#foreignflavor

by Social Media Coordinator Madi Winkler

Courtesy of Pixabay

As the “Foreign Flavor“ series comes to a close, the focus is on France and its rich flavors.

France is a mountainous region with soil sufficient for farming. This yields an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, meat and of course, grapes for wine. For France, food and wine are cultural status symbols,  reflecting the French lifestyle, according to FoodByCountry.com

The evolution of the French menu came from hundreds of years of development. The Middle Ages offered French people a serving style called “service en confusion,” which meant all courses came out at one time. After Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, France gained some new food items like turkey and a variety of vegetables. During the latter part of the 20th century, French cuisine went from a complicated to a more manageable process. “Lighter presentations” and fresh ingredients joined the French table. Cooking became less of a chore and more of an art form, according to the New World Encyclopedia.

Breakfast is usually a simple and quick meal consisting of croissants with ham and eggs, and tea or coffee in today’s France. Formerly, people allotted two hours in the middle of the day to partake of lunch. More recently, France has decreased its lunch period to about an hour. Employers often provide their workers with lunches or vouchers as part of their benefit package, and children often eat in school cafeterias. Dinner is typically a three-course meal, consisting of a soup or salad, a meat with pasta and a dessert, which is usually fresh fruit or cheese, according to the New World Encyclopedia.

Below is the recipe for Mousse au Chocolat, or what many in America call “chocolate mousse,” according to FoodByCountry.com.

Ingredients:

4 ounces unsweetened cooking chocolate

4 eggs, separated

½ cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

A pinch of salt

Raspberries, strawberries and ladyfinger cookies

To make:

First, melt the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Once the chocolate melts, remove it from heat and add the heavy cream, allowing the mixture to cool. Separate the egg yolks and whites. Keep the whites in a separate container for later. Add the sugar and yolk mixture to the chocolate and heavy cream mixture, and add the pinch of salt. Beat the mixture with an electric mixer until stiff. Carefully fold in the egg whites. Place the mousse in the refrigerator for about four hours. Serve chilled with ladyfinger cookies and fruit.

by Social Media Coordinator Madi Winkler

Courtesy of Pixabay

This week’s “Foreign Flavor” lends itself to Vietnam, whose food has heat and a little sweet.

Vietnam lies on a cost, which means seafood is a huge factor in their cuisine. The region also contains mountains, giving the country variety in food sources. The Red River Delta also produces rice, a staple in Vietnamese diet. Fresh fruits and vegetables are readily available because of the long growing and harvest seasons, according to FoodByCountry.com.

The flavor in the northern region holds a lot of Chinese influence. The food in this region often showcases noodle-based soups and many stir-fry dishes. Moving south, the food gains influence from Cambodia and Thailand, and it tends to get sweeter. Vietnam also gets some of their broth and bread form France, who colonized the country from the 18th century to the mid-20th century, according to SeriousEats.com.

Make your own own Vietnamese spring rolls with this recipe, courtesy of FoodByCountry.com.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons honey

1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed

1½ pound medium shrimp

½ pound rice vermicelli (Bun noodles)

2 heads Boston lettuce

2 large carrots, peeled and shredded

¾ fresh mint leaves, shredded

¾ cup fresh cilantro leaves, shredded

35 round rice paper wrappers (8-in. diameter)

How to make:

by Social Media Coordinator Madi Winkler

This week’s “Foreign Flavor” sheds a spotlight on Peru, a region commonly associated with the Andes Mountains.

Courtesy of Pixabay.

Peru’s geography and environment lends much variety to Peruvian cuisine and its flavor. This country has a coast, mountainous regions and rainforests with various rivers and access to different types of food, according to FoodByCountry.com.

 The coast gives the Peruvian people access to seafood. The mountains and rainforests offer “variety,” and an abundance of rich earth, from which people can gather fruits, vegetables and different seasonings and flavors. The people have access to pork, lamb, beef and cuy (guinea pig), according to Peru.Travel.com.

 A few staple foods include soups and stews with spicy and Creole flavors.  The Peruvian people value corn, potatoes, seafood, rice and beans. Since they have a wide range of foods to pick from, their diet can be compared to that of the Spanish, and even the Incas, who relied heavily on the mountains for food. Additionally, Peruvians give their food flavor by adding basil, oregano, parsley and cilantro to their dishes, according to FoodByCountry.com.

You can make these picarones (pumpkin fritters) at home, thanks to a recipe from FoodByCountry.com

 Ingredients:

1 package of dry yeast

¼ cup of lukewarm water

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 lightly beaten egg

1 can (16-ounce) of pumpkin

½ teaspoon of salt

4 cups of flour

Oil, for frying

Maple syrup

To make this dish, dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Combine this mixture with the sugar, pumpkin, egg and salt. Add flour ½ cup at a time, and stir it until it becomes stiff. Dust a cutting board or large pan, and take the dough form the bowl. Knead the dough on the floured surface until it is smooth. This should take about eight minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, and place it in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl, put it in a warm place and allow it to rise for an hour. It should double in size. Punch down the dough. Tear off pieces, and shape into three-inch rings. Put one inch of oil in a deep skillet, and heat it up. Fry fritters for five minutes, and turn them once. They should be a golden-brown color when they are done. Drain them, and serve with maple syrup.

Check out other authentic Peruvian recipes at LimaEasy.com. Here, many different main courses lend the site’s visitor options from Peru’s different regions.

by Social Media Coordinator Madi Winkler

Courtesy of Pixabay.

The next stop on the global “Foreign Flavor” journey is Thailand, the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Siam.

Like many other Asian cultures, the Thai people consider rice a “dietary staple.” Thailand’s cuisine draws influence from several regions. Migrants from China brought the use of dumplings, noodles and a variety of soy products to the table. The food usually combines five different flavors, including hot, salty, sour, bitter and sweet, according to FoodByCountry.com.

The aforementioned flavors are all meticulously combined to make the dish perfectly balanced. Many dishes use curry, along with the spicy flavoring of chili peppers. Additionally they use, basil, garlic, ginger and coconut to flavor their food. Fruits and seafood are also common because of Thailand’s location on the Malay Peninsula, according to FoodByCountry.com.

Thai culture focuses a lot on the food’s presentation. Before serving, people ensure they eloquently and artfully decorate the dishes. They often carve fruit and vegetables for a beautiful appearance. While traditionally, Thais used chopsticks, brought from China long ago. Today, most people in Thailand prefer to use forks and knives, like much of the Western culture. When the time to eat arrives, the Thai people typically sample each dish individually, instead of adding some of each dish to their plate, according to AboutFood.com 

Thai people consider eating alone bad luck, and they consider themselves very social people. Consequently, they often gather together, order a dish for everyone present and they share every dish, according to AboutFood.com.

So, grab a group of friends and try the recipe below. Try it traditional Thai-style, and pick more dishes from ThaiRecipesToday.com.

Here’s how to make Chicken Satay, according to FoodByCountry.com 

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon fish sauce

a small amount of oil or coconut milk

fresh coriander leaves

lettuce leaves

 How to make it:

by Social Media Coordinator Madi Winkler

As the new semester rolls in with 2017, so does a new culture blog series. This series, entitled “Foreign Flavor,” seeks to uncover the many different types of food and different flavors across the globe.

This week’s Foreign Flavor blog entry details Spain and all its spice.

Spain, along with Portugal, resides on the Iberian Peninsula, meaning water surrounds the land on three sides. Because of this proximity to the sea, most of Spain’s cuisine is seafood-oriented. In addition to the coastal options, Spaniards have access to farm lands and vineyards, where they grow a lot of fresh foods, according to Enforex.com

Many Mediterranean ingredients are prevalent in Spanish cuisine. For example, Spaniards often season their foods with garlic, onion and olive oil, according to StreetDirectory.com.

Their methods of seasoning and preparing foods came from many different cultures, but mostly from the Moors, who settled the Iberian Peninsula (now Spain) in the eighth century. They introduced fruits and the seasonings previously listed. Cinnamon, nutmeg and saffron also resulted from Moor influence. In addition, Spanish food also experienced influence from Phoenicians, Jews and Greeks, according to Enforex.com.

When Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the Americas, different types of foods found their way to Spain. Vanilla, chocolate, tomatoes and different types of beans and potatoes soon were incorporated into the food, making it the food the modern world knows today, according to Enforex.com.

The tortilla Española (Spanish Omelet) is a traditional Spanish recipe. Below below are the ingredients and how to prepare it, according to FoodInEveryCountry.com. This recipe serves four people.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Ingredients:

⅓ cup olive oil

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into ⅛-inch slices

A dash of salt

1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced

4 eggs

How to make: