FOOD TRIVIA: Henri Toulouse - Lautrec

The world fanous artist and gourmet,  Henri Toulouse - Lautrec wrote a cookbook called, "The Art of Cuisine" and illustrated it himself. It still is available.

FOOD HISTORY: The "Hot Dog".

While the history of sausages is ancient, even having been mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, the history of what we know as the "Hot Dog" is much more recent and has several branches on its family tree. It is believed that the "original" sausage that eventually became the contemporary "Hot Dog" was created in the late 1690's by Johann Georghehner, a butcher living in Coburg, Germany.  Later, Georghehner, travelled to Frankfurt, Germany to promote his product. In 1805, a master sausage maker in Vienna, Austria, who got his training in Frankfurt, Germany, made a sausage that he called the "Wiener- Frankfurter". This fact has given Austria a claim to be them birthplace of the "Hot Dog". His sausage, however, generally became known as "Wienerwurst"; Wien being the German name for Vienna and wurst the German word for sausage.This is, however, where we get the word  "Wiener" as a synomym for "Hot Dog"'. In 1852, the Butcher's Guild in Frankfurt, Germany developed a spiced, smoked sausage which was packed in a thin casing that they called the "Frankfuter", named after its city of origin. The sausage's gently curved shape, it is said, was suggested by a butcher who had a Dachshund dog as a pet. When Germans immigrated to the U.S., they brought this sausage, with the name "'Dachshund-sausage", with them;  Austrians brought their "Wieners". Frankfuters and Wieners, served with milk rolls (bread rolls but sweeter and softer due to milk added to the dough) and sauerkraut, were sold from pushcarts on New York's Bowery during the 1860's. (As a personal aside, when I served in the Army's occupying forces in Austria, 1954-1955, there were wurst stands all over. They served Wiernerwurt sausages on a paper plate, containing a dab of mustard and a small bread roll on the side. I consumed many, many of them!) Back to History: In 1871, Charles Feltman, a German butcher, opened a stand in Coney Island, NY. He wanted to sell a variety of hot sandwiches to his customers but his wagon was too small to make different  sandwiches in the wagon's confined space. Thus, he came up with the idea of selling only sausages served IN a roll. With the help of  the wheel-wright who had made his wagon, a tin lined chest was put in the wagon  to keep the rolls warm and a charcoal stove to boil the sausages was installed. Thus, the idea of serving sausages in a bread "container" is credited to Feltman. .Feltman sold 3,684 sausages in a milk roll during his first year in business. In 1880, Antonione Feuchtwanger, a German sausage peddler in St. Louis, Missouri, supplied white gloves with his sausages, so his customer's would not burn their fingers while eating their sausages. However, many customers would walk off with the gloves after finishing their snack. Feuchtwanger consulted his brother- in law, a baker, about the problem and he came up with a long, soft roll in which the sausage could be placed. Thus, the German sausages ( Frankfuters/ Wienerwurst) were introduced to the bun. How this combination of a German sausage on a bun became known as the "Hot Dog' is another convoluted story to be told in a subsequent post.

FOOD HISTORY: Crumpets and English Muffins

Crumpets are an Anglo-Saxon invention. Initially, they were hard pancakes baked on a griddle.  The term  has Celtic origins and dates from the 1600's and is related to the Breton "kranpoez" ( a thin, flat pancake) or the Welch type of pancake called, 'crempog". The 1649 Oxford dictionary referring  to "crumpet", describes it as a mixture of buckwheat flour, beaten egg, milk and baking powder. These were different from the more familiar crumpets of the Victorian Era when yeast was added to the dough and the crumpet was baked in a ring mold to hold the batter while it baked. Crumpet makers of the British Midlands and London developed the characteristic holes which appear on top of the crumpet when it is cooked the by adding extra baking powder to the dough. Thus,the more familiar soft, spongy crumpet of the Victorian Age, with their characteristic holes on their top to "hold" butter and other popular toppings, evolved..

The British "muffin", which was  originally made from left over bread and biscuit dough scraps and mashed potatoes, which the cook fried on a hot griddle to produce a light, crusty muffin, were eaten by the "downstairs" servants in England's Victorian society .When the "upstairs" family learned about these tasty morsels, they began to request them, especially for their afternoon teatime snack. Because of this, these muffins became the most "fancied" bread in England and muffin factories, each with their own recipe for making their  muffin, sprung up all over. These muffins could be split and toasted over an open fire and served with various toppings. They became so popular that "Hawkers" sold them on the streets of London and the song , "Do you know the Muffin Man" became a big hit.

The MODERN English muffin is, in fact, an American invention created by Samuel Bath Thomas, a 1874 immigrant to New York City from Plymouth, England. Thomas, who worked in a bread bakery, opened his own bakery in 1880. It was in this location that he created a "toaster crumpet"; a flatter version of the English crumpet which did not contain baking powder used to create holes as in the traditional crumpet. However,Thomas' secret process did retain the "holes" that crumpets have on their outside to trap butter and other toppings  but the Thomas English muffin's "holes"( his, "nooks and crannies") are on the inside of the muffin. "Fork splitting" his muffins before toasting retained this "crumpet"characteristic.Thomas English muffins became very popular in the U.S.and their popularity spread to the world wide market even introducing "English" muffins to the British.

FOOD TRIVIA: "Hard to make ends meet".

In Elizabethan times,when eating, a napkin was tied around the neck to protect the fancy, white  ruffles fashionable at the time. Because of the size of the ruffles, it was difficult to tie both ends of the napkin together. This is where the expression, "hard to make the ends meet"originated.

COOKING TIP: Roasted Chicken Pan Drippings

When finished roasting a chicken, remove it from the pan and add cubes of bread and mix to absorb the drippings. then toss with melted butter, bake until crispy and serve with chicken.

COOKING TIP: Ripening of Produce

As Spring proceeds and Summer approaches, our thoughts turn to fresh fruits and vegetables. Some will ripen on the counter; others will not.

                      WILL RIPEN                                                             WILL NOT RIPEN
     
                        Apples                                                                               Bell Peppers
                        Apricots                                                                             Cherries
                        Avocados                                                                           Grapes
                        Bananas                                                                              Lemons
                        Canteloupe                                                                         Oranges
                        Kiwi                                                                                    Limes
                        Peaches                                                                               Pinapple
                        Pears                                                                                   Strawberries
                        Plums
                        Tomatoes

THINGS I LIKE: Lox

When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, Sundays were family brunch times. In addition to the usual meat (ham, bacon, sausages) and eggs, we ate several kinds of cured and/or smoked fish; Sable, White, various types of Herring and, especially Lox, all purchased from what we called the "Appetizer" store. Lox, as opposed to smoked salmon, is cured but NOT smoked. It's name is derived from the Scandinavian word, "Gravlax" meaning, "grave salmon". This name comes from the medieval practice of "curing" (preserving) raw salmon by burying it in the sand above the ocean's high tide level, allowing the ocean's salt water to cure the fish. I still enjoy eating Lox but now I cure my own. How I do this is described below.

LOX  PREPARATION

The following recipe is for two similar, skin on sides of Salmon or Steelhead Trout ( I prefer the taste of Steelhead Trout). You can trim the fish to have two equal parts of the  thickest area of the sides for curing and keep the rest for fish cakes or smoking or use the sides, as is.

INGREDIENTS

CURING MIXTURE; 1 part Morton's Coarse Kosher salt/1.5 parts Demerara (raw) sugar. (I like the taste of the raw sugar with its slight molasses flavor, but plain granular sugar can be used. Further, I like the sweeter taste of this ratio of sugar  to salt but the ratios can be adjusted to suit your own taste.)

Black or green peppercorns, chopped dill or any other herbs/ spices that you may want to use to flavor the Lox can be added to the fish when you begin the curing process. A splash of vodka or other alcoholic beverage adds another nuanced flavor ro the final product, as well. I, however, prefer just the salt/sugar mixture.

PROCEDURE

Line a deep casserole dish with plastic wrap, one sheet lengthwise and a second sheet widthwise with a large amount of overhang.

Spread curing mixture evenly over plastic wrap. Place one side of fish, skin side down, on salt/sugar.  Spread another portion of curing mixture over fish flesh; heavier on the thick side of the filet. Herbs/spices can be added to this layer. Place second piece of fish, skin side up, over first and repeat addition of curing mixture.

Fold both sides of plastic wrap to completely enclose fish. Place weights, two bricks covered with heavy duty aluminum foil or 2 -3 cans of  food over, wrapped fish and place in refrigerator. Turn fish over and replace weights once a day for two days. On the third day unwrap fish, remove one side, rinse thoroughly with cold water, dry on paper towels and slice off a thin piece to taste. If seasoned enough to your taste, remove second side rinse and dry, as well. Fish will keep in refrigerator for 1 -2 weeks and will freeze, indefinitely. If the fish is not cured enough to your taste, it can be rewrapped and the curing process continued, with daily testing until desired flavor is achieved. Once you find the curing time that corresponds to your taste, you can use that for making future batches of Lox. 

Fish sides can be lightly cold smoked, if you choose. Take cured filet from refrigerator and place, skin side down, in a disposable aluminum container large enough to hold fish and a substantial amount of crushed or cubed ice.* Put ice in bottom of container, cover ice with plastic wrap and foil, put fish  on top and place in an already smoking smoker. Alder or Apple wood give nice flavor to fish. Smoke for 15 min at a time, tasting after each 15 min until you find the right amount of time to give you the smoke flavor that meets you taste. (Use that time for future smokings.)

*Replace ice, as needed, to keep fish cold during process.