Wednesday, February 21, 2007

baltika!


I guess Oto's market is moving but I think that it's just moving a little bit closer to downtown? Does anyone know the details?


That borscht that I made is pretty allright. I only used a pound of chuck and put in extra vegetables. Instead of beef stock I used chicken stock that I made from a rotisserie chicken carcass. I usually buy one of those chickens from somewhere (Sampinos has really good ones) every week or so, and then when I've used all the meat I boil it up with carrots, celery, and onions and make a stock. It's not that much better than commercial stock but thinking of how commercial chicken stock probably gets made makes my blood run cold. I'm having borscht again tonight with goodies like stuffed cabbage rolls and bread from this market in West Sac. Too bad Europa stopped selling Baltika. When I went there a few months ago they had Baltika one through nine and we were planning to buy them all and have a tastings, but the market doesn't sell alcohol anymore.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are they moving or just expanding the current location?

Anonymous said...

baltika brings back fond memories of bulgarian bar. the computer knows I'm thinking about all things Russian, because the word verification is all backwards and shit.

dos veedanya,

brew

Anonymous said...

It's not as fun, but they have 5 or 6 different kinds of Baltika at BevMo. Plus it's fresher. The stuff I got at Europa was old and a bit off.

gbomb

Anonymous said...

Bev-Mo! After work!

Bev-Mo! After work!

-miller

gg said...

corti bros has about 3 or 4 choices of baltika too.
-greg

Jeff M. said...

my chicken stocks always turn out very bland. Do you add a lot of salt to your stocks? and how long to you cook them initially.

beckler said...

yeah, i guess any chicken stock will be bland? i always think about throwing in a jalapeno but it seems too outre. did i use that word right? i put in a fair amount of salt and i cook the whole mess for about three hours and then strain. it's a good idea to skim the fat, too.

Anonymous said...

I heard that Oto's is staying on Freeport, but just moving closer to SCC. Supposedly the new facility is twice the current location's size.

Anonymous said...

There was this bodega in Williamsburg that sold big bottles of Baltika for less than a dollar each. Good for the thirsty and poor traveler.