COOKIING TIP: Blueberry Muffins/ Pancakes

When making Blueberry muffins or pancakes, using a recipe calling for frozen Blueberries, do NOT allow the berries to thaw. Add the FROZEN  berries to the batter before baking or frying to avoid juice "bleeding" into the batter and turning your muffins or pancakes a bluish - purple.

FOOD HISTORY: Lox/Smoked Salmon

The term Lox comes from the German word for salmon - "lachs". Lox, is not smoked, however, as is commonly believed. While all Lox is cured (dry or wet, in a brine) with salt/ sugar and sometimes spices, Lox  becomes Smoked Salmon when it is further cold smoked (submitted to smoke at between 70 - 90F for 1 - 3 days). This does not cook the salmon but imparts a smokey flavor to the fish. The salting of fish became known to populations living by the sea in ancient times when they discovered that they could make salt by evaporation of sea water.They discovered that, in addition to the salt enhancing the flavor of  fish, packing it in salt or placing it into a salt solution (brine) could preserve the fish, as well. The earliest record of salt preservation of food comes from the writings of Cato the Elder, in about 200 BC. In the Middle Ages, fishermen in Scandinavia found that salmon buried in the sand  at seaside could be cured and, thus, have enhanced flavor and, also, be preserved  by the salty ocean water washing over the buried fish. In Scandinavian languages, this kind of cured salmon is called Gravlax"; "grav" meaning "coffin" or "hole in the ground" and "lax" or "laks" meaning salmon. While this way of curing salmon is not used today, cured, unsmoked salmon still is called Gravlax in the Scandinavian countries. In Britian and Europe, smoking and drying fish as a means of preserving was known from very early times. This knowledge allowed merchants  to be able to transport the preserved fish very long distances as a means of  trade. However, in the 1840's more rapid means of  transportation (railroads, steamships, etc.) made the demand (and need) for heavily salted and heavily smoked preserved fish decline. At the same time, Lox and Smoked Salmon, as we know it today, came into being. Because  heavily salted, smoked fish was not needed for long distance transportation any more, the reason to lightly cure salmon, with or without further smoking, was only to flavor the fish rather than preserve it. The various and diversly flavored cured salmon products available today from different parts of the world have to do with several factors; the local source of the salmon used, the salting process (wet or dry cured), the smoking process, if used, and the type of wood (usually of local origin) used to provide the smoke.

FOOD TRIVIA: Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Dinner

The White House menu for the 1st Presidential Inaugural Dinner for Abraham Lincoln, which occurred on March 4, 1864, consisted of mock turtle soup, corned beef and cabbage with parsley potatoes and blackberry pie. Seventeen people, mostly family members, arttended.

COOKING TIP: Instant Flour

Instant flour (eg. Wondra) is a low-protein, pre-gelatinized wheat flour to which malted barley flour has been added. This allows it to dissolve quickly in either hot or cold liquids and, therefore, it can be used to thicken gravies and sauces without the likelyhood of forming lumps.

FOOD HISTORY: Milk Duds

Milk Duds,  bite sized, chocolate covered, caramel  candies, were created in 1928 by Hoffman and Co., one of the original inventors of chocolate covered caramels. The Hoffman Co. wanted to make a  round, chocolate covered, caramel candy confection but, no matter how they tried, their equipment could not make a perfectly round product. Therefore, they called these less-than-perfectly round candies "duds" and, further, because of the large amount of milk that went into their making, "milk duds'. In 1928, Milton J. Holloway purchased the Hoffman Co.and started to market the "defective candy duds" under the name, "Holloway's Milk Duds". This new candy became a world-wide favorite and sold particularly well in movie theater concession stands. In 1960, after Holloway sold the company, it has passed through several corporate hands and is now made by the Hershey Co. However, the current formulation for "Milk Duds" is NOT the same as tthe original Hoffman/Holloway product.

FOOD TRIVIA: "Cake" Expressions

The expressions,"Cake Walk", "A piece of cake" and "Takes the cake" probably derive from the 19th century African - American competitions where couples who strutted most gracefully and stylishly were awarded a cake as a prize.

COOKING TIP: Crostini vs Bruschetta

Originally, Crostini, "little toasts" in Italian, were thin slices of toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and served warm as a base for canapes made from a large variety of savory ingredients;  from meats to seafood to cheeses or vegetables.

On the other hand, Bruschetta comes from the Italian word, "bruscare" - to roast over coals. In Tuscany, the original Bruschetta were thick slices of rustic bread, toasted, rubbed with garlic cloves, with salt and pepper  added. Then, the bread was drizzled with the years new crop of olive oil. The point was to feature the flavor of the new oils. Sometimes a diced tomato salad was added onto the warm bread.

While both Crostini and Bruschetta were introduced into the US from Italy, over time  the original distinction between these two food items became blurred and now, frequently, the  names are used interchangably.

In any case, Bruschetta should be pronounced, "Brus' Ket. ta" since, in Italian, "CH" is always pronounced with a hard "K' sound, not an "SH' sound. In this regard, think of chianti, zucchini and Pinocchio.