COOKING TIP: Using Miso

Miso is a thick paste - like substance made from fermented soybeans with a salty and tangy taste. On its own it is most commonly used in the making of Japanese Miso soup. However, it adds an unusual burst of flavor when used in other ways. Miso comes in several colors from white to dark brown; the darker the color, the longer fermentation time and, therefore, the stronger the intensity of flavor. You can try several types to see which one suits you taste.

USES

1) Whisk one teaspoon into your favorite vinaigrette.
2) Mash some into potatoes alone or with the milk and butter.
3) Mix with softened butter and serve with radishes as an appetizer.
4) Any other way your imagination and taste takes you.

FOOD TRIVIA: How do you start your day, with dinner or breakfast? 

The early Romans (approximately27 BC) started their day with a a porridge-like substance to “break the fast” between the evening meal and the first meal of the next day. The word for that meal in Latin was “disiunare” from the Latin element “dis” meaning - reversal, and “iunare” meaning - "fast". Later it was shortened to “disnare” or “disnar” and later, in old French, to “diner,” which meant, at that time, the first big meal of the day; the one that broke your fast from the evening before, i.e., “breakfast”. It further devolved into the English word “dinner” In medieval time’s, food writers emphasized that only two meals a day should be sufficient and that eating more often was “beastly.” Therefore, people were expected to eat well in the morning (dinner) and then have a smaller meal in the evening. Later on, due to a variety of reasons, intermediate meals were added, and the larger meal was eaten later in the day. Thus, the word “dinner”, originally meaning the meal that was eaten to “break one’s fast”, is now used to indicate the last and largest meal of the day while the word, "breakfast” became the word we use for the first and earliest meal of the day.

 

COOKING TIP: What Else You Need to Know About Salt

Before discussing salt, some understanding about TASTE BUDS must be presented. For many, many decades, it was thought that there were only four primary taste sensations, sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Further, it was believed that these four taste elements were distributed in fixed positions around the tongue. However, in 1908, a Japanese scientist discovered that there was a FIFTH taste, he called "UMAMI", a Japanese word that has no exact translation to English but is interpreted to mean "savory", "meaty' or "delicious". UMAMI taste is found in foods containing high levels of certain chemical substances, mainly glutamate.  Thus, currently, we know that there are five not four primary tastes. Furthermore, contrast to what was once believed concerning the various primary taste buds being "mapped" in specific positions in the tongue, it has been found that taste buds are distributed throughout the oral cavity (tongue and upper palate), although some areas may be more sensitive than others. With this as background, we can learn about the effect of salt (or, at least the sodium ions contained in it) on taste and flavor well beyond just imparting a salty taste to food.

As you know, our enjoyment of what we eat is enhanced by the number of senses - sight, smell, touch (texture) and taste that each food/dish stimulates. In the case of salt, its use can stimulate several of our senses. A piece of chocolate or a caramel, for example, with a scattering of sea salt on top enhances visual appeal (sight) by presenting a contrast in color - white granules on a dark background - on what you are eating.  In addition, it increases the anticipation of a textural difference - a crunch of the salt against the soft, melting feel of the chocolate in your mouth or the chewy nature of the caramel. Further, salt added to food makes certain molecules in the food more volatile, so the aroma of food is enhanced. This adds the sense of smell to the perception of taste when salt is added. Regarding the sense of taste, in addition to imparting a salty taste to food, salt also depresses the sensitivity of the bitter taste buds, therefore decreasing the bitter taste perception. Thus, if your coffee tastes bitter, adding a pinch of salt rather than adding more sugar will make the coffee taste less bitter without adding to the sweetness. Moreover, recent studies have shown that a "sensor" in the taste buds which allow glucose (sugar) to move into the sweet taste cells in the mouth is activated when salt (it's sodium component) is present. This allows these cells to register more sweetness. This is why a sprinkle of salt on watermelon or its addition to candy makes them taste sweeter and why the addition of salt is part of every recipe used for making cakes. Finally, as was stated above, the UMAMI taste is mediated by the amount of glutamate found in food.  We now know that the UMAMI taste sensation that is mediated by glutamate becomes more intense in the presence of the sodium ion contained in salt. One of the many foods that are rich in Umami taste are tomatoes. You all know that a sprinkling of salt on tomatoes intensifies the taste. Now you know why.

I hope this “salty" information make you look at using salt in a different light.

 

FOOD HISTORY: Jello

While gelatin (gelatine in French; gelatin in English, from the Latin word "gelatus" meaning :jellied" was "invented" by boiling and removing the glutinous materials from bones and first described by French researcher/ inventor Denis Papin in 1682, It's use  in a dessert product didn't occur until over 100 plus years later. That began in 1845 when Peter Cooper, American inventor, who invented and built the "Tiny Tim" steam locomotive to demonstrate the potential of steam to power rail transportation in the United States and who founded The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City also obtained the first US patent for the manufacture of a gelatin dessert product. His product was very simple; one only had to add boiling water to the gelatin powder to use. While Cooper manufactured and packaged it for sale to cooks, because it had little taste, it never became popular and Cooper did little over the next 50 years to commercialize it further.  In 1895, cough syrup manufacturer Pearl B. Wait bought the patent and, in order to make the gelatin more flavorful, added fruit syrup to it and  developed a packaged, flavored gelatin dessert. Wait's wife named the product Jell-O; a combination of the words "gelatin and jelly". While there was no competition for Jell-O on the market, it also had few customers. Therefore, Wait sold his business to O.F. Woodward for $450. Woodward could not improve sales and was so concerned about the business that he tried to sell it for $35. NO TAKERS! However, in 1900, several cooking experts discovered Jell-O and decided it would make a nice ending to a meal. After that, Jell-O began to appear as a dessert at banquets and fancy dinners. In 1902, Woodward launched the Jell-O, " America's Most Famous Dessert" advertising campaign and, from that time on, Jell-O became known world-wide and now is the world's largest selling powdered dessert.

FOOD TRIVIA: More Interesring Chanpagne Facts

In 1725, Bordeaux wine makers in France named the four bottle size of champagne “Jeroboam” the biblical founder of Israel who ruled from 931 - 920 BC because he is referred to as, “a man of great worth.”, as was this size bottle to the sellers of champagne.

The largest bottle size of Champagne is called Melchezedek (30 liters;40 standard bottles; 240 glasses) who was the King and Priest in the Book of Genesis that blessed Abram; his name translates as  "King of Righteousness". 

A raisin dropped in a glass of champagne will bounce up and down, continually, from the bottom of the glass to the top.

"Sabrage" is a term used for opening a bottle of champagne using a sword.

Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill, both lovers of Champagne used the drink for both good and bad times. Churchill said, " I drink Champagne when I celebrate."  and Napoleon is alleged to say " …. I drink Champagne when I lose , to console myself."

 

FOOD HISTORY:  BEER (Part 2; To the Present)

Malting

 The process of malting created a great leap forward in beer making. Malting is a process in which grain is made by soaking in water until it starts to germinate, then halted from further germination by heating. This provides the larger amount of sugar and activates the necessary enzymes to react with the fermenting yeasts. The malting process is buried in antiquity but there is a legend that the Egyptians developed a method for malting which included putting grain in a basket in a well to wet it, raised it above the water line to dry and raised or lowered the basket to adjust the temperature. The earliest archaeological evidence for malted grains dates back 1300 years to Raqfit Cave in Israel. Once the Roman Empire fell, Europe, in what was called the Dark Ages followed, had regions of the Empire breaking into smaller states. Because of this, beer making innovations went out of favor, only to be relearned centuries later in the Middle Ages. In the beginning of the Middle Ages, beers were brewed only in homes or in monasteries for profit. These beers would be flavored by using “gruits”, - mixtures of herbs - to give flavor and bitterness to the beer. Gruits were replaced in 19th century France using the herb, Hops.  (More about this later.) These beers would be like those brewed in earlier times using early malting methods.  It was in the Middle Ages, however, that improved malting methods became the source of beers that we are familiar with today. Initially, the making and selling of malts was often controlled. In Nuremberg, only barley was allowed to be malted while in Augsburg only oats were used for malting between 1433 – 1550, In England, malting carried a tax until 1880. European settlers North America even tried to make beer from maize. By the17th century beers brewed from barley malt predominated Europe. Further improvements in malting methods and development of large breweries lead to the industrialization of malting. With this and the expansion of world trade, beer made from barley malt spread across the globe.

Hops

Around the 9^th century, Northern Europe began to cultivate hops. In the 1500’s, when gruit was most popular, a set of regulations. “Reinheitgebot”, meaning, “purity order “was adopted in Germany and Bavaria. It decreed that beer may only be made using water, barley, and hops. Yeast was added when it was later discovered This restriction was made because beers using gruits caused narcotic, aphrodisiac, and psychotic effects. Hops were used to replace “gruits”. Hops added flavor and aroma to beer without the side effects and, in addition, served as a preservative. While some modifications and changes have been made to these laws, they are still in effect today. With hops making a more stable beer, longer lasting for both local and export, “hopped” breweries spread across Europe to Poland, Latvia, Scandinavia, the Low countries, and England.

Lagering: Bottom Fermentation

The term beer at that time were all Ales. Bavarian brewers found that in cold Alpine caves a new kind of yeast started to occur, which fermented beer more slowly, then sank to the bottom of the barrel. It was further found that storing these cold-resistant yeast brewed beers created a crisper beer. This form of beer maturation is called,” lagering” from the German word, “lagern” - to store. Hence the name for these beers is Lager as opposed to Ale. Over the first half of the 19^th century, brewers continued to expand and perfect the lagering process as it spread across Europe. In 1838, the town of Plzen (Pilsen) in Bohemia (now called The Czech Republic), brewers poured barrels of beer, which had spoiled from the warm weather, into the streets to get rid of it. They hired a German brewer, Josef Groff to teach them the Bavarian lagering method using a supply of lager yeasts smuggled out of Germany by a Monk. Plzen had soft water wells, a supply of excellent hops and cold sandstone caverns. All conditions ready for making lager beer. Further, they used only light barley, only partially smoked as opposed to the roasted and fully smoked barley used by the German. Combining all these elements, the Plzen brewers made a new lager different from all the ales they were used to drinking. The news of this new beer from Bohemia spread rapidly, and Plzen or Pilsen beer was born. Pilsen beer has become one of the most copied beers in history. Ales and lagers continued to be modified and are being improved even today. Now, many varieties of both ales and lagers are available around the world. Therefore, in most anywhere you are and whichever is your choice, raise your glass say; Sante, Prost, Skal, Skol, Salud, Salute, Kampai, Ganbei, Cheers, or whatever else you choose, and drink your beer!

 

 

 

 

 

B

 

FOOD HISTORY: BEER( (Part 1: In the Beginning)

Prolog

All beer can be broken down into two categories: Ale and Lager. All beer is made from grains that are grown and allowed to ferment in barrels. Ales are fermented at warm temperatures at the top of the barrel, by top fermenting yeasts while Lager is beer which ferments at the bottom of the barrel by bottom fermenting yeast species under cold temperatures. Because of these fermentation differences, among others, Ales are usually full-bodied, nutty, and somewhat bitter while, Lagers are mild, fruity, and crisp

With the above in mind, I will continue to the history of beer.

How did beer appear? Nobody really knows. When the pre-historic people changed from hunters to gatherers, they collected wild grain to use as food or to make bread. As new grains were discovered - wheat, rice, barley, and corn – these new varieties were planted, cultivated, and stored. The domestication of these crops spread west to Europe, east to Asia and, eventually south to African countries i.e., Sudan and Egypt. Perhaps rainwater formed a pool in some warm area where a grain was stored, became contaminated with wild yeasts, fermented, and formed into a new liquid. Alternatively, it could have been a bowl of dough prepared for making bread being placed in a warm place, getting wet with water, being forgotten, becoming contaminated with wild yeast and fermenting. Whatever the case may be, when the new liquid was tasted by a curious person, who like the taste and effect it had, they decided to try to replicate it, and “beer” arrived on the scene. Not knowing about yeasts, early brewers thought that fermentation was “magic” or “spiritual”, a gift from the gods.  Be that as it may, the oldest known record of beer consumption is anywhere from 11,700 - 13,000 years old. It was previously believed that agriculture came about because ancient cultures needed the grains for food, but more recent evidence suggests that these cultures needed to plant more grains to use for brewing. Sumerian clay tablets from Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and Babylonia show that beer making was an honorable profession at that time. The thousand-year-old Sumerian poem, “Epic of Gilgamesh” mentions beer. Beer making became more widespread in regions where cereal and other grains were domesticated and cultivated. Beer is mentioned in the bible: Proverbs 31:4 -9; Isiah 24:9; Isiah 56 and 12; Micah 2:11) A 13.000-year-old “brewery” was recently discovered in Israel. Ancient brewers used mixtures of herbs called “gruits” to give flavor and bitterness to their beer. They also possessed antiseptic and antibacterial properties. Later, they were replaced using the herb,” hops”. (More about that later). Beer brewed in these times were more like porridge than beer made later. Because of their thick consistency, straws were used to avoid the bitter “sediment” left from fermentation and brewing. In Egypt beer making was a vital industry. Egyptians were the first persons to start state owned breweries. It became so popular that it was taxed, used as partial payment for workers building the Pyramids, and, as a symbol of wealth, buried in the tombs of the wealthy. Eventually, beer made its way to Europe where an abundance of barley crops provided lots of raw ingredients for brewers.  Egyptian beer was talked about in other countries; the ancient Greeks and Romans wrote about it in their texts. While Greeks and Romans brewed beer, it was never as popular as wine.  Roman soldiers consumed beer in the northernmost areas of the Empire; incidentally, the same regions where great beers are made today; Germany, Austria, Belgium, etc. Beer brewed at that time were Ales. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe was left to its own devices being broken up to small countries. This era was called the “Dark Ages” where was mostly brewed at home or in monasteries.