June 25, 2015
Days Until. . .
Fourth Of July 9
Food Calendar
Today in 1987, President Ronald Reagan declared June 25 National Farm-Raised Catfish Day. Farm-raised catfish has the advantage of being available all the time at a consistent price. Restaurants love that, because wild-caught fish are so unpredictable. It's pretty good, but the trend in recent years has been to allow the catfish to grow bigger and bigger, which for catfish is not an improvement. Also, some fish farms have environmental issues. Wild-caught fish from good sources is better. But rolled in corn meal, fried till golden, splashed with hot sauce. . . it's a treat. Makes a good poor boy sandwich, too.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Egg Mountain is in the Anzo-Borrega Desert State Park in southernmost California, about twenty miles from the Mexican border. It's a 102-mile drive from San Diego. Egg Mountain is well named. From Bow Willow Creek, a dry wash just west, it does look like an egg half-buried in the sun-bleached desert. At 902 feet, the egg rises about 300 feet above the wash. If you have water and a trail map, hike thirteen miles through a canyon along the south end of the Sierra Blanca Mountains to Laguna, for lunch at the Blue Jay Lodge.
Edible Dictionary
airline chicken breast, n.--Half a chicken breast with the upper section of the wing still attached. I say half, because strictly speaking there is only one breast on a chicken. (Even more strict is to note that chickens don't have breasts at all, but never mind.) The whole breast is usually split down the middle to give two identical pieces, each a mirror image of the other. If it's an airline chicken breast, the drummette part of the wing is still there, making a substantial portion and a good look for serving. Airline breasts are expensive enough that they are most often found in white-tablecloth restaurants. The "airline" reference is strictly an industry note. It may have been used aboard planes at one time, but that use is almost non-existent now. Nobody is quite sure how the name got started. A whole breast with both drummettes might look a little like an airplane, but that's hardly even a theory.
Annals Of Food Writing
Food adventurer Anthony Bourdain was born today in 1956. He grew up in a bourgeois New York family and was well educated. But he went his own way, working years as a chef. With that experience and a gift for colorful expression, he began writing. His breakthrough book was Kitchen Confidential, published in 2000. In it he showed a side of the cooking profession few people (other than those engaged in it) realized. He went on to write other books about the restaurant biz, along with a few crime mysteries. He became a big star when his No Reservations television show on The Travel Channel became a phenomenon. Bourdain became famous for his willingness to try almost anything in both the culinary and other sides of the worlds he visited. He's genuinely entertaining, seeing facets of the world most people miss and commenting with offbeat humor about all of it.
World Food Records
The world's largest lollipop was certified on June 25, 2002. it weighed 4,031 pounds (with stick), measured 18.9 inches thick and was more than 15 feet tall with stick (about as tall as a giraffe). Can you guess the flavor of the world's largest lollipop? That's right.
Deft Dining Rule #110:
A restaurant offering "lamb lollipops" is best advised to limit them to the small plates section of the menu. And they had better include a thick, very good sauce.
Unusual Foods
The discovery of a previously unknown mammal called the saola was announced today in 1994. Also known as the Vu Quang ox, it lives along the border between Vietnam and Laos. An ungulate that somewhat resembles cattle, it was classified in its own genus. It weighs about 200 pounds and has sharp horns. There are only a few hundred of them in existence, living in steep mountains covered with jungle. However, the natives have killed and eaten them, and say it tastes a lot like bo.
Food Namesakes
Football player Bob Griese retired from the game today in 1980. . . Pro basketballer Dell Curry (he used to play for the Hornets) tipped off today in 1964. . . Harold Roe Bartle, former mayor of Kansas City, was born today in 1901.
Words To Eat By
"Fettuccine Alfredo is macaroni and cheese for adults."--Mitch Hedberg, American comedian.
Words To Drink By
"To your good health, old friend,
May you live for a thousand years,
And I be there to count them.
--Robert Smith Surtees, British writer of the middle 1800s.
