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[RedKing]

I'm having pierogis with sauerkraut and mushrooms now.

<3 cheese and potato pierogi. So much.

Anyway, anyone know any good spice rubs or sauces for meats from less common cuisines, like the aforementioned Ethiopian or Mongolian? I love spicy foods like Indian, Mexican and Thai, but I'm looking for something a bit different to my usual fare.

Mongolian food is actually pretty bland on its own (especially compared to Hui and Uighur cuisine...when I mentioned Mongols I was actually thinking of Inner Mongolia, which is more Chinese-influenced). It's much more akin to Tibetan food in that it's high-fat, high-calore, high-protein. This is part because they both have climates which are rough on the body and necessitate a high-calore diet. Like Tibet, Mongolia uses a lot of animal by-product (yak/horse/sheep milk, butter and cheese products; meat dishes with large amounts of fat left in the dish). This can make it kind of unpleasantly oily/greasy at times, which is offset primarily by using chilies, salt and alcohol. They'd tend to be added on the plate rather than cooked with, because all three are strong flavors which can vary widely in personal preference.

Protip: A lot of "Mongolian" dishes in the West aren't actually Mongolian (ex. Mongolian beef [actually Hunanese], Mongolian barbecue [developed in Taiwan as a variant on teppanyaki]). It's just that "Chinese" (and even Sichuan/Szechwan) doesn't sound all that exotic anymore, so companies and restaurants will call it Mongolian as a marketing gimmick.  The most common Mongolian dish is boiled mutton. That's it. Just mutton. No veggies, no spices. If you're lucky, it'll be deep-fried in a dumpling.

Oh, and they also have something called "boodog", which is like Mongolian haggis. It's marmot, cooked inside its own stomach with hot rocks. The only way it could be more dwarven is if they added some finely-minced cave fish.

[Haspen]

My mother permitted me to divulge her beetroot soup addicting element

If fresh boiled beetroots have been used: 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
If vinegar-pickled beetroots have been used: Like above, just less vinegar.

It makes the beetroot soup sweet in your mouth, but kinda sour-spicy when it goes down your throat. Beets (ha!) any other soup at cold winter day. Also of course, the above are all matter of taste. Don't forget the usual spices. I hope you use common spices in your soups, right? Right?

[RedKing]

My two favorite soups to make are Tuscan soup (spicy sausage, potatoes and kale in chicken broth) and avgolemono (an eastern Mediterranean chicken-lemon-egg-rice soup). I discovered avgolemono when I used to work in a Greek restaurant, and I ate it by the bucketload. Doesn't store well though, because of the egg foam. You really lose a lot of that fluffy, creamy texture if the soup chills and then heats back up. But when it's fresh....OM NOM NOM. Being that it's non-dairy, it's also one of the few creamy soups I can eat without worry.

[penguinofhonor]

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[Skyrunner]

Spanish makerel breaded (with curry as one of the ingredients) then lightly fried in a pan is so delicious.

[Haspen]

Also, you should try white sausage (not smoked!) grilled, and eat it with horseradish. True marvel. Bonus points if you have steamy hot sour rye soup nearby for a drink. Optionally with boiled eggs and white sausage*

*this setting above is traditional Easter sunday breakfast setting in my country, or, rather, in my region.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Speaking of soups, speaking of creamy soups... last fall we bought some fresh Yellowfoot mushrooms from the market and cooked up some very creamy and very delicious Yellowfoot soup. I can't remember the exact recipe we used but we tossed in some processed cheese and black pepper. End result was a thick and very creamy mushroom soup with plenty of strong flavoured molten cheese in the mix. It was like eating spoonfuls of heaven (and early cholesterol death). I could see that as an annual fall time dish for the future. It was pretty damn tasty.

Does anyone have any advice on how to make my own sauces? Lately I've had quite a lot of rice, chicken and whatever Uncle Ben's Korma/Masala/Sweet&Sour/whathaveyou sauce I've grabbed from the store. It tastes good, but a little DIY never hurt anyone. I'll probably google something up but a little human input would be neat. Some nice to know stuff, common pitfalls I might face etc. would be nice. Considering most of my cooking nowadays consists of "Fry proteins, add sauce or cream and spices, boil carbs, eat".

[DarkWolfXV]

I hate eating paper, dont try it. It tastes like... well bad. I tried because we bet with friends for money i wouldnt eat paper. I ate a small bit though.
Dont try it.
Ever.

Also i like eating McDonalds food, its tasty to me, i know its unhealthy but im not eating it everyday so i think its fine.
And i love whipped cream, i could eat it forever...

[Dutchling]

I used to eat paper (and sand) like they were donuts as a kid :X. Omnomnom.

Also, Pea Soup. There is nothing more delicious than pea soup.

[Shinotsa]

I agree. There is also nothing worse than pea soup. I don't think any other dish has the capacity to be done so well and fucked up so badly. Burmese soups are some of my favorites, though you'll choke on peppers if you aren't careful. They like to tickle the back of your throat with pain.

I don't have too much experience with sauces, though if you try anything I would start by sauteing onions and garlic in olive oil to start. Healthy, and adds flavor to just about anything

[RedKing]

Depends on what you're looking for as far a sauce. If you're wanting something like a gravy, then learn to make a roux (butter + flour slowly cooked as you mix them together). Once you have the roux, take whatever juices are left from the meat you cooked (although if you fry all the meat, you don't really have any) and incorporate it into the roux. Really, that's one of the simplest best ways to do meat and gravy: pan-sear/roast a chunk of meat, then once you're done, remove the meat and take the juices and the little stuck-on bits of meat on the pan and add that to your roux (along with maybe a little wine or sherry if it's too thick; a bit of cornstarch if it's too thin) and then combine that over low heat till it firms up to what you want.

Can't really offer advice on cream/Bechamel sauces, cause I need to avoid them and their delicious, pernicious lactose. Not to mention the sheer caloric and fat content.

The other basic, quick sauce is what Shinotsa said about the garlic/onion/olive oil mix. I'd add that you probably want to sprinkle a little salt on the chopped onion, to help pull the water out of it and intensify the flavor.

I'd also recommend scouring the Web for Good Eats, season 8 ep 1 (Hittin' the Sauce) if you can find it. Also season 1, episode 8 (Gravy Confidential). Alton Brown approaches cooking like people here approach the question of "how fast does a kitten need to impact a wall to scatter bodyparts?" 

[Cyprinus]

Gołąbki and kruśchiki remind me of Christmas at [redacted]. My [redacted] is [redacted], and though we didn't inherit too much of her side's culture, we did carry over a few food traditions.

Gołąbki are cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef, pork, and rice, and served in a tomato sauce. According to Wikipedia (I had to figure out how that was spelled), they're related to Turkish dolmas.

Kruśchiki, or "angel wings", are basically bow-tie-shaped fried cookies that are served with powdered sugar, sort of like funnel cake. They're excellent eaten hot. My aunt usually makes them around Christmas, and where I am they're only sold at church bake sales.

[Haspen]

Gołąbki and kruśchiki remind me of Christmas at my grandmother's house. My grandmother (on my mom's side) is of central European descent, and though we didn't inherit too much of her side's culture, we did carry over a few food traditions.

Gołąbki are cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef, pork, and rice, and served in a tomato sauce. According to Wikipedia (I had to figure out how that was spelled), they're related to Turkish dolmas.

Kruśchiki, or "angel wings", are basically bow-tie-shaped fried cookies that are served with powdered sugar, sort of like funnel cake. They're excellent eaten hot. My aunt usually makes them around Christmas, and where I am they're only sold at church bake sales.

I assume you're of Polish ancestry, as 'chruściki' and 'gołąbki' are mostly Polish dishes. And yes, both are omnomnomnomnom^infinity.

'Chruściki' are as I'm told by my mother, derived from 'chrust' which is basically dry branches (or more commonly, dry hay) as fire fuel.

[Shinotsa]

Ah, I just celebrated Passover, the one time of the year eating ground fish loaf packed in gelatin is considered normal. Gefilte fish is delicious with horseradish. I prefer the kind that's dense and savory, but a lot of kids are fluffy, containing filler and sugar.

Another big dish is Matzah ball soup. Pretty much ground cracker formed into a ball and put into a basic chicken broth. Unoffensive if nothing else.

The other staples are such delicacies as boiled chicken and dry brisket. Mmmm.

[Jopax]

Dolmas are awesome, around these parts if it's a vegetable that can be cooked and hollowed out (or rolled like cabbage) it will eventually end up as a dolma. That said, my aunt makes one kickass variety using spinach (or a variety of spinach, can't remember the correct english name, not sure if it even exists) to roll these spoon sized bits of heaven, plus a damnably good, thick sauce they're originaly cooked in.

Also, just had some old bread, all spread with margerine, some cheese and toasted, quite awesome stuff, especially if you forgo the salty variety for some sugar and Nesquick on the margerine (extra points for combining that with cheese, can't tell if it's sweet or salty but it's good).

Also another meal I really like (both making and eating) is small cubes of pork/cow meat (not just the red stuff, some fat is great) with onions. Start out with 3-4 onions finely chopped up, use a medium to low heat to make them go all yellow (careful that you don't burn them), then add meat, stirr and add spices, some white wine is also nice to add towards the end to help with the onion falling apart, my mom also adds green paprikas sometimes, not a big fan of those.

Once finished you have this wonderfully smelling plate full of soft chewy meat that swims in sweet sweet onions. Best served with mashed potatoes, goes well with just bread tho.