July 27, 2017
Days Until. . .
Satchmo Summer Fest 10
Coolinary Summer Specials Begin 5 days from today
Drinking Calendar
This is National Scotch Whisky Day. Make mine Dalwhinnie, in a snifter, straight, with a glass of water on the side. Scotch whisky (that's the right spelling) is made from malted barley (grains that have just begun to sprout) dried over a peat fire. That's fermented with water to make into what is more or less a primitive beer, which is then distilled. Scotland has over a hundred distilleries, each introducing its own complexities of flavor, much of which is regional. The major regions are Highland, Lowland, Speyside, and Islay. A few subcategories add to the fun. The most popular are Highland malts (a "single malt" denotes the product of one batch in one distillery). The most unusual are the Islay malts, which are dried with seaweed peat, and from that pick up a distinct aroma and flavor of iodine. (Not for everybody.)
Most Scotch, however, is blended. One or more of the single malts is mixed with what amounts to vodka. That's what you find under the major labels like Chivas Regal and Teacher's. But serious Scotch drinkers prefer the single malts. The success of those in the past two decades has fired the whole market for brown spirits.
Edible Dictionary
orangemouth corvina, n.--A medium-sized fish found in tropical waters of the Western Pacific Ocean. It's a member of the weakfish family, and is similar to speckled trout, redfish, and black drum found in the Gulf of Mexico. It is fished commercially, and occasionally finds it way into the New Orleans market. It looks so much like redfish that even restaurant fish buyers have been fooled. Its only drawback is that it comes from such warm waters that it has an abbreviated shelf life.
Culinary Equation
Rob Roy = Manhattan - Bourbon - Cherry + Blended Scotch + Lemon twist
Deft Dining Rule #190
Asking for a Perfect Rob Roy and getting it, without the bartender having to look up the recipe, is the first sign that you're in a good bar. It is not just a well-made Rob Roy, but a specific formula.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Scotchtown is seventy-two miles north northwest of Manhattan, in New York State. It's home to 9212 people. It's part of the Town of Walkill, which almost was the place where the Woodstock Music Festival of 1967 was held until the town said no. Most people who live in Scotchtown do so in a suburban-style tract of streets curving like orbits around a central park. The historic center of town is on the old Goshen Turnpike, which goes back to Revolutionary times. Ironically, I could not find a bar in Scotchtown, so you'll have to go down to Middletown and pick up a bottle at Circleville Wine & Liquor.
Annals Of Bad Taste
On this date in 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh arrived in England from Virginia, carrying the first samples of tobacco. Shortly thereafter, non-smoking sections would have been marked off in restaurants, if there had been any restaurants at that time. Bob Newhart did a howlingly funny routine once about Raleigh's explanation to potential new customers of what one did with tobacco. Coincidentally, on this date in 1965, President Johnson signed the bill requiring warning labels on packs of cigarettes. Smoking continues its deserved decline, accelerated by the statewide ban on smoking in restaurants.
Annals Of Famine
Today in 1931, in Iowa and Nebraska, a swarm of grasshoppers descended on the cornfields. In some of them, the cornstalks were eaten all the to the ground. This would only get worse in the Dust Bowl years, when grasshoppers not only ate all the crops, but all the grass that the cattle grazed on, and even the wooden handles of farm tools. And you think you have it bad?
Great Saloon Writers
Today is the birthday, in 1908, of Joseph Mitchell, a long-time writer for The New Yorker. He wrote extensively about what could best be called the hanging-out scene in New York in the 1930s. Two of his best pieces were about McSorley's Old Ale House (which is still in business and unchanged) and the traditional New York steak banquet, which was a gorge indeed. The best selection of Mitchell's work is in a book entitled Up In The Old Hotel. One of its many stories tells of the old New York steakhouse, which evolved into the deluxe steakhouses of today.
Food Namesakes
Today is the birthday in 1880, of actor Donald Crisp. . . Santo and Johnny Farina released what would become a rare instrumental Number One hit today in 1959. It was called Sleepwalk. You might not remember it by that name, but if you heard it you'd recognize it. . . Marlow Cook, former U.S. Senator from Kentucky, was born today in 1926. . . Bugs Bunny was born today in 1940, with the release of "A Wild Hare," the first cartoon to feature the funny bunny. A close relative of Bugs is the mascot on the sign of Da Wabbit, the colorful restaurant in Gretna.
Words To Eat By
"If you are what you eat, then one of the sharks in Jaws is a beer can, half a mackerel and a Louisiana license plate. The other characters in the film are nowhere nearly so fully packed."--Vincent Canby, longtime movie critic for the New York Times, born today in 1924.
Words To Drink By
"Long ago, it was said that if you drink the right amount of Scotch each day, you will find the secret of Eternal Youth. People have been in pursuit ever since."--Ian Henderson, South African singer and songwriter.
