August 28, 2017
Days Until. . .
Coolinary Summer Specials End: 4.
Annals Of Condiments
Today in 1837, pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins introduced the sauce that bears their name, and the generic name Worcestershire sauce. They concocted it from fermented anchovies, tamarinds, molasses, vinegar, garlic, chili peppers, cloves, and a few other things, on the orders of Lord Marcus Stanley. Stanley had just returned from many years in India, and he was trying to duplicate a sauce he's become addicted to there. (Most likely, it was something along the lines of Southeast Asian fish sauce, variations of which are widely used in cooking there.) The first attempt tasted horrible. Lea and Perrins left it in a barrel in their basement and forgot about it for two years. When they found it again, they discovered that it had fermented into something rather good. And the rest is history. We use it constantly in our cooking, as does most of the English-speaking world.
Food On The Air
Today is the anniversary of the first paid-for broadcast commercial. It aired on New York radio station WEAF for an apartment development, today in 1922. Until that time, everyone was excited about radio, but nobody had figured out what would pay for the costs of broadcasting. This dilemma was one of the first in which new technology steps in and shows the way. The same things is happening right now, as radio listeners explore HD Radio. My radio show on weekdays is now on HD, finding the next way to attract listeners. To that end, the radio station is giving away HD car radios, for free. Go to one of the several locations of Mobile One and tell them you want the WWL HD-2 radio. The radio and installation are free. There may be a small parts charge if your present car's wiring or antenna is incompatable.
Today's Flavor
It's National Cornbread Day. Cornbread has a distinctly country, home-cooked identity. When you start talkin' 'bout cornbraid, ya gotta git yersef into a Southern draaaawwwwwl. I guess that's why we only rarely see cornbread in restaurants. Or it could be that restaurants can't buy ready-made cornbread of any quality. It must be baked on site. But why not? It's simple enough: cornmeal, flour, baking powder and soda, eggs, milk, oil. Unless you want to get ambitious an add cheese and jalapeno peppers and the like. Which is not a bad idea.
Most cornbread is baked in a cast-iron pan, from the kind that has impressions of ears of corn to full-size black iron skillets. The main controversies over cornbread are over texture and sweetness. The more flour in the mix, the smoother the crumb. You use more cornmeal if you like it good and crumbly. All cornbread has at least a little sugar in it, but some recipes have quite a lot, and taste distinctly sweet. Both flavors have vocal partisans who love one and hate the other.
Cornbread may be too assertive to be served as the only bread on a dinner table, but certain dishes cry out for it. Red beans and rice, fried catfish, and barbecue come to mind. The best cornbread in New Orleans is the jalapeno cheese cornbread at K-Paul's, followed closely by Emeril's cornbread with whole corn kernels inside. Most of us have always had our cornbread at home, for breakfast. My mother gave it to us right out of the oven, with cane syrup to dip it in. Dat's good stuff, yeah.
Edible Dictionary
cacciatore, [kah-chyah-TOE-reh], Italian, adj.--Italian for "in the hunter's style." When attached to the name of another food (chicken cacciatore, to give the most familiar example), it means that food has been cooked and served with a tomato sauce with mushrooms and savory herbs, such as might be found in the woods. Although cacciatore dishes remain in full currency in Italy, we're seeing them less and less often in the United States. I can think of fewer than ten restaurants in New Orleans that have cacciatore dishes. They are, however, easy to make at home, and quite delicious, especially if the mushrooms are interesting. Because it's cooked down a long time, chicken cacciatore can be made with the more flavorful but tougher hens or roosters, rather than fryers.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Onion Hill would strike anyone who doesn't live in coastal Louisiana as a complete misnomer. It's on the edge of Mud Lake, with the Intracoastal Waterway running just north, with Bayou Misere just east. Everything else is marsh. But Onion Hill pokes up with a few feet of dry land, and that makes it stand out in its surroundings. A few more similar rises are in the area; all of them are the tops of salt domes, buried far underground. The nearest place to get something to eat (likely some fish or crawfish from the wetlands) is Aucoin's Cajun Restaurant, twelve miles north by pirogue in Hayes.
Food In Medicine
Today in 1878, George H. Whipple was born. He's the man who discovered that pernicious anemia, a problem you don't hear about much anymore, can be addressed by feeding the patient liver. Or the essence of liver, which is how it's done now. I'd much prefer to eat the liver, especially if it's the Provimi veal liver at Clancy's or Pascal's Manale. . . Also, the Oral B trademark for dental floss was registered today in 1951. Now it's on everyone's lips.
The Saints
This is the feast day of St. Augustine, former man about town, gourmet, lover of wine, and all-around playboy who reformed and became one of the greatest early philosophers of the Church. As Bishop of Hippo, in Northern Africa, he he came to be revered by those of African descent. I was baptized in St. Augustine's Church in the Treme section of New Orleans, and spent first and second grades in St. Augustine's grammar school. This is probably not mere coincidence: St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest permanent European town in the United States, was founded today in 1565.
Food Namesakes
Anne "Honey" Lantree, the drummer with the British rock group The Honeycombs, was born today in 1943. . . Former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Rosemary Ginn was born today in 1912.
Words To Eat By
"If you ever have to support a flagging conversation, introduce the topic of eating."--Leigh Hunt, British writer, who died today in 1859.
Words To Drink By
"A guy once told me I didn’t need to drink to make myself more fun to be around. I told him, I’m drinking so that you’re more fun to be around."--Chelsea Handler.
