Sage Sausage Patties

I like sage sausage, and I frequently just buy some regular bulk sausage, or fresh sausage links and remove the sausage from the skins, then season the meat myself, because I like a lot of sage flavor. I make the sage sausage into patties for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or I put the patties onto buns, add some tomato, onion, lettuce and mayonnaise, and I've got "sage sausage burgers."

 

Ingredients (4 patties):

 

1 pound pork sausage

2 slices white bread (sandwich size), torn into pieces

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 medium garlic clove, minced

8 to 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt 

 

Mix the ingredients together very well in a bowl. It's best to cover the bowl and refrigerate the sausage for an hour or two (several hours is better). Form into patties and bake, fry or grill.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Crave-This word seems to be derived from the ancestor of "craft;" thus "craft" is naturally its close relative. Forms of "crave" are not in all of the other Germanic languages. It goes back to Indo European "ger," which meant "to pull together, to gather up, to fit or put together, twist, wind (long 'i')." This gave Old Germanic "kraf/kreb," which meant "strength, might;" that is, "the energy or force put together from within, manifested in physical strength." This "apparently" developed an offshoot in North Germanic as "kref/krav," meaning, "to demand, to implore" (perhaps from the idea of "to ask strongly, forcefully"), and this was borrowed by Old English as "crafian," meaning, "to demand, implore;" thus also, "to inwardly long for, yearn" This then became "craven," before the modern form. The noun was formed with the common "ing" ending in the mid 1600s. While "craven," the Middle English form of the verb, may have had some influence on the meaning and spelling of the adjective of that spelling, they are NOT really the same word, and they are almost certainly unrelated. Germanic relatives: Norwegian has "kreve" (to demand, to claim, in the sense, "the captain's poor judgment claimed many a life"), Icelandic has "krefja" (to demand) and "krefjast" (to ask for), Danish has "kræve" (to demand, to require, to long for), Swedish has "kräva" (to demand, to require). 

German Eggs in Mustard Sauce: Senfeier

While this dish is a common one with Germans at any time of year, it is especially common in the days following Easter, as families have lots of boiled eggs on hand, and this is a good way to use them up. If you like mustard, this is a recipe for you. "Senf" is the standard German word for "mustard," a word that was borrowed by Old Germanic from Latin, which had borrowed it from Greek. "Seemingly," Old English once had "senap" from its Germanic parent, but it's not a well attested word.  

 

Frequently served with boiled potatoes as an accompaniment.

 

Ingredients:

 

6 eggs, hard boiled (or 8 minute eggs) 

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups half and half

2 tablespoons German hot (scharf) mustard 

1 heaping tablespoon grainy mustard (körniger Senf)

1/2 teaspoon salt 

 

Begin heating water in a pan large enough to hold the eggs and deep enough to hold water to cover the eggs by about an inch. (NOTE: In the U.S. especially, eggs are almost always refrigerated. So if you have refrigerated eggs, place them in a little WARM water, NOT hot, for a few minutes to essentially bring them to room temperature.) In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the finely chopped onion. Saute for about 2 minutes. If the butter begins to brown, lift the skillet from the heat and reduce the heat to low. Add the minced garlic and saute a further minute. Sprinkle the flour over the onion/garlic mixture and stir until it is mixed in to form a roux. If you turned the heat to low earlier, now return the heat to medium and gradually stir in the vegetable broth which should begin to thicken quickly. Now gradually stir in the half and half and continue stirring as the sauce thickens. Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the two types of mustard and the salt. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more half and half (or just milk), until you get a good consistency. When the water begins to boil, lower the room temperature eggs into the water one at a time (I use a large spoon ), and boil the eggs for 11 or 12 minutes for hard boiled, but I prefer 8 minutes for this recipe, which should leave a still moist looking yolk for the eggs. You must immediately plunge the eggs into cold water after 8 minutes to stop the cooking process. The German term for this cooked egg is "wachsweich," literally "wax soft" (the English relative of "weich" developed to be "weak," get it? Soft ... weak?). After the eggs have cooled a bit, peel them and cut them lengthwise. Spoon some of the mustard sauce onto a plate and then lay some of the egg halves on top. Serve with some boiled potatoes on the side of the plate.     

 

 

 "Senfeier," Eggs in Mustard Sauce with boiled potatoes and some arugula ...

WORD HISTORY:

Welt-This word for a raised and inflamed bump on the skin is related to "waltz," a word derived from Germanic that English borrowed from German, to "wallow," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and it is distantly related to the verb "vault" (leap over), a Latin-derived word borrowed via French (which had it from Italian), to the noun "vault" (arched roof), a word from Latin also borrowed via French, and to "revolve," another Latin-derived word borrowed from Latin, with French reinforcement, or the other way around. "Welt" goes back to Indo European "wel," which had the notion "to roll, to turn, to revolve." This gave Old Germanic "waltijanan," meaning, "to roll," and this gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wyltan/wieltan," meaning "to roll," and this then became "welten," meaning "to roll over;" thus, "to twist, to wind (long 'i')," and the spelling and meaning were likely influenced by the related Old Norse form "velta," which meant "to roll over." By the early decades of the 1400s the noun "welt" had developed from the verb and meant "the twisted seam that joined parts of shoes that was similar to a ridge." By circa 1800, this ridge-like seam was applied to inflamed bumps on the skin that resembled such a ridge. While there are relatives of "welt" in other Germanic languages, from what I can tell, none has developed this meaning.     

Italian Seafood Pasta: Spaghetti allo Scoglio

This dish is known throughout Italy, but as you can imagine, it is extremely common in communities along the sea. "Scoglio" means, "rock, reef, rock from the sea;" so it's easy to see the connection to various seafood that live in and around the rocks or reefs by the seashore.* It is not a cheap dish, as many, or perhaps most, seafood is expensive, and to buy such a dish in a restaurant, regardless of whether in your home country or in Italy, will likely lighten your wallet considerably or burden your credit card statement for a decent serving. You can save some money by making this wonderful seafood spaghetti at home, and it's really not hard to make, but there are steps to be followed. (NOTE: If you have had this in a restaurant, they may have had some other seafood included, like squid or scampis, or they may have just as likely excluded one or more of the seafood items I use for this recipe. Remember, Italian cooking is more about fresh ingredients available in a given area; thus, Italian cooking tends to be regional, although the basis of many recipes are the same.) This is not meant to be an actual tomato sauce dish, but rather a seafood and wine broth with some seasoned tomato flavor. This is a FANTASTIC dish!  

 

Serve with bakery fresh Italian bread ... 

 

Ingredients (4 large servings):

 

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 large cloves of garlic, crushed, if you prefer to remove it easily later; otherwise, mince it

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved

2/3 teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1 or 2 fresh red chili peppers, chopped

1 cup tomato sauce

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon thyme

2/3 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups dry white wine 

1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley

12 medium size sea scallops

12 medium to large shrimp (shells removed and deveined, you can leave the tails on if you'd like)

12 mussels, scrubbed

12 clams, scrubbed

3/4 pound spaghetti or linguine

extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over each serving 

 

Add the olive oil to a large pot with a lid over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the garlic and chili flakes (or chopped red chili) and cook another 2 minutes, stirring pretty much constantly. Add the halved grape tomatoes and continuing cooking until the tomatoes are well softened. Stir in the tomato sauce, oregano, thyme, black pepper and salt. After about 3 minutes, add the white wine, stir well and let cook 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the heat down slightly. Add the clams and put the lid on the pot; let cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, then add the mussels and replace the lid. Remove the lid after another 4 minutes and see if the clams and mussels have all opened, if not, replace the lid and cook another minute or two, until they are fully opened (remove and discard any clams or mussels that have not opened at all). Remove the clams and mussels to a platter or bowl temporarily. (In the meantime, cook the spaghetti in simmering salted water until it softens somewhat, but it is still a little firm, about 7 or 8 minutes at most.) Drain the spaghetti, add it to the pot and mix it into the sauce very well (it will finish cooking in the sauce, thus taking on the flavors of the sauce). Add the sea scallops to the pot and cook for two minutes, then add the shrimp; cook until the shrimp are just tender (they cook pretty quickly). Check to be sure the spaghetti is cooked (you don't want it to turn mushy, though). Add the chopped Italian parsley and mix everything together well. Turn off the heat, add the clams and mussels back to the pot and replace the lid for about three minutes just to allow the clams and mussels to warm up. You don't have to pile every plate high with the seafood, as you can add more as you go. Drizzle just a little extra virgin olive oil over each serving. 

* Italian "scoglio" goes back to transliterated Ancient Greek "skópelos," which meant "lookout point;" thus also, "high point, peak," which presumably led to the further meaning of "reef, rock rising from the sea, cliff." Latin borrowed the word as "scopulus," with the same general meanings. This gave Ligurian "scogiu" and then Italian took it as "scoglio." NOTE: Ligurian is an Italic language spoken along the coastal area of northern Italy and into southern France, although some refer to it as a dialect.   

WORD HISTORY:

Swain-This word is distantly related to "self" and to the adverb and conjuction forms "so," all from the Germanic roots of English, and it is also distantly related to "sole" (adjective for "single," but not related to the noun for "part of a shoe or a foot"), a Latin derived word borrowed by English via French. Further, it is closely related to the name "Sven" (also "Swen"), which is from the North Germanic languages. "Swain" goes back to Indo European "swe," meaning "oneself, self, separate." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "swainaz," meaning "herdsman, one who looks after animals," then later, "a young servant boy." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "swan" (long 'a,' and not to be confused with the bird), meaning, "a herder, a swineherd, a warrior" (the "swineherd" meaning has led some to believe "swain" is related to the similar word "swine," but they are from different sources, although our ancestors may well have conflated the two because of the similar pronunciation). The Old Germanic form gave Old Norse "sveinn," meaning "boy, servant." Old Norse speakers settled in much of northern England, and the Old Norse word certainly influenced the spelling of the English word to "sweyn" and then "swain," but also in the meaning to "a servant to a knight" in the middle 1100s. It later was used in compounds "coxswain" and "boatswain" (once spelled "batswegen," where the 'g' melded with 'e' to produce the 'ai/ay' sound), types of officers on boats/ships, and the latter came to be pronounced as if "bo-son." Many relatives of "swain" in the other Germanic languages have died out or experienced very limited usage, although Swedish "sven," in the sense "a young male servant," is still around, but not common. 

Baked Bean Curry

A few years ago, a stand opened at Cleveland's West Side Market featuring English food products. It was called "English Treats," and one of their main products were Heinz canned baked beans in a variety of "flavors," one of those being "curry." I tried a can of these curry baked beans, and I liked them, but I just really assumed it was a "flavor" of beans developed from the British close association with the Indian subcontinent dating back to British Colonial India, but later I learned the beans are actually Indian. I don't often mention brand names, but in England and other parts of the British Isles, "Heinz" canned baked beans are VERY popular. One of the ladies who worked at the food stand told me this, and she is from England. "It is my understanding" that similar is true in India, where, I believe, the Heinz baked beans are vegetarian. In the U.S., this brand of baked beans is marketed by Heinz as "Vegetarian Baked Beans" (you've got to admit, it's a catchy name that undoubtedly took someone at least 3 or 4 seconds to come up with). Anyway, if you like baked beans with meat, typically bacon, do it! And if your last name's Pruitt, "do it, Pruitt!" I use the vegetarian beans, but if you use the beans with meat, just don't tell me, I won't sleep for a week; other than that, it won't bother me. Understand too, use whatever brand name canned baked beans you prefer, and there are many good ones to choose from, and I only mentioned the Heinz brand, because that's how this all started. (Okay Randy, we get the point! Now YOU get TO the point! Geez!)

    

Baked beans come in various size cans, but use one that is between 14.5 to 16 ounces (415g to 450g). Use ground red pepper to suit your taste, but heat lovers will want a full tablespoon of red pepper, and Indians generally use that amount. This bean curry is often eaten on toast or with Indian breads like naan or chapati.

 

Ingredients: (about 4 servings)

 

1 can baked beans (14 1/2 to 16 ounce can)

1/3 cup chopped onion (white or red)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 or 3 green chiles (jalapeño or serrano are great), split lengthwise (or chopped)

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon ground red pepper (cayenne or other type)

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped

 

 

Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet or a sauce pan. Add the onion and saute for about 2 minutes, then add the chilies and saute until the onions soften, stirring frequently to prevent sticking or burning. Add the ginger, garlic, ground coriander, ground cumin and ground red pepper, mix well and saute for about 1 minute. Add chopped tomato and cook until the tomato is mushy (use a fork or spatula to press down on the tomato pieces). Add the beans and salt, mix well and cook for 5 more minutes (still medium heat). Stir in chopped coriander.

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Stint-This word is closely related to the verb "stunt," and it is somewhat more distantly related to "stutter," both words from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "(s)teu," and its extended form "steud/steut," which had the notion "beat, hit, pound, knock." This gave Old Germanic "stuntijanan," which meant "to make shorter, to make blunt." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "styntan," which meant, "to make blunt;" thus also, "to make dull;" thus also figuratively, "to dull the mind." Over the centuries the verb extended beyond "making dull" to "stopping (something)," then "limiting (something)," likely from the idea of "shortening," a meaning likely either added to or reinforced in Old English by Old Norse influence.^ The noun came about circa 1600 with the meaning, "a job limited in duties and/or time," which then broadened to mean things beyond work, as in, "Mary had a stint at home when her company closed for three weeks," or, "Joey's parents ordered him do a 3 hour stint studying, after he failed his arithmetic exam." (But he only studied 2 hours. Hey, I told you he failed his arithmetic exam. hahaha). Relatives in the other Germanic languages are tough to untangle from the verb "stunt" (to hinder growth), but German has the noun "Stint," meaning "smelt" (the fish that looks like a small salmon or trout, which is perhaps the reason for the name?).

 

^ Old Norse was another Germanic language, but from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. Its most prominent descendants are Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish. Old Norse speakers settled in parts of northern and eastern England about 1000 years ago, which added Norse words, meanings or grammatical influences to English. The direct "to shorten" meaning has not been found in Old English, although the "to make blunt" meaning common in the English of those times implies "shortening." Old Norse had "stytta," a relative of the English word and meaning, "to shorten, to reduce," and that's why it's main meaning may have influenced the English word. 

Merry Christmas!

TO EVERYONE: MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or for a bit of Old English, "Myrige Christmas!" (See Word Histories, below.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WORD HISTORIES:

Merry-This word goes back to Indo European "mreghuz," which meant "short." This gave its Old Germanic offspring  "murgjaz," which had the notion of "short (also of time), short duration." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "myrige," which meant "pleasant, delightful," and the connection to the base meaning "short duration" is that if something is pleasant, time passes quickly; that is, it is shortened. Old English also had a verb form, "myrgan," meaning "to be merry." Forms of the word seem to have died out in the other Germanic languages, the last main vestiges being Middle Dutch "mergelijc," which meant "joyful;" that is, "feeling merry" (see note below), and German had the verb forms tied to the original meaning, "mukeln" and "murken," which meant "to cut into pieces;" that is, "make shorter, shorten." In English, over time, the meaning "pleasant" evolved into "happy, jolly." NOTE: Middle Dutch was the collection of West Germanic dialects that later evolved into modern Dutch dating from 1150 A.D. until 1500 A.D.

 

Yule-"Yule" just love this one! (Okay, I couldn't resist that!) How this word originated is uncertain, although some speculate that it goes back to Indo European "qwelo," which had the notion of "turning, going around." In this case, Yule would have meant " turn of the year," as it originally meant the mid-winter period of the year, and it was not necessarily associated with any festival. Later it denoted a twelve day heathen festival in winter (in what is now the month of December), and when Christianity spread, the term began to be applied to Christmas. In Old English is was "geol/geola" (the "ge" combination was likely pronounced like or near to modern "y," as its German cousin's pronunciation for "je" combinations is like English "yea"), and this then became "yole," before the modern form. The various Germanic tribes that invaded Britain during the 400s (A.D.), collectively simplified as "Anglo-Saxons," came from what is now principally northern Germany and northeastern Holland (The Netherlands), including the North Sea islands of those regions, and they most certainly would have had much contact with their North Germanic cousins, the Norse, who had "jol." Whether this is how the West Germanic dialects acquired the word or whether they already had it, is uncertain, but the Anglo-Saxons seem to have taken it along with them to Britain. When Christianity arrived in England, the term "Christmas" began use as the word for that religion's holiday, but the strong influence of Old Norse on the people of northern and northeastern English saw "yule" not only survive, but transfer over as the name for the Christian holiday. German, a close relative of English, and another West Germanic language, has "Julfest," as a term for Christmas, but it isn't all that common, to my knowledge, although it may well have been centuries ago, and Germans certainly would understand the term today, just as English speakers understand "Yule." The Old English word most certainly would have been reinforced by the Danish invaders, who settled in much of northeastern and eastern England mainly during the 800s and 900s (A.D.) The word gradually became obsolete in English, as the word "Christmas" took over for the holiday festival, but it was revived in the 1800s in literary circles, and "Yule" has remained a secondary word for Christmas up to the present time.

Indian Potato and Cheese Patties: Aloo Paneer Tikki

Paneer is a fresh white cheese common in the regions of the Indian subcontinent. It is relatively dry and compressed, and it doesn't melt. Paneer is also referred to as "cottage cheese" by some people from the Indian subcontinent. Paneer looks a lot like feta cheese, and indeed, it is often crumbled for use, as is feta cheese. It can easily be found in Indian/Pakistani grocery stores, and also it is sold in many cheese shops. As with many food items from around the world, paneer was once a rarity, but it is now a product much more easily found, although it's been pretty well known in the UK for a longer period of time, because of the relationship between the UK and some of the countries of the Indian subcontinent having been part of India when it was a British colony. You can certainly use dry cottage cheese as a substitute, although it isn't quite as available as it once was. It usually comes in containers just like regular cottage cheese (some may also come compressed into cakes, just like feta and paneer), but it is "dry;" that is, it doesn't have the milky liquid that regular cottage cheese has. The potato and cheese patties are easy to make, with the only possible "hitch" being the spice blends. Spice mixes, like garam masala, have become pretty easily available in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Garam masala is simply a spice mixture, and in the Indian subcontinent there isn't just one recipe for garam masala, but rather many families have their own homemade versions. It is not really the same as curry powder, another type of spice mixture, but with turmeric being a prominent ingredient. You can easily find garam masala in supermarkets, spice shops and Indian/Pakistani grocery stores. Chaat masala is another spice blend and it may well be a little more difficult to find, although if you live near an Indian/Pakistani grocery, you should have have no trouble. Also some supermarkets may have it; otherwise, you can use the spices I've listed in the recipe below, although you likely don't have dried mango powder, which adds tartness, but there is such a small amount in chaat masala, it's best just to skip the dried mango powder. Just a note, if you use the individual spices in of the garam masala and chaat masala spice mixtures, be sure to use all of the spices I've listed for both (except the dried mango powder, as noted above), even though you'll need to use some spices twice, as they are in both. So there is no confusion here, in the Indian subcontinent, "chili powder" means types of hot red chilies ground into powder, and it is always hot to some degree, but in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and perhaps countries influenced by these countries, "chili powder" typically is ground chilies, but it is not especially "hot," unless stated as such. In the U.S., the main use for chili powder is to make the famous stew called "chili/chile (con carne)." When I was a kid, the term "chili con carne" was often heard, but then it was often shortened to just "chili/chile," and you may well see both spellings, although in the UK you'll likely see it spelled "chilli." While chili powder in the Indian subcontinent always has a degree of heat, some people use Kashmiri chili powder for these patties, and it is less intense with the heat, but it is nice and red; so, if you have Kashmiri chili powder, give it a try in these patties, or you can use some cayenne pepper mixed with sweet paprika as a substitute (bright red paprika, if you have it).     

You can do these patties one of two ways: first, you can make the potato mixture, and then make the paneer filling. Form the potato mixture into golf ball sized rounds and then flatten the rounds into patties. Then put a "depression" in the middle of the patties and take small amounts of the paneer filling and roll them into rounds of about 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the potato patties. Put the fillings into the depressions and then close and seal the fillings by again forming rounds and then once again press the rounds lightly to form patties. Second, and much easier, and the recipe below, you can mix the paneer and all of the ingredients together, and then simply form patties for frying. These potato and cheese patties can be habit forming!  

 

Ingredients:  

1 very large potato or 2 medium potatoes

1 or 2 green chilies (fresh jalapeños are good), finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3 1/2 teaspoons garam masala, or substitute: good pinch black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, pinch ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, pinch nutmeg

1 teaspoon chaat masala, or substitute: 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, pinch of dried ground mango powder

1 teaspoon ground red pepper (like cayenne, or 1/2 teaspoon cayenne + 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika)

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 pound paneer 

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons cornstarch (called "cornflour" in India)

(optional) good pinch black salt*

3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt

2 or 3 tablespoons chopped coriander

3 or 4 tablespoons vegetable oil + more if needed

 

Boil the potatoes in their skins until just tender (not totally soft and mushy!), drain them and let them cool until you can handle them. Remove the skins and grate the potatoes into a bowl. Then grate or finely chopped the paneer into the bowl. Add the finely chopped chili pepper(s), ground ginger, the spice mixes or the individual spices, the ground red pepper, ground turmeric, cornstarch, black salt (if using), regular salt and chopped coriander. Mix very well, preferably by hand. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Roll the mixture into golf ball size rounds, then press them into patties. Fry the patties until golden brown on both sides (they should be somewhat crispy on the outside, but still soft inside). Serve with ketchup, mint chutney** or coriander chutney.***  

* Indian black salt, which tends to be more pink or purplish in color, has a sulfur (British English: sulphur) content. It is fairly commonly used in the cooking of the Indian subcontinent. Indian black salt is available in "some" supermarkets, "some" herb and spice shops, Asian shops or Indian/Pakistani product shops, as well as online, but it is becoming more available in many markets and supermarkets. Hawaiian black salt has charcoal mixed in. Both Hawaiian and Indian black salts are believed by some to have health benefits.

 

** This is the link to my recipe for mint chutney: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/indian-mint-chutney.html 

 

*** This is the link to my recipe for coriander chutney:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/indian-coriander-chutney.html

 

WORD HISTORY:

Stack-This word is related to "stake," the noun meaning "pointed piece of wood," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and it is also related to both "attach" and "attack," with "attach" being borrowed by English from French, after French had gotten the basic word from Germanic Frankish. "Attack" is from the same Old Germanic source, and it too was borrowed by English from French, but French seems to have gotten it from Italian.^ "Stack" goes back to Indo European "steg/stek," which meant "pole, stake, stick, post." The Old Germanic offshoot was "stakon," with the same meaning, and its Old Norse offspring was "stakkr," which meant "haystack," a meaning "perhaps" derived from the idea of stakes being used as measuring devices?^^ English borrowed the word from Old Norse^^^ circa 1300 as "stacke," but the ending 'e' was later dropped, and the meaning expanded beyond hay to include just about any items placed in a pile or heap, with more common usage for objects that easily fit one on top of the other, like books or dinner plates. The verb was derived from the noun about one hundred years later, initially meaning, "to put hay into a heap," then expanded "to pile items one atop the other." The first half of the 1800s seems to have seen the first usage of "stack the deck in card games," meaning "to deliberately arrange the cards of a deck improperly to benefit one player" (later expanded beyond card games). Relatives in some other Germanic languages: Danish has "stak," meaning, "stack, line or row of items;" Norwegian has "stakk," as part of "høystakk" ("haystack"), and also "stakk," a computer data storage term; Swedish has "stack" meaning, "pile or heap of something," also, "an anthill;" and Icelandic has "stakkur," meaning, "stack, pile."  

 

^ The somewhat confusing history of the closely related words "attach" and "attack" are in the "Word History" of this article: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/03/german-question-part-eighty-six.html   

 

^^ There are also forms in Slavic languages, as for example, transliterated Russian has "stog" ("haystack") and Polish has "stóg" (stack, haystack).    

 

^^^ Old Norse was a language from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. Its most prominent descendants are Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish.

Sauteed Fillet of Fish & French Remoulade

You can use any flatfish fillets for this, like flounder, sole, plaice or halibut (just for the halibut). "Sole" is a flatfish that can generally mean something different to different people. Fish names at times came to mean a specific fish type in one place, but a different fish type in another place, although they usually are similar types of fish.

This is an easy dish to prepare, but unless you have a good knife to fillet the fish, it's probably a good idea to buy fish fillets or have your fishmonger fillet the fish for you. I've kept the salt to a minimum, because I used salted butter.

Serve with roasted small red potatoes and French remoulade sauce. For French remoulade sauce, here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/08/french-remoulade.html

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 pound fish fillet (I used flounder)
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons butter + 1 tablespoon regular olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
parsley for garnish 

Mix the 1/2 teaspoon salt into the flour on a plate. Melt the butter in a shallow dish. Add the panko breadcrumbs to another plate. Add the 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Cut some light "X" markings on what had been the skin side of the fish, do not cut too deeply into the fillets (this helps to prevent the fish from curling up when cooking). Dredge the fish fillets in the flour, then put them into the melted butter. Place the fillets into the panko breadcrumbs, then put the breaded fillets into the hot butter/oil in the skillet. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Serve with French remoulade sauce.

Sauteed flounder with remoulade and roasted potatoes ...

 

WORD HISTORY:
Flounder-This is the noun for a type of flatfish, but English also has a verb form, which may well be related, but that is not a certainty. The noun form is related to "flat," a word from Germanic, but in this case, a borrowing by English from Old Norse; it is also related to "plate," a word borrowed by English  from French, which had it from Latin, which had gotten it from Greek, which had it from Indo European. "Flounder" goes back to Indo European "peleh," and its variant, "pleteh," which had the notion, "to spread;" thus also, "to spread out;" thus, "to make flat." This gave Old Germanic "flunthrjo," meaning, "a flatfish," but a word that seemingly developed more in the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, producing Old Norse "flyðra" (=flythra) also meaning "a flatfish." Old Northern French borrowed the word as "flondre," but exactly how the borrowing took place is unclear. Old Norse speakers of long ago have often been called "Vikings," and they frequently raided along the northwestern coast of what is now France, even venturing up the rivers leading inland. Perhaps this brought about the borrowing? Anyhow, the Norman dialect that developed in England (brought there initially by the conquering Normans) had "floundre," and English borrowed the word, as "flowndre" and "floundre," in the early 1300s for the name of a specific flatfish. Low German is a close relative of English and it had "vlunder" ('v' pronounced like 'f'), but it is likely a borrowing from Old Norse, and there was much contact between Old Norse and Low German, and the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, common to both language groups, had lots of the flatfish given this name. German borrowed the word from Low German (late 1400s?) in various forms, which became the modern form "Flunder." Danish has "flynder," Norwegian has "flyndre," Icelandic and Swedish have "flundra."      

Fried Green Tomatoes

While fried green tomatoes have a reputation for being a dish from the American South, Robert F. Moss, a food historian and author from South Carolina, has written that mentions of fried green tomatoes first appear in the northern and mid western part of the U.S., not in the South.* He also speculates that Jewish immigrants may have had some part in the beginnings of this dish which gained popularity with the release of the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" in the early 1990s. When I was kid and teenager, we had fried green tomatoes on occasion, and this was like from the late 1950s and through the 1960s. I don't ever recall hearing anyone say they were "southern," or for that matter, that they were "northern" or "mid western." I always liked them, and some people made/make them by simply tossing the green tomato slices in some seasoned flour and then frying them, while others coat the tomato slices in flour, then dip them into beaten egg and then coat them with breadcrumbs or cornmeal, but others, including me, prefer to dip them into a seasoned batter.

Give yourself an extra treat, and serve them with Louisiana remoulade sauce, here is the link to the remoulade recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/08/louisiana-remoulade-sauce.html

Ingredients (about 4 to 6 servings):

These amounts may need to be adjusted, as the size of the tomato slices will determine how much batter you'll need, but naturally, if you mix the batter and it is too thick, mix in a little more buttermilk, or even a little water. If, by chance, the batter is too thin, just add a little more flour or breadcrumbs. These are hardly decisions we'll need to summon Einstein to make for us, but if you do summon him, good luck with that one ... he's likely busy with E=CQ2, ah, E=TMSquare, ah, E=H2O, oh, whatever the hell it is!   

4 large green tomatoes
3 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal (yellow or white)
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (or the finely ground type)
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon (dry) adobo seasoning** or seasoned salt
oil for frying (rendered bacon fat added, see below)

Fried green tomatoes are often, but not always, fried in bacon fat, but you can skip this, or you can add some bacon fat to your oil. Rather than go with all bacon fat, first fry 5 or 6 slices of bacon (you can fry it for breakfast or perhaps for a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for lunch) and keep the rendered bacon fat. When you get ready to make fried green tomatoes, add half the bacon fat to the oil you will use to fry the tomatoes (enough oil and bacon fat to make about 1/2 inch depth in your skillet; after you've fried some tomatoes you'll periodically need to add more oil, and you can add some of the remaining bacon fat each time). Cut tomatoes into slices of about 1/3 inch. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, flour, cornmeal, bread crumbs (I use panko, which are 'chunky' and coarse, but the finely ground type is certainly okay), black pepper and adobo seasoning or seasoned salt. Heat the oil (and bacon fat, if using) in a skillet over medium heat until a small piece of bread sizzles when dropped into the oil. Put individual tomato slices into the batter to coat, letting excess drip off before putting the slices into the skillet. Keep the tomatoes separated in the skillet. Fry the tomatoes on both sides until golden brown, removing the finished tomatoes to a plate covered with paper towels. Repeat the process until all of the tomatoes are fried. Serve with Louisiana remoulade sauce. 

* You can read Robert Moss's complete article for yourself at this link: https://alforno.blogspot.com/2007/08/fried-green-tomato-swindle.html 

** Adobo can mean different things in different Latino or Spanish influenced cultures. The adobo for this recipe is the dry seasoning commonly used in Puerto Rico. It is very easily found in supermarkets or Latino grocery stores in the U.S., but it is also easy to make (it takes all of about 2 minutes). Here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/adobo-seasoning.html 

Fried green tomatoes with Louisiana remoulade sauce on the side ...

WORD HISTORY:
Scot (as in "scot free")-This word is related to "shot," "shoot" and "sheet," all words from the Germanic roots of English, and it "likely" has nothing to do with the word of the same spelling, only capitalized, relating to the people of Scotland. It goes back to Indo European "skeut/skeud," which meant, "to throw, to shoot," seemingly with the underlying notion, "to propel outward;" also "to chase, to rush," which also show implications of "movement out from a given position." This gave Old Germanic "skeutanan/skutanan" meaning, "to shoot, to propel or move forward or away from." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sceotan," a verb primarily meaning "to shoot, to throw," but secondarily "to pay out," and the nouns "sceot," literally, "(a) shot," but also "payment, contribution," and "gescot," meaning "payment, contribution." The Old Norse speakers who came to England brought along their word, "skot," which was related to the English forms, and this melded with the native English forms to produce "scot," which had come to be used for "a tax paid to landowners or nobles, including to the king." That's why we say, "scot-free," which originally meant "tax free" (it was written as one word centuries ago, "scotfreo." Of course the meaning of "scot free" has long since broadened to mean, "no payment or consequence for something." German, a close cousin of English, has the now archaic "Schoß" in this same sense, "tax, monetary contribution" (German has other words of this spelling still in use, but I'm referring to the form with this specific meaning).

The Golden Girls Episode: Dorothy's New Friend

"The Golden Girls" was a comedy series set in Miami, Florida (it wasn't filmed in Miami) and originally telecast on NBC from 1985 through 1992. The basic gist of the show is that four women, 3 widowed and 1 divorced, share a house together and develop such a strong family-like friendship, they deal with and overcome their differing personality conflicts, as they support each other in life's challenges, including that of aging.  

This episode is from "Season Three" and it was first telecast in January 1988. Sometimes shiny new objects distract us from our long time reliable fixtures. Sometimes too the shininess obscures the flaws in the new object, some of which may be worse than just little blemishes. In this episode, Dorothy is captivated by a new friend and it takes her some time to see "the shiny new object" for what she really is, a person who feels that tolerating antisemitic discriminatory policies don't make her a bigot. 

Cast for this episode:

Dorothy Zbornak .......................... Bea Arthur
Blanche Devereaux ....................... Rue McClanahan
Rose Nylund .................................. Betty White
Sophia ............................................ Estelle Getty
Barbara Thorndyke ........................ Bonnie Bartlett
Murray Guttman ............................ Monty Ash

This episode opens with Sophia preparing some food for her new 84 year old flame and Rose and Blanche getting ready for the annual charity masquerade ball at the counseling center where Rose works. Rose has gotten a horse's outfit for herself and Dorothy, although she hasn't decided which of them will be the head and which will be the "behind." Dorothy comes in disgusted with life, but she is encouraged by the others to get active, so she decides to go listen to a lecture that evening featuring a local author named Barbara Thorndyke. We later learn from Dorothy that she introduced herself to Barbara after the lecture and the two discussed a variety of topics, much to Dorothy's delight. She invites Barbara to the house where the writer meets Blanche and Rose, who prove too unsophisticated for the condescending Barbara and she makes an excuse to leave. Blanche and Rose agree they don't care for Barbara.

The next day Rose and Blanche plan to go to a movie and they ask Dorothy to come too, but she tells them Barbara has invited her out. They tell Dorothy they think Barbara is snooty, but Dorothy tells them that is unfair, as they don't know Barbara. When Rose tells Dorothy she'd have more fun going to the movies with them, Dorothy turns patronizing, patting Rose on the hand and telling her two friends, "I promise, we'll do something together real soon. Okay?" Blanche and Rose feel they may have been too hasty in their judgment of Barbara after such a brief first meeting, so they decide they want to invite Barbara to dinner and give her another chance.

Barbara comes to dinner, but she continues to give her attention to Dorothy, while pretty much ignoring Blanche and Rose. Blanche grabs her attention with some criticism of one of Barbara's books. When Barbara snobbishly begins to explain what a metaphor is to Blanche, Blanche sets her straight, but Blanche has to explain it to the clueless Rose. hahaha When Barbara prepares to leave, she offers Dorothy a ticket she has to a writer's symposium, and Dorothy accepts. Barbara leaves without even saying goodbye to Rose and Blanche, and Rose tells Dorothy the symposium is the same night as the masquerade ball, but Dorothy makes it clear she will be joining Barbara and not going to the masquerade ball with Rose and Blanche, even though the masquerade ball is very important to Rose. Later Blanche and Rose let Dorothy know how they feel about Barbara, with Rose telling Dorothy that Barbara only pays attention to her, because Dorothy looks up to Barbara, and Blanche chimes in that Barbara likes to make others feel stupid, as when she used Latin to ask for someone to pass the salt at dinner. Dorothy gets very angry when Rose says that Dorothy has every right to have her friends, but that it also takes a good friend to point out another friend's mistakes, and that she feels Dorothy is making a mistake by befriending Barbara. Dorothy tells them they have no right to tell her who her friends should be, and she stomps off.

Dorothy meets Barbara for lunch at a restaurant with a "literary theme," where the menu is in the shape of a book, with "Chapter 5" being the lunch menu, featuring such dishes as, "The Crepes of Wrath," "The Old Man And The Seafood Salad," "Edgar Allen Poe-tatoes" and "George Bernard Slaw." Dorothy tells Barbara that their friendship has put a serious strain on her friendship with Rose and Blanche, who feel left out. In her often condescending way, Barbara makes it clear that she doesn't understand why Dorothy is so close to the other two women, but she tells Dorothy she wants to make an effort, so she wants to invite everyone, including Sophia, to dinner at the Mortimer Club, the most exclusive club in town. Dorothy still fails to grasp Barbara's attitude toward Blanche and Rose.

On the evening of the dinner, Barbara appears at the the house with her much younger date, a student from one of her writing classes. The bell rings and it is Sophia's date, Murray Guttman, the 84 year old, who is dressed in a flashy tuxedo. Barbara shakes Murray's hand and then asks to see Dorothy privately in the kitchen. She tells Dorothy they have a problem because of Murray Guttman. This is important, so I'll do the dialogue here:

Barbara: "He can't come to the club."
Dorothy: "Why not?"
Barbara: "Guttman."
Dorothy: "What are you talking about?"
Barbara: "Guttman, he's Jewish isn't he?"
Dorothy: "I don't know. What difference does it make?"
Barbara: "A big difference, the Mortimer Club is restricted."
Dorothy: "Barbara, why are you a member of a club like that?"
Barbara: "Because they serve a great breakfast and the parking is free. Besides, it's their policy, not mine."
Dorothy: "Yes, but you tolerate it."
Barbara: "Dorothy, I tolerate a lot of things; for instance, I'm tolerating this evening with Rose and Blanche because of my friendship with you."
... A little more dialogue ..... then:
Dorothy: "Boy did I misjudge you. You know, Blanche and Rose were right. You are not the kind of person I want as a friend. Why don't you go to the Mortimer Club by yourself?"
Barbara: "I don't understand."
Dorothy: "Let me spell it out for you: Go to hell!"
Barbara walks out.

When Blanche and Rose come into the kitchen to find out what happened, Dorothy apologizes for her behavior and her failure to see the real Barbara. Rose asks if this means Dorothy will be attending the masquerade ball, and Dorothy tells her she's had a lot of practice lately, so she'll be honored to be the "horse's behind" at the masquerade ball. The three REAL friends embrace.   


Photo is of the 2005 Buena Vista Home Entertainment Season 3 DVD set

WORD HISTORY:
Snare-This word is a distant relative of "narrow," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Snare" goes back to Indo European "(s)ner," with the notion, "to twist, to twist together, to wind (long 'i'), to constrict." This gave Old Germanic "snarh(o)," meaning, "string, rope, cord," "perhaps" with the additional meaning of "rope or cord tied to form a noose or ring." This gave Old English both "sner," meaning, "string for a harp or other musical instrument," and "snearu/sneare," meaning, "noose, snare for trapping animals." This was certainly reinforced in late Old English by the related Old Norse form "snara," which had that meaning, and which was from the same Germanic source. The original "string, rope, cord" meaning has essentially died out in English, as we have those separate words to use, but the "loop of string, rope or wire used for trapping" is still very much around. Musically, circa 1700, the strings or wires under tension on a drum were called "snares," thus by the 1800s giving that particular type of drum its name, "snare drum." The verb form was derived from the noun, and by the second half of the 1500s was usually rendered as "insnare," before the modern "ensnare." There is quite an array of relatives in the other Germanic languages, all in some way having to do with "string, rope, looped rope, snare." Here are just a few: German has "Schnur" (string, cord, electrical wiring/cable), Low German "Snoor" (band of string/cord), Dutch "snaar" (string, cord), Icelandic "snara" (snare trap, loop, noose), Swedish "snöre" (twine, cord), Danish "snor" (cord, string), Norwegian "snare" (?) (snare trap).   

Manchurian/Asian Chili Fish

Historically, this seems to be a dish of Manchurian Chinese origin, but which was taken by Chinese immigrants to India, where it is pretty well known in some regions. It is also known in other parts of southern Asia. You can certainly make this with more sauce, if you'd like. This is an easy dish to make. I used tilapia fish, but the second time I made it, I had tilapia, but I also had a small piece of salmon, so I used both, although recipes call for white fish. It was great!

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 pound boneless fish, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion (red or white), chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce (preferably dark soy sauce, but use what you have)
2 tablespoons Asian chili sauce*
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (like cayenne)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece of peeled ginger, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch (also called cornflour in some regions of the world)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil for frying
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 green onions (also called scallions or spring onions), chopped with the green)
2 to 3 green chilies, chopped (serranos or jalapeños are good for this)
(optional) 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water to thicken the sauce
chopped green part from green onions (scallions) for garnish

Marinate the fish pieces for 20 minutes in salt, minced garlic, lemon juice and ground red pepper. Then add cornstarch, flour and ground black pepper. Mix to coat fish pieces. Heat vegetable oil in skillet over medium heat. Add coated fish, piece by piece, to the hot oil. Fry fish until golden (approximately 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes). Remove fish to a plate covered with a paper towel or two to drain excess oil, set the fish aside briefly. In a small bowl or cup mix together the soy sauce, chili sauce and ketchup, set aside. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons oil from the skillet (you can keep the rest of the oil for some other dish). Over medium heat, add the chopped green onions and the chopped garlic, saute for about a minute or two, then add the chopped green chilies and saute another 30 seconds before adding the chopped green and red bell peppers (or other mild green or red peppers) and the chopped red or white onion, turn heat to high, cook for 2 minutes, then add the fish pieces and the soy sauce, chili sauce and ketchup mixture to the skillet. Mix together well. If the sauce is too thin, thicken it with 1 part cornstarch mixed with 2 parts water. Sprinkle some chopped green from some scallions on top of each serving.

* In the United States we have a product marketed as "chili sauce," which is more of a tomato-based sauce flavored with sweet peppers and/or mild chili powder, along with some spices. Generally speaking, this "American" chili sauce is not hot, although there could well be brands that have some mild heat. In other parts of the world the "chili" part of "chili sauce" means just that, that chilies from mild to hot are the main ingredient. These sauces vary from somewhat thick to more of a free flowing liquid, with the latter often being called "hot sauces" in the United States. Asian chili sauce is often something of a sweet and sour, or sweet and hot sauce of moderate thickness made of chilies, spices and sugar, but Asian chili sauce typically does not contain tomatoes.

WORD HISTORY:

Bait-This word is closely related to "bite," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Bait" is something of a tough word, because it is so tied to "bite," and "bait's" Germanic ancestor simply meant "to cause to bite," which also gives it ties to "bit," meaning "a small portion of food," and also, "the part of a bridle for the horse's mouth." In other words, it's not easy to separate out these forms and meanings. "Bait" generally has two meanings, and while seemingly divergent, the meanings share "biting" in common, with the noun meaning, "food of some type put out to lure in an animal for trapping or hunting, or food put on a hook to lure a fish to bite it, thus snagging itself on the hook."^ The meaning, of course, broadened over time into "anything used to lure something or someone into a trap." The verb form follows that same meaning as, "to put food out as a lure for animals, or to put food onto a hook to lure fish," with another meaning being, "to let dogs loose to bite at and harass an animal for hunting purposes" (originally too it seems the word was used for "hunt, chase"). This meaning too expanded into "to harass something or someone to lure them into a fight or to get them to react," also further expanded to "to persecute."a "Bait" goes back to Indo European "bheid," which had the notion "to split." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "bitanan," meaning "to bite," and the derived "baitjanan," which meant, "to make or cause to bite;" thus also, "to feed, to graze." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bætan," meaning, "to hunt by using dogs;" thus also, "to harass," but also, "to use a bridle on a horse." The Old Germanic form also gave Old Norse, a Germanic language from the North German branch of Germanic, the verb "beita," also meaning, "to make or cause to bite;" thus also, "to feed or graze on pastureland" (the related Norse noun "beit" actually meant "pasture")," and further, "to use dogs for hunting," and also, "to use a bridle on horses." The Old Norse word is cited in references as the source of the modern English word (dating from the 1200s), but what about our own word? Did the Old Norse word simply reinforce the existing English word (its cousin)? German, a close cousin to English, has modern "beizen," the ancestor of which meant much the same as the English word, now has the main meaning "to etch, treat or cauterize with acid;" that is, "to use acid to 'bite' into a hard surface." It can also still mean "to hunt using a falcon." 

^ It "seems" the idea of "food," "that which is bitten and eaten," is what truly lies behind "bait," with the idea of using it as a lure being added to the meaning, and in more modern times being the more prominent idea associated with the word.

Ethiopian Spicy Chicken Stew: Doro Wat

I saw this dish made on television about 25 years ago, but I don't recall the television program. About a year ago I saw it made online by an Ethiopian woman and I decided I wanted to try making this myself (I've now made it three times in the last year). I checked probably 25 recipes, and there were naturally some variations, as this is a popular dish in East Africa, and like with just about all popular dishes, many people have their own versions, but generally the differences weren't all that great. The common similarity was the use of a lot of onion, although some chopped the onion finely by hand, others chopped the onion into more medium sized pieces and others used food processors to grind the onions into a fine texture, which is what I did the third time I made this dish (see photo below), and I recommend that you also use a food processor, it makes it all much easier. What makes this dish is the spice mix, called "berbere." You can read my note below, and if you make it yourself, you can control the "heat," or you can buy some and then "doctor" it more to your own preferences, especially if you like more heat. I bought some berbere, and it was far too mild, but I dry and grind my own hot chilies, so I easily remedied the "heat shortage." I keep two kinds of ground red chilies; one "hot," but not scorching, and a second type that is much hotter. As is almost always the case here, this is my version of "doro wat," which means "chicken stew," but it's certainly similar to many of the recipes I checked, including one I have in a cookbook I've had for over 20 years. Ah... I don't care for the recipe in the cookbook. While I mentioned that "doro wat" is a popular dish in East Africa, it is not typically served on a regular basis in most households, as it is more of a holiday dish or used for family celebrations, although restaurants catering to tourists are likely to have it on the menu. You can serve this with rice, but traditionally it is served with "injera," a crepe like flatbread common in East Africa. Injera is used to line serving plates and trays, just like you might line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and then various foods are served right on top of the injera. Then pieces of the injera are torn off, beginning at the edges, and used by diners to scoop up or pinch off foods from the injera covered plate/tray.*

You could certainly use a slow cooker to prepare this dish, but I cooked it in a pot over low heat on the stove top. The first time I made this, I used bone-in chicken pieces, although I had seen several recipes that used boneless chicken; so the second time I made it, I used boneless chicken. The third time I compromised between the two and I used bone-in whole chicken legs, but boneless chicken breast. The problem is, if you keep the bones in, when you serve the chicken, you have to be careful of pieces of bone that have come off into the stew. To be honest, it's better to use boneless chicken, BUT I put some of the removed skin into the stew for added flavor. If you keep the skin in big pieces, you can fish it out later.  

I believe I wrote about this in one of my articles about Germany some time back, since that's where it happened, but it is certainly relevant here. I met my first Ethiopian in Germany back when the country was still divided. When I say "Ethiopian," I mean a person born and raised there. I was returning from Berlin to Frankfurt by train, and a young man from Ethiopia was in my compartment. The political situation was somewhat tense, as there were periodic flare ups in those days between East and West Germany and their respective allies, with the United States then leading the support for West Germany, and the Soviet Union leading the support for East Germany, a then communist dominated country. At that time in particular the tensions were higher than normal, because an East German spy or two had been discovered in the West German government or military, I just forget the details. Read this carefully, because it is a bit hard to follow here. The Ethiopian man was young, and if I remember correctly, he had been, or perhaps still was, a student in the Soviet Union, in Moscow. In those times, Ethiopia had a pro-Soviet government, and this young man had a Soviet passport. The only reason I knew anything about him was that he was fluent in French and a young German man from the Württemberg region of Germany was quite good with French and he translated for us (there was also a middle aged German couple in the compartment), and also for the guards and train personnel who periodically entered the compartment. So, if you are confused, you have undoubtedly followed the story well: Ethiopian man, Soviet passport, speaks French, traveling in West Germany; hey, what's so unusual about all of that? Well, later the West German guards got on the train at the border between the two Germanies and when they saw the Ethiopian man's Soviet passport, they examined everything the man had on him, including his toothbrush. I distinctly remember that, even after all of these years. I felt so sorry for him, but it was a sign of those times.

Ingredients (6 servings):

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken pieces (or about 4 pounds skinless chicken pieces with bones)
3 large onions (softball size), chopped or put into a food processor
4 tablespoons butter (or clarified butter, or spiced clarified butter**)
1/3 cup berbere spice mix***
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped/minced
3 garlic cloves, minced 
4 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken stock (you can add a little more, if needed)
1 teaspoon salt (if the chicken broth is salty, you can omit this)
6 eggs (hard boiled and peeled)
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 inch x 1/2 inch piece of fresh lemon peel

You will need a good sized pot to make this dish. Peel the onions and chop them, but it is easier, including on the eyes, to cut the onions into fairly large pieces and put them into a food processor and process until the onions are finely ground. Onions have a lot of liquid, so don't be surprised if you see the processed onions with "puddles" of onion juice on them (see photo below). I also add the garlic and the ginger to the processor and just do this all together. In the pot over low heat, add the butter and oil (or clarified butter), after a minute or two, add the ground onion/garlic/ginger mixture and cook the mixture, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Add the berbere spice mix, tomato paste, lemon peel and chicken broth; stir well and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the tomato paste breaks up and blends into the mixture. Add the chicken making sure that all pieces are submerged in the sauce, or at least coated with the sauce. This is another argument to use boneless chicken pieces, because if you use bone-in chicken and you want to move it around a bit during cooking, this can cause pieces of bone to fall off into the stew. Let the chicken cook, covered, over low heat until tender. Add the lemon juice, and then nestle the hardboiled eggs into the pot and let the stew cook for about 8-10 more minutes.  

* You can make your own injera bread and it's pretty easy: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/04/east-african-flatbread-injera.html

** Ethiopians use a clarified butter that is made with other ingredients to spice it up. Clarified butter has had the milk solids removed and this allows it to cook at higher temperatures or for longer periods of time without burning. The Ethiopian version is called "niter kibbeh/nitr qibe," and you can find it in some spice shops or in African grocery shops, or online. It depends upon how "authentic" you want to try to be, but you certainly can use 4 tablespoons of butter and add a pinch each of some, or all, of the following: ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, ground cloves, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground fenugreek. If you don't want to get this involved, just use 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of regular olive oil or vegetable oil. The oil will "help" to keep the butter from burning quickly.

*** Berbere spice mix can be found in some spice shops, African grocery shops or online. If you keep a large variety of spices at home, you can also simply make your own berbere. While the butter used is not quite as important, this spice mix is very important to make "Doro Wat." To make your own berbere spice mixture, here is my own recipe, but remember, many East Africans have their own recipes: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/04/east-african-spice-mix-berbere.html
    
1) "Doro Wat" with whole piece of chicken  2 & 3) Longer cooked "Doro Wat" with off the bone chicken  4) The onions for the stew in the pot, and you can see the onion juice on top   (Note: a boiled egg and some collard greens accompany some servings) 

WORD HISTORY: 
Skip-English has more than one word of this spelling, with one simply being a shortened form of "skipper" ("a ship's captain or commander"). Then there is "skip" meaning "basket, trash bin," in  British English, a variant form of "skep," which was borrowed from Old Norse "skeppa" (basket), but with an unknown further history. Then there is the most common word of this spelling, meaning, "to hop along between a walk and a run," also, "to jump over." This led to figurative usages like, "to leave out, as in 'to ignore a part of written text or music" (for example, "I'm busy, so I'll skip reading the middle part of the article and go to the end"), and also of people, often coupled with "over," as in, "Actually Johnny is next in line, but I'll "skip over" him, because I prefer the next person"; then later also, "to deliberately fail to attend some function or event" (for example, "I'm so tired, I think I'll skip going to the council meeting tonight"). This is all from North Germanic "skupan," meaning, "to hop, to leap," and English likely borrowed the word from some form brought to England by Old Norse, which had "skopa," meaning, "to make a run, to leap." English borrowed the word, as "skyppen," in the early 1300s. It then became "skippen," before the modern version. The noun form was derived from the verb in about 1450, initially meaning, "a bound, a short hop," but then it later also followed the figurative meanings of the verb, "a leaving out  or ignoring of something," and a common usage in the prominent days of vinyl records was, "a defect or scratch in the record causing it to "jump" out of sequence."       

Garlic Soup

I've seen some claims that garlic soups (various recipes) can "help" prevent some illnesses, like colds and influenza. Whether there is actually scientific evidence to support this line of claims, I don't really know, but if you like garlic, or if you have beliefs in garlic as a health supplement, this is a soup for you. Of course, since the garlic is cooked, the sharp taste of raw garlic isn't present, but you'll still get your garlic "fix," if that's one of your taste cravings. I've found that letting the soup cool, then refrigerating it until the next day gives it a more developed flavor. So all you have to do is to reheat the soup, which you can even easily do for just a bowl or two in your microwave. Note: You can use your own homemade chicken stock, or buy some form of canned or packaged chicken broth, some of which are available in reduced salt versions, and there are some powdered forms that are no salt, to which you simply add water. Unless you are on a severely restricted salt diet, if you use the no salt version, you will likely want to add at least some salt to the soup. I've suggested 1/2 teaspoon in the recipe, but I use chicken broth with salt, so I do not add this extra salt. I only add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the garlic when sauteing it (see below).   

Ingredients:

30 to 35 whole cloves of garlic, skins removed, then slightly crushed
6 cups chicken stock/broth (homemade, canned, bouillon, or packaged)
1/4 cup white wine
2 large potatoes, peeled, chopped (naturally, the smaller you chop them, the faster they'll cook)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt, for sauteing the garlic
(optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt for the soup, but remember the chicken broth likely has salt, perhaps a lot
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup cream or evaporated milk
garnish with chopped chives and croutons

In a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over low heat. Add the whole slightly crushed cloves of garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt, then saute the garlic until it starts to lightly brown, stirring to keep it from burning or becoming too dark. This can take a little time. In a large sauce pan, add the chicken stock, wine, thyme, oregano, potatoes (also salt, if using), and the lightly browned garlic and the oil used for sauteing; bring to a good simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender. Either transfer to a blender or use a stick blender (also called an immersion blender). Blend until smooth, then, if using a regular blender, pour the soup back into the pan over low heat, then add the black pepper, and stir in the cream or milk. Let the soup heat up briefly, but do not boil. Serve with croutons and some chopped chives on top. 

WORD HISTORY:
Beaker-Although this word's origin is uncertain, it is related to "pitcher," a word borrowed by English from French and which has the rest of its known history matching that of "beaker." Its origin is thought by some to be Middle Eastern, as there are similar words from that area meaning, "vase, jug, container." The idea for supporters of this origin is that Ancient Greek borrowed the word as transliterated "bîkos," for "earthenware jug or container." Then Latin borrowed this term in a diminutive form as "bicarium," meaning, "wine jug or container." This was borrowed by some Germanic language, and passed to some other Germanic languages, but the exact process is unclear. Old High German has the word circa 1000, as "behhari," and meaning, "cup, wine goblet, jug, pitcher," and this then became "becher," and then modern "Becher" (cup, mug, tub) with a capital "B," as in modern German all nouns are capitalized. The thing is, other Germanic languages had forms around the same time as Old High German, and it's important to remember, the Germanic dialects that formed English, collectively called "Anglo-Saxon," had already left northwestern Europe by that time, and the Anglo-Saxons had long before firmly established themselves in the part of Britain named after the Angles, "England." So a form of the word was not taken with the Anglo-Saxons to Britain. English seems to have borrowed the word in the mid 1300s either from Old Norse "bikarr" (cup, drinking vessel), or from Dutch "beker" (cup, goblet). The most common meaning in modern English, "a round open mouthed glass container, without handles, used in science laboratories," developed in the second half of the 1800s.   

"East Of Eden:" The Miniseries, Part One

The 1970s and 1980s were a time when television networks aired several shows in miniseries format. A miniseries was a production that was longer than a made for TV movie, but shorter than an actual television series (a typical television series had like 25 to 30 episodes in a season). A miniseries aired in its initial showing for several evenings in prime time, and East of Eden was first broadcast on ABC for three evenings in early 1981.

"East of Eden" was a novel by American author John Steinbeck first published in the early 1950s. It happens to be my favorite book, and the 1981 miniseries was what got me interested in the book. The miniseries brought a renewed interest in Steinbeck's writing, and I bought a paperback edition of "East of Eden," complete with a cover picture taken from the miniseries. Steinbeck wrapped several stories together in his book, with the main story being based upon the story of Cain and Abel from Genesis. The biblical story is still relevant today, as Steinbeck shows how the basic story is repeated even within the same family, the Trasks. Steinbeck took his fictional story and entwined it with some history of his real life family, primarily his maternal family, although he makes mention of his paternal side, and even of himself, when he was a kid. The mid 1950s saw the release of a movie based upon the novel, a movie which made James Dean a star. This movie, however, only covers about the last third of Steinbeck's book, while the miniseries dealt with the entire book. While the movie is good, I found the miniseries far more compelling, even though the movie version also had one of my favorite actors, Canadian-born Raymond Massey.

Cast: American actor Timothy Bottoms as Adam Trask, American actor Lloyd Bridges as Samuel Hamilton, English actress Jane Seymour as Cathy/Kate, American actor Bruce Boxleitner as Charles Trask, American actor Warren Oates as Cyrus Trask, Korean-born American actor Soon-Tek Oh as Lee, American actor Sam Bottoms as Cal Trask, Canadian actor Hart Bochner as Aron Trask, American actor Howard Duff as Jules Edwards, American actress Anne Baxter as Faye, American actor Richard Masur as Will Hamilton, American actress Karen Allen as Abra, American actor Nicholas Pryor as Cathy's Latin teacher, Mr. Grew. Timothy Bottoms and Sam Bottoms are brothers, and Sam Bottoms died far too young in 2008. Jane Seymour won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in "East of Eden."

The miniseries opens in Connecticut in the spring of 1863, with Cyrus Trask, a liquor-drinking, story fabricating man, with a wooden peg for one leg, taking his extremely pious wife into town for her to see the doctor. They have their infant son, Adam, with them. A few of the town's people gather around as Cyrus spins his stories about the ongoing Civil War, only to have his wife correctly tell those gathered, that Cyrus was only in one battle, in spite of his boasting, and that even then, it was only minutes into that battle that he lost the bottom half of one leg to a Confederate bullet. When his wife goes inside to the doctor, Cyrus tells the little gathering how it was when the doctor had to hack off the bottom portion of his bullet-shattered leg. Inside, the doctor tells Mrs. Trask that she has gonorrhea (brought home by Cyrus from his time in the army), and she reacts in a terrified manner, calling it "a disease of sin," and telling the doctor that she contracted the disease from some erotic dreams she'd had while her husband was away in the army. The doctor tells her otherwise, but Mrs. Trask, filled with religious superstition and misunderstanding, and in need of purity, is deeply troubled, and later that night she goes out to a pond on their farm and drowns herself. Well... so much for the gonorrhea.

Cyrus is left to care for their baby son, which he is woefully unprepared to do. When Adam cries because he's hungry, Cyrus douses a rag with whiskey and sticks it into the boy's mouth. Cyrus knows he needs another wife and he marries a woman named Alice. Alice quickly bears a son, but she also gives Adam plenty of care, although she is sickly. Cyrus continues to spin stories about untrue exploits, but he sets them down in writing for publication, and as a consequence, he meets many army people and veterans over time. Of his two sons, Cyrus favors Adam, and he wants Adam to be the soldier Cyrus imagines he would have been, had he not been wounded; the soldier of the stories Cyrus tells. Adam doesn't want to be a soldier, and although he is a crack shot with a rifle, he deliberately misses a deer his father ordered him to kill. Adam is kind and sensitive, while the other son, Charles, is tough and ruthless. Yet for all of his outward toughness, Charles is insecure inside, and in fact, this insecurity causes the ruthlessness to flare, and he often bullies or terrorizes Adam. Charles adores his father, but he sees and senses that Adam is the favorite of Cyrus. This all comes to the fore on one of Cyrus's birthdays, when the boys are well into their teens. Charles gets money together to buy his father a special knife with three blades and made in Germany. Adam, on the other hand, doesn't really have affection for his father, but he is respectful of him, because that's the way he is. He makes no special arrangements for a gift for Cyrus, but he finds a pup wandering around and decides this is what he will give to his father. In a decisive moment, Charles hands his father the wrapped knife. When his father opens it, Charles tells him the details of the knife and how it was shipped clear from Germany. Cyrus looks over the knife and closes the blades, then he slips the knife into the drawer of his desk. He thanks Charles, but he then turns his attention to the squirming little mass wrapped in a blanket in Adam's arms. Adam hands his father the dog, and Cyrus is visibly happy. Charles is despondent, but this later turns to anger and to outright fury. He later gets Adam outside and ruthlessly beats and kicks him, leaving him curled on the ground while he goes to find an ax. When he returns, Adam has gotten away and made it back into the house where his father is furious over the beating and where Alice cares for Adan's beaten body. Cyrus wonders why Charles had so viciously beaten Adam, and he doesn't understand how desperate Charles is for his love and attention. Adam heals and finally a group of cavalry come to take Adam into the army, at the request of Cyrus, a man who has been becoming better known to many in Republican-dominated post-Civil War Washington DC. The military emphasis has now shifted to western areas, as the US Army seeks to protect settlers from the Indian tribes fighting to save their homelands. Adam tells his father that Charles would be far better at being a soldier, but Cyrus tells him that the army will help him to learn things about courage and to help him develop into a man, but that the army might let things loose in Charles' personality that should be kept chained in.

Meanwhile, another part of the story takes shape in Massachusetts. A mother hears some giggles of children coming from the barn. When she opens the doors, two boys have her daughter's dress pushed up. At first the mother sees and believes what her own eyes have shown her, but then her desire to believe that her daughter could not be in any way to blame takes hold and she decides to make the boys pay dearly for the matter. The boys' fathers decide to use a strap on their sons, but the indignant mother carries it one step further... it must be a bare-bottomed beating. She has her daughter watch as the boys cry in pain and humiliation, but she shows a little satisfactory smile as the punishment is given. This is Cathy... Catherine.

As Cathy goes into her later teenage years, she begins playing on the attentions of one of her teachers, her Latin teacher, Mr. Grew. The man becomes obsessed with her, but his religious beliefs and his desire to become a reverend conflict with all of his thoughts of Cathy, and he becomes terribly distraught to the point of taking his own life. He goes to Cathy's home late one night and feverishly pounds on the door so he can speak to Cathy's father, but the father turns him away, although he wonders why the man would come to the house in such a frenzied state and at such a late hour. The man goes off and shoots himself. When Cathy and her father quarrel about her schooling, her father mentions about the man coming to the house and about things he's heard about her from around town. Cathy knows her act has hit an end, and one night she sets fire to the house, killing her parents. She leaves behind a bloody dress and a pendant, with the knowledge that the town's people will leap to the conclusion that some hobos from a nearby encampment have kidnapped Cathy and killed her parents and set fire to the house. That's just what happens and the people take out after the hobo encampment.

Now we go back to the Trask family.... Adam serves in the US Cavalry and at one point, Cyrus uses his influence to get Adam brought to Washington DC so Cyrus can tell him that he has gotten things arranged for Adam to go to West Point. Adam declines the offer, having already angered his father by telling him that he had a relationship with an Indian woman, and that he never killed one Indian during his time in the fighting. Cyrus, who has been rising among Union veterans of the Civil War, is happy to learn from Adam that the woman died from small pox, and he tells Adam, "I don't need an Indian grandchild running around." Adam leaves his angry father and heads back to his cavalry unit. After several years, Adam comes home. Charles is still working on the farm and Cyrus has recently died. For a moment, Charles angrily asks Adam why he didn't home sooner, and he shoots a stern glance at Adam, as he had so many times in their past to intimidate Adam, but Cyrus had been right, and Adam has learned about courage and he no longer fears his brother. Charles realizes this is not the same Adam, and the tension eases. In a touching scene, instead of trying to beat Adam, Charles puts his arms around him and hugs him. The stunned, but happy Adam pats Charles as he hugs him. Charles has the will left by Cyrus, and he and Adam are stunned to learn that Cyrus has left the two boys a great deal of money, as well as the farm property. Charles is badly shaken by the thought that Cyrus stole the money in some way from the veteran's group with which he'd been involved, since the salary Cyrus earned would never have been enough to leave more than 100 thousand dollars to his sons (equivalent to about 2.5 million dollars today). Adam, although he has already thought of this, tries to calm Charles' fears about their father. * Further, Charles tells Adam that the army sent their father's military records to him. Charles then sees that Cyrus had been lying all along, because he never had been at any of the famous Civil War battles in which he had claimed to have taken part. Adam had never believed the stories, and he is unfazed by the news, but Charles is devastated. This all ties in with Steinbeck showing us how we sometimes believe things, not because they're true, but because that's what we want to believe.  

As this is all taking place, we meet Jules Edwards, a middle-aged respected man who uses a churchgoing facade to cover his real life....a whore master. Edwards brutalizes some of his "workers" who are convinced by an evangelist's hellfire and brimstone to turn away from their way of life. He punches the women and uses a small lash he carries hidden in a briefcase to whip them. One day Edwards is approached by Cathy, now using her proper name, Catherine, who tells him she wants to work for him. Edwards, a married man with children, is taken by the woman's beauty, and it becomes something of "love at first sight" for him; so, he makes a deal with Cathy, making her his mistress, but keeping her out of working his prostitution circuit. Edwards gets her a house, buys her clothing and gives her a monetary allowance. While Cathy loves the lavish life style, she also doesn't like the control Edwards has over her. She has the lock on her house changed, which badly annoys Edwards, but he can't bring himself to turn Cathy loose, the emotional tie is too strong from his side. He spends "time" with Cathy and, afterward, we see her scrubbing her hands with a brush. Edwards has champagne waiting, but Cathy doesn't want it, saying that it's not good for her. Finally Edwards coaxes Cathy into drinking some champagne, and she then wants more. Earlier he had mentioned that he wants some truth from her, and she tells him, "I don't think so." Now the effect of the wine has caused the veil of dishonesty to fall from her. She calls Edwards a "slug," and tells him that being around him makes her want to vomit. Now Jules Edwards sees the real Cathy and his inward ruthlessness is already planning on how to deal with it. Edwards gets Cathy to pack some belongings, telling her that she had come to him wanting "to work," so now he'll let her "work." She says she'll tell the police. Edwards then tells her he'll take her back to her hometown, where he heard about a fire... He takes her out into the countryside and pulls out the hidden lash. She tells him he will never hit her, but she's terribly misjudged Edwards' anger and ruthlessness, and he hits her and punches her. She draws a knife she has hidden and she cuts him, which only infuriates him even more. He beats her badly and the scene ends.

The two Trask brothers work the farm, and one morning they hear a noise outside. When they go to the door, a woman covered in blood and dirt is trying to crawl up the steps. They take the woman inside and Adam's natural kindness has him look after the woman. Charles wants the woman out, and it doesn't take long for him to see her manipulative ways and he tries to warn his brother, but Adam insists she needs help to recover (he also has fallen for her and he doesn't want to see or hear anything bad about her). Gradually the woman gets better, and she knows how to use Adam's emotions, but she cannot get to Charles by playing on any kindness, and so she tries to lure him to her own room, but when that doesn't really work, she goes to his room, having drugged Adam with her pain medication, while she makes her play for Charles. When all is...ah... done, Cathy tells Charles that she and Adam had gotten married that afternoon. The usually steady Charles is now appalled that he had just had sex with his brother's new wife. It seems even Charles isn't that bad, but Cathy laughs about it all.

Adam has long had a desire to go to California, and he and Cathy set out for that state. When they get to California, Cathy is not feeling well. The doctor knows that Cathy is pregnant and she has tried to abort the pregnancy with a knitting needle. The doctor tells her she must have the baby and that if he suspects any foul play on Cathy's part, he will report her and testify against her. The doctor only tells Adam that Cathy is pregnant, he does not tell him about the attempted abortion.

Adam looks at land to buy to start he and Cathy's new life. He finds a place he likes and he is told by others to see Sam Hamilton about digging wells and building windmills for the place. Samuel is an Irish immigrant who likes his whiskey, but he is greatly restricted in that drinking pleasure because of his devoutly religious wife, Liza, who is also from Ireland (we never see Liza). Samuel and Liza Hamilton were John Steinbeck's maternal grandparents. Samuel is a man always seeking to learn and he and Adam strike up a friendship, initially aided by Adam's gift of a bottle of Irish whiskey to Samuel. When we meet Samuel, we also meet two of his nine children who will play important roles later on. These are two of Samuel's sons, Will, who has a mind for business, and Tom, who is more to the curious side, like his father.

More later in Part Two...

* To me, this part of the story was always Steinbeck's way of showing that everyone is tainted by some kind of sin, no matter how pious or good a person they really are. Adam, a good man, lives a good life off of the ill gotten money of his father.   

For Part Two, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-two_25.html            

For Part Three, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/10/east-of-eden-miniseries-part-3final.html

Photo is from Part 1 of 2009 DVD by Acorn Media

WORD HISTORY:
Saga (Saw, not the implement)-This word, closely related to "say," ^ and meaning "a generally long story," goes back to Indo European "sekw," which meant, "to say, to utter sounds and words." This gave Old Germanic the noun, "sagon," which meant, "story." This gave Old English "sagu," which meant, "a story, a saying, a statement." This later became the now archaic, "saw," meaning, "a saying," but then later also, "an overused saying," especially when coupled with "old," as, "old saw," an expression that is still used at times. This word "saw" is not related to "saw," the jagged tool used for cutting. Old Germanic "sagon" also gave Old Norse "story, long tale." With the original English word having changed in meaning, away from the "story" meaning, to that of "saw," above, the Norse word had seemingly remained among historians as it related to Norse history. By the early 1700s, Norse writings had seen a revival among a number of historians and literary people, and so did the Norse word "saga," which was taken on by English to mean, "an Icelandic or Norwegian narrative," then more generally expanded to "a long type of story," and in the mid 1800s, it had added the more disparaging secondary meaning, "a long, boring story involving too much detail." German still has "Sage" (originally also spelled "saga"), meaning, more or less, "a story based upon historical accounts, but not necessarily proven;" thus also, "a legend," but German also borrowed "Saga," seemingly from English in the 1800s, with the same general meaning, "a narrative, a story." Low German has "Saag" (story of historical basis), Dutch has "sage" (story, chronicle), Norwegian "soge" (story, history), Icelandic has "saga" (history, story), Swedish "saga" (long story, legend), Danish once had "sage," but "apparently" Danish now uses "saga," perhaps from German or English? Also "sagn" (legend) and West Frisian has "sêge," (story, long story). So to condense this: the English noun "saw" (meaning, "a saying," and originally also meaning, "story"), is an original English word, while its close relative, "saga," was borrowed into English.  

^ The modern form "say" once also had a "g," as its German cousin still does (the infinitive form in German is "sagen," but the imperative is "sag," and "Sag mal," is, "Tell me;" with the "me" being understood, and "mal" softening the command to a request, as in, "Tell me, how have you been?" Several English words once had a "g" which disappeared over time: "day," "may" (the verb, not the month), being two examples. By the way, with "may," its old past tense was "might," which has still retained the "g," albeit in combination with the "h." To this day, "may" and "might" are often interchangeable: "I may go to the movies tonight," or, "I might go to the movies tonight."