August 17, 2017
Days Until. . .
Coolinary Summer Specials End: 15.
Today's Flavor
[caption id="attachment_39573" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Caramel custard as served at the Maple Street Cafe.[/caption]Today is Caramel Custard Day. Those of us who are aficionados of the Custard Dessert Group know that during the past fifteen years or so creme brulee has pushed caramel custard completely off most menus. That's a long fall for the second most common dessert in New Orleans restaurants after bread pudding. A few restaurants preserve creme caramel or cup custard (two other names for the same thing) from extinction. Fortunately, those are the older places like Galatoire's, whose definitive version is in no danger of ever disappearing.
Here are the differences between caramel custard and creme brulee. The former is made with milk, the latter with cream. The added milkfat in the cream prevents creme brulee from setting up; it should flow, even when chilled. Caramel custard, on the other hand, sets up so well that the standard service is to just invert the cup it was baked in and let the evicted custard stand on its own. (With a bit of a sag, of course.) The other difference is that the caramel aspect of custard is done by adding melted, browned sugar to the cup before the custard goes in. A creme brulee is topped with sugar, which is then broiled until it melts and browns. I love them both, but today I will got Mandina's and get caramel custard.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Fennell Hill Landing is an Indian mound overlooking the Savannah River on the South Carolina side. (Georgia is across the river.) The place has been a river crossing since 1765, although that feat is accomplished now about a mile upstream. The Fennel family (one "l," the way the anise-flavored vegetable is spelled) set up the spot as a boat landing in the early 1800s. You can only get there by a dirt road. It's pretty much the middle of nowhere. It's a dozen miles to Allendale and the nearest restaurant. Which, predictably, is Bubba's Rib Shack and Seafood.
Deft Dining Rule #124
If a restaurant has caramel custard instead of creme brulee, and it's well made, the place is more interested in flavor than in style.
Edible Dictionary
monkfish, n.--A very strange-looking saltwater fish that lives on ocean and sea bottoms. One of its several other names--anglerfish--is a reference to the way it attracts prey. A long appendage on its head looks like a worm or some other kind of food. When a would-be predator goes for this "worm," the monkfish zooms up and swallows it. To that end, it had a very large mouth, almost human in its conformation. It seems that the fish is more mouth than anything. Monkfish is known to fish merchants as lobster fish, because its very white flesh has the same texture as that of lobster. It can grow pretty large; the record is over 200 pounds. Monkfish liver is made into a pate by Japanese chefs, who call it Japanese foie gras. Monkfish is a prize catch in terms of eating.
Weather Report
Hurricane Camille--possibly the most intense hurricane ever to enter the United States--made landfall on the Mississippi Gulf Coast today in 1969. With winds as high as Category Five, Camille destroyed everything in its path, even ripping highways out of the ground in many places. Its winds are believed to have exceeded 200 miles per hour, although nobody's sure, since all the measuring instruments were also destroyed. It did less damage overall than Hurricane Katrina, however, because its wind field was compact compared with the monstrous size of Katrina. By coincidence, the most famous movie with a terrible storm in its plot premiered thirty years to the day before Camille. The tornado in The Wizard of Oz turned Dorothy's world upside down. That no longer seems so far-fetched to us here in New Orleans.
Annals Of Dishwashing
Hazel Bishop, a chemist, invented a lipstick that would remain on the lips far longer than previous formulations. It was advertised as being "kissable," because it wouldn't leave a mark on the kissee's lips or cheek or whatever. Hazel Bishop's name became a major cosmetics brand. A side effect to her invention: no dishwashing machine yet produced can get lipstick off a wine glass.
Locals In The Movies
Actor and latter-day Orleanian Sean Penn was born today in 1960. During the hurricane aftermath, he was involved in a number of rescues of stranded people, who must have thought they were dreaming when Sean Penn showed up to save them.
Food Namesakes
Vince Marrow, a professional arena football player, was born today in 1968. . . Dottie Mochrie Pepper, a professional golfer teed off her life today in 1965.
Words Not To Eat By
"Custard: A detestable substance produced by a malevolent conspiracy of the hen, the cow and the cook."--Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary. I guess he was a chocolate lover.
Words To Eat By
Today is the birthday of Mae West (1892), who was far ahead of her time in her attitudes about just about everything. She uttered quotably on a few matters that concern us here: "I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond." "Too much of a good thing is wonderful." "Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."
