October 26, 2017
Days Until. . .
Halloween: 6 Thanksgiving (Nov. 23): 30
Annals Of Breakfast Cereal
C.W. Post was born today in 1854. He was inspired to invent Grape Nuts cereal by a stay in the sanatorium of Dr. John Kellogg. Kellogg and his brother Will were vegetarians and early proponents of processed cereal, and Post got that religion himself. Around Grape Nuts he built the Post Cereal Company, which became (and still is) Kellogg's strongest competitor. Post's other interesting creation was Postum, a roasted grain beverage that was supposed to be better for you than coffee. Problem: it tasted nothing like coffee, and not very good. Post was quite a businessman; his company evolved into General Foods Corporation.
Today's Flavor
Today is National Pumpkin Day, the day on which the most pumpkins are sold nationwide, for obvious reasons. The pumpkins that we carve into jack 'o lanterns are no great waste of food. Most of the pumpkin we eat is made from an entirely different kind of pumpkin. Jack 'o lantern pumpkins are certainly edible, but should be approached with the same methods you'd use for a squash (which it is). I like pureeing the meat and stuffing it with herbs into ravioli, and serving it with a cream sauce. Or making a gratin-style side dish.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Pumpkin Center is an unincorporated community in Southeast Louisiana. A small agricultural nexus, it has become a suburb of Hammond, eight miles east. Aside from the presence of Pumpkin Center Road, it's hard to tell where the place starts and stops. Pumpkin Center indeed grew pumpkins a hundred or more years ago, but it also grew just about everything else. The nearest restaurant of note is Tin Lizzy's Landing, a half-mile west on LA 22.
Annals Of Fishing
Today in 1979, the largest bluefin tuna ever caught came out of the water in Nova Scotia, weighing about 1500 pounds. Bluefins are among the fastest swimmers in the sea. They are also among the most expensive and desirable fish in sushi bars. The meat is distinctly different from the more common yellowfin ("ahi") tuna. Bluefin tunas are so big that sometimes slices of sashimi from it have no flake structure at all, just a very fine meaty texture. It's a delicious eat. They're caught all over the place, including in the Gulf. I expect that they will become endangered in the not-too-distant future.
Deft Dining Rule #200
If you need predictability from a restaurant, find one where the chef has been there a long time. If you want novelty, find one with a history of hiring young chefs who stay a year or two and then open their own places. You can't have both.
Edible Dictionary
fricassee, [frih-kah-SAY], French, n.--A light, creamy stew with meats or seafood and vegetables. Like "restaurant" and "saute," fricassee is a French word that's penetrated deep into teh English dictionary. Now it's most often used in talking about American country cooking. Originally, a fricassee was similar to a pannee--slices of meat, usually on the light side (in both flavor and color, such as chicken or veal), fried in butter. That evolved into a dish in which the meat slices cooked with vegetables (mushrooms being most common) and a sauce that was t least a little bit creamy. In country cooking, the sauce tends to be along the lines of "cream gravy," made with milk and flour. Fracassees have become more common in recent times, with upscale restaurants making more refined sauces and using better meats and seafood.
Food Namesakes
John P. Roux, former South African cabinet member, was born today in 1942. . . Olympic diver Cinnamon Woods was born today in 1971. . . Russian architect Konstantin Thon was born today in 1794. ("Thon" is French for "tuna".). . . Former Alabama governor Albert P. Brewer was born today in 1928.
Words To Eat By
"My favorite word is 'pumpkin.' You can't take it seriously. But you can't ignore it, either. It takes ahold of your head and that's it. You are a pumpkin. Or you are not. I am."--Harrison Salisbury, New York Times journalist. "What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie?" --John Greenleaf Whittier.
Words To Drink By
"A sweetheart is a bottle of wine, a wife is a wine bottle."--Charles Baudelaire.
