we ate like kings

We ate like kings (all around the world)

by: the ADHD Accountant – Krid

200 years ago people had a staple diet. That means boring. They ate the same thing day in and a day out and for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner. Famine was prevalent. Malnutrition. Scurvy. In some places today the challenges from droughts, floods, fire, and pests can decimate crops and challenge survival. Be grateful.

200 years ago a King could not get fresh apples year round. Possessing nearly all of the wealth and power inherent in a Monarchy (yes, very simplified) a King could command and offer untold sums and still could not get an apple all year round.

200 years ago the world was mostly mapped and yet people couldn’t sample, couldn’t try, couldn’t understand what and how foods were from the other side of the world. How do you explain a kiwi fruit to someone who has only ever had apples and blackberries (and those rarely)? How do you explain the taste of curry to someone who only knows salt, pepper, and some local herbs?

You can’t.

We don’t have that problem today. Today, we, for a given value of we of course (the ‘West’), can have most fruit year round. Shipping. Greenhouses. Grocery stores and supermarkets. These things, supply and demand influenced, have enabled the average consumer (that’s you and me) to be able to purchase ingredients that only a few centuries ago we beyond the ability of Royalty to conjure for their own tables.

Not only that but due to immigration and emigration and tourism and the effects of publishing, media, and most recently the internet, we are able to find restaurants in our cities, cook books in our libraries and book stores (remember those), travel shows dedicate to fantastic cuisines, and chefs showing you how to make it for free on YouTube.

Today we can go to our local grocers, or a specialty market, and buy things from the other side of the planet. We can acquire frozen foods prepared from ancient recipes that we can just pop into a pot or the microwave and eat our fill of fabulous favorites. For the bold you can even learn to make it yourself.

I have not yet travelled much of the globe, but I have many friends and acquaintances who are from far off places or have come from them. My South Korean friend and I have had many conversations about Kimchi. I don’t care for it at all. Years ago I was working shift work and she was unemployed so we made a lunch club.

Meeting every few weeks we would ‘teach’ each other how to make a dish. And then eat it! At one point we had 12 people trying to make Korean inspired sushi. Rice is hard. Actually, everything about that trial was hard. We made many kinds of sushi(ish) rolls, and had a great time.

One of the items that we made from her home town, and her family table, was a BBQ beef dish. She had a package from home with homemade sauce that I haven’t found quite the match of in the store but it’s come close. I am not sure what the actual name of it is; I just call it all Bulgogi.

I had cooked lot’s of beef before that of course. Steaks, roasts, stir fry’s. My friends’ recipe called for thin slices to be cooked high and fast then garnished. Like a street food.

Currently I use a nice roast and slice it into thin, broad flat pieces. The slices are then put into the marinade which was heavily influenced by soy. I have found a few sauces on local shelves that I use as is or add in a few things depending on taste. I’ve tried soy sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, Worcestershire, chili oil, garlic, lemon grass (FYI – don’t do lemon grass), and other ingredients to taste and mood.

The beef slices should marinate for at least 4 hours. I like to use a suction sealed bag, just left on the counter and flipped hourly. From there the pieces go on the BBQ grill, on high. As the beef is so thin it doesn’t take a lot of time to cook. On my bbq I set a pace where I take about 1 minute to fill the grill, back to front, left to right. A few seconds after completing that I can flip the slices to cook the other side. BBQ can be very precise. By the time I get to the end it is time to start taking off. I stack them in a bowl to preserve some of the heat if not eating them right off the grill. Repeat with the next batch. If your BBQ has some “cooler” spots you may need to avoid those or do some rotations.

To serve I can put into the oven at 170 or so to keep warm or serve from the bottom. Depending on time and mood the remaining marinade can be reduced into a nice sauce to drizzle, or you can use a variety of sauces to dip. On it’s own you can garnish with sesame seeds, chives, or peanuts. Some rice, some grilled or raw vegetables. Maybe a salad.

The wonderful thing about being a cook is that you don’t have to follow the recipe. You don’t have to keep it regional or traditional. Fusion, or even just cooking to taste, means that you can take all the best things and make a meal fit for a king.

The friends and family at your table are priceless.

Bon Appetit!

<<END SONG: WEIRD AL – JUST EAT IT! >>