Cooking With Waldo

Save the liver...

2011-06-10T00:23:00.000-04:00

The movie Julie/Julia is making its way around the cable networks, and is utterly charming.

It's based on a young New York woman, Julie Powell, deciding to blog about cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year.

There are flashbacks to Child's memoir of how she became a cook in France.

Meryl Streep assumes the role of the very tall Julia Child brilliantly, Stanley Tucci is her adoring, self-effecing husband, and the food all looks fabulous.

Food jokes

2011-05-31T18:09:00.002-04:00

From the film, Bicentennial Man:

"Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other, 'does this taste funny to you?'"

Googlefood?

2011-05-18T17:42:00.000-04:00

It's an interesting question, this:

LET’S say you have invited four people for dinner on Saturday. It’s now Wednesday morning, and reality is setting in. On the guest list: two pescatarians, a “Top Chef” fanboy and a gluten avoider. Also, spring is in the air; local asparagus, arriving now. The challenge, as always: how to find dishes that are reliable, delicious and gastronomically correct?

The year has brought a rush of new recipe search engines designed to solve such quandaries. In February, Google introduced a tool called Recipe Search that lets you specify ingredients you do or do not want to use. (For example, a general search for “chili” can be refined — by, say, a Texas-chili purist in Austin — to exclude any recipe that calls for beans.) Microsoft’s Bing browser has had its own recipe function for more than a year, and allows you to search within a single source, like a blog.

A few weeks before Google’s new tool was introduced, Foodily went live, with all results integrated with Facebook so that you can see which recipes your friends say they like. A new, photo-heavy site, Cookzillas, the brainchild of a passionate cook in Bucharest, Romania, who happens to be a multimedia programmer, has more global recommendations than the United States-based engines, with English, Australian and Canadian sites in its scope.
With 10 million recipe searches a day on Google alone, the results surely influence what Americans eat. But when you idly type in “cookies” — the most common recipe search, according to Google — do these systems evaluate recipes the way a good cook would, by the clarity of their directions, the helpfulness of their warnings, the tastiness of the results? Probably not, based on extensive test-runs of the new tools.
“Their challenge is to translate ‘yummy’ into digital fingerprints,” said Paul Kennard, an expert in building Web traffic.

Search engines used to rank recipes largely by popularity, according to the number of times they had been clicked and linked to from other sites. The newer models try to evaluate recipes and rank them by quality according to ever-changing, supposedly highly nuanced criteria, including the number of reviews, links and photographs each recipe has, as well as its popularity.

Jack Benzell, a designer of Google’s algorithm, said in an interview that although the company’s search will never be able to decide whether Thomas Keller’s brownies or Ina Garten’s are inherently better, the results are as nuanced and valuable as any others performed by Google, say, for new tires or Florida weather.

Cause and effect

2011-03-22T13:58:00.000-04:00

LA PAZ, Bolivia — When NASA scientists were searching decades ago for an ideal food for long-term human space missions, they came across an Andean plant called quinoa. With an exceptional balance of amino acids, quinoa, they declared, is virtually unrivaled in the plant or animal kingdom for its life-sustaining nutrients.

Enlarge This Image

Noah Friedman-Rudovsky for The New York Times

A quinoa plant flowering three months before it will be harvested.

But while Bolivians have lived off it for centuries, quinoa remained little more than a curiosity outside the Andes for years, found in health food shops and studied by researchers — until recently.

Now demand for quinoa (pronounced KEE-no-ah) is soaring in rich countries, as American and European consumers discover the “lost crop” of the Incas. The surge has helped raise farmers’ incomes here in one of the hemisphere’s poorest countries. But there has been a notable trade-off: Fewer Bolivians can now afford it, hastening their embrace of cheaper, processed foods and raising fears of malnutrition in a country that has long struggled with it.

The shift offers a glimpse into the consequences of rising global food prices and changing eating habits in both prosperous and developing nations. While quinoa prices have almost tripled over the past five years, Bolivia’s consumption of the staple fell 34 percent over the same period, according to the country’s agricultural ministry.

The old is new again

2011-03-20T03:20:00.000-04:00

Ramen is usually just steps away from hungry diners in most parts of Japan. Often, it’s in the form of flash-fried, pre-seasoned noodles packed into cellophane bags and foam cups. Now instant ramen is being sent by the truckload to the survivors of the Japanese earthquake.

Of course, instant ramen was born of hardship. In the aftermath of World War II, a Taiwanese businessman named Momofuku Ando was inspired by two things: long lines of starving people waiting for fresh ramen in Osaka and a government edict encouraging people to eat bread made with wheat flour donated by the United States. They pushed bread because noodle companies were too small to handle the demand.

But the entrepreneur had a better idea: mass-produced noodles. In 1958, after several years of experimenting, he began selling chicken-flavored instant ramen to appeal to export markets averse to pork or beef. It was the precursor to Top Ramen. His company, Nissin Foods, would later strike gold in America with Cup Noodles and its varieties of flavors.

From its beginnings in Japan, and despite misgivings about its nutritional merits, instant ramen has found devotees worldwide among the poor and those too tired or ill-equipped to cook. It is the belly-filling standby of travelers and cabdrivers and office workers too busy to leave their desks. In American dorm rooms, ramen sustains the starving student.

I once wrote an article about women in prison who so longed to cook that they figured out ways to approximate the creativity of the kitchen while incarcerated. A favorite recipe was instant ramen noodles dressed up with items from the prison commissary: sliced Slim Jims and crushed Cheetos.

Instant ramen is now entrenched in popular culture. An emo-pop record label, started on a shoestring, is named Fueled by Ramen. There are books like “Chicken-Flavored Ramen for the Soul” and thousands of recipes dedicated to dressing it up. One company sells a little silicone figurine that holds down the lid of a ramen cup, changing color when the ramen is done.

But instant ramen’s essential appeal, beyond cost, convenience and kitsch, is that noodle soup is soulful and soothing.

“At the very basic level, however it was produced, you are getting hot soup and noodles, and that is one of the most basic comfort foods the world has ever known,” said the chef David Chang, who led a ramen revolution of sorts in Manhattan with his steaming bowls of fresh ramen at ’Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village. (And who, for the record, says his restaurant is not named after the founder of instant noodles, but rather because momo in Japanese means peach and fuku means lucky.)

It's not the sex, it's the pretending she makes any food from scratch

2011-03-19T11:51:00.000-04:00

The conflict over the governor’s faith began last month, when Edward N. Peters, who teaches at the seminary of the Archdiocese of Detroit and holds an appointment as an adviser to the Vatican on canon law, wrote that Mr. Cuomo should not be allowed to receive holy communion because he is divorced and living with his girlfriend, the Food Network host Sandra Lee, in what Mr. Peters called “public concubinage.”

AZ congressman tackles the hard choices in $14t federal debt

2011-03-13T12:31:00.000-04:00

Arizona Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, a newbie on the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, pointed out that the National Institutes of Health has spent $150,000 to produce a healthy eating cookbook, free to anyone who requests a copy.

The book, “Keep the Beat Recipes: Deliciously Healthy Family Meals,” boasts more than 40 temping, yet healthy, recipes the whole family will love, like "oatmeal pecan waffles" and "southwestern beef rollups." The recipes include ingredients meant to lower high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. It's available free of charge to anyone who requests it, according to the NIH. The recipes were created by a professor at the Culinary Institute of America.
“What is NIH doing releasing a cookbook for $150,000?” Flake asked. “Why are we funding it?”

Sebelius had already endured over an hour-and-a-half of skeptical Republicans grilling her about her 2012 budget request for $3.3 billion for community health centers that serve people without health insurance, and several questions about the Head Start program for low-income children.

But she calmly defended the cookbook, which was released last month, saying that the recipes were based on extensive NIH research that shows how certain foods promote good health and longevity.

“The cookbook is a way of translating what they know science to produce into a way people can use,” she told Flake.

“I might suggest that there are a lot of other cookbooks out there,” Flake said, his eyebrows raised. “There’s a congressional cookbook, for pete’s sake.”

“Is it based on NIH research?” Sebelius shot back.

The poor shepherd's meal

2011-03-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes one has to adapt to what's on hand when it comes to making dinner, especially if one has to cook for oneself and work around the eccentric cooking schedules of housemates.

I had some ground beef I needed to find a use for, and the idea came to me: shepherd's pie.

Only not so elaborate as the classic version.

I got the ground beef browning in a fry pan and started boiling some water. Once the meat was pretty well done, I downed the heat and added a generous handful of fresh spinach.

By now the water was boiling and I turned it off, adding some dried garlic mashed potato mix. Stirring it, I added some canned peas to the meat and now wilted lettuce. Then I checked in some herbs and spices to taste, and spooned the mix into a bowl. Then I dolloped out the mashed potatoes over the top. Sometimes I add some cheese- others, a knob of butter in the potatoes.

The whole thing is done in about ten minutes, and provides a very satisfying meal.

2011-03-05T15:49:00.000-05:00

The Soup Nazi is expanding his foothold:

The New York Times has a story about restaurants that refuse easily-accommodated customer requests:

At a pea-sized Lower East Side bistro known for its fries, the admonition is spelled out on a chalkboard: no ketchup. At a popular gastropub in the West Village, customers cannot have the burger with any cheese other than Roquefort.

And at Murray’s Bagels in Greenwich Village and Chelsea, the morning crowd can order its bagels topped any number of ways but never — ever! — toasted. “It’s really annoying, because a toasted bagel is kind of fierce, right?” Jamie Divine, a product designer and frequent patron, said with a hint of an eye-roll.

A big food day in the UK

2011-03-01T14:25:00.000-05:00

St David's Day: recipes for a feast

It's St David's Day, and to help celebrate we've a quintet of delicious recipes from Welsh chef Bryn Williams

• Slow roasted shoulder of lamb
• Mutton and swede pie
• Pan-fried salmon with curried mussels
• Sole in a bag with courgettes and black olives
• Nain's bara brith

St David's Day daffodils. The petals have a pleasant, peppery taste, but don't eat the bulbs ... Photograph: Nicolette Wells/Getty Images/Flickr RF

Today is St David's Day, also known as the feast of St David, an opportunity to celebrate the food of Wales. What makes certainfoodways identifiably Welsh is perhaps not immediately obvious, and a little digging is needed to unearth their origins.

Most famously the hilly terrain of much of the country is suited to sheep farming, and the tradition of shepherding the animals to rich grazing on high ground in the summer and returning them to lowland pasture over winter, a lifestyle which favours a simple, portable kitchen and much one-pot cooking, persisted in Wales until relatively recently. Fertile valley bottoms also provide ample scope for growing cereal crops and grazing cattle and combined with the nearness of the sea these factors define a traditional cuisine rich in meat, milk and cheeses, porridges and stews, breads and seafood.

-and don't forget stewed tomatoes.

2011-03-01T14:20:00.000-05:00

Don't go to Café by the Coast in George Street, Hastings, if you want baked beans with your full English breakfast. The young proprietor, Toby Welfare, refuses to serve them, on aesthetic grounds.
'Beans are very sweet,' he tells me. 'Just a red glob of sweet, over-salty stuff.' Welfare would rather send customers away – directing them to a caff down the road – than allow beans to sully his nicely composed plates of griddled butcher's sausage, bacon, egg, grilled tomato and bubble and squeak (with organic toast on the side).
The components of a true English breakfast can cause passionate disputes. Is black pudding satanic or essential? And where do you stand on the sauce question? Welfare is torn. 'Ketchup is best for bacon,' he insists. 'But then sometimes it runs over on to the egg yolk and becomes a mess.'
Besides which, sausages are 'better with brown sauce'. Perhaps there is a third way. Welfare has noticed that the 'real foodies' in his café opt for mustard.

Well, d'oh

2011-02-11T00:21:00.000-05:00

Newsweek:

"Doritos is not bad for you ... Doritos is nothing but corn mashed up, fried a little bit with just very little oil, and then flavored in the most delectable way." —PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, discussing snack-food health concerns on Fox Business Network.

Meals with Mandela and Models

2011-02-09T23:23:00.002-05:00

One day in 1998 he decided to walk away. “I was in Nelson Mandela’s house in South Africa,” he recalled over lunch. (In spite of his counsel, I was inhaling a bowl of hot and sour soup. He took one slurp and declared it “way too spicy.”) “Naomi Campbell was there, Kate Moss, Amber Valletta, Christy Turlington: the whole crew. It wasn’t like a light bulb moment. It was more of, ‘Ah, this is really good, and it’s not going to get better than this.’ I thought, ‘Fashion will kick you out at some point, anyway. This is a good time to go off and find my path.’ ”

Potatoe

2011-02-07T23:29:00.002-05:00

Congressman Ben Quayle explains how transubstantiation applies to jelly beans.

Hater rolls out Mrs Obama as Marie Antoinette. Hint: it's not about the food.

2011-02-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

South Carolina's leading right wing hate blog- which recently got all jiggy that a food safety improvement bill passed by Congress- after more than enough salmonella outbreaks and deaths and sickness under the noneforcement rules he championed for the previous president's time in the job- because somehow a new corps of vegetable and fruit police would come and seize his heirloom tomato seeds- is getting peevy about the fact the First Lady is African-American, and, apparently, that he didn't get invited to the President's Super Bowl party.

The blog, which has called the Obamas Marxists, thugs, Chicago pols and over-reaching food- regulators, , is all Martha-Stewarty because for an evening the Obamas served stuff that tastes good and is is traditional football party fare.

Presumably Mr Cassidy chowed down on a big plate of arugula, soy burgers and his precious store of heirloom tomatoes, rather than waiting in line for the Bog Bowl at KFC.

Get a grip, man. Make stupid stuff an issue, it invites a response.

Fuss, fuss, fuss

2011-02-05T07:31:00.000-05:00

The Kennedy Administration fades into history: their food snob has died.

Food Wars: Chik-fil-A steps up to take Cracker Barrel's place

2011-02-01T06:28:00.000-05:00

According to the New York Times, to even work for Chick-fil-A potential operators must reveal their “marital status and civic and church involvement.” The chain was even sued in 2002 by a Muslim restaurant owner in Houston “who said he was fired because he did not pray to Jesus with other employees at a training session. The suit was settled.”

The company also runs WinShape Foundation that promotes “traditional” marriage as well as a retreat center near Rome, Georgia. Gays and lesbians looking for a retreat should look elsewhere, however. In an email exchange with one gay blog, the retreat center made it clear that it defines marriage as being between one man and woman and gay couples would not be welcome.

Frittata Fever

2011-01-27T11:23:00.000-05:00

Mark Bittman's victory lap includes his top 25 recipe columns. Worth a read.

Catcher in the Fries

2011-01-26T23:44:00.002-05:00

When it came to fast food, J.D. Salinger liked Burger King.

Farewell, no-knead bread

2011-01-26T06:01:00.000-05:00

Seems like all tasty things come to an end, and so it is with Mark Bittman's "Miniamlist" column in The New York Times.

Yum

2011-01-25T03:54:00.000-05:00

A Bare-Bones Soup Recipe

By MELISSA CLARK

SEVERAL years ago, while flipping through a Junior League cookbook, I came across a recipe for ham bone soup. The book, a vintage specimen passed down by a friend of my mother’s, was one of those tattered spiral-bound volumes you see at yard sales, chock full of fuss-free recipes that people actually cooked every day.

The soup was simple: boil a bone with beans and a bay leaf, and dinner was done. It seemed like just the thing to make on a cold winter weeknight with a leftover bone from the weekend’s baked ham.

But over the ensuing years, all the hams I baked were boneless. No bone, no soup.

Finally, I asked my butcher for one instead, even though it felt like cheating. The butcher, who presented me with a Neolithic-size bone, was nice enough to cut it into pieces with his band saw so it would fit into my soup pot.

Wanting to maintain the spirit of the Junior League recipe, I kept things straightforward once I got home. I stuck the bone into the pot with some onions (for a sweet aromatic note), shredded cabbage and carrots (to add vegetables and more layers of flavor), and cooked beans (for plush bites of contrasting texture). I let the whole thing simmer for a good chunk of the afternoon.

The windows steamed up and the house smelled mouthwateringly like smoked meat.

As the liquid cooked, it got thicker and glossier. And its fragrance became even more intensely porky. I dipped a spoon into the pot. This soup was silkier and richer than most hammy soups I’ve made, including ones with ham hocks and bacon, and the broth had a lot more body.

Better yet, the cabbage shreds had collapsed and somehow magically transformed from mere vegetables into something akin to soft, melting morsels of cheese.

That’s when I realized what had happened. The marrow from the bone had leaked out, imbuing everything with its fatty, brawny goodness — especially the watery cabbage. Though the flavor was terrific, the color was a bit blah, so I tossed in some torn-up kale to add some green.

In my bowl, I added a few dashes of hot sauce to give everything a kick. Then I ate it up, glad I had cheated to get my ham bone, and very ready to do it again.

Unplug the juicer

2011-01-24T02:38:00.002-05:00

In recent years he was mostly a prop for his juicer promos on the TV shopping channels, but Jack LaLanne was ahead of the fitness curve, even with that creepy jumpsuit he wore on TV. He's now dead, aged 96.

"Dude!"

2011-01-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

A new online Christianist e-mag will teach guys that a hug and three pats on the back is OK but more is a romance, and what forms of fried foods are OK to express interest in.

How Bollywood diva became a UK TV celebrity chef

2010-12-27T18:49:00.003-05:00

NPR has the story.

They loved arugula

2010-12-27T18:46:00.000-05:00

Neanderthals cooked and ate plants and vegetables, a new study of Neanderthal remains reveals.

Researchers in the US have found grains of cooked plant material in their teeth.

The study is the first to confirm that the Neanderthal diet was not confined to meat and was more sophisticated than previously thought.

The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

-and bring Jackie O, I'm short a seat for dinner

2010-12-10T04:41:00.000-05:00

More proof that famous people only know other famous people.

A good one

2010-12-09T05:32:00.000-05:00

Pasta With Tomatoes and Beans

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

This pasta is one reason I always keep a few cans of tomatoes and cannellinis in my pantry. Beans contribute protein to this pasta, which makes a great vegan dish if you serve it without the cheese.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with juice

Pinch of sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

4 sage leaves or basil leaves, cut in slivers (optional)

3/4 pound pasta, any shape

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet or saucepan. Add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic, and stir together until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes with juice and a pinch of sugar. Raise the heat slightly, and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes are bubbling vigorously. Lower the heat to medium-low, and cook gently, stirring and mashing the tomatoes often with the back of your spoon until they have cooked down into a thick, fragrant sauce, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the beans and the herbs, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

3. When the pasta water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the pasta. Cook al dente, following the recommendations on the package but checking about a minute before the indicated time. When the pasta is just about done, check to see if the tomato sauce seems dry. If so, add up to 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the pan and stir. Drain the pasta, toss with the sauce and serve, passing the cheese for sprinkling.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: You can make the sauce several hours ahead of serving.

Nutritional information per serving: 493 calories; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 86 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 431 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 16 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of "The Very Best of Recipes for Health."

Making fun of arugula again

2010-12-08T13:24:00.000-05:00

Now, writes a conservative, even food is political, as the Republican Party's geographic base becomes the nation's worst- and most highly subsidized- diabetes region.

Saving space in the fridge

2010-11-27T11:54:00.002-05:00

Turns out you can make immortal burgers just as easily as Mickey D's does.

Dining on the cheap

2010-10-17T16:27:00.000-04:00

Lifehacker:

If you're on a tight budget, but you're tired of instant noodles as your go-to meal, the Reddit College Cookbook may be just the right thing to kickstart a good, low budget eating plan.

We recently polled and collected your favorite quick and simple meal ideas. Grab the Reddit College Cookbook (direct PDF link), and you can add more dirt-cheap, get-it-done recipe ideas to your repertoire.

The Reddit College Cookbook was inspired by a college student who was fed up with the cafeteria food offered by the school. He asked his forum of choice for some good, cheap, recipes catered to a college student's lifestyle. The hive minddelivered, and soon the digital cookbook was born. The cookbook is packed with recipes someone with limited cooking utensils or ingredients can still easily pull off. Although it's not the most organized cookbook you will find out there, it's certainly packing a lot of content. With over 120 recipes ranging from Pasta Alla Carbonara to Veggie Enchilada Casserole, the frugal chef in you is bound to find something.

For an added bonus, the cookbook even shares a few pages of helpful tips and informative links for those of you just getting started in the kitchen. The usefulness of these tips may be different based on your location, so keep in mind that your mileage may vary.

The poor man's anti-depressant

2010-10-17T15:41:00.000-04:00

Satoshi Kanazawa reports on the link between smart children, and the larger amounts of alchohol they consume as adults. The studies controlled for "both income and education, as well as childhood social class and parents’ education." The study concluded:

“Very bright” British children grow up to consume nearly eight-tenths of a standard deviation more alcohol than their “very dull” classmates.

It's what Oakeshott called "the ordeal of consciousness." When you have constantly charging brain, you need to shut it off sometimes in order to breathe and live. It's no wonder so many brainiacs self-medicate in this way. The key thing, as always, is moderation.

Puritans everywhere

2010-10-03T03:05:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, the headline of an obituary in the Times caught my eye: “Barbara Holland, Defender of Small Vices, Dies at 77.” A “defender of small vices”—what a fine title by which to be remembered, the kind of informal, appointed job that you didn’t know exists but then seems essential once you do. The obituary pointed me to Holland’s 1995 collection of short essays, “Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences.” In the preface, Holland explains the crisis she and her like-minded cohort—she often writes in an embracing first-person plural—faced during the last decade of the twentieth century:

To make sure we aren’t having any casual, private fun, the contemporary wisdom has withdrawn a lot of our older pleasures—chicken gravy, long summer vacations, cigarettes, martinis, sleeping late—and replaced them with fitness and gloom.

SC conservative: real food is bad for you- a liberal plot, in fact

2010-09-17T03:04:00.001-04:00

FITSNews, a blog run by a scraggly-bearded, jowly bald guy who improbably claims he had an affair with SC GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, now has come out against encouraging state residents to buy local farm produce rather than gassed veg from halfway around the globe. I suspect he lives on microwaveable food that comes in boxes.

The "Baby On Board" fetish seems to have subsided.

2010-09-08T17:09:00.000-04:00

CAROLINA BEACH, NC (WECT) - A restaurant in Carolina Beach is stirring up controversy over a couple of signs reading, "Screaming children will not be tolerated."

The owner of the Olde Salty restaurant, Brenda Armes, is tired of having her customers complain to her about children misbehaving and screaming when others are trying to enjoy a quiet meal.

Armes says the signs have worked.

"It has been a good thing for us," Armes said. "It has brought us in more customers than it has ever kept away."

Making the most of the hand you get dealt, bravely and admirably.

2010-09-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

Film critic Roger Ebert clings to life, cooking even as he can no longer eat:

“A downstate Illinois boy loves the Steak ’n Shake as a Puerto Rican loves rice and beans, an Egyptian loves falafel, a Brit loves banger and mash, an Indian loves tikki ki chaat, a Swede loves herring, a Finn loves reindeer jerky, and a Canadian loves bran muffins,” he wrote. “These matters do not involve taste. They involve a deep-seated conviction that a food is absolutely right, and always has been, and always will be.”

He both writes and thinks about food in the present tense. Ask about favorite foods and he’ll scribble a note: “I love spicy and Indian.” An offer to bring some New Jersey peaches to his summer home here on the shore of Lake Michigan brings a sharp defense of Michigan peaches and a menu idea. “Maybe for dessert we could have a salad of local fresh fruits.”

“Food for me is in the present tense,” he said. “Eating for me is now only in the past tense.” He says he has a “voluptuous food memory” that gets stronger all the time.

“I can remember the taste and smell of everything, even though I can no longer taste or smell,” he said.

That is, he concedes later, a bit sweeping. He can’t remember the food at a French spa prepared by Michel Guérard, who has three Michelin stars. And he can’t recall the last meal he ever ate, because who knew then that surgeons would never be able to fix it all?

But he remembers everything about the food at the Steak ’n Shake. In the hospital, he told me, he ate Steak ’n Shake meals a bite at a time in his mind. Still, what he longs for most is the talk and fellowship of the table.

“The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments and shared memories I miss,” he wrote in a blog post.

Melons: the miniseries

2010-08-19T14:51:00.001-04:00

But they’re increasingly hard to find. At roadside stands here, you’re more likely to come across a hybrid called the Super Sweet 710 that farmers like Ernest Brown grow. It has seeds, sure, but it lacks some of the personality of the older varieties. It’s just a bit flatter in flavor than the Jubilee Mr. Brown prefers. But the 710s are cheaper to grow, a little smaller and more uniform.

“You can handle them better and stack them better,” he said.

The game, however, is in small, seedless melons.

Only about 2 of every 10 watermelons sold in the United States have seeds. And only a tiny percentage, agriculture experts estimate, are the old-fashioned heirloom varieties, all with seeds, that once made up all the watermelons in America.

The larger, more traditional-looking seedless “picnic melon” that flooded grocery stores in the 1980s still dominates the market. But the future is in what the industry calls personal melons, or the slightly larger icebox melons — round balls of sweet without seeds and, some think, without character.

The Non-Joy of Cooking returns

2010-08-19T14:47:00.000-04:00

A Classic Cookbook Returns, Canned Soup and All

By JULIE BOSMAN

Who says there isn’t still an appetite for Hootenholler Whisky Cake?

Fifty years after the original publication of “The I Hate to Cook Book,” it has been updated, revised and re-released this summer, its publisher hoping to find a new generation of homemakers who appreciate the processed-cheese, canned-soup and alcohol-laden recipes that made it beloved among several million rebellious housewives in the 1960s and 1970s.

The 184-recipe book, by Peg Bracken, was written with a premise that was then considered heretical: cooking is not joyful, and it should be done as quickly as possible, preferably with ingredients readily available in the cupboard.

Its pages are filled with creations like Sole Survivor (baked fish fillets with shrimp sprinkled on top), Saturday Chicken (chicken, paprika, cream soup) and Fake Hollandaise sauce (mayonnaise, milk, salt, pepper and lemon juice, accompanied by a chorus of “Gloomy Sunday” in the background).

So far, sales of the new edition have been modest — about 24,000 copies are in print — but it seems to have found an audience among women yet to embrace the organic, clean-food movement.

“I cook as a necessity because I have two children and a husband,” said Jenn Foreacre, a 26-year-old freelance writer and stay-at-home mother in Lancaster, Pa. “I thought, wow, this is somebody just like me. It made me feel not so alone in my dislike for cooking.”

In one typically breezy aside, as Ms. Bracken argued in favor of using simple cake mixes instead of baking from scratch, she wrote, “We don’t get our creative kicks from adding an egg, we get them from painting pictures or bathrooms, or potting geraniums or babies, or writing stories or amendments, or, possibly, engaging in some interesting type of psycho-neurochemical research like seeing if, perhaps, we can replace colloids with sulphates. And we simply love ready-mixes.”

Ms. Bracken was an advertising copywriter who, like other typical American mothers, was also tasked with preparing dinner for her family nearly every night. Fed up with the monotony of cooking, she quizzed her girlfriends — women equally bored with cooking the same meals over and over again — for their recipes and wrote a book.

She shopped the manuscript around to six male publishers, saw them each reject it and then found a female editor at Harcourt, Brace who loved it. After it was published in 1960, “The I Hate to Cook Book” became a smash hit, eventually selling more than three million copies.

Swag you can't swig

2010-08-14T00:55:00.002-04:00

More news of Ernest Shackleton's scotch stash.

Easier to send a Japanese robot on a Segue?

2010-08-09T14:11:00.000-04:00

A new book says NASA's biggest problem with going to Mars is human input-output issue rasied by the need for nourishment:

The wildest parts of her book involve various forms of human egesta, which is one of her favorite new words. (Another is steatorrhea.) Suffice it to say that for every measurable aspect of human digestion there is a scientist to quantify it, sometimes with a name like Nevin S. Scrimshaw (the benefits of a liquid formula diet) or Kanapathipillai Wignarajah, called Wiggy (human fecal simulants). Some research devoted to astronauts is not as different from commercial diaper testing as you would think.

As Ms. Roach has shown in earlier books, particularly “Bonk,” she is completely embarrassment proof. There is no biological situation she will not visualize, no anatomical question she will not ask. So “Packing for Mars” is as startling as it is funny, even if its strategic aim is to tell you more than you need to know. “The report didn’t mention anal leakage, but I will,” she writes about test results on food cubes proposed for astronauts’ use. The cubes did not pass muster.

As ever, Ms. Roach finds her best material in unexpected places. When she experiences zero gravity on a McDonnell Douglas C-9 military transport jet (better known as the Vomit Comet, though NASA’s preferred phrase is Weightless Wonder), she comes back with notes that say “WOO” and “yippee.” When she rises off the floor and floats, she thinks, “It’s like the Rapture in here every 30 seconds.” Then she stows away these memories until, later in the book, she considers the implications of zero gravity for porn films.

"Whaddya mean, mooseburgers?"

2010-08-07T16:20:00.000-04:00

Broodmare Kate (right) says Mrs Palin and her brood got better eats on their "camping" trip. And don't even ask about the privvy.

Do you really know the muffin man?

2010-08-07T05:10:00.000-04:00

There's something inherently silly about a dispute over muffin technology between companies called Hostess and Bimbo, but there you are-

Mr. Botticella, who lives in Southern California, has worked in the baking business for nearly four decades, spending the last eight years with Bimbo USA, the American division of the Mexican bakery giant Grupo Bimbo.

After Bimbo bought Thomas’ in January 2009, Mr. Botticella became responsible for an English muffin factory in Placentia, Calif. That March, apparently as a condition for entering the ranks of the nook and cranny cognoscenti, the company had him sign a confidentiality agreement. It barred him from revealing company secrets, but did not prohibit him from going to work for a competitor.

At about the same time, according to papers filed by Mr. Botticella’s lawyers, the company embarked on a broad cost-cutting drive. It involved plant closings and layoffs, and the papers say he found the process painful and became unhappy in his job.

Last October, he accepted a job offer from Hostess to run its Eastern operations. The salary was $200,000 a year, $50,000 less than he was paid at Bimbo.

But he did not start right away.

Instead, he arranged to begin his new job in January (in court papers he said he wanted to claim his year-end bonus from Bimbo). But he told no one at Bimbo of his plans and continued to attend meetings and receive documents where confidential company information was discussed.

In early January, Mr. Botticella gave two weeks’ notice. Bimbo said in court papers that his co-workers believed he was retiring. But days before his last scheduled day at work, Bimbo executives heard rumors about the Hostess job.

They confronted Mr. Botticella in a telephone call and he told them it was true.

Within minutes of hanging up the phone, Bimbo’s lawyers say, Mr. Botticella used his laptop computer to access a dozen company files containing confidential information and apparently copied them onto a flash drive. The company said that a search of computer records revealed other activities in the weeks before his departure in which he appeared to have copied sensitive files.

Mr. Botticella said in a deposition that he was merely practicing his computer skills in preparation for his new job. But R. Barclay Surrick, the federal judge who in February granted the injunction barring Mr. Botticella from going to Hostess, concluded that his behavior demonstrated “an intention to use Bimbo’s trade secrets during his intended employment with Hostess.”

In a written statement, Hostess, which was not part of the legal case, said that it “sought to hire Chris Botticella for his vast experience in our industry, not for any particular technology” and that the agreement he signed with Hostess required that he not divulge Bimbo’s trade secrets.

Mr. Botticella appealed the ruling but a three-member panel of the appeals court upheld the decision on July 27. In the meantime, Hostess said that it was no longer holding the job for Mr. Botticella.

“We have a business to run,” said Becky Madeira, a Hostess spokeswoman. “We have to move on.”

Genius!

2010-08-06T00:41:00.002-04:00

Dinner Tonight

Dinner Tonight: Farfalle With Summer Squash

Posted by Blake Royer, Post a comment

August 5, 2010 at 4:00 PM

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Tags: Dinner Tonight, pastas, squash, vegetarian

There are going to be too many summer squash and not enough time. It's a fact of summer, of joining a CSA program, or having a garden of your own. Once these plants get going, they don't seem to stop (I've heard stories of people leaving them on doorsteps and then running away). If you follow this column you've seen plenty of recipes featuring this summer vegetables—we've got your covered.

INGREDIENTS

serves 4-6

1/2 cup butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 summer squash (or zucchini), cut into large matchsticks
1 sprig fresh rosemary leaves, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound farfalle or shells
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

PROCEDURES

1
Bring a large pot of salty water to boil and cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water before draining.
2
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat until the foam subsides. Add the summer squash and cook until crisp-tender, then add the garlic, rosemary, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Increase the heat and cook until the flavors come together, but before the squash is too soft.
3
Add the drained pasta to the skillet (or add the squash mixture to the drained pasta if it won't fit) and toss well. Add some pasta cooking water if necessary to create a glossy sauce over low heat. Add the parsley and most of the Parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Better food knows no ideology.

2010-08-06T00:16:00.000-04:00

Food from farmers' markets is local, and fresher, than the jet-flown, blister-packed stuff you get at the groceries.

Yet making farmers' market information more available, is, in South Carolina, derided as a taxpayer funded slop bucket for a "liberal" PR firm.

The guy must eat at McDonald's three times per.

What side dish goes with stuffed cabbage rolls?

In: Individual Ingredients [Edit categories]

[Improve]

Side Dishes for Cabbage Roll Dinners

Here are suggestions from various WikiAnswers contributors:

Green vegetables, rice, mashed potatoes,or applesauce.

Cucumber and red onion salad

When I make cabbage rolls I make perogies and smoked sausage with them, big favorite in my house.

I like color contrast, so I'd smash up some sweet potatoes or else serve steamed carrots sauteed in a little butter and honey.

I like to make mashed potatoes and fried corn, fresh or canned, take the whole canned corn, drain it, take about 2-3 tablesoons of butter and melt in skillet, add the corn, add some garlic power a little at a time, get it to your liking. I got this from a fried of mine 20 yrs ago, and make it alot.

I love baked beans with stuffed cabbage. The sweet flavor is a nice complement. Add cole slaw and it's a meal fit for a king.

Mashed potatoes are wonderful with cabbage rolls. The sauce makes a really tasty gravy.
Our family always made cabbage rolls with sauerkraut and tomato juice. We serve it with mashed potatoes.

I am big believer in temperature contrast, and since I make my cabbage rolls with hamburger, rice, cabbage, cream cheese and tomato soup, I normally just serve it with cottage cheese. All little cold side dish to go with the warm main dish.
Sour cream and mini crossaints, and maybe pickeled beets to give a contrast in tase. Also Plain yogurt is exelent adition to a superb meal.

What to do with that big head o' cabbage?

2010-08-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

Cabbage & Potatoes - What To Do With Them?

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Filed Under:Potatoes, Cabbage,

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Servs: 6 Prep: 15m Cook: 60m

Got home one day from work and looked at the cabbage & potatoes not knowing what to do, so why not combine them and come up with something and I did!!!

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Ingredients [?] Update Reset Add All Ingredients To Shopping List

7/10 medium size cabbage, sliced
5 3/5 Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced but not too thick
7/10 large onion sliced
1 2/5 cans drained mushrooms
7/20 cup butter
7/10 cup chicken broth
7/40 cup bacon grease
Seasonings:
7/10- 1 2/5 tbsp smoked paprika
7/10 tbsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
7/10 cup Parmasean Cheese
Optional:
Add 7/10-7/20 lbs. chopped beef
Add crumbled bacon

Instructions

In a 9 x 13 baking pan, add sliced cabbage, potatoes, onions and mushrooms
Melt butter
Then in small bowl; add chicken broth, bacon grease (melted) and seasonings
Pour over cabbage/potatoe mixture in pan
With spoon, mix all up to coat
Bake at 375 covered for about 45 minutes or until potatoes and cabbage are tender
Uncover and sprinkle Parmesean cheese over top
Bake at 350 for additional 15 minutes
If addding beef, add with cabbage & potatoes

And another option:

This cabbage soup recipe is the perfect vegetarian style dish.

The flavorful cabbage soup has a mix of vegetables that tastes

amazing and is also truly healthy for You.

Here is the perfect soup recipe for all those veggie lovers out there. This delicious cabbage soup is made with fresh cabbage, onions, potatoes, carrots and a mix of dried herbs. A simple vegetarian style soup that can be made in less then a half a hour and has a taste that is really refreshing.

Ingredients

1 cabbage head (shredded)
2 large onions (thinly sliced)
2 carrots (thinly sliced)
1 large potato (diced)
1-1/4pt skimmed milk
2 tablespoons low fat yogurt
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dill (dried)
1/2 teaspoon rosemary (dried)

Preperation

Start by placing the cabbage, onions, carrots and potato in a heavy saucepan with a little water. Cover the mixture and cook slowly, until the vegetables are tender. Then add the milk, yogurt, bay leaf, dill and rosemary. Continue to cook for about 15 minutes and serve this cabbage soup hot.

And one more!

Recipe: Broccoli Slaw

We grew up eating broccoli salad that had raisins, peanuts, a sweet mayonnaise dressing, and toasted Ramen noodles on top. It's a delight, which you know if you've had it. But every time we look up a recipe, we're turned off by the amount of mayonnaise or inclusion of the Ramen noodle seasonings packet (ew). So we set out to modernize the dish...

Most recipes we've seen call for a bag of pre-shredded broccoli slaw. Even the recipes that called for fresh broccoli used only the stalks. And while this would be a fine way to use up stalks if you don't usually eat them, we're all for using the tops. They shred up a bit fine, but they're perfectly delicious in this slaw.

We will say that a food processor is pretty handy in making this dish. You could finely julienne the stalks and slice the florets into tiny pieces, but it's much, much quicker with a food processor.

As for the ingredients, we skipped the Ramen noodles in the name of trying to be healthier and used almonds instead of peanuts, which added a little more crunch and a milder flavor. We also used currants instead of raisins, because we love how their smaller size meshes well with the fine texture of the slaw.

There is mayonnaise in the dressing, but not nearly as much as in most recipes we saw. (One called for a cup of mayo and a cup of sour cream- yikes.) It's just enough dressing to keep everything moist without making a big, white pool at the bottom of the bowl.

Broccoli Slaw
makes 5 cups

2 heads broccoli
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons currants (plumped in boiling water, if desired)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
3/4 cup slivered almonds (or whole almonds that have been roughly chopped, like ours above)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper

Shred the broccoli in a food processor, using the grater disk (the attachment with the smaller holes, not the one with long, thin blades). In a large bowl, combine the shredded broccoli, currants, red onion, and almonds.

Whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt or pepper, if needed. Allow to sit for 30 minutes (or an hour in the fridge) so the flavors can mingle.

Related: Recipe: Crunchy Peanut Slaw

(Image: Elizabeth Passarella)

Food crime of the day

2010-08-03T23:03:00.002-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But the presentation--

2010-08-03T15:58:00.002-04:00

From a long, fascinating article on the crisis in French cooking:

My wife and I had a short vacation in Umbria a little while ago. The most memorable things we ate were a plate of gnocchi with fresh broad beans, some wild asparagus on scrambled egg, and that plate of salumi. Splendid. Best in class.

RIP Mr Cheez Doodle

2010-08-03T10:35:00.000-04:00

Although Mr. Yohai insisted on the “we” credit for the recipe, he did say that he came up with the product name. First marketed in the late 1950s, Cheez Doodles soon became so popular that by 1965, Old London Foods was bought by Borden, and Mr. Yohai became vice president of Borden’s snack food division, which among other products made Drake’s Cakes and Cracker Jack.

One of his duties, he said, was sitting around a table with other executives and choosing which tiny toys would be stuffed into Cracker Jack boxes.

What if you're ambidextrous?

2010-07-27T13:36:00.000-04:00

Annals of science:

Back in the 70's, psychologist Paul Bakan published a short research report in which he noted that among 47 inpatients on an alcoholism ward, 7 were left-handed - more than you'd expect based on the approximate 10-per cent prevalence of left-handedness in the general population. Bakan described his observation as 'incidental' but according to Kevin Denny, the idea of an alcoholism-handedness link has proven sticky, with some commentators suggesting the stress of being left-handed in a right-handed world is to blame.

Several studies through the years have attempted to replicate the left-handed-alcoholism link but most have relied on small samples and any way the results have been inconsistent. Denny's contribution is an examination of data from the SHARE survey involving over 25,000 people from 12 countries. Left-handers aren't more prone to risky drinking, Denny finds, but on average they do drink more often.

Denny made his finding after categorising survey participants based on their self-reports as either heavy drinkers (those who drink 'almost everyday' or '5 or 6 days a week') or light drinkers (less than once a month or not at all for last six months). There was no evidence that handedness was related to excessive drinking, but left-handers were significantly less likely to be in the light drinker category than right-handers, suggesting that, on average, a left-hander is more likely than a right-hander to drink at moderate levels.

'There is no evidence that handedness predicts risky drinking,' Denny wrote. 'Hence, the results do not support the idea that excess drinking may be a consequence either of atypical lateralisation of the brain or due to the social stresses that arise from left-handers being a minority group.'

Denny acknowledges his study has limitations - all participants in the SHARE survey are over 50, so it's possible his findings don't generalise to younger people. Related to this, it's possible that some heavy-drinking left-handers died before the age of 50, although their numbers are likely to be small. Another potential shortcoming is that some participants categorised as non-drinkers may have been problem-drinkers in recovery.

More than a band-

2010-07-24T16:53:00.000-04:00

Serious Eats has some serious ideas about black-eyed peas, and I say good on 'em! I grew up where people still grew them, and winter or summer, canned or fresh, there's few bounties of nature as wonderful:

It's black-eyed pea season! When you hear the name of this legume, you might think of its strong presence in soul food, or perhaps the musical group headed by Fergie. The love of black-eyed peas, however, knows no cultural bounds. A wide array of cultural dishes—from Portuguese salads to Vietnamese desserts to Indian daals—love these black-spotted beans.

Black-eyed peas are thought to be lucky in Chinese and Jewish culture, as well as the American South. For Southerners, eating Hoppin' John, a rice and black-eyed peas dish, on New Years' Day is believed to bring prosperity and luck. Adding in some green-hued veggies (the color of money) is thought to up the wealth ante.

High in Vitamin A and folate, black-eyed peas make a great supper dish. If you opt for dried over canned, beans must be soaked before cooking. Store uncooked beans in a cool, dry place to avoid mildew.

Black-Eyed Peas Recipes

Coming: the Anthony Ward Cocoa Tax

2010-07-24T15:50:00.000-04:00

LONDON - In a stroke, a hedge fund manager here named Anthony Ward has all but cornered the market in cocoa. By one estimate, he has bought enough to make more than five billion chocolate bars.

Chocolate lovers here are crying into their Cadbury wrappers — and rival traders are crying foul, saying Mr. Ward is stockpiling cocoa in a bid to drive up already high prices so he can sell later at a big profit. His activities have helped drive cocoa prices on the London market to a 30-year high.

Mr. Ward, 50, is not some rabid chocoholic, former employees say. He simply has a head for cocoa. And, through his private investment firm, Armajaro, he now controls a cache equal to 7 percent of annual cocoa production worldwide, a big enough chunk to sway prices.

“Globally, he is unmatched in his knowledge of cocoa,” said Tim Spencer, a former Armajaro executive.

Armajaro maintains offices in West Africa, helping Mr. Ward keep tabs on major cocoa crops. “We even have our own weather stations — our very own that no one else has in some parts of the world,” Mr. Ward, soft-spoken and tan, said in a video interview this year with a financial news service.

Now, traders here are buzzing that Mr. Ward has placed an audacious $1 billion bet in the London market for cocoa futures. This month, he bought 241,100 metric tons of beans, they say.

His play has some people up in arms. While some see it as a simple bet that cocoa prices will rise on falling supply, others say Mr. Ward has created a shortage of cocoa simply to drive up the price himself.

Mini-kitchen? No problems!

2010-07-24T00:01:00.000-04:00

I've added a new blog to the sidebar. Closet Cooking is by a guy in Toronto who wants to make his dining more interesting despite his tiny kitchen. Well-written, with a wry spirit.

As if the week hasn't been complicated enough already-

2010-07-23T23:42:00.000-04:00

An outbreak of the herpes virus in oysters could be potentially "devastating" for stocks of theshellfish, experts have warned.

Samples taken from the Pacific oyster species harvested off the coast of Whitstable, Kent, have tested positive for the incurable Oyster Herpesvirus type 1 (OsHV-1). It is the first time it has been detected in stocks in the UK. It had previously been detected in France, Jersey and Ireland.

The movement of oysters has now been banned in the area in an effort to contain the outbreak, with The Swale, Thames and north Kent coast within the inclusion zone. Inspectors from the Fish Health Inspectorate investigated after the company Seasalter Shellfish noticed a high mortality rate among its Pacific oyster stocks. Its managing director John Bayes said he feared a "total wipeout" of the shellfish.

It's the bubbles

2010-07-22T17:48:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Chait reports on a triumph of marketing:

Pabst Blue Ribbon is being sold in China... as an ultra-high end luxury drink:

In America it's called PBR and is the blue-collar/hipster beverage of choice. In China it's called Pabst Blue Ribbon 1844 and will run you $44 a bottle. Pretty steep for a beer whose biggest draw in the U.S. is the fact that it's, uh, really cheap.

In China, where the lager has been branded as a “world-famous spirit” and bottled in a much more alluring way, Pabst Blue Ribbon 1844 actually looks quite enticing. The advertising campaign for the beer even likens it to “Scotch whisky, French brandy, Bordeaux wine,” as they are all matured in wooden casks.

Another marked difference notable from the ad? There is a champagne flute-like glass accompanying the ostentatious bottle, which presumably is what you are to consume your beer from.

I don't understand how this can be sold for $44 a bottle. Can't somebody arbitrage that? What's stopping you from buying a whole bunch of PBR here in the U.S., shipping it to China and reselling it for $22 a bottle?

A finicky eater as a child maybe?

2010-07-22T13:25:00.000-04:00

On his US trip, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has surprised at least one back-home journo:

Standing at the street vendor’s stall yesterday, Dave ordered a PLAIN hot dog. No mustard, no ketchup, no onions; just sausage and bread.

This is the equivalent of eating spaghetti sauceless, a roly poly pudding without jam or cereal without milk. It’s plain weird.

It’s possible that our Prime Minister panicked when street vendor Abdus Salem asked him about condiments. But it’s also possible that, yet again, we’re talking about class.

Is Dave a mustard snob?

You'll never see toast the same way

2010-07-19T18:16:00.000-04:00

If you're like my sister, who's facing a bumper crop of tomatoes, this might be a way to prolong some's taste into the winter:

Cook the Book: Spicy Tomato Jam

Posted by Caroline Russock, July 19, 2010 at 1:00 PM

"This is the kind of spread that would make even the most mundane turkey or grilled cheese sandwich into something special."

[Photograph: Caroline Russock]

I recently encountered the kind of dilemma that only occurs in mid-summer. I was packing to go away for the weekend when I noticed the bowl of beautiful, perfectly ripe tomatoes sitting on the counter. The problem? The tomatoes would be way past their prime by the time I returned Sunday night. Sticking them in the fridge would render the tomato interiors mushy and therefore no good at all, and throwing them out would be a terrible waste.

As I sat pondering the fate of my tomatoes, I flipped through the pages of Farm to Fork by Emeril Lagasse and came up with an ideal solution: this quick Spicy Tomato Jam. The jam would only take about a half-hour to put together, and would ensure tomato preservation for at least a few weeks.

he sweet and sour components of this Spicy Tomato Jam were intriguing.

The sweet and sour components of this Spicy Tomato Jam were intriguing. I was envisioning a mix of the sourness of preserved Moroccan lemons, sweet tomatoes, and a spicy kick from both the ginger and red pepper flakes. Once all of the ingredients were boiling away, they reduced down to a jam-like consistency in no time at all. The final product was quite sweet at first but the heat and sourness crept up soon after, in the nicest possible way.

This is the kind of spread that would make even the most mundane turkey or grilled cheese sandwich into something special, or perhaps even better served with fried oysters as per Emeril's suggestion.

Win Farm to Fork

As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Farm to Fork to give away this week. Enter to win here »

Spicy Tomato Jam

- makes 1 generous pint, two 8-ounce jars -

Adapted from Farm to Fork by Emeril Lagasse.

Ingredients

4 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped ripe tomatoes (2 1/2 to 3 pounds tomatoes)
2 lemons, peel cut entirely away and discarded, seeds removed, flesh finely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 pinches salt

Procedure

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a brisk simmer and continue to cook, stirring periodically skimming off any foam that forms on the surface and stirring frequently, until a thick, jamlike consistency is achieved and most of the liquid has evaporated, 30 to 35 minutes. (Stir more frequently during the last 10 minutes so that the jam doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.)

2. Transfer the jam to hot sterilized jars, filling the jars to within 1/2 inch from the top, and attach the lids and rings.

3. Once they have cooled, store the jars in the refrigerator for up to 4 months. (Alternatively, place the jam in covered nonreactive containers and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.)

Serious Eats does it again

2010-07-19T18:10:00.000-04:00

I saw this and thought, "That's one to file away!"

Chicken with Roasted Peppers and Salsa Verde
- serves 4 -
Adapted from Mexican Everyday.

Ingredients

2 fresh poblano chiles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( about 1 1/2 pounds total)
Salt
1 large white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1 cup chicken broth
2 to 3 tablespoons Mexican crema, heavy cream, or creme fraiche

Procedure

1. Blacken the skin of the pobanos by sitting them over the burner on your stove. Turn regularly until evenly blackened, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plastic bag to steam for 15 minutes.
2. Pour the oil into a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt, and then place in the skillet. Cook until well browned, about 2 minutes a side. Set aside.
3. Add the onion to the skillet. Cook until golden, about 5 minutes. They shouldn't be too soft.
4. Meanwhile, blend the tomatillos and cilantro. Pour this into the skillet when the onions are done. Cook until it is very thick, about 8 minutes.
5. While that's cooking, remove the poblanos from the bag. Rub off the blackened skins and remove the seeds and stems. Slice the chiles lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick strips.
6. Add the broth, poblano strips, and the crema. Stir well, and season with a teaspoon of salt. Return the chicken breasts to the skillet. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the chicken is completely cooked, about 8 to 10 minutes.
7.Serve the chicken with the chile and onion sauce.

This takes the (cup) cake

2010-07-18T03:00:00.000-04:00

BBC News (with video):

Fancy a peanut butter, banana and bacon cupcake?

If you do, there is a New York bakery with just the cake for you.

David Arrick has decided there is a market for "manly" cupcakes, and he has devised a number of flavours just for men...although women seem to like them too.

Chilled, dude

2010-07-18T02:49:00.002-04:00

Last year it was Sir Ernest Shackleton's South Pole scotch stash. Now it's this (video via the link):

Divers have found 30 bottles of champagne thought to pre-date the French Revolution on the Baltic seabed.

When they opened one, they found the wine - believed to have been made by Clicquot (now Veuve Clicquot) between 1782 and 1788 - was still in good condition.

The bottle - whose shape indicates it was produced in the 18th Century - has now been sent to France for analysis.

If confirmed, it would be the oldest drinkable champagne in the world.

Diver Christian Ekstrom was exploring a shipwreck on the Baltic seabed when he found the bottles.

'Sweet taste'

He took one to the surface, where he opened it and tasted it with his colleagues.

"It was fantastic," he told the Reuters news agency.

"It had a very sweet taste, you could taste oak and it had a very strong tobacco smell. And there were very small bubbles."

According to records, Clicquot champagne was first produced in 1772 but was laid down for 10 years, the French news agency AFP reported.

Experts think the remaining bottles could fetch high prices at auction

Production was disrupted after the French Revolution in 1789.

The wine found on the seabed was perfectly preserved because of the conditions of dark and cold on the seabed.

If the bottles do come from the 1780s, that would make them around 40 years older than the current record-holder, a bottle of Perrier-Jouet from 1825.

Wine experts estimate each bottle would fetch around 500,000 Swedish kronor (£45,000; $69,000) at auction.

The bottles were found off the coast of Aaland, an autonomous part of Finland. The local authorities will decide what is done with the shipwreck - and the champagne.

Herbs everywhere

2010-07-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

How To Clone Your Herbs
Guest Post from Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl

Just last week a friend and I visited a large greenhouse to stock up on last-minute herbs for the growing season. As we walked the aisles, I felt more than a little guilty, if not mischievous, about the number of times I whispered to put a plant back since I already had it and would happily give her a cutting. When you’re stocking a garden for the growing season, every $3 and $4 savings really adds up quickly!

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How To Clone Your Herbs
Guest Post from Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl