People can argue ad nauseam about the origin of Spaghetti (Etruscan or Chinese) or Pizza (Italian or Greek) but when it comes down to dishes, some are so basic (flour, egg, and water in a tube shape/flat bread with sauce) it is inevitable that people had been making similar foods pre-historically.
Sometimes; however, we learn that the origins of a dish that are so surprising that it shifts our world-view. Like a Wookiee living on Endor, they just don't make sense. Prepare for bewilderment, here are 7 eatables you may be surprised when you find out where they come from:
"Jack and Jill went up the hill, each with a buck and a quarter. Jill came down with Frittata..."
Oh... the magical vanishing act of the Frittata, making all those vegetables in the refrigerator disappear. With only four eggs, I was able to vanquish nearly a whole Bell Pepper, two handfuls of Spinach, a quarter of an Onion, a small army of chives, four ounces of Jack Cheese, and a handful of Flat-Leaf Parsley.
A Frittata gives you the opportunity to use those, let's say less-than-perfect remnants of your vegetable drawer. You stick to a theme and bind everything together literally with eggs. The only prerequisites are the eggs, really - although I would never consider making one without...
I had seen the blind tasting done on the TV show Top Chef a handful of times but what made me actually want to sit down, get blindfolded, and do it was an article in the April 2009 issue of Saveur, titled "Dream Job." It was written by Bryan Miller a restaurant critic for the New York Times from 1984 to 1993.
Miller said that he would place dried herbs on his tongue a few times a month to try and identify them. Like culinary push-ups, now I was intrigued by the blind tasting. His Kryptonite? Dried turmeric, Miller states "To this day, I wouldn't know the spice if you rolled my pillow in it."
We set up our own Top Chef-Style Taste Test. With three people, we each tasted the other's picks, not tasting our own. One of us would set up their tray and administer to the test to one while the third was in another room.
Western Spaghettiwas voted by Time Magazine as the #2 Viral Film of the Year for 2008. The company who made it is called PES and they have done some some more well known commercials for products like Scrabble, Sprint, Coinstar, and Bacardi.
Every good kitchen has a bunch of gadgets. They keep well in drawers, some used rarely, some never. Earlier we examined "The Big Drawer," those tools that stir, scoop, shred, and otherwise make a meal happen. Here we examine "The Small Drawer," those gadgets that we could live without, but they really really come in handy.
They measure, they shred, they peel. Like I said, we could cook without them, but we'd rather not. Here is our list of gadgets which you will find in "The Small Drawer":
The Foodbuzz Blog Awards recognize outstanding talent, creativity and hard work in the blog community, as determined by the food blogging community (and its readership) for both nominations and voting.
Nominations & Voting Timeline:
-Nominations open September 14th, 2009 and close on September 30th. -The top 5 nominees per category will be announced by Foodbuzz on October 2nd. – Voting will be open from October 2-October 29th, 2009. -Winners will be announced November 7th 2009 at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival and on Foodbuzz.com
Everyone has at least one drawer for all their kitchen gadgets (even if you don't cook). Because most of these gadgets are unitaskers, they spend the majority of their lives dusty and lonely, but if they play their cards right they get to join in the party during Thanksgiving (I'm looking at you, turkey baster).
There are a small handful of crucial and irreplaceable gadgets; however, that are, and should be omnipresent in every functional kitchen. Here is a closer look at our collection
It may be obvious to my regular readers (my mom, my girlfriend) that I’m a bit of a salad guy. I love salad. And one of my favorite ways to start my day is with a breakfast salad. Here’s how it goes:
· Wash a few handfuls of fresh mixed greens. I like having some bitter greens in there, such as radicchio or frisee.
· Make a sharp, acidic vinaigrette: Mix two parts olive oil to one part vinegar. Equal parts of champagne and red wine vinegar add pleasant aromatics to the vinegar component of the dressing. Drop in a few dashes of Old Bay or Tabasco if you like – not too much, just enough to taste the spice. Whisk or shake...
I’ve eaten Cobb salads for dinner, breakfast, and lunch, sometimes successively and usually in that order. I love the crunch, the tanginess, and the complements achieved by the right balance of acidic tomatoes, sweet and smoky bacon, and fragrant blue cheese. A properly-seasoned chicken breast can make the difference between a lame Cobb and a gourmet delight.
I’ve been known to praise restaurants that use a traditional Cobb dressing, complete with blue cheese, garlic, Worcestershire, and vinegar. At the same time, I’ve often lambasted a Cobb served with something as pedestrian as thousand island dressing: pounding my fist on the table, I lecture my fellow diners, reciting my familiar phrase “it’s not a Cobb without Cobb dressing!” As much as I’d like to say that the dressing makes the Cobb, however, the reality is that...
Two months ago, my girlfriend and I moved across an ocean. Our first big purchase, before the boxes of clothing and kitchen supplies even arrived at our new abode, was a Big Green Egg. The Egg has been faithful ever since*.
For those not familiar with the Big Green Egg (“BGE”), it is a barbecue and smoker with...
Although the end result will make you look like a culinary rockstar, this Fig and Gorgonzola Flatbread recipe is [albeit time consuming] relatively easy. The caramelize onions and the fresh figs add a sweet counterpoint to the funkiness of the Gorgonzola cheese. The colors are amazing too, violet, emerald, sky blue, all atop the toasted background of flatbread.
This is a take on a traditional Caprese salad but with 4 different types of tomatoes and the addition of Lemon Cucumbers. Everything was given to us from our friend's garden (thank you Heather and Steve!), except the Mozzarella, thus the name Summer Garden Salad. If Lemon Cucumbers are not available...
OK OK, so Top Chef Masters ended last night and there's a lot of talk about "what should have" and "what could have." The finale was exciting and more importantly, it was mouth-watering. Hubert Keller and his Michelin star were delightful, Michael Chiarello and his panache were amazing - but personally, I think Rick Bayless was the most deserving, and will appreciate his title of Top Chef Master the most.
Rick was the most humble contestant, and I think he elevated the Mexican cuisine to a level that it isn't well known for, haute. If I were to go without Mexican food for too long, I may have to draw and quarter myself. Most recently...
This luscious martini was a spur of the moment inspiration donned at the farmers market. My friend Heather immediately thought of martinis after tasting samples of the Spicy Heirloom Tomato Juice from The Happy Girl Kitchen Co.
Unlike a Bloody Mary which is made from a puree, this is made from the juice of heirloom...
What are these little green sprigs? Sea Beans? A Sea Bean is the salty, succulent plant called Salicornia that is also sometimes called glasswort, pickleweed, and marsh samphire (I grew up calling Carpobrotus edulis "Ice Plant" pickleweed, but then again, my parents are no Botanists.) True Sea Beans appear during the summer at farmer's markets and specialty food shops for a few weeks and they only last a few days once picked, so eat them as soon as you buy them.
Sea beans have great crunch that bursts a blast of brine when chewed. They taste just like a day at the beach - really, their resemblance to the sea is uncanny. Because they are so salty,
I was at a friend's house for dinner and we were planning to make some stuffed figs as an appetizer... but upon returning from the store we realized we had forgot to buy the figs. We looked around the kitchen to see what else we could use. There were some perfectly ripe peaches in my friend's fruit bowl which I thought would compliment the saltiness of the prosciutto perfectly...
Kristen Tolle is an old friend of mine and has become, in my words, "The Cupcake Wizard." What follows is a short interview with her which highlights some of the nuances of the recent cupcake craze and some of the "wild and crazy" things she's been doing with them lately...
The crew of the current Endeavour mission completed what was almost a 5 hour spacewalk on Monday, detached from the space station today, and prepare for a Friday landing. Which begs me to ask... what are they eating up there?
Many of us have had "Astronaut Ice Cream," the freeze dried Neapolitan brick of what was once ice cream. That odd texture of something at room temperature still melting in you mouth always throws me. And then there's Tang of course.
Beyond that however, what those brave souls are subsisting of up there, traveling at 17,000 miles per hour, remains much of a mystery.
There are several concerns with eating on a space shuttle in zero gravity. Liquids can be dangerous. Who knows what would happen if a floating ball of orange-flavored liquid were to slip into the control panel. That and small objects. Just imagine what kind of havoc a fist full of Mike 'n Ikes would create with an onboard air filtration system.
Sometimes this just limits their choices. The serve up, for example, tortillas not bread. Bread crumbs could be dangerous, but tortillas tear nicely - and they make for great frisbies too. They have been on every mission since 1985. In other circumstances, nearly everything they eat is contained in either a plastic bladder, or what they call an "edible coating."
They can Velcro their dining trays to their legs and attach their utensils magnetically. Salt and pepper are delivered to their food in liquid form, airborne salt and pepper could be a nightmare. They rehydrate the food with the waste water from the fuel cells.
Apparently there are no rules against "playing with your food." Many have seen the video of the banana spiraling into the astronaut's mouth...
But what are they eating? Well, pretty much everything that can be freeze-dried, dehydrated, thermo-stabilized, served in a pouch, and eaten with a spoon. That's quite a bit. Common space meals include things like beef stroganoff, brownies, chicken stew, scrambled eggs, granola bars, macaroni and cheese, chocolate pudding.
On the space station, which is a U.S./Russian venture, they eat both American and Russian dishes. Fruit is a luxury, only being available in the space station for a few days after being visited by the shuttle or an unmanned cargo drone. Another luxury they don't ever get... beer or wine.
This is my favorite picture... If you look closely in the photo above you can clearly make out a bottle of the famous Thai hot sauce, Sriracha.
There seems to be issues with fish coming across as too fishy and one swordfish dish was so bad that a few astronauts refused to eat it. Apparently they don't eat the world famous "Space Ice Cream" either.
But what seems to be the most popular dish? Freeze-dried shrimp cocktail, served with horseradish-infused powdered sauce. (Gross)
AhhBeer Can Chicken, a staple food growing up and always a go-to grill option for my father. The logic is sound, prop up the bird so that the breast meat is not scorched by the direct heat of the grill and thus dried out. The beer gently steams the cavity adding a subtle nuance of malted barley and hops; the liquid also adding to the moisture of the meat. Brilliant.
But wait. Is there a plastic liner in my beer can? What's this about Bisphenol-A (BPA)? Is BPA going to kill me? What about the paint on the outside? Is it true that Aluminum is linked to Alzheimer's Disease? Oh my gosh, is my Beer Can Chicken going to kill me?
This debate sprung up recently and I decided to check the facts. Note: I'm not a doctor but I had a cameo as one in a school play. Let's begin:
Is there a plastic liner in my beer can? - Most likely. Beer and soda are reactive to metals and would taste horrible out of a can without a liner of sorts. There is a wonderful article on the History of the Beverage Can by the Museum of Beverage Containers and Advertising that states that lined cans hit the market in 1935 - and the industry, basically, never looked back.
This is an image of the plastic liner inside a beverage can that has had the aluminum exposed by dissolving it in acid (photo courtesy of Steve Spangler Science):
What is all this news about BPA? - BPA is a building block of many everyday plastics. Researchers have correlated exposure to BPA to heart disease, diabetes and possibly cancer. Consumer awareness about BPA hit an all time high last April when news detailed baby bottles that contain BPA and Nalgene quickly removed its water bottles from shelves.
Is BPA going to kill me? - Maybe. Not from drinking beer it appears [thank god] but a recent study by the Center for Disease Control fount BPA to be present in 93% of the population in the U.S. That's how everyday this stuff is.
In 1995, the Society of the Plastics Industry, ran a study to quantify the migration of BPA from can coatings. They determined that an average adult consumer would have to consume "about 500 pounds of canned food and beverages every day for an entire lifetime to exceed the safe level of BPA set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."
Before you sigh a breath of relief, there are some mitigating factors here... Do you trust that the EPA has correctly determined what safe exposures to BPA are? Do you trust the results of a BPA study conducted by the Society of the Plastic Industry? Why hasn't anyone studied the exposure generated by grilling a can of beer that's been stuffed in achicken's rear end?
What about the paint on the outside? - Hmm, I've got nothing for ya - except Little Jimmy used to eat paint chips and we all know how he turned out...
Is it true that Aluminum is linked to Alzheimer's Disease? - "They" don't think so. The link between Aluminum and Alzheimer's was first put forward in 1965 and aluminum has been shown to be present in both plaques and tangles in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. I know people who avoid antiperspirant because they contain aluminum-based compounds.
According to the Alzheimer's Society; however, "The overwhelming medical and scientific opinion is that the findings outlined above do not convincingly demonstrate a causal relationship between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease, and that no useful medical or public health recommendations can be made− at least at present (Massey and Taylor 1989)."
Oh my gosh, is my Beer Can Chicken going to kill me? - I am completely unqualified to answer this, but... I don't think so. For what it's worth, this is my logic: As long as beer is still inside the can, the temperature won't reach much more than 212 degrees F, the boiling point of water.
The boiling point of BPA is about 428 degrees F, so whatever BPA there might be inside the can liner, likely won't cook into the food. If it does, it will stay mostly inside the cavity of the bird and considering how unappetising chicken ribs are, no one is likely going to be eating them.
The paint on the outside follows the same rules as far as I'm concerned. Ensure there is enough liquid in the can and the paint probably won't bake off either.
As far as the aluminum goes, just think about how much plastic and paint there is on that can protecting you from that nasty aluminum...
There is a great debate on Beer Can Chicken going on in the Chowhound forums, here is my favorite comment so far:
I think to many people are a little to panicky about these simple heath issues. You never heard anyone say anything back in the day when we all as kids drank from the garden hose. How about putting marshmallows on a tree branch to roast them? Maybe an insect deficated [sic] on that branch, or maybe it was sprayed with mesquito [sic] spray, who knows? - Jimbosox04
Lastly, if you want to see how beverage cans are manufactured, thank How it's Made by the Discovery Channel for making this video.
I first heard of Almond Soup on Evan Kleinman's radio show/podcast Good Food. She and her guest talked about Ajo Blanco - a kind of gazpacho from southern Spain. I thought, "cool, I was wondering what I was going to do with all those raw almonds that I just I bought..."
I dug around a little bit online to find a recipe; searching "spanish almond soup" I found a theme, grasped some basic ratios, and set out on making it my soup, albiet not Ajo Blanco. Garlic, saffron, and bread or bread crumbs were present in all of them. Besides those, some had cumin, some had milk, some had vinegar, some even had cinnamon.
In full disclosure and truthiness, three of the recipes I found were completely identical: the one from costadelsol-vacationrentals.com, from ezinearticles.com, and also eatmoreherbs.com. They all started with, "Heat the oil and toast the almonds, garlic, bread and saffron. When golden brown set a few..." and completed the recipe verbatim. I wonder who got screwed.
In any case, this is what I came up with. The key is blending the Jiminy Cricket out of it and running it through a strainer. The yield is less but the result is not nearly as grainy. Almonds don't break down under heat like, say, peanuts or other legumes will.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup almonds
2 cloves garlic
1 pinch of saffron
1 cup fresh flat-leaved parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon of cumin
8 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
the juice of 1 lemon
Technique:
Heat the almonds and garlic over medium-high heat with the olive oil for about 3-4 minutes, just until the garlic develops a little color and the almonds become fragrant. In another pot, bring the 6 cups of stock to a simmer.
Add the saffron, cumin, and breadcrumbs to the almond mixture and begin to stir them well. This will bloom the flavor of the cumin and saffron and cook any raw flavor out of the breadcrumbs - about another minute.
Add 2 cups of the stock to the pan to deglaze, bring back to a simmer, then transfer the mixture to a blender. Add the chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Blend thoroughly, 2-3 minutes.
Pour the blended almond mixture through a strainer into the simmering stock. Add the lemon juice, check the seasoning and serve hot.
You can garnish with slivered almonds, and a pinch of the parsley.
Notes:
I used raw, unsalted almonds. I'm sure you can use roasted and/or salted you simply would not need to cook them as long, and adjust the salt accordingly. I would also not recommend an emersion blender, they wouldn't be able to break down whole almonds like a good 'ole stand blender can.
