Having just got back from the Ukraine, and knowing how much Sergio appreciates fat in general, I'd like to share with you one of my best fat experiences in a while. A quintessential part of Ukrainian food, "salo" the underskin fat cured in salt and paprika. What the #$#(@##! you may ask. But basically, it's tasty, buttery, nutty chips of lard that you can have with your garlic bread. The photo doesn't do it justice but it was dark in the restaurant. Salo is a heavenly condiment, the very soul of Ukranian cuisine. This sort of light, smooth lard is really hard to come by-- usually I just want to throw up after eating more than a good bite of solid fat. But Salo just kept tempting me with its zesty paprika shell and the deep flavor and slight saltiness. But I didn't have the guts to try it with chocolate... (actually it was unavailable, but even then). Marc (who's Jewish) was disgusted by the whole idea. But I found it delectable, and in the end ate the whole platter of it...
Sure I tried other Black Sea delicacies like grilled sturgeon. Ugly fuckers, but tasty. Like a meatier and more satisfying version of sting ray but just as light. The mussels sauteed in onion were quite good, but the fact that it was overpriced was no fun.
Had some really good borshch, another Ukrainian dish (often confused and thought to be Russian). With a little sour cream, it makes a hearty soup to survive the -40 degree winters in the north of the country. For green borshch, apparently I have to come back in springtime...
I tried other Russian foods like the Siberian dumplings with venison (really good--photo here)... but this actually just made me crave the Beijing jiaozi dumplings with a bit of soy sauce.
But for me, the impact of Ukrainian food really came with the eating of a tasty, smooth shred of salo...
