FOOD HISTORY: Cheese

The history of cheese goes back many centuries but who made the first cheese is not known. One legend is that it was accidentally discovered by an Arabian trader who put milk into a pouch made from a dried pig's stomach to be used to ease his hunger at the end of his journey across the desert. The combination of the desert heat, the rolling motion of his camel and the residual rennet (a digestive enzyme in the pigs stomach) combined to separate the milk into curds (the solid part of curdled milk) and the liquid part, whey. When he arrived at his destination, he drank the whey to take away his thirst and tasted the curds, which had a good flavor, so he ate them to satisfy his hunger. An alternative story is that when men put milk out as an offering to the Gods, as the weather got warmer, the milk became thicker. If the thickened milk was drained, it's liquid part removed and the solid remainder put into a dried sheep's stomach to store, it became a firmer. very soft "cheese". The first pictorial evidence for cheese making in this manner was found in a frieze at the Temple of the Great God in Ninhursag, Mesopotamia in 3000 BCE. Travelers from Asia are believed to have brought the art of cheese making to Europe. When ancient Greece was at it's peak, cheese had become a part of daily life. Many records about the production and comsumption of cheese are found in the writings of Aristoteles, Pythagoras and others. In Homer's Odyssey, the Cyclops, Polyphemus, describes the preparation of a cheese that is thought to be the precursor of the famous Greek cheese, "Feta". Eight thousand years later, "Feta" is produced in essentially the same way except for the introduction of automation and contemporary packaging. While the ancient Greeks called the product made by the coagulation of milk, "cheese", the name  to be applied to this type of cheese, "Feta", meaning "slice", originated in the 17th century and refers to the slicing up of the cheese to be put into barrels - a practice still used today., From Greece, cheese making moved to Rome during the era of The Roman Empire. The Roman cheesemakers, by trial and error plus their documentation of
their methods, refined, improved and passed along the techniques of cheese making. The Romans introduced cheese making to many other European parts of their Empire, including England. However, during the Middle Ages - from them decline of Rome until the discovery of America - cheese was only made in Monasteries where the process was refined and improved by the monks. Gorgonzola was made in the Po valley of what is now Italy in 879 AD and Italy became the cheesemaking center of Europe. During the 10th century, Roquefort was mentioned as early as 1070 in a monastery at Conques, France. However, popular cheeses of today, Cheddar, Swiss, Edam, Parmesan and Gouda, to name just a few, only appeared within the last 500 years. In its early history, cheese flourished in the Middle East and Europe but cheese was never made in North and South America. Only much later was it introduced by European immigrants. Later, American influences introduced cheese to Asia, but cheese is still not a staple in most Asian diets. Exception's are Tibet and Mongolia who have a long history of cheese making. English settlers brought their love of cheese and the skills needed to make them  to America and cheese has been produced in the US since early in the 17th century. As settlers from the Eastern US migrated west, they brought their cheese making skills with them. Later, in the mid - 1800's, Swiss, Germans and Norwegian immigrants who settled  in several communities in Wisconsin brought their cheese making skills with them, as well. Now, Wisconsin leads the US in cheese production, followed by California, Idaho, New York, New Mexico, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio and Vermont. Today, there are more than 1750 kinds of cheeses available world-wide made from the milks of cows, goats, sheep, buffalo, yak, reindeer and camels. A cheese available for every taste!

FOOD TRIVIA: How Spam was Named

 In 1926, the Hormel Company developed the first canned ham product in the US. However, after the hams were cut, the company was left with thousands  of pounds of pork shoulders, an almost worthless meat. Jay C. Hormel, son of the founder, George A. Hormel came up with a way of using the pork shoulder in a new product called, "Hormel Spiced ham". Because this was a very uninspiring name, a contest was held to come up with a new name.  Ralph Daidneau, the brother of a Hormel Vice President came up with the name “Spam” from:  S houlder P ork h AM. The rest, as is said, is history!

COOKING TIPS: How to Prepare /Handle/Store Some Vegetables and Fruit.

 

VEGETABLES

Cooking Cauliflower in water that has a bit of milk added to it will keep the Cauliflower bright white.

When you must seed big, round tomatoes, cut them across the equator rather than lengthwise and scoop, out seeds with your finger or the handle of a small spoon.

 Whole canned tomatoes have more "meat" and flavor than chopped but can be messy to chop. Use kitchen shears to cut them, quickly and cleanly, right in the can.

 Celery should NOT be kept stored in the refrigerator in the plastic bag in which it came. The plastic bag traps ethylene gas given off by the celery which accelerates deterioration. Celery should be wrapped in aluminum foil before it is placed into the refrigerator. This will allow the ethylene gas to escape and extend the shelf life of the celery.

To get a longer life out of spinach, stem, wash, remove wilted leaves and dry thoroughly using a salad spinner or paper towels. Place in a plastic bag and lay a couple of wet, wrung out paper towels over the spinach. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

 To prepare thin strips of cabbage for Coleslaw without using a sharp knife, cut the head into quarters. Using a Y-shaped vegetable peeler.  "Peel" the flat surfaces of each cabbage quarter to create thin slices. When the quarter gets too small for using the peeler, finish the "peeling" using a knife.

FRUITS

The easiest way to peel a Kiwi fruit is to cut it in half and use a spoon to scoop out the ripe fruit.

 Similarly, with an avocado, cut in half all around the large seed. Using the sharp edge of a kitchen or Chef's knife, strike the pit, gently, but with just enough pressure to cut a small way into it and twist. The pit should come out whole. You can then use a spoon to separate the flesh from the skin.

 Use a melon baller to scoop out the cores of halved apples and pears. IT 'S EASY!

FOOD HISTORY: Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire pudding is a steamy, chewy, puffed batter pudding baked with a layer of very hot beef drippings usually prepared as an accompaniment to Roast Beef. It is almost required for a British Sunday dinner but is enjoyed in many other countries. The first puddings made by ancient cooks probably referred to foods similar to sausages, The word pudding comes from the Latin word, "botellus" meaning small intestine (sausage), to "boudin" in Old French, to "pudding" in Middle English. These  types of puddings were certainly invented by the British that developed from the sausages brought to England by the Romans. eg. White pudding; a sausage made mostly with oatmeal but with other ingredients, as well and Black Pudding, similar to White but with the addition of pigs blood. These "puddings" are still part of the culinary traditions in British and Irish culture. In 17th century England, puddings were either meat based or sweet but by the second half of the 18th century, traditional English puddings no longer contained meat. This coincided with wheat flour coming into common use in England and some cooks in Northern England devised the idea of using the fat in the meat juice drippings from a roast to cook a flour batter pudding while the meat roasted. This was an economic use of the meat fat, which used to be discarded, and a means to derive the nutritional benefit from the fat. Thus, the "dripping pudding" was born. Another significant purpose that evolved was to serve the dripping pudding, with gravy, as a first course rather than with the roast  Since meat was so expensive, the pudding satisfied hunger enough that less meat would be eaten. In poorer homes, where meat was even limited further, children were served only the pudding and gravy while the adults had pudding with gravy and small amounts of meat.  In 1737, a recipe for dripping pudding was published in an anonymous book, "The Whole Duty of a Woman" and dripping pudding became very popular for the reasons cited above. Why this pudding became known as "Yorkshire" pudding is not clear but it is associated with the North of England. The first use of the prefix, "Yorkshire" with this type of pudding was used  in Hannah Glasse's  cookbook, "The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Simple" published in 1747. Her recipe distinguishes her pudding from those in other areas of England by its light and airy nature. Traditional Yorkshire puddings were always made in rectangular dripping pans and cut into square4s when it was served. The current round puddings which are now "classic" were introduced as a way to save space as cooks just dropped spoonsful of batter into the hot fat around the roasting meat. Yorkshire pudding is still so popular in great Britain that in 2008 they launched a "Yorkshire Pudding Day" to take place every year on the first Sunday in February. When the early British colonists came to the US, they obviously brought with them a love of Yorkshire pudding and introduced it into American culture  since in the US, national "Yorkshire Pudding Day" is celebrated on October 1st.

FOOD TRIVIA: Debunking Food Myths

1) Salting water does NOT make it boil faster. In fact, Sodium chloride (salt) increases the boiling point of water so it takes LONGER  to boil. However, salt is important to impart flavor, so don't skip salting water in which things, pasta, vegetable, etc., are being cooked.

2) All the water needed to cook pasta is enough to cover it without crowding. You do not need large volumes of water.

3) Microwaving does NOT destroy nutrients. While heating of any kind will destroy some nutrients, microwaving does LESS damage than other cooking methods because it cooks with less heat and for a shorter time.

4) Hot food does not have to come to room temperature before being refrigerated; just cool enough not to make the refrigerator work longer to get the temperature down.

5) Burns should NOT be treated with ICE. This could ADD to skin damage as it is another temperature extreme. Just run cool water over the burn for several minutes and blot dry.

6 ) Never put bananas in the refrigerator? Not true! When bananas are at the ripeness you like, they CAN be refrigerated for several days and while the skins may be blacked, the fruit will still be very near the ripeness it was when placed into the refrigerator.

COOKING TIP: About Rice

Humans started eating rice over 5000 years ago. It is the second-largest crop grown worldwide after maize (corn). People all over the world eat it and in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America, it is considered their premier nutritional source. Therefore, every cook, food lover, and Foodie should know something about it.

There are forty thousand varieties of CULTURED rice in the world, but over ninety thousand stored in the International Rice Gene Bank of the International Rice Research Institute with headquarters in Los Banos, Philippines, and offices in 17 other rice-growing countries.

Rice is a whole grain (or kernel) containing bran, the germ, and endosperm. The endosperm is the energy source which makes up 83% of the whole grain. It provides energy for the young plant so that it can send down roots to supply the growing plant with nutrients and water.  If you remove the outer hull, the bran, and the germ, you are left with a white kernel - white rice. This is what is sold as white rice. Since much of the nutritional content of the white rice kernel is lost in the preparation process, in many cases, vitamins are added to make up for this loss. This gives you “enriched” white rice. Colored rice which has its inedible hull removed but retains both the bran and germ, while they take longer to cook, are more nutritious. See below.

Rice is frequently categorized by its size: long, medium, or short.

Long grain rice is 3 - 4 times as long as its width. Examples are Jasmine and Basmati which are commonly used in Asian, Indian, and Latin American cooking.

Medium grain rice kernels are shorter; 2 -3 length compared to width. Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialoni nana for Risotto, Bomba for Paella, and sushi rice are examples of medium rice.

Short grained rice is squat, almost round and can be used interchangeably with medium grains for risotto or rice pudding.

How rice differs in its texture when cooked is determined by the amount of the two starches - amylose and amylopectin - that are contained in the rice.

Long grain rice has more amylose and, because of this, stays fluffy and separate when cooked.

 Medium and short-grained rice is higher in the “sticky starch” amylopectin, so they cook up moist and clingy.

Long grain white rice should be washed before cooking to remove excess starch on the outside of the kernel. This will make the rice less sticky and give you fluffier and more individual kernels. However, if you are using vitamin/mineral added (enriched) rice (most U.S white rice) you may be washing away some of the nutrients applied to the kernels.   THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

OTHERS

Glutinous (Sweet or Sticky) rice contains only amylopectin and it turns super – sticky when cooked, often by steaming. Many Asian dishes, both sweet and savory call for this type of rice.

Wild rice is not a rice, but an aquatic grass largely grown in California and Minnesota which, as brown and other whole grain rice, is very nutritious.

Instant rice is fully precooked and dehydrated rice that recooks very quickly.

Parboiled rice (e.g. Uncle Ben’s) is rice that has been soaked and steamed before the outer hull is removed. By this process nutrients, which otherwise would be lost, are absorbed and retained. The parboiling partially cooks the grain's starch so that the cooked kernels are fluffy but firm.

COLORED RICES

Brown rice undergoes minimal processing, thus, most of its nutrients; protein, fiber and healthy Bran is retained. Because of the oil in the bran, however, its shelf life compared to white rice - three to five years to forever - is only six months.

Black or Purple rice, which derives their color from several chemical substances in the inner portion of the bran, add protective antioxidant properties in addition to the other nutrients in their whole-grain rice kernels.

Red rice is a special variety of rice, deriving its rich, red color due to its containing two, color-producing phytochemicals called anthocyanins. These pigment-producing components add protective antioxidant and anticarcinogenic activities, in addition to the nutrient contents of the whole grain rice kernel, making red rice the most nutritious of all the different rice.

With this information in mind, choose the rice of your preference, cook it using your favorite recipe and ENJOY!

FOOD HISTORY: Rum

The history of rum cannot be separated from the world-wide travels of sugarcane and the production of sugar.  Therefore, this post is separated into two sections; the history of sugarcane and sugar and the history of rum.

THE HISTORY OF SUGARCANE and SUGAR

Sugarcane is a perennial grass naturally growing in tropical southeast Asia, from Burma to central China to the Pacific: finally to India which was the home of the first organized sugar production from the cane. Ancient Indian literature mentions "Gur" and "Sarkara", ancient Sanskrit names for the juice from sugarcane boiled down to make a sweet, syrupy liquid. These were the precursors to today's sugar. The first sugar factories in India date back to 1610.  From India, sugarcane and the knowledge of how to make sugar was brought to the Middle East by Muslim traders where  Muslin chemist's made major advances in its manufacturing process. Because of that, sugar was incorporated into Arab cuisine. Christian Crusaders to the Holy Land brought back to Europe the "Sweet Salt" of the Arabs where it became very popular with the rulers and the very wealthy. These encouraged European traders  who were interested in making a profit to bring sugarcane and the process for making it into sugar back to Europe. In the 12th century, sugar replaced honey as a sweetener in Europe. During the 15th century of European exploration of the New World, the Spanish introduced sugarcane to the Canary Islands and Christopher Columbus brought sugarcane seedlings to Hispaniola on his second voyage in 1493. Sugarcane grew very well in these tropical environment's and by the mid-16th century the Portuguese brought sugarcane to Brazil and the British, Dutch, and French introduced it to their possessions of Barbados and Haiti. During this time the demand for sugar in Europe was becoming very great. However, growing, harvesting, and processing sugarcane into sugar was hard backbreaking work, and, soon, the European settlers in these sugar-producing areas did not have enough slave manpower to meet these demands. While local slaves were used initially, when more hands were needed, the Portuguese were the first to import slaves from Africa. It was thought that slaves from Africa would be less likely to escape and blend in with the local culture, thus, ensuring a more stable workforce. This opened the door to the importation of African slaves to the Caribbean plantations of owners from other European countries.  The plantation economies of Brazil and the Caribbean together received 80% of the approximate 10 million slaves from Africa brought to the Western hemisphere. It was this set of historical circumstances that brought about the development of the alcoholic beverage that we know as rum.

THE HISTORY of RUM

 In a  1552 report from the governor of Bahia, Brazil, it was noted that the local slaves were more amenable to work if allowed to drink "cachaco" a spirit they made by allowing the unprocessed sugarcane juice to ferment. Because so much cane was available and the production so easy, this drink became popular in the slave population. ("Cachaca", as it is known today is the alcoholic component of the national drink of Brazil; Caipirinha) While this is not rum as we know it (made from molasses, not sugarcane juice)  it is its predecessor. The change occurred when a Dutch immigrant, Pietr Blower, moved from Brazil to the island of Barbados. In Brazil, he had encouraged the local sugar producers to get more out of the sugarcane harvest by fermenting a left-over product from the making of sugar (molasses) and making an alcoholic drink out of it. Blower brought this idea with him to Barbados and by 1651  it caught on and this drink made from molasses became a  common drink on that and other Caribbean islands. However, it was a drink only for the slaves and lower classes. It wasn't until the late 1700s that rum started to be sipped by gentlemen of the upper classes. How the spirit became known as rum is contentious - some say it comes from the word, "rumbullion (tumult or uproar - a condition one got to when one drank a lot of it), others suggest it comes from an Olde English word (rum) for excellent. Further claims are for "scrum" (to fight), rumbustious (noisy; undisciplined), sacchrum (Latin for "sugarcane"), and several more. From whatever the name was derived, the ample supply of sugarcane and the ease of production allowed rum to become a universal drink regardless of class, enjoyed by the rich, the poor, and even the lawless - it was the drink of the pirates, as well.

FOOD TRIVIA: Champagne

To be labeled True Champagne, a wine must be made in   the Champagne region of France, using only Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or Chardonnay grapes grown in that region. Further, it must get its bubbles by a double fermentation process , once in the barrels, and the second in the, bottle.

Drinking champagne quickly causes the alcohol to enter your bloodstream too quickly which often causes headaches. Sipping slowly allows one to better taste the wine but, also, to dissipate the bubbles before swallowing.

The term for opening a bottle of Champagne using a sword is called, "Sabrage"

The largest bottle of Champagne is called Melchizedek (30 liters, 40 standard bottles or 240 glasses) who was the King and the Priest in the Book of  Genesis who blessed Abraham; his name meaning, "My king is righteousness".

THINGS I LIKE: Brandy Alexander: Drink Your Dessert

I have always liked to finish a nice meal with a dessert of some kind - a snifter of brandy, something chocolate or ice cream. A Brandy Alexander combines all three; recipe follows:

 Brandy Alexander*

Ingredients
 1 pint vanilla ice cream**
 2 oz. Crème de Cacao (dark)
 1 oz. brandy

Preparation

Place ice cream in a blender***
Add liquor and brandy
Pulse until desired consistency is reached****

Pour into snifters or glasses and enjoy!

* The original Alexander was made with Gin. See my FOOD HISTORY post about the origin of Brandy Alexander.

**I use Hagen Daz but any premium brand will do.
*** A blender is better  but a food processor will do.
**** You can mix until smooth or leave some pieces of solid ice cream intact. I prefer the latter because it gives a better mouth feel textural contrast.

 You can adjust the amounts of Crème de Cacao and/or Brandy to make the drinkable dessert to your own taste. Further, you can make your drinkable dessert from other ingredients. Some examples follow but let your imagination devise one that fits your particular taste.

Coffee: Kahlua or Tia Maria; coffee ice cream; Brandy
Mocha: Kahlua or Tia Maria; chocolate ice cream; Brandy
Almond: Amaretto; vanilla/chocolate ice cream; Brandy
Orange: Grand  Marnier, Cointreau or Triple Sec; vanilla/chocolate ice cream; Brandy
Banana: Crème de Banana, vanilla/chocolate ice cream; Brandy

THINGS I LIKE: BANANAS FOSTER

Many, many years ago, on my first visit to New Orleans, I went to  the world-famous Brennen' s restaurant for their well-known Brennen's brunch. The fabulous brunch concluded with Bananas Foster, a dessert consisting of fresh bananas sautéed in butter and brown sugar, with banana liqueur and rum. The rum was poured over them and flambeed, to burn off most of the alcohol,  after which  the flambeed bananas were served over vanilla ice cream. This has become one of my favorite desserts and I prepare it frequently when we have guests for dinner. Following a brief history of this dish, a recipe follows.

The dish BANANAS FOSTER was created at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans in 1951. In the 1950’s New Orleans was the major port for the importation of bananas from South and Central America. To help promote the importation, Owen Brennan, the owner of Brennan’s, asked his Chef, Paul Blange to create a dish with a new way to use bananas.  This was the dish that Chef Blange created. The dish was named after Richard Foster, a friend and frequent guest at the restaurant. It became the most requested dish on the Brennan’s Restaurant menu.

 RECIPE

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
 1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

 1/4 cup banana liqueur*
4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved.
 1/4 cup dark rum

 4 scoops vanilla ice cream

* I use Crème de Banana

Directions:

Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet.

Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan.

When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum.

Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum.*

When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream.

Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.


* While this adds to the pageantry of preparing Bananas Foster, use care when doing this. Keep pan away from anything that might catch fire and hold the pan away from you while you are flambeeing.