The Black Egg: The way to eat vegemite like the pro's

This is for all you non Australians who are afraid of the big, bad, black paste from down under. Oooooo scary!

I first tried eggs with Vegemite when I read on the side of the jar "great on toast with a fried egg on top"

Hmmm. So what does it taste like I thought?

It has now become the only way I'll eat an egg on toast. Rich salty savouriness with luscious creamy golden eggs on crisp toast? It just needs to be tried. (Note to non Australians; the key is to spread very sparingly, the black paste with butter or you will not only look silly in the eyes of Aussies, but you might pucker your lips inside your mouth and where they end up only your doctor need know!)

For a less rustic version (though nothing wrong with that), try soft boiling an egg and cutting the Vegemite and butter spread toast into thirds (or soldiers in Oz) and dip them into the golden goodness and serve with a strong black beverage.

Your choice of course. Bovril anyone?

Picture Acknowledgment: http://www.art.com/products/p13721554-sa-i2714776/tanya-zouev-hard-boiled-breakfast-egg-and-toast-with-vegemite.htm

Ice Cream Spider: Good Ol' 50's

Happy days: The old drive in diner, a Burger and fries with an ice-cream soda!

Ice-cream Soda?

The ice cream soda was invented by Robert M. Green in Philadelphia, PA, in 1874.

The traditional story is that, on a particularly hot day, Mr. Green ran out of ice for the flavored sodas he was selling and used vanilla ice cream from a neighboring vendor to keep his sodas cold.

His own account, published in Soda Fountain magazine in 1910, states that while operating a soda fountain at the Franklin Institute's sesquicentennial celebration in Philadelphia in 1874, he wanted to create a new treat to attract customers away from another vendor who had a fancier, bigger soda fountain.

After some experimenting, he decided to combine ice cream and soda water. During the celebration, he sold vanilla ice cream with soda water and a choice of 16 different flavored syrups.The new treat was a sensation, and soon other soda fountains began selling ice cream sodas.

Green's will instructed that "Originator of the Ice Cream Soda" was to be engraved on his tombstone.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_soda

In Australia they are called Ice Cream "Spiders" and in the UK they are usually referred to as a "Float"

Choose whatever flavour of carbonated sugary beverage and just add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Magic!

Deep Fried Mars Bar: The tastiest heart stopper on earth, or is it?

OK, I admit, some comfort foods are just wrong. But in what way?

Taste? No, this one is glorious, hot, melty, battered, chocolaty yuminess!

Expensive? Well its just a $3.00 chocolate bar dipped in batter and deep fried.

Healthy? Hmmmm OK!
Like so many comfort foods, this has to be eaten in moderation, perhaps even, extreme moderation!

So why does it give many healthy eating experts the same result they say you'll get if you eat it...a heart attack!

"Morrison and Petticrew surveyed around 300 Scottish fast food restaurants that sell Britain's most popular meal: fish and chips (fries). They found 22 percent of these "chip shops" also served deep-fried Mars bars (a Milky Way in the U.S.). Each contains more than 420 calories."
According to http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041227_deep_fried_mars_bars.html

So how many calories does a Mars Bar contain, when it's not deep fried?

Calories in 100g of Mars Bar = 448.0 cals!
According to http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/chocolate_sweets.htm

So, what can you conclude from this?

Enjoy all things in moderation of course and really don't take what you find online for granted.

If you like it..enjoy it..just do it in moderation.

I Need You!

Whilst I am compiling my latest batch of wonderful comfort foods from around the world, I would like to give everyone a chance to contribute to this Blog with anything that you consider comforting but others might look at you in a slightly different way when you tell them how much you love this food.

Please feel free to use the comment space on this post to enlighten me on your comfort food specialities!

Twisties Roll: Is there anything better than extruded corn puffs between buttered bread rolls?

Twisties is a snack food product available in Australia, New Zealand (marketed under a different name), Singapore, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, among others.

It was launched in 1950 by the General Foods Corporation. The brand name is owned by The Smith's Snackfood Company. While originally an Australian owned company, Smith's was acquired in August 1998, by Frito-Lay the second largest producer of snack foods in Australia, which in turn is owned by PepsiCo.

In Malaysia, since Danone Malaysia has been acquired by Kraft Twisties is now a product of Kraft Malaysia. Twisties are one of the most popular snack foods in Australia. Smith's claims it to be the "number one extruded snack brand"[1].

Twisties are produced by feeding a mix of milled corn, rice and water into a machine known as a rotary head or random extruder. This machine cooks the mix at high temperature and pressure whilst forming the pieces. This process results in the characteristic Twisties shape with the knobbly surface and squiggly shape. After forming, the pieces are oven baked before being flavoured with a coating of seasoning and vegetable oil.

During the 1990s the texture of Twisties was altered resulting in a smoother finish, and may have coincided with the acquisition of The Smith's Snackfood Company by Frito-Lay.

Twisties were originally available only in cheese flavour, but chicken flavour was introduced and became a standard part of the product line. There have also been flavours in various countries as diverse as Toffee, Tomato and Salmon Teriyaki.

Adding this snack food to a buttered bread roll has been a staple of Australian school children for decades. It must be a buttered roll!

Others have had a preference for "burger rings" or "potatoes chips" (Crisps)

Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisties

Elvis: Fools Gold or How to consume 94,000 calories a day!

OK this is a famous comfort food of Elvis's. Trying to find the definitive recipe has proven surprisingly hard. Some suggests the addition of bananas which i cannot disprove. However, after seeing an episode of "Spicks and Specks" a local music quiz show, my wife and i decided to try it.

So as the legend goes, Its a cob of bread (sometimes two), a jar of peanut butter, a jar of strawberry jam (jelly) and a pound of bacon!

What we will be trying is three rashes of short bacon in between two slices of white toast, spread with peanut butter and strawberry jam (jelly) cut in half.

Pause while we make it!


OK here is the verdict!

I think spreading the peanut butter on both sides of the toast overpowers all other flavours...however, both Kylie and I agree it is not offensive at all, although very sweet for a savoury snack.

I think our American friends used to the peanut and jam (jelly) combination will love it, and obviously everything tastes better with bacon!

Recommendation: Try it in moderation. The taste is sweet but savoury. Just try and avoid the two cobs Elvis used to eat at exactly 10 pm each night, which contributed to the 94,000 calories per day!

Just Wow!

Fries and Icecream: The hot and cold of it

Having done some research on this, both in reality and on the interweb, I have come to the conclusion that this might be the most common "weird" food combination in the world that does not include mayo or peanut butter (more on those two wonderful ingredients to come).

The dividing factor is not only the flavour, vanilla or chocolate, but icecream or shake?

Personally i prefer neither but others I know swear by strawberry shakes and sometimes McDonalds soft serve!

Bananas, cheese and bacon on toast: Add a vegetable and all 5 food groups are represented

My mother and father used to make this for me when I was a kid and I'm sure i never really appreciated what a wonderful combination this really is.
These days though I like to add a drizzle of maple syrup on top.

Spectacular!

Pie Floater: Looks can be decieving

Now this is another love hate food from my local area. A big bowl of thick pea soup, an inverted (must be upside down or it's not authentic) meat (usually beef) pie and a good dollop of tomato sauce (ketchup).

These are usually sold as street food although there has been lately a move to reinvent this dish as fine dining.

Fritz: The child pacifier

Fritz is a type of manufactured meat product sold in Australia and New Zealand. It is usually served in a sandwich, often with tomato sauce and can also be fried in slices.

Typical commercial preparations list the major ingredient as "Meat including Pork". It is usually composed of several types of pork, basic spices, and a binder.

It is referred to as "Polony" in Western Australia, "Luncheon" in Queensland and northern areas of New Zealand, "Fritz" in South Australia and far western areas of New South Wales, "Belgium" or "Rokeby Roast" in Tasmania and southern New Zealand and "Devon" in Victoria and East New South Wales.

Fritz would be classed as "Luncheon Meat" in the UK. It is similar in appearance and taste to boloney. Originally known in some parts of Australia as "German sausage", this name fell out of favour during World War I when Australia was at war with Germany.

In Hungary, it is called "Párizsi" or rarely "Parizer", and can be bought sliced or in sticks. It is considered to be a cheap meat product.

Most children in South Australia grew up getting a slice of Fritz from the butcher when their parents went in to buy some meat.

Apple Pie and Cheese: What?

I heard about this from my Mother In Law who came to Australia from the US. You make an apple pie and put cheese on top and it's yummy!

Apparently any swiss type cheese is great but it is not unheard of to use cream style cheeses or even melted bries and camemberts although to be authentic, a great cheddar is required.

I dare say cheese wiz would work on some level too!

Vegemite: Is there really anything this food cant do?

Why start with this? Well as I'm an Aussie (and lets get this straight from the start....it's pronounced ozzy) I thought I'd start with a classic love hate food.

Vegemite is a dark brown Australian food paste made from yeast extract.

It is a spread for sandwiches, toast, crumpets and cracker biscuits, and filling for pastries.

It is similar to British, New Zealand, and South African Marmite, Australian (US owned) Promite, and to Swiss Cenovis.

Vegemite is made from used brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacturing, and various vegetable and spice additives. It is salty, slightly bitter, and umami or malty — similar to beef bouillon.

The texture is smooth and sticky. It is not as intensely flavoured as British Marmite and it is less sweet than the New Zealand version of Marmite.

Later I'll be posting some interesting combinations of this much loved and hated food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite