Really Retro

I <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/10/pacific-standard-time-tasting-menu-at-the-getty.html">just read</a> about a tasting menu at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles that included American food representing several decades. It's arranged in chronological order from starters to desert. I'm unusually impressed by the right-on choices:<div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">1940s -- chicken liver and bacon paté with brandied cherries, watercress and pecan raisin bread</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">1950s -- poached lobster and asparagus casserole with crispy potato, shaved truffle and American caviar</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">1960s -- steak Diane with fingerling potatoes, caramelized onion, wild mushrooms and Bloomsdale spinach</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">1970s -- "Brie fondue" (puff pastry baked Brie) with brioche, orange marmalade and balsamic</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">1980s -- "mud pie," a coffee sabayon with chocolate crust and dark chocolate ganache.</span></li></ul></div>A random photo of a mud pie:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoDImrRPAvQT5gULlYmAR9_Wvpbg4tcYu4C7PaqbuxoolNPNLiTRTnmg1FrbktuJ507drJq3Xmkk2FuXoMSOdQx8McagG0BsI_6Lh50uYPj3tA9F1gpohiaDBE2my_ao4fNTnoNZWUepg/s1600/mudpie.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661981809690180882" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoDImrRPAvQT5gULlYmAR9_Wvpbg4tcYu4C7PaqbuxoolNPNLiTRTnmg1FrbktuJ507drJq3Xmkk2FuXoMSOdQx8McagG0BsI_6Lh50uYPj3tA9F1gpohiaDBE2my_ao4fNTnoNZWUepg/s400/mudpie.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 152px;" /></a>

Really Retro

I just read about a tasting menu at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles that included American food representing several decades. It's arra...

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Louise's Cookbook Party Game

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRpk1JzciYpgezQXTwAajJnrg3VhkM1ADqvuFR2j-BBXessWgPNFAPa3K2j36mMPqlPFOEg01MBOqTuQcBaqMyZkOCzbANhAJhBwHdlRHOCgBiC7PnZ2od9kh7CehehoThiw_0l7aUYAy/s1600/cranberry-nov08.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659715598518315170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRpk1JzciYpgezQXTwAajJnrg3VhkM1ADqvuFR2j-BBXessWgPNFAPa3K2j36mMPqlPFOEg01MBOqTuQcBaqMyZkOCzbANhAJhBwHdlRHOCgBiC7PnZ2od9kh7CehehoThiw_0l7aUYAy/s400/cranberry-nov08.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />At <a href="http://monthsofediblecelebrations.blogspot.com/">Months of Edible Celebrations</a> Louise is having a fun month, challenging her readers to post a recipe in honor of one of the special foods of the month. Among the commemorations she lists for October is Cranberry Month. Great idea -- I hope cranberries start to show up in the markets soon.<div><br /></div><div>I love cranberries. I substitute either dried or fresh for walnuts in chocolate chip cookies or even in <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2008/11/cranberries-again.html">brownies</a> (shown above). I have made <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/2008/11/cranberry-cake-of-good-fortune.html">cranberry cornmeal cake</a>, cranberry bread, and above all, cranberry chutney. I make it early so it will be aged enough for Thanksgiving dinner, so my celebration has to be deferred -- later, I make ordinary cranberry sauce for those who like it more traditional. </div><div><br /></div><div>Louise requested that we specify what event we made our recipe for. She also asked where I got the recipe: good question. I don't remember, I've been making it for years. I hope these details don't disqualify me from <a href="http://monthsofediblecelebrations.blogspot.com/2011/10/its-cookbook-party.html">her game</a>!<div><br /></div><div>Here's the recipe -- which I've posted before.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4l2ueSg54y4EpEqVXwfGfBeBYUX7sQcPN1I6ZWi-mGbejitDSurI_vAVjT3mwLQAbRPtl6OE_y_QvjVvkvZdeCWuFriKEfjEaWmNtvqZ-XGxwA-j1RDYfkeHb2VscXnz4yod9Z6sp4g7d/s1600-h/cranberries413.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401373978112556466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4l2ueSg54y4EpEqVXwfGfBeBYUX7sQcPN1I6ZWi-mGbejitDSurI_vAVjT3mwLQAbRPtl6OE_y_QvjVvkvZdeCWuFriKEfjEaWmNtvqZ-XGxwA-j1RDYfkeHb2VscXnz4yod9Z6sp4g7d/s400/cranberries413.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); "><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-size: 17px; "><span style="font-weight: bold; ">Cranberry Chutney</span></span><br />Use a total of 2 packages of cranberries -- 6 cups<br />Combine the following in a large pan and boil until sugar dissolves:<pre>1/2 cup cider vinegar 2 and 1/4 cups brown sugar<br />3/4 tsp. curry powder 1/2 tsp. ground ginger<br />1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/4 tsp. allspice<br />1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 and 1/2 cups water<br /></pre>Add and simmer 10 minutes:<br /><pre>1 apple, peeled, cored, chopped<br />2 lemons and 2 oranges, prepared as follows<br /></pre>Use the orange and lemon rind and the fruit -- pare rind with a vegetable peeler and chop or grate it. Discard the pith. Section and chop the fruit.<br /><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); ">Add and boil 40 minutes:<br /><pre>1/2 cup golden raisins 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots<br />3 cups cranberries<br /></pre>Add 3 cups more, that is the rest of the cranberries. I fool around with this recipe a lot. Sometimes I just put everything together and cook until it looks thick and done. Sometimes I use candied ginger.<br /><br />Store in jars in refrigerator. <span style="font-weight: bold; ">Age this chutney about a week before using.</span> It keeps for several months in the refrigerator. It's good as a side dish for chicken, turkey, or duck, or as a filling for halves of acorn squash, or as a relish on a cheddar cheese sandwich -- among other uses.<br /></span></div></div></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nWYV4EhTugLDjhtv-jQT3lCMlbDeye4YBJiypW3xM6_7m3EH3DeD_3eKbQeBp2Loznt-5bt6ANu-4-TvEAaMm7x9gT7WEWRlghFzhiThD3QqdrJKb76oGTBEAmD2RlUyEin7sa7Emp3Z/s1600/cranberry.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659715608168094098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nWYV4EhTugLDjhtv-jQT3lCMlbDeye4YBJiypW3xM6_7m3EH3DeD_3eKbQeBp2Loznt-5bt6ANu-4-TvEAaMm7x9gT7WEWRlghFzhiThD3QqdrJKb76oGTBEAmD2RlUyEin7sa7Emp3Z/s400/cranberry.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" /></a>

Louise's Cookbook Party Game

At Months of Edible Celebrations Louise is having a fun month, challenging her readers to post a recipe in honor of one of the special food...

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"Being inauthentic is a fact of America"

In an article by an immigrant from Thailand with evolving views of Thai restaurants in America, I read this thought-provoking paragraph about the emotions created by differences between the food in those restaurants and the food from childhood in Thailand:<br /><blockquote>"It’s a hard reality to swallow, but I’ve learned to live with it, because being inauthentic is a fact of America. To become American means to have been, at some point, uprooted from an ancestral world and reinvented free-style. I sometimes find myself counting in Thai, but most of my thoughts now bubble out in English. I go back and forth between the Thai way of eating in tandem with fork and spoon and the American way of picking at foods with a lone fork. What love I have for fish sauce equally goes to butter. If I can feel neither wholly Thai nor wholly American, how can I ask the same of a bowl of duck green curry? Now, when I look at a Thai restaurant menu, I don’t fume and think in expletives as much. I just breathe in and out, and let the food be what it can be." -- <a href="http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/2111-learning-to-love-thai-american-food">Learning to Love Thai-American Food</a> by Pitchaya Sudbanthad<blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>

"Being inauthentic is a fact of America"

In an article by an immigrant from Thailand with evolving views of Thai restaurants in America, I read this thought-provoking paragraph abou...

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No pumpkin problem

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8jmF_v8EuMcFISB7fnM-BKlBSNuxMx1U98lv-sq7JzGTO0Q2SoA6fpRF3x1xbnIHJ6vkm1XuZlFKkqX3FFDUeDSzo4WO0FgNDaPXkVUtRVaqBn82L_c58rPgXj5aCDQOX5zKAYPnGME0h/s1600-h/pumpkin313.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391380767824269426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8jmF_v8EuMcFISB7fnM-BKlBSNuxMx1U98lv-sq7JzGTO0Q2SoA6fpRF3x1xbnIHJ6vkm1XuZlFKkqX3FFDUeDSzo4WO0FgNDaPXkVUtRVaqBn82L_c58rPgXj5aCDQOX5zKAYPnGME0h/s400/pumpkin313.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" /></a>I've read that the floods in the Northeast are causing a pumpkin shortage. But there's good news! The shortage is local -- pumpkins grow in every state, and they travel well. Says the wonderful <i>Consumer Reports</i> blog <a href="http://consumerist.com/2011/09/that-whole-pumpkin-shortage-thing-its-gonna-be-just-fine.html">The Consumerist</a> -- <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><blockquote>"That means if New York is having a tough pumpkin season, that's okay, Michigan will come to the rescue! Or California, or Texas! Worst case scenario, you might have to pay a little bit more or not get that mega huge one you usually go for, but isn't a magnificently carved jack-o-lantern worth a dollar more and a size downgrade? Charlie Brown would say yes."</blockquote></span></div>

No pumpkin problem

I've read that the floods in the Northeast are causing a pumpkin shortage. But there's good news! The shortage is local -- pumpkins ...

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Challah

If you want to make good challah, I learned last night, you need to use good flour, good yeast, and water just the right temperature (not hot!). Recipes vary in proportions, method, and additions such as toppings and fillings. The finished loaf is brushed with egg which can be mixed with honey to make the crust sweet. Some people add chocolate chips, chopped apple, cinnamon-sugar, chopped onion, olives, and more either to the top or within the strands that are then braided.<div><br /></div><div>Here are a few photos of some of the women who were also learning:<br /><br />Forming strands of dough after first rise:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6172324910/" title="challah7759 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="challah7759" height="480" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6157/6172324910_c419b016d8_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Shaped dough topped with apples:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6172325536/" title="challah7767 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="challah7767" height="480" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6172325536_67f1f81970_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />My finished loaf, baked after I got home:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/6172325702/" title="challah7769 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="challah7769" height="480" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/6172325702_fcb85a2310_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /></div>

Challah

If you want to make good challah, I learned last night, you need to use good flour, good yeast, and water just the right temperature (not ho...

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It's Just about the Food

The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is a venerable event: I suspect it's the Gold Standard for food articles. Lazy me -- I haven't systematically read through the collected proceedings of these annual meetings where the best articles from each year since 1981 have been published. On a recent visit to the library, however, I checked out the 1998 volume, <span style="font-style:italic;">Food in the Arts</span>. I was especially interested to read "Food in the Detective Novel" by Joan P. Alcock, and to learn how a professional food historian approaches the <a href="http://regional-food.blogspot.com/search/label/Food%20in%20Detective%20Fiction">subject that I often return to</a>.<div><br /></div><div>"Food in the Detective Novel" begins with a quote from W.H.Auden's famous article on detective fiction, though in fact he says little about food. Alcock acknowledges that the most basic role of food in crime is "in relation to killing the victim," and the second place goes to "the contents of the stomach" for clues to the time of death. She continues:</div><div><blockquote>"In recent years attention has been paid to the food eaten by the investigator, either as part of the story or to add background verisimilitude. This is evident in the historical whodunits, but it may also be a facet of the investigator. The number of cook/chef investigators is increasing." (p. 13)</blockquote></div>After this introduction, the article continues with a survey in chronological order by the setting of the detective stories. Inspector Marcus Didius Falco in ancient Rome is her first example: readers hear of the value of peppercorns, the economics of the oil trade, and the lost herb silphium. She continues by tabulating the food references in detective stories set in the middle ages, such as Brother Cadfael "who is more concerned with growing herbs ... than with his stomach, for his herbs have healing powers." (p. 14) She continues with Renaissance-era detective fiction, such as the protocol and place settings for a feast in the work of Kate Sedley. Alcock points out:<div><blockquote>"The feast is described in some detail but phrases such as 'I cannot remember at this distance of time more than a tithe of what was consumed that evening,' seem an attempt to avoid accurate description." (p. 15)</blockquote></div><div>The article proceeds with a study of several series of detective novels set in the Mediterranean, including those of Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Questura: </div><div><blockquote>"Chilled wine is sipped slowly while savouring views over Venice.... Prosecco or Fragolino are aperitifs; Soave is served with chicken and artichokes; Dolcetto with <i>pasta fagioli</i> and <i>cotoletta</i>; brandy or grappa with coffee." (p. 17) </blockquote></div><div>A summary of French detectives' food follows -- "If Madame Maigret has a vice, it is drinking her cup of Balthazar coffee, which she takes every morning." Then the classic English detective novel, "mainly by women writers... Food was of little account in their stories." She finds a few meals of interest in the stories of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and the less-famous Gladys Mitchell. </div><div><br /></div><div>Alcock invents another category for the novels of Conan Doyle, Michael Innes, and Rex Stout: "The Abstemious and the Aesthete." I was surprised that she made no mention of Stout's Nero Wolfe novel <span style="font-style:italic;">Too Many Cooks</span>, published 1938, where the subject is a meeting of 15 international master cooks. In it, Nero Wolfe gives a paper on American food; he consents to attend the meeting only because he wants to obtain a secret recipe.<br /><br />And Alcock goes on to discuss women detectives, such as the work of Amanda Cross and others (somehow, Miss Marple isn't in this category, but in the Classic English category). She lists the foods eaten by each detective, without being distracted by other features of the tales. Only in her conclusion does she apply what I would think of as literary analysis: </div><div><blockquote>"Other books than detective stories incorporate food, but it is obvious that the frisson between murder and food, between intellectual puzzle-solving and creating of dishes is eminently satisfying. ... The dinner party provides opportunities for endless twists in a murder plot, the murderer awaiting an opportunity, the victim calmly eating, unsuspecting of the final fate." (p. 29)</blockquote></div><div>I wish she had been more explicit about how each author made use of the food details that she catalogued.</div><div><br /></div>

It's Just about the Food

The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is a venerable event: I suspect it's the Gold Standard for food articles. Lazy me -- I haven...

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Today at the Detroit Institute of Arts

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNxbF9hKfdReGbpdvgwo7FN794F1-JpC5A7YWi6OVnvG-o-sEpjapmOFNNu3zFnVpiJ8JLqQyYKjhZe_ZsZDGpYh3_OBaQlJ2bkfVjOfYsesCxnoTwcXf-HLPY_MO2371BKKD0vAQKH6N2/s1600/DIA+Spoerri7730.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653111617129106258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNxbF9hKfdReGbpdvgwo7FN794F1-JpC5A7YWi6OVnvG-o-sEpjapmOFNNu3zFnVpiJ8JLqQyYKjhZe_ZsZDGpYh3_OBaQlJ2bkfVjOfYsesCxnoTwcXf-HLPY_MO2371BKKD0vAQKH6N2/s400/DIA+Spoerri7730.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><br />Daniel Spoerri's "Variations d'un Petit Dejuner, 1966" shows a conceptual breakfast; that is, a breakfast that someone has finished eating, and the cigarette they smoked during, or maybe after, the meal. Leftover foil jam pot; check. Coffee and milk pots; check. Used knife and butter wrapper; check. Open and presumably empty sugar packets; check. Cup stained with coffee; check. I suspect these are real crumbs and remnants, an artistic selection from a real hotel tray somewhere.<br /><br />I've mentioned Spoerri before -- see this post about his work "<a href="http://maetravels.blogspot.com/2009/10/use-rembrandt-as-ironing-board.html">Use Rembrandt as an Ironing Board</a>," in which I explained why the image was Mona Lisa, not a Rembrandt, on the ironing board. I like him for his humor in both works.

Today at the Detroit Institute of Arts

Daniel Spoerri's "Variations d'un Petit Dejuner, 1966" shows a conceptual breakfast; that is, a breakfast that someone has...

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