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THE FOOD REFERENCE NEWSLETTER
June 28, 2004 Vol 5 #20 ISSN 1535-5659
IN THIS ISSUE
=> Website News
=> 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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CHECK THE WEBSITE DAILY - New FOOD QUIZ questions each week on the website, along with a Daily Culinary Quote, Daily Trivia, Today in Food History, Recipe Contests, Food Festivals, etc.
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QUOTE
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"A complete lack of caution is perhaps one of the true signs of a real gourmet: he has no need for it, being filled as he is with a God-given and intelligently self-cultivated sense of gastronomical freedom."
M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992), 'An Alphabet for Gourmets' (1949)
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TRIVIA
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Malmsey (also known as Malvasia) is the name of both the white wine grape and the sweet, fortified Madeira wine made from it. Originating on the Greek island of Malavosia, it is now grown mostly on the island of Madeira.
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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=089CFHWHH
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THIS WEEK'S WEBSITE OF THE WEEK:
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SARE - SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
SARE provides grants and information to improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life.
http://www.sare.org/
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QUOTE
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"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."
P. J. O'Rourke (1947 - )
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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
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: Hi Chef James, I was talking to some friends at work and we trying to understand the difference between ham and pork since they both come from a pig.
Can you help? Thanks, K.
ANSWER: Pork is the flesh of a pig or hog used as food.
Strictly speaking, Ham is the hind leg of a hog, fresh or cured.
Ham is also used to refer to other cured cuts of pork such as the shoulder and Boston butts (actually the upper part of the shoulder).
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TRIVIA
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Marengo, usually Chicken Marengo, sometimes Veal Marengo, is a dish named after the Battle of Marengo (northwest Italy), June 14, 1800, at which Napoleon defeated the Austrians. Napoleon's chef, Dunand, created it right after the battle from foraged food. Chicken cooked with olive oil, garlic and tomatoes, white wine and Cognac, and garnished with a ring of fried eggs. Modern versions omit the fried eggs and add mushrooms and pearl onions.
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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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SCRAPPLE
In Early Philadelphia, Savory pork, buckwheat, and cornmeal puddings known as pan haus came to be called scrapple. Versions of scrapple traveled west across the continent through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The gently seasoned pillar of ordinary foods has become an American classic.
'The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark : Recipes for an Expedition' by Mary Gunderson
http://www.foodreference.com/html/thefoodjournaloflewis.html
SCRAPPLE
1 pound pork shoulder
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
10 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
-Place the pork shoulder, 6 cups of water, the onion, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a 3-quart saucepan.
-Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat. Simmer for about 1 hour, or until the pork is tender. Remove the meat from the broth.
-Shred the meat with 2 forks. Discard the bones. Strain the broth.
-Measure 4 cups of strained broth into a 3-quart saucepan. Stir in the shredded pork, cornmeal, buckwheat, salt, nutmeg, and thyme. Bring to a boil, stirring almost constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking until the mixture thickens, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent lumps.
-Spoon into a well-greased 8 x 4-inch loaf pan. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
-To serve, cut into slices and fry in hot oil. Scrapple is traditionally served with fried eggs.
-Feel free to substitute other cuts of pork or change the seasoning to suit your palate.
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QUOTE
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"A fully gorged belly never produced a sprightly mind."
Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)
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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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Mesquite is the common name for several small spine hardwood trees or shrubs of the genus Prosopis in the pea family. They are native to the southwestern U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands. The seed pods are edible, and the wood is used for fence posts, railroad ties, and furniture. The wood is also used in barbecuing and smoking foods. Mesquite gives an slightly sweet smoky flavor to foods. CAUTION: Smoked foods contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are known carcinogens. Smoked foods are known to be carcinogenic when eaten as a regular part of a person's diet. Most people do not eat enough smoked foods for this to be a major concern. HOWEVER, the hotter the wood or charcoal burns, the more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are produced. And mesquite burns hotter than hardwood charcoal, and produces much more of these dangerous hydrocarbons. One study found 8 times the cancer causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in meat cooked with mesquite than hardwood charcoal, and 40 times the benzopyrene, the most dangerous hydrocarbon. I like the flavor of mesquite, but this information gives some serious food for thought.
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WHO'S WHO IN THE CULINARY ARTS
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Prosper Montagné (November 14, 1865 - April 22, 1948)
One of the great French chefs of all time, he is primarily remembered as the creator of Larousse Gastronomique (1938), a comprehensive encyclopedia of French gastronomy. He was the son of a hotelier, and worked in many of the most famous kitchens in Europe. He organized the kitchens of the Allied armies during World War I, and with others such as Phileas Gilbert and Escoffier, helped reform French cuisine - simplifying food decorations, organizing the kitchen more efficiently, shortening menus, etc.
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RECIPE REQUESTS FROM READERS
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CRÊPES SUZETTE RECIPE
Crêpes Suzette - Prepare a crêpe batter with 250 g (2 1/4 cups) flour, 3 whole eggs, 2 glasses of milk, and a pinch of salt. Add the juice of a tangerine, 1 tablespoon Curaçao, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Leave to stand for 2 hours at room temperature. Work 50 g (4 tablespoons) butter with the juice of a tangerine, its grated rind, 1 tablespoon Curaçao, and 50 g (4 tablespoons) caster (superfine) sugar.
Make some thin crêpes in a heavy-based frying pan (skillet) (never washed, but wiped each time with clean paper). Mask them with a little of the tangerine butter, fold them in four, return them one by one to the frying pan, and heat them. Arrange them in a warm dish, slightly overlapping.
Larousse Gastronomique (1988 ed.)
http://www.foodreference.com/html/laroussegastro.html
Email your recipe requests, food info or history
questions to me at james@foodreference.com
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SPONSOR
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Tupperware® - The original is still the best.
http://my.tupperware.com/FOODREFERENCE
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QUOTE
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"A good eater must be a good man; for a good eater must have a good digestion, and a good digestion depends upon a good conscience."
Benjamin Disraeli, 'The Young Duke' (1831)
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KITCHEN TIPS
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The easiest and best way to pick the freshest grapes in your local market is to hold a bunch by the stem. Shake gently - if grapes drop off the stem, they have been in storage for too long. If the grapes are firmly attached, are plump and bright, they are fresh.
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CULINARY CALENDAR - A Few Selected Events
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TUESDAY, JUNE 29
1943 General Eisenhower requested that Coca-Cola provide 10 portable bottling plants for U.S. troops overseas.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30
1930 Judge Joseph F. Crater of the New York State Supreme Court, walked out of a 45th Street restaurant in New York City on his way to the theater. He was never heard from again.
THURSDAY, JULY 1
1929 Elzie Segar created Popeye, the spinach eating cartoon character. (Also listed as January 17, and April 11 in some sources).
FRIDAY, JULY 2
1843 An alligator reportedly fell from the sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina.
SATURDAY, JULY 3
1922 ‘Fruit Garden & Home Magazine' was founded. Two years later it was renamed ‘Better Homes & Gardens’.
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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McDonald's fast food restaurant opened its training school, Hamburger University, in Oak Brook, Illinois in 1961. The first drive up McDonald's was opened in 1975. McDonald's introduced Chicken McNuggets in 1983.
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QUOTE
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"A gourmet is just a glutton with brains."
Philip W. Haberman, Jr. (Vogue)
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TRIVIA
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Microwavable rice costs almost $6.00 per pound. Bulk rice costs less than $0.50 per pound.
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Food Reference Newsletter ISSN 1535-5659
James T. Ehler (Publisher & Editor)
3920 S. Roosevelt Blvd
Suite 209 South
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E-mail: james@foodreference.com Phone: (305) 296-2614
Food Reference WebSite: http://www.foodreference.com
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