October 20, 2017
Days Until. . .
Halloween: 12 Thanksgiving (Nov. 23): 35
Today's Flavor
Today is Last Chance For Rumtopf Day. Rumtopf (also spelled rhumtopf) is a traditional German holiday dessert of fresh fruit marinated in rum. In its most traditional form, it takes all year to make. But if you start today it will still be very good by Christmas, if not with the variety you could have had. Here's how. In a large (gallon) glass jar or ceramic crock, load about two inches deep of washed, fresh seasonal fruit. The fruit you use should be a little underripe. Almost anything works, from berries to bananas. Mix two cups of simple sugar syrup with a cup of light rum, and pour it over the fruit until it's covered. Keep buying and adding layers of fruit, trying for a contrast in colors and shapes. Always top it off with the syrup-rum mixture. Keep doing this until the jar is full. You don't need to do it all in one day. It will keep without refrigeration, as long as the rum soaks everything. When Christmas rolls around, you scoop out the fruit and serve it over ice cream. Delicious!
Gourmet Gazetteer
Sassafras, KY 41759 is an unincorporated town of 675 people in the eastern bootheel of Kentucky, about ten miles from the Virginia state line. Its in the hilly, wooded countryside on the western slope of the Appalachian Mountains, in a flat spot created by the Yellow Creek as it approaches Carr Fork, a tributary of the Kentucky River. The flow from there goes to the Ohio, then the Mississippi, and winds up in downtown New Orleans. A substantial main line of the CSX Railroad passes through Sassafras. The nearest restaurant is a quarter-mile away: D&G Barbeque, serving that distinctive Kentucky style barbecue.
Edible Dictionary
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Cannelloni with two sauces.[/caption]cannelloni, Italian, n., pl.--Sheets of pasta rolled into tubes around a rich stuffing. Although the usage differs from place to place, around New Orleans cannelloni are usually stuffed with a mixture of ground beef or veal with parmesan cheese, herbs or spinach (optional), and a little tomato sauce. The stuffed tubes are then flooded with either white or red sauce (some restaurants use both) and run under the broiler until bubbly. The word means "big candles," which is sort of what they look like after being rolled. Cannelloni can also be made with a filling of cheese, with or without spinach. Locally, that variation is usually called manicotti (meaning muff--literally "hand-cooker.") For many, cannelloni and manicotti were their first steps beyond spaghetti and meatballs as they explored the big world of pasta.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez
The wide rubber bands around bunches of broccoli should be saved, until common sense tells you to stop. Wrap one around the lid of a hard-to-open jar. It will give your hand more traction.
Music To Peel Fruit By
Today in 1955, The Banana Boat Song was recorded by Harry Belafonte. It's better known by its most famous words: Day-O! Day-ay-ay-o. Daylight come and me wan' go home! A beautiful bunch of ripe bananas. . . etc.
Food Through History
Today in 1940, with the Nazis running rampant around Europe, the Netherlands began rationing cheese. That was for the Dutch something like crawfish being rationed to the Cajuns.
Sports Figures In Food
This is the birthday, in 1931, of Yankee baseball great Mickey Mantle. He was a partner in a sports bar and restaurant named for him on Central Park in New York City. There's also a Mickey Mantle Steakhouse in Oklahoma, where he was born.
Food Namesakes
Robert Trout, one of the earliest broadcast journalists, went to work for CBS today in 1932. . . Middleweight Sugar Ray Robinson had his last boxing victory--his one hundred seventy-fourth!--today in 1965. . . Jelly Roll Morton, one of the seminal figures in early jazz piano, was born today in 1890, here in New Orleans. His real name was Ferdinand LeMothe. . . . Augustus Octavius Bacon was born today in 1839. Apparently his parents wanted him to become Emperor, but he only made it from Georgia to the US Senate. . . Olive Thomas, a beautiful young actress and Ziegfield girl, was born today in 1894. . . Stephen Raab is a German comedian and television personality. born today in 1966. ("Raab" is one of the names of the vegetable also known as broccoli di rape.)
Words To Eat By
"Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by somebody I do not know."--John Keats.
Words To Drink By
"And Mocha's berry, from Arabia pure, In small fine china cups, came in at last. Gold cups of filigree, made to secure The hand from burning, underneath them place. Cloves, cinnamon and saffron, too, were boiled Up with the coffee, which, I think, they spoiled."--Lord Byron
