Horses…not just for riding.

I’m sorry did you say horse, like as in nay and giddy up?  You have to be joking right?  This was my reaction when a local butcher in Nyon asked if I wanted to try his most prized air dried meat (cheval). Maybe we shouldn’t have laughed, so I tried it (my daughter was with me and wanted nothing to do with it) and I have to say it was quite lean and flavorful, and had a smooth texture with a deep dark red almost purple color, , but I don’t think I will be eating horse again soon.  I learned early on in culinary school that you need to try everything at least once...isn’t that what we teach our kids?  How will you know you don’t like it if you don’t try it?  Being able to experience other cultures starts with trying the food.  But I had no idea people around the world ate horse meat, let alone consider it a delicacy in Switzerland. 

Smoked

Since I have learned this new word, I found cheval (horse) being sold at our local grocery store and on a lot of restaurant menus. As it turns out, eating horse meat dates back thousands of years and today over 1 billion people around the world eat it.  China, Mexico, Russia, Italy, and Kazakhstan are the top cheval-consuming countries.  In Europe, Italy eats over 16,000 tons per year (and this includes donkeys…again...you’re joking, right?) while France, Switzerland, and Germany don’t fall too far behind. The Swiss often dry cure the meat and thinly slice it to be eaten with their traditional fondue.  The interesting thing about Italy being such a huge consumer is the fact that since the 8th century eating “le cheval” has been prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church.  I’m sure this is not the only thing that happens in Italy (and most countries) that is prohibited by the church!  

Sure it can be said that horse meat is very high in protein and many people look at anything on the farm as a form of food...waste not, want not. Though for me I still see the horse as a sentimental animal that can be ridden for fun or sport or kept as a pet, but not eaten for dinner. 

Different ways cheval is prepared

Supermarket cheval

Jennie's English/Swiss Brownies

Would you pay a little over $9.00 (CHF 8.00 Swiss Francs) for a basic boxed chocolate brownie mix? Sounds expensive, right? Well, living in Switzerland is expensive overall, but it’s even more expensive when you buy imported American items.  But sometimes you just crave certain things, and my family craves brownies, not just any brownies but brownies out of the box.  Sure, I have been formally trained on how to cook and be creative in the kitchen, but for me baking is a whole different ballgame (or so I thought).  It has always intimidated me...weighing, measuring, and being accurate...what if I screw it up and add too much of this or that and then “Poof” I have an irrecoverable disaster on my hands.   

So you can imagine that I struggle with recipes that don’t give me the freedom to throw in a pinch of this or a dash of that.  It is my opinion that recipes are there for interpretation and can be great references but you can’t get hung up on them.  They are there to give you a jumping off point not an end all be all.  So because of my fear of baking and my presumptive thought that baking was very strict and you had to follow the rules, it was never important to me to have a good quality brownie recipe until faced with that $9 price tag.

Jennie’s Brownies (Jen is a British/Aussie friend here in Switzerland)

DRY

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I use unsweetened, but you can use sweetened, just cut back a little on the sugar)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (you can use self rising flour, just leave out the baking  powder)

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. baking powder

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WET

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbsp strong coffee

2 ea. eggs

4 oz melted butter (unsalted)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C
2. In two separate bowls mix all DRY ingredients together and then mix all the WET ingredients together, then add wet to dry and thoroughly mix. 
3. Pour into a greased pan (11x7 or 9x9, just depends on thickness)
4. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes and remove and let cool 

This is a recipe that can modified to your heart’s desire, just remember a few points:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

• Grease the pan with butter, vegetable oil, or spray (or line it with parchment paper) just make sure you have something down.

• Make sure the melted butter is cooled down slight before adding it to the egg mixture (it will scramble if too hot)

• Do not overcook!  If after 20 minutes the brownies are still jiggly in the middle remove and let cool.  There will be a good amount of carry over cooking and even if they seem loose they will firm up once cooled (or be a little gooey in the middle, yum!). Trust me no more than 20 minutes.  I like very moist brownies and usually only cook them for 17 minutes.

• You can swap the milk and coffee amounts (1/4 c. coffee and 1Tbsp of milk), it just depends on your taste

• If you do not like coffee replace with your favorite tea (earl grey would be nice)

• Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla