COOKING LIKE GRANDMOTHER

Mezzaluna courtesy of Wüsthof.

The thing about our grandmothers and great-grandmothers is that they didn't have rigid recipes. It was all a pinch of this, a handful of that, a tea-cup full of the other thing. They didn't have the appliances we have now. 

The kitchen gadgets they used to cook with involved more labor intensive effort and therefore more connection with ingredients. I like that. I imitate it. I don't have a big, heavy-duty mixer. Occasionally I borrow a food processor, but I don't own one. I do use slow-cookers and a rice cooker, but I don't have a microwave any more.  One of the tools I really like is an old-fashioned mezzaluna (half-moon) or herb-cutter. Despite the Italian name, its origin is actually English.

I had a mezzaluna once, enjoyed it a lot, and lost it when I relocated. Awhile back my daughter-in-law, Karen Fayeth, did a post, Name Your Favorite Kitchen Gadget.  I was one of several who commented in response. I wrote that I like a mezzaluna but had been unable to find one. I thought perhaps they were no longer made. Karen found one and gave it to me for Christmas last year. It's exactly the one pictured above. (World-class, right?) The day I christened it, I made a batch of fish in parsley sauce. Mincing the parsley was quick and easy, but still very hands-on.

An old English mezzaluna by Tracy Hansen via

Wikipedia under GNU Free-Documentation License.

Good low-tech, high-touch old-fashioned kitchen tools . . . I just love them. A mortar-and-pestle, potato masher or a ricer, cast-iron pots, food mills . . . and mezzalunas.  Thanks, Karen!

HOW TO MAKE LEBANESE COFFEE, Al-Qahwa

Photograph: Tulumba.com

Lebanese coffee is served demitasse style in cups such as the one pictured here.

Photograph: Tulumba.com

Dark-roasted coffee beans are finely ground in beautiful etched-brass coffee-grinders.

Photograph:  Tulumba.com

Lebanese coffee is prepared in a narrow, long-handled brass pot, called a rakweh.

Lebanese Coffee, Al- Qahway, is generally served sweet (mazbuhtah), moderately sweet (wahsat), very sweet(helwa) or, at funerals, bitter (murrrah). The difference between traditional Turkish coffee and traditional Lebanese coffee is that the Lebanese is flavored with cardamom. If you prefer to have traditional Turkish coffee, follow the recipe, but leave out the cardamom.

The equipment used to prepare and serve Lebanese coffee can be purchased on-line at Tulumba.com, in local Mediterranean groceries, and at some department stores. You will find the coffee pot in product listings as "Turkish Coffee Pot."  These pots come in several sizes from small enough to prepare coffee for just two people or large enough to prepare coffee for up to twelve people. Traditionally the pots were made of brass but you will also find them for sale in stainless steel, which may be easier to care for but which I find prosaic and unromantic.  I prefer old brass pots.

You must purchase dark-roasted coffee ground for Turkish coffee, which is so fine it's like a powder. I use Peet's Italian Roast or Espresso Forté. The Espresso Forté is the stronger of the two. Only purchase as much coffee as you will use the same day.   It's best when it's fresh.

This recipe is for two servings. Just multiply the ingredients to prepare the coffee for more people.  This is an easy prep process.  Don't be intimidated.

Recipe

The ingredients:

For two demitasse cups, medium sweet:

• water
• 2 tablespoons dark-roasted coffee, ground for Turkish Coffee
• 2 teaspoons organic sugar
• 2 cardamom pods

The preparation:

Pour two demitasse cupfuls of water into the rakweh. Bring the water to a boil, remove from heat, and add the coffee and sugar. Put the pot back on the heat.  The coffee will foam up.  Remove from heat and let the foam subside.  Add the cardamom pods. Put the pot back on the heat and let it foam again.  Remove from heat.  Let the foam subside.  Do the process once more. Pour into cups.  Drink hot, hot, hot.


Actual product ingredients may differ from than that which is shown or suggested on this blog. Please remember that you should not rely solely on the information presented here or anywhere online and that you always read labels, warnings, and directions before purchasing and consuming a product.