The Food Almanac: May 4, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu notes food facts and sayings.
Annals Of Popular Cuisine
The Big Mac was introduced at McDonald's today in 1968. It sold for 49¢, a big jump up from the 15¢ standard McDonald's hamburger of the time. The chain's brilliant advertising people infected everyone's mind with the datum that a Big Mac consists of two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. (See? I still remember that and I didn't even like Big Macs!) The Big Mac big-time nonconformity is that it has three bun segments, not two. The middle one is there to keep the thing from sliming apart. However, it's a bun surplus, unbalanced from a flavor perspective.
Food Calendar
Today is National Orange Juice Day. At this time of year, those of us who squeeze oranges every day find ourselves with California navel oranges, whose only drawback is skin so thick that it sometimes tears when you push down in the juicer. Florida juice oranges this time of year are Valencias. Unfortunately, Florida barely keeps up with the demand for its frozen orange concentrate, and unless you live in the state or nearby you almost never see their extra-juicy oranges in stores.
It is also Candied Orange Peel Day. In conjunction with National Artisan Gelato Month, we can observe that a cannoli, contains candied orange peel. So we can observe two things at once.
Gourmet Gazetteer
Orange is a small farming center in eastern North Carolina, fifty-three miles south of Raleigh. It's tobacco country, and drying sheds are the biggest buildings in Orange. A good bit of cotton comes up, too. It's too far north to grow oranges. For a bite to eat, one meanders four miles northwest on back roads to the bright lights of Godwin. There we find Fann's Restaurant, whose proprietor Nancy will be happy to feed you.
Edible Dictionary
orange brulot, n. — A flavored, alcoholic coffee served at the end of a grand meal heavy on dazzling presentations. For this one, an orange is cut through its skin all the way around its equator. After loosening the skin from the juicy sections beneath, the skin on both the top and bottom are turned inside out, creating a goblet on top and a stand underneath, with the meat of the orange in the middle. Café Brûlot (coffee flamed with brandy, cloves, and cinnamon) is poured into the top half and served. The oils from the orange skin mix with the coffee to give an interesting aroma and flavor. After you drink the coffee, you eat the orange if you like. Café Brûlot was popular in the 1940s through the 1960s in fancy restaurants. It may well now be extinct.
Deft Dining Rule #782
When a menu mentions the presence of gremolata, micro-greens, or any other minor ingredient used as a finishing touch, it's because the main ingredients aren't impressive enough on their own.
Fine Dining at Sea
Cunard Steamship Lines was founded today in 1839 by Samuel Cunard in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It became the quintessence of luxurious sailing, and kept its standards through the times when ocean-crossing ships were almost extinct. The Queen Elizabeth 2 was the ne plus ultra of sailing for decades. It successor, the Queen Mary 2, is a stunning ship, but whether it duplicates the style of yesterday is open to question. It is the only line in which passenger classes are still rigidly enforced.
Food at War
Today is the day in 1942 that food rationing began in the United States. It was very serious business at first, but within months it gave all the radio comedians a great new source of jokes.
Music to Eat Dessert By
The song "If I Knew You Were Coming I Would Have Baked a Cake," sung by Eileen Barton, hit number one on the music charts today in 1950. Which should tell you something about the state of popular music in that post-jazz, pre-rock period.
Food Namesakes
James Lance Bass, a singer in the pop group 'N Sync, was born today in 1979. Edward Toner Cone, a composer, pianist, and musicologist, was born today in 1917. Sir William Fothergill Cooke, one of the inventors of electric telegraphy, was born today in 1806. Sidney Lamb, linguist and grammar expert, was born today in 1929. Doctor and novelist Robin Cook experienced Page One today in 1940. His novel often have medical undercurrents, but not much cooking. Colin Bass, who coincidentally plays bass with the English rock group Camel, plucked his first E string today in 1951.
Words to Eat By
"She set about preparing her supper. It would have to be one of those classically simple meals, the sort that French peasants are said to eat and that enlightened English people sometimes enjoy rather self-consciously — a crusty French loaf, cheese, and lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. Of course, there should have been wine and a lovingly-prepared dressing of oil and vinegar, but Dulcie drank orange squash and ate mayonnaise that came from a bottle." — Barbara Pym, English novelist of the mid-1900s.
Words to Drink By
"Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully." — Graham Greene.