Week One Review

A few upsets, a full kitchen and a collection of new global recipes later, we've survived the first week of the 2010 World Cup Food Challenge. We'd like to congratulate everyone taking the Challenge on a great first week and pat ourselves on the back for surviving. In just 7 days we've prepared menus that highlight the national cuisines of over 30 countries! We are only missing Australia and Italy, which, although we did not address them specifically, we touched on through the dishes of their culinary neighbors.

Missed out on all the action? We're recapping the week in World Cup AND World Cup right here with some of the highlights. Make sure to be in on the action next week by following @worldcupfood on Twitter and joining our Facebook page!

Day 1 opens with a bang as France and Uruguay come to a goalless draw after an intense game and South Africa puts up a fight against Mexico...

... and we create what we believe to be the world's first South African margarita and taco.

The opening day party at Paparrucho's is 100% Mexico - Cuervo runs rampant, not a word of English is spoken and free breakfast tacos abound!

Argentina's classic steak accompaniment, Chimichurri, lends such perfect flavor to the Nigerian barbeque Suya, that we think even the Nigerian team would agree to eat it despite their nasty loss to Argentina.

Balkan meatballs taste perfectly at home on a bed of Ghanian Jollof rice.

Left out of the food tournament until today, but never one's to be pushed aside, long-term World Cup runner-ups Germany take their seat as the great white hope of Europe as they give a proper thrashing to the team from down under. Australians responded with a keen, "let's see 'em play ruby, eh, mate?" To that, the Germans punished us all by making this horrible rap video in German about their 4 goals against Australia. Apparently this group is making a "motivational rap" for each of the German games.

Stamppot of Burning Love not only fuses Danish and Dutch cuisine into a single bowl of rich awesomeness, but may also be the best name for any dish EVER. It's also likely the best thing since sliced Gouda to come out of either of these countries (yes, I know the 'best restaurant in the world' is in Denmark but its hardly representative of popular home cooking).

Meanwhile, our side of Cameroonian Couscous took to a side of wasabi far better than the team took to the field with Japan.

Creating our World Cup Radio station on Pandora has introduced us to some cool new artists, a few songs that have eternally wounded our ears, and has mainly just served to produce the most bizarre assembly of music ever played within a single hour.

North Korea surprised the world with a solid fight against favorites, Brazil, but ultimately, North Korea's Pyongyang style kimchi fell to the side of robust Brazilian favorite, Feijoada. Still, their single goal against powerhouse Brazil is sure to be one of this year's most memorable Cup moments.

An uneventful game between the Kiwis and Slovakia didn't stop us from creating an eventful dessert in the whimsically named, Dances with Bublanina.

Nearly a week into the Tournament and mostly draws to show for it, Spain manages to make people across the world tear their eyes out with rusty spoons as they suffer through the most unexpected loss to Switzerland. Possibly no longer the favorites, they're still our team and we're counting on Spain to come back. We drown our sorrows in a pot of cheese as Spanish fondue and wash it down with a Chilean Carmenere. Disregarding the loss, we persisted in posting a guide to Spanish regional cuisine. How the Swiss managed to score against Casillas will continue to baffle us.

As expected, Honduras takes back stage to the strong Chilean team, though the 0:1 score is better than some may have hoped for. Their version of Tres Leches Cake, however, proves to be one of the real winners of the week. 

Through blogging efforts throughout the week, with some help from Twitter, we discovered a few friends taking the World Cup Food Challenge alongside us in places from Arizona to England. We also noted that the American FoodNetwork does not appear to have noticed the World Cup is actually going on right now.

Despite the 4:1 thrashing that played out on the field, Argentinean Malbec turned out to be the perfect pairing with the spicy Korean short rib recipe we discovered at cleverly named MyEpikorean.com, our new go-to source for all things Korean cooking.

A week into the Tournament, anyone not upset over Spain's loss got their kick in the pants when Serbia, winning their first game against this rival since 1962, took down Germany 1:0. After losing to Ghana, no one expected Serbia to come back against Germany. Over at World Cup Food Challenge, we were expecting Serbian cevap to come back strong as we determined what to do with the leftover meatballs. Those that gasped at Serbia's dominance on the field would still appreciate the Balkan flavors intertwined with German Spatzle.

Leaving the knock-out rounds for Group C up in the air as we round out week one, England and Algeria came to a draw. In that case, English fans may not appreciate our Algerian take on their classic Ploughman's lunch.

After leading the game by 2 goals throughout the first half, Slovenia tied it with USA but in our kitchens, exclusive of faulty refereeing, excluded Slovenia from the most American of all desserts: bacon brownie cupcakes. You won't have to wait until the 85th minute for the USA to score with this dessert!

World Cup Food Around the World!

Around the world, as global citizens step up to take the World Cup Food Challenge, food magazines, websites, blogs and cooking channels alike are cooking up World Cup cuisine.

Taking the World Cup Food Challenge alongside us are the Emu Is Emo blog and the folks at Foodspotting. +1 to Foodspotting for offering prizes for participants but -10 for allowing them to cheat with foods like Shrimp Cocktail for Denmark and a New England Seafood Stew for Ghana. We expect a little more research could have revealed all authentic dishes in San Francisco as we did in Houston.

We'd like to congratulate Eilonwy at Emo for being the only other participant creating inspired fusion dishes daily (same as our concept), and even better, providing a diverse soundtrack and wit to go with it. Our favorite thus far is her recipe for Nigerian "Scam-Free" Empanadas.
Equally impressive and fun to follow are the folks over at Cooking vs. Sports, who, in addition to taking the World Cup Food Challenge, also regularly blog about pairing foods with various sporting events. Their Flikr photo stream provides serious eye candy that is sure to work up your appetite.

Several sites have specific dishes from each country pitted up against one another in cutthroat group matches.
The Good Food Channel
Japan is currently winning the largest percent of the vote, represented by Tempura. However, keep in mind, some of the dishes chosen make utterly no sense. Italian Tiramisu vs. Paraguayan Corn Bread? That's as about as fair a match as Saudi Arabia vs. Germany in a really futbol match. Still, the voting is all done by visitors to the site, so if your team isn't winning, you can at least vote for their food!

SecondHelping

Over at this Australian blog each national dish is paired with its respective beer and then pitted against one another. The only problem? The blogger, of apparent Fosters lineage, has horrible taste in beer.

World Cup Food & Drink The folks at this Wordpress blog are cooking up some tasty dishes daily inspired by the day's games.

All competition aside, some focus simply recipes from competing countries and educating the interwebs about varied global cuisines.

Food Network UK

In the World Cup Experience Section, you'll find several countries highlighted each week with informative articles on culture and cuisine and at least a dozen recipes. Picks for the week include South Africa, France and Mexico, with their guide to South African cuisine boasting a tantalizing recipe for Pumpkin Lamb Bobotie that makes me want to rush out and make bobotie tacos again, this time with pumpkin. You have to admit though, our Bobotie was far better looking.

Food Network US, on the other hand, does not appear to have noticed that the World Cup is even going on it all and has devoted their homepage to the likely subjects of reality shows and 50 burgers (because THAT has never been done before).
We even discovered a World Cup Food Challenge from the 2006 tournament, which included many delicious countries that didn't make this years cut such as Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. World Cup & Plate is fun to peruse, although recipes are not provided. They also include fun beverage pairings.

World Cup 2010 Radio

Music from 32 countries - classics, modern and all that represents the spirit of each country right down to the National Anthems. Plus we've included some futbol/World Cup hits such as this year's theme, Shakira's Waka Waka.

We always cook to music and wanted something to get in the spirt. Hopefully it will inspire you too. Enjoy!

Just click the Pandora station on the right sidebar to listen. You can sign into Pandora and modify the station as you like.

6/12: Argentina v Nigeria, USA v England

First things first, we're starting off the day with a fully Argentinean breakfast of maté and alfajores.
Since both Argentina and Nigeria are marvelously carnivorous nations (and we like carnivorous nations), tying their cuisines together in a single dish is fairly simple. The national dish of Nigeria, suya, is a grilled meat similar to the Argentinean parrillada and nicely accented by the flavors of Argentinean chimichurri.
Moving on to the finale, we've taken the old sayings about being as "American as Apple pie" and all the various jokes regarding the British and their tea, and incorporated them into a single dessert. Except, apples aren't in season and that wouldn't make a very good pie - so we're using Texas peaches, which are now at the height of their succulent flavor. Besides, it doesn't get any more American than the Texas Hill Country. And don't worry, we're not putting tea in the pie - we're putting it in the ice cream!
Suya
1 lb beef such as sirloin, cut into thick cubes
1 C peanuts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 red onion, cut into chunks
If using peanuts, grind them up into a chunky paste and add the spices. Rub the spicy peanut mixture into the meat and let marinate at least 30 min. Skewer the beef with thick slices of onion and toss on the parrilla!

Chimichurri
1 large bunch parsley
8 cloves garlic
3 T minced red onion
5 T red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 C olive oil

Add parsley and garlic to food processor and pulse button a few times to mince. Add remaining ingredients and pulse some more. Slowly pulse in the oil until mixed nicely. Salt and pepper to taste. I prefer using my immersion blender for more control because this can get mushy quickly.

Texas Peach Pie

Crust:

2 2/3 C AP Flour

2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 stick (4 oz) butter
1/2 C + 1 T lard or shortening
1/2 C ice water
* I also like to grate in some fresh nutmeg
Filling:
3 1/2 lbs peaches (~8)
3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 C + 1T AP Flour
1 1/2 T butter
Egg wash: 1 yolk whisked with 2T water

Oven: 400F
Whisk together the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter, then knead in the shortening until it resembles a coarse meal. Knead in the ice water slowly until dough comes together.
Cut the dough in half, wrap in two disks and refrigerate until firm ~30 min.
Peal the peaches by blanching (boiling water for ~1 min and then placing in ice water) and cut into 3/4 in wedges. Toss the slices with sugar, juice and flour. As you can see, I decided to add some blueberries since they are in season.
Roll out the bottom crust, place in pie shell, add peaches and top with the butter, cut into slices.
Place the top pie crust on in your design of choice (I prefer the traditional lattice top) and brush with egg wash. 
Bake ~30 min, reduce temperature to 375, cover the edges with foil and bake for ~35 min longer or until filling is bubbling and crust is golden.

Earl Grey Ice Cream
2 C milk
1 C cream
3/4 C sugar
6 Earl Grey tea bags
5 yolks
Scald the milk, remove from heat and steep the tea until it reaches desired flavor ~1 hr. Cover the milk with plastic wrap so no crust forms.
Scald the Earl Grey milk and cream, then use to temper the yolks and sugar. Return to heat and cook, whisking constantly until it coats the back of the spoon. Cool completely and then mix in ice cream maker.

Prefer to eat out instead? Our Houston dining guide tells you where and why.

ESPN Match Truck

ESPN Match Truck brings mobile World Cup Food to NYC and LA


Lucky NYC and LA will feature mobile World Cup eateries and HD viewing screens throughout the games, courtesy of ESPN. Inspired by the street foods of the 32 countries competing in the 2010 World Cup, the Match Trucks will feature a varied menu that travels throughout the city, announcing their location via Twitter.

The trucks will feature food created by Food and Wine Best New Chef Roy Choi of the Kogi truck and will broadcast all games.

Follow the NYC truck here. or Follow the LA truck on twitter here.

Find out more about the ESPN Match Trucks

We've posted the menu below. Since our menu is far more comprehensive and varied, we're wondering ESPN would like to hit up Houston in 2014?

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