October 4, 2017
Days Until. . .
Halloween: 27 Thanksgiving (Nov. 23): 50
Today's Flavor
Today is Pan-American Taco Day. Tacos in the United States have changed a lot in the last decade. Here we were, thinking that a hard-fried corn tortilla filled with ground beef, lettuce, and tomatoes was a taco. Maybe it is in some bordertowns, but that item is so odd to most Mexicans that when a Taco Bell opened in Mexico City, Mexicans who had been to America were disappointed not to find the crispy tortillas filled with the salad that we call a taco here.
A more typical Mexican taco is made with a soft flour tortilla filled with grilled meat, peppers, and onions. We have been able to get those ever since Taqueria Corona opened. And even before that, really, although the items was usually listed on menus as "tacos al carbon." In the aftermath of the hurricane, so many Mexicans and Central Americans came to New Orleans to work on construction projects (and other things) that the phenomenon of taco trucks sprang up. Some of these were allegedly good. Owing to some bizarre lack of luck, I have never found an active taco truck at any time or place, even when following reports given me the day before. As time has gone on, many of the taco truck operators have opened permanent taquerias around town. While these have added a new dimension to the dining scene, I would not say that the phenomenon has blossomed fully yet.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Beantown was originally a small farming town in south central Maryland, eighteen miles north of Washington, DC. It has long since been transformed by the spreading of the nation's capital into an industrial park, just east of Rockville. Just east is the Redgate golf course with rolling hills and woods--very pretty area. There's a restaurant called Tex's Place in the center of what used to be Beanville. Sandwiches, breakfasts, but alas--no beans.
Today's Non-Flavor
Today is National Vodka Day. Vodka is defined by law as a colorless, odorless spirit with a high alcohol percentage. If it must be odorless and colorless, where is the quality criterion? It doesn't really exist, of course, and it proves just how effective advertising can be. When mixed with other ingredients, one vodka is just like any other. (I know I will get some flack for saying that, but blind tastings tell the tale.) My feelings abou drinking vodka are about the same as that of my friend Paul LaBruyere, who once said, "I'd as soon pour it down the drain then hit myself over the head with the bottle."
Annals Of Food Writing
Today in 1933--in the middle of the Depression--a new men's magazine called Esquire published its first issue. It was the Maxim of its day, and if you were caught reading it you were thought of as a roue. By the time I got to it, in the late 1960s, it had become one of the best magazines on the newsstands. Its articles about food have always been far better than in other general magazines. I particularly recall a 1972 article about the ultimate Christmas feast. It inspired me to do one of my own. The long version of that story is in my book Hungry Town.
Food In Medicine
Today in 2004, Richard Axel and Linda Buck won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. They made major discoveries concerning the sense of smell, the most intriguing of which is that three percent of the genes in humans are responsible for our ability to distinguish and remember at least 10,000 different smells. My favorite aroma: that of a well-aged old Bordeaux red wine.
Edible Dictionary
poolish, French, n.--A small amount of soft, fermenting dough used to begin a yeast culture to make a batch of bread dough. A poolish may contain some dough from a previous day's batch of dough, as in sourdough bread making. But that's not essential. A poolish is on the wet, warm side, and the yeasts in it are highly active, ready to leaven an amount of flour and water much larger than itself. Poolish doughs are most often find in rustic country breads and sourdoughs.
The Saints
Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the environment, animals, birds, and all other things natural. He is the namesake of San Francisco. And a famous New Orleans dish bears his name: crabmeat St. Francis, created by legendary chef Warren Leruth, who was a devotee of the saint.
Food Namesakes
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of New Orleans author Anne Rice. She was christened Howard Allen O'Brien. . . Actress and model Rachael Leigh Cook was born today in 1979. Her picture appeared on boxes of Milk-Bones. . . Texas Rangers pitcher Dennis Cook stepped onto the Big Mound today in 1962. . . Actor Eddie Applegate was born in 1935. . . Francesco Crispi, Italian premier in the late 1800s, was born today in 1818. . R.W. "Johnny" Apple, New York Times writer on politics and (occasionally) food, died today in 2006. He liked New Orleans and visited here often, mainly to eat--his favorite pastime.
Words To Eat By
"The local groceries are all out of broccoli, Loccoli."--Roy Blount, Jr., humorist and writer, born today in 1941.
Words To Drink By
"The harsh, useful things of the world, from pulling teeth to digging potatoes, are best done by men who are as starkly sober as so many convicts in the death-house, but the lovely and useless things, the charming and exhilarating things, are best done by men with, as the phrase is, a few sheets in the wind."--H.L. Mencken.
