The Food Almanac: June 27, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu notes food facts and saying.
Annals Of Silverware
Around this day in 1630, John Winthrop, the first colonial governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, began using at his dinner table what may have been the only fork in the colonies. He encouraged its use. As omnipresent as the fork is now, it was only then coming into widespread use in Europe.
Food Through History
Today is the birthday (in 1835, in London) of Fred Harvey, who more than any other one man brought civilization to the Wild West. He came to America to work, first in restaurants in New York, New Orleans, and elsewhere, then in the railroads during the peak years of their expansion. He found the accommodations for rail travelers in the West to be so poor that he began opening restaurants in the stations along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
To staff his Harvey Houses, he hired young women from all over America to move west as waitresses. The wholesome Harvey Girls were very different from the kind of women one previously found on the frontier, and when they settled in their new homes and married, they brought real community to Western towns. Fred Harvey's motto was, "Maintenance of Standards, Regardless of Cost." His restaurants were the best in the West, When the Santa Fe began running dining cars on its trains, it hired Fred Harvey to run them. Many former Fred Harvey operations still exist; the most famous is the grand El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon. My wife used to work there when she was in her early twenties.
Annals Of Food Writing
The author of the first Creole cookbook was born on this date in 1850. Lafcadio Hearn wrote La Cuisine Creole in 1885. Its subtitle was, "A Collection of Culinary Recipes, From Leading Chefs and Noted Creole Housewives, Who Have Made New Orleans Famous for its Cuisine." The recipes would seem odd to us now, but their style is very recognizable as New Orleans food. The book establishes that Creole cooking was all-encompassing and indeed famous way back then, long before the same could be said of other regional American cuisines.
Eating Calendar
Today is National Indian Pudding Day. Indian pudding is made with cornmeal, eggs, and molasses. It's also National Orange Blossom Day. An ingredient important in both Southern bars and Middle Eastern bakeries comes from those flowers. Orange flower water is a fascinating and under-utilized ingredient. The Ramos gin fizz cannot be made with out it. I forgot to mention it throughout the month, but June is National Papaya Month. I have not had a papaya lately, but I will. I think it's one of the most delicious fruits in the world, when you catch it at optimum ripeness — but that's not easy.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Orange, Texas, population 18,700, is the easternmost large town in Texas. It's right on the Sabine River and the Louisiana state line. That gives it the trivial distinction of having the highest-numbered Interstate exit and mile marker anywhere. It's 880 miles on the I-10 to El Paso. Orange was founded as a port town on the Gulf of Mexico in 1836, and that's how it has always made its living. Oranges may be grown there, but not on a large scale; the land is low and marshy in the area. Except for the many fast-food places on the I-10, Orange's cuisine has been thoroughly converted to Cajun. The best restaurant in town (sez Texas Monthly, a good source) is Robert's Meat Market And Steakhouse, 3720 W. Park Ave., (409) 883-0979.
Edible Dictionary
fra diavolo, Italian, adj. — A range of dishes, most commonly involving shellfish, finished with a peppery sauce if tomatoes, savory herbs, and both red and black pepper. The term means "brother devil," a reference to 1700s Neopolitan revolutionary figure Michele Pezza. He got the name because as a child he paraded with other young men as a monk. (Complicated story, in the Italian way.) The use of the name to describe the dish in question may have nothing to do with Pezza, because it appears to have been the invention of an unknown Italina-American restaurateur. It was good enough to become widely copied, along with the name. You don't see it in Italy, says John Mariani, who just wrote a book about such matters.
Deft Dining Rule #241
Ask whether tomato paste is in the marinara sauce at every Italian restaurant. (Correct answer: no.)
Eating Across America
On this day in 1985, US Route 66 — the road made famous by two songs and a television series, along with many guidebooks — was scratched off the list of certified highways and ceased to exist. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, and carried so much traffic that its route had long since been paralleled by Interstate highways. One of the many books I lost in the flood was a dining guide to Route 66, written in the 1930s. Even now, a few of the diners and cafes along the old route remain open.
Food Namesakes
Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who produced the James Bond films, died in 1996 on this date. The vegetable that bears his name was developed by an ancestor. Broccoli is a hybridized cauliflower, crossed with raab. . . Actor Jack Lemmon died on this date in 2001. . . Blues immortal Robert Johnson recorded a song called Come On In My Kitchen on this date in 1937, along with nine other songs that would become classics of the genre.
Words To Eat By
"Don't cut the ham too thin." — Fred Harvey, born today in 1835. These were his last words to his son when he died in 1901. It's bad advice. For a sandwich, anyway, you can't cut the ham thin enough.
Words To Drink By
This bottle's the sun of our table,
His beams are rosy wine;
We planets that are not able
Without his help to shine.
— Richard Brinsley Sheridan.