The Food Almanac: June 20, 2011

In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu notes food facts and sayings.

Eating Calendar
Today is National Vanilla Milk Shake Day. I prefer malted milkshakes myself, but I do lean toward vanilla over chocolate. Seems to allow the malted taste to come through better. First one I ever encountered was from a panel truck with a soft-serve ice cream machine aboard and the entire range of ice-cream-parlor ingredients. I loved it immediately. It was called Dairy Dan, and made the rounds in River Ridge in the 1960s. Anybody else remember it?

This is also Eggs Sardou Day. Poached eggs atop an artichoke bottom filled with creamed spinach, with a substantial flow of hollandaise sauce. The idea is such a good one that not only is the dish probably the most popular fancy eggs presentation in New Orleans, but it has given rise to many other things Sardou as well. For example, there's crabmeat Sardou, in which lump crabmeat takes the place of the eggs, but everything else is left standing.

Eggs Sardou was originally created at Antoine's in New Orleans, in the late 1800s, when Antoine Alciatore himself was still alive. He named it for playwright Victor Sardou, who'd just written a French comedy called Uncle Sam. (Imagine — the French poking fun at America!) The playwright is probably best remembered because posters for his plays were painted by the Art Nouveau master Alfonse Mucha, but I'm getting off the subject.

Gourmet Gazetteer
Egg Bend, Louisiana is on a large loop in the Red River, 24 miles southeast of Alexandria, in Avoyelles Parish. The community is right on the river's levee. It's a small farming village on the old, winding LA Highway 1, before that highway was straightened many years ago. The nearest place to eat is B's Diner, up LA 1 two miles. But the real action is in Marksville, seven miles downstream.

Edible Dictionary
macadamia, n. — The kernel of the seed of a tree cultivated in many tropical parts of the world — notably Hawaii, Sulawesi, and Australia. Macadamias are the only major food crop native to Australia that is widely exported. The macadamia nut is pale yellow and round after being extracted from a hard-to-open shell (which is why you probably have never seen them in their shells. They contain a large amount of Omega-7 oils, which results not only in a rich flavor, but also makes it useful for making cosmetics. Macadamias are perceived as having a higher gourmet quotient than most nuts, even thought their flavor is rather subtle. Macadamias are named for John Macadam, a friend of the British botanist who first described the tree.

Deft Dining Rule #107
One of the first steps to becoming a gourmet is deciding whether you want good or plenty.

The Old Kitchen Sage Sez:
If your hollandaise breaks, add a tablespoon of warm water and see if it re-emulsifies. If not, start over again with just one egg yolk, whisking over gentle heat until it gets thick, then whisk in the broken sauce a little at a time.

Music to Eat In Your Room By
Today is the birthday, in 1942, of Brian Wilson, the songwriting genius and distinctive falsetto voice of the Beach Boys. His food quotation was, "Beware the lollipop of mediocrity. Lick it once, and you'll suck forever."

Food Namesakes
Toast Of The Town— which later became better known as the Ed Sullivan Show, made its first appearance on CBS television on this date in 1948. It was on Sunday nights for twenty-three years. Candy Clark, who was an actress in a bunch of 1970s and 1980s movies, was born today in 1947. Novelist Charles Chesnutt was born today in 1858. Actor John McCook was born today in 1945. Writer Lillian Hellman came out of the jar today in 1905.

Words To Eat By
"I am not strict vegan, because I'm a hedonist pig. If I see a big chocolate cake that is made with eggs, I'll have it." — Grace Slick, lead singer of Jefferson Airplane/Starship.

Words To Drink By
"I like my whisky old and my women young." — Actor Errol Flynn, born today in 1909.

Check out other Food Almanac columns by Tom Fitzmorris.