Category: Cooking

Cranbery Jam

subtitle: And Other Winter Canning

By Aurora Almendral | 16 Feb 11 | Cooking, Kitchen | Comment

The dead of winter isn’t exactly known for its bounty, but being cooped up indoors with snow flurries outside makes canning — with its pots of boiling water and multiple, time-intensive steps — seem like an ideal winter activity. There may be heads of cauliflower and kale around, but in general, low-acid vegetables are riskier to steam can than high-acid fruits.

Woman canning food in jars in her kitchen.

Wife of Jim Norris with canned goods, Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940, by Lee Russel. Image from Library of Congress

Leftovers

subtitle: Fowl Fat and the Science of Yesterday's Dinner

By Aurora Almendral | 26 Nov 10 | Cooking, Holidays | 2 Comments

If you’ve navigated the minefield of a family feast, the least you can do is make the most of your spoils. Turkey — along with chicken, capon, Cornish game hen, quail, goose, duck and pork — has a higher proportion of unsaturated fats in its fat tissue than beef or lamb. It has nothing to do with how they look in that dress (unsaturated fat is actually better for you than saturated fat), but unsaturated fat does produce off, stale, cardboard-like flavors in meat that’s been stored and reheated.

From The New Joys of Jell-O cookbook (yes, some of those contain meat).

2 Comments

Meyer Lemon Marmalade Recipe

subtitle: Sugary Deliciousness

By Aurora Almendral | 23 Aug 10 | Cooking, Food, Recipes | 4 Comments

In 1908, Frank Nicholas Meyer, a professional food explorer, brought a decorative Chinese hybrid of mandarin and lemon to the U.S. For the next seven decades, Meyer lemon trees continued to be thought of as mostly ornamental plants. Productive trees grew almost exclusively within California, and it wasn’t until Alice Waters started using them did Meyer lemons begin its slow, but steady courtship with the broader culinary world.

Meyer lemons are less acidic than the standard lemon, and have bright, thin skins with an aromatic, almost herbal scent. The description hardly does it justice. Meyer lemons are delightful. As their season wanes, save a dozen or two to preserve.

Fragrance of the Lemon Peel by Ilya Zomba, Oil on Canvas, 1997, Courtesy of Zombart

4 Comments

Enamelware

subtitle: Kitchen & Camping Essentials

By Sophie Zifcak | 15 Jun 10 | Cooking, Kitchen, Outdoors | 1 Comment

Enamel has been around for decorative and functional use for centuries. Vitreous enamel is akin to ceramic glaze — it is most commonly the result of fusing powdered glass (or less often a glass paste or spray) to a metal or ceramic substrates. Enamel is bonded to metal in kilns at a high temperatures, somewhere between 1400 and 1640°F.

Enamelware Cup, circa 1920

1 Comment

Home Canning

subtitle: Jarring Fun

By Aurora Almendral | 20 May 10 | Cooking, Food, Glass, Kitchen | 3 Comments

In the days before ripe Chilean tomatoes in the snowiest of winters, year-round beets, and the never-ending zucchini season, if you had a hankering for a summer vegetable in the middle of January, you had to wait six months. That is until 1810, when canning was invented and along with it, the possibility of anticipating your winter desires two seasons ahead.

Young family arranging jars of canned fruit and vegetables on cellar shelves

Image by Nina Lee, 1952, Courtesy of LIFE Magazine

3 Comments

Cured Meat

subtitle: Jamón Serrano, Fuet, Salame and other Charcuterie

By Aurora Almendral | 12 Apr 10 | Cooking, Food | 7 Comments

Like any good American kid, I grew up eating floppy baloney on white bread. And like any uninspired Manhattan office worker, I ambled down to the nearest deli and got slices of salami — hot pink and encased in branded, shrink-wrap plastic that the sandwich guy would peel back to measure out my portion. It was salty and tasted fine between sliced bread with a handful of shredded iceberg lettuce, or at least it seemed that way from inside my cubicle. Then I moved to Europe.

Butcher Shop in Paris. Sausages and Cured Meat is hanging from Ceiling.

Charcuterie in Les Halles, Paris, 1962, Image by Tom Palumbo (Click on Image to Enlarge)

7 Comments

Hot Smoking

subtitle: Smell, Memory, and Deliciousness

By Brion Paul | 8 Mar 10 | Cooking, Food, Outdoors | 6 Comments

From the smoldering smell of a freshly extinguished match whisking you back to the hushed awe when gathered round a pungent crackling campfire, to the sweet and spiced dance of a Snickerdoodle on your tongue, taking you back to your first batch of homemade cookies emerging soft and warm from the oven – the corollary between memory and our powerfully nuanced senses of taste and smell is unique.

Smoking & Barbecuing Fish Filets, 1893, Courtesy of Shorpy (Click on Image for Details)

6 Comments

The History Of Olive Oil

subtitle: Liquid Gift of God and Earth

By David Vega | 26 Feb 10 | Cooking, Food | 6 Comments

Olive oil has long been considered one of the greatest natural assets of the ancient world (and sometimes worth its weight in gold). It has consistently offered humanity the gifts of health and wealth, and is as complex and delicious as wine. Since antiquity, olive branches have been a symbol of peace – perhaps because olive trees were an agricultural offering bestowed to the colonies after they were subjugated in battle. Wherever disseminated, olive trees were lauded for their myriad everyday uses, from the culinary to the corporal.

Fratelli Carli, Italian Olive Oil

6 Comments

Yacon

subtitle: The Little Tuber that Could

By Brion Paul | 24 Feb 10 | Cooking, Food | 2 Comments

It goes without saying, but before rampant industrialization and commercialization of food, there was only the people and their land, with the former scouring the latter in search of sustained sustenance and equanimus equilibrium. At the same time that technology is shrinking the world, cultural nostalgia and fetishization of the past imbues new interest in foods of yore, more and lesser-known items appear on the shelves of stores with increasing frequency.

YacÃ³n Chip

2 Comments

Category: Cooking

Cranbery Jam

subtitle: And Other Winter Canning

Leftovers

subtitle: Fowl Fat and the Science of Yesterday's Dinner

Meyer Lemon Marmalade Recipe

subtitle: Sugary Deliciousness

Enamelware

subtitle: Kitchen & Camping Essentials

Home Canning

subtitle: Jarring Fun

Cured Meat

subtitle: Jamón Serrano, Fuet, Salame and other Charcuterie

Hot Smoking

subtitle: Smell, Memory, and Deliciousness

The History Of Olive Oil

subtitle: Liquid Gift of God and Earth

Yacon

subtitle: The Little Tuber that Could

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