Miles Kurosky’s Silver Lining: Golubtsi

Portland, Ore.-based Miles Kurosky is what old-time journalists used to call a “great quote.” He’s one of the few interview subjects you’ll find in the music biz these days who’s totally unafraid to step on a few toes to get his point across. And he’s got the musical chops to back up his shoot-from-the-hip posture. Kurosky’s previous band, Beulah, was a true California original, good enough to catch the ear of pop genius Robert Schneider of Apples In Stereo, who released the first Beulah album under the banner of the Elephant 6 collective. As is the case with other creative one-man shows (Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, for example) the transition from band to solo career is as simple as painting a new name on the office’s glass door. The Desert Of Shallow Effects (Majordomo) is every bit as exhilarating as anything Kurosky has ever cut. Kurosky will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him and more about Beulah.

Kurosky: I’ve been really fortunate to eat in some very nice restaurants in my life. Thankfully, the parents are usually picking up the tab, otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue about Michelin stars and James Beard Awards. That being said, and with all due respect to Thomas Keller, if I had to choose my death-row meal, it would be golubtsi. It’s basically a Russian peasant dish also known as guampki to my Polish mother. (Or stuffed cabbage to you and me.) During my childhood, we had golubtsi once a year, twice if we were lucky. It’s not a fancy dish by any means, but it was definitely a special-occasion kind of meal. It’s basically a meatball consisting of ground pork/beef, rice, onions, salt and pepper, wrapped in cabbage. You pop ‘em in a pot, pour in some tomato sauce and then let them cook for a good part of the day.

In my house, we use Campbell’s soup as the tomato sauce. It sounds a tad unsophisticated, I know, especially in an era consumed with organic ingredients. However, the humble soup does have some historical significance for my family. My dad was born during the Depression and raised in the subsequent war years in the 1940s. Although Victory gardens were common during the war, my father claims fresh vegetables and fruit were not plentiful or cheap enough to make large stews or, in this case, golubtsi. Anyway, the Campbell’s soup stuck, and now I cannot have it any other way. Sure, I live in a time where fresh ingredients are abundant, but it wouldn’t be the same. Even though golubtsi is delicious, meals are not always about our taste buds. More times than not, they’re about sentiment, memory and family.

Video after the jump.