Tuesday, March 18, 2008

salt potatoes

I thought everyone ate salt potatoes and beef on weck, but as it turns out, such delicacies belong to my very own corner of the world. So I did a little research. And while Wikipedia is probably not the most anthropologically sound source, it's a good start for looking at myself as a foreigner. (And so that my students see I cite all my sources, all quotes come from Wikipedia as of March 18th, 2008). This is what I've learned about my own hometown culture by living far away from it:

SALT POTATOES:
"Salt potatoes are bite-size "young" white potatoes scrubbed and boiled in their jackets. Salt is added to the water to the point of saturation, giving them their name, and unique flavor and texture. After cooking, salt potatoes are served with melted butter."

"Salt potatoes are a regional dish of Central New York, typically served in the summer when the young potatoes are first harvested. Salt springs located around Onondaga lake were used to create consumable salt that was distributed through out the north-east via the Erie Canal. Salinated water was laid out to dry on large trays. The salt residue was then scraped up, ground, and packaged. Salt potatoes were created in the nineteenth century by Irish immigrants working the springs who cooked their potatoes in the salty brine."

And my my roommates and their mothers balked at the thought of boiling potatoes in salt water. Ha! I'm not crazy! Of course, I had to pick out the smallest of the old winter potatoes instead of new baby ones, and even though I used every grain of salt in the house, there wasn't enough for that delicious crusty skin. There they are in my pie pan above.

BEEF ON WECK:
I've been told that Slovaks don't eat a lot of beef because of Mad Cow Disease. (I thought that had blown over). But needless to say I haven't hosted any big family dinners or graduation parties which would call for beef on weck, or prepared any beef, for that matter, since I've been here. But oh how I miss it; it has become part of my gilded picture of home.

So, for my non-New Yorker friends: a "kummelweck, or sometimes kimmelweck or even kümmelweck, is a salty roll that is popular in Western New York. It is similar to a Kaiser roll but topped with pretzel salt and caraway seeds. Kummelweck is commonly shortened to “weck," and often served in the Buffalo metropolitan area with roast beef and horseradish to form a sandwich known colloquially as "beef on weck."

"A typical style of beef on weck sandwich is made from slow-roasted rare roast beef hand carved to provide about 1/2 inch (2 cm) of meat on the bottom half of the roll. The cut face of the top half of the roll may be dipped in the juices from the roast. Prepared horseradish is usually provided for the diner to spread on the top half of the roll to taste. In the Buffalo area, it is common to see jars of horseradish on eatery tables that serve the sandwich, much as you might see ketchup bottles available in other restaurants. The sandwich was featured on the PBS special Sandwiches That You Will Like."

LAMB CAKE:

Here's a final Buffalo connection: Last Easter when my roommates and I were in Krakow I kept
seeing shop windows decorated with lamb cakes like the one Mom always made me for my birthday from the mold that we inherited from Grandma Hamm. As it turns out, the lamb cake is a traditional Polish Easter food. Poland and Slovakia are neighbors,
so the Polish Easter Lamb, or Baranek Wielkanocny is very similar to the Slovak Veľkonočný baránok. This year Karin surprised me with the real thing which I've enjoyed, piece by piece, for the past few mornings with my coffee: