September 8, 2017
Days Until. . .
Restaurant Week: September 11-17. Fettuccine Frenzy: Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays through September @ Middendorf's.
Deft Dining Rule #195
Rotisserie chicken is the most foolproof dish in restaurants, everywhere on earth.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Float Bayou flows about four miles from a marsh called News Lake into Cales Creek. All of these water features are remnants of oxbow lakes created when the Mississippi River, four miles west, changed its course. All this is a mixture of farming and hunting country. It's thirty-two miles by car south to Natchez. The nearest place to dine if you don't catch any channel catfish is Annie Mae's Cafe, across the river in Waterproof, Louisiana.
The Old Kitchen Sage Sez
Leave one layer of husk leaves around corn on the cob, and put the ears right on the grill. When the pattern of the kernels shows up as light browning on the husk, the corn is ready to eat.
Our Celebrity Chefs
Today is the birthday in 1953 of Vincent Catalanotto, the owner of Vincent's Italian Cuisine. Vincent worked for years as a bartender and a waiter around town before taking over a failed Italian cafe in Metairie. He didn't have a chef, so he did the cooking himself. A fried soft-shell crab with a red sauce mixed with garlic butter became a popular specialty. "That dish told me that I could cook as well as all these idiot chefs who used to scream at me all the time," he said. He built a distinctive New Orleans-Italian menu, and within a year the place was a phenomenon. Its food has always been much better than its looks. The second location in the former Compagno's on St. Charles Avenue opened about ten years after the first one. Back in 1977, Vince and I worked together at a fancy French restaurant called Romanoff's. His irreverent (to put it mildly) sense of humor was already full speed back then.
Edible Dictionary
Texmati rice, n.--The brand name for a variety of rice created by crossing basmati rice from the Middle East with long-grain rice grown in Texas. It's an aromatic rice, which means that it emits an aroma when cooking that puts on in mind of roasted nuts or popcorn. It's the most widespread American aromatic rices, although there are many others--most of them with basmati in their past.
Music To Eat Veal Parmigiana By
Frank Sinatra, whose music we hear in Italian restaurants more than any other, got his big break today in 1935. He and a group called the Hoboken Four appeared on Major Bowes Amateur Hour, and were a sensation. He soon would be the boy singer with Harry James's big band, and his career went ballistic from there. Sinatra was the only act ever to have major success after appearing with Major Bowes.
Food Namesakes
Two Peppers: Claude Pepper, who represented Florida in Congress for many decades, was born today in 1900. . . And golfer Dottie Pepper won the LPGA tournament today in 1996 . . .Early TV comic genius Sid Caesar was born today in 1922. The Caesar salad was not named for him. . . Clarence Cook, author and art critic, opened his life today in 1828.
Words To Eat By
"I'm at the age where food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact, I've just had a mirror put over my kitchen table."--Rodney Dangerfield.
Words Not To Eat By
"Roumanian-Yiddish cooking has killed more Jews than Hitler."--Zero Mostel, actor, who died today in 1977.
Words To Drink By
"Drink a glass of wine after your soup and you steal a ruble from your doctor."--Russian proverb.
