Around the World in the Hetzel Kitchen

I once had someone that had taught English in China tell me that Sweet and Sour Chicken was one of the more authentic foods that people in America consider Chinese. Who knew, right? Whether this is true or not, I know that I find it delicious. So how do you get it other than takeout? Very differently than I would have thought. I originally found the recipe here , but now I notice it points back to another site with different proportions. I think I'll be using the original next time, and you'll see why! The sauce is made by whisking apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, and garlic powder. My initial credulity was ketchup. Really? But ketchup originated in Asia. This is one reason why you can find it spelled differently different places, since it was being translated from a different alphabet. So I call possibly legit. With the sauce ready, I took cut-up chicken and seasoned them then stirred them around with some cornstarch. The original recipe says that they ...

Honduras is in Central America bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. It is slightly larger than Tennessee and has almost 9 million people. The official language is Spanish and the capital is Tegucigalpa. It is one of the poorest countries in Latin America with the world's highest murder rate. Read more at the CIA World Factbook . Sometimes it is really hard to decide what recipe to do for a country. There are too many options, or nothing out there are all. Then there are the countries where you do a search and Carne Asada comes up and you don't need to look anymore. There were, of course, multiple versions of the recipe, so I did have to do some deciding. I ended up with this recipe from a blog doing the same thing that I am. Hello fellow world cooker! Kevin's parents came to visit us in early September, so it seemed like a good time to plan this one. The weather was great and we had company, so why not make something delicious? Flank steak ...

Haiti, along with the Dominican Republic , is one of the two countries on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Haiti declared independence from France in 1804, making it one of the first post-colonial nations. It is currently considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. French and Creole are the official languages. The country is slightly smaller than Maryland, with over 10 million citizens. Port-au-Prince is the capital. Read more at the CIA World Factbook . I have never been to Haiti, but feel a slight connection. In high school, one of my close friends and her family went there often to help on medical mission trips. More recently, my little brother Patrick has gone two years in a row to help do some work there too. I have art up in the house that they have brought back for me and I have heard plenty of stories. I would love to go someday and try to help and get to know the people as well. I reached out for some help on what I should make for Haiti. Might as well g...

Guyana is a country in Northern South America between Suriname and Venezuela - one of the smaller ones on the top right corner on the map that people seem to have a hard time remembering.  It is slightly smaller than Idaho.  It has been both a Dutch and British colony.  Three quarters of the population are Afro-Guyanese or Indo-Guyanese.  A lot of indentured laborers came over from India and made a huge cultural and ethnic impact.  Read more in the CIA World Factbook . This Indian influence explains the recipe that stood out to me when I was looking through lots of lists: Chicken Curry .  Yes, a curry recipe that claims to be authentically Guyanese.  This I had to try. The recipe didn't specifically say you had to start with a full chicken, just "3 lb chicken cut up into small pieces."  I decided I had to do this, though.  Despite the fact I've done it a lot, I still don't enjoy it.  I was also highly disappointed at the yield. ...

Kevin and I went to Italy in 2009.  More about that when I actually get to Italy in my regular country cooking.  While we were there we had lots and lots of good food.  Amazing food.  One thing that I particularly remembered was Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Fast forward to our first Valentines Day as a married couple and I wanted to make something delicious.  I looked through my favorite cookbook and found a recipe one for that same Italian dish.  Boom.  Decision made.  It was really good and became a regular item on the menu. (Unfortunately the chocolate cake that Kevin made on that Valentine's Day got knocked off of the counter by the cat.) I highly recommend this cookbook! Before each recipe it has a long description of what the recipe is and how they came to this version.  They try a lot of different things and then taste test them all.  I kinda want that job. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is basically spaghetti noodles in a ...

Writing a post about "authentic" recipes and cooking is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  There is a lot of research and ingredient sourcing fairly complicated recipes.  If you can understand the instructions in the first place. Don't worry, I'm not planning on stopping.  I have multiple posts in progress, and Hungary on the menu plan. It is just that cooking internationally-inspired food does not have to be this hard.  We have lots of dinners that are influenced by international cuisine and we love it.  I'm going to have some posts of these Everyday International foods to both encourage myself and hopefully give you some easier ways to join in the fun. These will be a lot less vetted than other things.  I make no claims about authenticity, just about taste and process. Italy, India, and Mexico will probably be some of the first countries we visit though this, but not the last.

Guinea-Bissau is a small West African country bordering Guinea and Senegal.  There has been a lot of unrest since they gained independence from Portugal in 1974.  Their conveniently-named capital is Bissau.  Read more in the CIA World Factbook . We're catching up to life a little bit here, although this was still about four months ago.  I cannot for the life of me find the original recipe I used.  I did Bolo a Moda da Guine Bissau - basically, Cake in the Style of Guinea-Bissau.   This one is fairly close , but not exactly what I followed. Oh well, we press on anyway. This looks simple.  A five ingredient cake.  I can do this without anything special from the store!  Butter, flour, sugar, eggs, and milk.  Let's do this! Did I not soften the butter ahead of time?  Was I supposed to?  The world may never know. Brendan spent some time as photographer.  I apologize.   Add some flour and milk and we'r...

Guinea is a coastal nation in West Africa.  The official language is French and it is slightly smaller than Oregon.  Read more here ! According to what Google tells me is West Africa, we have already done The Gambia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso.  I have already had a lot of difficulty finding recipes for countries in this region, so I decided to take a different tactic this time.  I got out my trusty International cookbook and found a recipe that said it was from Western Africa.  Do they make it specifically in Guinea?  I don't know.  But I am in the right region. The recipe that caught my eye was Kaklo - Banana and Chile Fritters.  How awesome does that sound?  More of a side dish or appetizer, but I can work with that.  I was originally going to do this in Colorado over Christmas, but things got a LITTLE busy.  Turns out adding seven to nine people to a household of normally two can create some chaos. When ...