All aboard the international cruise of flavors.......This crazy cruise ship has embarked upon a world tour, with curious and hungry cachers aboard. The itinerary is every country in the world, one restaurant at a time, all without leaving the confines of Central New Jersey. 69th Stop ... Ukraine!
Join the Central Jersey Cachers as we venture back to Eastern Europe!
Friday, March 9, 2018 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey
60C North Jefferson Rd.
Whippany, NJ
Enjoy delicious food and good company as this wacky cruise ship voyages across the Atlantic Ocean to the Eastern European country of Ukraine!
The unique features of Ukrainian food have been forming over centuries. The neighboring countries, climate conditions, rich soil and hard-working people have influenced the complexity of the dishes.
The traditional Ukrainian diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish and mushrooms. Ukrainians also tend to eat a lot of potatoes, grains, fresh, boiled or pickled vegetables. Popular traditional dishes include borscht (soup made of beets, cabbage and mushrooms or meat), varenyky (boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese, cherries or berries), nalysnyky (pancakes with cottage cheese, poppy seeds, mushrooms, caviar or meat), kapuśniak (soup made with meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, millet, tomato paste, spices and fresh herbs) and holubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice, carrots, onion and minced meat). Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev and Kiev cake. Ukrainians drink stewed fruit, juices, milk, buttermilk, mineral water, tea and coffee, beer, wine and horilka.
Borscht is a vegetable soup made out of grated beet root with tomatoes, added to a generous soup of vegetables - onions, carrots, fresh or pickled cabbage, garlic, and dill, and may include meat or fish. Borscht is a staple dish in every Ukrainian family and there are about many varieties of Ukrainian borscht. Ukrainian dishes often use a number of ingredients, and borscht is a direct proof of this. Initially, borscht was made of 30 ingredients but, over time that number has decreased. However, the technique remains unchanged. Beef is placed in cold water to make a meat broth. Then the meat is taken out and other ingredients are added and cooked in a closed saucepan.
Varenyky is a kind of pierogi or dumpling. Just like borscht, traditional dumplings spearheaded the voyage of Ukrainian cuisine across the globe. Quite a common site in many supermarkets, varenyky are what bread is to most other nations. Varenyky are made of dough, a simple mix of flour, water and salt, but the filling depends on the imagination and taste preferences of the chef and their guests. The filling can be anything: from mashed potatoes with mushrooms and fried onions, pickled cabbage, cottage cheese, minced meat, and even cherries or currants! Ukrainians put sour cream almost in every dish, and these dumplings often get the same treatment. The sweet version of varenyky is usually served with sour cream and honey. Varenyky and a piping-hot plate of borscht are two of Ukrainians’ food of choice in sickness and in health.
Banosh with Brynza is a traditional food of highland shepherds in the highlands of Carpathian Mountains. Banosh is essentially corn flour, cooked in sour cream, with the tasty additions of brynza – local salty sheep cheese, wild white mushrooms (preferably hand-picked from the nearest forest) and shkvarky (scrunchy bits of pork fat). The true banosh is cooked on an open fire.
Deruny or potato pancakes, are a perfect course for breakfast or dinner. They are usually freshly fried or baked, and served with sour cream. To make a good batch of deruny, the potatoes are finely grated. Then, to diversify the flavor, meat, slices of chopped onions, mushrooms, fresh herbs or a variety of spices are added.
Holubtsi, traditional stuffed cabbage rolls, take many hours to prepare properly. There are two ways to make them: baked in the oven or stewed in a pan. Minced meat with rice wrapped in cabbage leaf requires fine culinary skills. Otherwise, the form and the taste of the rolls will suffer. Holubtsi is a good choice for dinner - topped with some sour cream to give it ever more gusto.
Paska is a round, decorated bread made of eggs, flour, sugar, butter and yeast. This sweet egg bread is the rightful companion of grand meat sausage. Paska is the favorite staple of Ukrainian Easter breakfast tables and is loved by both adults and children. Baked in dozens, it’s a popular give-away during Easter family visits. It is said that one has got to try 12 different paskas for Easter to get plenty of good luck for the next year.
Uzvar is traditional Ukrainian drink of choice. It’s typically served during Christmas Dinner, and is regularly cooked in local households. This refreshing beverage is actually a compote, made out of dried fruits. The most popular ingredients are dried apples, pears and apricots, with some adding prunes, raising and honey to sweeten the already savory drink.
World Culinary Cruise Itinerary
1 - Mexico - July 16, 2012
2 - Greece - August 23, 2012
3 - Japan - September 12, 2012
4 - India - October 11, 2012
5 - Russia - November 14, 2012
6 - Poland - December 5, 2012
7 - Ireland - January 22, 2013
8 - France - February 26, 2013
9 - Spain - March 13, 2013
10 - Thailand - April 30, 2013
11 - Portugal - May 28, 2013
12 - United States of America - June 4, 2013
13 - Afghanistan - July 11, 2013
14 - Egypt - August 6, 2013
15 - United Kingdom - September 18, 2013
16 - Sweden - October 16, 2013
17 - Peru - November 6, 2013
18 - Germany - December 20, 2013
19 - Ghana - January 7, 2014
20 - Polynesia - February 19, 2014
21 - Sri Lanka - March 13, 2014
22 - Korea - April 22, 2014
23 - Jamaica - May 22, 2014
24 - Vietnam - June 25, 2014
25 - Mexico - July 23, 2014
26 - Mongolia - August 19, 2014
27 - Persia - September 17, 2014
28 - Philippines - October 15, 2014
29 - Dominican Republic - November 19, 2014
30 - Trinidad - December 10, 2014
31 - Nigeria - January 20, 2015
32 - Lebanon - February 18, 2015
33 - Cuba - March 24, 2015
34 - Brazil - April 21, 2015
35 - Turkey - May 27, 2015
36 - Hungary - June 6, 2015
37 - Canada - July 15, 2015
38 - Guyana - August 31, 2015
39 - Ethiopia - September 8, 2015
40 - Pakistan - October 14, 2015
41 - Columbia - November 24, 2015
42 - Malaysia - December 8, 2015
43 - Argentina - January 20, 2016
44 - Cameroon - February 17, 2016
45 - Taiwan - March 22, 2016
46 - Morocco - April 26, 2016
47 - Costa Rica - May 18, 2016
48 - Uruguay - June 15, 2016
49 - Angola & Mozambique - July 12, 2016
50 - Haiti - August 30, 2016
51 - El Salvador - September 21, 2016
52 - Uzbekistan - October 19, 2016
53 - Puerto Rico - November 29, 2016
54 - Bangladesh - December 13, 2016
55 - Scotland - January 24, 2017
56 - Guatemala - February 22, 2017
57 - Venezuela - March 28, 2017
58 - Indonesia - April 26, 2017
59 - Syria - May 23, 2017
60 - Italy - June 13, 2017
61 - Ecuador - July 18, 2017
62 - Jordan - August 24, 2017
63 - Liberia - September 21, 2017
64 - Cyprus - October 25, 2017
65 - Israel - November 29, 2017
66 - Belize - December 12, 2017
67 - Slovakia - January 30, 2018
68 - Saudi Arabia - February 27, 2018
69 - Ukraine - March 9, 2018
Follow our culinary adventures throughout Central New Jersey with "The Suitcase of Destiny" and chart our virtual cruise around the world with the "World Travel Geocoin."
Where will this ship pull into port next? Only the pink flamingo knows....
