Lost in the Woods: a NotPécs Tale Addendum

Franny wrote a great account of our trip to "NotPécs" and "AlsonotPécs," that is to say the trip that was supposed to be about Pécs but wasn't. Read it here at Franny's Hungary!

Here are a few of the "seeing the upside" pictures.

Wild Strawberries!

Mr. Beetle as compared to my hand.

Mr. Beetle's closeup.

May your summer hikes and walks may be more productive, less scary, and just as lucky as ours!

Chicken Adobo

When Franny was teaching an English Camp at Lake Balaton I was left to ponder a lazy summer menu for just me. What I came up with was chicken adobo due to its wonderful Filipino flavors which are not available in Hungary and its excellent use of chicken.

Way back when I was working at the Burke Museum in Seattle I met a lot of different people who would visit. And yes I talked food with them too. This recipe is inspired by a nice Filipino couple who told me the secrets of adobo. I don't claim to have it perfectly as it was not written down but here's the recipe I used:

Chicken Adobo

Ingredients

1 kilo of either chicken or pork or a combination of the two
1 head garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon paprika
3 bay leaves
4 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water

In a pot or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté the minced garlic and onions. Add the meat to the pan and sear. Add water, soy sauce, vinegar, paprika, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. Mix the browned meat back to the sauce and add cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken and season to taste.

Serve hot with plain rice.

Nachos, deconstructed

This feast was made fun by keeping all of its elements separate: (from top left-hand corner going counter-clockwise) enchilada sauce (Rick Bayless recipe), homemade nacho sauce, avocado, green onion, Frito-Lay bean dip (thank you Hanna and Alvin), first tomatoes of the summer, good Hungarian sour cream, and of course tortilla chips. The one napkin seen behind the chips is only a token of the many that were used during consumption.

Ramson and Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Beginning with some fresh medvehagyma that I foraged from Bakonybél I rolled them up and cut them into a chiffonade.

Medvehagyma

To these I added some homemade mayo, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to make the base dressing.

Beautiful ribbons

Building the dressing

To the dressing I added a handful of previously roasted chicken that had been in the fridge overnight. I served it on a sesame wheat bread from the 'Corner Bakery.'

Chicken Salad with Style

Medvehagyma 2010!

Hello all! About this time last year I wrote about a special find in the farmer's market in Mars tér called medvehagyma, bear onions, or ramsons. Well this year I got to go straight to the source and pick them for myself in the national forest near Bakonybél. I went with a group of foragers from Kecskemét who are interested in learning more about gathering food and nutrients from nature.

Is that grass?

Once in Bakonybél we set out to find the park entrance as this was a special day. There were maybe 200 people who came from all parts of Hungary for a chance to pick their own medvehagyma with the blessing of the park service. We hiked something like 8km that afternoon all the while marveling at how nearly every part of the forest floor that didn't have a trail worn into it recently was covered with allium ursinum.

Nope, just bear onions.

The hike was only ever stopped to listen to the park rangers about different plants or animals native to the area or, of course, to pick bear onions, mushrooms, or forest herbs.

They're everywhere!

After the hike we went back to the village where a bear onion feast awaited us. They had infused all known types of Hungarian food with the leafy onion vegetation. We first tried some pálinka that had been infused with medvehagyma, then some soup and salads of the stuff then followed by bread with bear onion pesto or a type of Hungarian quark called túró topped with medvehagyma. There were also pogacsa, little bicsuits, and lángos that had the onions inside. Happily the wine was kept bear onion free! Unfortunately I was so hungry after all of the hiking I didn't even think of taking pictures of all of these different foods until it was all gone.

Droppin' some knowledge.

Finally, after everyone had satiated their hunger and thirst, a woman from the community stood up and spoke about all of the wonderful attributes of medvehagyma along with the other herbs found in the area. They handed out, and I came home with, a sheet of medvehagyma recipes as well as a bag full of the onions that I had collected.

Duck Tales: The Roasty Adventure!

The Duck


Starting to cut out the backbone


Coming down the other side


Separating the leg and breast sections


The orange brine


Going for a swim


What to do?


Roast to make stock


Mmm!


Chillin'


The opposite of chillin'


Roasting the potatoes in duck fat


Et voila!

Jerky

Making jerky is like performing magic. By using fresh meat and adding salt and any other seasonings to taste and drying for a few hours a wonderful transformation takes place, alchemy really. This is also the preservation of a chunk of flesh that is changed from a ticking time bomb into a long-lasting treat.

Before...

After!