The Von Welanetz Guide to Ethnic Ingredients

Let me just stop, close my eyes and think of the foodstuffs I first encountered in this must-have reference for fans of weird food.  It's been many years since I first picked it up, and some of the things I first read about there are now staples around my kitchen.  Can I get ten without looking in the book?

1) Pomegranate Molasses (Greece/Middle East) - made by cooking down pomegranate juice into a syrup.  I like to combine it with an intense ginger extract and make a drink that will wake you right up.

2) Marmite (England) - brewer's yeast extract.  I don't actually use it in anything.  I just like to keep it around in case I'm getting bored with the more bland-tasting things in my kitchen.  Imagine a combination of iron, mushrooms and strong licorice.

3) Fish Sauce (SE Asia) - not so exotic as it once was.  You know how they make it don't you?  As I understand it, they layer anchovies with salt in a barrel.  Then they set it out in the sun.  After a few days the spigot at the bottom starts to drip - fish sauce.

4) Cardamom (South Asia) -  a spice.  I like to put it in curries and it makes a nice addition to homemade chocolate.  You may recognize it as the flavoring for that sweet Scandinavian bread (the type with little black specks and a dusting of powdered sugar).

5) Gjetost (Scandinavia) - a goat and cow cheese, made from caramelized milk (caramelized: "cooked until slightly burnt").  It tastes a bit like peanut butter, but has a tangy, musky goat cheese character.

6) Kecap (Indonesia) - see my recent post about it.  I knew of it for years but only recently tasted it.  The Von Welanetz guide led me astray here by making it sound not as good as it actually is (more on that later).

7) Celery root (Europe) - the tuber of a type of celery grown specifically for it's root.  Add one of these to your mashed potatoes - about one celery root (aka: "celeraic") for every 6 large potatoes.  Oh man.

8) Blackstrap Molasses (Europe) - the very last boiling of sugar cane yields this.  It is black, black and tastes a whole lot like licorice.  Rich in vitamins and minerals.  Good for anything syrup works for, but better.

9) Chayote (Latin America) - a little, round, fresh squash.  Cooked as a vegetable, the cut pieces keep their shape much longer than summer or zucchini squash.  Very good in spicy soups.

10) Plantain (All over) - it's a banana that can't be eaten fresh.  It needs to be cooked, and then it develops a subtle banana flavor.  It can be more or less cooked like potatoes.

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This book is out of print, but you might find it in used book stores.  It is organized as a dictionary, with sections on: Herbs, Spices and Seasonings; Foods of Africa; Foods of Asia; Foods of Europe; Foods of Latin America; Foods of the Middle East; Foods of Regional America.

I read this book from front to back, hunting down and trying anything that piqued my interest. It was a culinary adventure that took me about two years.  Some things worked (celeraic), some did not (sea slug), some I could not find in the early 90s (like real yams).  It was a great trip, and I recommend it.

This book was written in 1982, so when they say something is "hard to find", that may well have changed.  Other ingredients - like fresh turmeric - aren't even mentioned, I assume because they were so obscure in the early 80s the authors had not encountered them. 

And my final little disclaimer is that no one can know everything.  I see minor "errors" here and there, but it's more a matter of me disagreeing than them being wrong outright. This is art after all, and being short of perfection takes nothing away from this wonderful book.