A few years ago I delivered a meal of Cornish Pasties to a woman in my ward who just had a baby. A few weeks later she sent me a note thanking me for the homemade Empanadas. I had never had an empanada before and wasn’t sure what it was so I looked it up. Sure enough, what I had made for her were in fact empanadas. This got me thinking that, even though foods from different parts of the world can be wildly different, they are very often quite similar. So I started making a list of food equivalencies.
Cornish Pasties- Empanadas- Calzones
Egg rolls- Chimichangas
Rarebits– Grilled cheese – Croque Monsieur – Quesedilla
Lasagne- Enchiladas
Obviously this list is limited to the things I am familiar with so I was hoping that some of our readers might be able to help me flesh it out a little bit. And, you know if we wanted to exchange recipes while we were at it that might be okay too.
I’ll start:
Chicken Rarebits
(All of these amounts are estimates, I’m rather imprecise in my cooking, so if it seems wrong it probably is)
Prepare ahead of time:
1/2 lbs Cooked shredded chicken
2 C of shredded cheese
1/3 chicken broth
About 5 slices of bread lightly toasted (I like to get a baguette and slice it into rounds- if you do that you’ll need about 15rounds)
In a quart pan over medium heat melt 3 T butter.
Add 3 T of flour to make a roux.
Add broth and whisk until smooth.
Add cheese, 2 T worchestershire sauce, and stir until cheese melts.
Remove from heat and add shredded chicken mixing thoroughly.
Place a spoonful of the chicken mixture on the toast slices and sprinkle with parsley.
Broil for 5-10 or until hot.
Serve warm.
They are awesome and easy to make.
One of the few things that I really liked about my Branch was and still is all the different ethnicity. Our Church potlucks were the BEST. No green jello mold here, we had authentic Asian, Italian, etc. Love, Love, Loved it. Its’ actually one of the few things I miss by not attending
Hey! I like green jello 😀 But there only needs to be one (unless that one has carrots – then there needs to be two… and that one should have pineapple bits in it… yum)
I still cant tell the difference between perogies, dumplings, and won tons.
I usually identify the dish by the dipping sauce
Perogies = sour cream
Dumplings = gravy
Won tons = soy sauce
My other favorite is donuts versus beignets (pronounced binyays for those who have not spent much time on the gulf coast).
Beignets are proof to me that there is a God. Probably one of the best and least known desserts out there. Traditionally served by themselves, beigents are now served with a wide variety of dipping sauces. The best beignet sauce I have experienced was a light whisky/white chocolate sauce.
recipe for the beignets is here (not low calorie):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/french-quarter-beignets-recipe/index.html
I feel that way about Ice cream.. Ice cream is a religious experience for me. So much so that I have come to a new theory about it.
Since Calories are a measurement of heat, Ice cream is cold, therefore, it has no calories
2) if the above theory doesn’t work if you share ice cream with someone its’ half the fact. But, If I have Ben and Jerry’s in my hand it’s highly unlikely that I’ll share.
should have said, half the fat
I have to agree about ice cream being a religious experience. I have tried ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, frozen custard, and just about everything Dairy Queen has to offer.
I even had ice cream sundaes at my wedding reception because I much prefer it to cake.
that is SUCH a good idea!!! Did you forgo a cake cutting ceremony then? or did you spoon feed each other ice cream? or have an icecream cake? Now I want vanilla ice cream yum.
One of the Ladies in my ward taught me a different method
She took hamburger cooked it in the skillet, then she used spices, onion, garlicSazon9spanish seasoning, pepper,. Then you drained the fat.
You can go to your supermarket and get Empanada wrappers already made
Place a teaspoon or less of the meat mixture in the middle fold it over. To seal it you put an egg wash around the rim and then to make it decorative to take a fork and press down around the edges. This also helps to seal.
We fried ours in oil and then drained them on paper towels
I also have another recipe that I use from Sunny Anderson on the Food Network. Its’ very very good
I’ve never heard of cornish pastries before, but I would throw samosas in there (since they’re like empanadas and calzones).
Burritos = moo shu = sandwich wraps = falafel
If you’re familiar with the sci-fi TV show Babylon 5, there’s a pretty funny scene where one of the alien ambassadors says that every culture has an equivalent to Swedish meatballs. http://youtu.be/bVLkxSSvegc
Add tacos, Döners, and gyros to your list.
Sounds like Empanadas/Pasties might be related to German Cabbageburgers, which are popular around here (Northeast Colorado, Western Nebraska).
Chop or finely shred 1 small head of cabbage. Fry a pound of hamburger til brown, drain. Add cabbage, turn down heat and slow simmer until cabbage is limp. Add salt and pepper to taste (lots and lots of pepper).
Meanwhile make or thaw bread dough (either a frozen loaf, or make your own… I use the Joy of Cooking Parker House Roll Recipe, in a 1 1/2 multiple). Divide prepared and once-risen dough into 4 parts. Roll out each part, cut in quarters. Lay a quarterslab of dough in your hand, and scoop on about 1/4 to 1/3 c. meat mixture in the center of the slab. Fold dough to cover, and place seam side down on baking sheet. Repeat until all dough and filling is used.
Bake at 400 until golden brown. Serve with ketchup.
A family favourite for years has been Pikelets which are similar to flapjacks, pancakes, etc, only a little more sweeter and smaller in size, spread a little butter and jam – yum, I think I will go make me some!
Crumpets are similar to pancakes, like a larger version of pikelets- nice with butter and honey.
Polenta is just a fancy name for grits.
That reminds me of this Basic Instructions. The relevant quote
Okay, now don’t get this Italian girl riled up. Polenta is much more creamier in texture than Grits. Italian comfort food at its best
Cook with Chicken stock, butter, any cheese combination, Did I say BUTTER
MMMMMM Good eatin
My eyeballs literally just rolled up in the back of my head, Dang now I have to make some
I reckon that Gulab Jamun and donut holes are quite similar, just that Gulab Jamun in served in sugar syrup.
jambalaya and spanish rice are similar. and I admit that I haven’t had polenta, but grits can be heavenly. Try this recipe for Zea’s roasted corn grits. I don’t think this is the recipe I actually used, and I didn’t have corn to roast so I used frozen corn. They were still good. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-specials/zea-grits-recipe/index.html
How can you go wrong with all that cream?
I noticed this with crepes = brazilian pancakes = swedish pancakes = ????
It seems like every culture has a flat pancake type food. 🙂