World Cuisine: Northern Europe

We are moving on to Europe!
(Yes, alphabetically we're doing Europe next. We're grouping Australia with Oceania)

The northern European countries we're researching are Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Often people refer to these countries as Scandinavia however only Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are truly Scandinavian as the word refers to the root of their languages. A more broad term is Nordic, which refers to the countries of the North Atlantic.
We found that many foods across these countries are very similar, but each has something distinct about it.
We tried to break our foods down in to meals and tried to find some of the most traditional items, but there's so much good stuff! It's hard!

For breakfast we had skyr; an Icelandic yogurt. This thick, protein-rich yogurt is not a typical breakfast food, although it can be eaten as such. It's often regarded as a treat or a snack and can be eaten flavoured, with oats and fruit, as a dip for crackers or cookies, or as a dessert topper.
We found several suggestions online for ways to enjoy skyr and settled on having it with blueberries, brown sugar, and a bit of milk.

For lunch we did two different things on two different days.
First we had open faced sandwiches, popular all over these countries. Nordic 'sandwiches' are never eaten with two pieces of bread as we do here. It's a dense piece of rye bread with butter and a variety of toppings to put on, and then eaten with a fork and knife. The Danish word is Smørrebrød which translates from an original version as 'butter and bread'. Anything after the butter is a bonus.
There are many many ways to top the bread, and at a big gathering there is a
 certain order to eat them in.
We chose three mixes: Smoked salmon, dill, and lemon; Cucumber, radish, roast beef, onion, and horseradish; and lettuce, smoked gouda, egg, dressing, and dill (I substituted the egg with radish on one so Toby could eat it).
All AMAZING. In restaurants and cafes these lunches are all about the presentation. At home or packed for work it can be much simpler.

Our second lunchtime meal was pea soup with pancakes which is popular over most of northern Europe, with yellow peas being used in Denmark and Sewden and green peas being used in Finland.
The particular recipe I used was Swedish.
Pea soup and pancakes is eaten on Thursdays, and many restaurants serve this comfort food as their Thursday special, as well as many people making it at home. It has long been a traditional Thursday meal served in schools, military, and prison.
I've had pea soup before and was indifferent to it, but this version with yellow peas, carrots, dill, and ham was really good and very filling. Sometimes people mix in seedy mustard to give it some zip.
The pancakes can either be a dessert or a side dish to the soup. They are thin and crepe-like, and served with whip cream and lingonberry jam.
Lingonberry jam is like the ketchup of Sweden. It goes on Everything. It's more like a tart cranberry sauce than a sweet jam. We all actually quite liked it.

For dinner we had too many options so I made a 'tasting board' of some traditional meat and potato dishes.
From Denmark we had their national dish: Stegtflaesk med persillesous (Fried pork belly with parsley sauce). Reminiscent of think cut bacon, but saltier. The parsley sauce was actually a nice gentle palette cleanser from the strong flavour of the pork and the heaviness of the potatoes.
From Sweden, meatballs of course. Swedish meatballs are warmly flavoured with nutmeg and allspice, and then finished off in a thick sauce of butter, beef broth, cream, and mustard.
From Finland, pan fried elk strips (traditionally reindeer, but elk was the closest I could find down here). Again lingonberry jam is served on the side, and is seen with most pork dishes across the Nordic regions.

For dessert, again, there were too many options! And all looked so good!
We settled on two.
First was Rodgrod med flode (berry soup with cream).
This particular recipe was Danish, but there are versions in every country. Some are served hot, some are served cold. Some strain out the berries so its more of a thickened berry broth or jello, some leave all the stewed berries in for texture.
We left the berries and had it warm the day I made it, but continued to eat it cold for the days after.
Both good! I was skeptical at first because of the word 'soup', but once I read the recipe I realized it was incredibly similar to a strawberry cake filling that my mom has been making for years. So for me it was like a bowl of cake filling with whip cream!

And finally, from Finland, Mustikkapriikaka (blueberry cream pie).
The filling for this didn't turn out as well as I had hoped becauase we were trying to substitute eggs again, but the crust was very much like a sugar cookie which we loved.
Once the pie was day-old-cold it tasted better but still wasn't the texture I was hoping for. Maybe I'll try it again with real eggs one day!

That's all for the north!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Russia

Welcome to Russia!
Russia has such a deep rich culture, which is reflected in their rich and hearty cuisine.
Dairy, meat, breads, and stews make up most of the foods found here.

We made a meal pieced together with several different dishes.

First of all, every gathering starts with a toast. A toast usually involves vodka and dill pickles, or other appetizers.
Toasting 'to your health' is always traditional, but toasts can often spill over to acknowledge success, good friends, and congratulations.

 "You do not exhale, and you immediately eat something to kind of stun the taste," explains Anya von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. "A shot of vodka, a little pickle, a little herring canapé."

(Obviously Toby didn't partake in this)

  We started with a cucumber and radish salad. This salad is simply dressed using a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream or yogurt, green onion, and lemon juice.

Also on the menu was Olivier salad. Potatoes, vegetables, pickles, and meat are cut small and mixed with mayonaise to make a creamy, tangy side dish. Although similar to 'american' potato salad, the flavour is very distinct to it's Russian roots.

No trip to Russia is complete without borscht. This beet and cabbage soup is a sweet and savoury soul warmer. Although beets are not everyone's favourite, the bay leaves and dill in this recipe lend enough flavour to make it more than just boiled vegetables, and a healthy dose of yogurt or sour cream on top ties it all together.

Dinner was beef stroganoff! This creamy beef and mushroom gravy is ladled over noodles or potatoes and must be enjoyed without guilt.

For dessert we made apple sharlotka.
Apple sharlotka is an apple packed cake-like dessert. It has more fruit than one would normally put in a cake, but it has batter stirred throughout and so can't be called a pie.
This recipe calls for 4 eggs, which would make it rise properly and hold it together, but because I was trying to make it with and egg substitute it was more of a gooey mess. If I try this again I'll use a vegan cake recipe instead of trying to alter this one.
As with any dessert though, if you add enough icing sugar and ice cream, appearances don't matter.

Asia is done! Off to northern Europe!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Western Asia (Middle East)

GLUTEN FREE BAKLAVA!

But before we get to that...

Welcome to the Middle East!
When you think of the middle east (western Asia) you probably think of hummus and pita.
Hummus and breads are a big part of the cuisine here, and I admit that I assumed most of the other foods here were also shades of brown with warm spice flavours.
However I was surprised when almost all of the recipes I looked up included CUPS of fresh green herbs, and loads of fresh citrus notes.

First one of my favourite salads, that I didn't know was Middle Eastern: Tabouleh.
I stopped eating tabouleh when I stopped eating gluten because it includes wheat bulgar or coucous. I have been using a corn couscous for a while now and I love it, so this was an excellent chance to do something new with it.
When you see packaged tabouleh in a store it's usually mostly couscous with some added herbs and veggies. True Lebanese tabouleh, however, is mostly parsley and mint with only a small amount of grain added for texture. Lemon juice, olive oil, cinnamon, and allspice make this healthy salad a flavour adventure.

Another salad we made was called fattoush. This salad includes crispy pieces of broken pita that either get over cooked during initial cooking, or are left over and not wanted to go to waste.
We used old tortilla chips and it did the trick, although the next day they were quite soggy and I don't think pita would have done that as much. Fattoush is bright and lemony and is dusted with sumac powder, which also has a sour citrus flavour, so it compliments plain breads and meats.

With this we had lamb kofta; like meatballs but made into a sausage shape or patty so it can easily be wrapped in a pita if you wanted. The lamb is flavoured with cloves, cumin, corriander and cinnamon, along with lots of fresh parsley and onion. Definitely a unique and delicious flavour package.

Of course, being in the middle east, we made a traditional hummus with flat bread.

Hummus is a puree of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and tahini (sesame paste) mixed with cumin, lemon, and oil. Anything can be added to the hummus to make different flavour variations, and is usually topped with some of the un-pureed ingredients. We also garnished ours with thyme and paprika.

Chickpeas and beans are a staple ingredient in many recipes, and another popular use for chickpeas is in falafels. I have never really liked falafels, I think it's just a texture thing, and even though I felt the same about these the flavour was great and they worked perfectly.  The only thing that I did differently in This Recipe was use sunflower seeds instead of sesame seeds, and used gluten free flour. Toby loved them.

Dessert time!
I knew I wanted to make Turkish baklava. Baklava is thin sheets of pastry layered with nuts and spices and honey and it becomes these chewy sticky delicious squares - but finding gluten free phyllo dough in Canada is impossible. There are companies in Australia and the US that make it, but I couldn't fine anywhere that ships.
Next I tried looking for just gluten free baklava. I contacted local bakeries and searched the internet but as far as I can tell nobody sells it pre-packaged.
I really didn't want to make it from scratch because phyllo dough is tricky at the best of times, and gluten free would be harder, but that seemed to be my only option. 

I found MANY recipes, each claiming they were the best, but finally settled on one that was simple and had a believable photo. Once I got working with it though, it was apparent that this recipe was not proportioned properly and I had to make MANY edits along the way. Someday if I make this again and perfect it I will post a recipe that works.
Anyway, I finally got the dough consistency right and wonder of wonders it rolled in to thin, not-crumbly pieces.

Baklava going in!

Baklava coming out!

When I make it next time I'm going to grind the nuts into smaller pieces because the larger chunks caused the layers to separate. Gluten free meant that it was chewier than 'normal' bakalava, but the flavour was spot on.
I was also able to find Turkish delight in a package that was made in Turkey (thank you random food aisle at Winners)! Some people say they don't like Turkish delight, but I don't know what's not to like.

On to northern Asia, and our last stop on this continent!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Southern Asia (India)

Welcome to India!

India makes up most of what is considered to be southern Asia, but each region has it's own blend of flavours and favourites. It was hard to choose what to make!

First we made tandoori chicken with basmati rice. Tandoori chicken is a Punjabi (northern India) dish where the chicken is marinated in yogurt and spices, and then cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor.

We cooked ours in a very hot oven and it worked out well, but I hear that everything is better in a tandoor.

I 'cheated' a bit with India because we bought all the sauces instead of making them from scratch because life got busy for us at the beginning of the summer. The tandoori sauce was from VH, which we then mixed with goat yogurt,  and was surprisingly not all that spicy; more of a smokey flavour, which we LOVED. Akin to barbecue sauce, but with a definite Indian flair.

Basmati rice has a light sweet flavour, a little like jasmine rice but not as strong.

It's a delicate contrast to the smokey meat.

 

With this we had raita and naan bread. Of course, there is no gluten free naan, so we used warmed pizza flat breads, which worked just fine.

Raita is a little like tzatziki (Greek yogurt and cucumber dip), but with spices added that you would typically find in hummus. It's a creamy and cool palette cleanser, but with a warm hint of cumin and coriander.

 

Dal and rice is a definite Indian comfort food. Hailing from the north, but found all over India, this lentil stew has many different variations and is always served with rice.
Ours was made with tomatoes, ginger, turmeric and garam masala, and ghee.
Garam masala is a blend of ground cumin, coriander, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and nutmeg. The result is something unmistakably south Asian, without being curry powder (which is actually a very similar spice blend, with the addition of spices like turmeric, mustard, and curry leaf).
Ghee is clarified butter. The milk solids, butterfat, and water are removed, and you're left with a very pure, very flavourful form of butter. It is also considered to be healthier than conventional butter because you're only left with the vitamin-rich fats, and often people with lactose intolerance can have it because of the removal of the milk solids.
Dal was one of Toby's favourites in this venture.

Biryani is another staple rice dish that has many different versions.
Again we used a bottled biryani sauce from Patak's and used the chicken and veggie recipe off their site.
The sauce has quite a bit of heat to it, but it's a slow subtle heat. I heaped plain yogurt on mine which was quite nice.
We scooped it up with papadums - sort of like a giant round tortilla chip. Toby and I have been eating them since he was little and love them. Made with lentil flour, they're naturally gluten free. You buy them dried and fry them for a few seconds in hot oil until they double their size and become crispy.

 

One of the most popular snacks in India is bhel puri. It's a puffed rice 'salad' that is served as street food and in restaurants. You can buy dry versions of this snack in bags at a store, like chips, but we made a 'wet' version with fresh herbs and chutney.

I made a tamarind chutney from scratch because we couldn't find one in a store, and everything I read said it was ESSENTIAL to the flavour of this snack. Tamarind is a little like a sour date which you stew, strain, and add cane sugar and spices to make the chutney.

We also used a store bought mango chutney and mixed with green onion, tomato, potato, cilantro, and puffed rice cereal. Traditionally there are dried noodles in this too, for crunch, but we couldn't find a wheat free alternative.

The puffed rice gets soggy very quickly, so it's best made and eaten fresh - no saving this snack in the fridge! It was delightfully light and flavourful, and we scooped this up with papadums as well.

 

And of course, one can't visit India without having samosas.Trying to find a gluten free phyllo pastry is near impossible. I found a company that makes it but nobody ships to Canada. The one site that might have wanted double the amount of the product in shipping costs.

I didn't want to try making my own GF phyllo because I know how finicky it is at the best of times.

I found several recipes online for gluten free samosas, but with my experience with different doughs I wasn't confident that the recipes I was reading were going to work.

I ended up trying one out and the dough wasn't sticking together at all no matter what I did. The recipe said the dough would be 'delicate' but there was no way I was going to be able to form it around the filling.

I finally went back to a pasta dough I had developed a few years ago, and added some cumin powder to it to give it a bit more flavour depth. It worked beautifully and fried up surprisingly well.

No as crispy as traditional samosas, but a fantastic 'almost' in the gluten-free world is nothing but a win. We filled our samosas with potato, peas, onion, cumin, ginger, and turmeric; and then dipped them in my leftover tamarind chutney and mango chutney. We loved them!

 

Moving on to western Asia (the Middle East)!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: South East Asia

Moving down the coast to tropical South East Asia!

These warm Asian countries are full of colour, flavour, and freshness.

We chose 3 countries to focus on and made a BIG meal (which ended up getting broken up in to lunch and dinner) out of some of the highlights.

First from Vietnam - fresh spring rolls.

These delicate rice paper rolls are layered with veggies and herbs. 

No added seasoning lets these fresh flavours speak for themselves

.

For our filling we used rice noodles, carrots, bean sprouts, garlic chives and cilantro. The outer layer of the roll shows off a row of shrimp and mint leaves.
We made our own peanut dipping sauce which turned out really well.

Also from Vietnam we tackled Pho.

Pho (pronounced 'fuh') is a noodle soup with various toppings added, but it's no simple feat.
Pho is a labour of love, and making a proper traditional broth from scratch can take anywhere from 6 to 24 hours. This is a staple meal in Vietnam, with families passing down their broth recipes, and restaurants and street vendors having it available everywhere you go.

We found a recipe for 'easy' pho broth.
Over and over I read that although just using beef broth would get the job done. it in no way compares to the complexity of flavours in the real thing. The recipe we had got us to infuse the flavours in a pre-made beef broth, instead of starting from scratch.
We charred onions and ginger in the oven and added them to a pan with toasted star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and coriander.

To this we added the broth, carrots, soy sauce, and fish sauce and let it simmer for almost an hour.

Afterwards we strained out the 'bits' and brought the broth back to a low boil.
The broth is then ladled over cooked rice noodles and strips of raw beef. The hot broth cooks the beef just enough to eat, but remains very tender.

This is then brought to the table along with a plate of toppings and sauces for you to dress yourself.

We had a selection of bean sprouts, green onion, lime, cilantro, mint, basil, and chili flakes (because I couldn't find a fresh chili)

The verdict?
I was reminded of this scene from Kevin Can Wait a few years ago.
(appologies for lousy quality, I couldn't find a better one)

Just.... wow. It's no wonder people hunt down Vietnamese restaurants wherever they go. If it didn't take so long to make I would eat this every day. Even to the point where I'm debating making a ton of broth and freezing it so I can have pho whenever I want.

Next, another soup - this time from Thailand.
Gaeng keow wan gai, or chicken green curry, is a surprisingly simple dish with a lot of flavour and maximum heartiness level.
Green curry is a blend of light herb flavours - nothing like the spices we usually think 

of when we hear 'curry'.
Coconut cream is cooked with green curry paste, and then veggies, cooked chicken, and coconut milk are added. And that's it! When served with fragrant jasmine rice and topped with fresh herbs and lime it adds yet another layer of complexity to the flavour.

And of course we can't visit Thailand with out having pad thai.

Many restaurants and frozen dinners (and even me) often make pad thai as more of a stir fry with a ton of veggies mixed in with the noodles. This is NOT the traditional way!
Much like the pho, pad thai is noodles and sauce which you add your own toppings to.
The flavours of garlic, tamirand, and fish sauce dominate the sauce that the noodles are todded with. We added cooked chicken and shrimp as well, and topped it with toasted peanuts, cilantro, and lime.

For dessert we tried a unique treat from the Philippines - Ube ice cream.
Ube is a purple yam that retains it's amazing colour after cooking.

I tried to hunt down a tub of it, but the only Flilipino store near us just had Ube jam.
I did end up finding purple sweet potatoes at the grocery store (which, according to several recipes is NOT the same thing, but close enough) and we decided to make our own ice cream.

I forgot to take pictures of the process because I was doubting the whole time whether it would work or not. First we grated and steamed a cup of sweet potato by placing a bowl in a pot of water with the lid on and allowing the steam to cook it for half an hour. Not cooking it right in the water is key for retaining the colour. A few flakes dropped in the water almost immediately turned a light blue.
After it was cooked and mashed we mixed it with steaming cream and sugar. We used a mix of almond milk and lactose free whipping cream.
After the mixture was blended and strained for chunks we left it in the fridge until it cooled off completely.
We don't have and ice cream maker so we used the good ol' bag method.
Fill a large zip lock bag with ice cubes and 1/3 cup of coarse salt. In a smaller bag pour the ice cream mix and seal tightly. The small bag is placed in the larger bag and shaken for 10 minutes until firm.
10 minutes is a long long time when you are trying to not stop using your arms.
The end result was still softer that i wanted so I transferred the mix to and empty ice cream container we had and put it in the freezer.
And a few hours later, success!

This ice cream is fragrant and sweet and has an amazing purple colour. A few recipes I read added violet food colouring to enhance the colour even more, but I wanted to see how well it turned out without.

So far I think this has been my favourite 'stop' on our trip. I love that everything was fresh and bright and deeply flavoured without using salt at all.

Next stop, India!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Eastern Asia

Asia is big.

Really big.
And every country has a very distinct culture.

Trying to narrow down the foods we try has been hard and in the end there is still a lot to cover, so we're covering Asia by region and will focus on a few countries within that region.
I will apologize in advance if we appear to have 'missed' something. Inevitably we will overlook somebody's favourite something, but believe me, it's not for lack of trying.

We're starting on the east coast! 

And Japan is about as east as you can go.
I was excited about Japan because strangely enough our family has ties to that country.

Even though none of us are of Japanese decent, my great-grandmother was born and raised in Japan and spent most of her childhood with a Japanese nanny as her parents were both British missionaries and frequently were not at home.
We have an array of Japanese art, clothing, and dishes around the house now because of her influence. My mom has memories of family New Year's dinners where she would make sukiyaki, much to the amusement of the relatives.

Sukiyaki is like a stew or a stir-fry which is prepared right at the table on a hot plate or electric wok. The family sits together at the table - typically an end-of-year get together- and serves themselves small portions of what is being cooked and replaces what they take with raw ingredients so there is a constant wave of fresh food.
Most of the recipes and photos I found online show this dish simmering in a broth with all the ingredients grouped separately in the pot. The one my family made was more of a stir fry where everything was mixed and cooked in a sauce. I finally found a Japanese book at the library that had a version almost identical to what my mom would describe.

Sukiyaki usually starts with beef, and then various other vegetables are added. The beef is supposed to be cut in very thin sheets so it cooks quickly and stays tender. The beef I cut ended up more like ribbons than sheets, but I wanted them more bite-sized for Toby. We added what G'ma typically added - Water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and mung bean noodles - as well as green onions and mushrooms, which appeared in every other recipe I read. The sauce is a mix of sake (rice wine), soy sauce and sugar.

Because we don't have a hot plate I cooked the meal on the stove and then brought everything to the table in one go. We had bancha green tea with dinner - another insistence of G'ma.

Sukiyaki is served in small amounts over rice. You only take what you want for a few mouth fulls and then serve your self some more.

In Japan it's impolite to lean over your bowl, and everyone knows it's difficult to lift food very far with chopsticks, so holding your small eating bowls is customary.

And of course, because we love it, we prepared maki rolls as well.

We took a book out of the library that was the story of a boy in Japan meeting a kappa, which is a Japanese mythical creature. Kappas are water creatures but can come on land for short periods of time if they keep some sea water in a divot on their heads. They like eating cucumbers from people's gardens, and in this story the boy finds a young kappa stranded in his cucumber garden because he ran out of water. The boy helps him back to the sea and they become friends. When the boy grown up he has a sushi restaurant and creates a roll with only cucumber in it to honour his friend and calls it a kappa roll! I had no idea this book would turn out to be the legend of 

the kappa roll, but it was very cool to learn!

For desert we found some mochi (thank goodness for the eclectic variety of international snacks at Winners) which is a gummy dough that is flavoured and formed in to balls, or wrapped around balls of ice cream or other sweets to make a gooey treat.

Ours had a 'cream' inside and was green tea flavoured. I really really wanted to like it, and maybe

it was just the flavour, but neither Toby or I were huge fans. Maybe I'll try a different flavour if I can find some more.

Next we did the obvious: China.

Chinese food is hard because we're so used to the Americanized version of it so the recipes online are not always authentic. And then authentic things like bird's nest soup and weird cuts of meat I either can't get or didn't really want to go that route.

We did find a handful of things to make a meal, but most of them I had to alter to be gluten free.

I found that most Chinese food is cooked or preserved in some way. Very few recipes ended up being raw or 'fresh' by the time they reach the table. Perhaps because the population is so large it's hard to keep up with fresh fruits and veggies? Everything was turned into a soup, stew, stir fry, filling, or was battered, fried and then sauced.

There are dozens of types of dumplings eaten in China, more traditionally around New Year's.

I made a gluten free pasta dough as the wrapper and we filled them with a mix of spinach, ground chicken, green onions, ginger, sesame oil, rice wine, and soy sauce, and then steamed them.
They actually turned out really good! I've tried making ravioli with this dough before and it was too tough, but these were quite tender and delicious. Maybe steaming them instead of boiling them helped?

I really wanted to make fried spring rolls too because that one thing I quite miss about the gluten world. We used rice paper instead of phyllo wrappers, and filled them with a traditional mix of

ground chicken, green onion, ginger, carrots, cabbage, and garlic.

They tasted about as close to the real thing as you can get! The filling smelled amazing as I was frying it and I almost wanted to stop there and just eat it. It was amazing how well the rice paper crisped up when deep fried too. Really delicious!

The last Chinese item we made was sweet and sour pork. The recipe called for the pork to be breaded first (of course) and I was almost going to just do it plain, but I found some gluten free seasoned breading flour in my cupboard so I tossed it in that before pan frying and it came out great.

We made the sauce from scratch and tossed it all with peppers.  VERY close to pork we've had in a restaurant, but I might make some adjustments to the sauce if we do this again.

We included Korean kimchi with our meal because apparently no Korean meal is complete without it.
There are loads of different kinds, but they are all essentially fermented cabbage and veggies.
We weren't crazy about the taste, which I hear is common for first-timers. It was a strange mix of spicy and salty and sour that was a little over powering.

For eastern Asia we also took a look at Mongolia.

I feel (or maybe it's just me) that all the countries surrounding Mongolia are so popular, that we often forget it's there. But it is, and it's huge! Mongolia has a culture that is an interesting fusion of Russian and Chinese aesthetic and flavour. Rice and meat are a big part of their cuisine, as with most of eastern Asia, but there's also breads and dairy dishes that are influenced from Russia.
We made Budaatai Khuurga - a rice, veggie, and meat 'stew' very similar to meals that I make on nights that I feel like I'm being lazy, but now I can say I'm being cultured!

Beef strips and vegetables are sauteed in a pan, and then you add cooked rice and stock over it and let it cook a bit more. Simple and cheap but VERY filling and delicious. No heavy sauces or spices here, It's all very simple and natural vegetable flavours.

See you in the tropics!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Antarctica

Now... I know what you might be thinking.
Antarctica?
Really?
Antarctica may be a continent, but it isn't a country...

Therefore Antarctica doesn't exactly have a 'culture'...
And nothing grows there...
So.... Are we looking at what penguins eat??

Believe me, I had full intentions of skipping right to Asia.
I have things planned for Asia.
But then I decided to google "food in Antarctica" just to see what came up.
And here we are.

Surprisingly my search resulted in pages and pages of studies and recipes for survival food. Food that the first explorers of the area ate. Mistakes that were made. Food that is eaten on the current research stations and the developments in nutrition for these items.

Vegetables are scarce. Modern-day research stations receive a supply shipment once a year, which consists mostly of frozen and canned products, but will include some eggs and vegetables. These, however, are used quickly because they don't keep.
Hydroponic gardens appear on the major research stations, but produce only small quantities to offset nutrition in the winter months.
Each station has in-house kitchen staff that live and work on the base to ensure that everyone stays healthy. Several seasonal celebrations are held thorough the year to break the monotony of the allocated food and the assigned work.

This was obviously not always the case.
Early explorers had to carry all of their own food so it had to be compact and high fat and protein to keep up warmth and energy. Even modern expeditions away from base have very limited supplies that have to be rationed properly and are designed to last without spoiling for months.

Two very key foods were mentioned over and over on the pages I read (This great page in particular):
Pemmican and sledging biscuits.

 Pemmican is a meat 'bar' that has it's origins from First Nations food preparation (The Cree nation is mentioned in the article), and is high in fat and protein to keep your body going in cold temperatures.
Sledging biscuits are small, hard, dense biscuits that are easy to keep and we're packed along with pemmican for sledging excursions.

Every article I read was pretty unanimous about one thing: These food items are not something that one would CHOOSE to eat. They are designed for survival.

Preparing pemmican yourself is a long and careful process.
Lean, un-marbled meat needs to be dehydrated beyond 'jerky' stage, ground to a powder, and then combined with rendered fat. The whole process takes a few days.
Meats commonly used were elk, venison, or buffalo - with beef being an acceptable alternate.
We found some local elk at a shop near us, and comparing it to our other options it was the most dense, with no marbling that we needed to cut out.
For a chunk of fat I bought a beef roast with a thick layer on it that I cut off and used.

Because this is a food that is meant to be preserved and last for a long time, the meat and the fat have to cook separately because they 'cure' in different ways.
Drying fat with the meat won't get it hot enough to kill bacteria, and simmering meat with the fat won't cure the meat enough to keep it from going rancid.

I sliced the elk as thin as possible and dried it in a 150 F oven for 12 hours until it was crispy.

Next, we had to grind the meat in to a powder. The powder stage is essential to the process so it will soak up the fat that we will add. Otherwise you get crunchy bits with noticeable fat around it.

The guide I was following said to just put it in a food processor, but 10 minutes later, crumbs everywhere, and scratches on the inside of the processor bowl; I only had rice crispy sized crumbles. At this point something like a coffee grinder would have been useful, but I don't have one so I had to grind up the chunks a bit at a time with a mortar and pestle.
I don't recommend this method unless you are super motivated, have a great deal of hand and upper body strength, and have 2 hours to kill. None of which applied to me.
At the end of this process I had a fine layer of brown powder all over my kitchen counter, which looked like cocoa powder but smelled like burnt hamburgers. The tiny amount of powder in my bowl looked like chili powder. It did not taste like it.

 

Next the fat needed to be simmered slowly on the stove until it stopped bubbling, signifying that there was no more extra moisture to cook off.
Then we combined the fat a bit at a time with the powder until it made a thick paste.
That was refrigerated until it was solid.
I've seen people mix dried and powdered berries or maple syrup in with the pemmican to make it taste better. I've seen recipes where the mixture is so think that they can form it in to little balls.
We kept it basic, and our end result was still pretty soft, so it stayed in the bottom of a bowl and we had to dig it out when we were ready to use it.

 

It wasn't horrible. But like the articles said, not something that one would choose to eat. 
It tasted a bit like canned dog food smells... or the grease trap of a barbecue.
But if you were freezing to death and this was your only food, you could imagine it was burgers and get by.

The sledging biscuits are simply flour, salt, baking soda, and butter.

It's similar to how you would start a pie crust, but more dense.
I also used gluten free flour so I can only imagine that these were 'comparable' to what they typically turn out to be.

 These are supposed to be saved for rations on an expedition, they're not something you'd want to snack on daily. Traditionally they're eaten with copious amounts of butter, marmite, or cheese to add some flavour and make them more palatable.
We had them with goat butter.
Again, they were edible, and if this is what you needed to eat to survive it would be fine.
I added a bit too much salt to mine to they came off as a little bitter, but they would be a nice bland something to chew on if you needed to.

 On their own these two foods are 'meh' at best and definitely crafted for survival.
However, these two foods are also the main ingredients to a survival stew called hoosh that is/was
fairly exclusive to Antarctic expeditions dating back to the early 20th century.
This stew combines these two high fat survival foods, that would likely be mostly frozen while eating, in to something warm and sticky that resembles a bowl of porridge.
Snow was melted in a pot (And yes, we rescued some clean snow from our yard before it all melted so we could be authentic), and then a chunk of pemmican and a crumbled biscuit were added and boiled until soft.

 

The hoosh was actually pretty good. If we had added maple syrup and dried berries like some of the suggestions, it would be very similar to hot cereal. 

Definitely the closest thing to a hearty luxury that you would have while sleeping in a tent on the ice.

See you in Asia!

Happy Eating!