National Croissant Day

Today in 1649 England renounced the monarchy by beheading King Charles I. (And after he brought ice cream to Britain for the first time!) Parliament took over the government, which became a dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell. Nine years later, the monarchy was restored, and England has had royalty ever since. They seem to like the idea. It must be nice to be king. The food and wine would be pretty good, I imagine. You'd have many servants, who would cook and serve your food and (more important) clean up the kitchen for you. Today is the feast day of St. Adelelmus, the patron saint of domestic servants, butlers, and maids.

Today is National Croissant Day. Good croissants are difficult to make at home and just as hard to find in stores. Both of the little bakeries where I was getting excellent ones have perished. The exterior of a great croissant has a crust that flakes off in big curved pieces, covering a yeasty, buttery, tenderly fibrous interior. The ultimate croissant is just a little warm from having come out of the oven a half-hour ago.Plain croissants are by far the most popular. Croissants filled with almonds and almond paste or chocolate also sell well. Some are baked with ham and cheese inside, or have sandwiches made with them. None of these strike me as improvements--although the almond version come close.Lore surrounding the invention of the croissant doesn't appear to be true. The story is set in different places--notably Vienna and Tours--but it's always the same story: that the people of the city celebrated the defeat of the Muslim invaders by baking a pastry in shape of a crescent. If that were true, why did we not make cakes with hammers and sickles on them when the U.S.S.R fell?Nobody's really sure how long the croissant has been made. It seems to be a recent creation, inspired by the bakers of Austria. But even that isn't certain. We can talk about it over a croissant and coffee. The best croissants in New Orleans come from La Boulangerie, Maurice's French Pastries, Hi-Do Bakery, Levee Baking Co., and Tournesol in Covington.

Buttering a good croissant is like spreading rendered ham fat on a slice of bacon.

pork belly, n.--It's exactly what it sounds like: the firm underside of the pig, well larded with fat streaked with lean meat. This is part of the animal from which bacon comes. However, it's not always cured and smoked as bacon is. Sometimes the meat is used to season soups, stews, and braised dishes like coq au vin. In recent years, pork belly has been very much in vogue as a braised meat on its own, fat and all. It takes a little getting used to, and even then it's not for everybody. The French name for cubes of pork belly used this way is lardons.

Always keep lard in the back of your mind when baking or frying. It's not good for you to eat often, but it sure is good once in awhile.

Today in 1946, on what would have been his sixty-fourth birthday, the dime bearing the image of Franklin D. Roosevelt was released. It recognized his involvement in the March of Dimes, as well as the tremendous reverence in which he was held at that time. Dimes have never been used as much in New Orleans as elsewhere in America. This was blamed on the nickel pay phone, which persisted for decades after the phones in other states were a dime. Even in this day, with pay phones nearly extinct, we Orleanians notice a large buildup of dimes in our pockets when we travel.The last significant restaurant dish that could be bought with a dime here was the Krystal hamburger, still ten cents in the late 1960s. However, the all-time best bargain for a dime was the martini they used to serve with lunch at the now-gone Bacco.

Turnover Creek is about halfway between Forth Worth and Austin, Texas. Most of its eight miles are within the Fort Hood military reservation. The creek flows into the Leon River, an upper tributary of the Brazos River. The land through which it runs is pockmarked with gravel pits and gas wells. Not what you'd call pretty. The Taqueria Los Agaves is the nearest restaurant where turnovers (in the form of empanadas) might be found.

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, raccoons mate today. About twenty years ago I ate my first (and probably last) raccoon stew. It wasn't bad, actually--better than possum, much better than nutria, not quite as good as armadillo. The raccoon backstrap was rather dark but tender enough. I think some black peppercorns and marjoram would have helped.

The world's first pure-food law, and perhaps the first law ever to protect the rights of consumers, was the Reinheitsgebot. It was decreed by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria on this date in 1516. Among other things, it required that beer be made of only three ingredients: malted barley, hops, and water. (Later, yeast--which naturally occurs on grain--was also allowed.) Many microbrewers, including the Crescent City Brewhouse here, still follow that law.

Former Congressman from New York, Floyd Flake was born today (appropriately, this being Croissant Day) in 1945. . . F. Vernon Boozer, a Maryland politician, first toasted life today in 1936.

"I always wanted to write a book that ended with the word 'mayonnaise.'"--Richard Brautigan, author of the novel Trout Fishing In America, born today in 1935."You may feel that you have eaten too much. But this pastry is like feathers. It is like snow. It is in fact good for you, a digestive!"--M. F. K. Fisher, speaking of a puff pastry.

"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."--Ernest Hemingway.