meat juices at hand.

Both of these recipes - which should more correctly be titled in parentheses as 'gravy', or 'tasty miso-based sauces' – have deep flavour. One (pictured above) is garlicky, rich and tangy.

The other is more like traditional gravy: warm & silky, with a mellow savouriness from the powdered garlic & inactive yeast. The latter two ingredients are worthwhile keeping in the pantry (as well as miso in the fridge of course), in order to jazz up potatoes at a moment's notice.

Miso Gravy by Ani Phyo
Serves four

1/4 cup miso
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/2 orange, peeled & seeded
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp pitted dates

Blend until smooth - will keep for four days in the fridge. Tastes excellent with mashed sweet potato.


Miso Gravy by Fresh, Toronto
Serves four

4 & 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup inactive yeast (I use Naturata Würz Hefeflocken)
1 & 1/2 cups stock or water (I use store-bought goose stock)
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1 & 1/2 tsp hot dijon mustard
3 tbsp miso paste, light or dark
3/4 tsp salt

1. Put dry ingredients except salt in a saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the stock to make a paste. Let this come to a boil & simmer for 30 sec.
2. Add oil, mustard, miso & salt to the saucepan, whisk until thickened & velveteen. Serve hot!



Perhaps the ultimate beige food?



Served with pan-fried tofu steaks (marinated beforehand in half cup each tamari & water plus a teaspoon each of coriander powder & garlic powder); a pile of mashed potatoes with a little cream & nutmeg; and the New York Times' apple-mustard coleslaw to which we added a little extra apple sauce & grated radish, and smoked almonds instead of walnuts, thereby making the slaw kick even more butt than before.


A rapper named Gravy:



A song called Gravy by Bun B & UKG (it's all about the chorus):

I like the idea of eating out breakfast.

From a nice crispy croissant and espresso at a European café to a traditional rice and miso soup fare at a Japanese hot spring ryokan, it sounds decadent, lazy and special, as opposed to hastily swallowed breakfast cereals coming out of box.

I like soothing jook (rice congee) breakfast in Thailand, too, but greasy American breakfast occupies a special place in my palate.

While in grad school in North America, one of the easy and affordable half-day weekend escapes was at a breakfast diner, where they serve very heart-unfriendly yet very hearty and yummy waffles with cream chantilly, eggs Benedict, crispy bacons, eggs Florentine, home fries, blueberry pancakes and French toast covered with maple syrup. Aaaaahhh. Comfort food.

My American friend who worked in rural Vietnam for a few years told me that such diner-style breakfast was what she missed most.

Luckily, in Thailand, you can find greasy American style breakfast even outside the capital city of Bangkok. Bake & Bite in Chiang Mai serves yummy breakfast a la white people like it fashion, and is one of the places I like to go after spending a chunk of time in the real rural hood.


Cereal pancake and boiled eggs. I like it how special boiled eggs look when they are served on egg stands.



Whole wheat pancake with bacon bits inside, with side order of cooked spinach and tomatoes.



Cheesy potatoes with bacon, scrambled egg and extra avocado. Usually served on English muffin but they were out of it, so it's on seven-grain toast instead.



Bake & Bite, Chiang Mai
Chang Klan Road: 053 820761
Nimanhamin Soi 6: 053 400577

I read Phil's post on the SBS blog about Bellota Iberico ham, so thought I should post this Bellota ham shot for posterity.

I actually think Iberico ham is kind of over-rated when you consider the range of meats available to man kind: give me head sausage any day.

We were in Barcelona recently to work at Sonar Festival, and this place was the feeding-our-faces highlight, discovered by accident in the Born area where we were staying, at midnight.
So we went there for lunch on the day that we were leaving, as well. Because we are - in a word - pigs.

It's called Set de Born, and if you are interested in sampling a range of Spanish cured meats, I really recommend you check it out and ham it up 'til you drop. There's a veritable waterfall of cured meats hanging behind the counter.

We had some of the ham above later, on the plane, sandwiched in airport croissants, and it elevated that dry and sad pastry into a whole new stratosphere.
Or maybe it was the aeroplane that did that.



After you've been in Barcelona for a few days, you get a bit sick of Iberico ham. Once you've been eating it every day, in little baguettes, you don't really care if it's the expensive version or not.

That's when you start to crave a different type of thin sliced meat.

Voila, the wild boar's head sausage, above. Sliced very thinly, it reminded me of a little bit of fine Italian mortadella (because of the pistachios I guess) but had a distinct meatiness. No spam vibe. Delicious cheeky goodness!



Mmmm... the 'patatas bravas', a typical Catalonian tapas dish, which I believe is normally served with a tomato sauce (according to 'The New Spanish Table'). These just-cooked, juicy waxy potato slices are slopped in this delicious garlicky salad cream. Not exactly diet food. I like how the Spanish consume like a litre of olive oil per day, with meat, potatoes, tomatoes, paprika, seafood and bread. It doesn't get much more Columbus' new world than that. I am slightly nervous about spending a couple of months there later in the year though. Maybe I can start to get in training for it by drinking a glass of olive oil each morning while standing on my head.

The little sausages that look like chorizos, I have the name written down at home, will amend this post later. They were damn good.

The spinach and orange salad had black truffle stuff around the outside and a shot glass of some type of yoghurt curd with pine nuts in the middle of the plate.

There's no decent butcher close to our place in the Belgischesviertel, so when it comes to red-meat cravings, we usually settle with the most palatable offerings on the shelves of the local Rewe supermarket. And sometimes, that means we find ourselves wondering what to do with several pieces of vacuum-sealed ostrich meat.

Ostrich meat is low fat (a uniform shade, with no marbling) yet does not suffer for this, yielding a strong meaty flavour. I'd hesitate to say 'gamey', although in its raw state it has a fruity blood scent (if you sniff it up close that is). We've found that it is good used in Japanese dishes which require a bit of simmering to soak up the broth, because it cooks evenly, and does not become chewy or sinewy, as good sirloin can do when cooked in this manner.

We kiwis have a certain history with large flightless birds. At one point, it was our native Moa that could lay claim to being the largest living species of bird. But muscle isn't everything, as the Moa discovered to its peril.

Don't know how fast the Moa could run, but the Ostrich's land speed of 65 km/h does not seem to be much use against a fate on our dining tables, either.

Ostrich & New Potato Nikomi (adapted from a recipe by Hiroko Shimbo)

300 g ostrich meat, sliced into strips across the grain (not that there's much grain)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, one cut in thin disks, one in thin wedges
2 handfuls of small new potatoes cut into bite size chunks.
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 cup dashi or water (I use powdered kombu/kelp stock from the Japanese supermarket, mixed in water - vege stock could also work)
2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup shoyu
1 cup or more of fresh or frozen green peas (I'm a big fan of peas)

In a bowl, combine the meat, 1 tbsp olive oil, and the onion disks. Marinate the meat for 30 min.
While it marinates, cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling water for 8 minutes or until cooked through but still firm. Drain and wipe with paper towel.
Heat a flat pan and add 2 tbsp olive oil. When hot, saute the potatoes, rolling until golden all over. This might take a while the but the golden-browning is worth it. It means they still have a delectable slightly crisp layer even after being simmered in the broth.
Remove potatoes from pan and set aside.
Drain off excess oil, and add sesame oil to pan. Remove ostrich meat from marinade, discarding the onion, add to pan and cook til it turns pale.
Add potatoes and onion wedges and give several large stirs. Add the dashi and sake and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat, covered with a loosely fitted lid or a japanese-style wooden drop lid, for 8 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for a few more minutes, then add the shoyu/soy sauce, and cook until liquid is somewhat reduced (probably just another few minutes). Add the green peas and cook til heated through. Serve hot!
You'll love this umami-filled take on meat & 3 veg.




As cold comfort to animal activists, or those who loved Big Bird on Sesame St, many parts of the ostrich can be utilised, making its demise a bit less wasteful. For instance, the leather can be used for expensive Japanese sneakers.

But maybe the big question should be...... do ostriches fart?

And does Pharell catch the bus to the office where he designs his ostrich Bape Stas? And does he recycle his bus ticket or throw it away, or simply chew it up and swallow it? And how much of his lung capacity does he use?

Tawandang Micro Brewery Rama 3, Bangkok Thailand

There are two reasons to go to Tawandang Micro Brewery and endure the horrible and loud baby boomer cover songs played by the house band. One is the beer. They have a micro brewery on site and serve fresh wheat beer. The second reason is the schweinhuxen a la Thai style where they boil a whole german style pork knuckle, then deep fry it and serve with chili sauce, mustard sauce, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.

As always things get better when we all cooperate




Thai Beer Fraus


Half Thai Beer Frau



Swinhuksen a la Thai


NB: Mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and a chili

Finally a new food song

It's the B52's again...with some serious lip sinking



Idaho potato facts from idaho potato.com

How do I know I'm buying Idaho potatoes?
To be sure you're getting genuine, top-quality Idaho Potatoes, look for the "Grown In Idaho" seal, which features a silhouette of the state of Idaho, and for the registered certification mark, "Idaho Potatoes." Genuine Idaho potatoes have a rounded, somewhat elongated shape, few and shallow eyes, net-textured skin and a deep brown color. Look for clean, smooth, firm-textured potatoes that have no cuts, bruises or discoloration.

Are there two grades of Idaho potatoes, or two varieties?
There are two grades of potatoes typically sold in food service, a #1 potato from Idaho comes packed in cartons and has less defects, a nice oval shape with few eyes. The #2 is commonly used in situations where the overall appearance is not as important such as freshly made French fries, mashed potatoes or hash browns. The #2 is packed in burlap bags, plastic or paper bags or can also be sourced in a one-piece box.

What is the scientific name of an Idaho potato?
The terminology Idaho potato refers to any potato grown in Idaho. There are several varieties, the most common traditionally is the Idaho Russet Burbank which is named after the famed scientist Luther Burbank. Another variety gaining in popularity in grocery stores is the Idaho Russet Norkotah. Look for the certification mark on the bag or box with the “Grown in Idaho” seal to be sure you are getting genuine Idaho Potatoes when you buy.

What makes Idaho Potatos so good?
Idaho grown potatoes have a high solids content, so there's more potato and less water. The high quantity of starch grains cook to a light, fluffy texture and full, firm appearance when properly prepared.

Wiki says that McDonald's french fries are made exclusively from Idaho potatos, but I'm not sure about wiki these days

Last Thursday I had some very dear kiwi-accented people visiting me here in Cologne, friends & family, so off to the brauhaus we went.

Brauhaus Putz is our local place to veg out and meat with friends. It's different to the big establishments in town like Fruh (and cheaper). It is all cosy, gemutlich wood floors and benches and smoky corners and odd but nicely mismatched collection of artwork on the exposed brick walls.

Above you see Tui with a giant Bockwurst (boiled sausage) and delicious fried German potatoes (Bratkartoffeln).

Below is the nice Mühlen Kölsch beer which they pour into slim glasses straight from one of the barrels stacked up the back. The theory behind the slim 0.2l glasses (1/3 of a pint) glasses is that each glass is very cool and fresh because you drink it up quicker. Take that as a warning. As at other brauhauser here, they carry glasses around on metal trays and will slap a new one on your coaster as fast as you can say "hangover." The trick is to put that coaster on top of your glass when you wish to have a break from top ups.

Inside Germany, beer is brewed to a beer purity law called Reinheitsgebot. There are only allowed to be four (or five?) ingredients - so no nasty chemicals. Just barley, water, hope, yeast and love. Did I write hope? I meant hops.

Kölsch beer means Cologne beer (Kölsch is also the word for the local dialect). The best way to describe a Kölsch beer is like a light lager. As one website commented, most global lagers are light and bland. But Kölsch, always very fresh, has usually a distinctive flavour - very light but with a yeasty taste that cuts into the palate, sometimes very raw and unprocessed tasting, served in most cases straight from the barrel without any pressure.



Nothing like Brauhaus fare to line the stomach and comfort the soul. In the below picture clockwise from bottom left:
-Argentinian steak with bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes) and bratwurst (small tasty pan fried sausages which are not too oily), and sauerkraut which is very tasty and not very sour.
- 'Himmel und Ärd' ('Heaven and Earth'). My favourite. Blood pudding with mashed potatoes, caramelised onions and apple sauce....truly divine! And very down to earth.
- um... more steak, then Tui's Bockwurst, then more steak, and more bratwurst.

I prefer the boiled Bockwurst sausages to bratwurst, they are nice and 'knackig' (make a satisfying snap when you bite them) and taste great served simply with potato salad.



Brauhaus Putz,

Engelbertstr 67, Cologne 50674

Rudolfplatz U station