March 2008 Archives

George Leonard Herter, a sporting goods magnate who lived in Minnesota, is responsible for the most outrageous and wildly entertaining series of cooking books ever published. I know that this is a mighty tall claim, but “Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices” (volumes 1 through 3) will make your jaw drop and your eyes bug, and  will provide endless amusement and occasional enlightenment.  It was fortunate that Herter was wealthy and was willing to finance the self-publishing of these volumes, as no publishing company would ever have touched them, and without Mr. Herter’s initiative, we wouldn’t know How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich. (“Most modern cooks have no idea how to prepare one.” Okay, I’ll tell you: butter then toast the bread.)

The opening paragraphs give an accurate flavor of what is to follow:

From reading the headling to an entry on Michael Bauer's blog this morning "Food that reaches for the stars," I thought Bauer was going to ridicule restaurant dishes presented as architectural towers. But the actual complaint was something else. A reader had written complaining about the need to "deconstruct" his food. ".... the house special, meatloaf, that was supposed to be comfort food; instead it discomforted me. Again, mashed potatoes as the foundation, with a thick slice of meat loaf next, with vegetables on top of the meatloaf, all topped by a lava flow of gravy. In deconstructing this dish, the result on the plate looked even worse than the pureed beet escapade -- sloppy and unappealing."

This complaint is certainly something very new and surprising. It is a child of the obsessions of post-modern cuisine. It wasn't so long ago that putting multiple ingredients together was a way to make something delicious: beef stew comes to mind. Then chefs started 'deconstructing' the food. A few years ago, I had a particularly interesting Bloody Mary constructed/deconstructed by Ludovic Lefebvre consisting of frozen vodka crystals, tomato sorbet and celery foam. This trend along with the recent super infatuation with farm-branded terroir-driven ingredients as pure as the driven snow has led to the complaint above where someone is upset when meatloaf is served atop mashed potatoes. Ridiculous, I say. Where's my Hungarian Goulash?

On February 7, 1984, Bruce McCandless while on the STS-41-B Space Shuttle Challenger mission, tested the MMU (Manned Maneuvering Unit). At one point he was 320 feet from the Challenger, the farthest from a spacecraft in free space that any man has ever been. A famous photograph was taken that day, which NASA suggests may be one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken of a human being. I'm not going to disagree. See the continuation for the photograph.

The finale to Mahler's incomparable Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"

(Click on through for the lyrics)...

Mark Bittman is evidently about to publish a new cookbook list, as he is soliciting suggestions on his blog. This got me thinking about my favorites. A cookbook list should be neither intimidated by tradition nor a slave to innovation; it should cover both ends of the spectrum. So here is my list of old favorites and new wonderbooks....

WD-50 in New York City is the showcase for the cooking of Wylie Dufresne. Chef Dufrense is the Milton Babbitt (contemporary composer who wrote a famous article: "Who Cares if you Listen?") of the contemporary food scene. The food at WD-50 worships creativity and uniqueness to the exclusion of taste. Some dishes are inspired, some are edible, and some are bad jokes. If there ever was a place where one can see the relationship between the creative impulse and arrogance, this is the place. Recommended only for food journalists doing research.

Note: My meal here was two years ago. Although Frank Bruni in a recent New York Times review agreed somewhat with my opinion, saying that "many visitors to the restaurant understandably feel that what they've experienced isn't so much a meal as a prank," he now says that the food at WD-50 has moved towards emphasizing providing dining pleasure above simply showing off: The Shape of Eggs Benedict to Come. If true, this is certainly a welcome development.

Most folks know O Fortuna! from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana from the soundtrack to Excalibur. Or maybe they know that Hitler was supposed to be fond of the piece. However you've come across it, and I'm betting that you certainly have, it is a bit tough to get all of the nuances because it is sung in Latin and most of us have pretty rusty Latin skills.

Don't despair! Some kind soul has posted an absolutely stupendous ENGLISH version of Carmina Burana. (Hit reload when you reach the page to ensure proper synchronization of the music and images. From The Rest is Noise)

P.S. The post title will make more sense after you have clicked through.

Eventually I suspect we'll all be connected to the matrix with some sort of brain-WiFi interface, but for now, we've got to use cellphones. The amount of information available on a cellphone is fast approaching infinity.

A particularly interesting IM (instant message) source for people who like to eat fish, but who wish to do so without depleting what stocks we have left is Fishphone. They have a neat service that will tell you about the sustainability of most any species. This can come in handy when you are standing in front of the fish counter and trying to buy dinner and save the world at the same time. Just send an IM to 30644 with "fish" followed the name of the fish you are wondering about. Wait a few seconds, and back will come the answer. I sent "fish ono" and the Reply was: "(GREEN) few environmental concerns: wahoo are not targeted directly but are caught as a bycatch in other fisheries; HEALTH ADVISORY: high mercury content."

If the cupboard is bare, and you are too famished to drag yourself to the store, there's another new website that will be helpful. GrubHub will help you "Discover who delivers." If you live in Boston, Chicago, or San Francisco, you can use GrubHub.com to find every restaurant that delivers to your abode. Just enter your address and choose from the list. You can sort by distance or cuisine. I was gratified to find that I can get sushi, dim sum and greek food delivered.

By the way, have you ever noticed how few seafood restaurants deliver?

When I had the time (and space) for woodworking, I was quite fond of the witty and anonymous observation that "every new project is an excuse to buy a new tool." Now that I'm a city dweller, the wood shop has been scattered to the four winds and I have to feed my tool fetish with kitchen gadgets.

Sometimes I can still resort to the old formula, as when I bought a truffle, and simply had to have a truffle shaver regardless of the fact that it was likely to be a one use item. (Though I have loaned it out... good circle of friends, eh?) But some times, I find a gadget that is simply a great idea and which I might use constantly. Such is the case with the fine mesh skimmer pictured at the right.

If you are making a stock, you will have been told that "a hallmark of good stocks and broths is clarity; never boil and always skim." The normal tool for this is a small ladle. There are even specialized ladles with curved lips that is supposed to make this process easier. Forget it. The ultimate tool for this job is an ultra-fine mesh skimmer.

This thing makes it super easy to skim the gunk off of simmering stock. It so fine-meshed that I suspect there are examples of grease and oil that wouldn't flow through. I found this one in Chinatown for $2, but if you don't have a Chinese 5-and-10 nearby, you can get a much fancier Calphalon version from Amazon.com. You may not think you need one of these, but you are wrong.

Have you ever wondered what the carbon footprint of an exercising shrimp is? Maybe these researchers have, or maybe they are studying if exercise can prolong the life of a crustacean. As for me, I don't know if exercise will really make a shrimp live longer, but more to the point, I'll bet exercise makes the flesh tougher!

The New York Times recently (December, 2007) published an article which starts off with this sentence: "ANDREA GEYER, a German-born artist, would later describe her first encounter with the famous statue as a moment of intimacy between two living beings" and containing the following quote:

"What becomes of the artists' models?" she asked in a column published in 1921. "I am wondering if many of my readers have not stood before a masterpiece of lovely sculpture or a remarkable painting of a young girl, her very abandonment of draperies accentuating rather than diminishing her modesty and purity, and asked themselves the question, 'Where is she now, this model who was so beautiful?'"

This was written by the beautiful and not entirely forgotten Audrey Munson, model for the awesome and alluring Star Maiden. It is nice to see the New York Times reporting on her career and ultimate strange fate. Read the article here: The Girl Beneath the Gilding.

The Lady Washington and The Hawaiian Chieftain are replica square rigged ships operated by the non-profit Grays Harbor Historical Seaport in Aberdeen, Washington.

The Chieftain is a 103-foot topsail ketch similar to Spanish ships of the 18th Century, and the Lady Washington at 112-feet is a full scale replica of a ship built in the British colony of Massachusetts in the 1750s. The two ships operate off the west coast of the U.S. stopping at ports, giving ship tours and taking enthusiasts and school children on day sails.

I think that sailboats are pretty cool, and if they are square-rigged that is a big plus. So when I was "accosted" while walking home from the Farmers Market by a young man dressed in 18th Century seafaring garb who was talking about free tall ship tours, I detoured out to the Pier 40 dock and had a look at the two ships. I was smitten and spent close to 45 minutes poking around and talking with the crew.

One of the most popular activities is a "Battle Sail." Each ship is "armed" with small cannon which are charged with blank powder charges. When the two ships go out for a day sail they have a mock battle and try to "sink" one-another by firing their cannon. It's loud and full of impressive white smoke, but there aren't any chains or canon balls involved and everyone comes home to "fight" again. This is what happens most places. However, it seems it is illegal to fire a blank cannon in San Francisco, so the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain must sail across the bay to Oakland to have their "Battle."

I burst out laughing when I heard this. It is so like San Francisco, a city ruled by the insane, trying to forget its maritime history and debt to the U.S. Navy. Although I hadn't heard this bit of news before, I wasn't at all surprised. I wonder if sailing regattas can use a starting gun?