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THE FOOD REFERENCE NEWSLETTER
September 23, 2004 Vol 5 #32 ISSN 1535-5659
IN THIS ISSUE
=> Website News - New Books
=> 'Food for Thought' by Mark Vogel
=> Quotes and Trivia
=> Website of the Week
=> Food Trivia Quiz
=> Readers questions
=> Ancient & Classic Recipes
=> Did you know?
=> Who's Who in the Culinary Arts
=> Requested Recipes
=> Cooking Tips
=> Culinary Calendar - selected events
=> General information and Copyright
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WEBSITE NEWS http://www.foodreference.com
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NEW BOOK RECOMENDATIONS ADDED TO THE WEBSITE
The Essential EatingWell Cookbook
http://www.foodreference.com/html/essential-eatingwell.html
The Soup Book
http://www.foodreference.com/html/soup-book.html
The Book Club Cookbook
http://www.foodreference.com/html/book-club-cb.html
Why Do Donuts Have Holes?
http://www.foodreference.com/html/why-do-donuts.html
WEEKLY FREE COOKBOOK DRAWING
Congratulations to the winner of last week's Free Cookbook Drawing, John Peterson. He has won 3 of Mary Gunderson's Exploring History Through Simple Recipes books.
http://www.foodreference.com/html/exploringhistory.html
THIS WEEK'S DRAWING will be for 'MEATLESS FAST AND SIMPLE COOKBOOK' by Debi and Jim Pedersen
Tasty vegetarian recipes for when you're short on time.
CLICK THIS LINK TO ENTER THIS WEEKS DRAWING -
http://www.foodreference.com/html/feedback-page.html
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'FOOD FOR THOUGHT' BY MARK VOGEL
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Into the Frying Pan - Sautéing is cooking food in a small amount of fat over high heat. A sauté pan, (a.k.a. skillet or frying pan), with straight sides is known as a sautoir, and with sloping sides, a sauteuse. A high quality sauté pan is....
http://www.foodreference.com/html/markvogelweeklycolumn.html
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QUOTE
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"When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking."
Gail Sheehy
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TRIVIA
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Any food can be pickled, but a "PICKLE" used as a NOUN refers to a pickled CUCUMBER. There are pickled vegetables of all types, as well as various pickled fish, etc.
Pickling is one of the oldest methods of preserving foods. Pickling is the preserving of food in an acid (usually vinegar), and it is this acid environment that prevents undesirable bacteria growth. However, how and what kind of acid gets into the liquid is what can cause some confusion about the use of salt.
Most pickled foods are salted or soaked in brine first to draw out moisture that would dilute the acid that is added to 'pickle' the food.
1) Vinegar can be added directly to the liquid that the food is placed in.
2) The food can be place in brine (salt and water) - this is what causes confusion. Even though it may seem that pickling can be done with either an acid (vinegar, etc) or salt, that is not strictly true. That is because the amount of salt in the solution is carefully measured to allow natural fermentation which produces lactic acid. So pickled foods that are made with brine (salt and water) are really made with an acid- - but instead of directly adding acid, conditions are created so that the fermentation creates its own acid! This is a tricky process because just enough salt needs to be added to prevent the growth of undesirable bacteria, and the correct temperature maintained, to still allow the growth of several specific bacteria that produce lactic acid.
3) Some cucumber pickles are made with a combination of both methods. They are soaked in a strong brine with vinegar added in specific proportions so that they still ferment and produce additional acid (lactic acid).
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CHEF JAMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDS SAVEUR MAGAZINE
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Food Reference subscribers can get a FREE trial issue to Saveur magazine - the award winning magazine that celebrates the people, places and rituals that establish culinary traditions.
https://secure.palmcoastd.com/pcd/document?ikey=089CFHPP1
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THIS WEEK'S WEBSITE OF THE WEEK:
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The Vegetarian Resource Group - Vegetarian Journal
http://www.vrg.org/journal/
The practical magazine for those interested in Vegetarian Health, Ecology, and Ethics
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FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ
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The Food Trivia Quizzes are now moved to their own separate section after the newsletter is e-mailed. Check the Navigation Bar at the top of the page.
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ANOTHER FOOD REFERENCE WEBSITE
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FOOD ART AND POSTERS ****NOW ALSO SELLING T-SHIRTS****
Art & Posters for your home, office, restaurant, dorm room, kitchen, etc. The best selection - including movie, music, sports, food and culinary art. Famous masters, current unknowns. All the best quality, framed or unframed, low prices.
http://www.culinaryposters.com
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READERS QUESTIONS
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QUESTION: I have an ongoing dispute with my friend about green peppers. If you leave green peppers on the vine do then turn red. Where do orange and yellow peppers fit in. Do they all start green or are they from different seeds. Please answer this silly question for me. Twink
ANSWER: Sweet bell peppers can be orange, yellow, red, purple, brown, black, ivory or green, depending on the stage of ripeness and the variety.
Green bell peppers are fully developed, but not ripe.
All sweet bell peppers start out green, and change color as they ripen. (They also get sweeter).
What can be confusing, is that there is also a variety that is green when ripe.
The color depends on the specific variety, the most common variety is red when ripe.
So---
Green sweet bell peppers start out green and are green when ripe.
Red, yellow, etc. sweet bell peppers start out green and turn red when ripe.
What you find in the store are usually either unripe green sweet bell peppers or unripe red ones.
They will not be any of the other color varieties in the green stage because the other colors can be sold at a much higher price, so they are always allowed to ripen before being sold. The additional time it takes to ripen and change color accounts for part of the reason they are more expensive. Also, since they are ripe, they have a shorter storage time.
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TRIVIA
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As a promotional stunt in 1923, Otto Schnering, founder of Curtiss Candy Co., had Baby Ruth candy bars dropped from airplanes in cities around the country, with tiny parachutes attached to each candy bar.
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CULINARY SCHOOLS, TOURS AND CRUISES
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Culinary schools, cooking classes and gourmet tours for the amateur & the professional. U.S. and abroad.
http://www.foodreference.com/html/index.html
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ANCIENT & CLASSIC RECIPES
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CAROLINA SNOW BALLS
The Art of Cookery, Hannah Glasse (1796, London)
To Make Carolina Snow Balls
Take half a pound of rice, wash it clean, divide it into six parts; take six apples, pare them and scoop out the cores, in which place put a little lemon-peel shred very fine; then have ready some thin cloths to tie the balls in; put the rice in the cloth, and lay the apple on it; tie them up close, put them into cold water, and when the water boils they will take an hour and a quarter boiling; be very careful how you turn them into the dish that you do not break the rice, and they will look as white as snow, and make a very pretty dish. The sauce is, to this quantity, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter melted thick, a glass of white wine, a little nutmeg, and beaten cinnamon, made very sweet with sugar; boil all up together, and pour it into a basin, and send it to table.
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QUOTE
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"When the waitress puts the dinner on the table the old men look at the dinner. The young men look at the waitress."
Gelett Burgess, Look Eleven Years Younger (1937)
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FLOWERS
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Fresh Flowers Directly from the Growers
BE TRULY ROMANTIC - GIVE FLOWERS FOR NO REASON AT ALL!
http://www.foodreference.com/html/freshflowers.html
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DID YOU KNOW?
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Carnations, also called clove pink and gillyflower, are an edible flower with a spicy odor that are native to the Mediterranean region. They can be candied, pickled with spices, and used fresh in salads. In the past carnations have been used to spice wine and beer, and as a substitute for the more expensive clove.
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WHO'S WHO IN THE CULINARY ARTS
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(Georges) Auguste Escoffier (Oct 28, 1846 - Feb 12, 1935)
Escoffier was called 'the emperor of chefs' and 'emperor of the world’s kitchens' by Emperor William II of Germany. He modernized and codified the elaborate haute cuisine created by Marie-Antoine Carême, and developed the ‘brigade de cuisine,’ system of kitchen organization. Escoffier was chef at the Carlton Hotel in London, the Grande National Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo, the Savoy in London and the Ritz hotels in Paris and New York City. His books include 'Guide culinaire' and 'Ma Cuisine.'
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RECIPE REQUESTS FROM READERS
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KIMCHEE
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh Chile peppers of your choice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup Napa cabbage (Tianjin bok choy), sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and very thinly sliced
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, chile peppers, and sugar and whisk together well. In a medium bowl, toss the cabbage, cucumber, red pepper, and carrot together. Add just enough of the dressing to moisten the vegetables and mix well; refrigerate.
Email your recipe requests, food info or history
questions to me at james@foodreference.com
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SPONSOR
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POSTERS - Culinary posters, movie, music, sports and fine arts posters and prints. Framed and unframed. Largest selection available anywhere, at the lowest prices.
http://www.culinaryposters.com/
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QUOTE
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"Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn't illegal."
Voltaire, French writer and philosopher, one of the leaders of the Enlightenment (1694-1778).
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COOKING TIPS
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GARLIC
When you use a garlic press or crush the garlic cloves, you get a stronger flavor than when you mince it fine with a knife. This is only noticeable when using the garlic raw.
Small bulbs of garlic can be as much as 20 times as strong as larger bulbs.
Garlic can be used as a pest repellent to repel aphids.
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CULINARY CALENDAR - A Few Selected Events
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
1944 Rosa Lee Hawkins of the vocal group 'The Dixie Cups' was born.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
1974 It is first reported that freon from aerosol cans was destroying the ozone layer above the earth.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
1774 John Chapman, Johnny Appleseed was born. American pioneer and legend, he planted apple seeds in the Ohio River valley area (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois).
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27
1947 Musician Marvin Lee Aday, 'Meat Loaf', was born.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
National Strawberry Cream Pie Day.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
St. Michael's Day, patron of grocers and bakers. (Also called Goose Day in some locations - "If you eat goose on Michaelmas Day, you will never want money all the year round."
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
1958 The Frisbee was patented. The pie tins of the Frisbee Pie Company of Connecticut were the inspiration for the creation of the Frisbee. A Wham-O employee supposedly saw drivers for the pie company showing Yale students how to throw the pie tins.
For a complete listing of each day's events, go here:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/HistoricEvents.html
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TRIVIA
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Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 golden goblets of hot chocolate every day.It was thick, dyed red and flavored with chili peppers.
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QUOTE
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"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of 'Lord of the Rings' (1892-1973)
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Food Reference Newsletter ISSN 1535-5659
James T. Ehler (Publisher & Editor)
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Suite 209 South
Key West, Florida 33040
E-mail: james@foodreference.com Phone: (305) 296-2614
Food Reference WebSite: http://www.foodreference.com
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