The Food Almanac: August 15, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu notes food facts and saying.
Annals of Food Writing
Today in 1912 was the birthday of Julia Child. Even after her death in 2004, she remains the all-time greatest television chef, as well as one of the most honored and accomplished authors of cookbooks. I was lucky enough to have dinner with her once, at Begue's. I was surprised by how down-to-earth and unpretentious she was, and also that her unique voice and bearing were not just television affectations but entirely real. That night, she liked the oyster Rockefeller flan.
My favorite aspect of Julia's shows were that if she made a mistake or something didn't come out quite right, she'd admit it. You never see that on television now, even though we all know from eating in restaurants that all chefs make mistakes.
Eating Calendar
Today is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day. A good lemon meringue pie is wonderful, especially if you take that old recipe from your grandmother and cut the amount of sugar by at least a third (in both the lemon custard and meringue parts). We seem to have had a taste for much sweeter desserts 40 or 50 years ago than we do now. Making a lighter pie crust is a worthy goal too. Take liberties. I once had a pie that was crème brûlée on the bottom and lemon meringue on the top. Fabulous.
Throw a meringue pie (leave out the lemon) at someone you love someday soon. It's great fun. On his birthday in 1981, the publisher of the newspaper where my restaurant review column has appeared for 30 years received a meringue pie in the face from my hand. He's gone, but I'm still there. So just go ahead and do it. Note: a pie can only be thrown at a man. Most women fail to grasp the humor.
Essential Ingredients
Speaking of pie crusts: Crisco was released today in 1911 by Procter & Gamble, the soap people. (Soap and fat are largely the same product.) The advance that made Crisco made popular was that it was pre-creamed and shelf-stable. That accomplishment was achieved through hydrogenation. In more recent times, it's been found that hydrogenated fats — especially those with high trans-fatty acids — are rather bad for you to eat. So Crisco developed a new formula involving zero trans-fats. I like the stuff, and find it a good, clean product that's hard to replace in certain baked goods, notably biscuits and pie dough. Although the trans-fat issue did move me to start using butter instead in many recipes. Isn't that a turnabout! One of the reasons Crisco was created was to replace animal fats.
Edible Dictionary
merguez, n. — A sausage made of beef, veal, lamb, or a combination. Its home is Northern Africa, especially in Tunisian and Algeria. Because of the Islamic influence there it is never made with pork. It is made to be spicy, however, and the thick hot sauce called harissa is often part of the recipe. Or red pepper in some other form. Merguez is most often grilled and eaten on its own, although sometimes it becomes part of a couscous. The most famous maker of merguez around New Orleans is Jamila's, a Tunisian cafe on Maple Street. They sell the sausage at the Jazz Festival every year, as well as at the restaurant.
Annals of Drinking
Elvin Jellinek was born today in 1890. He was the first scientist to study intensively the causes and effects of alcoholism. He suggested that the condition be treated as a disease, not as a sin. In his day, alcoholics were thought of as merely weak-willed people, an approach that did little to address or correct the problem.
Citrus at War
The Satsuma War began today in 1863, between British would-be colonizers and the Japanese. Satsuma is a province of Japan. It's where the original satsuma fruit was grown, the ancestors of all those trees in Plaquemines Parish that will give us their succulent orbs in a month or so.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Satsuma, Louisiana is 24 miles east of Baton Rouge, close enough that it's become a suburb of the state capital. Satsuma began as Stafford, a station on the Baton Rouge, Hammond and Eastern Railroad (still a main line, part of the Illinois Central). It was renamed Satsuma because the Post Office already had a Stafford, La., when it opened shop here in 1911. And because there was a satsuma grove nearby. There may be satsuma trees still around there, but typical winter temperatures probably keep that from becoming a major farming endeavor. If you're hungry in Satsuma, you'll have to drive four miles east into Livingston, and find Mike's Grill.
Annals of Military Cuisine
Napoleon Bonaparte was born today in 1769, on the island of Corsica. He left his mark on world history in such a pervasive way that he even crops up repeatedly in discussions of our own local special food interest. The Napoleon pastry, the Napoleon House, chicken Marengo, and Pascal's Manale (on Napoleon Avenue) come to mind immediately, and it wouldn't be hard to think of many more. In recent years, chefs have taken to calling any layered dish a Napoleon of this or that. (The pompano and scallop Napoleon at Broussard's is a good example.) Napoleon was a gourmet, and a personal chef was essential to him even in the field of battle.
Food and Drink Namesakes
Bert Berry, a pro football player, was born today in 1975. . . Elias M. Fries, a Swiss botanist whose specialty was mushrooms, was born today in 1794. . . Congresswoman Maxine Waters was elected to life today in 1938.
Words to Eat French Food By
"The French complain of everything, and always." — Napoleon Bonaparte, born today in 1769.
"Life itself is the proper binge." — Julia Child, born today in 1912.
Words to Drink By
"Drinking is the soldier's pleasure." — John Dryden.