Don’t panic!
Pigeon! I don’t know where to get pigeon! Whoa there readers Phil, Tina, Cindy and Kate! I hope you know me a bit better than that. Very very rarely do I pull a Saveur and call for an impossible-to-find ingredient. Mrs. Pastry and I used to love that magazine, by the way, but for as much as we loved it, we also loved to laugh at it. Their ingredients lists were hilarious.
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 lb. ox clavicle, smoked
You’d cruise along merrily until you hit that one item that punctured your enthusiasm like a ten penny nail through a steel-belted radial.
4 slices crust bread
6 slices tomato
1 sprig parsley
2 snipe eggs, any size
Thanks a load! After a while I simply had to quit the thing. They just teased me too much. Apparently quite a few other readers felt the same way, the magazine closed down for a while as I recall. It seems they’re back up and running now, I trust without the recipes that require a special hunting trip to Mount Kinabulu.
But rest assured you guys, I’ll provide an easy-to-come-by alternative for anything odd. Bisteeya is mostly made with chicken nowadays anyway. But to your specific question, Rob, I think I am going to try to make the warqa (the pastry) just for fun. But filo dough works every bit as well.
We got pigeons in New York. Want some?
That’s an eating adventure I’ll leave to you! 😉
– J
pigeons??
LOL We call them flying rats in Montreal
Indeed. Chicagoans feels the same way. Shoot one in Iowa, however, and it’s called squab.
Both the Middle Eastern and Chinese grocery stores near here sell Squab at very reasonable prices. That’s probably a good option in most big cities.
Thanks KC!
Dear Joe,
Here are a few more savory ideas for you:
-Beef Wellington – always seems way too intimidating for me so I’d like to see how it’s done
-Spanikopita/Triokopita (or whatever the all cheese version is called). Phyllo is also intimidating.
-Rotolo -again, I’ll bring up the spinach pasta. Sheets would be cool to show. People could freeze them and then use them for lasagna.
-Gnocchi- picked up some gnocchi flour at Williams Sonoma just the other day
-Pot pie – fall is coming after all. A unique pot pie other than the standard chicken could be fun.
On the completely sweet side, don’t forget about introducing St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake to the world. There is a fun story behind it, the tradition started as a baker’s accident.
Loved all the kolachi. I am going to make a tried and true recipe this week. One of our old neighbors (Mrs. Stapleton who lived on the corner) gave me the recipe in 1978.
Hey Sis! Those are all good ideas!
Send me Mrs. Stapleton’s recipe when you get a chance, will you? I’d be curious.
– J
You don’t want the pigeons from N.Y.C.
trust me. We call them flying rats here also.
I believe their droppings are also associated
with legionaires disease.
Oh!! I also heard the term gutter chickens,
and typhoid pilots.
Hi Joe,
I recently attended a pasta making class and by the end of it realized I could probably make phyllo on the old Atlas hand crank and the chef confirmed that I could. If you do a tutorial on phyllo as your sister suggested, could you check into the pasta maker as possible tool? I’ve always been totally intimidated by the thought of rolling it by hand.
Hey Linda!
I won’t be doing phyllo this week, but that’s an intriguing idea. The warqa sheets use a very different method that I think you’ll find very interesting. But I’ll look into phyllo for another project and try to do it soon.
Thanks for the suggestion!
– Joe
You could do the good old Kiwi/Aussie meat pie. Standard fast food here, and can be delicious or horrible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_and_New_Zealand_meat_pie
I love them with flaky pastry top and bottom, but most places make them with a more solid not-so-short crust bottom to make them easier to eat – the eating is done by holding them as you would a sandwich.
The Scottish mutton pie is also a winner. Otherwise known as a scotch pie, and made with hot water pastry. On the subject of hot water pastry – you could also do a standing game pie or pork pie. It’s a bit of an art to get the pastry to stay up all by itself without a dish around it. An art I haven’t quite mastered – my standing pies always seem to slump a bit, making holes that the interior jelly can leak from.
All great ideas, Bronwyn! I can see I’m going to need to do a few savory pies this fall. These all sound terrific.