Swiss Rock-Hard Stale Bread Cream

robin

Fri, 7 Oct 2011 22:30:42 GMT

There are quite a few stale bread recipes all over europe..or the world with their equivalent of "bread"

People in germany used stale rye bread for soups and sauces as thickener or as a gruel in a stand alone meal or as side dish.

Farmers and workers had mostly stale bread gruel as a filling high caloric meal and with the whole grains and the sour dough it was quite nutritious.

Even just 100 years ago most people could not afford milk, eggs or imagine..meat to boost up their dishes and I have to say, the recipes they had were still tasty and filling.

Something you have to try for fun..and to be in awe what people could do with their skills.

It does not take a genius in the kitchen to fry up bacon and eggs but to make bread gruel that is tasty and will be eaten..that takes some skill.

It can either be a tasteless mush, or a filling porridge kind of meal.

The portugese have a savory bread mush as side dish for fish stew...I can not recall the name. It was quite common for sailors because there was always enough stale bread on sea and it was filling, balancing the fish you got all too often while on sea.

And my gran made a rye bread porridge from the very dark, formerly moist and with whole grains studded rye bread that was steam baked for a couple of hours so it got a very malty sweet taste.

It hardly gets moldy, dries out and crumbles easily and you fry it in a dry pan without fat.

The finer you crumble it and fry it evenly the better the taste of the bread porrdige later.

And than you add water or stock..mostly it was what you had on hand and than you let it cook for 15, 30 minutes until the crumbles were gone and you had a smooth paste with only the soft grains that were in the bread before and you salted it to taste and topped it with fried onions and garlic, chives, fresh green herbs..

The roasting is what made this dish good, omit the roasting of the stale bread and the mush just tastes like liquified bread.

Sometimes it was made with a glass of stale beer..it was a good adition with fried onions, not just as garnish. Onions were a vegetable dish so you had a good ammount of them to go on the mush.

The onions were more like an onion soup with nearly no liquid, very intensive.

They were roasted in the wood fired oven that heated the kitchen and the fire heated the stones on which you could also bake bread..smoky flavour because a bit of smoke always went through the cracks.

Phillip Ulbrich

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:35:31 GMT

Hello,

Great Article, could I use a picture of the Rye Bread for web map? Thanks.

Kate Schenk

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:23:10 GMT

i just found your site while looking for stale bread recipes. i"m also swiss (my family is from canton bern but i was born and raised in new york). i had no idea about sii and am really excited to try it. i"ll be visiting CH this summer so i"m looking forward to more food adventures.

btw, i just started a blog (very basic at this point):
www.nude-food.blogspot.com

kate

fx

Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:32:05 GMT

Andrea, I am not sure about the blackcurrant syrup and unfortunately my grandmother passed on. But check my last article on Nostradamus�Cherry Jelly, normally you can prepare any syrup just like this, straining the hot fruits through a cloth, but then don�t cook it as long so that it will continue to dissolve in water.

andrea

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 02:03:06 GMT

FX, I"m loving your blog. This dish sounds interesting (in a good way). Do you have a recipe for the black currant syrup? I just scored a bunch of the little berries and am looking for ways to use them. By the way, after reading your posts, I"m dying to visit Switzerland.

fx

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:17:15 GMT

Anny, I am sorry to learn that even rye bread is off-limits for celiacs, it is not hugely common but has a rather unique taste.

anny

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:21:22 GMT

Hi, FX--fascinating site and ideas. Just a quick comment from a gluten-intolerant, nearly celiac person, though: Rye flour has the protein gluten in it and cannot be consumed by celiacs or those with gluten intolerance. Very sad for me and others :( . Perhaps this would work with any stale bread.

fx

Thu, 8 May 2008 15:19:17 GMT

Lauren, I hope you get to try this recipe from my neck of the Alps!

Lauren

Wed, 7 May 2008 04:33:36 GMT

How cool! Nothing like a little boozy rye bread to get you through winter. :)

fx

Sat, 5 Apr 2008 14:24:38 GMT

Marga, thanks for your visit! I checked many recipes for "migas", this is one astounding dish. In Mexico they make their own version, called chilaquiles, with strips of leftovers tortillas. If you are interested in delicious ways of recycling stale breads, you"ll find that nobody can beat the Sicilians. They crumble their hardhweat bread and use it everywhere, in meatballs, roasts, desserts and even sprinkle it on finished pasta!

Marga

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 13:57:11 GMT

It"s so interesting to see how different cultures recycle their old bread. This recipe loosely reminds me of the Spanish "migas" or crumbs fried in lard with chorizo or tocino, and then served with grapes or a cup of thick hot chocolate Spanish style. Thank you! 8)

bm

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:34:07 GMT

google a traduit pour terreux le rousp�teur

ariun

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:52:32 GMT

Wow, ingenious! I must try this, as I"ve got lots of rocky bread sitting around.