Traveling in Tuscany – what to see, what to taste

The smell of bread in the towns of Tuscany is a distinctive feature of the region, like the cypresses on the hills, the skyline delineated by pine trees, the endless fields of sunflowers. What distinguishes Tuscan bread from its other counterparts is its lack of salt. Simply put, Tuscan bread is completely unleavened. There is a historical explanation for this. Back in the XII century, as a result of the so-called salt wars, which broke out due to an increase in the salt tax, the Tuscans refused to use salt as a sign of protest.

Even Dante in the XVII song of "Paradise" says how difficult it is for him, exiled from his native Florence, to get used to "foreign" salted bread (Lozinski's translation does not say a word about salt, but still: You will know how sorrowful a foreign scrap is to the lips, how difficult it is in a foreign land to go down and up the steps).

Cereals are the real passion of the Italians. First of all, there is a great variety of them, and an…

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Det brittiska köket: smakrika ostar och fina viner från Foggy Albion

Alla typer av puddingar, krämiga scones till eftermiddagsteet, fish and chips samt skaldjur och vilt från Skottland anses vara ikoniska rätter i det brittiska köket.

Och få människor kommer ihåg att förutom allt det ovanstående i Storbritannien gör riktigt utmärkta ostar, och engelska champagneviner erkänns som de bästa i internationella tävlingar.

Så, British Cheeses...

Britterna har en speciell nationell kärlek till ost, och i detta avseende producerar Storbritannien mer än 700 sorter av denna jästa mejeridelikatess.

De mest slående representanterna för brittisk osttillverkning är den skarpa och feta blå Stilton, som endast sex ostfabriker i världen har rätt att tillverka; Cornish Yarg i en kryddig smulpaj eller klassisk West Country Cheddar. Och de mest utsökta är den milda Stinking Bishop, känd för sin ovanliga smak; den smuliga Caerphilly, en favorit bland walesiska gruvarbetare; eller Caboc, en skotsk Highlander-ost som serveras med havre...

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"Negro in Foam", "Mole Mole" och andra födelsedagstårtor med konstiga namn men underbar smak

Innehåll: Pojke, flicka och stamfader

En hel serie av liknande tårtor med olika namn. Här är till exempel tårtan "Curly Boy". Pojken är ibland "lockig" eller växer upp till en "pojke", men är fortfarande antingen lockig eller lockig.

Tårta med lockig pojke

Tårtans bas är en svampkaka skuren i två lager. Det ena blir botten och det andra skärs i kuber av större eller mindre storlek och läggs kaotiskt ut på bottenytan för att försöka ge formen av en kupol eller ett halvklot. Dessa bitar bildar "lockarna".

Hela kakan kan blötläggas ordentligt i sirap, bitarna räcker för att strö. Båda delarna är naturligtvis utsmetade med grädde. Den monterade kakan vattnas med frosting, och beroende på dess färg visar sig den "lockiga pojken" blond eller brunett.

För kakan "Curly Boy" är lämplig svampkaka, beredd enligt vilket recept som helst. Du kan till och med ta olika, till exempel vit vanilj för basen och bitar av choklad för "lockar". Och ta olika...

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How to make tolma

Tolma is not just responsible. It is the absolution of sins. Those housewives who can make delicious tolma go straight to heaven. When you're in front of the gates of heaven, look to the right. There, behind the left wing of St. Peter's, there's a small gate. It's humble, very rustic. With a rusty, century-old latch. There's a tiny plaque above it. It reads, "Entrance for those who knew how to make tolma. Out of turn." If you look closely, you can see a tiny nail scrawled at the bottom: "And free of charge"! They say St. Peter once took a day off. Just for an hour. And for the whole hour he was replaced by St. Patrick. So he had a blast while no one was watching.

The tastiest tolma comes from fresh grape leaves, they're more tender. Since fresh leaves are a seasonal product, you have to buy pickled ones in winter. If you make tolma from pickled leaves, put less salt in the stuffing. Rinse each leaf thoroughly with running water. Be sure to pour boiling water over larg…

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Umbrian cuisine: products and dishes

It's wild

Here in Umbria, the cuisine is wild in the most positive sense of the word. It is simple, pristine and modestly limited to the current season. Forests, meadows and lakes offer their riches to the locals, and they do not hesitate to take advantage of it.

In almost every self-respecting restaurant you will find dishes from river fish caught in the Tiber River, lakes Transimeno and Piediluca, streams Fonti del Clitunno - trout, carp, perch, grayling, tench or eel. Their culinary treatment will be gentle and unobtrusive, as the Umbrians try to preserve the natural flavor of the fish as much as possible. They serve it fried or grilled, with tomato sauce, or stuffed, for example with herbs and pork fat, and then baked. Only garlic and local herbs - rosemary, parsley, fennel - are used among spices, and dry wine is added to the sauce. The same ensemble of ingredients (fish, tomatoes, olive oil, wine, herbs) can be found in fish chowder tegamaccio.

No less c…

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Fire, water and rusty pipes: how not to get poisoned on an exotic vacation

Every year, the British Health Protection Agency (HPA) publishes a list of countries where tourists are most at risk of getting poisoned or catching a stomach infection. The top five worst countries are traditionally Egypt and India, followed by Thailand and Morocco. This year for the first time in the top five "leaders" was Turkey, displacing Tunisia in this alarming rating. It is important that the rating concerns only those countries that are included in the fifty most visited destinations by tourists. This means that almost everyone who likes vacationing in exotic resorts can be in the risk group. And who among us does not like it?

Water kills people

According to the research of the same NRA, the most stomach problems are caused not by some rare fugu fish, but by ordinary tap water. Its composition in each area is unique, and how the stomach can react to this "uniqueness" - unpredictable. In Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, tap water is dangerous to drink at all -…

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Travel with flavor to Tunisia

A traditional Tunisian meal begins with harissa , a red pepper paste that the delicate tourist's throat usually cannot handle. Rarely a visitor, having grabbed harissa, will not start frantically searching the surroundings in search of something to extinguish the fire burning in his belly. And then he finds wine!

Wine is a bit strange to combine only with the king of Maghreb cuisine - couscous, because it is essentially porridge. But the rest of Tunisian food, which has combined North African and French traditions, urgently demands wine accompaniment. And it gets it: Tunisian winemaking is more than three thousand years old, so they understand wines here more than some people.

Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Alicante, Bouschet, Senso, Mourvedre and Muscat are the usual Tunisian grape varieties, while Cabernet, Merlot and Pinot Noir have arrived in the country relatively recently. A lot of quite fruit-bearing vines remember the French - some local vineyards are 50-60 y…

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Istanbul: Ottoman cuisine

Slowly but surely

...Outside the high windows of Tuğra restaurant, the Bosphorus flows with imperial majesty, and seagulls circle over passing boats. Tuğra - a restaurant of Ottoman cuisine - is located in a real sultan's palace by the water, and its inhabitants for many centuries preferred to get home from the Bosphorus (in modern times, too, now it is the Çırağan Palace Kempinski Hotel). The entourage is appropriate. Dishes, for example, with the monogram of Sultan Abdul Mejit. Each ruler had his own utensils, some even had special porcelain that changed color if poison was added to the food. Well, there's no need for that at theTour.

There are only a few tables in the huge hall. A musician strums the strings of an ancient instrument. Dinner has not yet begun, but already served a tiny pie with goose liver, hot, freshly baked bread - and to it various tapenades, soufflé of three kinds of baked cheeses .... Finally, on a silver tray are brought appetizers - six dishes…

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What to drink in Japan: whisky, beer, wine

Japanese whisky

Whisky in Japan is called uisuki in English. This drink, which became popular in Japan after World War II, acquired its Japanese roots thanks to the skill and persistence of a man named Masataka Taketsuru. He was the one who was able to realize the idea of Japan producing its own whiskey.

These days, there are several producers of very high quality whiskey in Japan. In 2012, at the International Spirits Challenge (London), where I have had the honor of working as a judge for many years, two Japanese whiskies won the Trophy. They are The Hakushu Single Malt Whisky (25 years old) and The Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky (18 years old).

By the way, the Japanese practically do not drink whisky in its pure form, but dilute it with water in the proportion of one part of whisky - from 4 to 10 parts of water.

Japanese wines

The first documentary evidence of the production of an alcoholic beverage from plums of the ume(umeshu) variety dates …

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Cuisine of Spanish Andalusia: gazpacho and salmorejo

We'll start with the famous Andalusian cold soup of pureed vegetables and olive oil - known worldwide as gazpacho. Based on the simple food of the rural laborer - stale bread, olive oil and garlic - gazpacho andaluz is as old as the land of Andalusia itself. Most likely, the great-great-granddaddy (or rather, great-great-grandmother) of this refreshing raw vegetable salad soup, remotely reminiscent of okroshka or cold borscht, is a kind of Roman turia made of water, bread and olive oil. Even the very name gazpacho, according to many experts, goes back to the Latin panis - bread. However, others believe that the roots of gazpacho lie in the Mosarabian word caspa - "pieces". There are also those who claim that the word gazpacho comes from the Hebrew gazaz - to break into pieces....

The most primitive recipe is quite simple and somewhat resembles the preparation of Russian turi - bread is poured with water and then added olive oil, garlic crushed in a mortar, salt and…

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