The Food Almanac: Wednesday, October 5, 2011
In The Food Almanac, Tom Fitzmorris of the online newsletter, The New Orleans Menu, notes food facts and sayings.
Today's Flavor
It's Filé Day here in Louisiana, about the only place where that herb is routinely used in cooking. Filé is made by drying and crushing the leaves of the sassafras tree into a powder. Sassafras is a smallish tree that grows in the shady woods throughout the South. The leaves are unusual in that they have three distinct shapes, mixed uniformly throughout the tree. Some are leaf-like pointed ovals, some look like mittens, and others look like mittens with thumbs on both sides.
The one and only use for filé in the kitchen is a big one in these parts: making gumbo. It's usually a gumbo made with something like chicken or sausage. (I personally think it doesn't belong in seafood gumbo.) Some chefs add it during the cooking process as a thickener, but it has a bitterness when used that way. I think the aroma is better than the flavor, and so I dust it on the top of the gumbo at the table. I've tried using fresh sassafras leaves in gumbo, but that doesn't do a thing. Apparently the drying process is necessary for the aroma to emerge.
The name "filé" is derived from French, in which it translates as "string" or "line." When filé is stirred into a liquid, it forms a sort of string until it gets fully soaked. Filé's dirty secret is that parts of the sassafras tree have been found to be carcinogenic — notably the roots, which were once the source of flavoring (and the name) for root beer. Products containing the problematic substance are banned. However, little if any of that is in the leaves, and apparently the small amount of filé you ingest in gumbo isn't enough to hurt you. Although, who knows?
Edible Dictionary
panzanella, Italian, n. — One of a number of Italian salads made with chunks of bread among the greens, vegetables, and dressings. It almost certainly began as a way to use surplus stale bread. For that reason, a lot of recipes for it call for it to be soaked with water, squeezed, then fried in a bit of olive oil. The wetting cycle is unnecessary if one begins with fresher bread, although it should be on the coarse, crusty side. Other items in the tossing bowl besides bread are anchovies, capers, olives, and other salty, big-flavored things, as well as chunky, crisp vegetables like zucchini, bell peppers, and cucumbers. Tomatoes are almost always present. The dressing is an olive oil vinaigrette with a bit of Cremona mustard.
Annals of Fast Food
This is the birthday in 1902 of Ray Kroc. He liked the hamburger stand operated by the McDonald brothers in Southern California so much that he bought the company. He was more impressed by the innovative rapid-service aspect of McDonald's than the hamburgers. As time went on, what little good there was to be said about McDonald's food fell victim to the need for speed. The french fries, for example, used to be freshly cut from whole potatoes at the individual restaurants and fried in beef tallow. They were great! Now they're just sticks. Even the burger has come down a lot. Formerly freshly grilled with the onions, now they're cooked in advance and warmed in a microwave right before being served. The curve points downward, while the company continues to thrive.
Deft Dining Rule #137
If you have to eat while driving, make it a standard single McDonald's hamburger. It's so dry that there's no chance any of it will get on your clothes.
Food in Show Biz
Today in 1961, the movie Breakfast At Tiffany's, based on the Truman Capote book, was registered in the U.S. Patent Office. The most delicious part of it was its star, Audrey Hepburn.
History of Cooking
Today in 1568 in what is now Belgium, Willem of Orange and his army took over Brabant. That sounds like a food story, but isn't exactly, although Brabant potatoes — fried cubes drizzled with butter — are named for the place. The Belgians have been frying potatoes (better than anybody else, at that) for a very long time.
Food Namesakes
Penny Baker, Playboy's Playmate of the Month in January 1984, was born today in 1965 . . . Jimmy Ritz, one of the Ritz Brothers comedy and vaudeville team, was born today in 1903. British actor Fred Feast stepped onto the Big Stage today in 1929.
Words to Eat By
"It was not her sex appeal but the obvious relish with which she devoured the hamburger that made my pulse begin to hammer with excitement." — Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald's chain, born today in 1902. He was talking about his first meeting with the woman who he would later marry.
"Well, there doesn't seem anything else for an ex-President to do but to go into the country and raise big pumpkins." — Chester Allen Arthur, the 21st President, born today in 1830.
Words to Drink By
"There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor." — Ecclesiastes, 2:24.