(Coca leaves, Peru)

Quote of the week: "We make our food very similar to cocaine now"

That remark was made by Dr. Gene-Jack Wang, M.D., the chair of the medical department at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York. His comment was in response to a new scientific study published published online March 28, 2010, in Nature Neuroscience. The study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction.

According to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of Molecular Therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida, doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the pleasure centers in the brain. Eventually the pleasure centers "implode," and achieving the same pleasure requires ever increasing amounts of the drug or food. Kenny was the lead author of the study.

The study tracked three groups of lab rats for forty days. One of the groups was fed regular rat food. A second was fed bacon, sausage, cheesecake, frosting, and other fattening, high-calorie foods for one hour a day. The third group was allowed to eat unhealthy foods for up to twenty-three hours a day.

The rats that ate fatty human food quickly became obese of course. But their brains also changed. The researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more fat to experience a high.

The rats began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so despite applied electric shocks. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats' feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating, but the obese rats were not. "Their attention was solely focused on consuming food," says Kenny. In previous studies, rats have exhibited similar brain changes when given unlimited access to cocaine or heroin. Rats have similarly ignored punishment to continue consuming cocaine, the researchers noted.

Coca leaves have been used as a “natural” high for centuries, as Wang pointed out, but people learned to purify or alter cocaine to deliver it more efficiently to their brains. This made the drug more addictive. According to Wang, food has evolved in a similar way. "We purify our food," he says. "Our ancestors ate whole grains, but we're eating white bread. American Indians ate corn; we eat corn syrup."

Of course one cannot transfer these results as a template for human behavior, but the similarities are obvious. Excessive consumption of fatty foods begets itself. You are what you eat.

Richard Wottrich

(Fennel, Poncelet market, Paris, Photo: RLW)

Roasted Potato, Leek & Fennel Soup

The simplest recipes are the best. A potato and leek soup is a wondrous thing, as it is when served cold as Vichyssoise. But at times I want more depth and flavor in this preparation and this method of roasting the ingredients delivers a deep and rustic soup that is great on a cold and rainy spring day.

Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1-inch chunks
4 leeks, washed, trimmed and coarsely chopped into 1-inch chunks
1 bunch of fennel stalks and fronds, finely chopped
1 bunch of Swiss chard, kale or any dark green-leafed vegetable as you prefer, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ quarts chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup whole milk, cream, sour cream, or Crème Fraîche as you prefer
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon apple vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
chopped chives as garnish
fresh bread

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Take a large shallow roasting pan and scatter the potatoes, leeks, fennel and dark greens evenly. Pour olive oil evenly across the vegetables. Scatter a pinch or two of kosher salt and grind pepper evenly across the pan. Place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Remove the pan from the oven and pour roughly one cup of the chicken stock into the hot pan to deglaze. Move the vegetables around the pan to evenly coat everything. Working in batches, put the vegetables into a blender with additional chicken stock. Coarsely blend each batch and pour into a large soup pot. Pour any remaining liquid into the last batch.

Add the wine, Crème Fraîche, lemon juice, and vinegar and bring to a simmer. Cook until the small pieces of potato are tender. Salt and pepper to your taste. Add additional chicken stock if the soup is too thick, or continue cooking if it is too thin. Serve with the wine and fresh bread. Rye bread with caraway seeds is particularly good with this soup.

Richard Wottrich

Croissants & the Muslims

Is the croissant French? Or do the croissant and the Ottoman Empire share a common thread in history? Perhaps it was to celebrate the defeat of a Muslim invasion at the decisive Battle of Tours by the Franks in 732. Or perhaps it was invented in Vienna, Austria in 1683 to celebrate the defeat of the Turks to Polish forces in the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags. The city bakers, who arose early to prepare their pastries, purportedly heard the tunneling operation and gave the alarm saving the city. Later during the reign of Marie Antoinette (1774-1792) it is believed that she introduced the croissant to France.

The problem with these historical myths is that they cannot be substantiated. In fact there is no reference to the croissant known until after 1800. An early French reference to a croissant is among the "fantasy or luxury breads" in Payen's Des substances alimentaires, 1853.

As Wikipedia states, The "birth" of the croissant itself - that is, its adaptation from the plainer form of kipfel, before its subsequent evolution (to a puff pastry) - can be dated with some precision to 1839 (some say 1838), when an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang, founded a Viennese Bakery ("Boulangerie Viennoise") at 92, rue de Richelieu in Paris. This bakery, which served Viennese specialties including the kipfel and the Vienna loaf, quickly became popular and inspired French imitators (and the concept, if not the term, viennoiserie, a 20th century term for supposedly Vienna-style pastries). The French version of the kipfel was named for its crescent (croissant) shape.

So it would appear that the French origin of the croissant is safely tucked into a Parisian bakery and there can be no doubt that it reached its pinnacle in France after all. In the French preparation, croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry. The yeast dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a sheet, a technique called laminating. Croissant pastry can also be wrapped around any praline, almond paste or chocolate before it is baked (in the last case, it becomes like pain au chocolat, which has a different, non-crescent, shape), or sliced to admit sweet or savory fillings.

The following recipe is from the SS France (1961), a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, or French Line) ocean liner. (sold and scrapped 2006-2008)

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp flour
3 sticks butter (3/4 pound) of butter or margarine, equally divided and softened at room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1-1/2 cups milk, warmed to 80°F to 90°F (27°C to 32°C)
1/2 cup half-and-half, warmed
1 egg
1 Tbsp water

Instructions:

Sprinkle 3 Tbsp flour over butter and blend together on the work surface. On a length of foil, fashion a 6" square of soft butter; fold over the sides of the foil to enclose. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 2 to 3 hours.

While the butter is chilling, prepare the dough. To mix by hand, in a large mixing or mixer bowl, blend 2 cups of the flour with salt and sugar. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add it and the warmed milk and half-and-half to the flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon or the flat blade of an electric mixer to thoroughly blend the batter like dough, about 2 minutes.

Stir in additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, to make a soft but not sticky dough (it will stiffen when chilled.) Knead by hand or under a dough hook for 5 minutes to form a solid mass.

If using a food processor, attach the steel blade. Place 2 cups flour in the work bowl and add the dry ingredients. Pulse to mix. Pour the 1/4 cup water, milk, and half-and-half through the feed tube. Pulse once or twice to be certain that all dry ingredients are moistened. Add the balance of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, turning the machine on briefly after each addition. When the mixture forms a mass and begins to clean the sides of the bowl, knead for 30 seconds. Don't over knead!

This begins the process of cooling the dough and at the same time allowing it to rise. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Determine that both butter and dough are about the same temperature — 65°F (23°C) is ideal. The block of butter should bend but not break (too cold) nor be oily (too warm) when bent slightly. This may mean taking the butter out of the refrigerator an hour or so early to reach workable temperature. Likewise for the dough. Place the dough on a floured work surface and with the hands press it into a 10" square. Unwrap the block of butter and lay the block diagonally on the dough. Bring each point of dough into the center, overlapping the edges at least 1". Press the dough into a neat package. With a heavy rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle, approximately 8" x 18". This dimension is not critical.

Caution: If the butter seems to be breaking into small pieces under the dough rather than remaining solid, allow the dough/butter to warm a few minutes. But if the butter softens, becomes sticky, and oozes while making the turns, put the dough back into the refrigerator for several minutes.

Fold the length of dough into thirds, as for a letter. Turn so that the open ends are at twelve and six o'clock. Roll again into a rectangle. This time, fold both ends into the middle and then close, as one would a book. The dough will now be in 4 layers. Wrap the package of dough in a cloth (an old tea towel is good) that has been soaked in cold water and wrung dry. Place the wrapped dough in the refrigerator to relax and chill for 1 or 2 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on the floured work surface. Unwrap, roll out, and fold in thirds, as for a letter. This is the final turn before it is rolled out and cut into croissants. Dampen cloth again and wrap loosely around the dough. Place the package in a plastic bag so moisture will be retained (not pulled out of the cloth). Leave in the refrigerator 4 to 6 hours or overnight.

Mix together the egg and 1 Tbsp of water. Have ready the egg wash, a knife or pastry cutter, and a wooden yardstick if you wish the pieces to be cut precisely otherwise, plan to cut them freehand. You may have or can borrow a French croissant cutter that cuts the dough into triangles.

Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll the dough until it is a generous 10"-x-38" rectangle, and, most importantly, about 1/4" thick. This is a crucial dimension, since it determines the size and texture of the croissants. Trim irregularities to make the strip uniform in width. Cut the strip lengthwise to make two 5" pieces. Mark the strip into triangles, 5" wide on the bottom. Using a yardstick as a guide, cut through the dough with a pastry or pizza cutter or knife. Separate the triangles, place them on a baking sheet, and chill for 15 to 20 minutes. Roll the dough into the traditional croissant shape, by rolling the triangle from the bottom to the point.

Place the croissants on a baking sheet and allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours, in which they will double in volume.

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Bake the croissants for 22 to 25 minutes. Allow them to cool on a rack before serving.

Yield: 24 to 30 croissants

Blast from the Past - Beef Bourguignon

I was sitting at The Peninsula Chicago Hotel last week having tea while waiting for a client. At the next table Mario Batali was holding court with one person after another, clearly conducting business. The fact that he is one of my cooking heroes gave me pause. He is a brilliant chef. The fact that I couldn’t bring myself to go over and bother him is another matter.

Chefs as heroes started early for me with Julia Childs and Jacques Pepin. Others would follow, but Julia was on television and therefore accessible from an early age. Last year’s movie “Julie & Julia” tried to bridge the generation gap between Julia’s TV kitchen and the digital texting, blogging, social networking world of today. It succeeded largely because of a brilliant performance by Streep (age 61).

The real star of the movie was however Beef Bourguignon, a timeless peasant dish from France that has evolved into an icon of elegance, but alas seldom cooked. It was originally a method for slowly simmering beef that was too tough to eat any other way. That it has evolved into haute cuisine speaks to improvements in the tenderness of beef and in modern kitchen equipment, but also to our yearning for comfort foods from the past.

The recipe that most of us refer to as an authentic boeuf bourguignon was first codified by Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935). Escoffier was famous as a chef, restaurateur and food writer, but his real genius was to simplify the elaborate and ornate cooking practiced in the royal kitchens of France by Antoine Carême and others. Then Julia came along to simplify and modernize even further so that ordinary Americans could recreate the same dishes at home.

In Escoffier’s’ “Le guide culinaire” Beef Bourguignon is referred to as boeuf à la bourguignonne. Lardons (batons of pig belly) were used to lard the beef of that day, as marbling the meat in giant feed lots with corn had not yet been envisaged. Today we use bacon to achieve that same umami (savoriness) that was once achieved by cooking beef bones and scraps for 24 hours to arrive at a demi-glace.

And that is really the point isn’t it? It is the sauce after all, that nuanced and complex broth of rich nectar that evolves over four hours of simmering in the oven. It is achieved by the perfect union of bacon, beef, garlic, onions, carrots, butter, olive oil, flour, tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme, beef stock, red wine, salt and pepper. It is a process. It is a dance.

Ingredients:

Kitchen Supplies:
9- to 10-inch, fireproof casserole dish, 3 inches deep
Slotted spoon

Boeuf Bourguignon:
6 ounces bacon
1 Tbsp. olive oil or cooking oil
3 pounds lean stewing beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
3 cups full-bodied, young red wine, such as Burgendy
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
1/2 tsp. thyme
Crumbled bay leaf
Blanched bacon rind
18 to 24 small white onions, brown-braised in stock
1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms, sautéed in butter
Parsley sprigs

Preparation:
Remove rind from bacon, and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, 1/4 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the stewing beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

For immediate serving: Covet the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

The Swiss Pope of Cheese

Switzerland is the epicenter for many things globally that people do not generally think about. For instance 35% of the world’s wealth is kept in its banking system, the exemplar for discreetness.

Switzerland historically has been ground zero for political neutrality, representing a haven for both sides in many world wars. Even today the Swiss Chambers' Court of Arbitration and Mediation is recognized internationally as a fair and neutral third party.

Less well known is Switzerland’s role in the environment. Its tight regulation of waste sets the standard for all of Europe, and its citizens pay perhaps the highest price for disposal of all types of contaminants. This in turn means that Switzerland sets the standard for all types of packaging, much as California automobile emissions standards set the tone for the US.

Which leads us quite naturally to Swiss cheese and a man by the name of Rolf Beeler (BAY-lor). Beeler is an affineur – a finisher of cheeses. In the entire world there are only a few such people, mostly French. An affineur advises and coaches a cheese maker on aging their cheese, how often to wash and rotate them, and how to “season” them with various bacteria. Think of a top figure skating coach leading his or her charge to the Olympic gold medal.

Beeler advances this art further by “designing” the cheese before the goat or cow is even milked. He alters the animals’ diets by designating the fields they graze on, usually at very high altitudes, and exactly what they eat.

Beeler started this quest for perfection thirty years ago, walking the high mountain meadows of the Alps, talking to the cheese makers, and of course tasting every cheese in the land. Beeler today at age 55 is well known as the Cheese Pope - http://www.rolfbeeler.ch/

Beeler’s cheeses are found in the finest artisanal shops and fine restaurants all over the world – including The French Laundry and Gramercy Tavern. Beeler’s impact is not economic, but rather he is recognized for selecting and developing the world’s finest cheeses. His influence causes ripple effects in the world of cheese. For example, Beeler reinvented the classic Swiss Emmental – pushing its maturation cycle from 7 months to 18 months and washing the rind twice a week until it turned a dark nutty brown, the way it used to be made for centuries. Now the major cheese companies are doing the same.

Just twenty or so cheeses carry the stamp “Rolf Beeler Maître Fromage.” They are made from raw milks and as Rolf says, “I like the farmer to know the name of each cow.” Beeler contends that the Swiss have surpassed the French in the finest cheese making. There is only one way to find out…

Caring for Cheese

We have no problem with the concept of planting and cultivating a vegetable or herb garden, or caring for and cooling fine wines, but for some reason people think of cheese as an inert object. It isn’t. Cheese is about caring for and developing bacteria and they deserve the same attention that any fine food ingredient receives.

You pick cheese by what you enjoy naturally, but once home what do you do with it? Paradoxically “air” is both the enemy and the friend of cheese. Cheese is a living breathing organism, so standard airtight Saran wrap suffocates it. So use wax paper to lightly wrap cheese. Properly wrapped soft cheeses will keep this way for a week and hard cheeses for a month – in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.

If blue and green surface molds appear, scrape them off. Keep blue cheeses segregated from other cheeses for this same reason. Cheese is best served at room temperature in most instances, so take them out an hour or two ahead of serving. And final warnings – never bake or freeze cheese.

Richard Wottrich

Blast from the Past – Corned Beef

First there was Salted Beef. The practice of salting meat goes back to ancient times in cold regions when they found that meat didn't spoil if it made contact with enough salt.

The term “Corned” comes from putting meat in a large crock and covering it with large rock-salt kernels that were referred to as “corns of salt.” This preserved the meat. The term Corned has been in the Oxford English Dictionary since at least 888 AD. An early mention of “Corned Beef” goes back to an English Book by Richard Burton in 1621, Anatomy of Melancholy, “...Beef ..corned young of an ox.”

Irish were the biggest exporters of Corned Beef until 1825. The region around Cork, Ireland, was a great producer of corned beef in the 1600s until 1825. It was their chief export and sent all over the world, mostly in cans. The British army was sustained on cans of Cork’s corned beef during the Napoleonic wars.

The term corn is modified from an Old Germanic word “kurnam” that meant a small seed of anything. Since a kernel of rock salt looked like a wheat or oat kernel it became known as a corn of salt.

[In Proto-Germanic (about 500 B.C.E.) the form was kurnam: this became korn in Old High German and Old Norse and corn in Old English (Anglo-Saxon), and that is the immediate origin of the modern English word corn. In classical Latin, meanwhile, the form was granum. This became grano in Spanish and Italian and grain in French, meaning 'cereal grain', and the French word was borrowed into English. The French words graine (seed) and grange (barn) derive from the same Latin word.]

Ingredients

3 pounds corned beef brisket
10 small red potatoes
5 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges

Spices

Hand-mixed from mustard seeds, Moroccan coriander, Jamaican allspice, Zanzibar cloves, Turkish bay leaves, Indian dill seed, China #1 ginger, star anise, black pepper, juniper berries, mace and cayenne red pepper.

Directions

Place corned beef in large pot or Dutch oven and cover with water. Add the spices. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer approximately 50 minutes per pound or until tender.

Add whole potatoes and carrots, and cook until the vegetables are almost tender. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove meat and let rest 15 minutes.

Place vegetables in a bowl and cover. Add as much broth (cooking liquid reserved in the Dutch oven or large pot) as you want. Slice meat across the grain.

Richard Wottrich

Sprouting Broccoli & Oyster Mushrooms in Ginger Broth with Pumpkin & Nut Dumplings

Serves 4

This Sprouting Broccoli & Oyster Mushrooms in Ginger Broth with Pumpkin & Nut Dumplings is adapted from Cafe Paradiso; Denis Cotter, voted 'Chef of the Year ' by Food & Wine (Ireland) magazine in 2005.

Make a broth by combining the following and bringing them to a simmer for 20 minutes and then strain:

2 pints water
1 chopped Onion
2 chopped celery sticks
1 chopped carrot
4 whole cloves garlic
3 oz sliced Ginger root
1 Serrano chili
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch parsley
3.5 oz soy sauce

Discard the vegetables & herbs & return broth to a pot with low heat. In the time the broth is simmering: Take 8 large wonton wrappers & make them into dumplings by filling them with the following mixture:

3.5 oz cooked pumpkin
1 tsp. chopped nuts (I like walnuts or macadamia nuts)
grated lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp finely chopped cilantro

(You make dumplings by wetting the edges with water, placing the stuffing in the center and folding them over to make a packet.)

Fry 4 sprigs of broccolini in oil until soft, add 4 oyster mushrooms, then 4 spring onions slices length wise until gently cooked. Add vegetables to simmering broth for 5 minutes then add the wontons for another 2 minutes. Serve in 4 bowls.

This is simply wonderful fare. And although Clayton Beck insists this is a painting of a squash it will always look like a white pumpkin to me and one that would be perfect for this little stew courtesy of Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me.

Don't Eat Anything Your Great Grandmother Wouldn't Recognize (Watch out for GRAS)

As if we needed reminding, engineered foods are never as good for you as natural organic foods. A new report from federal investigators says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to ensure the safety of thousands of additives manufacturers put in what we eat.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the congressional watchdog agency, singled out a longstanding exception to FDA rules that has concerned consumer and public health advocates for years. Substances "generally regarded as safe" by food companies' own scientific panels are immune from rigorous FDA analysis, meaning that manufacturers that want to include an additive in a product are often spared having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in safety tests and can save years in getting the product to market.

The GAO stated that:

• The FDA generally doesn't know about most of these determinations of "generally regarded as safe," or GRAS, because companies are not required to inform the agency.

• The FDA has not taken steps that could help ensure the safety of additives listed as GRAS.

• Food products may contain numerous ingredients, including GRAS substances, making it difficult, if not impossible, for public health authorities to attribute a food safety problem to a specific GRAS additive.

• The FDA does not systematically reconsider the safety of GRAS substances as new information or new methods for evaluating safety become available.

The GOA reported that it was almost impossible to link adverse effects to GRAS additives because their presence in food is rarely known to anyone beyond those responsible for it.

GRAS designations started in 1958, when Congress amended the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to say that the safety of an additive "does not need to be established with absolute certainty." Instead, the law said, a scientific panel selected by the manufacturer can rule that no harm will result from the intended use of an additive.
In reality, the only ones who know whether the additives are actually safe are the company and its own analysts, or the outside labs it hires.

Thousands of exemptions are granted by panels designated by food industry trade groups. The largest such organization, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, has bestowed GRAS on more than 2,600 additives since 1960.

So this means that a company can have an additive declared GRAS, and then import that additive from China and put it into their food product. Scary enough for you?

The easy solution is to eat natural organic foods – an apple doesn’t need a label or an additive.

Richard Wottrich

Knowledge Lost: Hors-D'Oeuvres

In the culinary tome "Larousse Gastronomique" (1961 edition) there are thirty-three pages devoted to hors-d'oeuvres, with well over 500 preparations! How many people today under the age of 30 know what a hors-d'oeuvre is? OMGYG2BK!

Historically these were meant to be light and delicate snacks additional to the main luncheon or dinner. In the 1950s no self respecting American cocktail party would be without several hors-d'oeuvres, both cold and hot. Oddly this evolution is French as derived from Russia, following a custom there referred to as "Zakuski" - a kind of dinner-before-dinner, served with Vodka and other spirits (hors-d'oeuvres á la russe).

In fact the language of hors-d’oeuvres sounds today as ancient as Sanskrit – knowledge lost.

Anchovy scrolls á la Nicoise

Free anchovy fillets from salt, scrape and dry in a cloth. Flatten the fillets and coat them with a thin layer of fish purée or any other mixture suitable for cold hors-d’oeuvres. Roll the fillets into scrolls. Hollow some very small raw tomatoes. Marinate them and fill two thirds with the same purée. Place the scrolls in the tomatoes. Garnish to taste, as with chopped egg yolks and egg whites, capers and chopped parsley. Dress with a thin trickle of fine olive oil.

Canapés á la livonienne

Slice a dark rye loaf of rectangular shape; spread the slices with a compound horseradish butter. Garnish with slivers of herring filets alternating with thin ribbons of good tart apples, brushed lightly with oil and surround with a border of chopped chives.

Sausages á la maltaise

Fry small artisan sausages quickly in butter. Cut a sandwich loaf into thick rectangular pieces. Hollow out and fry in butter. Put one sausage on each piece of fried bread. Add white wine to the butter in which the sausages were fried, stirring well. Season with a little chopped shallot. Make a rich demi-glace sauce (reduction). Blanch some orange peel, drain, cut into very thin strips and add to the demi-glace sauce. Pour this sauce over the sausages.

JTLYK