September 19, 2017
Days Until. . .
Summer ends 3. Fettuccine Frenzy: Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays through September @ Middendorf's.
Today's Flavor
It's Fried Eggplant Day. There seems to be wide agreement as to what constitutes perfect fried eggplant: a greaseless, dark-brown exterior with a bread-crumb crust and a light interior. This can be had by cutting the eggplant either into disks or sticks, but the sticks--perhaps because of their resemblance to French fries--are more popular. Especially when they're cut very long, as they can be if you utilize the entire length of the eggplant.
[caption id="attachment_37053" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Some beautiful fried eggplant sticks with marinara sauce. [/caption]
Two problems. First, eggplant can be bitter, especially if there are many seeds inside. You can tell this without cutting the eggplant by noting the size of the scar left on the bottom of the eggplant (the end opposite the stem). The bigger that blotch is, the more seeds in the eggplant, and therefore the more likely it is to be bitter.
The second problem is that nothing soaks up oil like eggplant. Here's how to keep that under control. First, coat the eggplant with a dusting of flour then egg wash before applying the seasoned bread crumbs. Second, fry the eggplant in very hot oil--about 385 degrees. That will result in a very dark color on the outside, but the inside cooks so quickly that the oil won't have a chance to get in.
Fried eggplant is usually served with parmesan cheese to shake over them and a marinara sauce to dip them in. Or, in the old Creole places, with a dish of powdered sugar (to kill the bitterness). I like them with bearnaise sauce or even a light garlic mayonnaise.
Edible Dictionary
tapenade, [tah-peh-NAHD], French. n.A finely-chopped, cool mixture of olives, capers, and salted anchovies, held together with extra-virgin olive oil. All the ingredients have salty, mouth-filling flavors. When spread on a cracker or melba toast, it becomes the ideal companion of a pre-dinner wine or cocktails. Especially pastis, the favored tipple in Provence, from which tapenade comes. Although the formula isn't often tampered with, some makers of tapenade add other strongly-flavored ingredients like tuna, garlic, and oregano.
Deft Dining Rule #4
Don't order what you think a restaurant should do well, but what it actually does well.
Food In Popular Music
The Four Seasons (the singing group, not the salad dressing) had a Number One hit with Sherry on this date in 1962. . . The same record survey showed the instrumental Green Onions, by Booker T and the MG's, at Number Four.
Music To Drink Espresso By
"Mama" Cass Elliot, the lead female singer of the folk-turned-pop group the Mamas and the Papas, had a mama today in 1941. She had a magnificent, soaring voice with a lot of upper range for a folk singer. She died of a heart attack at thirty-three, while on tour as a solo performer. Her obesity caused a strange, untrue story to disseminate that she choked on a ham sandwich. Another odd story--this one true--is that she once sang an ad jingle for Hardee's Hamburgers.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Trout, West Virginia is near the eastern boundary of that state, in green, rolling hills and valleys. Doesn't appear to be any place there to catch any trout. Farmhouses are well spread throughout the area. Trout is pretty far from the main roads. You need to drive nine miles to find a restaurant. That's the Blue Gray Pub in Frankford.
Annals Of Clean Dining Rooms
Today in 1876, an appliance used in almost every restaurant with carpets was patented. Melville Bissell invented the carpet sweeper in his shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was motivated by his wife's adverse reaction to dust. The carpet sweeper does what a broom does, but in a way that scatters less dust around.
Food Namesakes
Lol Creme, a rock musician whose most famous group was 10cc, was born today in 1947. . . Actor Randolph Mantooth was born today in 1945. . . Yankee pitcher Catfish Hunter won his two hundredth game today in 1976, and became only the third pitcher to do that by his thirty-first birthday. . . Today in 1676, Nathaniel Bacon Jr. rebelled against Virginia colonial governor William Berkeley and burned Jamestown. . . Scott Baker, a big-league pitcher, was born in Shreveport today in 1981.
Words To Eat By
"How can people say they don't eat eggplant when God loves the color and the French love the name?"--Jeff Smith.
Words To Drink By
"There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink."--Booth Tarkington, American author.
