I'm from the southern US, living in Germany again since last fall. I brought my vintage cast iron skillets and my great-grandmother's cast iron chicken fryer (like a skillet, but deeper -- an all-purpose all-star in my kitchen since my grandmother died over 20 years ago).
I wanted to make a pot of beans and a skillet of cornbread, one of the most basic meals imaginable back home. Total home food.
"Beans" means pinto beans -- nonexistent in Germany, until I finally found a bag in an Asian market.
For the cornbread, I could find polenta (too coarse) or corn flour (too fine) -- until I finally found a bag of corn meal with the right size grind in the Turkish section of the supermarket.
I winced, and laughed, at my basic tastes, which were now somehow multiculti exotic! Oh, and it turns out that shredded Gouda makes a great substitute for the Monterey Jack we usually put on the beans.
I love this! Thank you for sharing. I too was laughing at my basic taste of an open-faced sandwich and yet, everything tastes better when it has a connection to something wonderful. But you are so right, "basic tastes" in one place are the very opposite in another - lots of metaphors and analogies there for much more than food for sure! I hope the beans and cornbread were all you hoped they would be. And how wonderful about having your grandmother's cast iron chicken fryer!
I'm from the southern US, living in Germany again since last fall. I brought my vintage cast iron skillets and my great-grandmother's cast iron chicken fryer (like a skillet, but deeper -- an all-purpose all-star in my kitchen since my grandmother died over 20 years ago).
I wanted to make a pot of beans and a skillet of cornbread, one of the most basic meals imaginable back home. Total home food.
"Beans" means pinto beans -- nonexistent in Germany, until I finally found a bag in an Asian market.
For the cornbread, I could find polenta (too coarse) or corn flour (too fine) -- until I finally found a bag of corn meal with the right size grind in the Turkish section of the supermarket.
I winced, and laughed, at my basic tastes, which were now somehow multiculti exotic! Oh, and it turns out that shredded Gouda makes a great substitute for the Monterey Jack we usually put on the beans.
I love this! Thank you for sharing. I too was laughing at my basic taste of an open-faced sandwich and yet, everything tastes better when it has a connection to something wonderful. But you are so right, "basic tastes" in one place are the very opposite in another - lots of metaphors and analogies there for much more than food for sure! I hope the beans and cornbread were all you hoped they would be. And how wonderful about having your grandmother's cast iron chicken fryer!