Salt&Pepper

Posted on 10/12/2019 by teemuchanz

Why do we put salt and pepper on the table?

We have used spices almost all the time during our existence. Spices were among the most valuable items of trade in medieval and ancient times. Egyptians were the first one recorded using spices. There are transcripts describing them using them for flavouring the food, in cosmetics and well.. embalming. The use of spices spread through the Middle East to the eastern Mediterrenean and Europe.

Salt&Pepper

These two are maybe the most commonly used spices in every kitchen. Salt does not need that much introduction, it is necessary for life and preserving food / enhancing flavor. In the Roman times, soldiers were often paid in salt, where terms “Salary” is coming from.

Pepper

But whats the deal with pepper? It used to be so valuable that it was used as a form of money and called King of Spies. It will also enhance and give some heat to the food.

Both salt&pepper used to be very expensive, and it was propably a way to show how wealthy you were. What is the better way to show your riches to your guests than putting some salt&pepper to the table for everyone to use!

Did you know that the world’s nost commonly used pepper is black pepper, Piper nigrum? It starts it live as berries in a clump on a vine like grapes. It is native in Southern India and is grown throughout the tropics.

Piper Nigrum

BBQ – how to do it right

Posted on 20/06/201920/06/2019 by teemuchanz

Barbeque – few simple rules

Chanz team had yesterday an unique opportunity to take part to Enn Tobreluts BBQ Entertainment & Cooking lessons. We learned us how to prepare the perfect ribeye, here are few of the tips we got from his team!

Basics

Set up the grill area in an open space. You are making a contained fire, so make sure there is no trees, fences etc nearby. Have a water bucket or fire extinguisher nearby, and keep kids and pets away from the area. Use proper equipment like long-handled tongs and insulated BBQ-gloves.

For charcoal, buy a good quality charcoal, which is cut to large chunks. The small cheap ones just burns away superfast, and are suitable only for quick bbq’s.

When you lit the BBQ the best way to do it use the chimney starter (like in the picture below). It also protects you and the coals, and can be used easily even on the windy day.

If you dont have a chimney, arrange your charcoal in a stack, put firelighters or newspapers between the charcoal and allow the flames to catch.

So when is your charcoals ready for some action? You need to let the flames die completly and let coal ashen. So dont hurry, all you are going to achieve with being too fast here is burnt food.

Black or grey with flames: Not ready yet. Step away, have a beer and relax.

Glowing white hot with red centres (blow very gently to check): Ready for direct heat.

Ashy white but still very  hot: Ready for indirect  heat or cooking in the coals.

Preparing the best Ribeye steak

Our BBQ-meister showed us an easy way to make a delicious Ribeye. Remember to take the meat our from the fridge around 1 hr before, so it is room temperature when you are ready for some action!

At this point, you can gently rub in some spices of your choice, like blackpepper, chilipowder etc, but NO SALT!

When you have glowing white hot coals with red centres, we are almost ready to start our mouth watering BBQ-session! Rub the ribeyes with some red wine vinegar and throw them in the coals! After around 15-20 seconds, lift the steaks away a bit, and scratch the coals away that have attached to the meat. Then continue to bbq around 1 minute on each side, until the meat is medium or medium-rare. Check the pictures below how it looks in action!

After the meat is ready, put them to a wooden surface to rest for few minutes, dash some seasalt on top of them and slice the meat. Thats all, now you have the perfect ribeye!

Enjoy!

We at Chanz want to thank Enn Tobreluts BBQ Entertainment team for creating us a wonderful event!

Click on pictures to make the larger

Easter delicates – Memma

Posted on 16/04/201907/04/2020 by teemuchanz

Mämmi

Easter.. What a wonderful time to have some days off and eat delicious food. Like memma. Atleast if you are a Finn. Or love Mämmi as it is called in Finland.

General

Memma is an old food mentioned already in 16th century latin scripts, but it has been eaten in Finland since 13th century. It is propably one of the oldest food traditions that hasnt changed that much. Good or bad, we let you decide. It is concidered as feast during the lent because it has some laxative and purifieng properties. It was also concidered as convenient food on Good Friday when cooking was against religious custom.

Recipe

Memma is consisting of rye flower, water, powdered malt rye, salt and some orange zest. The mix will then go through a natural sweetening process and after that it is baked in the oven. After oven, it is still chilled for several days. Instead of being allowed to sweeten naturally, traditionally, commercially made mämmi is usually seasoned with dark molasses. Memma has originally only around 2 % of sugar, but the new versions can have up to 20%. It is also very protein rich.

How to eat

Generally this Easter delicassy is eaten with cold milk/cream and sugar. In the old good times, it was also used as spread to the bread. There is also beer that has Memma as main ingredience. Yummy!! Dont be afraid how it looks, just taste it! You can find Memma in many northern countries like Sweden, Finland and also in Estonia. Give it a try! 🙂

As it is Easter, have you checked our Easter Egg Hunt yet?