It's National Sugar Cookie Day

Coolinary 23

Satchmo Fest 25

It’s National Sugar Cookie Day. The definition of a sugar is as wide as the lore regarding its creation. Many theorize that the idea of the sugar cookie originated in Persia in the 7th century, thanks to an enterprising baker who thought to sell the mini-cakes he used to temperature test his oven. While this may well be true, the sugar cookie as we know it today originated in the 1700’s in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Protestant settlers wanted an easy butter cookie made from simple ingredients. The easily shapeable cookie was a hit, and became the wildly popular and versatile treat we know today. The Nazareth Sugar Cookie was declared Pennsylvania’s state cookie in 2001. It would be an impressive feat to have never eaten or made a sugar cookie, and yet, no two versions are just alike. Most of the cheaply made store-bought versions you’ll find are soft and pillowy, but I prefer a crisper sugar cookie. If you plan on using cookie cutters, try using only egg yolk instead of a full egg - the removal of the moisture added by the egg white allows for less spread and distortion of your shapes while baking.It's also Omelette Day. The quest for the perfect omelette obsesses--and frustrates--many avid eaters. The idea of an omelette is appealing: a couple of eggs fluffing up as they cook, forming a matrix that can enclose almost any other food. Even sweet things can be incorporated into an omelette.Omelettes are the only egg dish we frequently eat outside the confines of breakfast. In that, we join the other cultures of the world; only in the United States and the United Kingdom are eggs thought of as exclusively a breakfast food. It's rare for omelettes to be offered at dinner, although that might be the best time to eat them.Cooking omelettes well requires a skillful hand. Tiny differences in the way omelettes are cooked result in major differences in flavor and texture. The best omelettes come from French chefs, or cooks taught by them. They have the right set of goals. Here's what I'm looking for in an omelette:

1. Moist throughout, but runny nowhere.
2. Unbrowned anywhere.
3. A distinctly buttery taste.
4. Fluffy, but still substantial.
5. The ingredients merge nicely into the matrix.

To accomplish that, here's what's needed:

1. Start with a large number of eggs, all whisked together. (This is an advantage restaurants have over home cooks in the omelette department.)
2. Eggs at room temperature at the time of cooking.
3. About a tablespoon of hot clarified butter.
4. High heat, resulting in a cooking time was measurable in seconds.
5. Eggs are never touched once they're in the pan. The eggs are moved around by deft wrist action with the pan, including the folding-over process. I would classify that last skill as comparable to that of a musician. It requires some practice. The specific motion is a quick jerk that makes the layer of egg closest to the bottom move away from the handle side of the pan. Then the still-liquid egg layer above it flows down to the exposed pan surface. After about ten jerks, coming at the rate of about one per second, all the egg has set, yet none of it has been in contact with the pan long enough to scorch.The New Orleans restaurant best known for its omelettes--the Camellia Grill--took a completely different tack. They whip the eggs into a light froth in a blender and pour it onto the grill. The result is very light and fluffy but dry, browned, and everything else I don't want. Once you have the egg part of the omelette down, you’re home free. The range of possibilities for the fillings is nearly infinite. My own favorite: fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, and fresh basil.

The best omelettes are made by cooks who make dozens of them every day.

Fish Bay is a harbor on the western shore of Lake Granby, the second largest body of water in Colorado. The lake is man-made, backing up water behind a dam on the Colorado not far from its source. The lake (and Fish Bay) are at the 8400-foot level in Rocky Mountain National Park, where nearby mountains rise another 3000 feet higher within a few miles. Very dramatic scenery. Fish Bay is well named: they keep it stocked with fish, and it's full of boats on every nice summer day. The closest place to eat is Betty's Cafe and Bakery, a mile and a half north of the dock on Fish Bay.

strata, n.--Strata--the Latin word for "layers"--are (is?) an egg dish that's somewhere between an omelette and a quiche. It's baked in a casserole dish in layers made with bread, beaten eggs, cheese, and meats or vegetables. As with omelettes, almost any meats or vegetables can be used. Many strata, no doubt, were baked in an effort to use up leftovers. When finished, the strata can be cut into squares and served either cold or hot. Strata can be made sweet (coming out sort of like a bread pudding), but they're most commonly made savory as an alternative for breakfast. They're most popular in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

Today is the birthday (in 1894) of Percy Spencer, the inventor of the microwave oven. He worked for the Raytheon Company, the major manufacturer of radar devices. After running some tests on a radar transmitter called a magnetron, he found that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted, to a point far beyond what could be explained by body heat. He began working on using a magnetron to cook food, and that led to the device we all have in our homes now.

Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, died today in 1850 of what was probably a food-borne illness. He ate cherries (some reports say it was strawberries, or even strawberry ice cream) with milk at a Fourth of July bash, and developed severe gastrointestinal problems. For a long time after, many people wouldn't eat cherries. But it was probably the milk, or the water he drank to ease his stomach aches, that carried the pathogen.

Today in 1999, American Pie (which isn't actually about pie at all) and The Dinner Game (which is about a dinner) opened on movie screens across the country. The plot of the latter was interesting: a group of obnoxious yuppies has a weekly dinner in which each guest brings as his guest a person who will compete (unbeknown to them) for the title of biggest idiot of the night.

O.J. Simpson was juiced out today in 1947. . . British pop singer Marc Almond came out of the shell today in 1957. . . Science fiction writer Glen Cook had his first page written today in 1944. . . Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell, made his screen debut today in 2004 as the movie Anchorman opened across America. . . Charles Teagarden, jazz trumpeter and leader of his own orchestra, was born today in 1913. His brother Jack was an even more famous jazzman.

"Be content to remember that those who can make omelettes properly can do nothing else."--Hillaire Belloc.

“Get up and dance, get up and smile, get up and drink to the days that are gone in the shortest while.”--Simon Fowler, British singer and songwriter.