0°Recent Blog Posts - Button Soup
Sour Cherry Barbecue Sauce
Sour cherries, being sour, are best cooked with sugar, so their most obvious applications are pies, pastries, compotes, and the like. This is a problem because sour cherry trees are prolific, and a man can only eat so much pie. Over the years we have struck upon other winning preparations for t...
Published at Button Soup
Sour cherries, being sour, are best cooked with sugar, so their most obvious applications are pies, pastries, compotes, and the like. This is a problem because sour cherry trees are prolific, and a man can only eat so much pie. Over the years we have struck upon other winning preparations for t...
Published at Button Soup
Homemade Frankfurters
In Vienna these links are called Frankfurter Würstl, named for the city Frankfurt am Main in Germany. In most of the rest of the world (including Frankfurt) they are called Wieners, which means “Viennese.” Go figure. Whatever you call them they are the ancestor of the North America...
Published at Button Soup
In Vienna these links are called Frankfurter Würstl, named for the city Frankfurt am Main in Germany. In most of the rest of the world (including Frankfurt) they are called Wieners, which means “Viennese.” Go figure. Whatever you call them they are the ancestor of the North America...
Published at Button Soup
Three Meals in Piemonte
Photo by Lisa Zieminek I’ve always felt that whether you’re in Edmonton or Manhattan or Red Deer there will be good food and there will be bad food. No matter where I’ve travelled I’ve had great meals and abhorrent meals, often in the same day. Of course, I hav...
Published at Button Soup
Photo by Lisa Zieminek I’ve always felt that whether you’re in Edmonton or Manhattan or Red Deer there will be good food and there will be bad food. No matter where I’ve travelled I’ve had great meals and abhorrent meals, often in the same day. Of course, I hav...
Published at Button Soup
Pepperoni Sticks
Pepperoni sticks are a great introduction to air-drying cured meat at home. The process is very quick and very forgiving: even if you don’t have a whiz-bang curing chamber with perfect temperature and humidity control, you can probably make these pepperoni sticks at home and be very please...
Published at Button Soup
Pepperoni sticks are a great introduction to air-drying cured meat at home. The process is very quick and very forgiving: even if you don’t have a whiz-bang curing chamber with perfect temperature and humidity control, you can probably make these pepperoni sticks at home and be very please...
Published at Button Soup
Mead Vinegar
My food heroes are those who can generalize food concepts for me. I’ve mentioned Ruhlman’s book Ratio about a hundred times on this site. Some other examples. I love the flavour of preserved lemons and I’ve made them a few times, but then I saw Mojojo Pickles makes p...
Published at Button Soup
My food heroes are those who can generalize food concepts for me. I’ve mentioned Ruhlman’s book Ratio about a hundred times on this site. Some other examples. I love the flavour of preserved lemons and I’ve made them a few times, but then I saw Mojojo Pickles makes p...
Published at Button Soup
Matzo Ball Soup
I did not grow up eating matzo ball soup; it was completely unknown to me and my family. In fact it was so foreign that the first several times I heard mention of it I assumed it was “mozza ball soup”, which I guess would be some kind of Italian-American soup containing mozzarella ch...
Published at Button Soup
I did not grow up eating matzo ball soup; it was completely unknown to me and my family. In fact it was so foreign that the first several times I heard mention of it I assumed it was “mozza ball soup”, which I guess would be some kind of Italian-American soup containing mozzarella ch...
Published at Button Soup
Schmaltz
Schmaltz is the Yiddish word for rendered fat, or grease. It is taken from the German Schmalz.[1] I wrote about how to render pork fat here, and the two preparations Grammelschmalz[2] and Schmalzfleisch. While schmaltz can technically refer to rendered fat from any animal, obviously in the con...
Published at Button Soup
Schmaltz is the Yiddish word for rendered fat, or grease. It is taken from the German Schmalz.[1] I wrote about how to render pork fat here, and the two preparations Grammelschmalz[2] and Schmalzfleisch. While schmaltz can technically refer to rendered fat from any animal, obviously in the con...
Published at Button Soup
Pot Dumplings
One time I was at my parents’ house on Boxing Day, and I used their Christmas leftovers to make a turkey pot pie. I shredded the turkey leg meat, combined it with mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, and gravy, then baked the mixture in a pie crust. When we sat down for supper my dad said tha...
Published at Button Soup
One time I was at my parents’ house on Boxing Day, and I used their Christmas leftovers to make a turkey pot pie. I shredded the turkey leg meat, combined it with mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, and gravy, then baked the mixture in a pie crust. When we sat down for supper my dad said tha...
Published at Button Soup
Japanese Plums – Prunus salicina – in Edmonton
The best time to plant a plum tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. -“Chinese proverb” (probably not though…) Photo by Lisa Zieminek We have two Japanese plum trees in our yard. The cultivar names are confusingly but unmistakably Slavic: Ivanovka ...
Published at Button Soup
The best time to plant a plum tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. -“Chinese proverb” (probably not though…) Photo by Lisa Zieminek We have two Japanese plum trees in our yard. The cultivar names are confusingly but unmistakably Slavic: Ivanovka ...
Published at Button Soup
Pan Bread
I’ve mentioned many times in many different places that Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio changed my life. The ratio given for bread in that book is 5:3 flour to water, which represents a hydration rate of 60%. It’s not a huge change, but I’ve started using 3:2 (67% hydrati...
Published at Button Soup
I’ve mentioned many times in many different places that Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio changed my life. The ratio given for bread in that book is 5:3 flour to water, which represents a hydration rate of 60%. It’s not a huge change, but I’ve started using 3:2 (67% hydrati...
Published at Button Soup
Sausage Gravy
Sausage gravy ladled over biscuits is a classic comfort dish of the American south. While you can certainly use fresh, raw sausage in the preparation, it is also a good trick up your sleeve to deal with cooked sausages leftover from a brunch or barbecue. Leftover sausages are often dry and a to...
Published at Button Soup
Sausage gravy ladled over biscuits is a classic comfort dish of the American south. While you can certainly use fresh, raw sausage in the preparation, it is also a good trick up your sleeve to deal with cooked sausages leftover from a brunch or barbecue. Leftover sausages are often dry and a to...
Published at Button Soup
Seeded Brown Bread
I wanted to develop a bread that I would feel good about eating every morning. For me that means using only whole wheat flour, no white flour at all, and lots of added whole grains and seeds. This recipe is adapted from the Whole-Wheat Bread recipe in one of my favourite books on bread, The B...
Published at Button Soup
I wanted to develop a bread that I would feel good about eating every morning. For me that means using only whole wheat flour, no white flour at all, and lots of added whole grains and seeds. This recipe is adapted from the Whole-Wheat Bread recipe in one of my favourite books on bread, The B...
Published at Button Soup
Ham Sausage Recipe
This is definitely the most asked-about sausage style in my sausage-making classes. It is a hugely popular style in Alberta thanks to producers like Stawnichy’s. It goes by a confusing plethora of names – ham sausage, Ukrainian sausage, Mundare sausage[1], and for many people this is ...
Published at Button Soup
This is definitely the most asked-about sausage style in my sausage-making classes. It is a hugely popular style in Alberta thanks to producers like Stawnichy’s. It goes by a confusing plethora of names – ham sausage, Ukrainian sausage, Mundare sausage[1], and for many people this is ...
Published at Button Soup
Regency White Soup
There once was a woman who organized Regency Era events in Edmonton, featuring period-appropriate music, clothing, dancing, and food. The Regency Era is an obscure period of time to most North Americans, so allow me to illuminate. It preceded the Victorian Era in Great Britain. It is so-called...
Published at Button Soup
There once was a woman who organized Regency Era events in Edmonton, featuring period-appropriate music, clothing, dancing, and food. The Regency Era is an obscure period of time to most North Americans, so allow me to illuminate. It preceded the Victorian Era in Great Britain. It is so-called...
Published at Button Soup
Mexican Chorizo Sausage Recipe
I make absolutely no claim to the authenticity of this sausage. It contains the flavours I use when making my gringo version of Mexican food, namely cumin, chili, garlic, and oregano. While I’m sure it would be tasty on a bun, I usually cook with this sausage un-cased or loose. It’s g...
Published at Button Soup
I make absolutely no claim to the authenticity of this sausage. It contains the flavours I use when making my gringo version of Mexican food, namely cumin, chili, garlic, and oregano. While I’m sure it would be tasty on a bun, I usually cook with this sausage un-cased or loose. It’s g...
Published at Button Soup
