Category: Food

Flour

subtitle: One Cup Closer to the Perfect Dessert

By Aurora Almendral | 22 Dec 11 | Food | 1 Comment

Errol Flynn, Nora Eddington, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles enjoying the fruit of 10,000 years of human technology.

For a single ingredient wheat flour has an amazing number of iterations. It can be gruel or wedding cake, Wonder bread or baguette, croissant or hot dog bun. Flour seems simple, but it can give the occasional baker some anxiety — what exactly separates a good pie crust from a bad pie crust when it’s just flour, fat and water? Why is this cookie recipe calling for bread flour, and should I care that I don’t have it?

Read on for a primer. A little de-mystifying means better sweets for you.

1 Comment

subtitle: The Science of Taste

By Aurora Almendral | 19 May 11 | Food | 2 Comments

Red 40, one of 37 ingredients of a Twinkie. By photographer Dwight Eschliman.

1. Custom-made, low-sodium conical salt crystals and Pepsi’s quest to making eating unhealthily slightly less unhealthy: Snacks for A Fat Planet by John Seabrook, The New Yorker. And the short version on Science Wired : The Future of Salt and Sugar is Being Engineered in a PepsiCo Lab.

2. Food science secrets are so elusive, they inspire espionage: A Man With Muffin Secrets, but No Job With Them, The New York Times.

3. At least 28 more than a birthday cake: Dwight Eschliman’s 37 Ingredients for a Twinkie. (Pictured)

4. Eternal shelf lives, perfect mouthfeels and unalterable consistency doesn’t come naturally, it’s brought to you by a quiet army of food scientists. The Institute of Food Technologists bring you the latest in ultrasonic processing, tips on how to get creative with hydrocolloids, and news about the latest breakthrough in mapping the aromatexture of blue cheese.

5. Not all food science is bad. The molecule-level perspective of Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, makes for one of the best food books out there.

6. It isn’t just the scientists who are trying to recreate nature by getting as far away from it as possible. A Michelin Chef’s Formula for Future of Fine Dining (The Times) means that: “Tomorrow’s chefs will frown upon plain vegetables, such as carrots, he says, and will instead use the molecules which make up carrots — caroteniods, pectins, fructose and glucuronic acid.”

2 Comments

Adirondack Pack Baskets

subtitle: The Durable Container from the Northeast

By Jennifer S. Li | 14 Apr 11 | Accessories, Food | 1 Comment

Basket weaving is the oldest and most widespread art in the history of human civilization; from Native Americans to diverse African clans to the American Shakers, many cultures have practiced this art over the centuries in their own unique, characteristic manner. Materials utilized for baskets include reed (also known as rattan), oak, hickory, willow, grass, animal hide, hair and byproducts like porcupine quills, various woods, grasses and stems—basically anything that can be plied, bent and woven.

Hunters carrying Adirondack pack baskets, courtesy of Adirondack History Museum

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Maple Syrup

subtitle: From Sap to Syrup - The History of the Maple Tree's Sweetener

By Jessica Hundley | 3 Apr 11 | Food, Wood | 2 Comments

At first glance, there are many drawbacks to growing up in the wilds of New England. For one thing, the weather leaves something to be desired. Then there’s the mass of dour-faced, eternally pessimistic inhabitants and the undercurrent of puritanical repression. Regardless, my hometown in Berkshires is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in the country, blizzards and heat waves be damned.

Kodachrome image of a man drikinging maple syrup

Harley Rudesill sampling sap, circa 1951, via Irishtree - Ducklow Genealogy Notebook

2 Comments

Good Meat

subtitle: Giveaway — 400 Pages on Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat

By Aurora Almendral | 1 Mar 11 | Do It Yourself, Food | 26 Comments

Leave a comment below telling us the most unusual, best-tasting meat dish you’ve had. On March 9, we’ll pick our favorite and send you a copy of Deborah Krasner’s “Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat.” Don’t forget to leave your email address so we can contact you! (We’ll never publish your email address.) Read more about the book after the jump.

Beef forequarter from Deborah Krasner's "Good Meat"

1. Top blade; 2. Shoulder tender; 3. Chuck tender; 4. Whole brisket; 5. Rolled beef navel; 6. Shoulder pot roast; 7. Short ribs; 8. Royal short ribs; 9. Chuck roll; 10. Rib primal. Image by Martin Nilsson courtesy of "Good Meat" by Deborah Krasner.

26 Comments

Beer Brewing

subtitle: From Babylon to Schlitz and (Almost) Back Again

By Kelly Baumann | 6 Sep 10 | Food, Smoking & Drinking | 2 Comments

The Babylonians had been brewing beer since at least 4300 years before Jesus was born. Ancient Egyptians served it to royalty, used it to treat ailments, and buried their dead with large vessels of beer for a more tipsy afterlife. The fame and pleasures of beer spread from the Middle East to Europe, and by the dawn of the medieval era, beer brewing had evolved out of the home kitchen and into a professional trade.

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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

Organic Wine

subtitle: An Ambiguous Accolade

By Kelly Baumann | 18 Aug 10 | Food, Smoking & Drinking | 3 Comments

On a recent trip to the wine store, I was tempted from my standard of big French reds to their shelf of ecological wines. I picked up one bottle after the other, flipping them over and trying to learn what I could from the labels. There were the usual notes on origin and grape, as well as declarations of environmental credentials – organic, biodynamic or natural. After peppering the staff with questions, I settled on a biodynamic bottle of Mas de Gourgonnier les Baux de Provence, but resolved to find out exactly what separates this new wine from my beloved French Margaux.

Steve McQueen and Neile Adams Taking Sulphur Bath in Los Angeles and enjoying a glass of wine, Junge 1963, Photo by John Dominis, Courtesy of Life Magazine,

Steve McQueen and Neile Adams Taking Sulphur Bath, Los Angeles, June 1963, Photo by John Dominis

3 Comments

Heirloom Tomatoes

subtitle: Colorful Deliciousness

By Susan Morrell | 11 Jul 10 | Food, Garden | 1 Comment

For the tomato lover, the produce aisle during summer months is as tempting as the window of a jewelry store. Rows of rainbow-hued globes of all shapes and sizes sparkle and wink from wooden crates. Shades of red, orange, yellow and brown. Tiger-striped green and ghostly white. Large, lumpy and bumpy. Diminutive ones the size of the tip of a finger. An endless variety of mismatched tomatoes, fresh off the vine from nearby farms, tempting the knowing connoisseur with the enviable title of heirloom.