Brazilian Donut: Sonhos or Bolas de Berlim

So these aren't from any special famous place. In fact- I had the hardest time finding these suckers. Evidently, even though they are the Brasilian version of a Donut... people don't eat them very often. I asked about 5 people where to find Sonhos or Bolas de Berlim and the response was " I don't know".

We happened to have them for breakfast at our hotel in Iguazu Falls.
Sonhos are " Little dreams" that are actually Portuguese in origin (yes yes, I will be looking for them when I go to Portugal). They are usually filled with goiabada or guava jelly.. these guys were alright.. a little too doughy and dense.. but still the Brasilian donut experience!

Picarones- Peruvian Donuts

On my ever quest to try every donut in every country, the peruvian version is the Picarones. Marita took me to Panchita (world reknown Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio's Steakhouse) in her home town of Mira Flores, Lima, Peru to get one of these tasty fried pumpkin dough morsels.

Picarones are made from a yeast sweet potato dough flavored with cinnamon and anise, allowed to rise much like the traditional american donut. It is fried and served with a syrup made from chancaca.

We caught the restaurant in between service and were taken to the back kitchen where they demonstrated not only how the dough was made but fried off the crispy on the outside, moist on the inside flavorful rings of dough that I would consume a few minutes later.



The flavor in the dough make the Picarones more interesting than the american donut. The only problem is that it doesn't get the same yeasty, fluffy consistency that - ok well no one but Stan's can achieve that but you get my picture.

Still very worth it and a two thumbs up to Picarones from Panchita.

Panchita
Avenue Dos de Mayo 298
Miraflores 242-5957, Lima , Peru
Tel: 40 40 41 37

The Argentinian Donut

So,with all the traveling that I've been fortunate enough to do recently, I have to take a little detour from Taiwan. Not to worry, there is plenty more of Taiwan that I will be sharing with y'all.. but first.. tid bits from South America.
While in Beunos Aires, I didn't get the chance to find some facturas but.. I got close enough to the Argentinian version of a donut- the churro. Ok ok, so churros are actually from Spain, but I did the best I could with the time allotted ok (I didn't even get to eat my Gelato!!!)?
The original Churro was said to have been invented in the region of Castile (very grassy cow grazing land) with the churros curling to look like the horns of cows. For those of you who have tried to make churros at home, you will know that the long piece of dough instincively wants to curl resembling the horns of bulls. Typically a breakfast item, churros are sprinkled with sugar and dipped into a warm rich cup of hot chocolate.
So where does one go and get Chocolate con churro's? The most famous place to go is Cafe Tortoni, with over 150 years history in Beunos Aires- they are THE cafe of Beunos Aires and of most of South America for that matter .I have to admit- Cafe Tortoni's churro's are OK at best. Kinda hard, not fluffy and just a little eh. The hot chocolate on the other hand was delicious.
The hot chocolate.. oh the hot chocolate! in Argentina, they drink real Leche. None of this non fat, 2% skim, watery, tasteless, hormone pumped milk that we get in the US. You don't have a choice in your leche in Argentina- you get what you get. What you get is a delicious, rich , thick, milk flavored, creamy well.. milk! At Cafe Tortoni the hot chocolate may be a little sweet but it's so chocolately , dark and rich that one can't help but to finish all of the hot chocolate they bring to your table. Real milk makes real hot chocolate. honestly.
Even though the churros and the Argentinian donut experience was mediocre at best, the hot chocolate and in dad's case cafe con leche made up for it.

Cafe Tortoni
825 Avenida De Mayo
Beunos Aires, Argentina
54-11-43424328

Mister Donut FAIL

Still obsessed with Donuts, I had to find out where in Taiwan, I could get a great donut. I was told that Mister Donut, a donut chain from japan was the winner. No Krispy Kreme's I inquired? No- it's all about Mister Donut. People use to line up for hours I was told to have one of their French Cruellers.
Off I went. Dad and I happened to walk to Yong Kang Street. No sweet smell of Donuts greeted me. Bummer i thought. They must not make their donuts here. We asked the lady what the best selling donut was. her response was " all of these" pointing to the Cruellers. Maybe she didn't understand. Which taste is the most popular " all of these" and " these are new flavors". We were getting no where. Precious time was being wasted.
Not understanding half the flavors, the red bean, sugar dusted crueller seemed like a good choice. Oh, by the way, the lady wouldn't let me take pictures inside the store.
Feeling the dense, cold donut in my hand, I knew I was going to be disappointed.

"The packaging is pretty though" I thought to myself as we headed out of the store.
I bit into the donut. Chewy, pasty... too sweet. *sigh* I've been spoiled by stans. I have to remember that asians are obsessed with the idea of Q- and the chewy resistent texture of the donut was suppose to resemble that of Q.. at least that's what I'm using to try to justify the craze for Mister Donut as... Krispy Kreme needs to "yi ming" over here quickly so that the poor people of Taiwan can experience a REAL donut...

More Taiwan Eats! Mister Donut FAIL:
Numerous locations all over Taipei and Kao shiong

It's Voodoo baby

I had the pleasure of taking a short trip up to Portland Oregon to visit one of my best friends and his soon to be beautiful wife. After a little researching, one of my co workers scrounged up a list of must go- Portland favorites for me to visit. On the list was Voodoo Doughnuts. Donuts? did someone say Donuts? I of course, put this on the top of my list (first was Le Pigeon where Gabe Rucker was shortlisted for th James Beard Award- Rising New Chef).
Our first stop was the 3rd street store. We were greeted by the sweet scent of glazed doughuts and a sign hanging on the door indicated that sadly, they were closed for fryer repairs. But alas! there as a solution, the NE Davis store was open! We scrambled into the car, drove over the bridge and were greated by a funky, refurbished diner with mis matching chairs and chotchskies- Voodoo Style. Walking in, I was overwhelmed by the menu.Unsure about the $5.00 bucket, we later found out that they were "a day old" meaning they were made a few hours ago but had fresh one rolling out. The whole bucket was for $5.00. funnily enough, they loaded up another $5.00 bucked from the donuts that we paid full price from about 2 minutes after we bought them.... Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
I finally settled on a bacon, maple glazed bar. I knew that the combination wouldn't disappoint but would the donut itself hold up to Stan's? being that it wasn't fresh out of the fryer, I knew that Voodoo already had a disadvantage. I gobbled down the donut- the bacon and maple glazed saved the donut itself. The bacon and maple glazed worked wonderfully together and was everything I expected it to taste like.
This gal ordered the "texas" donut- its bigger then her head. She finished it in about 3 minutes. I wonder if she could eat her head in 3 minutes...

Voodoo Donuts is fun- eclectic and holds it's own charm. Definitely worth a trip even for just one funky donut if you happen to be in the area.

Vood Donuts:
22 SW 3rd Avenue,
Portland, Oregon 97204
open 24 hours ( except for when the fryer needs to be replaced)

1501 NE Davis
Portland, Oregon 97232
closed 3am to 6 am

The most amazing thing I've ever eaten.. EVER.

As I have become obsessed with finding the perfect Donut, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life is a.. Donut!

Stan's Donut is located off of Homestead and San Tomas Expressway in San Clara, California. It all started when my brother and his fiance were going to come down and visit me for a quick breakfast. I yelped Donut shops and found.. Stan's! After consulting my executive chef (whose eyes lit up like a kid in a candy shop when I mentioned thinking about going to Stan's), I knew I found the right place to go get these delectable morning treats. I also knew that I had to wake up bright and early in the morning to get a fresh, just fried morsel.
I drove by the plaza 3 times before finding the tucked away shop. Pulling up at 7am, I saw the old Donut master, dressed as he does everyday in all white, with a white cap at his work bench through the window.
The smell of fried goodness covered in a crispy thin sweet coating of sugar wafted through the air as I got out of my car. I opened the door to the store and the smell hit me like a brick wall. Instantly my mouth began to water. Beautiful, fluffy piles of yeast dough rest on his work bench as he punched out buttermilk donuts. Looking at how elastic the dough was, I could see that these were going to be really fluffy donuts.. but would it be a pocket of air or real fluffiness?

I patiently waited as a batch of yeast Donuts were just being turned over to finish frying. I sat down at the counter and ordered a hot chocolate. The fried beauties came out of the fryer and onto the glazing station. A minute to cool and a quick glaze and the Donuts were ready to go. A piping hot Donut was placed in front of me. I quickly ripped into the Donut and found.. Heaven.
The Donut was so crisp on the outside by so fluffy in the middle. Steam billowed out of the donut as the soft, cotton candy like dough melted in my mouth. It was bliss. I instantly took another piece and and let it melt in my mouth.
I understood. I understood why when I asked JP if anything else in San Francisco was a must go eat like Stan's Donut's were and he said no. This was more then amazing. This was the best thing I've ever eaten. I bought a dozen more.

I have a confession. I bought a dozen +1. I had to have another in the car on the way home..Shhh don't tell anyone!!!

The best Donut EVER:
Stan's Donut
2628 Homestead Rd
Santa Clara, CA 95051, United States
Hours are 6am to 3pm.

Get there early. Chocolate donuts can be called in and ordered ahead of time. You will never see them sitting out on the rack. Expect to wait for yeast donuts. It is worth it it wait 15 minutes for a fresh batch up just fried donuts- I promise your expectations will not be failed.

*sigh* I want Stan's now!!!

Le Donut

Recently, I've become obsessed with finding the perfect Donut (also known as a Doughnut).
Where did these tasty fried morsels come from- and why do they have that hole in the middle of them?

It is believed that the origins of the Donut came from Holland in the form of sweet dough balls fried in pork fat and called olykoeks. These fried dough balls were usually filled with some sort of dried fruit in the middle. The balls were referred to as "nuts of dough" hence where the name dough- nut comes from .

It is said that the Donut got its hole in the middle shape when a sea captain whose mother made these dough nuts with nuts in the middle of the sweet dough ball decided he didn't like the nuts in the middle and used a cutter to remove all the nuts from the middle of the fried ball of dough yielding us with the donut with the hole that we have today. Another possible theory is that the middle of the dough ball would not cook so they simply eliminated the under cooked problem but removing the middle when cooking the dough ball.

Every country has their version of a Donut- though not always in a ring form with a hole missing from the middle. Every country has a version of a starch based, fried, tasty morsel- sometimes savory and some times sweet. Some countries use a yeast starter- much like we see with krispy Kremes in America and others use a traditional cake based (egg as the levening agent).

In America, donut shops are a dime a dozen- what's the difference between a mediorce donut and an outrageously good donut? is it the frosting? is it the dough? These fried morsels are so simple but are often some of the best foods representing a country.

It's Donut hunting time!