The Food Almanac: June 29, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu notes food facts and saying.
Food Calendar
Today is Veal Chop Day. Veal chops were very hip in the 1980s. Every restaurant that served them found its customers raving about the dish. This popularity faded in the 1990s, and now veal chops are uncommon except in Italian restaurants, and not all of those serve them. One reason for this, beside the fading vogue, is the high cost.
The standard veal chop is cut from the rib roast. It's analogous to prime rib in beef. Two relatively new varieties of veal chops are sometimes seen. Veal racks come from the far-forward end of the rib cage. They have small "eyes," so are usually served two or three at a time. Also making more appearances than previously are the veal T-bone and veal porterhouse. Both contain parts of the tenderloin and strip loin, separated by the bone. I think veal tenderloins and veal strip steaks are underappreciated. I prefer them to rib chops — if they're cooked properly.
Veal chops need special care in cooking. Because they lack the fat and collagen-bearing tissues of beef, they can get tough in cooking. I am persuaded that it might be a better idea to cook veal chops at a rather low temperature, instead of searing them in a pan or on a grill. They're juicier than if they'd been cooked like steaks.
Some restaurants serve a veal chop pretty much as is, with perhaps a natural sauce. Others stuff it (Andrea's veal chop Valdostana) or top it (Commander's veal chop Tchoupitoulas). An underrated classic is veal chop Milanese style: pounded out and paneed with seasoned bread crumbs.
Edible Dictionary
calf, n. — In the fresh meat case at the grocery store, calf is from older animals than those producing veal. The dividing line is crossed when the young cattle begin eating grass, instead of just their mother's milk or formula. Calf is distinctly darker and redder, but lacks fat and collagens that would make it very tender. The next older is baby beef. Baby beef and calf are not as common as they once were, because of the routine by which veal calves are sent to market. Almost all of them are male. Since few bulls are needed in a herd of cattle, the males are culled early and butchered for veal.
Annals Of Imaginary Eating
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born today in 1900. He was both an accomplished aviator and a brilliant writer. His most famous book — Le Petit Prince — was ostensibly written for children, although the themes in it have a way of staying with us into adult life. His drawing in that book of a snake that just ate an elephant is memorable.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Dinner Station is in the desolate northeast corner of Nevada, 24 miles northwest of Elko. It's a ghost town now, save for the people who live in the reconstructed roadhouse on the highway. Dinner Station is descriptively name: it was a stagecoach stop as long ago as the 1860s, appearing around the time that the first American transcontinental railroad was building through this part of the country. The population peaked in the early 1900s. After that, automobiles put the stagecoach out of business. Dinner Station became a not-very-successful ranch. To get dinner now you have to head back to Elko and the interestingly-named Arctic Circle. (It does get very cold here in the winter.)
Annals Of Food Writing
Rembert Dodoens was born today in 1516. He was a Flemish botanist who wrote a seminal book about the entire plant kingdom. Later, he wrote the Cruydt Boek, or Book Of Spices, a reference to the herbs and spices that were then in use for cooking and medicine. It's a valuable work for those researching the ancient history of European cooking.
Annals Of Winemaking
This is the birthday (1912) of Émile Peynaud, who in France is considered one of the leading figures in the modernization of French vineyards and winery practices. Most of what he suggested seems obvious now. He said, for example, that very underripe and overripe grapes should be left out of the harvest. That did result in better wines. So did allowing malolactic fermentation to occur in some wines.
The Saints
It's the feast day of St. Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, bakers (why?), butchers (?), and popes (he was the first one). St. Peter is depicted on the label of Château Pétrus, one of the world's most expensive red wines.
Alluring Dinner Dates
The stunningly beautiful and zaftig actress Jayne Mansfield died today in 1967, in a very bad automobile accident here in New Orleans. She was 36. She held many Miss This-Or-That titles, but turned down Miss Roquefort Cheese because, she said, "That just didn't sound right."
Food Namesakes
Dr. William James Mayo, who founded the Mayo Clinic with his father and brother, was born today in 1861. . . Pepper Johnson, an NFL linebacker, was born today in 1964.
Words To Eat By
"My mother was a good recreational cook, but what she basically believed about cooking was that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you." — Nora Ephron, American writer.
Words To Drink By
"Brandy, n. — A cordial composed of one part thunder and lightning, one part remorse, two parts bloody murder, one part death hell and the grave and four parts clarified Satan." — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.