Bratkartoffeln

One of my favorite dishes that Mom makes is this German-style fried potatoes named Bratkartoffeln. The speciality of this fried potatoes is that they were boiled before they were fried. The boiling was done so that the potatoes will be firm and chewy, yet crispy on the sides. It's just how the texture of the dish should be. 

Mom usually makes Bratkartoffeln with some bacon bits because, other than the fact that the bacon lets out lard a-plenty that makes the dish tasted more awesome, just because. Cooked with a block of butter and layers of onion, alongside crispy and savory bacon bits, this foreign dish is lip-smacking in so many levels! 

Bratkartoffeln

Now, let me remind you that my Mom usually doesn't cook by the book, she prefer to go with the flow when she cooks, as in "cook a handful-of-this for as-long-as-I-want-as-long-as-it-looks-good-and-taste-great" instead of following the exact recipe. So, here's my Mom's version of the recipe to make a bucketful of tongue-lashing Bratkartoffeln!

(Note: This dish serves 10, best to be cooked for a party or a family gathering. So, if you're cooking for 3, you might want to cut down the amount of the ingredients.)

Ingredients:

- 14 potatoes (the quality of the potato affects the quality of the dish) 

- 1 block of salted butter

- 1 garlic (but if you love garlic, you can add some more)

Cooking Utensil:

- big pot (to boil the potatoes)

- big non-stick frying pan (to fry the potatoes)

- wooden spatula (you don't want to scratch the surface of the frying pan, do you?)

- knife 

How to Make:

- Clean them potatoes!

You have to wash the potatoes because they are dirty. They were pulled from the earth, God-knows what kind of substance made contact with the potatoes, and we are in doubt whether the guy form the market cleansed them or not, so don't take the risk by not cleaning them. You don't want to indulge on pesticides, do you? 

- Boil the potatoes in medium heat for 15 minutes. 

Don't set the fire too big, you would end up with mushy potatoes. 

- When the potatoes are done being boiled, let them cool for a bit and slice them.

It's up to you whether you want to make thin slices or vice versa. My Mom usually slice them around half a centimeter because the thinner, the crispier, the chewier, the better. 

- Wash your garlic and slice them around half a centimeter as well.

- Take out your big non-stick frying pan and set the fire to low-medium heat.

- When the frying pan has heat up, put some sliced garlic into it and fry them for a minute. 

- Quickly grab your butter, cut one fifth of it, and put it in the frying pan.

If you like your potatoes buttery, don't be shy to add some more. As the butter melts and fuse with the garlic, they will make a sizzling sound and let out a gorgeously delicious aroma. 

- Stir quickly for around 2 minutes, until the garlic slightly change its' color.

- Put in the sliced potatoes and fry them for around 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown in color.

Be careful when you're frying the potatoes, as they are fragile and brittle. You don't want to stir too often and aggresively, otherwise your fried potatoes will end up mashed. 

- As the potatoes change their color, slowly flip them to their other sides so that they well evenly fried. 

- When you end up with firm and chewy fried potatoes, with crispy brown skin on its' side and dark yellow color in the middle, you have succeed at making your very own Bratkartoffeln! 

See? It wasn't too hard to cook yourself some German-style fried potatoes, right? As long as you enjoy cooking and experimenting with new stuff, you will have an excellent dish as an outcome! Now, go eat that Bratkartoffeln of yours and enjoy the evening. Trinksprüche!

Fancy Lunch à la Mom

What is Sunday without a little quality time with your family, especially after a long week of chaotic examination at school? It's good to be back after, almost, a week of hiatus. Today, Mom decided to cook fancy and five-star-restaurant-like dishes, such as Chicken Cordon Blue and German-style Fried potatoes. What I thought was a great Sunday turned out to be an awesome Sunday instead.

Mom, being a splendid cooker she is, made a an-full of German-style Fried Potatoes that tasted like how a genuine German cuisine would taste like. Boiling the potatoes and chilling them overnight makes it easy for Mom to slice them. With some onions, olive oil, and seasonings, Mom can easily turn a regular potato into something that might only exists in another part of the continents. She did such a great job with the potatoes, not to mention she added some bacons into the dish generously.

Mom's German-style Fried Potatoes on progress

This family of mine has a thing for semi-burnt dish, you see, as in the food has crunchy edges and is dark gold-ish brown in color. mom took the advantage to cook the potatoes longer than how it should be, so that the crispy and crunchy edges would form, which made the dish taste even more delicious. My Dad and I were full of anticipation.

Would you resist such food that would make your tongue goes, "Oh la la"
and your tummy goes,  "More! More! More!" ?

The sight of the perfectly cooked potatoes that the family loves the
most, crunchy edges and dark gold-ish brown in color

The second dish was mom's homemade Chicken Cordon Blue. This smoked beef and cheese filled chicken breast file is not that hard to make, as I tried to cook one before at school during cooking lesson. By slicing the middle part of the chicken file horizontally, and inserting a generous amount of smoked beef and cheese, you can leisurely enjoy this European dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Chicken Cordon Blue à la Mom is served!

When the chicken is well-filled with your own personal choice of fillings, as for me I'm good with the old smoked beef and cheese fillings, you dip the chicken into a bowl of battered eggs, and then dip it in a separate bowl full of bread crumbs, and fry it until it is golden brown in color. You can tell that you have made a wonderful Chicken Cordon Blue if the chicken meat is well cooked, as well as the smoked beef, and the cheese is perfectly melted inside. I bet your saliva is going to drip any second now. 

Just look at those cheese, melting in such appealing way,
as if they were suffocating and came out for some fresh air

Stir-fried vegetables is also one of the dish that was included in today's Five-star Lunch Menu. With a handful of broccoli and green beans, along with some slices of onion, and melted butter, mom is one step closer on making someone who hates vegetable turned into a vegetarian. This plate of stir-fries vegetables share the same aroma as buttered popcorns, as Mom used butter instead of olive oil to fry the vegetables.

I couldn't even resist on not drooling over
the smell of melting butter 

Vegetables aren't that bad, especially when they are cooked with butter

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day by indulging healthy
green vegetables for lunch

In the end, the whole family had an exquisite lunch, and of course, Dad has to take pictures with the food using his signature pose. I'm up for another gleeful Sunday next week!

My first serving of today's lunch, followed by another
couple of servings later on

Dad, proudly present "My Wife is Awesome"
dish with his signature pose, the peace sign