We eat what?: a cultural encyclopedia of unusual foods in the United States 9781440841125, 9781440841118, 1440841128

Citation preview

We Eat What?

We Eat What? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Unusual Foods in the United States

JONATHAN DEUTSCH, EDITOR BENJAMIN FULTON, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ALEXANDRA ZEITZ, RECIPE EDITOR

Copyright © 2018 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The publisher has done its best to make sure the instructions and/or recipes in this book are correct. However, users should apply judgment and experience when preparing recipes, especially parents and teachers working with young people. The publisher accepts no responsibility for the outcome of any recipe included in this volume and assumes no liability for, and is released by readers from, any injury or damage resulting from the strict adherence to, or deviation from, the directions and/or recipes herein. The publisher is not responsible for any reader's specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision, nor for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book. All yields are approximations. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Deutsch, Jonathan, compiler. Title: We eat what? : a cultural encyclopedia of unusual foods in the United States / Jonathan Deutsch, editor; Benjamin Fulton, contributing editor; Alexandra Zeitz, recipe editor. Description: Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017052425 (print) | LCCN 2017057629 (ebook) | ISBN 9781440841125 (ebook) | ISBN 9781440841118 (hardcopy : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Food—United States—Encyclopedias. | Ethnic food—United States—Encyclopedias. | Food habits—United States—Encyclopedias. Classification: LCC TX349 (ebook) | LCC TX349 .D496 2018 (print) | DDC 394.1/20973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052425 ISBN: 978-1-4408-4111-8 (print) 978-1-4408-4112-5 (ebook) 22 21 20 19 18  1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available as an eBook. Greenwood An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 www.abc-clio.com This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Prefaceix Introductionxiii Akutaq1 Alligator3 Anadama Bread 5 Armadillo7 Barbacoa10 Bean-Hole Beans 13 Bear16 Bergers18 Bialy20 Blood22 Boiled Peanuts 25 Bone Marrow 28 Booyah30 Boudin Blanc and Noir 36 Brains39 Bread-and-Butter Pickles 41 Brunswick Stew 43 Buffalo45 Burgoo48 Cactus52 Cannabis55 Cape May Salt Oysters 58 Catfish and Waffles 60 Chaudin63 Cheese Ball 66 Cheese Curds 69 Cheesesteak71 Cherry Pie 74 Chicken Feet 78 Chicken-Fried Steak 81 Chicory Coffee 83 Chislic87 Chow-Chow89 Cincinnati Chili 91

vi

Contents

Coddies95 Coffee Milk 97 Deep-Dish Pizza 100 Deep-Fried Fair Foods 102 Dorothy Lynch 105 Dundas Sheep Stew 107 Eel111 Emu114 Fastnacht118 Fluffernutter120 Foie Gras 122 Fried Green Tomatoes 126 Frito Pie 128 Frog Eye Salad 132 Fry Sauce 134 Frybread136 Funnel Cake 138 Garbage Plate 142 Geoduck144 Goat147 Goetta150 Gooey Butter Cake 153 Grits156 Gumbo158 Half-Smoke160 Hoagie163 Hoppin’ John 165 Horseshoe Sandwich 169 Hot Dish 171 Huckleberry Ice Cream 176 Hush Puppies 178 Insects181 Intestines184 Jambalaya188 Kentucky Hot Brown 191 King Cake 193 Kishke197 Kombucha199 Koolickles200 Livermush203 Loco Moco 205 Loose Meat Sandwich 207 Lutefisk210 Maple215 Muffuletta218

Contents

Muskrat221 Olive Loaf 224 Peeps227 Pemmican230 Pig’s Ears 232 Pig’s Snout and Tail 235 Pittsburgh Sandwich 238 Poi240 Poke242 Polish Boy Sandwich 244 Pork Roll 246 Potica249 Poutine Râpée 258 Râpée Pie 262 Red-Eye Gravy 265 Roadkill267 Root Beer and Birch Beer 269 Salt Pork 272 Scrapple275 Shoofly Pie 277 Slinger280 Snake282 Son-of-a-B—tch Stew 284 Sonoran Hot Dog 288 Spam290 Spiedies294 Squirrel295 Steamed Cheeseburgers 298 Succotash301 Testicles304 Turducken306 Turtle310 Walrus Flipper 315 Watergate Salad 316 Whoopie Pie 319 Selected Bibliography 323 About the Editor and Contributors 325 Index331

vii

Preface

Eating is our most frequently enjoyed intimate act. Internalizing food as nourishment and pleasure is a great commonality across time and space. Yet it is striking how the content of what is considered palatable or draws disgust varies among people. This notion is what inspired us to develop They Eat That? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from around the World in 2012, an homage to the myriad cuisines and dishes one encounters as one travels around the planet, and often just across the street, as food shrinks the distance between populations. As adventurous food lovers ourselves, we challenged chefs and food writers, food studies students, and scholars to dish up their most fascinating entrées—though to those who eat them, they may just be dinner. From 1,000-year-old eggs to camel to casu marzu (maggoty cheese), the collection tried not to shock readers (though some entries may have been particularly shocking), but rather to hook them by introducing fascinating food habits that may be in one’s own backyard or on the other side of the world. Some, like the entry on insects, took an item found everywhere and considered how it is consumed as food by various people, from chocolate-covered ants to roasted grasshoppers to the shellac used in making jelly beans. Others, like Vieux Bologne, a particularly potent cheese, are standout foods from particular regions. Entries ranged from everyday foods that we might take for granted (for example, bone marrow, found inside bones, steaks, and chops), unusual cultural preparations like hákarl (fermented shark), foods common worldwide but with somewhat of a gross-out factor to many (eel), and some foods that most would not consider foods (urine, earth) but which nevertheless some people eat. While They Eat That? was favorably reviewed, and included foods from around the world, including the United States, as editor I felt that I could have done a better job anticipating and addressing a key criticism: Aren’t a lot of the foods that we in the United States eat just as unusual? By highlighting the Other, from many parts of the world, are we failing to sufficiently consider our own food traditions? In some instances, it may be a matter of examining closely a ubiquitous delicacy that we take for granted but that, upon closer consideration, seems bizarre in its origin or production (honey, cheese); it may be a beloved regional specialty that, to the uninitiated, is perplexing (lutefisk, scrapple); or it may be a branded product that holds layers of meaning and evokes emotion in those who grew up with the product (Bergers, Spam). We Eat What? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Unusual Foods in the United States builds on They Eat That? by turning the gaze on ourselves to consider important foods like these, eaten in the United States, whose stories might be unfamiliar to some or even most Americans. Some are included in They Eat That?;

x

Preface

others are considered in They Eat That? but, in this case, applied to and focused on the United States; and others are entirely new topics specific to this book. “Unusual,” of course, is a relative term. As discussed in They Eat That?, what may seem an unthinkable food to one person may be beloved to another. To someone who grew up eating crawfish or crabs, for example, there is nothing unusual about deftly dissecting the bodies to get to the sweet flesh. To the uninitiated, however, it may seem a bizarre spectacle, not to mention a gruesome and complex task requiring know-how and a lot of work. I adore and crave the funky aroma of blue cheese—others (including my own children) are perplexed how anyone could stomach that coagulated and fermented old moldy milk. It is important to remember context in reading the entries in this book—everything is unusual to someone, even our most closely held and tastiest food traditions. The wonderful thing about the study of food (or the frustrating thing, depending on your perspective) is that it never ends. There will always be a food of which you have never heard, and just when you feel you have mastery of a topic, more and more new products are introduced to the market. The study of food is a commitment to a lifetime of learning. Similarly, this volume is not intended to be comprehensive but rather reflective of the diversity and complexity of the foods we eat. This book could easily be 10 times larger and still omit important foods. One of the challenges in editing We Eat What? has been deciding which items represent food culture in the United States, and should be included, as opposed to items that can be found in the United States but that are not necessarily embraced as American. Because of our rich immigrant tradition, global food system, and the quality of food distribution and food safety, nearly every item mentioned in They Eat That? is available in the United States (though at times illegally). In this volume, we focus not only on the foods in They Eat That? that come from or that can be found in the United States (for example, insects) but also on those from elsewhere that have become an inextricable part of American food culture (for example, barbacoa). Other examples are foods that were available elsewhere but take on iconic status as a U.S. food (for example, chicory coffee in New Orleans), or have roots elsewhere but develop a uniquely U.S. regional food identity (for example, gumbo). Another category, of course, is that of U.S. brands (for example, Spam) that are beloved at home and even become ambassadors (for better or worse) of American foodways abroad. While we strive to present a volume with good diversity of entries representing various U.S. regions, cultural traditions, food types, and stories, it is impossible to present a comprehensive volume. Given the abundance of cultural food traditions in the United States, more foods are excluded than included in this volume. The intent is to celebrate those included and pique readers’ interest in exploring more. The book may be read cover-to-cover, used as a reference volume, or dipped into in any order. It can serve as a reference for projects and papers; it is great to browse for ideas; and you can even challenge yourself to expand your palate by trying a new food every week. The entries were selected through a variety of methods. First, relevant entries from They Eat That? were included (reprinted or revised). Next, we circulated a

Preface

preliminary list among some food and culture colleagues, including the listserv of the leading organization in the field, the 400-plus-member Association for the Study of Food and Society, to solicit suggestions for must-include entries. That list yielded numerous additional suggestions for entries. Finally, individual contributors pitched contributions given their professional interests and expertise, naming items that they passionately felt needed to be included in such a volume. We aim to establish the cultural identity of each entry. Who eats it and how? Foods have individual meanings, and this was our opportunity to examine them. What is this dish’s significance? Is it a food with health associations? What is the historical significance? (How did it come to be?) When is the dish generally eaten? (Is it an everyday item or a ceremonial food?) Our hope is that you use these teaser entries to become fascinated by the study of food and culture and keep exploring. To that end, each entry has suggestions for further reading. The strength of this collection is in its contributors. We are so fortunate to count among them some of the leading scholars of cultural foods, emerging scholars from food studies programs across the country, professional writers and journalists, independent scholars, and established scholars in other disciplines who have a passion for—and deep understanding of—the intersection of food and culture. I am extraordinarily grateful for their contributions. This is truly their book—the editors are traffic police, project managers, and talent recruiters. A note about the recipes: For those who want to taste these foods, we have included adapted or original recipes where possible. Many of the ingredients may be challenging to find (and certainly not at your local grocery store), but we hope you will not let that deter you! Most of the entries have a recipe for the food itself (horseshoe sandwich, for example) or for a food made with the entry’s featured item (eel). This is not a cookbook, though many of the recipes will have delicious results. In this case, each recipe is intended to be an illustration of how the food is prepared, rather than a strict formula for its preparation. With that, we invite you to learn, taste, and explore some of the lesser-known and key foods in U.S. food culture.

xi

Introduction*

When I teach cooking and food studies courses, I often have students meet one another on the first day of class by conducting a food interview. There is only one rule that students have to observe: every question of the interview must be about food. So a question like “Where do you live?” would be out of bounds, but “What are your favorite foods?” “What did you have for breakfast today?” or “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” are all fair game. The answers are illuminating. Students connect with each other instantly and meaningfully in a way not possible with standard introduction questions like “Where did you go to high school?” or “What’s your major?” Food is a potent medium that opens up so many other issues. Starting with food, students launch into stories about their ethnic heritage, their childhood and family dynamics, gender roles and division of labor at home, their neighborhood structure and urban planning, their schedules at school and work, their deep-seated likes and dislikes, health conditions, allergies, nutrition concerns and weight-loss goals, finances, budgets and career goals, and so much more. The French gastronome Brillat-Savarin quipped, in 1825, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are” (often misquoted as “You are what you eat”). He well understood the social and cultural power of food. By far the most fascinating question that comes up in this exercise, though, is, “What are some things you do not eat?” If asking about what we eat can reveal something about ourselves, asking what we do not eat and why we avoid it introduces even more deeply held opinions, passions, ideas, and emotions. Religion, culture, nutrition, upbringing, childhood memory, sensory perception, morals, taboo, status, and more are wrapped up in these simple responses to what one would not eat. Who knew that a grasshopper, fermented beans, or a barbecued rib could be so fraught! Further fascinating is that, inevitably, food that is the grossest thing imaginable for one student (perhaps pork for a Muslim student) is the desert island food for another. These foods, familiar to some, strange to others, but ultimately eaten by someone somewhere, never fail to fascinate and are the subject of this encyclopedia. Beyond the shock value, however, of eating a sausage made of blood, for example (see boudin noir), it is our hope that you as a reader will ask some key questions: *Portions

of this introduction were revised from They Eat That? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from around the World (ABC-CLIO 2012).

xiv

INTRODUCTION

Why? How did this food come to be eaten? What is the cultural significance? And most important, where can I try some? Because in reading this book, an open mind is the difference between a voyeuristic and/or ethnocentric approach (“Eww, we eat that? Gross!”) and an educational touristic one (“We eat that? Interesting. I want to learn more about the food, the people, and the culture”). Why Food?

The need for food and drink is our most powerful biological drive. Quite simply, without it, we die. But food is much more than nutrients allowing us to thrive. The foods we eat—how they are grown, how they come to market, how we procure them, cook them (or buy them cooked), and eat them, including when and with whom—together form our foodways or ways with food. These foodways are shaped by numerous factors. Consider something as simple as what you ate during your last meal. What considerations went into determining why you ate what you did? Think about the region of the world in which you live and what foods are available in that region and at what cost. What are the food traditions of that region and are you following them, bucking them, or adapting them? Were you home or on the go? Were you dining alone or with others? If dining with others, were these peers, colleagues, or family members? Who paid for the meal and who prepared it? Did the flavors and preparation methods come from your cultural tradition(s) or others? Were you trying to reach any health goals? Did you have health conditions or food allergies of concern? How were you feeling at the time—adventurous, seeking comfort, happy, sad, celebratory, blasé? Was it a holiday or an ordinary day? Were you in public or private? Were you trying to make a statement with your food? Food is a simple substance necessary for life, but it is also extraordinarily complex and an important signifier of individual or group identity. The foods you eat or avoid communicate with what food scholar Annie Hauck-Lawson calls the food voice. If I invite you over for dinner and offer you oysters, champagne, and filet mignon, what is the food saying differently than if I offered you spaghetti and meatballs? And how would the food voice change if the spaghetti were homemade? In this encyclopedia, the challenge is to go beyond the mere description of the foods in order to listen to the food voice—What does eating this food say about the people who are eating it? And what does avoiding this food say? Flip through the book now, and choose a food on which to try asking those questions. What Is Unusual?

Some foods, like human flesh, are almost universally rejected and considered weird, gross, deplorable, depraved. Others, like lutefisk, are considered culturally important to some and strange and unappealing to others. And, of course, many foods beloved by you, the reader, whether it is a peanut butter sandwich for lunch or a breakfast of congee with 1,000-year-old egg, may seem weird to others who do not share your personal, family, or cultural tradition.

INTRODUCTION xv

Often foods we take for granted as normal are, in fact, unusual or even off-putting when you think about them critically. Imagine eating insect vomit. Any volunteers? When you realize that our beloved honey is made by honeybees that eat pollen and then process it through regurgitation, you may look at it differently. The sweet taste and seductive aroma certainly masks its provenance. Or how about a dish made from sour, moldy milk? It may be more familiar as cheese. Put this way, it becomes easier to understand why someone from one culture may find a blue cheese dressing as deplorable as another finds stinky fermented tofu. It is critical, then, to remember throughout this encyclopedia that while weird can be fascinating, it is also relative—weird to you may be snack to me. And vice versa. Weirdness

Despite the relativity of weirdness, we can, nevertheless, categorize unusual food— beloved by some, hated by others, and totally ridiculous to more—into a few categories. These are arbitrary for sure, but most of the unusual foods we consider are: • Animals. People are picky about their meat. In the United States, for example, Americans eat fish and seafood, chicken, beef, pork, veal, lamb, and turkey, and almost nothing else. But there is a host of edible animals eaten throughout the world: insects, snake, lizard, frog, armadillo, rabbit, bear, squirrel, turtle, horse, dog, sea cucumber, seal, camel, and even human. • Fermented. Fermentation is a process where yeast or bacteria eat the sugar in food and produce alcohol, heat, and carbon dioxide. The thought of bacteria in your food may be off-putting at first, but many of the staples of diets around the world—bread, beer, wine, pickles, yogurt, cheese, sausages, soy sauce, ham, and even chocolate— are fermented. Fermentation can yield a variety of flavors, as illustrated by the list above. The same process can also yield some strongly flavored, often dubbed “weird” foods like kombucha, natto, stinky tofu, poi, hákarl, and fermented walrus flipper. • Manufactured. Sometimes weird foods are not long-standing culinary traditions but products introduced by creative manufacturers or commercial versions of traditional foods. Canna Cola, Spam, Vegemite, and salmiakki come to mind. • Slimy. Often the sensory properties of the food make it seem weird or inapproachable to those unfamiliar with it. Words like “slimy” and “gooey” are used for foods like lutefisk, natto, fish eyes, octopus, squid, frog, snake, hákarl, and blood. The image, texture, and mouthfeel of these foods go a long way to putting them high on the weirdness scale. • Creepy/crawly. Anthropologist Mary Douglas theorized that taboo foods in the bible are those that do not confirm to standard categories—for example, shellfish are sea creatures but do not swim. Foods like squid, octopus, eel, insects (including honey ants), rat, and snake fit into this category. Many people don’t quite know what to do with creepy, crawly things, and eating them may not come to mind right away. • Body parts. Many people relish the opportunity to eat part of an animal (a ham, for example), but other parts nearby (such as the pig’s testicles a few inches from the ham) are weird or gross. Placenta, sex organs, liver, bile, ink, blood, eyes, and air bladder are examples.

xvi

INTRODUCTION

Invitation

When I was in high school, I did not particularly enjoy history and social studies. We spent time learning about wars, politicians, museums, and monuments. The only day I liked was when each year we would bring in a food from a culture we were studying. Later, in graduate school, I discovered the field of food studies. Starting with the food—what is being eaten here, how did this come to be, what is the significance, and what does it taste like—introduced what was, to me, a much more meaningful way to learn about history, society, and culture. Why is salt cod eaten in the Caribbean, where there is an abundance of fresh fish but not a live cod to be found? How did Spam come to be a culturally significant dish in the State of Hawaii? How did cardamom come to be a standard ingredient in Swedish desserts? How did bagels and lox become such an important Jewish food? Why do women do most of the cooking in the United States, but male chefs dominate the food TV show schedule? Answering these food studies questions necessarily invokes the history and politics that I shied away from in my secondary education, but in a way that makes sense to me. We invite you to take a similar food studies journey in this encyclopedia, getting hooked first by the wow factor—We eat that? And next, by the thoughtful questioning of how things came to be that way, and what it means. This encyclopedia can be used in a number of ways. We made an effort to recruit not only smart food scholars but also scholars who are engaging and entertaining writers. We’ve read this book cover-to-cover a couple times while putting it together, and it’s actually fun! We encourage you to do the same. Of course, as an encyclopedia this book is primarily a reference work, and the alphabetical organization allows it to be a helpful aid in working on projects or papers on various cultural food traditions or, we have found, getting ideas about foods and food traditions you may not have known existed. Finally, you may find this book, as we do, a great bedside, travel, or waiting room companion. Flip through, and when your eyebrows raise and you ask yourself, “We eat that?” stop and learn more.

A A K U TA Q Akutaq, or agutak (pronounced a-goo-duk), is a traditional Alaska Native food. Literally meaning “mixture,” from the Yup’ik verb akute meaning “to mix or stir,” akutaq refers to a combination of animal fats and oils with berries or greens, and may also include cooked fish, sugar, mashed potatoes, or snow. For many Alaska Natives, akutaq serves as a tangible marker of cultural identity and, as a comfort food, commonly evokes nostalgia for people and events of the past. It appears at celebratory gatherings, special occasions, and funerals and serves as an occasional homemade treat. Akutaq-making demonstrations and taste contests have also become regular features at cultural centers and heritage festivals, increasing recognition of the traditional food outside Native communities. Throughout the state of Alaska, it is also known by the anglicized misnomer “Eskimo ice cream” or “traditional ice cream,” despite the lack of dairy products, but owing to its smooth, frozen texture. Recipes are seldom written down and instead are passed down through family lines, with younger generations watching and learning from parents or elders. The quantity of ingredients is determined through experience, rather than measurement. As a result, numerous variations exist across the state, but each family tends to have its own special version. The base of akutaq is a fat that has been hand-whipped until fluffy, but the specific fat used will vary widely by region, as traditional akutaq preparations incorporate the tallow of local fauna; muskox, bear, or caribou might be used in the north, while moose, caribou, or reindeer dominate inland. Along Alaska’s northern coasts, walrus blubber is traditionally used as a base. Today, however, it is not uncommon to find a vegetable-based shortening like Crisco or commercially available beef tallow used as a substitute, particularly in urban areas. Seal oil is drizzled into the rendered base fat as the ingredients are mixed by hand until creamy. Nearly all versions of contemporary akutaq contain one or more variety of berries, depending on region and family, gently incorporated into the frothy fat. Salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis), crowberries (Empetrum nigrum, locally called blackberries), cloudberries (Rhubrus chamaemorus L., sometimes referred to a lowbush salmonberry), lingonberries (locally called cranberries), and blueberries grow wild throughout the Alaskan tundra and are gathered by the bucketful when in season. Commercially grown berries or canned fruits or raisins are a recent addition to akutaq, particularly in cities. Seasonal and regional variations also exist. Some households add local greens, such as sourdock, or incorporate liver or fish eggs depending on availability.

2

AKUTAQ

Popular upriver akutaq contains cooked fish—especially whitefish. The fresh fish is scaled, gutted, quartered, and boiled, before being skinned and deboned. The remaining meat is squeezed to remove any excess liquid, finely crumbled, and then blended in with the fat base. Mashed potatoes may also be used in place of fish to replicate the texture. The precise origins of the dish are unknown, but the accepted history is that akutaq was developed hundreds if not thousands of years ago as a portable, nutrient- and calorie-dense diet staple that could sustain hunters over long trips in the freezing Arctic temperatures. Though akutaq is now treated as a dessert or snack, traditionally it would have been a savory subsistence food, lacking in the sweetness now obtained from the addition of sugar. In outlying Inuit villages, akutaq containing the dried meat of wild game is still consumed in this manner. The animal fats and oils used in akutaq are rich in fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins A and D, while the addition of berries, fish, or greens served as a way to preserve sources of vitamin C and other micronutrients, particularly in the winter months when fresh sources weren’t available. Though modern refrigeration no longer necessitates that wild fruits be mixed with fats in order to be preserved in permafrost cellars, akutaq is still frequently made in the summer months, when berry harvests are plentiful, and frozen for later use. Traditional akutaq can be difficult to find commercially because of restrictions on the selling of native foods. Certain subsistence foods that form the basis of akutaq— locally caught fish and wild game—are legal for Alaska Natives and permit-holding residents to obtain but barred from sale, raising concern about the sourcing of akutaq ingredients at local markets and cultural centers where only akutaq made with commercially processed fish and oils meet food safety regulations. Thus, when many Alaskan visitors describe akutaq, they are most likely describing a particular version of “coastal” akutaq, a version containing only fat, berries, and sugar, made with Crisco and only supplemented with animal fats and oils. Stephanie C. Jolly Modern Akutaq

Yield: About 10 servings (1/2 cup each) Ingredients 1 cup vegetable shortening or lard 1 cup sugar 3 cups fresh or thawed blueberries, lingonberries, raspberries, blackberries, salmonberries, cloudberries, and/or other local berry of your choosing Directions 1. In a large bowl, add in the vegetable shortening and whip with one hand until it becomes soft and creamy. 2. Add the sugar and continue to whip by hand, incorporating air, until the sugar is fully blended and the mixture is light and fluffy.

ALLIGATOR

3. Add any juice of the berries and whip once more to fully incorporate. 4. Stir in the berries by hand until evenly distributed. Further Reading Demer, Lisa. 2015. “Can Traditional Alaska Native Foods Be Sold? A Clash of Legal, Cultural Opinions.” Alaska Dispatch News. https://www.adn.com/rural-alaska/article/selling-native -traditional-foods-fuels-emotions-about-what-some-consider-taboo/2015/08/02. Spray, Zona. 2016. “What Is Eskimo Ice Cream?” Smithsonian Institution. July 25. http:// www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/eskimo-ice-cream-atlas-of-eating-native-cuisine​ -food-eats-smithsonian-journeys-travel-quarterly-180959431.

A L L I G AT O R The alligator, a reptile that can grow up to 14 feet in length, is native to the United States and China. The species of alligator found in the United States is the American alligator and is only found in the southeastern United States. Alligator can be eaten in two forms, both the alligator meat and alligator eggs. Alligator is considered a healthy meat, as it is low in fat and high in protein. The meat comes in three types: pink body meat, white tail meat, and dark tail meat. It is said to taste like the dark meat of chicken, but with a slight fishy taste. It is contested which meat is most commonly eaten; some claim that the tail meat is best and most consumed, while others rave about the rib meat. According to Chef Kenny Gilbert of Gilbert’s Underground Kitchen in Fernandina Beach, Florida, alligator is best prepared in the smoker. The Catholic Church classifies alligator meat as fish, and therefore it is permissible for Catholics to eat alligator on Fridays during Lent when meat is not to be consumed. It is common for people in the Southeast to hunt alligator for sport. In the United States, alligator hunting is legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, with the proper license. Alligator hunting was unregulated until 1973, when the alligator was identified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Alligator meat can also be sourced from alligator farms. The Seminole Indians of Florida ate alligator, using other animals such as cormorants as bait when hunting alligator from their canoes. Alligator meat is prepared in many ways, including blackened, fried, in stews, in sausages, and in even more adventurous dishes such as alligator sushi and gator gumbo, both in the home and in restaurants, predominantly in the southeastern United States. Alligator eggs can be consumed and were eaten as a source of nutrition in the early 1900s, but now it is illegal to harvest wild alligator eggs without a permit. Alligator meat contains 143 calories per 3.5-ounce serving, 3 percent of which is fat, and contains 65 milligrams of cholesterol. Alligator meat is a good source of phosphorus, potassium, vitamin B12, niacin, and monounsaturated fatty acids. Jacque-Imo’s Café in New Orleans serves shrimp and alligator sausage cheesecake as an appetizer. Lulu’s Bait Shack in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also serves

3

4

ALLIGATOR

Fried alligator in New Orleans. “Chicken frying” is a popular and approachable way to prepare this meat. (Matabum/Dreamstime.com)

alligator as an appetizer as “alligator bites, Prime Gator Tail Fried Golden & Served With Fries. Lemon Pepper Mayo On the Side for Dipping” and even offers a “gator bite” vodka drink served in a souvenir fishbowl. Also in Fort Lauderdale, Coconuts serves a whole rack of grilled alligator ribs; a special rub and marinade is used on the alligator meat. Alligator is on menus as a hamburger—like at the Shuck ’N Dive in Fort Lauderdale, offering gator and hot sausage patties. The highly acclaimed Alligator Soul in Savannah offers Gator Jambalaya. Sally Baho Fried Gator

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 pound alligator meat, cut into 1-inch chunks Salt and freshly ground pepper Flour, for dredging 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup hot sauce Ranch dressing, for dipping

ANADAMA BREAD

Directions 1. Heat a deep-fryer to 350º F. 2. Place flour on a flat plate; set aside. Lightly season gator meat with salt and pepper, then dredge all sides in flour. 3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine buttermilk and hot sauce. 4. Dip gator meat into the buttermilk mixture and then again in the flour. 5. Place carefully in deep fryer and fry until golden brown. 6. Drain on paper towels. 7. Serve with ranch dressing. Recipe adapted from one originally created by Paula Deen. Further Reading Deen, Paula. 2013. “Fried Gator.” Food Network, December 24. http://www.foodnetwork​ .com/recipes/paula-deen/fried-gator-recipe-1917335. Heffelfinger, Julia. 2016. “5 Things You Didn’t Know about Eating Alligator Meat.” Food & Wine. March 23. http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/5-things-you-didnt​ -know-about-eating-alligator-meat.

ANADAMA BREAD Anadama bread is a New England yeast bread. Made with wheat or rye flour, it is somewhat unusual today for its inclusion of cornmeal and molasses, both of which were common to many recipes of early American settlers. Hearty and dense, with a sweet and nutty flavor, this loaf is usually sliced for toast and sandwiches. As illustrated by its folksy legendary origins, Anadama bread embodies the local pride and colonial roots of the North Shore of Boston. Apocryphal stories about the origins of Anadama bread have been instrumental to its marketing. The legends are similar but vary slightly. The core narrative is as follows: Every day a disgruntled Yankee farmer or fisherman came home from a hard day at work to discover that his wife Anna was nowhere to be found and had once again prepared nothing but boiled cornmeal mush for his dinner. In a fit of exasperation, he said, “Anna, damn her,” as he resolutely reached for flour, molasses, and yeast, which he added to the cornmeal mush. The resulting bread became a local favorite. This story and its variations developed in the 1800s, and they are repeated even today on the menus of local restaurants and bakeries that serve Anadama bread (Smith 2013, 202). The actual name “Anadama bread” first appeared in print in the 19th century, but versions of the loaf were most likely baked in many New England kitchens much earlier, as a variety of sweetened cornbreads were common to colonial American foodways, including Johnny cake and Indian bread (Olver 2017). According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Anadama Bread was officially introduced as a brand in 1850, either in Rockport or in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Anadama Mixes, Inc., was the first company to market the bread in 1876 (White 2015).

5

6

ANADAMA BREAD

Since then, commercial bakers in New England making Anadama bread have come and gone. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Rockport-based company, Baker Knowlton, sold the bread door to door in horse-drawn carts driven by men in blue smocks. Also in Rockport, the Blacksmith Shop began baking the bread in the 1940s, eventually opening an industrial bakery that delivered it to customers all over New England until the factory closed in 1970 (White 2015). Today, Klink’s Baking Company in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, distributes Anadama bread to regional grocery stores, while the Friendly Toast, a restaurant with locations in Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, offers it as a signature menu item. Anadama bread is not a particularly nutritious food, with low fiber, minimal vitamins and minerals, and added sugars. One slice does, however, provide moderate amounts of potassium, iron, and protein. James Martin Moran Anadama Bread

Yield: 2 loaves Ingredients ½ cup yellow cornmeal 2 cups water, boiled ½ cup molasses 1 tablespoon butter, melted 2 teaspoons salt 1 package rapid-rise/fast-acting yeast 4½ cups all-purpose flour Directions 1. Put the cornmeal in a large mixing bowl. 2. Pour boiling water over the cornmeal. 3. Stir until smooth, making sure that it does not lump. Let stand for 30 minutes. 4. Blend the molasses, butter, salt, and yeast into the cornmeal mixture. 5. Stir in the flour, and beat for 10 minutes in a stand mixer using a dough hook. 6. Spoon dough into 2 buttered loaf pans, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm spot until double in bulk. 7. Preheat the oven to 350º F (180º C). 8. Bake bread for 45–50 minutes on lower rack. 9. Remove from pans and cool. Slice, and serve toasted with butter, jam, or honey. Adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 12th edition (New York: Bantam Books, 1979).

ARMADILLO

Further Reading Bowles, Ella Shannon, and Dorothy S. Towle. 1947. Secrets of New England Cooking. New York: M. Barrows. Food History Blog. 2010. “The Legends of Anadama Bread,” June 27. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://www.world-foodhistory.com/2010/06/anadama-bread.html. Mariani, John F. 1999. “Anadama Bread.” Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink. New York: Lebhar-Friedman. Muise, Peter. 2010. New England Folklore Blog. “Anadama Bread,” January 3. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2010/01/anadama-bread​ .html. Old Farmer’s Almanac. “Anadama Bread.” Accessed January 31, 2017. http://www.almanac​ .com/recipe/anadama-bread. Olver, Lynne. 2017. “Anadama Bread.” The Food Timeline. Accessed September 5, 2017. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#anadama. Smith, Andrew F. 2013. Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Volume 2. New York: Oxford University Press. Stavely, Keith, and Kathleen Fitzgerald. 2004. America’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking. Durham: University of North Carolina Press. Tucker, Aimee. 2013. “The Legend Behind Anadama Bread,” October 1. Accessed January 31, 2017. https://newengland.com/today/food/anadama-bread-recipe. White, Joyce. 2015. A Taste of History. “Anadama Bread: A New England Tradition,” February 22. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://atasteofhistorywithjoycewhite.blogspot​ .com/2015/02/anadama-bread-new-england-tradition.html.

ARMADILLO Armadillos are mammals that began their journey to the plate in South America. The name means “little armored one” in Spanish, and it belongs to the order Cingulata and the family Dasypodidae. They are neither rodents nor reptiles, and their shell is actually bone. There are 20 varieties of armadillo, but only two outside of South America. The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is the only one found beyond the southernmost part of Mexico. Other varieties are eaten throughout South America, but some are increasingly scarce. Armadillo is also consumed by some Asian cultures as high-priced imported exotic fare or embraced by immigrant communities in the United States. Frozen armadillo meat can be found in the Manhattan and San Francisco Chinatowns. Beneath the famous armor, the armadillo’s meat has a light, almost pork-like hue and tastes similar to a rich and oily version of that meat and also a bit like rodent or reptile. It has a musty and gamey aroma that is influenced by its diet of plants in addition to ants, beetles, and grubs. Despite its smell, the armadillo has a subtle flavor. During the Great Depression, the armadillo was referred to as “Hoover hog” when many had to resort to eating armadillo meat. The animal’s rodentlike behavior and comparable gamey taste obviously spawned its other glorified moniker of “possum on the half shell.” Though the phrase “Hoover hog” was pejorative toward then-president Herbert Hoover’s failed promise of a chicken in every pot, armadillo

7

8

ARMADILLO

has become an iconic meat, finding its way into chili and barbecue at festivals in Texas and through the southeastern United States. In the Louisiana Cajun country, it would likely be prepared with a sauce piquante containing an aggressive amount of cayenne, black, and crushed pepper. The nine-banded armadillo consumed in this area is approximately two and a half feet long and weighs 12 to 17 pounds. The armadillo was only introduced to the United States in the 1850s, but its population has thrived and has spread beyond the southern states, though it remains to be seen if it has become food in the new areas. All said and done, once its bony exterior is done away with, it is ready for various preparations and can be treated similarly to pork. In the Yucatan state of Mexico, and among some Mexican immigrants to the United States, it is considered a delicacy and is prepared pibil style, which is traditionally a pork dish. It is rubbed with achiote (annatto seed), spices, and sour orange juice and roasted in an underground pit, or more commonly on a grill, with banana leaves, or braised with the same ingredients. In the states of Guerrero and Veracruz, and likewise among immigrants from those regions in the United States, the meat is seasoned with hoja santa, a leaf with an anise-like quality, and in Oaxaca it is roasted in a guajillo chili marinade. Slow roasting on sticks over open fire is a fine way to treat armadillo, and this is how they prepare it in Colombia. In the Amazon basin of Bolivia, it can be found simply boiled in its shell, then hacked into pieces before being coated in flour and flash-fried. Due to a great deal of fat between the muscles, the armadillo can be prepared successfully in many different ways. It is worth noting that the armadillo does carry some bacteria and is a known carrier of leprosy. Though this might dissuade the squeamish, as long as the meat is cooked thoroughly, there isn’t much concern. Alex Yellan Armadillo Pibil

Ingredients 1 armadillo, shelled and butchered into 2-inch chunks 1 cup achiote paste Head of garlic, roasted 2 red onions, 1 halved and sliced, 1 diced 1 medium green cabbage, chopped 16 Seville oranges, juiced, about 4 cups 4 large banana leaves Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Mix achiote with 2 cups of orange juice, onion, salt, and pepper. Then marinate armadillo for 4 hours or overnight.

ARMADILLO

2. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line baking dish with 2 banana leaves, then add armadillo and head of roasted garlic and additional cup of orange juice. Cover with 2 more banana leaves and foil. Put in oven and roast for 2 to 2½ hours until tender. 3. In separate bowls, mix diced red onion with ¼ cup orange juice, and cabbage with the remaining ¾ cup of orange juice. Season with salt, toss, and let sit at room temperature. 4. Serve armadillo with black beans, warm tortillas, pickled cabbage, and onions. Further Reading Kalmbach, E. R. 1944. The Armadillo: Its Relation to Agriculture and Game. Austin, TX: Game, Fish and Oyster Commission. Pembleton, Seliesa. 1992. The Armadillo. New York: Dillon Press.

9

B BARBACOA In his article “Barbacoa? The Curious Case of a Word,” Marvin C. Bendele begins by describing himself sitting in the patio of an East Austin taco establishment, waiting for his order of barbacoa tacos. These corn tortilla tacos are filled with shredded beef that comes from a cow’s cheek. As he reminisces about the origin of the word “barbacoa” and its connection to Texas barbecue, he asks, “Is this barbacoa barbecue, or for that matter, is this barbacoa even barbacoa?” The answer to this question is filled with a culinary history not often addressed or even recognized when one speaks about, reads of, or savors barbecue when in Texas, New York, California, or anywhere in between. This is a culinary history that links the word and concept of barbacoa to barbecue by tracing a cooking method and its changes over the years. Because eating, in one form or another, involves a process of remembering, might it not be interesting to know what one should remember when eating barbecue or barbecuing for a weekend gathering? Once barbacoa became barbecue, much was debated about the origin and the authenticity of barbecue without recollecting that the word “barbecue” originated in “barbacoa.” Underplaying the culinary influence of the barbacoa cooking technique in modern-day barbecue, especially Southern and Texan barbecue, downplays the role of Native Americans and people of African origin in introducing the method of slowly smoking and steaming meat with direct fire or indirect coal heat. Food historian, chef, and blogger Michael Twitty expresses this omission by stating that while barbecue is as African as it is Native American and European, “enslaved Africans have largely been erased from the modern story of American barbecue. [Yet they have] shaped the culture of New World barbecuing traditions, from jerking in Jamaica to anticuchos in Peru to cooking traditions in the colonial Pampas [of Argentina]” (Twitty 2015). Texan food writer Robb Walsh, in Barbecue Crossroad: Notes and Recipes from a Southern Odyssey, acknowledges a linguistic gap while reflecting on what he once thought was the origin of Texas barbecue. He writes, “When I started writing . . . Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook, I believed that Texas barbecue was invented by German butchers in meat markets . . . But there were a few problems with the genesis story. For one thing, ‘barbecue’ isn’t a German word or a German concept” (Lovett 2013, 250). Localizing the “genesis” of Texas, or at least central Texas, barbecue as a German invention, explains historian Neil Foley, has been a process of rewriting the history of Texas to significantly downplay the role of slavery in the Confederacy, “emphasizing instead its cowboy tradition beginning in 1939 with the Texas Centennial

BARBACOA

Though it technically describes the method of preparation, the word “barbacoa” has also come to refer to the resulting cooked meat. The slow-roasted and shredded beef, lamb, or goat is often served in tacos, garnished with cilantro and onions. (Luna Marina/Dreamstime.com)

Celebration” (Walsh 2015, 251). The role of African Americans has been downplayed in modern stories of Texas barbecue to “avoid,” says Walsh, “confronting some uncomfortable truths. But if we [continue] to avoid the subject, the contribution of African Americans will never be fully recognized” (Walsh 2015, 251). By stressing the linguistic link between barbacoa and barbecue, I highlight the culinary contributions of Native people of the Caribbean and Mesoamerica as well as South America. While the practice of roasting meat over an open flame is universal, the word “barbacoa” comes from Native Americans in the Caribbean. It derives from the Arawak word barbaca. The Taino people, who lived in the Caribbean prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, used this word. In Spanish barbaca became “barbacoa,” which first appeared in print in 1565, describing a raised wooden structure with a grill-like frame on top. Here meat, usually fish and iguanas, was placed to cook through a slow process of smoking and steaming through direct wood flames. Over the years, the meaning of barbacoa as a cooking method has expanded to include another universal technique: pit cooking. Barbacoa thus encompasses two methods of cooking meat: directly by open flame and indirectly through steam produced from coal. Traditional barbacoa in northern Mexico and the southwest United States, Bendele tells us, is cooked in this manner: “[It] involves digging a

11

12

BARBACOA

three-foot-by-three-foot pozo, or hole . . . the next step is to line the bottom and sides . . . with rocks before covering the rocks with mesquite wood, starting a fire, and letting the wood burn to hot coals . . . [Then] the cook places maguey leaves over the coals before putting the prepared meat into the hole” (Bendele 2009, 88–89) The entire head of a cow or goat is the meat cooked in the pozo. Before placing it inside, though, it is wrapped in maguey leaves. Once in the pozo, often a piece of tin is used to cover the hole before adding dirt to seal the hole. The final step is to leave the head to smoke for 12 to 14 hours. This same process, with different meats, different woods, and different leaves to wrap the meat, is practiced in other parts of Mexico. In central Mexico it is known as birria, and the preferred meat is lamb; in Veracruz it is called cochinital pibil, where either an entire hog is buried or parts of one. The evolution of barbacoa from open direct fire to indirect heat caused from the coals and moisture produced from the leaves and soil links this method with that of other Amerindian practices. Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas all cooked meats in pits. The Aztecs used the Nahuatl word tlatemati to describe cooking from within the earth; the Spanish word tatemar, to roast with open flames, comes from this Nahuatl word. The Mayan word pibil means buried or cooked underground. The Quechua word to speak of this process of cooking is pachamanca, where the affix pacha- means “Mother Earth.” All of these practices place a symbolic meaning to cooking in a pit: The womb of the earth literally cooks that which nourishes us. Next time you take a bite of barbecue or you’re barbecuing or debating what is the real, authentic barbecue, remember the etymology of the word and its origin in barbacoa. If we are what we eat, should we not make the effort to know more about who we are? Meredith E. Abarca Slow-Cooker Barbacoa

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients ½ cup orange juice ¼ cup canola oil ¼ cup white vinegar 5 cloves garlic, chopped ¼ cup chopped oregano 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 tablespoon salt 2 teaspoons ground pepper 2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut in half 1 large onion, quartered



BEAN-HOLE BEANS

2 limes, quartered 2 bay leaves 5 dried guajillo chilies 1 tomato, quartered Salt and pepper Directions 1. In a large bowl combine orange juice, oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper. Add lamb and coat with the marinade. Marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. 2. In the bowl of a slow cooker, add lamb with its marinade. Add onion, limes, bay leaves, chilies, tomato, and about ½ cup water. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Cook on high for about 3–4 hours or on low for 8–9 hours, or until the meat is tender and shreds easily. Remove bay leaves and limes. 4. Serve the meat on tacos with pieces of tomato, onion, and chili. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Bendele, Marvin C. 2009. “Barbacoa? The Curious Case of a Word,” in Elizabeth Engelhardt, Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket. Austin: University of Texas Press. Engelhardt, Elizabeth S. D. 2009. Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket. Austin: University of Texas Press. Lovett, Rufus, and Robb Walsh. 2013. Barbecue Crossroads: Notes and Recipes from a Southern Odyssey. Austin: University of Texas Press. Twitty, Michael. 2015. “A People’s History of Southern Barbecue.” Afroculinaria. July 4. https://afroculinaria.com/2015/07/04/a-peoples-history-of-southern-barbecue.

BEAN-HOLE BEANS Bean-hole beans, the inspiration for modern baked beans, refers to a method and recipe for slowly baking beans underground, most often with a meat, maple syrup or molasses, and seasonings. Its roots can be traced to the northeastern part of the United States, where the early Penobscot Indians are credited with the origin of the dish. Though most common in Maine, variations on the dish as well as the ritual can be also be found in Vermont and other parts of New England. The dish originated as one of survival for the Native Americans and the settlers that soon adopted it, but over time bean-hole beans became a favorite hearty meal for area woodsmen and a focal point of celebration for gatherings and events in nearby communities. Earliest records mention the use of dried beans of any kind, maple syrup, and pieces of venison or other available game meat or even fish. These ingredients were combined into a large cast-iron pot, covered with water, tightly sealed, and lowered into the ground with hot embers to cook for an extended period of time. New

13

14

BEAN-HOLE BEANS

England settlers adapted both recipe and method, exchanging salt pork for game meats and molasses for maple syrup. They also moved to a more modern out-of-hole, over-anopen-flame approach, setting the stage for what would later become Boston baked beans. The process for preparing traditional bean-hole beans makes this dish distinctive. Roughly 24 hours before eating, traditionalists dig a large hole in the ground, approximately 20–30 inches deep and four times the diameter of the cooking vessel. After lining the hole with medium-sized stones or bricks to maintain the heat, a large hardwood fire is built Preparing bean-hole beans. Once covered with hot in the center. Intentionally coals and buried, the pot will be left for several hours dramatic, the fire is nearly the while the beans simmer. (Provided by Maine Forest size of a bonfire, allowing the and Logging Museum) coals and inner earth to get hot in preparation for the cooking. After about six to eight hours, when the hole is roughly three-quarters full of hot coals, the cooking process begins. Most of the coals are then shoveled to the side of the hole, after which time the secure pot of beans is carefully lowered into the ground. Hot coals are then placed around the pot, and dirt is used to tightly pack everything in, while cooks make sure to watch for any escaping steam. Most often, bean-hole beans are started in the morning in preparation for supper or, as is sometimes the case with loggers and hunters at camp, at night for a substantial breakfast the following morning. The cooking time from fire to service can be up to 16 hours. Whereas the New England settlers typically served their version with brown bread (a steamed bread made with wheat flour and molasses), bean-hole beans might now be served with biscuits or cornbread and even coleslaw. In contrast to the simpler approach used by the Penobscot utilizing essentially three basic ingredients, modern versions of the recipe will typically have onions, ham hocks, bacon, brown sugar, and possibly tomatoes. Some modern recipes also add garlic and mustard powder routinely, while others call for ketchup, cider vinegar, bay leaf, savory, cayenne pepper, and even apple cider jelly or apple butter. Beans such as Great Northern, Yellow Eye, and Jacob’s Cattle Beans (also known as Soldier) have been most commonly used, while variations of the recipe also



BEAN-HOLE BEANS

call for red kidney or navy beans. It isn’t known for sure what type of bean the Penobscots had access to or used, but likely it was similar. Any large, white, and creamy bean is good as a general rule, but the dry (not canned) version must be used. Though most might now prepare the younger, on-the-stove Boston baked beans and related cross-country adaptations, traditionalists who celebrate its original in-the-ground format remain. Like the northeastern woodsmen who utilize the technique to efficiently feed many people, the Gilbert family in Vermont has been gathering around its functional fire to feed an average of 50 guests at the 85-yearold Gilbert Family Reunion. There are also those that are eager to get a taste and honor the tradition. The Rangley Logging Festival conveniently takes place over two days, kicking off with the “burying of the bean-hole beans” and an accompanying biscuit bake, demonstrating the loggers’ tradition and recipes and ending with a dinner of beans and biscuits that visitors have come to anticipate. Natalie Rachel Morris Bean-Hole Beans

Yield: About 24 servings (½ cup each) Ingredients 2 pounds Great Northern beans 4 thick slices bacon, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon dry mustard ½ cup molasses 1 bay leaf 8 cups chicken stock Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Place beans in a large plastic container. Cover with water and soak overnight. 2. Place the pot over the fire in the bean hole. 3. Add the bacon and render for about 5 minutes. 4. Remove the pot from the fire and add onions, peppers, garlic, dry mustard, molasses, beans, bay leaf, and stock. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover with a lid. 5. Return the pot to the bean hole and cover the hole with rocks. 6. Cook for about 6 hours, or until the beans are tender. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz.

15

16

BEAR

Further Reading Cherkasky, Lisa. 1998. “Beanhole Beans.” Washington Post. July 29. Accessed February 18, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1998/07/29/ beanhole-beans/3f9e8353-de34-40f7-b0fb-a871c2968189. Maine Folklife Center at University of Maine. 2013. “Exhibit: Bean Hole Beans.” Accessed February 18, 2017. https://umaine.edu/folklife/our-work/research-and-exhibits/exhi bits/bean-hole-beans. Snow Owl. 2004. “The Penobscot People.” Accessed February 18, 2017. http://www .snowwowl.com/peoplepenobscots.html.

BEAR Bears have been hunted and consumed by humans for millennia, as is evidenced by numerous archeological sites containing bear remains. In many societies, bears have not only been a food source but also revered as deities. Large piles of carefully arranged polar bear skulls found in Siberia suggest that bears were considered ancestral spirits who needed to be placated. Similar ideas are held by the Inuit throughout the Arctic Circle, who are still legally allowed to hunt polar bears, which form a traditional and essential part of their diet. Black and brown bears played an important role in Native American mythology and were also regularly hunted and eaten. In Russia, the bear, though practically a national symbol, is nonetheless enjoyed as an elegant food, as it is in Finland, where the brown bear is the national animal. Until recently, bear meat would not have been considered strange or unusual as food in the range of their natural habitat, which stretches across most of the northern hemisphere with concentrations in mountainous and forested regions such the Appalachians and Sierras in America, the Caucasus and Alps in Europe, and in Siberia. The major challenge for modern consumers has been dwindling bear populations, inaccessibility of hunting grounds, and ultimately ethical concern over eating an intelligent and attractive animal whose physiognomy seems to bear a distinct relation to our own, especially when skinned. For these reasons, bear is normally eaten as a regular part of the diet only in remote mountainous regions by those who hunt. This was not, however, always the case. Early settlers in North America happily consumed bears, using the fat for cooking as well as fuel, and the meat as steaks and roasts. Though it had ceased to be a common food by the mid19th century in the United States in all but the frontier and mountain regions, bear remained in cookbooks well into the 20th century, and it was probably only the ban on selling wild game that caused the disappearance of bear meat from butchers’ shops and restaurants. The only way to taste bear today is to hunt it yourself or to be given it by someone who hunts. This rarity alone seems to account for the revulsion that many westerners feel toward eating bears, although, arguably, teddy bears and Winnie-the-Pooh have played some role in our feelings of empathy for bears. The taste of bear meat is not unlike beef, though the meat is darker in color and in certain seasons significantly more fatty. This makes the flesh remarkably sweet and juicy, and the fat itself is accounted by connoisseurs among the most delicious of any animal, especially when the bear has been feeding on berries. But with a

BEAR

diet heavy in salmon, the flavor of the meat can be much less pleasant, if not rank. It should also be noted that the majority of cases of parasitic trichinosis come not, as many people think, from pork, but instead from bear. So special care must be taken to cook the meat fully to an internal temperature of about 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Bear fat has a very low melting point and is suitable for cooking. In his 19th-century compendium The Curiosities of Food, Peter Lund Simmonds recounts a story from a century earlier about the taste for bear fat. “The fat is as white as snow, and extremely sweet and wholesome, for if a man drinks a quart of it at a time, when melted, it will never rise on his stomach!” Depending on the cut, bear meat is best roasted, though tougher shoulder, chuck, and brisket portions are best stewed or slowly braised. Any part may be ground and made into bear burgers or sausages. Bear also makes an excellent jerky. In North America, bear is among those animals regularly hunted for its meat. In most states, there are strict controls on the season and number of bears that can be taken, but many butchers will happily process a bear brought in after a hunt. In the end, what might appear to be a strange and exotic food turns out to be quite ordinary, though nonetheless delicious if prepared properly, and countless recipes can be found easily. Estelle Woods Wilcox in the Buckeye Cookbook of 1890 puts it best: “Bear meat, especially the flesh of young bear, nearly resembles a good quality of beef, and may be fried, boiled, roasted, or cooked like beef in any way preferred.” Ken Albala Bear Roast

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 2 pounds bear meat 1 tablespoon salt Directions 1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. 2. Season bear meat liberally with salt. 3. Place meat in a roasting pan on a rack and bake in the oven until a meat thermometer registers about 140ºF internal temperature, at which point it will be cooked to medium doneness. (It is important not to eat bear rare, since trichinosis is a very real danger. Freezing the meat also mitigates this danger. It is important not to overcook bear meat, as it will become gamey in taste, even though, unlike most meats, the ample fat will prevent the meat from drying out.) 4. Let the meat rest about 20 minutes before carving. 5. If you like, you can also line your roasting pan with chopped carrots, onions, celery, and a sprig of thyme, and when the bear is cooked, remove it to rest

17

18

BERGERS

on a platter, pour off the grease, and deglaze the vegetables with some red wine. Pour this through a fine sieve and serve as a sauce for the bear roast. Further Reading Morgan, Chris. 2011. Bears of the Last Frontier: The Journey of a Lifetime across Alaska in Search of Black, Grizzly, and Polar Bears. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang. Peacock, Doug, and Andrea Peacock. 2009. In the Presence of Grizzlies: The Ancient Bond between Men and Bears. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press. Simmonds, Peter L. 1859. Curiosities of Food. London: R. Bentley. Storer, Tracy I., and Lloyd P. Tevis. 1996. California Grizzly. Berkeley: University of California Press. Wilcox, Estelle W. 1890. The Buckeye Cookbook. Chicago: Reilly and Britton. Wood, Daniel. 2008. Bears. North Vancouver, BC: Whitecap Books.

BERGERS The city of Baltimore, Maryland, is not only known for its beloved crab cakes. The Charm City is also home to a famous dessert, the Bergers cookie. Bergers are shortbread cookies topped with a rich and thick layer of chocolate frosting. The cookies are beloved by the city and date back to the 1800s. Henry Berger opened a bakery in Baltimore after emigrating from Germany in the early 1800s. After he achieved the American dream of opening a successful business, Henry’s three sons, George, Henry, and Otto, went to work for their father. Eventually Henry took over his father’s bakery, while Otto and George created a bakery of their own. Otto and George created the Bergers cookie and soon gained a loyal following of Baltimoreans. In the 1890s, after Otto’s passing and George’s retirement, George sold the bakery and, with it, the secret original recipe for Bergers cookies to Charles E. Russell. Russell’s son, Charles Junior, took over the bakery once his father retired. Charles Junior employed two brothers, Charles and Benjamin DeBaufre. The DeBaufre brothers left Bergers to start their own bakery in the 1960s. In 1978 the DeBaufre brothers purchased the bakery from Russell. Today the company is still owned by the DeBaufre family, making them the sole proprietors of authentic Baltimore Bergers. Bergers can be purchased at many stores in Baltimore. Bergers can also be purchased online and shipped across America. Bergers cookies are adored by so many because of the decadent, thick layer of chocolate frosting that covers the simple, not-too-sweet shortbread cookie. Bergers are often described as a cousin to the famous New York City black and white cookie. Both cookies are known for the frosting, and the shortbread cookie beneath is just a vehicle for the smooth and rich topping. From humble beginnings, Bergers have gained a faithful following and are a true example of innovation and the American dream. Henry Berger and his sons created a delicious cookie that has since become iconic to the city of Baltimore. Because of the cookie’s loyal following, multiple families have worked hard to meet demand and keep the bakery in operation. Alexandra Zeitz

BERGERS

Bergers Cookies

Yield: 12 cookies Ingredients ½ cup softened butter ½ cup granulated sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¹⁄³ cup milk 1½ cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ½ cup heavy cream 1½ cups powdered sugar Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. 3. Add egg, vanilla, and milk and mix to combine, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add flour and salt and mix until just incorporated. 4. Form dough into balls, about two tablespoons each. Place each dough ball onto baking sheet, flattening it out with your fingers. Place baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes until the dough is slightly chilled. 5. Place baking sheet into preheated oven. Bake for about 12 minutes, until cookies are slightly golden brown. Allow to cool. 6. In a small pot over medium-high heat, add cream and bring to a simmer. Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for about 5 minutes. Stir the chocolate and cream mixture until all chocolate is melted. 7. Add powdered sugar to cream and chocolate mixture. Stir to combine and let cool for about 10 minutes. 8. Spread chocolate frosting onto the flat side of the cookies. Make sure there is a thick layer of chocolate on each cookie. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Bergers Cookies. “Our History.” Accessed November 18, 2017. https://www.bergercookies​ .com/about_us. Reiner, Andrew. 2012. “Baltimore’s Storied Berger Cookies Come to Washington.” Washington Post. April 19. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/baltimores -storied-berger-cookies-come-to-washington/2012/04/17/gIQAVMpbTT_story.html.

19

20

BIALY

B I A LY The bialy is a crusty, round, flat, leavened bread or roll similar to a bagel; it originated in Poland and has become a part of U.S. culinary traditions. Originally called bialystoker kuchen, the bread is named for the city Bialystok in northeastern Poland and is associated with Jewish Ashkenazi culinary traditions. The word “bialy” translates to “white” in Polish, and the individual breads are made from a dough similar to pizza or bagel dough and have a chewy texture. Bialys are not boiled before baking as bagels are. They have a floury exterior and an indent in the center (no hole) and may be topped with poppy seeds, garlic, or (more commonly) onions. Although bagels have been more popular (real bialys are difficult to find in most of the country), bialys have an important history that reveals one of many U.S. immigrant stories. Originating in Bialystok, Poland, bialys were considered a daily staple across Eastern Europe. Jews in Bialystok were given the nickname of bialystoker kuchen fressers, meaning “prodigious eater of Bialystok rolls,” and there were bialy bakeries on every street (Solman 2001). In the early part of the 20th century, Bialystok was an industrial city, part of Russia, and a large part of the population was Jewish. The labor and socialist movements were strong in the city. But Jews were already leaving the city in the 1870s, even more so after the pogrom of 1906, when Czarists reacted to the labor movement with a wave of anti-Semitic violence. Many moved to New York City, created their own Bialystok community, and brought the bialy bakery to the United States. With the Holocaust of World War II, the Jews, Jewish culture of Bialystok, and bialys and bialy bakeries were extinguished. Because many Bialystok Jews relocated to the United States, the bialy tradition continued as part of food identity in the Lower East Side of New York City and parts of Brooklyn. Bialy bakeries also emerged in other U.S. cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles. The bialy economy and labor movement of Bialystok followed, and in New York City a Bialy Bakers Union was formed (Casey 2016). Bialy bakeries in New York City, such as Kossar’s Bialystoker Kuchen Bakery (now called Kossar’s Bagels and Bialys), became landmark institutions. By 2015, there was a revitalization of the bialy in New York and nationally, as an important part of Jewish and Jewish American food identity, and as a food essential to New York history. For some Jewish Americans, bialys are a symbol of Jewish culture that must be kept alive. Bialys continue to hold a place in U.S. culinary traditions. Traditionally, bialys were an everyday food, reportedly eaten with every meal or as a snack in Ashkenazi Jewish culture. Ashkenazi Jews are part of the Jewish diaspora traced to Eastern Europe, France, and Germany, and their culinary traditions reflect these origins. For poor folk, a bialy might have been a meal; however, bialys were also eaten with soups or smoked fish. Today they are often eaten as a breakfast bread with butter or cream cheese. Bialys are associated with Jewish delicatessens or bakeries in the United States, and they are also eaten with cream cheese and lox (a Jewish cured, cold-smoked salmon, served in thin slices). Bialys have made their way into contemporary lunches and dinners in the form of sandwiches, stuffed

BIALY

with eggplant, tomato, or deli meats and cheese with lettuce. They are also used for breakfast sandwiches. Still, with their long history, there are traditions surrounding how bialys are consumed. Food writer Mimi Sheraton, who wrote a book about the history of the bialy, states that bialys are to be eaten upside down, not cut in half, with butter or cream cheese spread on the bottom (Sheraton 2000). Nutritionally, bialys consist primarily of wheat flour and starch or complex carbohydrates, and one typical bialy offers about the same calories of two slices of bread. As part of a meal, a bialy eaten with a source of protein, such as hummus or sliced turkey, and a side of vegetables or salad can provide a nutritionally sound meal. With the Poppy seeds, garlic, and onions are common bialy toppings. Note the textural difference from a bagel, since contemporary focus on healthy bialys are not boiled. (Stieglitz/iStockphoto.com) eating and whole grains, wholewheat and whole-grain versions of bialys are also offered. Because bialys consist of little more than flour, water, yeast, and salt, they do not have a long shelf life and are best eaten the day they are made. Kimberly Johnson Dewitt Bialy Melt

Yield: 1 serving Ingredients 1 bialy, sliced in half lengthwise ½ to ¾ cup of your favorite coleslaw 1 tablespoon chopped dill 2–3 thin slices of tomato 2–3 slices Swiss cheese

21

22

BLOOD

Directions 1. Lightly toast bialy and place bottom (larger) slice on a small pan. Keep top slice warm. 2. Squeeze out excess liquid from coleslaw and place on the bottom slice, spreading out evenly. 3. Sprinkle with chopped dill and top with tomato slice and cheese. 4. Place under broiler heat or in toaster oven till cheese is melted. Place top slice over melted cheese, garnish with pickle and dill, and eat immediately. Warning: can be messy. This recipe is a variation on a vegetarian sandwich served on the menu at Collegetown Bagels in Ithaca, New York. Further Reading Casey, Nell. 2016. “The Explosive History of Kossar’s, NYC’s Most Famous Bialy Bakery.” Gothamist. February 2. http://gothamist.com/2016/02/02/bialys_in_nyc.php. Crowley, Chris E. 2015. “Inside New York’s Cult of the Bialy.” Serious Eats. January 6. http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/01/bialy-new-york-bread.html. “It Started with a Bagel and a Dream.” 2017. Collegetown Bagels. Accessed September 5, 2017. http://collegetownbagels.com. Sheraton, Mimi. 2000. The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World. New York: Broadway Books. Solman, Paul. 2001. “Baking History: The Bialy.” PBS Newshour. April 5. Accessed November 18, 2017. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/business-jan-june01-bialy_04-05.

BLOOD Just as humans eat flesh, they eat blood, even here in the United States. No, it’s not the same as the blood-sucking vampires from horror movies and teenage heartthrob films. Blood is made into sausages and “puddings” or even left to coagulate, congeal, or otherwise harden in order to make a tasty snack. New England and the Mid-Atlantic adopted blood puddings from early settlers hailing from the British Isles. The Southwest boasts “morcilla,” a Central and South American blood sausage that is sliced and pan-fried and served with eggs as a breakfast dish. Cajuns, a group of French-speaking people in southern Louisiana, carry on the French traditions of making “boudin rouge” or “boudin noir,” both types of blood sausage. One of the most famous early American recipes for blood pudding comes from Mrs. Mary Randolph’s book, The Virginia Housewife. The book follows the early style of recipe books in that is prescriptive, meaning it was written to instruct readers in the art of household maintenance. Randolph teaches her readers how to make a “black pudding,” which is another name for blood pudding. Her recipe is concise to the point of risking confusion in the novice home cook, but it offers a glimpse into how to make a proper black pudding. Her recipe begins from the point of butchering the hog. “To Make Black Puddings—Catch the blood as it runs from the hog, stir it continually till cold to prevent its coagulating; when cold thick

BLOOD

it with boiled rice or oatmeal, add leaf fat chopped small, pepper, salt, and any herbs that are liked, fill the skins and smoke them two or three days; they must be boiled before they are hung up, and prick them with a fork to keep them from bursting” (Randolph 1838, 35). “Pudding” in this context does not, of course, refer to those tasty, spoonable desserts from American kids’ school lunches. It instead refers to the British Isles style of savory pudding that requires a starchy base such as oats, rice, or even flour (although flour is not used in making most blood puddings). Blood sausage is not as common in the United States as it is in these other parts of the world. Most blood sausage production and sale in the United States comes from pockets of groups who have maintained recipes for the Old World food. Blood puddings are essentially the same as blood sausages. Both require blood to be cooled and added to grains such as oats and rice, which are often mixed with the animal’s fat as well in order to add more depth of flavor and to keep the sausage from potentially drying out. Rice is the staple grain for Cajun cooking in Louisiana, and for this reason rice is the base for the aforementioned boudin rouge or noir. Blood serves to thicken the sausage or pudding when it hardens or coagulates, which would otherwise be a mushy consistency. No matter the chosen grain, blood sausages are all put into casings made of pig intestines—as is the norm for making many types of sausage. Blood sausages are dark red in color, often appearing more black than red as they cook. There is a slight crunch as the thick sausage casing gives way to the teeth, making way for the juicy, meaty flavor of the blood sausage. Why add blood to a food in the first place? Coming from live animals, blood carries much of the same flavor as a cut of meat itself. It is savory and full of similar amounts of protein and nutrients and also imparts a savory flavor to inexpensive grains like oats and rice when they are mixed together. Historically, this savory component made blood sausages useful for when money was too scarce for a family to afford meat. Families didn’t need to buy expensive cuts of meat from the butcher or even butcher their own livestock to create appetizing meat dishes. Instead they could use the by-product blood to approximate the savoriness of a meat dish. Although blood puddings are the most common blood-based food, American restaurants also experiment with the European approach of adding blood to pasta. Towns along the Italian–German border commonly add blood to their homemade pastas in what results in “blutnudeln” to Germans or “pasta al sangue” to Italians. The resulting pasta does not have an overwhelmingly powerful flavor, but the savory, iron-like taste of blood is present. The pasta is turned a deep red color that is nearly black. Thoughts of eating blood can evoke cannibalistic images that are all but appetizing, but the American market is increasingly opening itself up to the idea, thanks to the “nose-to-tail” aesthetic. The nose-to-tail movement urges us all to eat the entirety of an animal, quite literally from its nose to its tail. It’s a movement that fights against large factory farming and imparts a need for respecting the animals from whom our food comes. In some cultures blood is taboo, meaning it is not

23

24

BLOOD

considered fit for consumption. It may turn off some people, but consuming blood is just as safe for humans as eating meat. Consuming blood also carries heavy symbolic meaning within some religions. Followers of the Catholic faith practice a ceremony called the “Eucharist,” which commemorates Jesus’s Last Supper before being put to death by the Roman Empire. Through the act of “transubstantiation,” wine is thought to become the blood of Christ, and bread (or, in most cases, small wafer crackers) is thought to become the body of Christ. The exact belief system and working within the faith shall be left to theologians, but the symbolic power in consuming blood is evident. Throughout American history, blood has been eaten by those who carry on traditions brought over from other parts of the world. Although it may seem taboo, strange, or even abominable to consume blood, it actually imparts a savoriness to food that cannot be matched. As today’s chefs seek to push boundaries and dig into the past of nose-to-tail cooking, it is likely that blood will continue to gain in popularity, possibly just as it was in the days of Mrs. Mary Randolph. Dani M. Willcutt Blood Sausage

Yield: 20 servings Ingredients ¼ cup olive oil 1 large onion, diced small 1 head garlic, peeled and chopped 2 teaspoons pepper 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided 1 bunch parsley, chopped 5 pounds pork shoulder, chopped, kept very cold, almost frozen 1 pound pork fat, chopped, kept very cold, almost frozen 4 cups fresh pig’s blood 1 tablespoon pink salt 20 feet hog’s casing Directions 1. In a sauté pan over medium heat add olive oil. Add onions are garlic and sauté until translucent, about 15 minutes. Season with one teaspoon kosher salt, pepper, and parsley. Cook for another minute and remove from heat. Allow to cool completely. 2. Using a course grinder, grind pork shoulder and pork fat. Grind a second time with a finer grinding attachment. 3. In a large bowl, mix ground pork, ground pork fat, pig’s blood, pink salt, and remaining kosher salt. Mix until well incorporated.



BOILED PEANUTS

4. Place the meat mixture into a sausage stuffer, and tread the hog casing on the end. Fill the casing with the sausage, making links after all of the sausage is stuffed. 5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Working in batches if necessary, poach the sausage for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Bilow, Rochelle, and Alex Lau. 2015. “Why Chefs Are (Finally) Cooking with Blood.” Bon ­Appétit. February 12. http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article /restaurants-chefs-blood. Randolph, Mary. 1838. The Virginia Housewife. Baltimore: Plaskitt, Fite & Co. Smith, Jeff. 1995. The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American. Thorndike, ME: G. K. Hall. Spittler, Liz. 2017. “Is Animal Blood a Safe Ingredient?” Food & Nutrition Magazine. July 28. http:// www.foodandnutrition.org/July-August-2016/Is-Animal-Blood-a-Safe-Ingredient.

BOILED PEANUTS Boiled peanuts are made from raw green peanuts or raw dried peanuts that are boiled in their shells in salted water for at least one to several hours. “Green” peanuts are not actually green in color; the term refers to those just freshly harvested from the ground. When boiled, the peanuts acquire the look and texture of a cooked bean. They are considered a popular Southern delicacy and enjoyed as a snack in Alabama, North and South Carolina, Northern Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. They are eaten by opening the damp shells with one’s fingers or teeth and eating the kernels inside. Boiled peanuts are an acquired taste. The taste has been described in terms that evoke land and sea: earthy, beany, dank, and hay-like as well as salty, briny, and oyster-y. Traditional boiled peanuts are flavored only with salt, but the last few decades saw the marketing of versions with Southern-style flavors like Cajun or smoked ham. Southerners buy them freshly boiled in brown paper bags at roadside stands and gas stations, and they are also available bagged (green, dried, or cooked) or canned at supermarkets and groceries. Canned boiled peanuts and do-your-own boiled peanut kits can be ordered online through major and specialty food retailers. For many Southerners who grew up with the delicacy, eating boiled peanuts is resonant of their childhoods. Peanuts, also known as groundnuts and originally called “goober peas” in the South, are not nuts but belong to the legume family of beans and peas. Groundnuts, called such because the fruit pods grow underground, were first grown during pre-Incan times in Peru, and much later introduced to North America via the Atlantic slave trade (1526–1867). African natives were already consuming raw and boiled peanuts before they were introduced to North America. Slave-carrying ships brought peanuts in their cargos on their way to the southeastern areas of what is now the United States, and enslaved Africans in the process introduced

25

26

BOILED PEANUTS

Peanuts boiling. After several hours of cooking, the once crunchy, earthy legumes will turn out tender and salty. (Spcteam/Dreamstime.com)

peanuts to Southern food culture, where they eventually became a culinary mainstay. It could have started when slaves in the colonial period were said to have held “peanut boils” from surplus peanuts during harvest season. Before the Civil War, peanuts were already being cultivated and consumed raw, boiled, or roasted by the lowest classes as well as livestock. But the peanut’s stature greatly increased during the American Civil War (1861–1865), where it played a very important role in providing nutrition and sustenance to hungry civilians and the South’s Confederate soldiers due to the scarcity of meat and other staples. Protein-rich peanuts were provided as emergency rations for the troops, who took to boiling (or roasting) them over campfires to augment their meager diets. It is likely that the added salt’s preservative qualities in boiled peanuts allowed soldiers to consume them for longer periods and to carry it with them as they moved. Peanuts were indispensable to the Confederate Army, and even the North’s Union Army stationed in peanut-producing areas of the South ended up eating peanuts and spreading the good word about the legume when they went back home. Peanuts proved so popular as Civil War food that Confederate soldiers took to singing a folk song called “Goober Peas” professing their love for peanuts while at war. The song has been recorded by noted artists, such as the version sung jointly by Burl Ives and Johnny Cash, and remains popular to this day. Peanut boils, the post-harvest activity believed to have been practiced by enslaved Africans, evolved into a social and cultural tradition in the South in the 19th century. Bushels of surplus harvest peanuts were boiled in cauldrons and shared convivially with friends and neighbors. The peanut’s status and importance



BOILED PEANUTS

as a commodity increased after the Civil War along with its desirability and versatility as an ingredient in Southern cookery. In 1899, Almeda Lambert’s cookbook on nuts included the first published boiled peanuts recipe. By the early 20th century, boiled peanuts were already being sold as a snack. The practice of marketing them may have originated in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where a 1925 account told of boys peddling boiled peanuts for five cents a bag in the city’s streets during July and August (Smith 2007, 64). In 2006, South Carolina formally declared the boiled peanut its official state snack food. As homage to the delicacy and to foster community spirit, some peanut-producing states like Alabama and South Carolina hold annual peanut boils. Southerners today consume boiled peanuts at the beach, at mass social gatherings like sports events, or at home—anywhere where it does not matter if people make a mess of the discarded shells. The peanuts are usually enjoyed with the South’s beverages of choice like sweet iced tea, Coca-Cola or RC Cola, or beer. More resourceful southern chefs have resorted to incorporating boiled peanuts in their culinary repertoires, from adding boiled kernels to salads to using them in place of chickpeas in a version of the popular Middle Eastern dish hummus. The season for raw green peanuts starts around May and continues through November in the southern peanut-growing states. Dried raw peanuts are available all year round and require longer boiling to soften the kernels. Boiling times of raw peanuts vary due to factors like size, maturity, and peanut variety, as well as one’s own taste preference. The flavorful Valencia is the best variety for boiling, although other varieties like the Virginia and Runner may also be used. Maria Steinberg Boiled Peanuts

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 2 pounds fresh green peanuts in the shell 1 cup salt, or more Directions 1. Rinse peanuts until water runs clear. 2. Place peanuts in large stockpot, and add enough water to cover, until pot is about two-thirds full. Add salt and bring mixture to a boil. A good rule to consider is to add ½ cup of salt for every gallon of water used for boiling. 3. Lower heat and bring to a low steady boil, cover, and simmer for about 4 hours. Add more water as needed to keep peanuts covered. 4. After about 3 hours, check peanuts for doneness and saltiness. Take a peanut out of the pot, crack open, and taste (wait to cool before tasting). If kernels are still crunchy, continue cooking until they reach the desired softness. This might take another hour or more. If peanuts are not salty enough, turn

27

28

BONE MARROW

off heat and leave peanuts in water for some time. Taste again for desired saltiness. 5. When done, remove pot from heat and drain peanuts. Eat immediately or refrigerate up to a week. You may freeze drained and cooled boiled peanuts, and they will keep for several months. Further Reading Calta, Maria Lisa. 2003. “Southern Comfort.” Smithsonian Magazine 33 (11): 95–98. Smith, Andrew F. 2007. Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

BONE MARROW In the era of nose-to-tail eating, bone marrow—the soft, fatty substance found in the inner cavities of bones, where blood cells are produced—is part of the animal that should not be disregarded. Long before American chef, author, and television personality Anthony Bourdain (b. 1956) declared that it would be his last meal, our human ancestors feasted on the bones of fallen prey, quite literally sucking the marrow out of life. Diners in 18th-century Europe used long-necked silver spoons with narrow bowls to scoop marrow out of cooked bones. The Italian dish osso buco, which means “bone with a hole,” has marrow as its key ingredient, as does the base for the Vietnamese staple pho. Bone marrow has become popular at fine dining establishments around the world, and health-food experts everywhere are lauding the healing properties of bone broth. All animal bones contain marrow, but the front leg bones, or shanks, of cattle (cows, oxen, steer, heifers, veal) yield the highest amount of marrow, with a threeinch bone averaging one to two ounces of the substance. When it is raw, marrow looks like part of the bone, off-white and hard, with a slightly spongy texture. But when it is cooked, it becomes soft and melts easily, with a consistency similar to butter. Marrowbones are relatively inexpensive. However, they should be purchased from a reputable butcher to ensure their provenance from healthy, preferably grass-fed animals. Marrowbones can be cut two different ways, depending on their intended use. Butchers use special tools, such as bandsaws, to accomplish this. For easier access to the marrow, the bones can be cut lengthwise, also known as canoe-cut. They can also be cut crosswise and the marrow scooped out with a long, thin spoon. Bone marrow has a rich, unctuous quality and umami-filled beefy flavor. The purest and simplest way to enjoy it is by roasting the bones and spreading the marrow on toast with a touch of salt. Bone marrow butter is made by whipping roasted bone marrow into butter along with some seasoning. The resulting compound butter can be used by itself or incorporated into recipes such as mashed potatoes. The more adventurous eater may wish to visit New York City to try the Doughnut Project’s bone marrow doughnut, a pastry filled with chocolate cream that has been whipped with bone marrow and topped with an orange glaze.



BONE MARROW

Bone broth is a culinary and medicinal staple in cuisines around the world. It is made by blanching, roasting, and then slowly simmering animal bones in water along with some aromatic vegetables and herbs such as onions, garlic, black pepper, and bay leaves. Roasting the bones adds depth of flavor and is a necessary step to making bone broth delicious. Because of the collagen within the bones, the resulting broth will have a gelatinous texture when it is cold, a sign that it was made properly. Warm bone broth can be sipped by itself or used as a building block for countless recipes. Doctors of traditional Chinese medicine use bone broth rich in marrow to replenish stores of jing, the essence of life. Perhaps this is Roasted bone marrow served with sea salt, green garlic, and onion. Classically, the marrow will be why Chinese cooking relies so scooped from the bones, spread on toast, and topped heavily on broths, which are with accompaniments as desired. (Catalina Zaharescu used not only as the basis of Tiensuu/Dreamstime.com) soups but also in stir-frying, steaming, and braising. Bone marrow has been shown to contain numerous nutritional properties. The collagen in bone marrow becomes gelatin once it has cooked. This substance helps strengthen a person’s hair, skin, and nails. Scientists have also shown that gelatin can aid with digestion and help improve joint health. Because it consists primarily of fat, marrow is highly caloric and therefore rich in energy-producing fuel. However, that fat is mostly monounsaturated or “good” fat, which is known to help reduce bad cholesterol levels in the blood and lower the risk of heart disease. Marrow is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for proper brain functioning and normal human growth and development. A study led by scientists at the University of Michigan showed that the fat tissue in bone marrow contains the hormone adiponectin, which has been linked to a decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Marrow is also rich in minerals including calcium, iron, phosphorous, zinc, and magnesium, and it contains vitamin A. By aiding in the production of white blood cells, marrow is known to help boost the immune system.

29

30

BOOYAH

Additionally, bone marrow is one of the best sources of the amino acid glycine. Glycine is one of the 20 amino acids used to make protein in the body. Therefore, it is essential for many different bodily functions, as protein is what builds the human tissue that forms the body’s organs, muscles, and joints. Glycine promotes muscle growth, repairs and protects joints, helps boost the immune system, slows the effects of aging, fights fatigue, and assists in balancing levels of blood sugar. For all of these reasons, many people consider bone marrow to be a “superfood.” Amy S. White Roasted Bone Marrow

Yield: 1–2 servings Ingredients Marrowbones Coarse sea salt Toasted bread Directions 1. Place the bones in a baking dish. Fill the dish with cold salt water, adding one teaspoon of salt for each cup of water. Refrigerate, and soak the bones for a minimum of 12 hours, changing the salt water every couple of hours. This will remove the blood from the marrow. 2. Preheat oven to 450°F. 3. Remove the bones from the water and pat them dry with a paper towel. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the bones, cut side up, on the sheet. Sprinkle the bones with sea salt and roast for 15 to 20 minutes. 4. Use a spoon or knife to spread the marrow on toasted bread. Further Reading Canora, Marco, and Tammy Walker. 2015. Brodo: A Bone Broth Cookbook. New York: Pam Krauss Books. Harvey, Katherine, and Ryan Harvey. 2016. The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook: 125 Gut-Friendly Recipes to Heal, Strengthen, and Nourish the Body. Harper Wave. McLagan, Jennifer. 2005. Bones: Recipes, History and Lore. New York: Morrow.

B O O YA H Green Bay Packer fans, Wisconsin Walloons, Michigan Yoopers, and ethnic-fare epicures of central Minnesota love their booyah, a thick, slowly simmered, whole-chicken-based stew most often crafted outdoors over wood fires in huge cast-iron cauldrons or custom-made “booyah kettles.” Local historians think modern booyah is most likely a New World culinary successor to what was once a thin, clear soup—a “bouillon”—brought to the Door County region of northeast

BOOYAH

Wisconsin by Walloon-speaking immigrants arriving from southern Belgium from 1853. Booyah morphed in Wisconsin from “a broth made from boiling a chicken with onion and celery, salt and pepper” (Defnet 1997) into its present canoepaddle-stands-up-straight-in-it thick potage, as from the 1930s onwards it became the go-to one-pot-feeds-all focus of family gatherings, charity events and community celebrations, parish picnics and church suppers, and other “feeds” and fund-raisers. “Booyah” is an event, as well as a regional dish, with natives usually booyahing in the autumn, as part of their traditional Kermis harvest festival time, sharing their foodstuffs with friends, with neighbors, with family, with visiting guests, and with curiosity-filled tourists interested in distinctive foods and customs. Booyah events remain popular, with volunteers ladling up as much as 420 gallons of the cherished fare in a single communal fête. The origin of the word “booyah,” like the stew itself, is murky. The diverse regional linguistic accents of the original 19th-century Walloon immigrants, speaking a language that became increasingly Frenchified after World War I, most likely account for the curious folk explanations for how the term “booyah” may have derived from the French-like Old World Walloon word bouillon, or bouyon (the latter literally meaning “reheated stock”). But no one actually knows for sure whence came the name “booyah,” although it appeared in print as early as the 1880s, with varied spellings. Mary Ann Defnet, a respected local cultural historian, cautions the curious to forget about the origin of the name and just enjoy the booyah like the pragmatic locals: “We don’t really need a scientific answer,” Defnet points out, “we just eat and enjoy!” (Defnet 1997). What is known for sure is that folks of the “Booyah Belt” love their legendary stew. The Booyah Belt lies in an area extending from the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan (“the UP” or “Yooper” country) to Green Bay and Door County in Wisconsin, and from there west to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and from there slightly northwest to embrace a few areas in and around St. Cloud, Minnesota. According to Dan Nitka, chef for the Booyah Shed, a popular mobile restaurant in Green Bay offering “stick-to-your-ribs” booyah, the town of Brussels in Door County, Wisconsin, is “the mecca for booyah” (Wells 2016). The area around Brussels is said to be the largest Belgian American settlement in the United States, with generations dating back to the migrations of the 1850s, vying only with South Saint Paul in Minnesota as the Booyah Capital of the World. South and west of the Booyah Belt, descendants of German immigrants observe Oktoberfest, celebrating their fall harvest with the classic German foods and beers for which Wisconsin is most famous. Folks there are not much into booyah. In 2015 State Representative John Macco (R-Ledgeview) circulated a bill that would designate “Belgian Booyah” as the official state soup “as a way to honor Wisconsin’s Belgian heritage and celebrate booyah’s ability to bring Wisconsin communities together.” Rep. Macco’s bill received strong bipartisan support in northeastern Wisconsin, while an informal survey at the state capitol in Madison (in southern Wisconsin) “found that a sizable handful of Wisconsinites . . . have never even

31

32

BOOYAH

heard of the dish” (Opoien 2015). Booyah is not generally known beyond Madison to the southwestern or western central areas of Wisconsin—that is, from Madison to Prairie du Chien and north to La Crosse. This is not surprising, as that area was early on settled mainly by Cornish miners and Irish and Welsh laborers, and the area from Madison to Milwaukee was largely settled by 19th-century German immigrants. North of the Booyah Belt and in and around Door County and the Upper Peninsula, descendants of the other major 19th-century immigrant group, the Finnish Americans, gather with friends for fall and late winter “fish boils”—often referring to the events by the English term “fish booyah.” Kalamojakka, a term of unknown origin not recognized today in Finland, refers to “soup” or “leftovers soup” of the fish rather than a beef variety. Kalamojakka, which, like booyah proper, originated in the Lake Superior region, continues to be made with potatoes accompanying the chunks of fish and other various ingredients, and seasoned with allspice. Even earlier, similar boiled fish dishes were popular with Upper Great Lakes indigenous peoples, and with the French missionaries and explorers (Gilmore 2004). Today, a boil of lake trout or whitefish (usually), mahnomin (wild rice), and onion remains part of local Native American ceremonial feasts and spiritual sweat lodge ceremonies, served with fresh berries and fry bread. Modern “fish booyahs” remain popular with neighboring Finnish American community groups, and other folks from the “UP” and from Door County to Port Wing, Wisconsin—but not Minnesota—­ and as with booyah proper, “you don’t just eat a fish boil; you attend one.” “Real” booyah today generally starts with a huge cauldron or giant cooking pot into which one throws several whole chickens, and builds from there, with various combinations of potatoes, peas, navy beans, corn, carrots, cabbage, celery, onions, and rutabagas—added at different times—plus almost anything else one might have left over in the freezer, in addition to one or more “secret ingredients.” In days of old, booyah most often also featured oxtail, some traditionalists maintaining to this day that “it’s not real booyah without the oxtail!” And, in the days of old, snapping turtles and wild game occasionally made it into the 10-, 20-, or even 55- gallon kettles. Today, beef and pork land with the chicken in pots so big that the ever-attentive cooks stir their mash with canoe paddles. At least five Brussels–Green Bay area grandfathers independently “invented booyah,” or so claim their descendants, with family members recalling “the handwritten original recipe” secreted away by the ancestral “inventor” in some relative’s family possessions. But “saying someone invented booyah is like saying someone invented chili,” asserts Mary Jane Ann Herber, local historian and genealogist of the Brown County Central Library, and a native of De Pere, who further advises against trusting any secondhand oral history older than 85 years (Srubas 2015). Nonetheless, kinfolk today prize their family formulae, some even having an official “keeper of the recipe,” albeit all modern-day booyah versions are admittedly variants of the “original,” and that “original recipes” are actually “more like a blueprint” or a grocery list than a traditional recipe (Fleming 2016). Seasonings vary from recipe to recipe, from cook to cook, and from town to town. There may not actually be “as many booyah recipes as there are booyah cooks,” as is sometimes asserted, but there certainly are as many recipes as there are booyah families,

BOOYAH

with numerous variations, of course. Families proudly recount their grandfathers’ contributions to regional booyah lore and tradition; the obituary of the recently deceased Donald Edward Baye of Green Bay, for example, eulogizes the deceased as “a gentle soul [who] . . . every summer . . . manned the booyah kettle at the cottage on Shawano Lake” (Brault and Butnick 2017). And booyahs are manned. Men rule the booyah roost, often under the moreor-less coordinated leadership of an acknowledged “booyah king.” A two-day (or more) public preparation of the booyah is a classic male-bonding event, with the prized potage continuously monitored by a cooking crew consisting of several sous-king-cooks, prep cooks, line cooks, and opinionated onlookers, as is lucidly shown in the 2007 PBS television documentary The Meaning of Food: “Booya Kings—Dads & Sons.” Booyah is now often served along with “kneecaps” for dessert, a fried creampuff-doughnut sort of sweet treat, although very early on community members often brought homemade fruit tarts to their celebrations. As one might guess, beer and booyah are inseparable. Cooking contests are frequent, with judges checking largely for flavor, body, and appearance as they ceremoniously sample the thickened mash between beer chasers. Greenhorn booyah eaters are the preferred judges, so as not to be prejudiced by the taste, appearance, consistency, or reputation of their own family favorites. Folks universally have warmhearted memories of booyahs past. I fondly remember how in the early 1950s the volunteer firemen of my small hometown (still “firemen” in those days) had great fun charging by the make of one’s car for booyah parking; the Chrysler cost $1 (there was only one in town), Buicks and Olds were 50 cents, Fords and Chevys were 25 cents, and the Nash Rambler and the Henry J were free. Of course everyone in town knew everybody’s car. Reminiscing about booyahs of her youth, a Green Bay native in 2013 reflected, “I . . . didn’t know until later in life that the Green Bay Catholic Church’s picnics having ‘Chicken Booyah’ was special to Green Bay; the church community bought potatoes and veggies and other stuff and it was made in 3 or more large witches’ kettles, so yummy if it turns out right. We used to be so hungry from the smell [when we were] in Catholic Mass waiting to eat the booyah later. We would sing the hymn ’Hallelujah’ 3 times; was it [ever] hard not to sing ‘Chicken booyah’ 3 times in your head!” (Steinbrinck 2013). One can only guess that the shout “Booyah!”—an “exclamation of extreme pleasure, joy, or approval” that entered the English language in the 1990s—might have come full circle from the earlier booyah “hallelujahs” in Walloon churches. The hallelujahs for chicken booyahs continue to this day, to include commercial versions sold at Green Bay Packer games, at farmers’ markets, and in a half-dozen or so area restaurants, each chef, of course, having perfected their own particular special version, which they serve with the traditional oyster crackers or crispy saltines. Most commercial kitchens offer bring-your-own-container carryout by the quart or by the gallon, just as they do at community booyahs. Many say booyah tastes even better the next day. Neither the professional chefs nor the booyah king and his court seek fame or glory—nor even an audible hallelujah. They seek only to provide good food and camaraderie, but they do smile, at least inwardly, when eaters pause long enough

33

34

BOOYAH

to look up from their hearty heart-and-body-warming fare with a simple Midwestern musing of approval: “That’s booyah!” In the era of the Internet, online booyah recipes abound—and not all of the published recipes have been well received (Srubas 2016). But 25 years after its publication, The Flavor of Wisconsin, from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, remains “the authoritative history of Wisconsin’s culinary traditions” and offers a well-received booyah recipe originally submitted by Judy Ullmer of Green Bay (Hachten and Allen 2009). The slightly-more-than-a-blueprint recipe is adapted below from the original. Try adapting your own version, in the spirit of booyah cooks “everywhere,” and, like Judy, make it a little different each time. Tim Roufs Chicken Booyah

Yield: 3–4 gallons (Remember, making booyah is not an exact science!) Ingredients 5–7 pounds chicken, cut up 1 pound beef stew meat, in one piece Oxtail or soup bone 2 pounds chopped yellow onions 4–5 bay leaves Salt and pepper, to taste 1 pound cabbage, shredded 1 bunch celery, sliced 1 pound carrots, sliced to thickness of cook’s preference 1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes (or use fresh with seeds and skins removed) 2 pounds red potatoes, diced or chopped, depending how big the cook wants the pieces ½ pound green beans, chopped ½ pound corn kernels ½ pound green peas Juice of 2 lemons 2 to 3 teaspoons soy sauce Chicken broth (optional) Directions 1. Place beef in a 3- or 4-gallon pot with half of the onion, all the bay leaves, and some salt and pepper. Add enough cold water to fill the pot one-third full. Bring to a simmer, skim surface as needed, and cook 30 minutes. Add chicken, more water (to cover all the meat), and a little more salt. Continue to simmer 1 to 2 hours.

BOOYAH

2. When meats are tender, lift them out of the broth. While meat is cooling, add the prepared vegetables (including the remaining onion). (Some prefer to add the vegetables an hour or so before serving, so as not to overcook them. Others argue that they need to be added early to impart more flavors. It’s the cook’s call.) 3. Continue to simmer. 4. Take out meat and bones and debone chicken and take meat off of the soup bone. Remove bones and skin from the cooled chicken and beef. Chop the meats and add to the pot after all the veggies have been added. Simmer at least 2 hours—much longer is preferred. The mixture should continue to simmer until it is thick enough for your canoe paddle to stand straight up. Alternatively, water or chicken broth may be added during the cooking process as necessary, if you prefer a consistency between a soup and a stew. 5. Season it with lemon juice, soy sauce, bouillon (if desired), and salt and pepper to taste. 6. Serve it with oyster crackers and some good Wisconsin beer. Adapted from pp. 206–207 in: Hachten, Harva, and Terese Allen. 2009. The Flavor of Wisconsin: An Informal History of Food and Eating in the Badger State. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Further Reading Brault, Kathy, and Sharon Butnick. 2017. “Donald Edward Baye’s Obituary on Green Bay Press-Gazette.” Green Bay Press-Gazette. March 16. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries /greenbaypressgazette/obituary.aspx?n=donald-edward-baye&pid=18447​1949&fhid= 14324. Brough, J. M. K. 2017. “Walloon–English Gastronomy Dictionary.” Project Babel. Accessed September 5, 2017. http://projetbabel.org/walloon_gastronomy.htm. Chamberlain, Chris. 2016. “Door County Wisconsin’s Iconic Fish Boils Are History in a Cauldron.” Food Republic. November 21. http://www.foodrepublic.com/2016/11/21 /door-county-wisconsins-iconic-fish-boils-are-history-in-a-cauldron. Defnet, Mary Ann. 1997. “Origin of Booyah.” Wisconsin’s French Connections. http:// www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/kitchen/booyalet.htm “The 1858 Rosiere Kermiss.” 2017. Wisconsin Historical Markers. Accessed September 5, 2017. http://www.wisconsinhistoricalmarkers.com/2014/03/the-1858-rosiere-kermiss .html. Fleming, Jess. 2016. “Want to Make Your Own Booya? Here’s What It Takes.” Pioneer Press. October 13. http://www.twincities.com/2016/10/11/booya-minneapolis. Gilmore, Janet C. 2004. “Sagamité and Booya: French Influence in Defining Great Lakes Culinary Heritage.” Material Culture Review / Revue De La Culture Matérielle. https:// journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18000/21960. Harris, Patricia, David Lyon, and Sue McLaughlin. 2005. The Meaning of Food: The Companion to the PBS Television Series Hosted by Marcus Samuelsson. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. Leon, Michelle. 2010. “Booya Season Is Here: We Talk to a Master of the ­Mystery Stew.” City Pages. September 30. http://www.citypages.com/restaurants/booya-season-is-here -we-talk-to-a-master-of-the-mystery-stew-6609977. Opoien, Jessie. 2015. “Booyah! This Northeastern Wisconsin Tradition Could Become the Official State Soup.” Capital Times. December 10. http://host.madison.com/ct/news

35

36

BOUDIN BLANC AND NOIR

/local/govt-and-politics/booyah-this-northeastern-wisconsin-tradition-could-become­​ -the-official-state/article_cc13c0ac-80e5-5b29-a84f-894851b1bf75.html. Roufs, Timothy G. 2017. “Booyah.” Anthropology of Food—University of Minnesota Duluth. March 19. http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anthfood/afbooya.html#title. Srubas, Paul. 2015. “Getting to the Bottom of Booyah.” Green Bay Press Gazette. ­November 19. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2015/11/19/getting -bottom-booyah/75528814. Srubas, Paul. 2016. “Rivers of Booyah All Flow toward One Man.” Green Bay Press Gazette. January 16. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2016/01/16 /rivers-booyah-all-flow-toward-one-man/78845862. Steinbrinck, Ashley. 2013. “10 Silly Things We Say in Wisconsin.” WhooNEW. January 7. http://whoonew.com/2013/06/10-silly-things-we-say-in-wisconsin. Steinbrinck, Ashley. 2015. “The Real Reason We Call It Chicken Booyah in Wis­consin.” WhooNEW. January 7. http://whoonew.com/2013/10/the-real-reason-we-call-it-chicken​ -booyah-in-wisconsin. Wells, Millaine. 2016. “Your Wisconsin: Booyah.” We Are Green Bay. August 8. http://www​ .wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/your-wisconsin-booyah/527567303. Zanger, Mark. 2001. “Chicken Booyah,” pp. 38–41 in Mark Zanger, The American Ethnic Cookbook for Students. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.

BOUDIN BLANC AND NOIR The word “boudin” broadly refers to several varieties of sausages. While there is no clear etymology for the origin of “boudin,” the word may derive from Anglo-­Norman French, meaning “sausage,” or perhaps “entrails” in general. Boudin vary widely depending on origin. French-style boudin are typically made from pork, chicken, or veal blended with spices and sometimes cognac or cream. Cajun boudin historically included rice for substance and flavor. While there are many kinds, the two most common types of boudin found globally are boudin blanc and boudin noir. Boudin blanc is a finely textured white sausage made from pork liver and organ meat, often including the heart. Boudin blanc is usually made with milk and always without the use of animal blood, resulting in the pale white color reflected in the name. The recipe for boudin blanc is thought to have originated in the northeast French region of Champagne-Ardenne during the Middle Ages, most likely in the village of Rethel. It was especially enjoyed at Christmas meals, where it was served with tomato or truffle sauce, and sometimes raisins, although the recipe at the time was little more than a milky porridge to which bread, eggs, and minced meat were added to bind the mix together. Historical accounts suggest that the creation of boudin blanc was indirectly influenced by Cardinal Richelieu, principal minister to King Louis XIII. Legend has it that Richelieu was an emphatic opponent to the aristocracy of the time, and in 1626 he issued a decree banning all forms of dueling under threat of severe penalty. An officer of the king, Jacques Augustin Henri Chamarande, ignored the decree. Having participated in a duel, Chamarande fled to Rethel to escape punishment. Once there, he opened a butcher shop featuring sausage made from pork, the



BOUDIN BLANC AND NOIR

Boudin blanc and noir. The darker color of the boudin noir is due to the incorporation of blood into the stuffing mixture. While considered together, the two are very different in flavor from one another. (Joanna Kaczuk/Dreamstime.com)

ubiquitous meat of the region. His recipe of pork liver and heart mixed with milk, fresh eggs, and spices quickly became one of the most lauded foods of the region. Several versions of boudin blanc are enjoyed today, including the opulent boudin blanc à la Richelieu, which includes chicken and sometimes truffles. Cajun recipes often incorporate rice, herbs, and giblets into the meat mixture before stuffing the casing. Belgian recipes call for a higher amount of milk and egg. The classic boudin blanc de Rethel has been a geographically protected recipe since 2001, requiring that absolutely no preservatives be used and that the pork mixture be cased in natural pig intestine only. The boudin blanc consumed in modern Cajun cuisine differs from the more delicate French version. German immigration into southwest Louisiana in the early 18th century brought a strong sausage-making tradition, which had a profound effect on the evolution of boudin in the area. The inclusion of rice in Cajun recipes began after the Civil War, when inland Louisiana rice production took hold and thrived. The use of rice provided filler for recipes, adding flavor as well. Boudin blanc is made and sold in links, and it is generally eaten warm. Cooking methods differ by region. In France and Belgium boudin blanc are usually grilled gently (so as not to break the casing), or sautéed in butter until golden brown, then served with apple compote or a variety of sauces. Cajun preparation usually centers on braising or poaching the links in broth or beer, although grilling is becoming more popular as boudin blanc is found in more day-to-day social contexts such as tailgating for sporting events.

37

38

BOUDIN BLANC AND NOIR

Boudin noir is a savory sausage often called “blood pudding.” Blood sausage is made in virtually all sausage-making food cultures and is usually one of the least expensive charcuterie options available. It is best known across Europe and Russia and is a critical part of Catalan culture as well. In the United States, boudin noir thrives in areas with significant German, English, and Eastern European heritages. Cajun cuisine also features blood sausage, known locally as “boudin rouge.” Like boudin blanc, Cajun blood “links” trace back to French techniques and were heavily influenced by German s­ ausage-​ making prowess and the success of the local rice industry. Unlike boudin blanc, blood is incorporated into the mixture of boudin noir before stuffing the casing, giving the sausage a much darker complexion. The blood is typically mixed with pork fat and filler to create the stuffing. English blood pudding filler is often made with grains or flour, resulting in a heavier texture and weight than the French-style counterparts, which incorporate onion and cream. Cajun boudin rouge is viewed as a nearly essential quick-service food for snacking or casual dining. With as many recipes as there are cooks of the sausage, it is not uncommon to find locals debating the merits of their particular recipes, especially meat-to-filler ratios and specific spices used. The availability of boudin rouge has diminished over the last decade because of increasingly stringent health codes that make the process too complex for casual retail sales. Boudin noir can be sold as individual links or longer ropes. They are typically fried or grilled thoroughly, giving the sausage a deep brown color reminiscent of chocolate. Mostly served warm or hot, these boudin are usually served with potatoes or warm potato salad and sometimes fried or fresh apple slices. Adam Centamore Boudin Blanc

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 pound fatty pork such as shoulder or belly, diced 1 cup cooked rice 1 onion 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 dash each of ground spices: ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon Cleaned pork sausage casings as needed/desired Directions 1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Chill. 2. Run through a coarse meat grinder. 3. Using a sausage stuffer, stuff into casings and chill or freeze. Recipe by Jonathan Deutsch.

BRAINS

Further Reading Carriker, Bob. 2017. “Southern Boudin Trail.” Southern Foodways Alliance. Accessed April 5, 2017. https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/southern-boudin-trail. Curnonsky and Austin de Croze. 1933. The Gastronomic Treasure of France: A Complete Repertoire of the Gourmet Specialties of the Thirty-Two French Provinces. Paris. Grigson, Jane. 2001. Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery. London: Grub Street.

BRAINS Brains, like offal, can be taken as part of the human diet and are consumed in the United States, especially in Southern, Appalachian, and Southwestern cuisines. Beef and pork brains are the most commonly consumed in the United States. Other animal brains that are consumed include those of squirrels, chickens, fish, sheep, and goats. Brains are light and delicate. Given their soft texture, not unlike ricotta cheese, these brains are commonly cooked with soft foods, such as folded into scrambled eggs, simmered as a gravy for biscuits or grits, sautéed or fried for tacos, breaded and fried for sandwiches or fritters, and mixed with ricotta cheese and stuffed inside ravioli. In many ethnic cultures, different types of brain are considered a delicacy. Consumption of beef brains has fallen in the United States due to concerns of contracting fatal transmissible bovine spongiform encephalopathies, such as variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and other prion diseases in humans and mad cow disease in cattle. The consumption of beef brains and spines is restricted in many locales because humans may contract bovine spongiform encephalopathy by eating the nervous tissue of diseased animals. Still, there have been few such cases in areas where bovine spines and brains are eaten. To protect against the spread of disease, brains from cows over 30 months old at slaughter are no longer permitted in human food in the United States. The majority of brains harvested for human consumption in the United States are shipped south to Mexico, where brains are commonly consumed in tacos de sesos and quesadillas. Cow brains taste similar to beef. However, because they lack any muscle, they have a creamy texture when cooked. Some recipes call for the brain to be soaked in milk or cold water for anywhere between two hours and overnight before cooking. Soaking the brain helps draw out the blood and impurities. It is also important to swish the brain in milk or water to remove any broken bits of bone left over from the harvesting process. In the United States, pork brains are the most commonly consumed. Fresh pork brains can be ordered in advance from most local butcher shops, or purchased at specialty butcher shops catering to clientele who prepare pork brains on a regular basis. Some stores carry canned pork brains in milk gravy. Rose Brand Pork Brains in Milk Gravy is the lone remaining brand of canned pork brain made in the United States. Rose Pork Brains may be included in many recipes and are often cooked with scrambled eggs. Whether fresh or canned, one of the most common dishes featuring brains is scrambled eggs. “Brains and eggs” is a traditional breakfast meal in the United States, consisting of pork brains (or those of another mammal) and scrambled eggs.

39

40

BRAINS

Cooked pig brains on a wooden cutting board. The brains are later sliced, breaded, and fried to make sandwiches. (Eduard Ionescu/Dreamstime.com)

Fried beef brain sandwiches used to be common on restaurant menus in many areas of the United States and still are in St. Louis, Missouri, the Ohio River valley, and northwest Ohio. A fried brain sandwich is typically sliced calf brain, battered, fried, and presented on toasted bread or a hamburger bun. This type of sandwich is still common at the local eateries in southern Indiana, and it is featured at the annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival in Evansville, Indiana. In northwest Ohio, Kissner’s Restaurant in Defiance has offered a brain sandwich since 1928. Some restaurants have taken to serving pigs’ brains instead of cows’ brains due to concerns regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Each brain must be cleaned before being sliced, and pigs’ brains produce fewer slices, owing to their smaller size. Brains are high in protein and can be prepared in a wide variety of ways beyond brains and eggs or fried brain sandwiches. Among Miami’s Cuban population, brain fritters are made by coating pieces of brain with breadcrumbs and then frying them. Brains can also be included in soups, stews, and stir-fries. Before preparing brains in a recipe, it is common to rinse or soak the brains to remove any foreign matter and to reduce any “funky” flavors that some may not enjoy. Pork brains are high in cholesterol and may not be recommended by physicians as part of a heart-healthy diet. When using pork brains to make soup, chop the brains into cubes and sauté along with chopped onions and garlic. Once the onions are tender, add broth, carrots, and celery. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Remove from the heat once the carrots and other vegetables become tender. For a stir-fry, chop the brains into cubes and season them with salt and pepper. Heat a wok or large pan and add about 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the chopped



BREAD-AND-BUTTER PICKLES

brains to the pot and toss and stir them to cook the meat without allowing it to burn. Add stir-fry vegetables, if desired, and continue cooking until the vegetables are cooked throughout, but not soft and mushy. Nathan C. Crook Scrambled Eggs and Pig Brains

Yield: 2 servings Ingredients 1 tablespoon bacon grease 4 eggs ¹⁄³ cup of whole milk ¼ teaspoon ground pepper ¼ teaspoon salt 1 can Rose brand pork brains in milk gravy 4 slices of bread, toasted Directions 1. Beat the milk and eggs together in a bowl. 2. Melt the bacon grease in a skillet over low heat. Add the pork brains to the pan and stir. Stir in the salt and pepper. Increase the heat and add the egg mixture to the brains. Stir until the eggs are scrambled. Serve immediately with toasted bread. Recipe adapted from Global Delicacies: Diversity, Exotic, Strange, Weird, Relativism by Andrew Nyakupfuka. Further Reading Nyakupfuka, Andrew. 2013. Global Delicacies: Diversity, Exotic, Strange, Weird, Relativism. Bloomington, IN: Balboa Press.

BREAD-AND-BUTTER PICKLES Bread-and-butter pickles are a sweet-sour variety of pickled cucumbers made with a sugar-salt vinegar solution and a variety of spices, most traditionally celery seed, mustard seed, and turmeric. Compared to other sweet pickles, the bread-and-­ butter variety are made with less sugar and more salt, and are therefore more balanced and complex in flavor. While many food preservationists with an abundance of cucumbers put up the pickles via water bath canning, it’s equally popular to see recipes for “refrigerator” or “icebox” bread-and-butter pickles, which are stored chilled and should be consumed within about a week of preparation. These pickles are a favorite on hamburgers and chopped up in deviled eggs; they are traditionally pickled in slices—either straight or wavy cut—but can also be made with whole pickling cucumbers to enjoy as a treat right out of the jar.

41

42

BREAD-AND-BUTTER PICKLES

Although sweet-sour pickle recipes similar to the bread-and-butter type were around for many years prior, the name and specific flavor profile of the pickle variety are attributed to Cora and Omar Fanning of Streator, Illinois. As the legend goes, the cash-strapped farmers worked out a deal with their grocer, trading their homemade pickles for staples such as bread and butter—thus the name. The pickles were such a local success that they began commercially marketing their product under a trademarked logo as Fanning’s Bread and Butter Pickles in 1923. The frugal move of using the farm’s undersized cucumbers—which otherwise would have gone to waste—proved very lucrative. The Fanning’s brand is still alive today: having gone through multiple acquisitions over the years, Mrs. Fanning’s Bread and Butter Pickles is a now part of the “portfolio of nostalgic food products” owned by B&G Foods, coincidentally named after two pickle-vending families from late 19th-century Manhattan. Despite their Midwestern roots, bread-and-butter pickles today are most associated with the American South. Like chow-chow, a pickled mixed vegetable relish that contains a similar spice mixture, bread-and-butter pickles are a ubiquitous part of the spread at Southern picnics, barbecues, church potlucks, and family reunions. The sweet-and-sour cukes were labeled as “old-fashioned” from the moment they went on the market, and that reputation has remained. Recipes inevitably evoke a nostalgic feeling with words in their titles such as “country,” “homemade,” and “classic,” and with names like “Granny’s Bread and Butter Pickles.” With the increased interest in traditional food preservation methods such as pickling and fermentation in the 2010s, pickles of all kinds, including the “old-fashioned” bread-and-butter variety, saw a resurgence in popularity. Home cooks, top restaurateurs, and celebrity chefs alike began producing artisanal pickles, experimenting with new takes on classic flavor profiles and integrating new or uncommon ingredients. Variations on the celery seed–mustard seed–turmeric trifecta might add a spicy element such as a jalapeño pepper, a chopped celery stalk might replace celery seed, and fresh turmeric root might be added instead of the powder that gives the pickles their glowing yellow hue. In addition, the mellower apple cider vinegar could be used in place of classic white vinegar, and brown sugar or even honey might be subbed in for white sugar. Though subtle, these variations are the point of pride that makes each recipe unique, something key to the DIY ethos that allowed the lowly pickle’s ascent onto high-end restaurant menus. During this period, pickling became such a popular culinary trend among a certain subculture that it was parodied on the comedy show Portlandia, in a sketch called “We Can Pickle That.” In the segment, the show’s protagonists start by pickling cucumbers and eggs and eventually—claiming, “We can pickle anything!”—move on to items such as Band-Aids, CD jewel cases, and parking tickets. Brandie Roberts Curried Bread-and-Butter Pickles

This bright and flavorful bread-and-butter pickle recipe uses Indian spices and less sugar than the traditional version—a healthful take on a classic. Try these zesty,



BRUNSWICK STEW

crunchy slices on a lamb burger or chopped into deviled eggs for an unexpected twist. Yield: About 8 servings Ingredients 1 pound pickling cucumbers, ends trimmed and sliced into ¼-inch rounds ½ white onion, thinly sliced ¼ cup coarse kosher salt 2 tablespoons light brown sugar ¹⁄³ cup apple cider vinegar 2 teaspoons coriander seeds 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds 1 teaspoon cumin seeds ½ teaspoon black peppercorns 2 slices fresh turmeric 2 slices fresh ginger Directions 1. In a colander set over a shallow bowl, place cucumbers and onions, and toss thoroughly with salt. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 2 hours. Drain thoroughly, and transfer to a quart-sized glass jar or other storage container. 2. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, coriander, mustard, cumin, peppercorns, turmeric, and ginger. Bring to a boil, and cook until sugar dissolves. Pour hot liquid into jar over cucumbers and onions, and stir well. Top up jar with water as desired; the less water added, the more intensely flavored the pickle. Place lid on jar and store in refrigerator for up to 1 week. Further Reading B&G Food Service. 2017. “Our History.” Accessed July 7, 2017. http://www.bgfoodservice​ .com/about-us/our-history. Baker, Katie. 2011. “Bread and Butter Pickles: A Green Southern Treat.” Now and Then: The Appalachian Magazine 27 (1): 30–31. Oulton, Randal. 2010. “Bread and Butter Pickles.” CooksInfo.com. March 8. http://www​ .cooksinfo.com/bread-and-butter-pickles.

BRUNSWICK STEW Brunswick stew is a stew traditionally made from squirrel, though in many restaurants and food products today, chicken is used. It has been commonly consumed in the American South, but as people emigrated north and west, so did Brunswick stew. Squirrels have been hunted for food on the North American continent for thousands of years, providing a key protein source for Native Americans long before Europeans settled the continent. Native to the eastern and midwestern

43

44

BRUNSWICK STEW

United States, both the eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel now populate a variety of environments, from densely populated urban areas to the most remote forests of the American South. The origins of Brunswick stew can be traced back to Brunswick County, Virginia. It was an African American chef named “Uncle” Jimmy Matthews who, in 1828, first created what was to become known as Brunswick stew. According to Brunswick County historians, Dr. Creed Haskins, a member of the Virginia state legislature, took several friends out on a hunting trip. While the group was out hunting, Haskins’s chef, Matthews, went about hunting squirrel for their supper. “Matthews slowly stewed the squirrels with butter, onions, stale bread, and seasoning in a large iron pot. When the hunting party returned they were reluctant to try the new, thick concoction but, one taste convinced them to ask for more” (“Brunswick Stew: A Tradition with Taste,” 2017). Today, most Brunswick stew recipes replace squirrel with chicken and add vegetables such as lima beans, corn kernels, and potatoes to the mix. But even today, many squirrel hunting enthusiasts with a connection to this stew or the American South stay true to the origins of the dish and include squirrel meat instead of, or in addition to, chicken. As its name suggests, Brunswick stew is cooked slowly and demands attention and care throughout the cooking process. Most recipes for Brunswick stew require anywhere from four to six hours of cooking time. First, the proteins are simmered— chicken, squirrel, or both. Next, the vegetables and seasonings are added to the pot, which simmers for up to six hours. While the vegetables and seasonings vary slightly among different recipes, one instruction remains the same: constant stirring throughout the entire cooking process. Due to the long cooking time and attention that is required, Brunswick stew is most often prepared for “church functions, local fund raisers, family reunions, and political rallies” (Community Info 2017). In 1988, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a resolution “proclaiming Brunswick County, Virginia, as The Original Home of Brunswick Stew.” To celebrate the resolution, the first annual Brunswick Stew-Fest was held in the Virginia state capitol of Richmond, and the festival occurs annually to celebrate the unique heritage of Brunswick stew. While no adverse health effects are attributed to the consumption of squirrel meat, the consumption of squirrel brains has become a cause for concern. In 1997, doctors in Kentucky issued a warning that humans who consumed squirrel brains were in danger of contracting a variation of mad cow disease, officially called Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Kelly Newsome Brunswick Stew, aka Squirrel Muddle

Yield: 10 to 12 quarts; freezes very well. Cut recipe in half for smaller yield. Ingredients 3 pounds squirrel meat 1 to 2 whole chickens ½ pound bacon

BUFFALO

2 to 3 pounds onions, diced 5 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly 2 quarts canned tomatoes 1 to 2 packages fresh or frozen lima beans 1 to 2 packages frozen corn kernels 1 to 2 10-ounce cans condensed tomato soup 3 to 4 chicken bouillon cubes Salt and pepper Water Directions   1. Boil squirrel and chicken in separate pots, with enough water to cover the meat. Save chicken broth for liquid additions.   2. Debone meats and return them to the squirrel broth, along with sliced potatoes and diced onions.   3. Fry bacon (save grease) and crumble into small pieces; add to squirrel broth along with 1 tablespoon reserved bacon grease.   4. Bring to a boil; add chicken broth as needed.   5. Simmer at medium-low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.   6. Add lima beans, corn, and tomatoes. Return to a simmer; stir frequently.   7. Add salt and pepper to taste.   8. Add 1 teaspoon sugar to cut any bitterness from the vegetables. Simmer in a covered pot for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.   9. Add chicken broth, bacon grease, and sugar as needed. Simmer until the center of the stew is thick enough to eat with a fork. 10. Stir in tomato soup, and stir frequently during the last few minutes of cooking. Adapted from a recipe created by Grandma Hazel Newsome. Further Reading “Brunswick Stew: A Tradition with Taste.” 2017. Brunswick County, Virginia. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.brunswickco.com/html/history_of_brunswick_stew.html. Community Info. 2017. Brunswick Chamber of Commerce. Accessed December 18, 2017. http://brunswickchamber.com/viewPage.php?ID=Community_Info.

B U F FA L O In the American food context, “buffalo” is a common name for the American bison, a North American native of the Bovina family, which also includes domestic cattle. The American bison has long been an important foodstuff and cultural icon. The American bison is not to be confused with its distant relatives, the African buffalo or the water buffalo, an important source of milk and meat in Asia, India, and the Mediterranean. The common use of the term “buffalo” may derive from the French word for beef (boeuf).

45

46

BUFFALO

Buffalo are the largest mammals in North America, weighing as much as a ton. Prior to westward expansion of the United States, there may have been as many as 60 million of these shaggy ruminants roaming the plains, as they had done since prehistoric times. By the second half of the 19th century, pioneers had driven the buffalo to near-extinction by shrinking their habitat, overhunting them for fur, food, and sport, and killing them to deprive native Plains tribes of a food source. Buffalo have long been a nostalgic symbol of our American past. A famous folk song from the 1800s, “Home on the Range,” opens with the iconic animal. Today, buffalo have enjoyed a resurgence in numbers and popularity, due both to conservation efforts and bison ranching. In 2016, President Barack Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act, which conferred the status of “national mammal” on the bison, recognizing its important historic and symbolic connection to the nation. Bison were a major source of food and held spiritual significance for Native Americans. They used every part of the animal—clothing, moccasins, and drums from the hide, soap and cosmetics from the fat, tools from the bones, tanning agents from the liver, and paint from the blood. Native Americans ate the meat fresh, sun-dried, or cooked, whether on open fires, in vats of water heated by stones (stone boiling), or in large underground ovens, in which the meat would be wrapped in hides or vegetation before being buried. But the Native American diet incorporated more than just the muscle meat of the buffalo. The fat was dried or rendered into lard. Bones provided marrow. The organs were roasted or hung to dry in the sun, while the brain was eaten raw. The second stomach and intestines were often eaten full of “half-fermented, half-­ digested grass and herbs; you didn’t need any pills and vitamins when you swallowed those,” according to John (Fire) Lame Deer (1903–1976), a Lakota spiritual leader, when recounting his life story. A preparation later adopted by fur traders and still made today is pemmican, a calorie-dense and highly portable sort of early energy bar of dried meat pounded with berries and mixed with fat. Among Native American tribes, certain parts of the animal were considered appropriate for certain people, such as udders for women, unborn young for the elderly, and the shoulder or “boss” ribs for men. Killing these large animals, which can run up to 35 miles per hour, was no easy task prior to the introduction of guns into North America, requiring specialized tactics such as human chains surrounding the herds or creating “buffalo jumps” to drive stampedes over cliffs. Early “mountain men”—trappers and traders of the American frontier, many of French Canadian descent—adopted elements of the Native American diet, including buffalo. Among pioneers, buffalo was especially prized for its tongue, hump fat, and bone marrow. The mountain men also enjoyed a frontier style of boudin (a category of French sausage), made by roasting the small intestines of the bison over a fire on a stick until they become puffy and crisp. Several accounts also describe a competitive, tug-of-war style of eating the intestine among Native Americans and mountain men, with one person starting at each end and working their way to the middle. Pioneers also used buffalo dung as fuel and called it bois de vache or “wood from a cow.” Today, diners are drawn to buffalo because it is considered healthy—it has 40 percent more protein and a third fewer calories than beef, mainly because it is

BUFFALO

lower in fat. Bison is high in iron, potassium, zinc, niacin and B vitamins. Bison’s flavor is similar to beef, though some describe it as sweeter, while Food and Wine magazine editors say it “packs an earthy, musty flavor” (F&W Editors 2016). Bison can be used interchangeably with beef in most dishes, such as burgers, steaks, chili, or carpaccio (thinly sliced and raw), but it tends to dry out more quickly, as it lacks the fat marbling of beef. National parks such as Yellowstone feature bison on restaurant menus as a way to highlight a local and time-honored ingredient for tourists. Menus feature dishes as varied as buffalo burgers, bison tartare (raw ground meat), biscuits with buffalo sausage gravy, bison bratwurst (sausage), and buffalo rib-eye and prime rib steaks. The National Bison Association launched a successful advertising campaign in 2001 to promote the meat, which has boosted demand, despite the fact that buffalo tends to be more expensive than beef. Bison take longer to mature, raising them requires more land per animal, and the ranches tend to be much smaller in scale. Bison ranching also defies industrial farming—the huge animals need more space, lend themselves less to human handling, and are less likely to be raised with hormones and antibiotics than beef cattle. Susan Miller-Davis Bison Burger

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 pound ground bison (American buffalo) meat Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Form bison into four equal-sized patties. 2. Season liberally with salt and pepper. 3. Grill or sauté until medium rare, about three or four minutes per side. Be careful not to overcook, as bison meat dries out more quickly than beef due to its leanness. 4. Serve with traditional hamburger accompaniments (bun, lettuce, tomato, onion). Recipe by Jonathan Deutsch. Further Reading Davidson, A. and Tom Jaine. 2006. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. F&W Editors. 2016. “How to Cook with Bison Meat.” Food and Wine. February 18. Accessed August 26, 2017. http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/how-cook-bison-meat. Fallon, Sally, and Mary G. Enig. 2000. “Guts and Grease: The Diet of Native Americans.” The Weston A. Price Foundation. January 1. Accessed September 1, 2017. https:// www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/traditional-diets/guts-and-grease-the-diet-of​ -native-americans.

47

48

BURGOO

King, Gilbert. 2012. “Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed.” Smithsonian Magazine. July 17. Accessed September 1, 2017. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/where​ -the-buffalo-no-longer-roamed-3067904. Lame Deer, John (Fire), and Richard Erdoes. 1973. Lame Deer: Seeker of Vision. Washington Square Press. Leschin-Hoar, Claire. 2016. “Beyond Bison Burgers: Around Yellowstone, the National Mammal Is Local Cuisine.” The Salt (National Public Radio). June 9. Accessed September 2, 2017. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/09/481290445/beyond​ -bison -burgers-around-yellowstone-the-national-mammal-is-local-cuisine. Smithsonian Institution. 2014. “American Bison and American Indian Nations.” Accessed September 2, 2017. http://americanbison.si.edu/american-bison-and-american-indian​ -nations. Thomas, Martha. 2010. “Bison Is Roaming Back onto Restaurant Menus.” Washington Post. February 17, 2010. Accessed August 26, 2017. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp​ -dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021601366.html. U.S. Department of the Interior. 2016. “15 Facts About Our National Mammal: The American Bison.” Accessed August 26, 2017. https://www.doi.gov/blog/15-facts-about-our​ -national-mammal-american-bison.

BURGOO Thanks in part to folklore surrounding its origins and in part to lack of an agreedupon definition, burgoo, often referred to as “Kentucky burgoo,” enjoys a mystique that accompanies many celebrated recipes. Some call it a stew, and others call it a soup, but no one argues about the traditions and communal nature of the dish, a variety of meats and vegetables cooked in a cauldron over fire. While it has not become a mainstay throughout the United States, in Western Kentucky it is as common as racehorses, bourbon, and bluegrass. The multiple nature of burgoo begins with its pronunciation. Some favor emphasis on the first syllable, and others emphasize the latter. What is truly one person’s BURgoo may be someone else’s burGOO. Regardless of how it is pronounced, the origin of the name is equally shrouded in mystery. Stories range from burgoo being a variation of the French term for stew (ragout) to the way a famous burgoo chef pronounced his dish of bird stew. Sailing vessels once served bulgur wheat porridge due to its extended shelf life. While burgoo contains neither grain nor oats and is therefore not really a porridge, it could have been conceived as a meat porridge once in Kentucky and so named with some heavy modification to “bulgur.” None of these heritages are agreed upon. Kentucky burgoo is often compared to other well-known preparations of American origin like Brunswick stew, Dundas sheep stew, and Louisiana’s gumbo. What burgoo shares with each of these is the ambiguity of origin and ingredients. If 10 Kentuckians are asked for a traditional burgoo recipe, they will likely provide 10 different recipes. Common in each of these regional stews, and inherent to Western Kentucky’s burgoo, is a utilization of local products, often the result of a successful day of hunting, and a bountiful harvest from the garden or larder. Typical ingredients in this localized preparation include a variety of meats and vegetables cooked in a large iron cauldron over a live fire. This cooking method has

BURGOO

A bowl of Kentucky burgoo stew, traditionally prepared in huge batches meant to feed a crowd. (Alexander Mychk/Dreamstime.com)

helped burgoo to develop as a convivial product, with large groups of cooks working together to prepare burgoo over a crackling fire, sharing stories as it simmers all day and night. The necessity to tend to the fire adds to the communal nature of its preparation. Constant attention is provided by multiple hands to make burgoo together. This conviviality permeates burgoo’s lore throughout both preparation and consumption, both of which take place as a community. Burgoo is not a single man’s supper but a pot to share, to celebrate and to feast. The main meat ingredients in older burgoo recipes were wild game animals such as squirrel, wild turkey, quail, rabbit, opossum, raccoon, or deer. These are not the only meat ingredients added to burgoo, and this further separates it from other meat-and-vegetable regional stews. Western Kentucky’s topography was found to be well suited to sheep grazing in the 19th century, and Kentucky became a significant producer of wool. Sheep were low-maintenance and didn’t need much vegetation beyond Kentucky’s rich bluegrass to survive. This agricultural trend continued until after World War II, when synthetic fabrics began replacing wool in the textile markets. Sheep meat was the lesser-valued commodity at the time, and it was relegated to cooking applications like barbecued mutton, which shares its own place in Western Kentucky culinary tradition. Mutton found its way into burgoo cauldrons and became a customary addition due to its gamey flavor that is reminiscent of burgoo’s wild game origins. Mutton is but one characteristic that distinguishes burgoo from other regional stews in the United States. Many burgoo recipes use meat ingredients on the bone and simmer them in water until they fall apart. This meat stock then becomes the base of the stew, with vegetables that can range from potatoes to okra, and from cabbage to tomatoes.

49

50

BURGOO

Cooked meat is often shredded off of the bone and added back to the pot with the stock and vegetables. It is then cooked for extended periods of time until the vegetables break down and thicken the stew. Most burgoo recipes contain a vegetable familiar to another famous Western Kentucky liquid: corn. Some cooks even swear by the addition of bourbon to their burgoo as just one of their secret ingredients. While many popular burgoo recipes from the matriarch of a Kentucky family circulate, today burgoo is traditionally relegated to the realm of male-dominated cookery. The communal identity of the bubbling iron cauldron of burgoo was solidified at countless church events, hunting camps, turkey shoots, and community celebrations. Men would gather early in the morning to perform the tasks, stoke the fires, and share stories. The social bonds that form during burgoo preparation have helped to lift it from an ambiguous stew to the idiomatic dish that it is today. To that end, Anderson County, Kentucky, holds an annual burgoo festival that includes such festivities as a burgoo cook-off, a burgoo-eating contest, and a Civil War battle reenactment, and it even crowns a yearly Miss Burgoo. Burgoo has not fallen into obsolescence in Kentucky’s culinary conscience. It still is held in high regard at the Kentucky Derby, served at the annual horse race in May, and recipes are even advertised on the official Web site for the Derby. Some claim that the original silver cups that famously hold mint juleps, the traditional Derby cocktail, were originally used to serve burgoo. The history doesn’t end there—The racehorse Burgoo King won two of the three legs of the Triple Crown in 1932. Considering burgoo’s ambiguous origin and contents, perhaps the ultimate testament to its legacy is that it still permeates the cultural landscape of Kentucky cuisine, sometime deconstructed in fine dining restaurants, sometimes accompanied by teen beauty pageant contestants or Civil War reenactments, horse races or splashes of bourbon. What’s clear is that it must be served with community and Southern hospitality. Dianna Pittet Burgoo

Yield: 50 servings Ingredients For the stock: 1 beef shin, between 5–6 pounds 1 mutton shoulder, about 5 pounds 1 capon, about 8 pounds 2 rabbits, whole, 2½ pounds each 10 ears sweet corn, shucked 4 bay leaves 12 sprigs fresh thyme 1 head garlic, in the skin 1 chipotle pepper 2 gallons water

BURGOO

For the burgoo: 1 pound smoked bacon, diced medium 1 pound cured country ham, diced small 4 ounces corn oil 4 yellow onions, chopped (about 8 cups) 1 head celery, coarsely chopped 1 pound okra, ends trimmed and sliced into half-inch pieces 1 pound lima beans, fresh and shelled 4 pounds tomatoes, chopped 6 russet potatoes, cut into large cubes 4 ounces Worcestershire sauce 4 ounces soy sauce 4 ounces pure cane sorghum syrup 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar Salt and black pepper to taste Directions 1. Place the first 10 ingredients in a 12-quart stockpot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 4 hours barely simmering, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. 2. After 4 hours, strain and reserve the stock. Set the meat aside to cool. When cool, shred the meat from the bone. Carefully cut the kernels from the corncobs and mix them with the meat. 3. Add the bacon and ham to the stockpot and render the fat over medium heat. 4. Add the oil, onions, celery, and okra to the pot. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the stock and the remainder of the ingredients except the salt and pepper. 5. Simmer for 2 hours, uncovered. Add the meat and corn kernels. Simmer for another hour. Check for a stew-like consistency after this last hour of cooking. If the stew is too thin, continue cooking. If it is too thick, dilute with Kentucky bourbon. 6. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Further Reading Masters, Michael Edward. 2001. Col. Michael Edward Masters’ Hospitality—Kentucky Style: Simply Elegant Cooking and Entertaining. Bardstown, KY: Equine Writer’s Press. Shortridge, Barbara Gimla, and James R. Shortridge. 1998. The Taste of American Place: A Reader on Regional and Ethnic Foods. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Wilson, Charles Reagan, James G. Thomas, and Ann J. Abadie. 2006. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Young-Brown, Fiona. 2014. A Culinary History of Kentucky: Burgoo, Beer Cheese & Goetta. Charleston, SC: American Palate.

51

C CACTUS Over one thousand species of cactus grow throughout the New World, but only a handful are edible and just two, prickly pear and pitaya, appear in contemporary American foodways. Both species are native to Mexico, Central America, and South America and are staples in those regional cuisines. Colonizing Spaniards carried the plants back to Europe, after which they spread throughout the globe. The majority of cactus consumed in the United States is imported from either Mexico or South Asia. Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), also known as the Indian fig opuntia or Indian fig, can be found as far east as New England but grow most prolifically throughout the Southwest. The edible parts of the plant include the large, flat leaf pads or paddles and the small fruits. The paddles are sold as nopales and the purple or green fruit is known as tunas in the Spanish-speaking world. Sharp spines cover the nopales, though these are typically removed before they are sent to market. Smaller, nearly invisible spines called glochids also cover the prickly pear fruit, so it is important to peel the fruit before consuming. In Mexico, prickly pear is raised commercially and then shipped into U.S. markets either canned, jarred, or fresh. Pitaya, or pitahaya, is the fruit of several cactus species (Hylocereus undatus) that grow throughout the Americas. This fruit is more commonly known as dragon fruit. The two varieties are typically differentiated as sour (stenocereus) and sweet (hylocereus) dragon fruit. The sweet fruit is more widely known, specifically the hot pink–skinned variety with the crisp, white flesh dotted with hundreds of little black seeds. The fruit is often likened to kiwi fruit because of the small crunchy seeds and mildly sweet flesh. The fruit is also known as “strawberry pear.” Originally from Mexico, these moon-blooming, climbing cacti were transplanted to Central America and later cultivated in the United States and taken across the globe. The fruit gained popularity in Asian and South American foodways before becoming popular here in the United States in the past decade. Many cacti, including the saguaro, prickly pear, barrel cactus, and cholla, were integral to indigenous peoples’ diets in the American Southwest. Some plants, like the barrel cactus, were harvested for their juice; others, like the cholla and the prickly pear, were selected for their sweet buds, fruits, and flowers. While these varieties of cactus continue to flourish across the Southwest, consumption is limited to traditional ethnic practices continued within various Native American tribes including the Blackfeet, Navajo, and Cahuilla. Various traditional preparations include soups, syrups, juices, and fermented beverages such as wine, as well as the consumption of plain, raw cactus fruits.

CACTUS

Nopales on a griddle. Once the characteristic spines have been removed, the paddles can be eaten raw, or cooked in a variety of ways. (Camello/Dreamstime.com)

In addition to traditional indigenous culinary practices, various types of cacti (including prickly pear) were once considered suitable roughage for stock animals like cattle, particularly during droughts throughout the American Southwest. The prickly pear cactus also serves as the state plant symbol for the state of Texas. Despite its origins in southern Mexico and Central America, the majority of dragon fruit consumed in the United States is now imported from Southeast Asia. Unlike the regional popularity of the prickly pear, dragon fruit was reintroduced to niche produce markets across the United States in the last decade. Even with its underwhelming flavor, the prevalence of the fruit is likely due to its odd but highly photogenic pink-and-green exterior and its stark, spotted white flesh. These aesthetic characteristics are so compelling that the fruit is often used as an edible garnish in cocktails, smoothies, and fruit salads, the flesh cut into small shapes with cookie cutters or melon ballers. Before eating, the spines of the prickly pear nopales must be removed. This can be done by scraping the leaves of the plant with a sharp knife. Nopales can be eaten raw but are more commonly fried, grilled, or boiled and tossed in soups, warm and cold salads, or other dishes like tacos. When exposed to heat, the sliced cactus produces a kind of slime (much like the leaves of the aloe vera plant) but possess a unique and agreeable flavor. The fruit must be peeled before consuming. The fruit can be eaten raw but is more typically served pickled, candied, as a base for jams and frozen sweets like ice cream, or juiced and drunk plain or mixed with lemonade. It can also be eaten

53

54

CACTUS

fresh, the jelly-like flesh scooped out with a spoon. Both the paddles and the fruit are high in fiber and vitamin C, are low in calories, and have no saturated fat or cholesterol. The plant is believed to lower cholesterol and blood glucose levels for diabetics. It has also been found to contain flavonoids, antioxidants that can help fight the effects of free radicals. In the American Southwest, prickly pear fruit is a commonly used flavor in foods like jellies, candies, salad dressings, marmalades, preserves, ready-to-drink teas and lemonades, and alcoholic liqueurs and spirits. Thanks to the spread and influence of Mexican culture, nopales are also ubiquitous, especially in Texas and New Mexico, served in traditional dishes like nopalitos and ensalada de nopales as well as Americanized recipes like beavertail soup (a reference to the shape and size of the cactus paddle) and deep-fried cactus fries. The subtly sweet pitaya fruit contain plenty of phytonutrients and is rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, polyunsaturated (good) fats including omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and several B vitamins; it also contains carotene, iron, and a small amount of protein. After peeling and dicing, the fruit is typically consumed raw, mixed with other fruits to make a salad, or blended into smoothies or yogurt. The rarer hot pink–fleshed fruits are often used in recipes like cheesecakes, baked goods, or ice cream, to capitalize on their bright color. Like the prickly pear, pitaya (often known by its more fashionable name, dragon fruit) is now in vogue as a flavoring for all manner of products, including cocktail mixers, sparkling waters, liqueurs, juices, spreads, ready-to-drink and loose-leaf teas, soda, syrups and jellies, beers and vodkas, and energy drinks. Katherine Hysmith Ensalada de Nopales

Yield: 4 to 6 servings Ingredients 1 pound nopales, sliced into thin strips 1 sprig cilantro ½ small white onion 1 large tomato, chopped 2 serrano peppers, seeded and finely chopped ½ small white onion, finely chopped ½ cup fresh chopped cilantro ¼ cup olive oil 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano Salt and pepper to taste ½ cup queso fresco (or other fresh crumbly cheese)

CANNABIS

Directions 1. Set a large skillet over medium-low heat, and add the nopales, sprig of cilantro, half of the onion, and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Cover and let simmer as the nopales start to release their own liquid. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the cactus is completely cooked and fork-tender. 2. Allow the nopales to cool slightly. 3. In a large bowl, combine the nopales, tomato, peppers, onion, and cilantro. 4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, and oregano. Salt and pepper to taste. Add this dressing to the nopales mixture and fold to combine. Top the salad with crumbled queso fresco. Serve with corn tortillas. Prickly Pear Lemonade

Yield: 6 to 8 servings Ingredients 1 pound prickly pear fruit, skinned 1 cup lemon juice ¼ to ½ cup sugar, to taste 4 cups water Ice Directions 1. Place the prickly pear fruit in a blender and pulse until smooth. 2. Strain the mixture through a sieve or a layer of cheesecloth to remove the seeds and extra pulp. Discard the strained seeds and reserve the juice, about 1 cup. 3. In a large pitcher, add the prickly pear juice, lemon juice, and sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the water and stir to combine. 4. Serve over ice. Further Reading Niethammer, Carolyn. 1999. American Indian Cooking: Recipes from the Southwest. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Nobel, Park S. 2002. Cacti: Biology and Uses. Berkeley: University of California Press. Romanoff, Zan. 2017. “These Cacti Are Both Gorgeous and Edible.” Bon Appétit. May 16. http://www.bonappetit.com/story/edible-cactus-clark-moorten. Stewart, Amy. 2013. The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

CANNABIS In the United States, most adults are familiar with cannabis, though they probably know it as “marijuana,” “pot,” “weed,” or another slang term. It is typically consumed through inhalation, either by smoking the substance in a rolling paper

55

56

CANNABIS

(a “joint”) or in a pipe, or by vaporization. Cannabis can also be consumed on its own (e.g., seeds) or with food, and traditionally this involved its flower and leaf components being infused into butter or oil and used in baked goods. Pot brownies are classic cannabis edibles, with the rich chocolate helping to mask the pungent odor and flavor of the cannabis. Much has changed with cannabis edibles in the past 20 years over the course of its legalization for medical and adult (recreational) use. Cannabis is the genus of a plant that has more than 70 cannabinoids. Naturally occurring cannabinoids are active chemical compounds recognized by our endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is a group of endogenous cannabinoid receptors in mammalian brains that help to keep overall homoeostasis, or stability, of the body. Scientists are still discovering more about the chemistry of cannabis, but its best known and most abundant cannabinoids are tetrahyrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC is psychoactive and causes the well-known high of cannabis, whereas CBD is recognized for its healing properties. Strains of cannabis with different configurations of cannabinoids are used to treat a wide variety of medical conditions; for example, cancer, epilepsy, chronic pain, insomnia, HIV/ AIDS, PTSD, and insomnia, among others. Similar to alcohol libations, like beer and wine, cannabis is also used for recreational purposes, whereby individuals desire energizing or relaxed highs. Ongoing research reveals the important role that terpenes (organic compounds) play in providing cannabis aroma, flavoring, and healing properties. There are over 100 types of terpenes found in cannabis, though some are more common, such as limonene (citrus scent), linalool (floral scent), and myrcene (musky scent). Terpenes and cannabinoids are contained on the resinous glands of cannabis flowers and leaves, called trichomes. Chemists run lab tests of cannabis samples to show their unique cannabinoid and terpene profiles, information that chefs and other producers of cannabis edibles find useful in creating complementary flavors while cooking with cannabis. Hemp is one variety of cannabis with extremely low levels of THC, so it has no psychoactive effects. Its fibers are used for industrial purposes, such as cordage, paper, and building material. Interestingly, the United States has a long history of hemp agriculture, and President George Washington even grew the plant. Hemp seeds are currently sold in supermarkets and used as a salad topper, ground into baking flour, and cold-pressed into oil. They are a rich source of high-quality proteins and essential fatty acids. People have been using and consuming cannabis for thousands of years. Archaeologists have uncovered archaeobotantical evidence of human cannabis use and perhaps consumption throughout Asia and Europe. The plant is native to Central Asia, but it flourishes elsewhere, and for millennia it has been part of various cultural practices. For example, in India and other parts of South Asia, the Hindu and other religious groups consume pounded cannabis leaves called bhang (popularly consumed as a drink) for spiritual and ritual purposes, including during Hindu festivals and pilgrimages. In fact, the West learned about the therapeutic benefits of cannabis from India. Starting in the 19th century, Western

CANNABIS

doctors and pharmacists started to prepare tinctures made out of cannabis concentrates. These were sold over the counter in Europe and in the United States. When U.S. cannabis prohibition began in 1937, the consumption of cannabis went more underground. Cannabis is still federally prohibited. However, in 1996 California historically voted to legalize it for medical purposes, reflecting a change in public opinion about the plant. Currently, medical cannabis is legal or decriminalized in more than half of the states. In those states with legalized medical cannabis, patients with a doctor’s prescription can grow cannabis for personal use or acquire it from authorized sellers. In other states that legalized adult-use cannabis, including Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts, individuals 21 years and older can grow their own or purchase it. Cannabis edibles have evolved significantly from the days of pot brownies during the prohibition era. Chefs are making significant strides in cannabis gastronomy thanks to increasing knowledge about cannabis and lessening stigma surrounding its use. Cannabis extracts are still used in baked goods, but new technologies permit the development of cannabis concentrates, such as refined oils, to produce a more exact potency, and the extraction of terpenes to tailor flavors in savory dishes, sweet desserts, candy, drinks, and even gum. These edibles meet different needs, from those of medical patients who often require strong doses of THC (>50 mg) to treat their conditions and ailments, to those of recreational users who want to enjoy a cannabis high without overindulging and prefer what is known as micro-dosing (1–10 mg of THC). The treatment of cannabis in food has gone gourmet, and mainstream magazines like Bon Appétit are even regularly featuring cannabis. Indeed some chefs are involved in the cannabis high dining scene, which includes pop-up events where guests are treated to multi-course meals featuring foods infused with cannabis or that pair well with inhaled cannabis strains with names such as Sour Diesel and Trainwreck. The key to making effective psychoactive cannabis edibles is activating the THC by heating it to around 220°F, a process called decarboxylation. However, consumers should be careful, as eating cannabis results in a more intense and often longer-lasting experience than inhaling cannabis—though cannabis edibles, drinks, and sublinguals can also be prepared with higher CBD strains that do not produce psychoactive results. Rachel F. Giraudo Cannabutter

Yield: About 1 pound of cannabutter Ingredients 1 ounce cannabis flower 1 pound unsalted butter 8 cups water

57

58

CAPE MAY SALT OYSTERS

Directions 1. Decarboxylate ground cannabis by preheating oven to 220–240°F, spreading cannabis on a baking sheet, and leaving it in oven to heat for 40 minutes. 2. Bring water to boil in a large stockpot, and then add butter. Once butter is melted, mix in cannabis. 3. Reduce heat and let mixture simmer with no lid for three to four hours. Stir occasionally. Most of the water should dissipate, but if too much water evaporates, add some. 4. Pour mixture through strainer into a second pot. Apply pressure with a spoon or spatula to remaining cannabis material to squeeze out butter into pot. 5. Allow mixture to cool and then, using gloves, strain the remaining cannabis material through a piece of cheesecloth. 6. Cool the liquid butter in the refrigerator until it congeals and separates from the remaining water. 7. Remove the solidified butter and let it dry to remove leftover moisture before storing in airtight food container or bags. Further Reading Clarke, Robert Connell, and Mark David Merlin. 2016. Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany. Berkeley: University of California Press. Moriarty, Sandy. 2010. Aunt Sandy’s Medical Marijuana Cookbook: Comfort Food for Body & Mind. Piedmont, CA: Quick American. Wolf, Laurie Goldrich, Melissa Parks, and Bruce Wolf. 2015. Herb: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Cannabis. San Francisco, CA: Inkshares.

C A P E M AY S A LT O Y S T E R S Cape May Salt oysters, also called Cape May Salts, are Atlantic oysters coming from the Delaware Bay of Cape May County, New Jersey. Cape May Salts are a small variety of the mollusk, typically enjoyed raw, being very popular for their meaty taste. The Cape May Salt oyster has been praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal for its excellent flavor and superb meat quality. There is archaeological evidence that Cape May Salt oysters were first enjoyed by the Native Americans inhabiting the South Jersey Delaware Bayshore for several centuries, and they were eaten through the 1800s when European settlers and colonists came in and began harvesting them as well. Oyster harvesting was a major industry in New Jersey from colonial times up until the 1950s, when overfishing, environmental hazards, and boat activity nearly eliminated all of the oyster beds in the bay. In colonial times, the port town of Cape May used to send barrelfuls of oysters to Philadelphia, where oyster sellers sold them on the streets, which consequently were paved with oyster shells. Saloons and taverns selling oysters were very common, and the oysters were eaten raw, in stews, brined, or fried and served over chicken salad. In 1880, at the industry’s peak, 2.4 million bushels of oysters were harvested from the Delaware Bay. Overfishing occurred due to desperation for food and income during the Depression, and by 1950 the harvest had dropped to one million



CAPE MAY SALT OYSTERS

bushels. Some research has suggested that the oyster farms were already destroyed during World War II due to motorized boats replacing sailboats. In 1957, the Delaware Bay oyster industry was almost eradicated due to MSX, which is a disease, fatal to oysters, caused by the parasitic protozoan organism Haplosporidium nelsoni. In just 18 months, MSX had killed off about 95 percent of the oysters. The decimated oyster population was struck by disease again in 1990. This time by Dermo, which is caused by a different, but similar, protozoan parasite, Dermocystidium marinum. There has since been a revival, thanks to some dedicated fishermen, scientists, and Slow Food USA. In the 1960s, Harold H. Haskin of Rutgers University began a great deal of research and experimenting in the revival of the Cape May Salts by launching an oyster-breeding program. He worked with a group of scientists to develop a strain of disease-resistant oyster seeds, which is used to this day. His lab, the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, has been functioning now for 120 years to preserve fisheries and the aquaculture of New Jersey. The Cape May Salt was the first Ark of Taste project by Slow Food USA, and in 2002 it was awarded a Slow Food Presidium, a program coordinated by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, whose mission is to organize and fund projects that defend the world’s heritage of agricultural biodiversity and gastronomic tradition. Cape May Salts are grown culchless (individually) and are easily shucked. They are harvested year-round at a minimum size of three inches. Oysters are a near-­ perfect protein, being low in calories and high in nutrients, including zinc and omega-3. Oysters have been heralded as an aphrodisiac since Roman times; while this is mainly taken as myth, zinc is an essential element in testosterone production. Sally Baho Roasted Cape May Salts with a Spicy Soy Chili Glaze

Yield: 1–2 servings Ingredients 6 shucked Cape May Salt oysters 2 ounces soy sauce 2 ounces water 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 ounce hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce 1 teaspoon honey Thinly sliced scallions Directions 1. Fire up the broiler. 2. In a small saucepan, bring all ingredients except water, cornstarch, scallions, and oysters to a boil. Separately, dissolve the cornstarch in the water and slowly add to the saucepan, stirring constantly to avoid clumps.

59

60

CATFISH AND WAFFLES

3. Adjust sriracha sauce and honey to taste (sriracha for more spice or honey to make it sweeter). The cornstarch mixture will thicken the glaze. 4. Place oysters under a hot broiler for a few minutes or until slightly firm. Top each oyster with a dollop of the glaze and sprinkle with some scallions. Further Reading “Cape May Salt Oysters.” 2017. Cape May Salt Oyster Company. Accessed September 6, 2017. http://www.capemaysalts.com/Our-History.html.

C AT F I S H A N D WA F F L E S Philadelphia’s most famous food now, arguably, is the cheesesteak, but during much of the late 1800s, catfish and waffles was what people traveled to Philadelphia to taste. The dish, actually an entire meal, typically consisted of catfish (sometimes fried), pepper hash (a traditional condiment made from a sweet-and-sour combination of cabbage, peppers and spices), fried potatoes, fried or stewed chicken, and lightly salted and buttered waffles. The dish could be served at any time of day. Catfish and waffles—which became all but extinct on restaurant menus after Prohibition and overfishing of the river—is making a resurgence among some gastropubs in Philadelphia. The meal, originally called the “Wissahickon supper”—named for a creek in Philadelphia that was a popular destination for tourists and day trippers—was first served at the Falls of the Schuylkill Hotel. The hotel was among a string of roadhouses along the Schuylkill River catering to steamboat passengers riding upriver from the city’s Fairmount section each hour. The word “Wissahickon” is actually a combination of two Lenape words, wisamickan, meaning “catfish creek,” and wisaucksickan, meaning “yellow-colored stream.” The area became a popular wedding venue, with catfish and waffle dinners a big part of the festivities. Dating back to colonial times, the main river that runs through Philadelphia, the Schuylkill, and its tributary the Wissahickon Creek, were known for the best catfish fishing in the region. One account from 1817 noted that “there was nothing extraordinary in a catch of 3,000 catfish in one night and that one scoop of the dip-net has brought up more catfish than could be lifted into the boat by one man” (Meehan 1893). Catfish from the Wissahickon were said to be “dainty and toothsome and when served the equally famous waffles brought visions of Paradise on earth” (Schweitzer 2013). The native species of the river was known as the “white catfish,” although it was black on the back and white only on the bottom; it could easily weigh upwards of 15 pounds. And much of the dish’s popularity arose due to the fact that the fish could be caught in the morning and served within hours at picturesque restaurants along the banks of the river. Another draw for the dinners was their limited seasonality, with catfish and waffles generally only served during the summer months and into the early fall. Philadelphians were familiar with waffles, since German immigrants outside the city brought their recipes from Europe for the soft cakes that were often served at breakfast. The catfish in the catfish and waffles dinners were generally boiled and



CATFISH AND WAFFLES

shredded and added to a milk-based gravy. The waffle’s honeycomb-patterned divots were perfect to hold and soak up the catfish gravy. In 1848, the Falls Hotel and tavern was renamed the Old Catfish and Coffee House, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The meals were sometimes called “Catfish and Coffee,” since they began with fried catfish and ended with coffee. The hotel advertised a special blue fish “caught at ebb-tide from the pure spring waters of the Schuylkill.” An 1848 advertisement for the Old Catfish and Coffee House proclaimed, “The proprietor is prepared to serve up breakfasts, dinners and suppers, to parties, at the shortest notice. A ride to the Falls of Schuylkill, with a Catfish and Coffee Supper, has long been justly celebrated among city epicures.” East Falls, a neighborhood in northwest Philadelphia adjacent to what is today Fairmont Park, and once known as the Falls of Schuylkill, was the place to go for catfish and waffles. A host of roadhouses and inns along the river in the area served up the meal, including the Wissahickon Hall and Bobby Evan’s Hotel. “The typical menus for all these waffle palaces consisted of fried catfish with pepper hash, fried potatoes, fried chicken, beefsteaks, stewed chicken and of course waffles to accompany the stewed dish of your choices,” explains William Woys Weaver, a Philadelphia-based food historian. “Strong coffee came with the meal; waffles as a dessert, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, were extra,” he explains in an article in Table Matters, a publication of Drexel University. The basic dishes were then arranged into price categories, from relatively cheap and simple to a full spread with everything on the menu. Guests could reserve whole tables and arrive as a group and create a shared menu to fit their inclinations or budgets, Weaver further explains. A number of these roadhouses created their own artificial ponds to corral the catfish for easier capture. And apparently the meals were very memorable, as witnessed by Charles Austin Whiteshot, who pined of catfish and waffles in his autobiography, The Oil Well Driller: A History of the World’s Greatest Enterprise, the Oil Industry, published in 1905. “I recall that it was a road house somewhere in the vicinity of Philadelphia and on an average of once a week we would visit it and regale our appetites with these delectable viands. . . . I would thank my lucky stars if I could publicly pay tribute to the name of the man who served catfish and waffles as the leading feature of his bill of fare. I ate them until I broke out with a rash, gorged myself near to bursting and never grew tired of the diet . . . The catfish is the most delicious morsel that swims our waters, not much to look at, perhaps, but in the hands of the caterer he becomes a thing of beauty and a joy forever.” Some of the finer eating establishments in Philadelphia, farther from the river, also served their own version of catfish and waffles, including Kurgler’s, the self-proclaimed “finest, largest and most beautifully appointed restaurant in Philadelphia,” in the early 1900s. While some roadhouses dipped their catfish in cornmeal batter and then fried them, Kurgler’s serves its catfish boiled and then chopped and mixed in a white sauce over the waffle. Other roadhouses, including the Wild Cat Falls Inn, according to Weaver in As American as Shoefly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine, served their own twist on catfish and waffles, offering snapping turtle over waffles,

61

62

CATFISH AND WAFFLES

crayfish over waffles, and duck over waffles. Each was served with a helping of pepper hash and a side of three fried oysters during the colder months, and with fried clams in the summer, Weaver adds. According to Weaver, catfish and waffles was the forerunner to what became a popular dish among the German immigrants outside of Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Their chicken and waffle dinners helped attract tourists to the Amish countryside to taste authentic home cooking. Catfish was replaced by chicken since chicken was more readily available all year round. Dan Macey Easy Fried Catfish and Waffles

Yield: 6–8 servings Catfish Fingers Ingredients 2 cups cornmeal ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning 2 pounds boned catfish fillets, cut into 1-inch strips Peanut oil for frying Directions In a skillet or deep fryer, heat two inches of peanut oil to 375 degrees. In the meantime, combine the cornmeal, salt, and seasoning in a shallow bowl. Dredge each catfish strip in the cornmeal mixture and shake off the excess. Carefully drop several of the strips into the oil. Fry for about five minutes, turning over and cooking until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel. Continue frying the catfish strips in batches. Waffles (adapted from an 1884 recipe) Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon butter, melted 2 eggs ½ cup milk Directions 1. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. 2. Add the melted butter, eggs, and milk, and whisk until well combined. 3. Cook mixture in a waffle iron.

CHAUDIN

Gravy Ingredients 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons dried minced onions 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning 2 tablespoons dried mushrooms, chopped finely 2 cups milk 2 tablespoons capers, chopped Directions 1. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a sauté pan, and then add the flour and stir until the flour becomes a light brown color, about three minutes. 2. Add the minced onions, dried mushroom, salt, and seasoning, and then slowly add the milk and whisk until the sauce becomes thick. Stir in the chopped capers. 3. Top each waffle with some catfish fingers and then pour over the gravy. Gravy recipe adapted from Kurgler’s original, courtesy of the Keystone Center for the Study of Regional Foods and Food Tourism. Further Reading Meehan, William E., and Edwin K. Meyers. 1893. Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania: Compiled for the State Fish Commissioners. Harrisburg, PA: E. K. Meyers. Schweitzer, Teagan. 2013. “Historic Philadelphia Foodways: A Consideration of Catfish Cookery.” Northeast Historical Archaeology, Volume 42, “Foodways on the Menu: Understanding the Lives of Households and Communities through the Interpretation of Meals and Food-Related Practices.” State University of New York. Weaver, William W. 2013. “The Dutch Country Waffle Dinner.” Table Matters. Accessed November 20, 2017. http://tablematters.com/2013/06/04/the-dutch-country-waffle​ ­ -dinner. Whiteshot, Charles A. 1905. The Oil Well Driller: A History of the World’s Greatest Enterprise, the Oil Industry. Mannington, WV: Charles Austin Whiteshot.

CHAUDIN The Louisiana dish known as chaudin (pronounced show-dahn) consists of a pig’s stomach stuffed with a fresh seasoned pork sausage mixture, which is then trussed or sewn up with butcher’s twine, often smoked, and then finished by roasting for a few hours in a Dutch oven pot. The chaudin does not need to be smoked prior to cooking; some believe that the tender flavors of the chaudin are lost to the overpowering flavors of smoking. To retain the juices, the dish is allowed to rest prior to serving, when it is sliced and placed on top of a bed of long-grain white rice and served with gravy, on a family-style platter.

63

64

CHAUDIN

Chaudin is a delicacy of French influence, originating in the bayous of southern Louisiana. The word “chaudin” is of French Cajun origin, meaning “stomach” or “innards.” In Parisian French, the pig’s stomach would be referred to as estomac de porc. The dish is also commonly known as southern Louisiana ponce, shodin, or Cajun haggis. In the northern Pennsylvania Dutch region, they prepare a similar German version of the dish known as seimaage, hogmal, stuffed hog maw, stuffed pig stomach, or Dutch goose. Dutch versions of the recipe frequently contain smoked and fresh sausage with potatoes and cabbage. The German version often adds more spices, including clove, nutmeg, and marjoram, along with carrots, onions, and potatoes in the sausage stuffing. The sausage filling and the outside surface of the pig stomach are typically seasoned with a Cajun spice blend including garlic, paprika, salt, cayenne pepper, thyme, black pepper, onion powder, and oregano. This seasoning blend provides a full flavor and some heat without overpowering the pork. The resulting dish is similar to a large cased sausage with a cushion shape. The sausage meat is traditionally ground pork, although some adaptations contain andouille sausage or ground beef. Many believe that a chaudin prepared with beef is not authentic to the dish’s history. Chaudin is available today in many markets and butcher shops in southern Louisiana, already stuffed, seasoned, and smoked if desired. It is still prepared in the home, but usually as a part of a large holiday meal or celebration, due to its labor-intensive preparation. Chaudin is not readily found in markets outside of Cajun country. In addition to the sausage meat, the chaudin filling may contain various vegetables, garlic, herbs, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or white rice. Typical vegetables include the Cajun “trinity” of bell pepper, celery, and onions. The trinity has a ratio of two parts onion, one part celery, and one part bell pepper. The gravy typically used on chaudin is known as the Holy Trinity gravy, a blend of bell pepper, celery, and onions sautéed in the drippings from the roasted chaudin and thickened with flour to create a roux. Meat or vegetable stock is added, just enough to make a thick gravy. The gravy can be poured over the dish or served on the side as a condiment. Chaudin is served either as a warm dish or cold, similar to a pâté. Some variations of the recipe suggest sautéing the trinity vegetables in the Dutch oven and cooking them with the chaudin. Other recipes call for creating the gravy first and stewing the chaudin in the gravy as it roasts in the Dutch oven. The word “Cajun” is short for “Acadian.” Cajun cuisine in Louisiana was the result of migrant French Acadians who were deported from Nova Scotia, on the eastern coast of Canada, during British rule. During the mid-1700s, Britain gained control over Nova Scotia and feared that its large Acadian population would support the French; this resulted in over 6,000 residents being exported to colonies in America. Many Acadians were forced to leave because they refused to convert from their Catholic faith to Anglican. This deportation of Acadians is referred to as “the expulsion of the Acadians” or “the great upheaval.” Undocumented Acadians were believed to have settled in southern Louisiana as early as 1755, with official settlers being recorded in 1765. The area where they settled, now commonly known as

CHAUDIN

“Cajun country” or “Acadiana,” consists of 22 of the 64 parishes (counties) that stretch from Lafourche to the eastern Texas border. The Acadian diet in 1700s Nova Scotia relied heavily on fresh seafood, soups, and breads. Acadians who were forced to settle in the Louisiana region became fond of the availability of seafood, game meats, and, in particular, pork. A favorite of the migrants was salt pork, which can be seen as a staple ingredient in many Cajun recipes today. It is believed that the Acadians consumed salt pork at almost every meal. Early Acadians relied on cooking in an open-hearth fire and had two main cooking pots for all meals. The first pot was a cast-iron cauldron for stewing, the second a deep cast-iron skillet for frying; the skillet was also used as a cover for the cauldron, thereby creating early Dutch ovens. The Dutch oven is an ideal cooking vessel for chaudin since the pot and lid maintain even heating temperatures and contain the steam in the dish, leaving tough meats tender and juicy. The stomach of the pig tends to be tough and elastic unless it is cooked long enough with enough liquid. Acadians began raising pigs on their lands for the sole purpose of consumption. Since a hog is a fairly large animal, multiple families would often share the meat and parts from a single slaughtered pig. Meat was highly coveted, and every part of the pig found a purpose in Cajun cuisine. Due to the high humidity in Louisiana, smoking, pickling, brining, and salting became common methods of preserving meats. This can still be seen in the chaudin dish with the use of the salted sausage meats and the smoking of the pig’s stomach. Susan Brassard Pork Chaudin

Yield: 10–12 servings Ingredients 1 pig’s stomach, clean 6 cups ice-cold water 1 cup salt 3 tablespoons canola oil 2 cups yellow onion, diced 1 cup celery, diced 1 cup bell pepper, diced 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme 1 cup sweet potato or Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced 2 pounds ground pork (or blend of fresh pork and smoked sausage meat) 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

65

66

CHEESE BALL

1 teaspoon black pepper 2 yellow onions, quartered 1 stalk celery, chopped 4 cups dark chicken stock 2 tablespoons roux 6 cups cooked long-grain white rice Directions 1. Place the rinsed and clean pig’s stomach in the cold water and salt to brine for one hour in the refrigerator. Remove and drain the salt water, pat dry with paper towels, keep cold. 2. In the meantime, heat a Dutch oven over medium heat; add the canola oil and sauté the onions, celery, and bell peppers until tender. Add the pork meat, potatoes, garlic, thyme, and half the Cajun seasoning. 3. When cooked through, remove the mixture from the pan, cool slightly, and stuff into the pig’s stomach. Truss or sew up the stomach with butcher’s twine. Season the outside of the chaudin with Cajun seasoning. 4. Return the pan to the burner and sear both sides of the chaudin till golden brown; add additional canola oil if needed. 5. Remove from the heat; add the chicken stock, quartered onion, and chopped celery to the pot with the chaudin. 6. Place in a 350°F oven with the lid on the pot for two or three hours, until the pig’s stomach is tender and the internal temperature reaches 155°. 7. When the chaudin is done, remove it from the pan to a cutting board to rest. 8. Drain the vegetables from the chicken stock, return the pan to the stove, and thicken the stock with the roux to make the gravy. 9. Slice the chaudin into thick slices, lay on a platter of warm rice, and top with the gravy. Further Reading Bienvenu, Marcelle, Carl A. Brasseaux, and Ryan A. Brasseaux. 2008. Stir the Pot: The History of Cajun Cuisine. New York: Hippocrene. “Taste of America: Cajun and Creole.” 2017. Epicurious. Accessed November 20, 2017. http://www.epicurious.com/archive/cuisines/cuisineguides/cajuncreoletimeline.

CHEESE BALL A cheese ball is a smooth mixture of soft cheeses, seasonings, and sometimes butter that is shaped into a ball about the size of an orange and then coated with nuts, seeds, fruits, herbs, and/or spices. Despite its name, it does not have to assume the shape of a ball. It can be formed into logs as well as whimsical shapes, such as a football for watching a favorite team play, snowmen or penguins for winter parties, or whatever one fancies for a particular occasion. The malleability of the dairy mixture permits the cheese ball’s various guises. Its versatility does not end



CHEESE BALL

there, as it can be either savory or sweet. When it is savory, common flavoring additions include strong cheeses (e.g., blue cheese, extra-sharp cheddar, mountain cheeses); minced alliums (e.g., garlic, onions, shallots, scallions); bold spices and herbs (e.g., dill, cumin, black pepper, oregano, paprika); punchy condiments (e.g., mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce); and additional proteins (e.g., legumes, chicken, cured meats, seafood). When sweet, the cheese ball consists of solely mild cheeses (e.g., cream cheese) as well as sugar and vanilla, and it can include fresh, dried, canned or preserved fruits; chocolate; peanut butter; and crushed cookies. A cheese ball is presented in its whole form as an appetizer at parties and gatherings, and it is up to the guests to use a knife to spread a personal portion of it onto accompanying crackers, toasts, pretzels, or crudites. During winter holiday parties, they make appearances on tables all across the country, but the cheese ball’s home base is in the American North, especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the cheese ball has its origins. The cheese ball has been called the pimiento cheese of the North. There are no definitive accounts of the cheese ball’s origins. Sylvia Lovegren posits that it is an outgrowth of the small cheese balls that were part of ladies’ luncheon salads at the turn of the 20th century. These morphed into walnut-sized cheese balls coated in nuts, parsley, or chipped beef that were a common nibble at cocktail parties in the 1940s. The first mention of a large, communal cheese ball that Lovegren could locate was in Virginia Safford’s Food of My Friends (1944), which lists it as the specialty of the house of Mrs. Selmer F. Ellerston of Minneapolis. By the 1950s it had a steady position at cocktail parties. Another hypothesis comes from the Center for Dairy Research in Wisconsin, which traces the cheese ball to cold pack cheese, a Wisconsin original that is now consumed throughout the United States. Essentially ground-up cheese that can have flavors added to it, cold pack cheese, also known as “comminuted,” “club,” “pub,” “crock,” and “snappy” cheese, has probably been made at home for quite some time, influenced by Swedes who combined leftover cheese with butter and spirits to produce a Swedish potted cheese, or pot käs. It was a product of frugality. In the early 1900s, cheese spreads (which is what cold pack cheese is) were served at the Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee, and by the 1930s it became a part of the free tavern lunch in Wisconsin. Cold pack cheese is the material from which cheese balls are created, and the argument goes that without cold pack cheese, there would be no cheese balls, or at least commercially made ones. There are mentions that the earliest cheese ball dates back to Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, when the townspeople of Cheshire, Massachusetts, pooled together milk from 900 of their cows to create an enormous cheese that weighed 1,234 pounds. It was gifted to Jefferson in Washington, DC, in 1802. Some people have called this the first cheese ball, but it was more likely an early example of a mammoth cheese, an impressively large form of a cheese created to present to dignitaries. Mammoth cheeses were a phenomenon of England, Canada and elsewhere and were composed of a hard, cheddar-like cheese. That the cheese presented to Jefferson reputedly lasted for months is key to discounting that it was a cheese ball, since if it were, it would not have lasted that long due to its perishability.

67

68

CHEESE BALL

In the last decade or so, the cheese ball has loosened its hold on the American North and has found its way to homes in other regions of the country. Often when this happens, it is served in a kitschy or ironically nostalgic way. This humorous aspect of the cheese ball is best highlighted by the comedian Amy Sedaris, who included recipes in her cookbook, I Like You: Entertaining under the Influence. A serious side has emerged as well, with chefs and home cooks elevating the cheese ball by using gourmet cheese and sophisticated seasonings. Key to making a cheese ball at home is bringing all the dairy ingredients to room temperature and then chilling the finished ball to ensure that it firms up and the flavors fully mingle. This recipe exemplifies contemporary cheese balls, as it is grounded in the classic form but includes high-quality cheese and modern tastes. Diana Pittet Party Cheese Ball

Yield: 8–10 servings Ingredients 4 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature 1 cup shredded sharp, flavorful cheese, in any combination that might include Gruyère, cheddar or blue cheese, room temperature 3 ounces fresh goat cheese, room temperature 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 1 tablespoon finely chopped scallions ¼ teaspoon cayenne ¼-1 teaspoon fish sauce 1 tablespoon lime juice ¹⁄³ cup chopped, salted roasted pecans 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley Directions 1. Put everything except the pecans and parsley in a bowl and beat until smooth using a paddle mixer, hand mixer, or a spatula. 2. Transfer the mixture onto a piece of waxed paper and gently form into a ball. Place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes or until firm enough to work with. 3. Mix the pecans and parsley together on a large plate or a cutting board, then roll the cheese ball in the mixture, covering it evenly. 4. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate. When ready to serve, let the ball sit out for at least a half hour to soften. Serve with crackers or small toasts. Recipe adapted from one originally created by Kim Severson and published in the New York Times.



CHEESE CURDS

Further Reading Buffardi, Michelle. 2013. Great Balls of Cheese. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Edgar, Gordon. 2015. Cheddar: A Journey to the Heart of America’s Most Iconic Cheese. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing. Paulus, Karen, ed. 2004. “Cold Pack Cheese: It’s a Wisconsin Original.” Dairy Pipeline, July: 6–7. Lovegren, Sylvia. 2005. Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

CHEESE CURDS Cheese curds are clumps of fresh hard cheese, especially cheddar, that appear after milk has curdled and the liquid whey has been separated. Sometimes round like small pebbles, other times longer and thicker strands, or shaped like peanut shells, the fresh curds make a squeaking sound when bitten into, so they are also known as “squeaky cheese.” After 24 hours, they dry out, turn rubbery, and lose their squeak. Freshness is easily determined in this way, so generally they are made and sold on a daily basis, and only in areas where cheesemaking abounds. They can be made at home, but today they are more often produced commercially. The history of cheese curds follows the history of cheese, since they are the product of the first step of adding something (rennet, lemon juice, vinegar) to coagulate milk and separate out the whey. These curds are then pressed into molds and aged into cheese, usually cheddar or Swiss. A 2012 report describes archeologists finding 7,500-year-old pottery sieves in Poland that were used for draining whey from curds, suggesting an Eastern European provenance (Associated Press 2012), but it is reasonable to think of multiple origins wherever milk was being consumed. A similar raw cheese, paneer, is an ancient tradition from the Indian subcontinent. Processing milk in this way made it digestible to Neolithic peoples as well as many groups today that exhibit a high prevalence of lactose-intolerance. Whatever the historical origins, lactose tolerance helps to explain the emergence of milk and milk products among European cultures, where cheesemaking and other fermentation practices were ways to preserve milk rather than to make it digestible. Evidence that curds as well as curds still in liquid whey were eaten at least by the 1500s and 1600s in England is suggested by the nursery rhyme “Little Miss Muffet.” Attributed to a 16th-century English physician and entomologist, the rhyme (which has been given various interpretations) refers to Miss Muffet “eating her curds and whey.” European colonists brought cheese to North America, and cheese curds may have originated with Scandinavian immigrants in the upper Midwest in the 1800s, particularly Finns, who traditionally made “squeaky cheese” from the unpasteurized milk they produced. The Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook includes a recipe from a Finnish American living in Aurora, Minnesota, in 1980. This homemade version starts the way that curds (and cheese in general) are made, but it adds salt and broils them in the oven to drain the whey (Kirlin and Kirlin 1991). Cheese curds today are frequently associated with the state of Wisconsin (whose residents call themselves “cheeseheads”), but other dairy regions also have traditions

69

70

CHEESE CURDS

of producing them, particularly Vermont, Minnesota, New York, and several provinces in Canada—Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Lesser-known locations that historically raised cattle and produced cheese also produce them; for example, the Ashe County Cheese factory in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina. They are usually sold in these areas in 12-ounce bags and generally come in yellow (cheddar) or white (cheddar or Swiss). A variety of flavorings, herbs, and spices can be added; favorites seem to be garlic, dill, chili peppers, and Cajun spices. Cheese curds can be eaten raw in the same manner as cheese, but usually as a snack. Fresh cheese curds, ready to be eaten as a snack as is, They are considered a finger added to a poutine, or breaded and fried. (Bhofack2/ food and do not need crackDreamstime.com) ers or other accompaniments. They also can be battered and deep-fried, a form frequently associated with Wisconsin and Minnesota. These can then be dipped into sauce—ketchup, marinara, or ranch dressing being popular choices, but barbecue, wasabi, and flavored mayonnaise are some of the new creations possible. These deep-fried cheese curds are sold in the upper Midwest at local casual-eating restaurants and bars as well as at some chain restaurants local to that area, such as Culver’s and Cousins Subs, and even some national ones, such as A&W. This version of curds has also become a festival food associated with fairs and carnivals. Vendors frequently emphasize the Wisconsin association and decorate their trucks and carts with cartoons of cheese wedges. Such trucks follow the circuit of state fairs and carnivals and have introduced fried cheese curds to the American public, helping establish them as iconic of Wisconsin. Cheese curds have also recently garnered attention through poutine, a dish consisting of a layer of French fries covered with raw (not deep-fried) curds, with brown gravy poured over all, that has recently been promoted as a Canadian national food and has been introduced into the United States as a “taste of Canada.” Origin legends for the dish point to 1950s rural Quebec, where it was probably an inexpensive snack in bars, but not all Canadians claim it. Nonetheless, many Americans have embraced it as “the” Canadian dish, much in the same way that fried cheese curds are assumed to belong to Wisconsin. Both dishes are enjoying newfound attention, and chefs are experimenting with upscale versions.

CHEESESTEAK

Recipes for making curds range from very simple (stir acidifier into milk; let set; drain liquid; eat) to highly technical. The milk is usually warmed in a stainless steel pot, the rennet stirred in, and the pot left to sit at room temperature for 12–24 hours. Once the curds have formed, they can be poured into a colander to drain. When all the liquid is out, they are ready to eat. Lucy M. Long Wisconsin Cheese Curds

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 1 cup flour 2 eggs ¼ cup water ¾ cup beer ½ teaspoon salt 2 pounds cheese curds Directions 1. To form batter, combine all ingredients except for the cheese curds. 2. Dunk curds into batter to coat. 3. Drop into deep fryer of skillet with corn oil heated to at least 180 degrees. Fry for one or two minutes until golden brown. 4. Drain and eat, plain or dipped into ketchup or dipping sauces of your choice. Further Reading Associated Press. 2012. “Cheese’s Origins Uncovered in Poland: Scientists Discover 7,500-Year-Old ‘Smoking Gun’ of First Curds.” National Post. December 12. http:// nationalpost.com/appetizer/cheeses-origins-uncovered-in-poland-scientists-discover7500-year-old-smoking-gun-of-first-curds. Kirlin, Katherine S., and Thomas M. Kirlin. 1991. Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Long, Lucy M. 2009. Regional American Food Culture. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press. Stradley, Linda. 2002. I’ll Have What They’re Having: Legendary Local Cuisine. Guilford, CT: ThreeForks/Globe Pequot Press. Wisconsin Fried Cheese Curds. 2017. Accessed September 6, 2017. http://www .wisconsinfriedcheesecurds.com.

CHEESESTEAK The cheesesteak is a Philadelphia specialty sandwich composed of a hoagie roll, thinly sliced beefsteak, and melted cheese. While these three items are the core ingredients of a cheesesteak, the type of steak and cheese used varies, and fried onions are often added. Other additions to cheesesteaks include ketchup, mayonnaise, sautéed bell peppers, and mushrooms; however, these additions

71

72

CHEESESTEAK

are personal preferences and widely debated as to their appropriateness on the sandwich. The cheesesteak is a 20th-century invention. When it appears on menus outside the Philadelphia region, it appears most often as a “Philly cheesesteak” or “Philadelphia cheesesteak.” The origins of the cheesesteak can be traced back to brothers Pat and Harry Olivieri, food cart operators in Philadelphia in the 1930s. The brothers ran their cart in South Philly, where they sold hot dogs and fishcakes. According to food historian Carolyn Wyman, Pat asked Harry to pick up a cut of meat from the nearby butcher so he could make something for their lunches besides hot dogs or fishcakes. He griddled the beef, fried some onions, and stuck them on a hot dog bun. This was the earliest version of the cheesesteak. As cheesesteak legend would have it, a passing cab driver smelled the beef and asked to have a bit of the sandwich. He immediately suggested that Pat forget the hot dogs and begin selling the sandwich instead. Local Philadelphia news blogger Billy Penn recently tracked down the family of the cabbie, whose name was Dave Kohn. According to Kohn’s nephew Ken Frank, he told a slightly different version of the tale. Kohn was a regular customer at Pat’s hot dog and fishcake stand and was offered a taste of the sandwich by Pat himself. Kohn suggested that Pat put the meat on a roll and sell that instead. In 1940, after saving enough money, Pat and Harry bought a brick-and-mortar store and set up Pat’s King of Steaks. The store is still located on its original corner on East Passyunk in South Philadelphia. Originally the brother sold a cheeseless sandwich made only of steak, fried onions, and Italian bread. Pat’s ingenious marketing technique was to get stars and famous personalities to try his steak sandwiches and then come to the brick-and-mortar location to try them in person. He would take pictures of them eating and used those as promotional material, while the celebrities themselves spread word of his sandwich and enticed people to try it for themselves. With the success of his sandwich, other vendors followed, including Geno’s Steaks, which opened up shop directly across the street from Pat’s in 1966. Owner Joey Vento rolled out a nearly identical menu, and the rivalry has continued since then. Introduction of cheese into the steak sandwich could have happened one of two ways. The first is again at Pat’s, where employee “Cocky” Joe Lorenzo put provolone cheese on his own sandwich. Pat claimed that this happened in 1948. The second possibility is Joey Vento’s claim that he introduced cheese to the steak sandwich, which would mean that the cheesesteak, as it is known today, was invented sometime in the late 1960s. The beef cuts most commonly used in cheesesteaks are rib-eye or top round, but versions are made with other cuts, such as sirloin. The beef is thinly sliced and then “frizzled” on a griddle and chopped using flat metal spatulas. Cheese is either added directly on top of the meat on the griddle or placed inside the hoagie roll to be melted by the hot meat. With the meat atop cheese method, the hoagie roll is placed on top of the mixture and a spatula is used to flip the whole thing. The most common cheese options are provolone, American cheese, and Cheez Whiz. Arguably one of the most vital, and least debated, components of a cheesesteak

CHEESESTEAK

is the type of roll used. It is generally agreed upon that the roll to use for a true cheesesteak is the Amoroso brand hoagie roll, which is long, soft, and chewy. Philadelphia expats often lament the difficulty in finding a decent cheesesteak outside the area, mostly due to the inferior texture of other rolls. Variations on the traditional cheesesteak include a chicken cheesesteak (invented by Bill Schultz in the 1980s for consumers who wanted something a bit “lighter”), buffalo chicken cheesesteak, pizza steak (includes sauce and mozzarella cheese and is toasted), cheesesteak hoagie (includes hoagie ingredients like lettuce, tomatoes, and raw onions), vegan cheesesteaks, cheesesteak egg rolls, and other small, carb-based appetizers that incorporate cheesesteak ingredients. Ordering a cheesesteak has its own language, specifically the use of the word “with.” By ordering “one provolone with,” you are ordering a cheesesteak with provolone cheese and fried onions. If you order “one provolone without,” you are ordering a cheesesteak with provolone cheese and no onions. Another Philadelphia-area sandwich is a roast pork with broccoli rabe, which can be found at many cheesesteak shops in addition to the typical fare. It is commonly agreed upon by most Philadelphians that while Pat’s and Geno’s are the most famous and widely known cheesesteak purveyors, neither is the best. They have simply done the best job of creating a rivalry and thus a name for themselves. Other popular cheesesteak locations include Jim’s Steaks, Steve’s Prince of Steaks, John’s Roast Pork, Tony Luke’s, Campo’s Deli, and Dalessandro’s Steaks. Cheesesteaks have been featured in Philadelphia-area films such as Rocky and are a source of great debate. Web sites such as the now-defunct “This Is Not a Cheesesteak” have popped up, showcasing attempts by restaurants around the world failing to re-create the cheesesteak, often with the fatal misstep of additional non-cheesesteak ingredients. Cheesesteaks have been the topic of one food history book, The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book, written by Carolyn Wyman. Dani M. Willcutt Cheesesteak

Yield: 1 cheesesteak Ingredients ¼ cup olive oil, divided ½ cup sliced onions 8 ounces boneless rib-eye steak, sliced very thin 2 slices American cheese 2 slices provolone cheese ¼ cup Cheez Whiz 1 12-inch fresh Italian roll Salt and pepper to taste

73

74

CHERRY PIE

Directions 1. In a sauté pan over medium heat, add two tablespoons olive oil. Add sliced onions. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until soft and lightly browned, about five minutes. Once cooked, removed from pan and set aside. 2. Add remaining olive oil to the pan and add thinly sliced beef. Season with salt and pepper and cook quickly until the meat is seared but not overcooked, about five minutes. 3. Add the onions to the meat and combine. Place slices of American and provolone cheese on top of the onions and beef. Cover with a lid, remove from heat, and allow cheese to melt. 4. Once cheese is melted, transfer the mixture to the Italian roll. Top with Cheez Whiz and serve with ketchup. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Clark, Patrick. 2016. “Everything You Need to Know about the Philly Cheesesteak.” Odyssey. January 19. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/philly-cheese-steak. “The History of the Philly Cheesesteak.” 2012. Fox News Network. April 30. http://www​ .foxnews.com/food-drink/2012/04/30/history-philly-cheesesteak.html.

C H E R RY P I E While cherry pie, in essence, is simply a baked dessert consisting of a pie shell with a cherry filling, the culture surrounding the dish is far from mundane. It’s more than simple coincidence that National Cherry Pie Day is celebrated on George Washington’s Birthday (also known as Presidents’ Day). Washington has long been associated with cherries, ever since 1806 when Parson Weems circulated the apocryphal, much beloved story of the future president admitting to chopping down his father’s cherry tree, the story’s intent being to illustrate Washington’s honesty. While some people support the primacy of apple pie in American culture, its colorful cousin, cherry pie, competes in sensual appeal and symbolism, combining elements of sweet and tart, innocence and sexuality. A case can also be made for the importance of cherries and cherry dishes, including pie, in the history of America. Various Native American nations included cherries, especially chokecherries, as an important staple in their diets. Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals of Native Americans gathering cherries, and the Corps of Discovery followed the indigenous example. Cherry pie has a fascinating history and mythology in American culinary popular culture. Arriving in America with the first colonists, fruit pies preserving seasonal and regional crops gained popularity. Although cherry pie soon became the quintessential American dessert, a persistent and undocumented claim gives credit for its invention to England’s Queen Elizabeth I, despite early culinary records showing that cherry pie predated her reign. French settlers from Normandy had a hand in bringing the cherry to the New World, planting trees along the Saint Lawrence River and in the Great Lakes region.



CHERRY PIE

They established cherry orchards in Detroit and Vincennes and throughout the territory that today comprises several Midwestern states. The French version of cherry pie was clafoutis, which was more of a soft, custard-like creation using whole cherries with the pits included to give a taste reminiscent of almonds (cherry pits have an almond-like taste) to the dessert. Presbyterian missionary Peter Dougherty deserves credit for modern-day cherry production, which began in the mid-1800s. The cherry trees he planted near Traverse City, Michigan, flourished, and before too long, area residents began to plant more trees. The climate proved to be ideal for growing cherries, because Lake Michigan tempers Arctic winds in winter and cools the orchards in summer. By the early 1900s, the tart cherry industry was firmly established in the state of Michigan, and today Traverse City lays claim to the title “Cherry Capital of the World.” Cherry pie was a common and popular way to turn the fruit into dessert in the 18th century and was much easier to make in the days of open-hearth cooking than the more complicated and expensive cakes, which needed eggs, butter, and spices. Pies were made with lard, flour, and cooked fruit filling, and they were less likely to scorch in a Dutch oven over coals or inside a beehive oven. A Vermont housewife, itemizing her baking for the year 1877, counted 2,140 doughnuts, 152 cakes, and 421 pies. The surprisingly tenacious myth that there was (or even is) a law against eating cherry pie with ice cream in Kansas on Sunday was (and continues to be) widely spread by the popular family game “Balderdash” under the category of “Laughable Laws.” In true American competitive spirit, there are two Michigan cities with giant cherry pie pan memorials to the largest cherry pie (Charlevoix Cherry Pie monument, 17,420 pounds, 1976; Traverse City’s big pie plate, 28,350 pounds, 1987), while the Guinness record happens to be held by the tiny town of Oliver, British Columbia (39,683 pounds, 1992). Cherry pies were once made with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and no one would disagree that the best pies are made with fresh cherries. But American life evolved,

Eating Contests American pie eating contests became popular during the 19th century at local county fairs. However, what is considered to be the first official eating contest was put on by Nathan’s hot dog stand in 1916 at New York’s Coney Island. It hosted several contestants and challenged them to eat as many hot dogs as they could in 10 minutes. Other eating contests over the years explored different foods (pasta, seafood, etc.) and parameters. Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest clearly made its mark on the eating contest sport, as it tied patriotism, publicity, and pride to what became an American food favorite. Josianne Leah Campbell

75

76

CHERRY PIE

particularly for women, and from the 1920s it was possible and affordable to use canned cherry pie filling, then frozen cherries, and then whole frozen pies. Pie-filling manufacturers are developing fillings that promise to be closer to homemade and contain double the amount of fruit. So many recipes have evolved for cherry pie filling over the years that it has become necessary for stores to stock the “original” on their shelves. There are, of course, thousands of recipes for cherry pie, and at the National Pie Championships, held annually by the American Pie Council, cherry pies of all kinds continue to win prizes. It is interesting to note the standards that must be met for all “fruit pies,” including cherry, established by the U.S. Department of Defense procurement agency that purchases hundreds of thousands of pies annually: • crust must not stick to pie plate; • crust must be sufficiently rigid to allow a pie slice to be transferred to a plate without breaking or crumbling; • bottom crust must not be more than 3/16 inch (5mm) thick; • regular top crust must not be more than 1/8 inch (3mm) thick; • fruit fillings can be made from fresh, dried, canned or evaporated fruit; • a fruit filling must not be less than 50 percent fruit by weight; • a fruit filling must taste of the fruit it is meant to represent; • the filling can have flavorings, spices, thickeners, etc. added to it; • the resulting filling must be a semisolid one that should not spread more than 3/4 inch (19 mm) from the cut edge of the pie within 10 minutes after slicing.

Cherry pie has found its way into the American lexicon. In popular culture, “cherry pie” is a lascivious metaphor having certain sexual connotations reflecting the balance between sweet (or innocent) and tart (or promiscuous), as in the titillating sexual references in the lyrics of 1990’s “Sweet Cherry Pie” by Warrant. Both “cherry” and “pie” may be used sexually, as “cherry” can mean a virgin (as used in the context “pop her cherry,” meaning to take a woman’s virginity, specifically when breaking the hymen during sex), and “pie” is slang for vulva. Numerous references to “damned good cherry pie” in the popular 1990s cult television series Twin Peaks suggest the loss of innocence and even a hint of violence. Equating home baking with caring and motherhood, popular late-night talk show host David Letterman regularly featured his own mother’s cherry pie. Suggesting “nutritional” value in a slice of cherry pie might be a stretch, but the cherries themselves have been shown to have a variety of health benefits. One of the top antioxidant-rich foods, cherries are free of fat, cholesterol, and salt. Cherries are a good source of vitamin C, and they contain vitamin A, calcium, protein, and iron, as well as potassium. Research has found that eating cherries reduces pain and inflammation associated with arthritis and gout. Cherries contain melatonin (which regulates sleep cycles) and may be a helpful food for fighting jet lag and insomnia. If you wish to make your cherry pie from scratch, there are just a few variables to consider:



CHERRY PIE

Cherries

A traditional cherry pie is made with sour (tart) cherries (fresh, frozen, or canned, in that order of preference). Most often these are Montmorency cherries in the United States, but European varieties of sour cherries, such as Morello, can be found in jars in the United States and used for cherry pie. Some bakers say the best pies are made with cherries picked within 24 hours of baking the pie. A few recipes call for sweet cherries (usually Bing cherries, but Rainier or other varieties are possible). Be sure to use pitted cherries in any case, as Americans do not expect pits in anything made with cherries (though the previously mentioned French clafoutis is made with cherries with their pits). In any case, you will need about six cups of cherries. Sweetener

Depending on the sweetness of your cherries and your personal preference, you will need approximately one cup of sugar. A few recipes note that one-fourth of this sugar could be brown sugar. Thickener

You will need about three tablespoons of thickener. The most common thickeners are flour, cornstarch, and tapioca. Bakers disagree as to what is best, so it’s mostly up to personal preference. Crust

The traditional woven lattice top on cherry pie is a simplified version of the more elaborate decorated piecrusts of the European banquet tradition. Practical for venting the bubbling juices, the lattice reveals the contrast between the rich deep red of the fruit and the pale pastry crust. This color differential is thought by some chefs to be so necessary that many cherry pie recipes call for food coloring to enhance the almost blood-red crimson fruit. That’s it—cherries, sugar, thickener, and crust. However, bakers are always trying to make their pie stand out, so here are some additional flavor enhancers that have been used: vanilla, almond extract, kirsch, orange liqueur, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg. Constance Kirker and Mary Newman Cherry Pie

Yield: 1 pie 2 prepared (frozen) piecrusts or homemade flaky piecrust 6 cups pitted sour cherries (about 2 pounds) 1 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest

77

78

CHICKEN FEET

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Mix cherries, sugar, cornstarch, butter, and lemon zest. 3. Pour cherry mixture into piecrust. 4. Top with additional piecrust and score to vent. 5. Bake one hour or up to 75 minutes until crust is brown and filling has thickened. Cool completely before serving. Recipe by Jonathan Deutsch. Further Reading “American Pie Council.” Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.piecouncil.org. “The Extraordinary History of Cherries.” 2017. FoodReference.com. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.foodreference.com/html/artcherrieshistory.html. Gosalbo, Laura, and Gerard Solis. 2009. Crazy about Cherries. Gretna, LA: Pelican. Kane, Adrienne. 2012. United States of Pie. New York: Harper Collins. McFeely, Mary Drake. 2001. Can She Bake a Cherry Pie: American Women and the Kitchen in the Twentieth Century. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Stearns, Patty LaNoue. 2002. Cherry Home Companion. Mayfield, MI: Arbutus Press.

CHICKEN FEET In the United States, undoubtedly the chicken is one of the most popular sources of protein and is considered by many to be a healthier food option when compared to meats containing more fat, like beef or pork. Traditionally, the breast meat is the most sought-after cut of the animal, and modern farming practices have developed various techniques by which to enhance the size of this particular muscle. However, many cultures around the globe value and utilize a part of the chicken often cast aside in mainstream cooking in the United States: its feet. Chicken feet are eaten in a variety of ways around the world. Since they are typically thought of as a “throwaway” food, they are inexpensive and have become staples in areas of relatively low economic status. In the Caribbean, chicken feet are used in stews and soup recipes. Street vendors in Southeast Asia and South Africa spear chicken feet onto wooden sticks, marinate them, grill them, and serve them as “Adidas,” a play on the popular athletic shoe brand. The snack is popular because of its easy transportability. Jamaican chicken foot stew is one variation of a popular Caribbean stew, featuring chicken feet as the main ingredient. The resulting flavor is savory with a satisfying bone-in flavor sensation that makes chicken feet a desired but inexpensive part of the bird. A “bone-in” flavor refers to the savory flavor that can only come from a food product cooked with the bone and flavored by the marrow (the inner part of the bone). Chicken feet are more accessible today than ever before in the United States, most likely because of the dynamic immigrant cultures and the heritages they carry with them. Now, more than ever, Americans are likely to encounter chicken foot stew. There are also more than 50 Chinatowns scattered throughout the United States, which have introduced Chinese food to most of America. The popular dish



CHICKEN FEET

Chicken feet on the grill. Once cooked, these feet make a tasty snack that may be short on meat, but big on flavor and texture. (Todsaporn Bunmuen/Dreamstime.com)

Phoenix Claws is braised chicken feet that have cooked slowly in a stew of ginger, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, cloves, and salt. It is a typical dish at dim sum restaurants, where servers push carts carrying round bamboo containers with various snacks hidden beneath matching lids with steam pushing through them. Diners choose what and how much they want left on their table. No matter where in the world the chicken feet are being prepared, there is a consensus that they must first be washed, for the health and safety of the consumer. There are many methods for cleaning chicken feet, but among the most popular is trimming off the toenails and any other dirty-looking parts of the foot (which is left to the discretion of the cook). Other recipes insist on boiling the feet so that the outer layer of skin can easily be removed altogether. Prior to being braised or fried, the feet should also be split open at the center with a knife so that the large connecting bone can be removed. All that’s left is the chewy meat that’s popular as fast food around the globe. In American grocery stores, chickens are most commonly available without their head and feet. There is, however, an expanding niche market in which whole chickens that have been raised in a free-range environment are preferred to traditional grocery store birds. Chickens raised on free-range farms are not stuck inside of cages and fed all day long. They are instead allowed to roam freely and dig at the ground for their own food. Chickens raised in free-range conditions that are also outdoors have the additional benefit of being able to dig into the soil for bugs and grubs. In other words, the chickens are raised in a natural, healthy environment. Consumers who place value on the rearing of the chickens they eat are turning away from using pre-portioned bags of vacuum-sealed and frozen chicken breasts.

79

80

CHICKEN FEET

Another emerging culinary trend involves a diet of homemade bone broth. The idea is to extract as much of the nutrients from the marrow and cartilage as possible, which will ooze out of the bones and into the meaty broth. Any type of animal bone can be used, including chicken feet, which are made up almost exclusively of bones and cartilage. Chicken feet are inexpensive but full of nutrient-bearing parts, which makes them a perfect choice for large amounts of broth. The brown soup is prized for being nutrient-dense from the minerals extracted from the bone marrow and cartilage. Eating chicken feet is becoming more commonplace in the United States than ever before, although they still are not widely eaten. Using chicken feet are to make healthy and savory broths that are full of nutrients is an emerging trend in certain areas. But it is in heavily immigrant neighborhoods where chicken feet are most prevalent, in braised Chinese dishes like Phoenix Claws or in Caribbean restaurants that serve Jamaican brown stew. The growing acceptance of chicken feet in the United States is indicative of a rich melding together of cultures from around the world, as well as a consumer intent on consuming the entire animal. Dani M. Willcutt Chicken Feet Stock

Yield: About 2 quarts of strained stock Ingredients 2 pounds chicken feet Salt 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 4 carrots 4 celery stalks 1 onion 10 whole peppercorns Directions 1. The most time-consuming part of making chicken feet stock is cleaning the chicken feet, but it must be done thoroughly. Chicken feet can first be washed and scrubbed under running water. It is preferable, although not necessary, to chop off the toenails as well. 2. Next, rub them in salt and then place in a pot large enough to hold all of the chicken feet. Cover then in water and put on the stove to boil. 3. Bring the water to a simmer and allow the chicken feet to cook for 10 minutes. 4. Pour out the hot liquid and submerge the chicken feet under cold running water. This will stop them from cooking. 5. Using your fingers, pull the loosened, yellow skin off of the feet. 6. Now it’s time to make the stock. Submerge the chicken feet once again in a crockpot filled with water. Add in vinegar, carrots, celery, onion, and peppercorns.



CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK

7. Simmer the stock for at least one hour, tasting it and seasoning it if necessary. 8. Allow the stock to cool slightly, and strain through cheesecloth. The stock can be frozen for later use or can immediately provide a base for dinner. Further Reading Elliott, Shaye. 2017. “Chicken Feet: Why You Need Them in Your Diet and How to Prepare Them!” The Elliott Homestead. February 8. http://theelliotthomestead.com/2015/01 /chicken-feet. Greeley, Brendan. 2013. “The German Economics of Chicken Foot Soup.” Bloomberg. November 19. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-19/the-german​ -economics-of-chicken-foot-soup. Kraig, Bruce. 2013. Street Food around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Pottinger, Matt. 2004. “Dim Sum Emergency: Bird Flu Trips Up Trade in Chicken Feet; Chinese Ban on U.S. Imports Strands Tons at Sea; ‘It’s Very Hard to Resist.’ “ Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition. March 5.

CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK Chicken-fried steak is a breaded, fried steak cutlet covered with cream gravy made from bacon or meat drippings. The cutlet usually comes from a beef round or a similarly tough cut, flattened and tenderized, then spiced with salt and pepper before being dredged in flour or battered. Traditionally it is fried in a skillet with bacon grease so that the drippings can be made into cream gravy afterward. It is most commonly associated with the culinary traditions of Texas and Oklahoma, and thought to be a legacy of cattle drives of the late 19th century, though examples of chicken-fried steak are found throughout the South and the Midwest. Chicken-fried steak is sometimes called “country-fried steak” or “smothered steak,” but these other names may not always refer to the now-classic preparation with cream gravy. Both Texas and Oklahoma claim ownership of chicken-fried steak. In 1988, the State of Oklahoma added chicken-fried steak to the list of state meals. Meanwhile in Texas, a common story claims that short-order cook Jimmy Don Perkins invented the dish in 1911. According to the legend, Perkins accidentally combined two orders—one for fried chicken and one for steak—into one by breading and frying a cut of beef. Thus was born the chicken-­fried steak. Although this story was later revealed to be a journalistic hoax, the tale became so famous that in 2011, the Texas legislature passed a bill to make Lamesa, Texas, the legendary home of the chicken-fried steak. Lamesa now celebrates its place in Texas’s culinary pantheon every April with a Chicken-Fried Steak Festival. The true origins of chicken-fried steak remain obscure and may be impossible to pin down. Because of its popularity in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, and other states associated with cattle drives of the 19th century, it is often considered to be an invention of cowboy cuisine. Some food historians believe it to be a form of German Wiener schnitzel or Mexican milanesa, hybridized with chuck wagon cooking. However, recipes for fried steak cutlets covered in gravy have

81

82

CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK

been a staple of Southern cuisine since the early 19th century. A recipe for a dish resembling chicken-fried steak appeared in the Kentucky Housewife in 1839. The Complete Cook, published in 1864, listed a recipe for beefsteak and onions that involved pounding a beef round thin, dredging it in flour, and frying it in bacon grease. Pan drippings from the steak are then mixed with flour and sautéed onions and water or stock to form a meaty gravy. This same recipe appears in many other Southern cookbooks throughout the 19th century. The first references to chicken-fried steak appear in print around World War I. The Oklahoma News advertised chicken-fried steak at the Marquette Restaurant in March 1917. Chicken-fried steak was also advertised at Phelps’ Restaurant in Colorado Springs in 1914, and at Harris’s Restaurant in Columbia, Missouri, in 1915. However, it is not clear whether these early instances of the term “chicken-fried steak” refer to the dish we know today. It is possible that they referred simply to tenderized breaded steak, fried chicken-style, without the cream gravy. The earliest recipes for chicken-fried steak support this. For instance, one that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in 1924 lays out the ingredients and process for breading and frying the steak, then adds that it is best served over country gravy, but no recipe is provided for the gravy. Most other early recipes describe the tenderizing, breading, and frying process but omit discussion of the gravy. By the 1920s restaurants began advertising chicken-fried steak in tandem with cream gravy or country gravy, and it is this preparation that has come to represent its current iteration. For instance, in December 1920, the Breckenridge American in North Texas ran an advertisement for Walker’s Café promoting its “Chicken Fried Steak with Country Gravy.” And the Altus-Times of Oklahoma described a dinner in 1921 of “country fried steak garnished with English peas, lettuce, tomatoes, and cream gravy not to forget.” Because it is made with a tough, lower cut of meat, chicken-fried steak is strongly associated with household economy and country cooking. One journalist from El Reno, Oklahoma, in 1956 described her mother’s chicken-fried steak as an economic necessity. Perhaps due to its folk roots, recipes for chicken-fried steak in cookbooks prior to the 1950s are few and far between. Although chicken-fried steak’s beginnings may lie in rural domestic kitchens of the 19th and early 20th centuries, it has been a staple at cafés and diners throughout Texas and Oklahoma since World War II, and its popularity has grown, mainly through restaurant dining. Over the years, restaurants began deep-frying the cutlets in a fryer, rather than pan-frying them the traditional way. The cream gravy at many short-order establishments is made with a mix, rather than with real pan drippings. In recent years, however, there has been an elevation of the lowly chicken-fried steak, with some fine dining restaurants offering the dish made from a rib-eye or New York strip steak smothered with real pan gravy. Chicken-fried steak continues to be a favorite restaurant dish in all parts of Texas and Oklahoma, with its reach now spreading across the American South and Midwest. Rachel Feit Chicken-Fried Steak

Yield: 4 servings



CHICORY COFFEE

Ingredients 2¼ cups flour, divided 2 tablespoons salt 2 teaspoons ground pepper 1 tablespoon paprika 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 2 eggs 2½ cups milk, divided 4 (4-ounce) cube steaks, pounded thin ¼ cup butter Directions 1. Preheat a Dutch oven filled halfway with canola oil, about 6 cups. Place a candy thermometer on the side of pot, and heat oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. In a large bowl, mix together two cups of the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne. 3. In another large bowl, mix together eggs and half a cup of the milk. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Dredge each steak in flour mixture and then egg mixture, finishing with flour mixture. Place the coated steaks on a plate. 5. Fry the steaks in the heated oil until golden brown, about five minutes per side. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. 6. In a small saucepan on medium heat, add butter and sprinkle in the remaining flour, while stirring, until a thick paste forms. Add remaining milk and whisk to combine. Cook the gravy for about 10 minutes or until thick. Season with salt and pepper. 7. Serve chicken-fried steak with gravy and mashed potatoes. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Olver, Lynne. 2015. “Meats and Poultry.” The Food Timeline. January 28. http://www.food timeline.org/foodmeats.html. Smith, Andrew F. 2007. “Chicken Fried Steak,” in Andrew F. Smith, ed., The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Taylor, Forrest. 2010. “Chicken-Fried Steak.” Handbook of Texas Online. June 11. http:// www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lgc01. Weaver, Bobby D. 2009. “Chicken-Fried Steak.” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma History Center. http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry​ .php?entry=CH039.

C H I C O RY C O F F E E Like many regional food traditions, the New Orleans specialty of chicory coffee comes from humble origins but over time has gained celebrity status. Chicory

83

84

CHICORY COFFEE

coffee is made by supplementing coffee grounds with the roasted, ground root of the chicory plant, delivering a unique flavor while stretching the supply of coffee beans, often expensive or scarce. New Orleans did not invent the combination, which dates back to 18th-century Europe and arrived in Louisiana with French settlers. But when the U.S. civil war resulted in union blockades of the port of New Orleans, a local taste for chicory coffee became deeply and enduringly engrained. The history of chicory coffee is closely tied to that of Café du Monde, one of the oldest local coffee shops in New Orleans. Café du Monde started in 1862 at the French Market, a historic Choctaw Indian trading site where the city was officially founded in 1718. Today, Café du Monde operates eight coffee stands throughout metropolitan New Orleans, where it serves its signature café au lait (chicory coffee served with warm, frothy milk) with equally iconic beignets (French-style, puffy fritters), and also sells its trademark orange tins of chicory coffee for home use. In some ways, chicory and coffee are an unlikely pair, coming from disparate origins and reflecting the vagaries of taste, trade, and migration that create and change food culture over time. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, chicory (Cichorium intybus in Latin) is a flowering perennial native to Europe that is cultivated for its leaves (typically eaten as salad) and its roots (typically roasted and ground). It is also popular as animal fodder. Chicory is part of a large botanical family that includes daisies, marigolds, and other ornamental flowers, as well as other edibles such as dandelion, artichoke, lettuce, sunflower, and endive. The coffee plant, by contrast, is a shrub or tree (depending on the variety) in the madder family (Rubiaceae in Latin), which contains several plants used to produce plant-based dyes since ancient times. Coffee “beans” are the seeds of the plant, contained within the fruit known as the “cherry.” Coffee is indigenous to Ethiopia, and the first written account of the drink dates to the 10th-century Arabian physician Rhazes. The practice of roasting the beans began around the 13th century. Coffee arrived in Europe—whether first in Italy or France is an open question—during the 17th century. Coffee plants thrive mainly in the tropics, as Europeans learned when they tried unsuccessfully to grow the plant locally and eventually spread cultivation to colonies in Indonesia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Coffee and chicory seem to have first combined in 18th-century Holland, when relatively cheap homegrown chicory was used to stretch the supply of expensive imported beans. By 1864, the combination was so well established that London writer P. L. Simmonds wrote a “practical essay” titled Coffee and Chicory. Simmonds describes chicory as a coffee “adulterant,” along with substances like pea husks, corncobs, acorns, and even powders made from the baked livers of oxen and horses. Chicory cultivation and use became popular in France, where it purportedly got a boost from Napoleon’s geotactical promotion of homegrown over colonial products. It is no surprise, then, that chicory coffee took root most firmly in the United States in the former French colony of Louisiana. Chicory coffee’s enduring popularity in New Orleans seems to have outlasted its popularity in France, so that



CHICORY COFFEE

the drink is now more closely associated with its New World adopted home than with its Old World origin. Roasted chicory has both bitter and sweet flavor elements, described alternately as similar to caramel, burnt sugar, chocolate, sweet and sour, chestnut, aromatic wood, and dried fruit. Serious Eats coffee columnist Erin Meister describes brewed chicory with milk as tasting “exactly like the crisp blackened shell that forms on a fire-toasted marshmallow” (Meister 2010). Fans of chicory coffee seem to enjoy the flavor profile more than coffee alone, and current price data suggest that the combination is now more a matter of taste than thrift. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average retail price of coffee in U.S. cities was $4.34 per pound in July 2017, although of course specialty coffee can sell for much more. Meanwhile, tinned chicory coffee for sale online cost more, from $5 to $10 per pound. Ground chicory alone was selling online at prices similar or higher to coffee, for $4 to $6 per pound from sources like Chicory USA (a grower in Nebraska) and Cajun Direct (an online retailer). Chicory root itself does not contain caffeine. It is a source of potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. It contains a large amount of inulin, a soluble and gluten-free fiber. Chicory root powder is regularly added to processed foods (labeled as inulin), where it lends a creamy mouthfeel, elasticity, and sweetness. Inulin is also considered a prebiotic fiber, meaning that it is highly digestible by beneficial gut bacteria, making it a popular ingredient in probiotic supplements and digestive teas. Chicory root can also be added to soups and gravies. Some of the many purported medicinal uses include stimulating appetite, treating upset stomach and constipation, increasing urine and bile production, protecting the liver, treating gallbladder disorders, decreasing swelling, and balancing the stimulant effect of coffee. In 2017, chicory coffee maintains a niche in the coffee market, one ranging from mass market to artisanal and that continues to be associated with the Big Easy. Commercial brands like Café du Monde, French Market, Orleans Coffee, and Community Coffee, all based in Louisiana, sell nationally and online. Keurig offers a Coffee and Chicory Sampler in its popular K-Cups line. Meanwhile, Bay Area artisanal producer Blue Bottle sells prepared Organic New Orleans Iced Coffee in refrigerated sections of high-end grocers. The New Orleans Ice Cream Co., which creates flavors inspired by local tastes, features Chicory Coffee as one of its “core flavors.” Susan Miller-Davis Chicory Coffee Chocolate Pie

Ingredients 2 cups pretzel crumbs ¼ cup finely ground chicory coffee, divided ²⁄³ cup melted butter ¹⁄³ cup powdered sugar

85

86

CHICORY COFFEE

2 cups heavy cream 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted 8 ounces softened cream cheese ¼ cup granulated sugar Directions 1. In a large bowl, combine pretzel crumbs, two tablespoons of the chicory coffee, and melted butter. Press into a nine-inch pie plate. Freeze 10 minutes to firm. 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a new bowl and reserve. 3. In the same bowl of the stand mixer, combine melted chocolate and cream cheese. Cream together until smooth. Add granulated sugar and remaining chicory coffee. Beat until smooth. 4. Gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate coffee mixture, until incorporated. 5. Pour the filling into the pretzel crust, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2017. “Average Retail Food and Energy Prices, U.S. and Midwest Region.” Accessed August 19, 2017. https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data /averageretailfoodandenergyprices_usandmidwest_table.htm. Chevallier, Jean Baptiste Alphonse. 1862. Du café: son historique, son usuage, son utilité, ses altérations, ses succédanés et ses falsifications, comprenant les condamnations prononcées contre les contrefacteurs. Paris: J.-B. Baillière et fils. Chicory USA. 2017. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.chicoryusa.com. Davidson, A. and Tom Jaine. 2006. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. 1998. “Chicory.” Accessed August 18, 2017. https:// www.britannica.com/plant/chicory. Freuman, Tamara Duker. 2015. “What is Inulin (Chicory Root Fiber)?” U.S. News & World Report. May 5. Accessed August 19, 2017. http://health.usnews.com/health-news /blogs/eat-run/2015/05/05/what-is-inulin-chicory-root-fiber. Meister, Erin. 2010. “Is Chicory Coffee Any Good? Or Just a Way to Stretch Coffee?” December. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2010/12/is-chicory -coffee-any-good-new-orleans.html. Milos, Georgio. 2010. “Coffee’s Mysterious Origins.” The Atlantic. Accessed August 18, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/08/coffees-mysterious-origins​/61054. Nolte, Kurt. 2017. “Chicory.” Accessed August 18, 2017. https://cals.arizona.edu/fps/sites /cals.arizona.edu.fps/files/cotw/chicory.pdf. Simmonds, P. L. 1864. Coffee and Chicory: Their Culture, Chemical Composition, Preparation for Market, and Consumption, with Simple Tests for Detecting Adulteration, and Practical Hints for the Producer and Consumer. London: E. & F. N. Spon.

CHISLIC

Smith, K. Annabelle. 2014. “The History of the Chicory Coffee Mix That New Orleans Made Its Own.” Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed August 10, 2017. http://www.smithsonian mag.com/arts-culture/chicory-coffee-mix-new-orleans-made-own-comes-180949950. Thomson, Julie R. 2015. “Here’s What Chicory Is, And Why It’s In Your Coffee.” Huffington Post. Accessed August 10, 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-is-what​ -chicory-is-and-why-it-sometimes-shows-up-in-coffee_us_55918228e4b081449b 4c95ff. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory. “Basic Report: 11154, Chicory roots, raw.” National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28. Accessed August 19, 2017. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov.

CHISLIC Chislic is a dish of marinated, deep-fried cubes of red meat served on toothpicks or skewers, often served with saltine crackers. It is typically eaten as an appetizer or snack and is regularly found at bars in southeastern South Dakota. Chislic can be prepared with mutton, pork, beef, or wild game. While chislic originates in the Caucasus region of Europe and Russia, it is geographically associated with South Dakota. In fact, the “Chislic Circle” is a circle in a 30-mile radius from Freeman, South Dakota. There is quite the chislic following,

Chislic alongside its traditional accompaniments, saltine crackers and hot sauce. These deep fried cubes of meat make a great snack, often served at parties or bars. (Rachel Gue Roe, blogger, Tramplingrose.com)

87

88

CHISLIC

and a trip to South Dakota is incomplete without eating chislic. There are regional variations in chislic preparation. In the Pierre region, the meat is marinated, battered, and deep-fried. In the Sioux Falls region, the dish is a deep-fried mutton, commonly eaten alongside a cold beer; this variety is served with garlic salt, saltine crackers, and hot sauce. In the Watertown area, it is deep-fried beef served as an appetizer and with a side of ranch dressing; in the Redfield region, it is deep-fried beef served with a side of toast and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt; and in southeastern South Dakota (Menno and Freeman), it is deep-fried lamb. Wild game chislic, such as venison, can be found on menus when in season, served with garlic salt and saltine crackers. Chislic stands are commonly found at folk and county fairs around South Dakota. Chislic is listed in guidebooks and travel blogs as being a purely South Dakotan food. It is a common food served at high school graduations and family celebrations in South Dakota. Some people claim that chislic was introduced in Freeman, South Dakota, over 100 years ago by a Russian immigrant, John Hoellwarth, whose grandson recounts family stories of his grandfather John buying young lambs for 50 cents apiece to make chislic. The word “chislic” is believed to come from the Turkish word shashlik, meaning “skewered meat”; it is a dish of skewered and grilled cubed meat in Iran, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Pakistan, Turkey, and Northern Europe. Chislic is nutritious; being a meat, it is purely protein but may be looked down upon by critics of red meat consumption. It is healthier when grilled than deep-fried, but many South Dakotans prefer it deep-fried, as it brings back childhood memories. Sally Baho Lamb Chislic

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 pound boneless lamb leg, cut into 1-inch cubes 1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce ¾ teaspoon chili powder ¾ teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon onion powder ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper Vegetable oil, for frying Directions 1. Toss together the lamb cubes, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper in a bowl. Marinate in the refrigerator for one hour.

CHOW-CHOW

2. Heat two inches of oil in a Dutch oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry the marinated lamb cubes in batches to avoid overcrowding the oil. Cook to medium rare, about one minute. The meat will have a dark brown crust and will be tender to the touch. 3. Drain on a paper towel–lined plate. 4. Skewer the lamb cubes with toothpicks and serve with garlic salt, hot sauce, and saltine crackers on the side. Further Reading Preheim, Rich. 2017. “The Chislic Circle.” South Dakota Magazine. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://southdakotamagazine.com/chislic.

C H O W- C H O W Chow-chow is a pickled relish that is typically served cold as a condiment. Made from a wide variety of recipes, it consists of a combination of chopped vegetables such as green tomatoes, cabbage, chayote, red tomatoes, cucumbers, green or red peppers, cauliflower, onions, carrots, asparagus, peas, corn, and beans. Spices can include mustard, mustard seed, hot pepper, horseradish, celery, celery seed, turmeric, coriander, bay leaf, ginger, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon. These ingredients are pickled using vinegar, and usually sugar, and then bottled to produce a chunky relish with a taste that is tart, sweet, or a combination of both. Some versions are also spicy. Whatever its exact composition, chow-chow was, and continues to be, a way to preserve underripe, unattractive “seconds,” or leftover vegetables at harvest. It helps ensure that nothing goes to waste. The origins of chow-chow are as vague as its ingredients are varied. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) describes it as “a mixture or medley of any sort; eg mixed pickles or preserves. Also, food of any kind. Indian and China.” The earliest citation is from 1795, when Aeneas Anderson included “chow-chow” in a glossary of Chinese words in his Narrative of the British Embassy to China in the Years 1792, 1793, and 1794 to mean “victuals or meat.” The OED also includes a reference to J. C. Hotten’s 1864 Slang Dictionary, where chow-chow is defined as “a mixture, food of any kind,” suggesting that by the mid-19th century, the term was being used in the West. Although some have speculated that the word “chow” descends from chou, the French word for cabbage, most, like the OED, attribute it to Chinese or Indian origins. There is a possible link to the squash chayote, which is also known as chow-chow in India, but more often it is linked to chao, the verb for “stir-fry” in both Mandarin and Cantonese. As evidenced by grocery ads, the term “chow-chow” referred to a pickle by the 1790s (Zwicky 2011). An advertisement appeared in an 1792 issue of the London Times for Burgess’s Warehouse announcing “his Piccalillies, or English chow chow; being a collection of the best English Pickles, in Pots” (Zwicky 2011); and in 1793 Charles and Thomas Hill published an ad in the Charleston City Gazette & Daily Advertiser for groceries imported from London that listed chow-chow under “Pickles,” alongside anchovies and gherkins. Chow-chow is closely related to the piccalilli mentioned in the Burgess Warehouse advertisement. This is a British pickle made of chopped vegetables and spices that dates from at least the late

89

90

CHOW-CHOW

17th century and in its earliest references is referred to as Indian (Zwicky 2011). These historical sources suggest that chow-chow’s journey to North America was through Britain, rather than directly from China or France, as has been sometimes speculated. By the second half of the 19th century, however, chow-chow was widespread throughout North America, and recipes were regularly included in American and Canadian cookbooks. Its popularity may be what led food historian Alan Davidson to consider “chow-chow” an American term. While chow-chow is no longer commonly served in many parts of North America, it remains popular in specific regions such as the southern United States, Pennsylvania, and Canada’s Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. That said, what is called “chow-chow” in one region differs from another. For example, in the southern United States, it includes cabbage and other vegetables, whereas in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, it is made from green tomatoes and onions. In some areas, family recipes turned into family businesses, as is the case in Pennsylvania, where the commercial brand Wos-Wit Chow-Chow has enjoyed wide popularity since the 1940s. According to the company Web site, Wos-Wit Chow-Chow is based on a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. It consists of lima beans, celery, sugar, vinegar, green and yellow wax beans, tomato, onions, corn, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, salt, and various spices, These distinctive regional variations give chow-chow some of its meaning. For many, it is a taste of place. For those who grew up with chow-chow, it is also the taste of family. As a staple that was easily and inexpensively made, its sweet tartness has added flavor to bland foods like mashed potatoes, cornbread, biscuits and gravy, and beans for generations. In certain places and families, it is also associated with particular dishes such as fishcakes and meatloaf. Favorite commercial brands aside, most chow-chow was and still is produced at home. While chow-chow’s wide variety of ingredients across North America helps define region and place, its more subtle changes from household to household within a region provide a continuity of taste that connects generations of family members and helps define home. Diane Tye Chow-Chow

Yield: About 4 quarts Ingredients 1 large green cabbage, finely chopped 2 red bell peppers, finely chopped 2 green bell peppers, finely chopped 2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped ¾ cup kosher salt 6 cups apple cider vinegar



CINCINNATI CHILI

4 cup water 1½ cup sugar ¼ cup yellow mustard seeds 2 teaspoons ground white pepper 1 tablespoon celery seeds 2 tablespoons ground turmeric 2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped (optional) 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped Directions 1. In a large bowl, add cabbage, red peppers, green peppers, and onions. Cover with salt, and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 2. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and drain the vegetables from the liquid. Discard the liquid. Rinse the vegetables, squeezing out the extra liquid. Rinse again, and drain all the liquid. 3. In a large pot, add vinegar, water, sugar, mustard seeds, white pepper, celery seeds, turmeric, jalapenos, and garlic. Bring to a simmer and stir until sugar dissolves. 4. Add the drained vegetables to the brine and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender but still crunchy. 5. Store the chow-chow in sterilized jars, or cool and store in the refrigerator for up to three months. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading “About.” 2017. Wos-Wit Pennsylvanian Dutch Foods. Accessed April 17, 2017. https:// www.wos-wit.com/about. Anderson, Aeneas. 1795. A Narrative of the British Embassy to China, in the Years 1792, 1793, and 1794: Containing the Various Circumstances of the Embassy, with Accounts of Customs and Manners of the Chinese, and a Description of the Country, Towns, Cities, &c., &c. London: Debrett. Davidson, Alan. 2002. The Penguin Companion to Food. New York: Penguin Books. Hotten, J. C., and J. D. A. Widdowson. 1972. The Slang Dictionary. Menston: Scholar Press. Stapley, Christina, Anne Wallis Blencowe, Jackie Wilson, Peter Blencowe, and J. W. Blencowe. 2004. The Receipt Book of Lady Anne Blencowe: Seventeenth Century Cookery and Home Medicine. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Heartsease Books. Zwicky, Arnold. 2011. “Chow-Chow.” Arnold Zwicky’s Blog. May 25. https://arnoldzwicky​ .org/2011/05/24/chow-chow.

C I N C I N N AT I C H I L I Cincinnati chili is a “culinary complex” invented in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1920s by a Greek American entrepreneur. It is both a sweet and spicy meat sauce and a dish presented in a distinctive manner: over spaghetti with toppings of shredded

91

92

CINCINNATI CHILI

Cincinnati chili as it is typically served—on top of spaghetti—and for this guest, with plenty of cheddar cheese and raw onions. (Kate Hopkins)

cheddar cheese, chopped onions, and kidney beans. Nationally associated with the city of Cincinnati, it illustrates the fluidity of ethnic and regional identities attached to food and demonstrates that food created for commercial purposes can become a cultural tradition. Although it is most commonly obtained at chili “parlors,” it can be made at home, and a recipe for it was included in the 1936 edition of The Joy of Cooking. As a meat sauce, Cincinnati chili is ground beef boiled down with a tomato sauce and what are frequently referred to as Middle Eastern or Mediterranean spices: allspice, cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, chocolate, and bay leaves. The exact ingredients and measurements are “industry secrets.” The sauce is then offered in several ways: over hot dogs to make “Coney Island hot dogs” or “chili dogs”; in a bowl as “chili”; or, most famously, over spaghetti with choices of toppings, each adding to the previous one. This distinctive serving style is known as “ways”, with Two-Way Chili being chili served on spaghetti; ThreeWay adding shredded cheddar cheese; Four-Way adding chopped onions; and Five-Way being topped with kidney beans. Oyster crackers, usually in packages, are served as a side. Cincinnati chili began as an experiment in the 1920s by Tom Kiradjieff. Born in Macedonia, he initially immigrated to New York City, where he worked in restaurants and storefront stands selling “Coney Islands,” hotdogs with a meat sauce



CINCINNATI CHILI

(chili) topping. He brought the idea to Cincinnati in 1922, opening a hot dog place downtown next to the Empress Theatre. Naming it also the Empress, he adapted the then-common practice for restaurants to turn their leftover meat into chili con carne, which included beans. Kiradjieff started offering an all-beef chili sauce with distinctive spices, served either over hot dogs or mixed with spaghetti. According to folklorist Tim Lloyd, both the spices and the serving style drew upon three characteristics common to foodways in the Balkan and Levantine cultures shaping Macedonian food: extensive use of cinnamon and allspice; the use of contrasting sweet and hot spices; and the combination of those spices with tomato sauce, pasta, and a meat. The distinctive serving style developed gradually. Kiradjieff originally served the meat sauce stirred into the spaghetti, but around 1930 he began serving the sauce on top of the pasta. He also gradually added chopped onions, beans, and grated cheese, allowing customers to choose from them and add as they wished. After World War II, Kiradjieff began expanding the Empress parlor with his son, Joe, but it remained a family business and emphasized its American rather than its ethnic identity, which they considered to be Bulgarian. In 1960, Empress Chili began franchising, identifying itself as the original Cincinnati-style chili. It now also offers its chili in area groceries. Other Cincinnati chili establishments followed similar patterns of being family-run and emphasizing the Cincinnati connection. One of the best known is Skyline Chili, started in 1949 by Nicholas Lambrinides, who worked for the Empress for several years but developed his own sauce recipe. Interestingly, the Skyline now emphasizes the Greek heritage of the founder, describing how he learned to cook from his mother and grandmother in a village in Kastoria, Greece. The current Web site suggests that the secret recipe is directly from this source. Lambrinides’s five sons continued the family business, turning it into a successful regional franchise and distributing their frozen chili through supermarkets and online marketing. The other largest competitor in the business today is Gold Star Chili, established originally as Hamburger Heaven in 1965 in the Mount Washington neighborhood by the four Daoud brothers from Jordan. (Some changed their name to David.) In the 1990s, they started an association with the local baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds. They now have 85 locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, proudly claiming to offer “the flavor of Cincinnati.” Similar to the others, all of their chili is prepared at their corporate kitchen, then shipped to the individual outlets, keeping their recipe secret. They also sell their products online and in stores, and they have even expanded overseas to a number of Middle Eastern countries as the Chili House, opened by one of the Daoud relatives. Numerous smaller chains and independent chili parlors in the Cincinnati area now sell the dish. These are frequently associated with specific neighborhoods, and local residents tend to display intense loyalty to their favored parlor. Lucy M. Long Cincinnati Chili

Yield: 6-8 servings

93

94

CINCINNATI CHILI

Ingredients Sauce 2 pounds ground beef (chuck or extra-lean) 2 medium onions, finely chopped 3–6 cloves garlic, minced (to taste) 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 2 tablespoons cider vinegar 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons chili powder 2 tablespoons allspice, ground 2 tablespoons cinnamon, ground 2 tablespoons cumin (optional, not used in original recipes) 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons black pepper 1 teaspoons red pepper (cayenne) 1 bay leaf 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa or ½ ounce grated unsweetened chocolate (optional) Directions 1. Boil meat in one quart of water. Stir until separated. Reduce heat to simmer and add onions and garlic. Stir and add tomato sauce. Mix thoroughly, then add rest of ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for two hours or until sauce has thickened. 2. Serve over spaghetti with chopped onion, grated Cheddar cheese, canned kidney beans, and oyster crackers. Recipe adapted from the original Empress recipe. Further Reading Anae C. 2015. “Cincinnati Chili (Joy of Cooking 1936) ‘Empress Chili’ Recipe.” May 5. http:// www.familycookbookproject.com/recipe/3334341/cincinnati-chili-joy-of-cooking -1936-empress-chili.html. Lloyd, Timothy Charles. 1981. “The Cincinnati Chili Culinary Complex.” Western Folklore 40 (1): 28–40. http://mysite.du.edu/~lavita/fsem_1111_07/_docs/lloyd_cincinnati _chili.pdf. Long, Lucy M. 2009. Regional American Food Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 1999. Chili Nation: The Ultimate Chili Cookbook with Recipes from Every State in the Nation. New York: Broadway Books. Stradley, Linda, and Andra Cook. 1997. What’s Cooking America: More Than 800 FamilyTested Recipes from American Cooks of Today and Yesterday. Helena, MT: ThreeForks Books. Woellert, Dann. 2013. The Authentic History of Cincinnati Chili. Charleston, SC: American Palate.

CODDIES

CODDIES Coddies are a local favorite in Baltimore, Maryland. Though a product of a Southern state, coddies are themselves disconnected from Southern foodways because of their particular urban history in the more recent past. Developed by members of the city’s Jewish community around 1900 as a kosher alternative to Maryland’s famed crab cakes, coddies have since gained widespread appeal for a wide range of eaters in and visitors to Charm City. Traditional coddies are, in essence, flattened mashed potato balls flavored with codfish in the form of salt cod, fish paste, or fish flakes. Additional flavoring is provided by various purveyors’ inclusion of special herbs and spices, ranging from Old Bay seasoning (a Maryland favorite for boiled crabs) to parsley. Pan-fried, the discs are placed on saltine crackers in a kind of sandwich—or served open-face—and garnished with a dollop of simple yellow mustard. While some have suggested that coddies are identical to the codfish cakes appearing in recipes throughout the Northeast and marketed as a canned good by companies like Gorton’s, the fish-to-potato ratio in coddies is in reality very low compared to extant recipes for fishcakes, which vary from one-to-two to one-to-one by weight. Most recipes for coddies call for only a tablespoon of fish paste or flakes for one to two pounds of mashed potatoes. The coddie came into existence as a kosher alternative to the range of Maryland staple foods that featured crab, especially the lauded crab cake, for Baltimore’s increasing Jewish population after the turn of the 20th century. According to Talmudic law, any sea-dwelling animal without both fins and scales is not kosher. As

Coddies in the process of being pan-fried. Once cooked, these fish-flavored potato cakes will be topped with mustard and sandwiched between saltine crackers for hand-held enjoyment. (Goodween123/Dreamstime.com)

95

96

CODDIES

such, though known for its excellent native crop of blue crabs, the Chesapeake Bay’s much-heralded cuisine was inaccessible to Jewish immigrants arriving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1910, in response to this social condition— and in order to help find a way to make a little more money at the family’s sandwich stand in the Belair Market—according to local lore, the wife of Louis Cohen began imitating the taste of crab-based foods by adding cod to modified potato pancakes, a staple food for many Jewish families. The coddie replaced the crab cake’s usual slice of bread with a cracker, both out of necessity—because saltines made the food cheaper and matched the inexpensive potato-based food itself—and as a sly wink that marked them as different from their non-kosher counterparts. At the same time, the coddie’s fishy taste and otherwise similar lumped appearance provided a way for Jewish Baltimoreans to integrate into their hometown while also retaining something of their identity. The appeal of the coddie almost immediately extended beyond Jewish circles and took its place among the pantheon of value-priced foods in Baltimore that were snapped up by the working class during and after work. Originally sold for pennies apiece from street carts, coddies also appeared in other families’ delis, placed in displays near the cash register as an impulse purchase for customers paying for their orders. Trucks from the Cohens’ company continued to sell coddies on Baltimore’s streets that they mass-produced for themselves, until the 1970s, when they were relegated indoors, likely because of changing attitudes about food safety regarding this fish-based snack sold and consumed at room temperature. (Today, fresh coddie production in Baltimore remains active in a handful of restaurants, including Pappas Seafood, Faidley Seafood, and Attman’s Deli, a traditional Jewish delicatessen that has been in operation since 1915 on East Lombard Street—often called “Corned Beef Row,” a former hub for Jewish life in the city. The only real mystery about the coddie that remains is why it never traveled outside Baltimore. For some, the only plausible reason is that it is almost mystically linked to the town: “The coddie was born in Baltimore and is offered and consumed only in Baltimore, and you will not find it in any other Jewish community on earth” (Sandler 2012, 100). Nutritionally, coddies are meant to be a snack food enjoyed in relative moderation. Carbohydrate-heavy and low in nutrient density, they best nutritionally resemble French fries, the processed fish providing merely flavor, an ample dose of salt, and few of the benefits of whole-fish products. All the same, the cultural nourishment coddies provide cannot be undervalued, as their history of Jewish American integration made them a kosher way for new arrivals to America to identify as Marylanders. Thomas Hertweck Coddies

Yield: 16-18 coddies Ingredients 4 large white potatoes 2 tablespoons milk



COFFEE MILK

1 small onion, minced and sautéed 2 large eggs, beaten ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon prepared fish product, ideally codfish paste (can substitute fish flakes) Salt to taste Chopped parsley or Old Bay seasoning for additional flavor (optional, based on preference; reduce or omit salt above if using Old Bay) Peanut, canola oil, or other high-temperature oil for frying Saltines Yellow mustard (traditionally, but feel free to experiment with other types of mustard—whole-grain, Dijon, etc.—to suit taste) Directions 1. Peel, boil, and lightly mash potatoes, introducing milk as you mash. 2. Combine in a bowl with onion, eggs, pepper, and optional seasoning. You can, at this stage, include a few crushed saltines for added body (the final consistency should be stiff and moldable). 3. Scoop and roll individual portions into a ball slightly larger than the size of a golf ball, then flatten into thick discs. 4. Fry off to a golden brown color in a quarter of an inch of oil. 5. Present each drained coddie, cooled to room temperature, on its own saltine or sandwiched between two saltines, garnished with mustard. Further Reading “Baltimore.” 2016. Episode. Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations. Hosted by Andrew Zimmern. Chevy Chase, MD: Travel Channel. Sandler, Gilbert. 2012. Glimpses of Jewish Baltimore. Charleston, SC: History Press. Wolf, Bonny. 2016. “Baltimore Brothers Remember Coddies.” American Food Roots. June3.http://www.americanfoodroots.com/my-american-roots/baltimore-brothers-remem ber-coddies.

COFFEE MILK Coffee milk is a cold drink made using coffee syrup and milk. Coffee syrup is a commercially sold, sweetened, concentrated product. Coffee milk is similar to chocolate milk, just replacing the chocolate with coffee syrup. There are several brands of coffee syrups, including Autocrat, Eclipse, and Morning Glory. One of the oldest recipes for coffee milk, under that name, can be found in the 1808 book The Cook and Housewife’s Manual: A Practical System of Modern Domestic Cookery and Family Management, published in London. Similarly, in 1823, the American cookbook American Domestic Cookery: Formed on Principles of Economy, for the Use of Private Families listed a recipe for coffee milk instructing cooks to boil ground coffee in milk, remarking, “This is a very fine breakfast; it should be sweetened with real Lisbon sugar of a good quality.” However, despite both

97

98

COFFEE MILK

of these recipes, coffee milk is believed to have been brought to Rhode Island by Italian immigrants in the 1920s and 1930s. The origins of coffee milk may be from parents who were trying to get their children to drink milk: By adding a little bit of strong coffee and sugar to milk, children were enticed by the idea of consuming the normally forbidden coffee. Not long after, coffee milk could be found at diners. Over time, food companies began marketing coffee syrup. The Silmo Packaging Company of Bedford, Massachusetts, started selling it in 1932. In 1938, Eclipse Food Products touted in-store demonstrations of making coffee milk using their syrup and the catchy slogan, “You smack your lips if it’s Eclipse.” Similarly, Autocrat—a coffee company—developed its own coffee syrup in 1940 and promoted it with the motto “A swallow will tell you.” Coffee milk was made the official drink of the state of Rhode Island in 1993, but not without controversy. Some Rhode Islanders felt that the classification should have been given to Del’s Frozen Lemonade, a statewide chain founded in 1948 by Angelo DeLucia, whose grandfather had brought the recipe with him from Italy. Nevertheless, Rhode Islanders pride themselves on their coffee milk. Some people even claim that you can only get true coffee milk in Rhode Island. One can buy a cup of coffee milk at a café, diner, or restaurant, and also coffee milk can be found premade in supermarkets. Coffee milk is the classic drink at hot wiener shops, Rhode Island’s unique version of a hot dog stand. Culturally, coffee milk is consumed as a refreshing and energizing beverage. It can be drunk at any time of the day. While coffee milk is the state drink of Rhode Island and is rather popular there, it can be found elsewhere. Similar to coffee milk is Thai iced coffee, made with strong coffee, condensed milk, and sugar. The nutritional value of coffee milk comes from the milk and the sugar, coffee itself having minor nutritional value. Depending on the type of milk used, coffee milk can be a good source of calcium, protein, and vitamin D. The sugar from the syrup of the coffee milk may diminish its nutritional value, but not too much if consumed in moderation. Sally Baho Coffee Milk

Yield: 1 serving Ingredients 8 ounces cold milk 2–3 tablespoons coffee syrup Directions 1. Fill a glass with milk. 2. Add coffee syrup and stir until completely dissolved, using more coffee syrup and/or less milk if you prefer a stronger, sweeter beverage. 3. Add ice if desired, and enjoy!



COFFEE MILK

Further Reading Foster, Kelli. 2017. “What Is Coffee Milk, and Why Should You Try It?” The Kitchn. January 24. http://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-coffee-milk-and-why-you-should-try-it-239558. Strutner, Suzy, and Rebecca Orchant. 2017. “Rhode Island Has a Secret Local Drink You’ve Got to Try.” Huffington Post. May 12. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry /coffee-milk_us_5915e7a8e4b00f308cf4ff7d.

99

D DEEP-DISH PIZZA Also known as Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza, as the name suggests, is characterized by its tall crust that comes from baking it in a deep dish versus on a flat pizza stone or directly on an oven deck. While its precise history and origin is unclear, there is agreement that the pizza originated in Chicago in the early 1940s. Pizza migrated to the United States along with Italian immigrants in the late 1800s. Being of modest economic means, these early Italian immigrants made pizza at home and in bakeries where it was sold to factory workers in major cities. In New York City, these early pizzas were very thin and resembled the original Naples version. As pizza’s popularity spread across the country, do-it-yourself recipes increased as well. Many of these early recipes departed from the comparatively light, thin-crusted style and featured a heavy, thick crust. Although basic ingredients were the same—crust, cheese, tomatoes, vegetables, and meat (often cured)— the portions of ingredients were far more generous in the at-home recipes. According to some, the Chicago deep-dish pizza was created by Ike Sewell, a former University of Texas football star, and his partner Richard “Ric” Novaretti in Chicago in 1943. Others claim that the head chef at Pizzeria Uno, Rudy Malnati, was the original creator of the deep-dish pizza. While he can’t prove who made or conceptualized the deep-dish pizza, Chicago historian Tim Samuelson says that he “now has enough documentation to prove the pizza emerged from a restaurant that opened in the early 1940s in the mansion on East Ohio at Wabash, originally built by Chicago lumber baron Nathan Mears” (Chicago Tribune 2009). This address is now the home of Pizzeria Uno.

Pizza Margherita Before migrating to the United States, the first pizzas were created in Naples, Italy. These early pizzas soon became food for the lazzaroni, the poor, and were eaten in the streets. According to the legend, Queen Margherita, tired of French cuisine, wanted to try authentic Italian lazzaroni food on a visit to Naples (Helstosky 2008, 26; Berg 2015, 461). Pizzaiolo Rafaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi prepared multiple pizzas for the king and queen, one of which was made with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil to symbolize the red, white, and green of the Italian flag. Queen Margherita declared this her favorite pizza, and it has since been referred to as pizza Margherita. Queen Margherita was one of many aristocrats to help move pizza out of the streets and into the mainstream.



DEEP-DISH PIZZA

The pie-like shape of deep-dish pizza allows for a much greater quantity of toppings than one would find on a traditional, flat pizza. (Shinyshot/Dreamstime.com)

Opening Pizzeria Uno with the intent of attracting Italian Americans, Sewell and Novaretti found that the deep-dish pizza was popular with non-immigrants as well. In 1978, Sewell opened what is now Uno Pizzeria and Grill, commonly referred to as Uno’s. Deep-dish-style pizza soon began showing up at other franchises across the country, such as Little Caesars, Pizza Hut, and Domino’s. According to Samuelson, “Nationally, pizza is a $30 billion industry, but it is especially popular among Chicagoans. Pizzeria Uno does $3.2 million of business a year, and its sibling a block away, Pizzeria Due, does $3.4 million, even though neither delivers” (Chicago Tribune 2009). The generous portions of ingredients have an equally generous impact on the nutritional content of deep-dish versus thin-crust pizza, with each slice more than double in calories (370 calories in a slice of deep-dish pepperoni compared to 155 for thin crust), fat (19 grams compared to 8), and carbohydrates (37 grams compared to 13), at least in the examples used in the nutrition database My Fitness Pal (myfitnesspal.com). Laura K. Hahn Deep-Dish Pizza

Yield: 6–8 servings Ingredients 1½ cups water ½ ounce fresh yeast

101

102

DEEP-FRIED FAIR FOODS

½ ounce sugar 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound bread flour 1 tablespoon salt 2 cups marinara sauce 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 2 cups chopped pepperoni 3 cups sautéed vegetables (onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach), drained to remove excess water Directions 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. In a large bowl, whisk together water, yeast, and sugar and let bloom for about 10 minutes. 3. Add olive oil, flour, and salt to the yeast mixture. Mix the dough until it forms a ball. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth, about 10 minutes. 4. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and proof for one hour, until doubled in size. 5. Grease a 12-inch cake pan generously with olive oil. 6. Stretch the dough ball to fit into the cake pan, making sure to allow room for the sides. (Note: the dough might not stick to the sides of the pan. As you fill it with toppings, pull the dough toward the top of the pan to create the sides.) 7. Pour half a cup of sauce onto the bottom of dough, and spread to edges. Top with a portion of cheese, pepperoni and vegetables. Repeat the layers and end with marinara on top, and a portion of cheese remaining. 8. Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Top with remaining cheese, return to oven, and bake for another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and slightly brown. 9. Allow the pizza to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Berg, Jennifer Schiff. 2015. “Pizza,” in Andrew F. Smith, ed., Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover’s Companion to New York City. New York: Oxford University Press. Chicago Tribune. 2009. “Who Invented Deep Dish?” February 18. http://articles.chicagotribune​ .com/2009-02-18/news/0902180055_1_chicago-pizza-ric-riccardo-pizzeria-uno. Helstosky, Carol. 2008. Pizza: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books.

D E E P - F R I E D FA I R F O O D S Deep-fried butter, cookie dough, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, cola, cheese squares, Pop-Tarts, Twinkies, pizza, bacon s’mores, and Jell-O: the possibilities for deep-fried fair fare are increasingly novel and ever-expanding. “If you fry it, they



DEEP-FRIED FAIR FOODS

Corn Dogs Deep-fried corn dogs date back to the 1920s, when Stanley S. Jenkins of Buffalo, New York, was granted U.S. Patent 1706491A for a device “in which a new and novel edible food product may be deep fried” (Mumford 2016). Jenkins’s patent application describes the process by which foods such as wieners, bananas, hard-boiled eggs, and figs can be “impaled on sticks,” dipped in a batter, and then deep-fried in vegetable oil (heated to about 390°F) to create a “clean, wholesome and tasty” food product (Mumford 2016).

will buy it” is the motto of many fair food provisioners, who strive to find new— and ever more unusual—items to deep-fry and sell to curious fairgoers. The American agricultural fair emerged in the early 19th century, presenting the latest practices in farming and “domestic manufactures.” Exhibits of both agricultural equipment and food attracted fairgoers, and vendors set up booths to offer refreshments. As Warren Belasco details in Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food, large-scale fairs (such as the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia— America’s first international exposition—or the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago) “afforded visitors to dine graciously at a cornucopia of restaurants, lunch counters, and exhibits” (Belasco 2006, 160). Yet “walking foods” were equally prevalent at these fairs—and especially in state and regional fairs, where vendors sought to avoid the extra cost of plates, utensils, and seating for patrons. “Walking foods,” such as the handheld hamburger, may have debuted at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World’s Fair (Belasco 2006, 161). But the deep-fried stick foods that Americans so strongly associate with county and state fairs are a newer invention. It wasn’t until the 1940s that corn dogs became popularized in state fairs. Corn dogs—battered, deep-fried hot dogs on a stick—are sold under various brand names, including Corny Dogs (launched by Neil and Carl Fletcher at the 1942 state fair in Texas) and the Pronto Pup (first sold at the Minnesota State Fair in 1947). Sweet fried foods, such as donuts and funnel cakes, also have been popular staples at fairs for decades. By the early 2000s, fairgoers could select from an array of deep-fried foods. Such edibles are not “comfort” foods, as some have described them, but rather “thrill foods”—foods that tap into the desire to try something new, exciting, and “bad” for you. This thrill foods phenomenon started to transform into a spectacle of “extreme frying” in 2005, when the State Fair of Texas launched its Big Tex Choice Awards, a competition for deep-fried foods with categories for “Best Taste” and “Most Creative.” Fair organizers introduced the awards to solidify their branding of the State Fair of Texas as the “Fried Food Capital of Texas”—a phrase that became a registered trademark in 2010. Winning entries in the Big Tex Choice Awards have included, in the “Most Creative” category, “Fried Bubblegum,” “Fried Thanksgiving Dinner,” “Deep Fried Butter,” “Deep Fried Latte,” and “Fried Beer.”

103

104

DEEP-FRIED FAIR FOODS

A deep-fried Twinkies booth at the Minnesota State Fair. Stands such as this, serving just about any type of fried food one can imagine, have become an expected attraction at state fairs nationwide. (Michael Rubin/Dreamstime.com)

“Best Taste” awards have gone to “Fried Peanut Butter, Jelly and Banana Sandwiches,” “Fernie’s Deep Fried Peaches & Cream,” “Buffalo Chicken in a Flapjack,” and “Deep-Fried Cuban Rolls.” This whole phenomenon is both fueled and amplified by the media, which seemingly delights in reporting on the latest calorific examples of extreme frying. Oprah hosted a short segment (at the Texas state fair) on deep-fried butter, as has NBC News, Today, and even Late Show with David Letterman, in which Letterman counts down the “Top Ten Questions to Ask Before Eating Fried Butter.” Fried fair food has also been the topic of articles in the Economist, Gastronomica, Texas Monthly, the Dallas Observer, the Dallas Morning News, and countless other mainstream and social media outlets. Calorie-wise, the edibles are excessive: deep-fried Oreos can contain 712 calories (and 39 grams of fat) and GeniusKitchen.com calculates one deep-fried Mars bar as 899.7 calories. The hugely popular deep-fried butter, which won its creator, Abel Gonzales, celebrity status after his much-publicized win at the 2009 Big Tex Choice Awards, is made of battered whipped butter, deep-fried; actually calculating the nutritional profile of this deep-fried fat seems absurd. Despite the high calorie counts, such fried food is wildly popular. For example, Gonzales sold 35,000 orders of fried butter—over 140,000 butter balls—at the Texas state fair the year his fried butter won Best Taste Award (Vine 2010). Beyond sales at the fair, the popularity of these deep-fried foods is witnessed by their commercial success outside the fairgrounds. Corn dogs are available in convenience stores (such as 7-Eleven) across the country, and frozen packaged



DOROTHY LYNCH

variations are sold in supermarkets. In August 2016, Hostess Brands launched Deep Fried Twinkies and Deep Fried Chocolate Twinkies, which consumers can heat up in an oven at home. These products were so successful that, after only five months on the market, Hostess added Deep Fried Banana Twinkies to the lineup. And hundreds of recipes for deep-fried fair foods are available online, allowing dedicated or curious eaters to create corn dogs, fried pickles, fried macaroni and cheese balls, deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried cookie dough, and, of course, deep-fried butter all year round. Charlene Elliott Deep-Fried Mars Bars

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 4 Mars Bars 1 cup flour 1 cup milk 1 egg Pinch of salt Oil for frying Directions 1. Chill Mars Bars in refrigerator (do not freeze). 2. Whisk flour, milk, egg, and salt to make a creamy batter. 3. Coat the Mars Bars completely in batter, allowing excess to drain off. 4. Fry in hot oil (350–375 degrees Fahrenheit) until golden brown—two or three minutes. Drain on paper towels, and enjoy. Further Reading Belasco, Warren James. 2006. Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food. Berkeley: University of California Press. Mumford, Tracy. 2016. “The Definitive History of the Corn Dog (er, Pronto Pup).” Minnesota Public Radio News. September 2. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/09/02 /definitive-guide-to-pronto-pup-corn-dog. Vine, K. 2010. “I Believe I Can Fry.” Texas Monthly. January 20. http://www.texasmonthly​ .com/food/i-believe-i-can-fry.

D O R O T H Y LY N C H “Dorothy Lynch” is the nickname for Dorothy Lynch Home Style Dressing, originally developed and currently commercially produced in Nebraska. With a reddish orange tint and a thin texture, this sweet and tangy salad topper should not be confused with similar-looking products, such as French or Catalina French dressing. With a tomato soup base, Dorothy Lynch includes a unique blend of seasonings

105

106

DOROTHY LYNCH

that gives it a distinctive and recognizable flavor. Fiercely proud of this local food, for many Nebraskans a salad is not a salad without Dorothy Lynch. The dressing’s original homemade recipe was developed in the 1940s by its namesake, Dorothy Lynch. Tasked with feeding hungry veterans at the American Legion club in Saint Paul, Nebraska, Lynch concocted the sweet and savory mixture to delight the palates of her patrons. The dressing was an immediate success, and customers started demanding bottles of the tangy red liquid to take home. Responding to the clamor, Dorothy Lynch began bottling and selling her dressing. By the 1960s, the reputation of the delicious dressing had grown from a local secret to a regional delight. In 1964, Dorothy Lynch sold the recipe and the name “Dorothy Lynch” to Tasty Toppings, Inc. With its factory in Columbus, Nebraska, the company was able to satisfy the growing demand for the dressing. For more than 50 years, the commercially produced dressing has been a staple in restaurants, at potlucks, and on kitchen tables across Nebraska and beyond. A much larger factory in Duncan, Nebraska, has enabled the company to expand distribution to 35 states. The “Direct Dorothy” service enables native Nebraskans now living outside the distribution area, or anyone else with a hankering for the dressing, to have bottles delivered directly to their front door. With only slight nods to nutritional trends, such as offering a fat-free version beginning in 1993 and making the recipe gluten-free as of 2010, the dressing remains relatively unchanged since it was first created. Today and for the foreseeable future, Dorothy Lynch salad dressing will continue to give Nebraskans a taste of home with a hint of nostalgia. Although delicious straight from the bottle drizzled on your favorite salad or used as a marinade or dip, Dorothy Lynch Home Style Dressing can be incorporated as an ingredient in everything from appetizers to desserts. In fact, the official Dorothy Lynch Web site includes a recipe-sharing section where loyal cooks can upload their favorite creations or find just the perfect dish for any occasion. Perhaps the most creative concoction including the dressing as a key ingredient is the “Spiced Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake” developed by Suellen Calhoun, which received an “Honorable Mention” at the 2012 Iowa State Fair. Reprinted in newspapers and magazines across the region, the recipe is now immortalized in the Dorothy Lynch recipe database. Jennifer Rachel Dutch Spiced Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake

Yield: 6-8 servings Ingredients ¾ cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 2 large eggs



DUNDAS SHEEP STEW

½ cup Dorothy Lynch Home Style Dressing ¼ cup sour cream 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract 2¼ cups flour ¾ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder 2 (11-ounce) cans mandarin oranges, drained and chopped ½ cup orange juice 1 tablespoon orange liqueur ¾ cup sugar Directions 1. Cream butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in Dorothy Lynch Home Style Dressing, sour cream and vanilla. 2. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture and mix until blended. 3. Fold in mandarin oranges and spoon mixture into greased and floured Bundt pan. 4. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45–50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in pan; invert onto wire rack. 5. Combine orange juice, liqueur, and ¾ cup sugar. Cook until sugar is dissolved, about three minutes. 6. Slowly brush glaze over cake, repeating until glaze is gone. Further Reading Calhoun, Suellen. 2017. “Spiced Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake.” Dorothy Lynch. http:// www.dorothylynch.com/recipes/recipe/spiced-mandarin-orange-bundt-cake. Dorothy Lynch. “About Dorothy Lynch.” Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.dorothylynch .com/about. Ellyson, Tyler. 2014. “Decades Later, Dorothy Lynch Still a Nebraska Favorite.” Columbus Telegram. May 12. http://columbustelegram.com/news/local/decades-later-dorothy-lynch-still -a-nebraska-favorite/article_7e2e4921-4a82-5aca-a56c-83c8166b7e6a.html.

DUNDAS SHEEP STEW Dundas sheep stew is a regional specialty of Lunenberg County, Virginia, made in an area bound by the small towns of Dundas, Danieltown, and Alberta. Like others in the family of Southern stews that includes Brunswick stew, South Carolina hash, Kentucky burgoo, and Frogmore stew, Dundas sheep stew is cooked in large, wood-fired metal pots and stirred with long wooden paddles, taking up to a full day or more to prepare. The precise origins of the stew are unclear, but the stew-making process in the Dundas community is a tradition that has been passed

107

108

DUNDAS SHEEP STEW

down through generations. The event of stew-making itself occurs every several months—for special occasions, at summer festivals, and on holidays—and draws crowds from throughout the area for what the Dundas town welcome sign proudly proclaims “a gastronomical delight.” The stew is composed of sheep meat, fat, onions, potatoes, breadcrumbs, and spices. After many hours of constant boiling and stirring, the result is a thick, richly seasoned potage that resembles a muddle or mush more than a runnier stew or hash. As far as flavor, locals who have eaten the stew for years find it hard to describe: it’s seen as “an acquired taste,” and “like nothing else.” While some claim that the stew’s particular taste is the very reason for it having remained so localized over the years, it’s also viewed as a “delicacy,” and it seems to be a point of pride that the specialty is exclusive to the tiny area. Various local organizations in Lunenberg County sell the stew as a community fund-raiser. One group with a long stew-making ritual is the Dundas Ruritan Club, which prepares the stew on a semiannual basis. Funds raised by selling quarts of the specialty dish support community projects, large purchases such as a new church organ, and, in one case, the production of a documentary on the Dundas stew-making tradition. From start to finish, the coveted specialty stew takes a full day to make: its preparation is a group affair, and the many folks who contribute to its production are part of specialized committees. First, the sheep are procured from a local farm, which may or may not be the source of the livestock (traditional animal husbandry is not as common in contemporary Dundas); next, the sheep are processed by sawing the animals into smaller parts, ready for the pot. Also the night before, hundreds of pounds of vegetables are prepared by the “peeling committee,” which may be composed of those less mobile or agile members of the community. The cooking itself begins in the wee hours of the morning, kicking off with wood fires nursed beneath the large cooking vessels. Along with hundreds of gallons of water, the meat and onions are added, and a full day of cooking in shifts begins, with the younger, stronger generation taking over as the day unfolds and the stew thickens. It must be stirred constantly to prevent burning and sticking to the bottom of the huge cast-iron kettles. Each time-consuming task requires a full crew of (mostly) men, and allows for hours of conversation—from newsy updates on marriages, births, and deaths to friendly ribbing between neighbors and generations.

Dundas Stew in Film The Sheep Stew of Dundas: A Gastronomical Delight (dir. Woodward, 2001) is an hourlong documentary film that was produced by filmmaker Stanley Woodward as part of his Southern Stews project. His work provides insight into not only this rich contribution to the local foodways of the rural South, but also the good-natured community spirit and sense of tradition that goes into its preparation.



DUNDAS SHEEP STEW

The longstanding institution of the “pit master” in barbecue has its equivalent in stew-making. Around the 12th hour of cooking time, the “stewmaster” emerges to flavor up the boiling pots. With large containers of salt, black pepper, and red pepper, and bare hands as measuring cups, the stewmaster seasons each 80-gallon kettle by eye, periodically getting feedback on the stew’s taste from others, but ultimately determining “what tastes right” himself. As the pots boil, the esteemed place of the stewmaster is honored as knowledge of flavor, technique, and consistency is passed to the younger community members. The final step of the stew tradition is “dipping”—or, ladling out the stew into one-quart takeaway containers that the larger community lines up for hours to purchase. By every account, this enormous quantity of stew sells out every time it is prepared, so popular is the regional specialty. That both the small army of those involved in its preparation and the crowds queued up for its consumption are happily willing to make this single dish a daylong event is evidence that coming together as a community is, perhaps, the key ingredient in the generations-deep recipe for Dundas sheep stew. Brandie Roberts Home-Style Slow-Cooker Sheep Stew

Yield: 20–24 servings Ingredients 6 pounds mutton stew meat (or lamb) 4 pounds onions, peeled and quartered 1 pound mashed potatoes, prepared ahead of time ¼ pound fatback, cubed (or lardons) ¼ pound butter, cubed 2.5 ounces breadcrumbs 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 tablespoons salt Directions 1. In the pot of a large slow cooker, add mutton, onions, and potatoes in layers. Fill pot with just enough water to cover all ingredients. Turn slow cooker to low setting and cook for eight hours. 2. When timer expires, open lid and add fatback, butter, breadcrumbs, cayenne, black pepper, and salt. Stir ingredients thoroughly to combine, and set cooker to high setting for an additional two hours. 3. When stew is done cooking, stir well, ladle into bowls, and serve with soft white bread.

109

110

DUNDAS SHEEP STEW

Adapted from the recipe “Dundas Stew” in Seasoned with Love: The Perseverance Church Cookbook by Helen Daniel and the Friendship Circle. Further Reading Burrison, John A. 2007. Roots of a Region: Southern Folk Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Woodward, Stanley. 2001. The Sheep Stew of Dundas. Folkstreams. http://www.folkstreams​ .net/film,339.

E EEL Legend holds that the first food Tisquantum (known in American history books as Squanto) taught the Mayflower pilgrims to grow was corn. However, it was much more plausible that he showed them how to fish, specifically for eel. One of the founding foods alongside squash, turkey, and corn, eel in various cooked forms had fed Native Americans for centuries. Today, eel is mainly relegated to sushi restaurants. The slender, snakelike creature is uncommon to most American palates in other culinary applications. The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a mysterious creature. Eels are catadromous, which means that they live in the sea and migrate to fresh water to spawn. They spend the first part of their lives maturing in fresh water and then journey to the secluded, warm waters of the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic to lay their eggs and die. Eel larvae float for several years before reaching American shores, by which time they have developed into elvers: thin, finger-long juveniles that are also known as glass eels. Once the elvers have matured, they swim hundreds of miles inland, overcoming natural and manmade obstacles to reach suitable bodies of water, grow into adults, and start the cycle once again. The American eel has a snakelike body covered in minute scales and a mucous layer. Eels vary in color from olive green and brown to yellow green with light or white bellies, depending upon the minerals in their watery habitat. Eels thrive along the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas up to Maine, and they can also be found in the rivers of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Various indigenous tribes relied on the eel and developed numerous techniques for cooking it. The Iroquois skewered eels on twigs and grilled them over a fire, Algonquin tribes smoked the eels, and others often made a type of fish soup thickened with maize, beans, and fish of all sorts, including eel. Eel was also a staple in early English cookbooks, which colonists brought with them across the Atlantic. In her popular English cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747), Hannah Glasse recommended eels for a “Fast-Dinner” during religious days of fasting. From the same period, Susannah Carter provides a recipe in The Frugal Housewife (1765) for broiled eels seasoned with mace, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, coated with breadcrumbs and butter, and served in a buttery anchovy sauce. Upon arriving in the New World, colonists made use of the abundant resource, recreating the same recipes that they already knew, including savory eel pies, eel stews, and potted or jellied eels. Colonists soon added the indigenous cooking techniques to their own collection of eel recipes. In American Cookery

112

EEL

Eels in a smokehouse. Smoking is a traditional preparation for eels in America, though most eel consumption now occurs outside the United States. (Eyewave/Dreamstime.com)

(1796), the first cookbook written and published in America, Amelia Simmons detailed how to select eels “so fresh that they jump when they are dropped in the pan to fry.” Throughout the 19th century, eel in various cooked forms—including fried, grilled, broiled, boiled, “pitch-cocked,” smoked, skewered, and stewed—continued to play an important role in East Coast cuisine. After the Civil War, health warnings began to accompany eel recipes. Late 19th-century domestic scientist Fannie Farmer disliked eels, claiming they “should not be eaten by those of weak digestion,” and only offered one recipe. In Imogene Wolcott’s The New England Yankee Cook Book, she credits the decline of the eel population to the relatively new impassable dams created during the Industrial Revolution. These manmade obstacles, coupled with pollution from factories, greatly reduced the habitable spaces for eels, and as cities began to ban commercial fishing and warn the public to cease consumption of fish caught in these waterways, the eel began to fall prey to these environmental pressures. After this decline, the only groups that continued to consume eel did so for cultural reasons, like the Italian community, which includes eel or capitone at Christmastime as part of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. A long list of threats, including migration barriers, climate change and habitat loss, predation, and global trade, have landed the American eel on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of endangered or threatened species. Today, glass eels are only legally fished in two states: Maine and South Carolina. Since eels only spawn at sea, the eel farming industry relies on wild-caught glass eels. In the early 2010s, Europe banned the export of the rapidly

EEL

Global Eel Trade Although the eel has historically been consumed domestically in the United States, tied with the global popularity of sushi, the harvest of native species today is carried out predominantly to fulfill foreign demand. Eels at all stages of their life cycle are harvested and traded on the global market, predominantly in East Asian countries, including Japan and China. This market includes fresh, frozen, smoked, and prepared eels.

depleting European eel, and shortly afterward a devastating tsunami wiped out many of Japan’s eel farms. This resulted in the Maine eel boom of 2012, when the price of elvers reached as high as $2,600 a pound (Barr 2017). A cutthroat black market soon developed, but it has been mitigated by new laws and the efforts of the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. Due in part to its threatened status and in response to American palates, American eel can often be difficult to find at the market. Aside from listings on the menus at sushi restaurants, many Americans have likely never seen or tasted eel at all. Searches for contemporary recipes are limited to traditional ethnic preparations like Italian capitone fritto, Japanese grilled eel over vinegar rice, or historic cooking techniques maintained by various indigenous tribes throughout the nation. All “American style” preparations involve breading and deep-frying. Several recipes for eels were listed in Craig Claiborne’s first edition of The New York Times Cookbook (1961), including eels in tomato sauce, eels à l’Orly (deepfried), and Anguilles Quo Vadis (named after the high-end British restaurant in New York). Under one recipe, Claiborne explains that “eels are available on the Eastern seaboard during most of the winter months and may be purchased in many Italian fish markets.” In the early 2000s, high-end restaurants across the country would serve glass eels as luxurious appetizers at a cost similar to caviar. These translucent eels were typically simply prepared in a hot pan and finished with olive oil, spices, lemon juice or white wine, garlic, and fresh herbs. Eel is high in vitamin A and phosphorous and has oily flesh with a high fat content and full, distinct flavor. The raw flesh turns white and slightly flaky when cooked. Eel should not be eaten raw or cooked with overly heavy sauces; roasting and stewing are preferred preparations. Katherine Hysmith Carolina Eel Stew

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 2 pounds skinned eel fillets, cut into 1-inch chunks 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

113

114

EMU

2 medium onions, chopped 2 quarts water 1 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons bacon drippings Directions 1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the bacon drippings. 2. Add the eel, diced potatoes, and chopped onions and toss to coat in the drippings. Season with salt and pepper, and add the water. 3. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes or until the eel and potatoes are tender. Adapted from an eel recipe in the cookbook Coastal Carolina Cooking. Further Reading Barr, Meghan. 2017. “Selling for as High as $2,600 a Pound, Baby Eels Have Changed Fortunes for Maine’s Fishermen—and Brought Trouble.” Boston Globe. July 5. https:// www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2017/07/05/selling-for-high-pound-baby-eels-have​ -changed-fortunes-for-maine-fishermen-and-brought-trouble/lON96WKku1Db5Aq DI6HkfM/story.html. Davis, Nancy, and Kathy Hart. 2000. Coastal Carolina Cooking. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Schweid, Richard. 2002. Consider the Eel. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Simmons, Amelia. 2012. American Cookery. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel. Stavely, Keith, and Kathleen Fitzgerald. 2004. America’s Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Walton, Izaak, Charles Cotton, and Marjorie Swann. 2016. The Compleat Angler (1653). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wolcott, Imogene B. 1939. The New England Yankee Cook Book: An Anthology of Incomparable Recipes from the Six New England States and a Little Something about the People Whose Tradition for Good Eating Is Herein Permanently Recorded. Louisville, KY: Reprinted by Cookbook Collectors Library, Favorite Recipes Press.

EMU The emu is a large, flightless bird of the ratite group and is native to Australia. Its nearest relative is the cassowary. In this group it is second in size only to the African ostrich and can be as tall as six feet (two meters) and weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms). Although they are flightless, they do have short wings, and these can be used for balance and stability, and they act as turning pivots during high-speed runs. Emus also flap their wings to scare predators. Being flightless, they have extremely well-developed legs that include calf muscles, a rarity in the avian world. This muscularity allows them to run at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour) in order to avoid predators. They can also swim if the situation calls for it.

EMU

Aboriginal Australians introduced the emu to European colonists, who used the bird as a source of meat and a source of lamp-fuel fats (similar to whale oil). Originally three species of emus were present in Australia, but two of the species were hunted to extinction shortly after European settlement. The single remaining species benefited from the extinction of most of its terrestrial predators in the 1800s. There are still large wild emu populations in Australia— the Australian Museum reports that overall numbers may be greater today than at the time of European settlement. Emus migrate as conditions change in an area and may travel several hundred kilometers in a single Emus are native to Australia, but farms that raise the large birds, primarily for their meat, have been estabseason. Emu egg clutches are lished in the United States. (Corel) guarded by males once they are fertilized, and eggs hatch in about eight weeks. Chicks can leave the nest within days, and the brood remains with the family group for about six months. An emu is generally full-grown by the end of its first year. There are small feral emu populations in the United States and

Emu Oil for Skincare Emu oil has significant monetary value. An emu yields about two gallons of emu oil when processed. Emus have a thick pad of fat on their backs that is removed when the bird is processed for meat and additional products. The pad weighs about 20 pounds on a full-size adult bird. The fat is heated to about 150°F, whereupon it renders into oil, which is filtered. Most emu oil is then centrifuged to remove undesirable elements. While there are some industrial uses for the oil, including uses by the cosmetic industry, by far the largest amount is sold to consumers for topical application as a skin salve. There is some evidence that emu oil may have antiinflammatory properties that aid the surface healing of skin when used after burns or abrasions. There are many unsubstantiated health claims used to sell emu oil today. Claims for emu oil include the lowering of cholesterol, curing topical skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, premenstrual syndrome symptom relief, relief of joint pain, and curing acne.

115

116

EMU

India as a result of escapes and releases by disenchanted breeders, though they do not appear to be particularly problematic. Emus are now farmed around the world. Emus are generally docile and breed well in captivity. They reproduce rapidly, producing five to fifteen eggs per clutch, with high rates of survival. Commercial emu farming began in Australia in the 1970s and spread quickly to other parts of the world as high prices for emu products were noticed in other countries. Today there are large emu farming industries in India and the United States as well as Australia. Smaller emu industries are present in Canada and South Africa. Emu farming experienced a boom in the 1990s, when emu meat was touted as a healthful alternative to red meats that was tender and flavorful. As a poultry item, emu is much lower in fat and cholesterol than beef. But in the years since, American flocks have shrunk by over 70 percent. From the beginning, emu was a tough sell to American consumers, who were unsure about the concept of red meat from birds and how to cook it. This, combined with an unsteady supply of butchered meat and a high price tag, caused the market to lag after an introductory burst of interest. On average, emu meat costs about three times the price of an equivalent amount of beef. The emu is a very high-yield animal. The USDA estimates that over 95 percent of an emu carcass can be marketed as meat, feathers, oil, and leather. Emu eggs are sold not only for eating, but also as display objects and “canvases” for painters who are attracted to its rich green-blue coloration. A single emu egg is equivalent in volume to a dozen chicken eggs. Emu meat is very comparable in flavor to beef, but is lower in cholesterol, fat, and calories and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Similar to other low-fat red meat alternatives, care must be taken not to overcook it, as it will become tough due to the lack of internal marbling fat. Emu meat is available in a variety of market forms, including steaks, roast, ground, and jerky. The fan filet, a cut from the prodigious thigh of the bird, is considered to be one of the choicest cuts. Emu roasts can be handled like red meat roasts and are safe to eat at 145°F. Emu meat can be used in place of beef in many recipes. For tenderness it either needs to be ground, cooked to a low internal temperature (no more than the culinary equivalent of medium rare or medium), or cooked for long period with added moisture (stewing or braising). Jeffrey P. Miller Emu Flank Steaks with Gorgonzola and Walnut Stuffing

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese 2 tablespoons heavy cream 1 tablespoon Madeira wine ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts 4 emu flank steaks, butterflied and tenderized ½ teaspoon salt

EMU

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper ½ cup beaten egg (use emu egg if you can; if not, two large chicken eggs) 3 cups all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons vegetable oil Directions 1. Combine the Gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, heavy cream, and wine. Reserve. 2. Begin heating the vegetable oil in a heavy pan or skillet. 3. Season the butterflied steaks with salt and pepper. 4. Lay out the steaks, and place one quarter of the cheese and nut mixture on one half of each butterflied steak. Brush some of the beaten egg around the edges, and fold over. 5. Dip the steaks in the flour, then the egg, and then the flour again. 6. Cook the steaks in the hot oil over medium-high heat. Cook about three minutes per side, turning only once. 7. Remove, let rest five minutes, and serve. Recipe by Myra Charleston in The American Emu Grower’s Association Cookbook. Used by permission of the American Emu Grower’s Association. Further Reading Bloudoff-Indelicato, Mollie. 2015. “What Ever Happened to Emu, the Next Red Meat?” The Plate (National Geographic). December 30. http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015 /12/30/what-ever-happened-to-emu-the-next-red-meat. Shorter, George. 2017. “Dromaius novaehollandiae (Emu).” Animal Diversity Web. Accessed September 26. http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Dromaius_novaehollandiae.

117

F FA S T N A C H T The fastnacht is a slightly sweet fried dough, similar to a doughnut, that is prepared and eaten on Shrove Tuesday, particularly in the Pennsylvania German (also known as Pennsylvania Dutch) community of South Central Pennsylvania. Although recipes vary, most fastnachts are made with sugar, butter, eggs, and flour. Most varieties include yeast, though some do not, and some versions include mashed potatoes. Less sweet than a typical doughnut, fastnachts are often square or rectangular in shape and made without a hole in the middle. Usually fried in lard or oil, fastnachts are served fresh, sliced, and slathered with molasses, jelly, or butter or coated in sugar. Fastnachts can also be round, diamond-shaped, or twisted and can even appear more doughnut-like, with a hole in the middle. Fastnachts are eaten only on Shrove Tuesday. According to the Christian liturgical calendar, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, which begins the period of Lent: approximately six weeks of prayer, fasting, and self-denial ending at Easter. Also known as “Mardi Gras” or “Fat Tuesday,” Shrove Tuesday is often celebrated with outlandish carnivals and indulgent foods. For example, New Orleans matches its well-known vibrant Mardi Gras parade and other festivities with the brightly colored “king cake.” In the United Kingdom, Shrove Tuesday is designated “Pancake Day” and is marked by preparing and eating platefuls of pancakes. These celebrations may arise from the necessity for Christians to use up ingredients, such as lard and sugar, that would not be needed during the deprivations of Lent. In Germany, the period right before Lent was celebrated as a joyful time, with elaborate traditions and celebrations. When German immigrants arrived in America, they brought these traditions with them, including the practice of serving sweetened fried dough for Fastnacht, or “Fast Night.” The Pennsylvania German community cemented this tradition with the celebration of Fastnacht Day. To make the labor-intensive treat, the dough is often prepared the night before Shrove Tuesday and left to rise overnight. The dough is then cut and fried first thing in the morning and eaten for breakfast, often dunked in hot coffee. Being sure to begin the day with a fresh, hot fastnacht is associated with good luck for the coming year. Conversely, skipping the treat is deemed to bring bad luck. Today, families throughout Pennsylvania continue the tradition by frying fresh batches of fastnachts each Shrove Tuesday based on the recipes handed down from generation to generation. Local churches also use the occasion as a fund-raiser, whipping up batches of fastnachts and selling them by the dozen. Signs appear on the roadside and in newspapers advertising these seasonal bake sales, and the

FASTNACHT

church members get together to fry up batch after batch of fastnachts in order to meet the one-day demand. With many residents too busy to go through the work of frying fastnachts themselves, bakeries have also entered the fray and offer the delicacy for order with delivery just in time for Shrove Tuesday. Even grocery store chains taken advantage of the tradition and have begun stocking the shelves with prepackaged fastnachts in the days leading up to Shrove Tuesday. In addition to providing helpful lists of local churches, bakeries, and other locations selling fastnachts, local newspapers also publish recipes for readers interested in making their own at home who did not inherit a family recipe. For example, the local Patriot-News newspaper shared the following recipe from Berks County on its Web site, Pennlive, in 2014. Jennifer Rachel Dutch Fastnachts

Yield: About 24 servings Ingredients 2 packages yeast ¼ cup melted butter 2 cups milk 2 eggs 2 teaspoons salt ¾ cup sugar ¼ teaspoon nutmeg 7½ cups flour Directions 1. Dissolve yeast in ½ cup warm water. 2. Scald milk and let cool. Add butter, salt and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes. 3. Add eggs and 3 cups flour. Stir in remaining flour until soft dough is formed. 4. Knead a few minutes on a floured board. Place in bowl and let rise until double, about 1½ hours. 5. Punch down with hands and roll to ½-inch thickness. Cut in squares or with a doughnut cutter or large glass. Cover and let rise until double in size. 6. Drop in hot fat, brown on each side. 7. Drain and serve. Further Reading Gleiter, Sue. 2013. “Fastnachts: It’s Time to Place Your Order for Traditional Pre-Lenten Doughnuts.” Penn Live. February 1. http://blog.pennlive.com/life/2013/02/fastnachts​ _lent_shrove_tuesday.html. Shoemaker, Alfred Lewis. 2000. Eastertide in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.

119

120

FLUFFERNUTTER

FLUFFERNUTTER Fluffernutter is a peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich. It is made by spreading peanut butter on one slice of bread and Marshmallow Fluff on another, and closing them to make a sandwich. In this, Marshmallow Fluff takes the place of jam in the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Fluffernutter is the unofficial state sandwich of Massachusetts and a source of childhood nostalgia and regional pride to its residents. The fluffernutter is made typically with peanut butter, white bread, and the key ingredient, Marshmallow Fluff, a sugary, gooey white spread, which consists of corn syrup, sugar, dried egg white, and vanilla flavoring. Many late 19th-century marshmallow recipes produced solid pastes. The earliest mention of a softer marshmallow paste for filling and frosting was in the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer in 1896. In the early 20th century, when gelatin deserts and marshmallow frostings and sauces were popular, recipe books called for marshmallows for cakes, candies, and desserts. Home cooks made their own marshmallow creme, either by mixing up the marshmallow ingredients from scratch or by melting down store-bought marshmallows and combining them with sugar syrup. Marshmallows changed identity from a child’s confection to a staple ingredient at dinner parties. Around 1912 a company by the name of Limpert Co. was known to have begun selling a version of marshmallow creme to soda fountains and ice cream parlors. In 1913 another company, Whitman’s, had a product called Marshmallow Whip. The earliest known recipe of a peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich was published by Emma and Amory Curtis of Melrose, Massachusetts. The Curtises invented Snowflake Marshmallow Crème in 1913 (later called SMAC). In a booklet published in 1918, Emma introduced the “Liberty Sandwich,” which consisted of white bread, peanut butter, and marshmallow creme, cut into dainty

Real Marshmallow Marshmallow Fluff is a type of marshmallow crème, which takes its name from the marshmallow plant (Althaea officinalis). The sap from the root of the marshmallow plant was used in ancient Egypt to flavor and thicken a honey-based candy. In 77 CE the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder stated in his book Historia Naturalis (Natural History) that a drink of marshmallow juice would prevent colds and cure most illnesses, including epilepsy, melancholy, and madness. Platina, in his De Honesta Voluptuate et Valetudine (On Right Pleasure and Good Health), an Italian cookery book published in the late 15th century, wrote about the botanical history and healing properties of the marshmallow plant. In the 19th century, pharmacists in Paris, France, cooked the juice of marshmallow with egg whites and sugar and then whipped the mixture into a foamy meringue that later hardened, creating a medicinal candy for sore throat. In the late 19th century, confectioners replaced the marshmallow juice with gelatin. After this, commercial marshmallow no longer kept any connection to the marshmallow plant, other than its name.

FLUFFERNUTTER

shapes. Emma is said to have mentioned the use of peanut butter as an accompaniment to marshmallow creme in a recipe leaflet in 1914. In 1915, the confectioner’s trade journal Candy and Ice Cream published a recipe for “Mallonut Sandwich,” which was made by spreading peanut butter and marshmallow whip or mallo topping on lightly toasted whole wheat bread. These may be the first appearances of the sandwich that came to be called the fluffernutter. The name “fluffernutter,” however, is associated with a marshmallow creme first created by Archibald Query in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1917. Query developed a recipe in his own kitchen for marshmallow creme that had an especially light consistency. He began selling it door to door, with reasonable success. When wartime shortages forced him to close down his operation, he sold his recipe to H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower from Swampscott, Massachusetts. Durkee and Mower had recently set up a candy company in 1920 and purchased Query’s marshmallow creme recipe from him for $500. They first called their product “Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff.” The name was a play on the French phrase tout suite, meaning “right away.” Durkee and Mower managed to secure the product a place in history when they renamed it Marshmallow Fluff. They sponsored the Flufferettes radio show, and from that show came the Yummy Book, with recipes for cakes, pies, candies, frostings and other confections that could be made with Marshmallow Fluff. In this book, the iconic fluffernutter was also present. After a cutback during World War II, the company continued to grow and extended its sales to other states and abroad. One of the firm’s greatest successes came when, in 1960, an advertising agency hired by the company came up with the name “fluffernutter.” By this point, this particular type of sandwich was very popular. It was promoted by Durkee and Mower as well as other companies. But the sandwich finally got its clever name in the 1960s, with the trend to give playful names to foods, such as cinnamon cookies called Snickerdoodles or a popcorn snack called Screaming Yellow Zonkers. Although other companies in North America produce marshmallow creme, including Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme and Solo Marshmallow Creme, to this day, Durkee-Mower holds the trademark for the word “fluffernutter.” In 2006, as legislators were proposing to ban the fluffernutter from school cafeterias, in retaliation a bill was put forward to recognize it as the state sandwich of Massachusetts. Although the bill has not been accepted, October 8 was declared National Fluffernutter Day, observed annually. Moreover, the town of Somerville, Massachusetts celebrates its Fluff pride with an annual What the Fluff festival built around Marshmallow Fluff and fluffernutter sandwiches, including a cooking contest. In addition to the sandwich, the term “fluffernutter” is used to describe other food items, primarily desserts, that have both peanut butter and marshmallow creme, and sometimes along with banana. “Fluffernutter” can also describe a flavor in cookies, shakes, or blondies. Today, the fluffernutter sandwich is as much of a part of New England cuisine as baked beans or blueberry pie. The sandwich now comes in all shapes and sizes,

121

122

FOIE GRAS

with wheat bread as well as white, and with other sweet and savory fillings; for example, “Elvis-style” with bacon and sliced bananas. Many like to grill and some like to fry their fluffernutters. One could also swap out the classic Fluff for Strawberry Fluff for added flavor and color appeal. Demet Güzey Fluffernutter

Yield: 1 sandwich Ingredients 2 slices soft white bread (like Wonder Bread) 1 tablespoon peanut butter (smooth or chunky as desired) 1 tablespoon Marshmallow Fluff or other marshmallow creme Directions 1. Spread one slice of bread with peanut butter. 2. Spread the other slice with Marshmallow Fluff. 3. Close slices, with the peanut butter and the Fluff sides touching. 4. Serve as is, or after grilling on an oiled pan until both sides are golden brown and the inside is gooey. Further Reading “The Fluffernutter.” 2004. Marshmallow Fluff. https://www.marshmallowfluff.com/the​ -fluffernutter. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 2011. “Fluffernutter,” in Jane Stern and Michael Stern, The Lexicon of Real American Food. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press. Smith, Andrew F. 2009. “Marshmallow Fluff,” in Andrew F. Smith, The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. New York: Oxford University Press.

FOIE GRAS Foie gras is a delicacy made from the fattened liver of a goose or duck. The embodiment of haute cuisine, foie gras is both revered for its culinary opulence and reviled for its controversial production methods. This luxury food is nearly synonymous with French cuisine but consumed worldwide. Although strongly associated with the French, the earliest evidence of consuming fattened goose livers dates back to ancient Egypt, when Egyptians observed wild geese overeating to fortify themselves shortly before their seasonal migration. They found that the gorging enlarged the bird’s liver, making it supple and flavorful. Thus began the practice of gavage, force-feeding grains to geese. This practice spread to the Mediterranean in the fifth century and became popular throughout the region. Despite the broadening appeal, Egypt maintained its reputation as the main source for fattened goose livers. It wasn’t until the Roman period that foie gras became more formally defined. It was named iecur ficatum (“fig liver”), from using dried figs to fatten the birds. The

FOIE GRAS

Foie gras. The soft and fatty goose liver may not be visually appealing, but it more than makes up for that with the unctuous texture and rich flavor that has long established its reputation as a delicacy. (Fdimeo/Dreamstime.com)

name “foie gras” (“fat liver” in French) would evolve later as the food became more strongly associated with French cuisine. At the conclusion of the Roman Empire, foie gras seemingly fell out of culinary favor. Jews migrating into Europe brought fattened goose livers with them as an alternative to lard and butter, having been exposed to the process of gavage through Roman colonization of Judea. Jewish dietary laws prohibited mixing animal fat and dairy, resulting in the use of poultry fat for cooking meat. This may have led to an appreciation for the subtle flavor of fattened liver and a revival of its popularity. In the United States, the largest producer of foie gras is Hudson Valley Farms in New York. It processes more than 350,000 ducks a year, with particular emphasis on humane practices and guidelines, including cage-free breeding and hand-­ feeding ducks for only a few seconds at a time through plastic tubing instead of lengthier and more aggressive techniques used in traditional methods of feeding. Foie gras production begins with overfeeding birds to enlarge their livers. The increased eating mimics the birds’ natural tendency to gorge themselves before migration, with resulting weight gain typically occurring in the liver. Geese and ducks have an advantage over most other birds because they lack a digestive croup, a thin membrane in the alimentary tract used to store food prior to digestion. This allows for swallowing larger quantities of food at once. Force-feeding lasts 12 to 15 days for ducks and 15 to 18 days for geese. During this period the birds are fed two or three times daily and kept in small housing or cages to limit movement. The result is a liver six to ten times the normal size. Ducks are slaughtered around 100 days from birth, and geese at 110 days.

123

124

FOIE GRAS

Modern minimal-force feeding techniques have helped reform the reputation of foie gras to an extent. Traditional producers and consumers are slow to adopt this newer methodology, preferring to continue enjoying foie gras as it has been made for centuries. This adherence to traditional methods, particularly during feeding, has caused controversy. In the past half-century, this controversy has been the basis for lawsuits targeting production methods, animal welfare concerns, and even the definitions being used for advertising. In 2012 the Animal Legal Defense League sued Hudson Valley Farms over its use of the description “the humane choice” in advertising. After a California judge indicated that he would allow the suit to proceed and require Hudson Valley Farms to prove its claim, the company withdrew the description and settled the suit. In response to these concerns, some producers are exploring techniques for minimizing the damage and stress that traditional production can cause. An example of the potential for success is the foie gras of Spanish producers Eduardo Sousa and Diego Labourdette. Instead of force-feeding geese, they evoke a 500-yearold Spanish practice of allowing the birds to roam freely on their property and gorge themselves on the large quantities of foods provided. Sousa and Labourdette believe that if the animal’s needs are cared for, the bird will stay. To date they have been successful, winning the coveted French Coup de Coeur gastronomy award for their work. Foie gras can be purchased and prepared in several ways. Whole foie gras can comprise one or two lobes and can be found cooked, par-cooked, or raw. Popular foie gras preparations include pâté, mousse, and parfait. Cooked foie gras is typically prepared in a loaf-shaped terrine and seasoned with spices, truffles, and cognac. This preparation is often sold in glass or metal containers for extended preservation. Fresh foie gras is less commonly found because of its high perishability. In the United States, uncooked foie gras is given a rating of A, B, or C. Grade A foie gras typically has the most fat and is ideally used for low-temperature preparations. It is also the most aesthetically pleasing, having the least amount of visible veins and imperfections. Grade B livers typically have more protein and therefore retain their form better during cooking with higher heat. Grade C is usually used in preparations where appearance isn’t a factor, such as in sauces or gravies. Home preparation of foie gras is much less common than in-home consumption of it.

Foie Gras Production More Broadly France is easily the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, producing nearly 20 thousand tons a year. The use of goose liver has greatly diminished in favor of duck, now representing nearly 95 percent of all foie gras made. Most French foie gras comes from the Périgord and Aquitaine regions of Southwest France, and it is also produced in Alsace and sporadically elsewhere. Traditionally farmed and produced French foie gras enjoys a geographical indication from the European Union.

FOIE GRAS

With the proliferation of reliable online sources from which quality foie gras can be ordered, serving at home has increased in popularity. Many highly regarded restaurants in the United States offer foie gras preparations as part of their menus. Café Boulud in New York City offers guests a foie gras torchon. Shaya in New Orleans serves foie gras with rose tahini. Thomas Keller’s Per Se restaurant, also in New York City, serves guests exotic foie gras preparations, often with young fennel or vanilla bean emulsion. Not all recognized chefs in the United States agree with foie gras practices, however. Notably, Wolfgang Puck and Charlie Trotter have spoken out against foie gras practices and have chosen to omit it from their culinary repertoires. California banned the practice of force-feeding birds, as well as the sale of any products derived from that practice, in 2012. The ruling was challenged and overturned in 2015. However, it was reinstated in 2017, and the controversy surrounding the ruling continues. Chicago implemented a similar ban that lasted only two years before being overturned. Adam Centamore Seared Foie Gras

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 2 cups red wine 1 cinnamon stick 2 cloves ½ pound duck foie gras lobe, deveined and sliced into 4 pieces 1 orange, zested and segmented 4 slices brioche bread, toasted Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine red wine, orange zest, cinnamon stick, and cloves. Bring to a simmer and cook until the wine reduces to a syrup. Strain and season with salt and pepper. 2. Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Season foie gras with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Sear the foie gras until crisp and golden brown. 3. Serve the seared foie gras with red wine sauce, orange segments, and toasted brioche. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Caro, Mark. 2009. The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World’s Fiercest Food Fight. London: Simon and Schuster. Desoucey, Michaela. 2016. Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of Food. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

125

126

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Frayer, Lauren. 2016. “This Spanish Farm Makes Foie Gras Without Force-Feeding.” The Salt (National Public Radio). August 1. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08 /01/487088946/this-spanish-farm-makes-foie-gras-without-force-feeding. Ginor, Michael A., Mitchell Davis, and Gideon Lewin. 1999. Foie Gras: A Passion. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

F R I E D G R E E N T O M AT O E S Fried green tomatoes are slices of green tomatoes dredged in a mixture of flour, cornmeal, salt, and pepper before frying in oil. They are frequently associated with the American South. However, their history is actually unclear, and their cultural associations may be largely invented, popularized by a 1991 Hollywood film using the name as its title. While they seem to have appeared in some home cooking and restaurants in the second half of the 1900s, they were adopted in the 2000s by upscale Southern and Appalachian restaurants emphasizing locally sourced, eco-friendly ingredients and regional dishes. Cookbooks, cooking magazines, and popular media have also contributed to portraying the dish as iconic. Exact preparation procedures, ingredients, and seasonings vary widely. Some cooks use only flour or only cornmeal (thought to be more traditional). Breadcrumbs also are possible. Some recipes involve first coating the slices with flour and then placing them in a beaten egg mixture before dredging in the dry mixture. Other recipes call for a milk-based batter used as coating. The slices are then cooked by either frying in a shallow pan (cast iron is usually presented as traditional), deep-frying, or baking in an oven. Seasonings are up to the taste of the cook but are traditionally salt and pepper. The finished slices are then served as a main dish, perhaps with gravy; as a vegetable side; as a sandwich filling (similar to a hamburger); or as a vegetarian option. A recent trend is a fried green tomato “stack,” layers of fried slices interspersed with cheese, red tomato, greens, bacon, and polenta or fried grits, and garnished with fresh herbs, sauce, or relish. This method of preparation is used for other vegetables—summer squash and eggplant, for example. It is a tasty way to use unripe garden produce and reflects the thriftiness that characterized not only Southern cooking but also American pioneer life in general. It is also applied to meats—fried chicken, “Salisbury steak,” pork chops, and pork tenderloin. This preparation method might not be originally Southern, though. Food historian Robert F. Moss found no mention of fried green tomatoes in Southern cookbooks until after the movie came out, but he did locate recipes in Jewish and Midwestern cookbooks from the late 1800s, some of which promoted it as a breakfast dish. He also found recipes frequently published in newspapers in the Northeast and Midwest in the early 20th century and discovered a 1944 Alabama newspaper in which a writer mocks a U.S. Department of Agriculture suggestion to eat fried green tomatoes. He concludes that the dish possibly has Jewish origins and was promoted through the home economics movement in the campaign to teach Americans to cook inexpensive and healthy dishes. That origin should probably be expanded to a generic central European one, since the cooking style was common to that area and the rural Midwest was settled

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

The Real Whistle Stop Café The Irondale Café in Irondale, Alabama, was the model for the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café, by Fannie Flagg, and it became a tourist destination, serving up to 60–70 pounds of tomatoes a day. The owners then developed the “Whistlestop” brand, becoming the Original Whistlestop Café and offering packaged mixes for fried green tomatoes and other dishes usually associated with Southern diner food and home cooking, such as fried chicken, apple crisp, and berry cobbler. These are sold online as well as in supermarkets and tourist shops featuring Southern, Appalachian, or pioneer foods. Another Whistlestop Café opened in Juliet, Georgia, where the movie was filmed, and the café features the title dish. The name has even been borrowed by country music performer Ricky Van Shelton, for the title of an album in 2000, although none of the songs reference the food.

by large populations of German immigrants. The Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch also frequently feature this style in their cooking, serving dishes, such as fried chicken, that are sometimes more associated with Southern cooking. If a Germanic origin is the case, it is possible also that some variation of the dish ended up in parts of southern Appalachia, corroborating Appalachian studies scholar Gerald Milne’s observation that numerous German traditions, including frying meats in batter, were adopted in the southern mountains. Fried green tomatoes came to the attention of mainstream American through the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes, which won wide popular acclaim and two Academy Award nominations. Based on the 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, the comedy takes place in Alabama, telling the story of the two women and an abusive husband. Ironically, the café is famous for barbecue, which features in the plot, and tomatoes play a secondary role. Be that as it may, movie and book brought fame to the dish. They also brought fame to several small restaurants that claim associations with those productions. Regardless of their actual origins, fried green tomatoes have become iconic of Southern cuisine and accurately represent the tastes, ingredients, and cooking styles of the region. They can now be found in most restaurants and cookbooks featuring Southern cooking or southern Appalachian mountain food. Lucy M. Long Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients ½ cup flour ½ cup cornmeal Salt and pepper to taste 3 medium-sized, firm green tomatoes, sliced into ¼- to ½-inch-thick rounds. Oil, for frying

127

128

FRITO PIE

Directions 1. Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, and pepper. 2. Wash tomato slices, then dip each into dry ingredient mixture. 3. Using a cast-iron pan, fry in hot lard, bacon grease, olive oil, vegetable oil, or shortening for two minutes on each side. 4. Drain before serving. Further Reading Bramen, Lisa. 2010. “The Surprising Origins of Fried Green Tomatoes.” Smithsonian.com. August 6. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-surprising-origins-of-fried-green -tomatoes-95832026. Moss, Robert F. 2007. “The Fried Green Tomato Swindle.” Robert F. Moss blog. August 19. http://www.robertfmoss.com/2007/08/fried-green-tomato-swindle.html. Neal, Bill. 1989. Bill Neal’s Southern Cooking. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. WhistleStop Products. “The Original WhistleStop Cafe.” Accessed May 26, 2017. http:// www.whistlestopcafe.com/our-history.html.

FRITO PIE Frito pie, in its most archetypal form, is simply a cellophane bag of Fritos chips, split lengthwise down the front and opened to form an ad hoc serving bowl. The exposed chips are then topped with hot chili con carne (and a variable assortment of condiments). Think of it as a lunchtime (or anytime, for aficionados) version of those tiny cereal boxes that suggested that they be opened and filled with milk, eliminating the need for a bowl. While neither led to a dishwashing chore, the cereal boxes nearly always leaked. The Fritos bags didn’t. It was a perfect snack/meal. Long before “Tex-Mex” cuisine was a thing, Texans were hybridizing traditional Mexican ingredients with foods more associated with modern industrialized ingredients. The iconic Texan dish Frito pie is a perfect example. It goes by many names: stomach grenade, Texas straw hat, and walking taco. Despite its most familiar name, corporate honchos at Frito-Lay insist on “Fritos® Pie,” with the official S. In true cowboy fashion, the name is always branded with the Circle R. Of course, no one could make a Frito pie before Fritos existed, so a here is a little Frito history. Tortilla chips, of course, already existed. Charles Elmer Doolin (one of the four founders of the Frito Company), explained, “A product came into the market about 1930 called Tony’s Toasted Tortillas. This product had a very good taste, being a salted, triangular chip made from cutting tortillas into pieshaped wedges and frying them” (Doolin and Nelson 2011, 184). Doolin was interested in partnering with Tony’s, but he was warned that it wasn’t profitable, since the chips went stale too quickly. Around the same, Gustavo Olguin and a partner had found a new way to make the chips. Rather than patting the firm masa into tortillas, he made the mixture a little wetter, added some salt, and then squeezed it through a potato ricer whose tiny holes had been enlarged into slots. The resulting ribbons of dough then dropped into hot fat. Olguin sold his company (his recipe, a few customer accounts, and his modified potato ricer)—without bothering to consult with his partner—to Doolin and three other Doolin family members for $100 and returned to Mexico.

FRITO PIE

Frito pie, pictured as it is typically served, inside the Fritos bag itself. (Paul Sableman)

As the company began to grow, Doolin’s mother, Daisy Dean Doolin (the founding member of the company who had provided $80 of the original capital) began creating recipes that incorporated Fritos. “Frito Chili Pie” was not the first (that honor went to her recipe for a Frito-studded “Xmas Fruitcake”). Beginning in 1932, Mother Doolin managed a promotional campaign called “Cooking with Fritos.” By the 1940s, their ads offered suggestions like, “Just add Fritos . . . and Presto!” The next line said, “Three Easy-to-Fix Recipes!” The recipes were for Frito tuna salad, Frito loaf, and Frito crackling bread (Doolin 2011, 5–6). Doolin had worked in a San Antonio confection company, and he realized the potential for “spur of the moment” sales. One of the first improvements the new Frito Company introduced was individual cellophane bags. This solved the staleness problem and made the product more convenient for casual purchases. In 1935, the company sponsored recipe contests and placed winning recipes in bags of chips. By 1937, Doolin created point-of-sale display racks that encouraged

Dietetic Fritos No one knows who created the first Frito pie. Its earliest appearance in print was on the menu of the Dallas Dietetic Association’s menu for its closing banquet, in 1949. That menu included several other Frito-enhanced dishes as well: “Frito-Ketts,” salmon croquettes made with canned salmon and Fritos, with a sauce made from canned soup; “Fritos Eggplant Casserole,” steamed eggplant, vegetables, Fritos, American cheese, and tomato sauce; and “Fritos Happy Landings,” basically the same as the last, but without the eggplant.

129

130

FRITO PIE

spontaneous purchases of his ever-evolving red and yellow bags. Each rack also featured a recipe. By 1952, the Frito Company had acquired the Champion Chili Company and began marketing its own Fritos Chili. Texans are very particular about their chili: Texas chili con carne never contains beans, though some later versions of chili pie are topped with various legumes (black-eyed peas, pureed pinto beans, even canned pork and beans). Most of the chili eaten today in this imperfect world comes from a can. Some of it is pretty terrible, at least by a purist’s standards. And yet, such admirable brands as Wolf Brand, Ashley’s, Frito-Lay, and Ireland’s Iron Kettle still follow classic recipes (Tolbert 1966, 62). Not surprisingly, a typical recipe from a Fritos bag of the period featured images of a Fritos bag and Fritos Chili can. The recipe is simplicity itself: Warm up a can of chili, pour the contents into a bag of chips, sprinkle with chopped onion and grated American cheese. American cheese is commonly replaced, today, with Longhorn, a type of Colby cheese. The name has nothing to do with the cattle indigenous to Texas; in fact, Colby was invented in Wisconsin. The “Longhorn” name merely refers to the long cylindrical form of a whole cheese. Frito pies are not required to be served in their cellophane bags (in fact, today’s bags are not quite as substantial as the originals, so they can be messy to eat from— especially if one is walking around at a country fair, a likely place to find Frito pies). The Frito Company often published recipes for large quantities. One would be hard pressed to find a Fritos bag large enough for 50. These “pies” can be made as casseroles, in a seemingly infinite number of variations. It’s been fancified (duck chili and goat cheese), bastardized (witness the “apple hash and pumpkin gravy Fritos pie” at fritospieremix.com), and improvised (let us hail the 7-Eleven Frito pie, in which an expeditious meal is made with a pocketknife and a furtive run on the hot dog condiments). But like the Frito itself, there’s no better version than the classic (Bond 2012) The tradition of publishing recipes that incorporate Fritos has continued long past the “recipe-on-the-bag” stage. At FRITOS® Pie Remix, Executive Chef Stephen Kalil serves up a series of YouTube videos that instruct us in numerous (often surprising) ways to make Frito pies; for example, a bed of Fritos topped with black-eyed peas, ham hock, and queso fresco (crumbly fresh Mexican cheese); balls of caramel ice cream, covered with crushed Fritos and sugar, blasted with a blowtorch, and served on a bed of fresh raspberries; and—in a nod to Frito pie’s convenience-food origins—a Frito pie topped with ramen noodles and canned vegetables. Gary Allen Frito Pie

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 2 tablespoons canola oil 2 pounds ground beef

FRITO PIE

4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 small onion, diced small 1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, minced 2 tablespoons chili powder 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes 2 (14-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed ¼ cup cornmeal 1 bag Fritos 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded 1 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded ½ cup sliced scallions Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add ground beef and sauté until starting to brown. Add garlic, onion, and jalapeno. Season with chili powder, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Cook for about five minutes until the vegetables begin to soften. 3. Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, and two cups of water. Stir to combine, and bring to a simmer. Cook the chili for about 30 minutes. 4. In a small bowl, whisk together cornmeal and a quarter cup water. Pour cornmeal mixture into the chili and stir. Cook chili for another 10 minutes, or until it has thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and cool slightly 5. Pour the chili into a greased five-quart casserole dish. Place a layer of half of the Fritos on top of the chili. Sprinkle with a mixture of half of the cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Top with another layer of Fritos, and finish with remaining cheese. 6. Place casserole dish in oven, and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Remove from oven, garnish with scallions, and serve. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Bond, Courtney. 2012. “Frito Pie.”  Texas Monthly. September. http://www.texasmonthly​ .com/food/frito-pie. Doolin, Kaleta, and Davia Nelson. 2011. Fritos Pie Stories, Recipes, and More. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. FRITOS® Pie Remix. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.fritospieremix.com. Smith, Andrew F. 2006. “Frito-Lay Corn Chips,” pp. 113–114 in Andrew F. Smith, Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Tolbert, Frank X. 1966. A Bowl of Red: A Natural History of Chili con Carne. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company.

131

132

FROG EYE SALAD

FROG EYE SALAD Frog eye salad is a mistake, in all honesty. Take the name: it contains no frog parts, and it is such a nontraditional salad that it shouldn’t be called one at all. The preparation is essentially vegetarian (although many have chicken eggs), so those who feel the name elicits the French salade de grenouilles will be disappointed. Then there are the other ingredients, among which is an Italian pasta shape that resembles a peppercorn, a pastry cream often flavored with pineapple, shredded coconut, and mini-marshmallows. It sounds as if two drawers of the pantry were speeding down the turnpike and collided, and a mishmash of ingredients landed in a trifle bowl and had to be assembled into something. That something is frog eye salad. Regardless of the misnomer, the dish contrasts sweet and savory items, and recipes are a mix of some ingredients that are homemade and others that are not. A 2014 New York Times survey uncovered that frog eye salad is the most googled food item in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada (also known as the Mormon Corridor) around Thanksgiving. This is no surprise, since these are the states with the highest percentage of Mormon residents. But the Mormons don’t relegate their frog eye salad to Thanksgiving—it’s the on the table at every ward potluck. Mormon congregational units are called “wards,” and they group together to create a “stake.” It is common for members of a ward to gather a half dozen times per year—always at a potluck—for occasions, ranging from religious to cultural, that are as varied as the dishes the congregants bring. Frog eye salad is a star here. Mormons, or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, eschew many addictive substances like caffeine, alcohol, or tobacco, and meat is consumed in moderation. As such, popular potluck dishes include the mundane potato salad and macaroni and cheese, and oddities like “mystery casserole” and “funeral potatoes.” Frog eye salad holds an important place on the Mormon potluck table, where desserts are often more important than savory food. Many recipes for the salad begin with either a homemade custard that contains flour or cornstarch, egg, and pineapple juice (which a trained eye will recognize as pastry cream), or a boxed custard mix, usually Jell-O, and often banana-flavored.

Olympic Frog Eyes The most famous food snub of all time was perpetrated on frog eye salad during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. On this global stage, multiple food-centric Olympic pins were offered for the 2002 Winter Games as promotional items that celebrated the cultural constructions of the host state of Utah. These included fry sauce (which is a simple mix of ketchup and mayonnaise), a beer stein, a pile of neon green Jell-O, and a pin celebrating funeral potatoes, another ward potluck musthave, which is a mix of hash browns, sour cream, grated cheese, cream of mushroom soup, and cornflakes. Despite the complexities of flavor and nomenclature, frog eye salad did not make the cut in the pin selection.

FROG EYE SALAD

Some of the canned pineapple juice is reserved to coat cooked ancini di pepe, a semolina pasta that is shaped like grains of pepper. It is this shape that gives the salad its name, as the round pasta looks like tapioca pearls when bathed in the custard. Frog eye salad is more than just custard and round pasta. Pineapple chunks are often added, as well as items ranging from canned mandarin oranges and maraschino cherries to coconut flakes and mini-marshmallows. A quick Internet search results in new, lower-calorie recipes that substitute “whipped topping” for either the pudding or the whipped cream added on top. Some even suggest that Israeli couscous can be substituted for ancini di pepe. Many of these recipes claim to rehabilitate “Mom’s” or “Grandma’s” recipe, indicative of the multigenerational existence of frog eye salad. The beauty of frog eye salad is its simplicity. It can be made with only a few convenient ingredients, and due to its popularity, it is always welcomed, if not expected at gatherings for all occasions. Inspiration and variation is not far away, with simple substitutions like pistachio pudding, whipped topping, or homemade pastry cream with pineapple juice. Not every substitution will be GrandmaApproved, but if she’s Mormon and at a potluck, chances are good she will eat it anyway. Mark D’Alessandro The Simplest Frog Eye Salad

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 12 ounces ancini di pepe pasta 8 ounces pineapple juice, divided in two (plus 2 ounces, if needed) 1¾ cups coconut milk ¼ cup granulated sugar 1 package Jell-O pudding (Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Vanilla, or Pistachio) 8 ounces canned crushed pineapple 3 cups mini-marshmallows ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut 12 ounces canned mandarin orange sections, drained 6 ounces maraschino cherries Directions 1. Cook the pasta in one and a half gallons of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta, rinse it in cold water, and when cooled, mix it in a bowl with four ounces of the pineapple juice. 2. Mix the remaining pineapple juice, coconut milk, sugar, and pudding mix together and refrigerate for two hours.

133

134

FRY SAUCE

3. Fold the pudding mixture together with the pasta, coconut, and marshmallows. If the mixture is too stiff, add some chilled pineapple juice to adjust the consistency. 4. Carefully add the mixture to a tall trifle bowl. Decorate with the orange segments and cherries and devour with reckless abandon at your next potluck. Further Reading The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. “Parties, Picnics, and Potlucks.” July 1. https://www.lds.org/ensign/2004/07/parties-picnics-and-potlucks. The Upshot Staff. 2014. “The Thanksgiving Recipes Googled in Every State.” New York Times. November 25. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/25/upshot/thanksgiving -recipes-googled-in-every-state.html.

F RY S A U C E Fry sauce is a mayonnaise-based condiment commonly served with French fries in the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. It is typically composed of mayonnaise whisked together with ketchup, although many inclusions and variations exist. In addition to being a popular dipping sauce for fries, it is also a popular dressing for burgers and steak sandwiches. Fry sauce is similar to traditional Russian dressing, which combines mayonnaise, ketchup, and usually onions, horseradish, and Worcestershire sauce, among other ingredients. It is also similar to Thousand Island dressing, a mayonnaise and ketchup–based sauce with chopped dill pickles. Fry sauce, according to a 2010 article in the Deseret News, was developed by Don Carlos Edwards, founder of the Utah-based Arctic Circle restaurant chain. In the late 1940s, Edwards opened his first Arctic Circle at 900 South and Main Street in Salt Lake City (an Arctic Circle still occupies that space). Shortly after, he tried a French fry in his “pink spread” for hamburgers and realized that its true calling was as a dipping sauce. He went on to urge restaurant patrons to dip their French fries in the chain’s pink sauce. Edwards’s original sauce recipe included ketchup, mayonnaise (traditionally one part ketchup to two parts mayonnaise), garlic, and a mix of other spices that are a closely held company secret to this day. Arctic Circle has long been an innovator in fast food, but the company claims that its Original Fry Sauce—“a tasty, tangy mixture of tomato concentrate, lemon juice, eggs, and a whole bunch of other ingredients”—stands out as its most imitated (and least duplicated) contribution to the American culinary landscape. Fry sauce has been featured at all Arctic Circle restaurants since around 1948. Fry sauce remained a popular regional condiment until the rest of the world was introduced to it, and other distinctive and recognizable Utah foods, via the 2002 Olympic Winter Games hosted in Salt Lake City. As a way to build interest in the upcoming games, cultural icons of the state were featured on shiny metal and enamel pins emblazoned with the Salt Lake 2002 and Olympics logos. Fry sauce was one local food that was featured along with a host of other foods. Not only did this promotion bring fry sauce notoriety, it brought notoriety to many aspects of Utah cuisine; distinctive and representative foods such as green Jell-O, funeral potatoes, and Mormon Muffins were also commemorated as Olympic pins during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

FRY SAUCE

Local and national chain restaurants recognize the importance of serving their patrons a dipping sauce of their choice, and in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and surrounding states, that’s often a version of fry sauce. Today, a wide variety of sit-down and fast-food restaurants across the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest serve fry sauce, as do places across the nation and around the world where consumers demand a variation of Utah’s contribution to the culinary landscape. Local restaurant chains such as Hire’s Big H, Warren’s, Crown Burger, and Dylan’s serve their own versions of fry sauce in packets, single-serve tubs, and pumped from gallon jugs. Even the national chains and franchises such as McDonald’s and Burger King respond to the local demand for fry sauce in the region and offer their own versions under a variety of names such as “pink sauce,” “secret sauce,” “fancy sauce,” and “Idaho fry sauce.” While fry sauce is a popular condiment in restaurants, it is also a popular condiment in homes. Salt Lake City–based chain Hire’s Big H bottles its version of fry sauce and offers it from refrigerated cases in its restaurants, in grocery stores, and via the Internet. Specifically intended for home use, local entrepreneurs and taste shapers such as Some Dude’s, Famous Dave’s, and Stephen’s Gourmet present their versions of fry sauce in 16- or 18-ounce bottles on grocery store shelves. Ever cognizant of their role of developing the Original Fry Sauce, Arctic Circle bottles its fry sauce for home use and makes it available at its restaurants and via the Internet. Given the simplicity of preparing fry sauce and the endless variations, limited only to the cook’s imagination, it is a condiment easily prepared at home. Homemade fry sauce is typically composed of anywhere between one part ketchup and two parts mayonnaise to equal parts mayonnaise and ketchup, whisked in a bowl and served as a condiment. While this basic sauce has been duplicated and served by home cooks in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming since Arctic Circle popularized the condiment, basic fry sauce is open to various inclusions of dill pickle juice, seasoned salt, chopped pickles, mustard, garlic, garlic powder, Tabasco sauce, sriracha sauce, salsa, or other hot sauces for additional flavor. Some home cooks will even replace a portion of the mayonnaise with ranch dressing for an added zing, or replace all or a portion of the ketchup with barbeque sauce. Recognizing its unique contribution to the Utah culinary landscape, Arctic Circle contributed its signature fry sauce formula to a cookbook celebrating distinctive and recognizable foods of the state of Utah: Utah Pin Cookin’: Green Jell-O, Fry Sauce, Mormon Muffins, and Other Sacred Utah Recipes. It served as the source of inspiration for the following recipe. Nathan C. Crook Utah Style Fry Sauce

Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 1 cup mayonnaise ¹⁄³ cup ketchup 1 tablespoon of pickle juice (sweet or dill)

135

136

FRYBREAD

Directions 1. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and ketchup until peachy in color. 2. Add pickle juice to taste, then start dipping! Fry sauce is a distinct Utah creation, which is quickly spanning fast food locations all over the nation. Just remember where it came from! Recipe adapted from one originally created by the Arctic Circle of Utah. Further Reading Benson, Lee. 2010. “About Utah: Fry Sauce and Arctic Circle Hit Big 6-0.” Deseret News. March 8. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700014826/Fry-sauce-and-Arctic-Circle -hit-big-6-0.html. King, Robert P. 2005. Utah Pin Cookin’: Green Jell-O, Fry Sauce, Mormon Muffins, and Other Sacred Utah Recipes. Ogden, UT: Planet Rainbow Press. Mercuri, Becky. 2007. The Great American Hot Dog Book: Recipes and Side Dishes from Across America. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith. “Original Fry Sauce.” 2016. Arctic Circle. http://acburger.com/menu/fry-sauce.html.

F RY B R E A D More than the sum of its parts, frybread, a deep-fried dough made of water, flour, oil, baking powder, and sugar, is rich in history and symbolic meaning. The history of frybread can be traced to 1854, when the United States government forced indigenous peoples to move from Arizona to New Mexico during the “Long March” (a series of 53 forced marches of 9,000 people across 300 miles from 1864 and 1886). When Indians arrived in New Mexico, they realized that the land could not support their traditional diet of beans and vegetables. In order to prevent starvation, the U.S. government supplied them with canned food and staples such as flour, sugar, and oil—the makings of frybread. Sometimes spelled “fry bread,” it is also known as “squaw bread” and “bannock.” Prior to the prevalence of—and dependence on—sugar, salt, and white flour, the breadlike substance bannock was made from some sort of flour such as acorn, corn, or bean, mixed with water and cooked with animal fat. Until trading made obtaining pots and pans a reality, bannock was often cooked on hot stones. In South American cooking, frybread goes by the term cachanga. Variations are known in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking United States as sopapillas. The simple ingredients are also very similar to the Mexican tortilla. The deep-fried bread has particular significance and is of great pride to the Navajo nation, the second largest federally recognized tribe, as they are the ones who first developed the recipe. However, many tribal and even familial recipe variations exist. Frybread can be served as a sweet or savory dish. Topped with honey and powdered sugar, it is similar to the French pastry palmier or elephant ear. Savory versions may be served as Navajo or Indian tacos and topped with beans, meat, and cheese. While frybread represents the historical struggles and perseverance of indigenous peoples, it is also at the center of contemporary health concerns. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one slice of frybread (the size of a large paper

FRYBREAD

Frybread frying. Once golden brown on both sides, it will be ready to be enjoyed as is, or topped with sweet or savory ingredients. (Monica D. Spencer)

plate) has 700 calories and 25 grams of fat. The combination of ingredients and the centrality of the food in powwows and celebrations have caused many to blame frybread for the high rates of obesity and diabetes in indigenous peoples (Miller 2008). Suzan Shown Harjo (2005), an Indian writer and activist, wrote, “I promise to give up fat “Indian” food this year and to urge others to do the same. Target number one: the ubiquitous frybread—the junk food that’s supposed to be traditional, but isn’t, and makes for fat, fatter and fattest Indians.” She explains, “Frybread is emblematic of the long trails from home and freedom to confinement and rations. It’s the connecting dot between healthy children and obesity, hypertension, diabetes, dialysis, blindness, amputations, and slow death. If frybread were a movie, it would be hard-core porn. No redeeming qualities. Zero nutrition.” This attack on the food and its cultural significance caused a backlash within Native communities. Not only does frybread play a significant role within indigenous culture, the food and its traditions are showing up in popular culture as well. In Smoke Signals (1998), an award-winning, Native American–produced film, the main character Thomas wears a T-shirt proclaiming “Frybread Power.” Talking about the role of frybread to an outsider, Thomas explains, “Victor’s mom makes the best frybread in the whole world. Back home on the reservation, we use it in church. It’s like Jesus bread, it’s walk-on-water bread.” Frybread was declared the state bread of South Dakota in 2005, and it is used as a fund-raiser for schools in many Native communities. Laura K. Hahn

137

138

FUNNEL CAKE

Frybread

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup lard or shortening (for frying) Directions 1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. While stirring, slowly add 1½ cups warm water; mix until a dough forms. Place dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth. 2. Cut dough into eight portions and form into balls. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, flatten each ball into a half-inch-thick disk. 3. Heat a large Dutch oven or frying pan and add lard. Fry the bread until golden brown on all sides and cooked through, about two minutes per side. 4. Top the frybread with seasoned cooked beef, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and sour cream. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Harjo, Suzan S. 2005. “My New Year’s Resolution: No More Fat ‘Indian’ Food.” Indian Country Media Network. January 26. https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/my-new -years-resolution-no-more-fat-indian-food. Miller, Jen. 2008. “Frybread.” Smithsonian Magazine. July 1. http://www.smithsonianmag.com /arts-culture/frybread-79191. Smoke Signals. Feature film, dir. Chris Eyre, 1998.

FUNNEL CAKE The funnel cake is a popular staple at county fairs, carnival midways, and seaside amusement parks, traditionally made by carefully pouring a thin batter of milk, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt from a long-handled funnel into hot lard or cooking oil. The funnel is used to implement either a circular, snail-like pattern or a freeform series of lacy squiggles. When the dough becomes crisp and golden brown, it is removed from the fat, drained, sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar, placed in a paper napkin, and sold to the next person in what is usually a very long line. Recipes for dough fried in hot oil have been discovered in Cato’s writings dating to the second century BCE. In current times, there are many regional variations of fried treats, including doughnuts, beignets, and churros, but only the funnel cake is poured from a long-handled gadget into a pattern as it is fried. This type of cake is German in origin and dates back to at least the 15th century; however, the

FUNNEL CAKE

Inside a funnel cake booth, the vendor pours batter though a funnel into boiling hot oil to make the popular fair dessert. The fried cake will be dusted with powdered sugar before serving. (Anthony Aneese Totah Jr./Dreamstime.com)

Pennsylvania Dutch funnel cake that is ubiquitous today did not become a county fair favorite until the 1950s. The funnel cake, or Straubentrichter, was an extremely popular celebratory dessert in 15th-century Germany. Meticulously gathered inventories from the Black Forest community of Wildberg, Germany, between 1602 and 1662 reveal that long-handled funnels, or Strauben, were brought into marriage by 28 percent of first-time brides. Even women of limited means owned them, because the Straubentrichter was a cultural marker at festive occasions. It was a simple dish to prepare and could be mastered easily by a novice cook, and a new bride was expected to have already mastered the dessert. In addition, it was an important part of local folklore and featured prominently in their version of the Cinderella fairytale. In this story, it is a poor but lovely young woman’s magnificent funnel cake that wins the attention of the nobleman, who then asks for her hand in marriage (Olilvie, Kupker, and Maegraith 2009, 151–152). When German immigrants settled in southeastern Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries, they became known as “Pennsylvania Dutch” and their Straubentrichter was renamed Drechter Kuche, which translates to “Dutch cake.” Baking powder became readily available in the late 19th century, and the leavening agent in the basic recipe shifted from yeast to this new ingredient, but the method of pouring the batter into hot fat remained the same. It remained a local treat until 1950, when the eastern portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike was completed, and anyone with a car had easy access to the southeastern part of the state. Family road

139

140

FUNNEL CAKE

trips and Sunday outings became popular, and as Kutztown, Pennsylvania, had a large and available fairground, it became the location for a new type of event that would celebrate regional customs, clothing, products, and food, while bringing in tourist dollars. The Kutztown Folk Festival, still a popular yearly event, opened for the first time in July 1950. Two local women, Emma Miller and her daughter, Viola, decided that since funnel cake batter was simple and inexpensive to make, they could turn a nice profit at 25 cents a serving. Using deep fryers generally used for French fries, they sold thousands of their cakes in the first few days at the fair (Weaver 2013, 157–158). Over the next 10 years, the recipe was replicated throughout the area, and it became an expected and very popular regional midway snack. In 1965, Alice Reinert (1925–) brought the funnel cake to other areas. She had grown up making Drechter Kuche in her mother’s kitchen, and she believed that she had the best recipe, which she had tweaked and kept secret over the decades. After setting up a stand at a local fair and selling out her entire stock before the end of the first day, she bought a truck and outfitted it with a kitchen and service counter. She was a fixture on the county fair circuit for almost 30 years as she drove her funnel cake truck around the East Coast, and she became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake Queen. She retired in 1991 (Devlin 2010). By the 1980s, as the cake became ubiquitous at fairs throughout the country, patents began to appear for squeeze bottle dispensers containing powdered dry mix that just required the addition of liquid, designed to make a simple recipe even easier. Funnel cake is still considered to be Pennsylvania Dutch in origin, having morphed from a German medieval celebratory treat into one of those addictively delicious high-calorie, low-nutrient 21st-century midway staples, like deep-fried Mars Bars and corn dogs, that folks know they shouldn’t eat, but do anyway. According to Livestrong.com, the “typical plate-size” cake at a fair has 760 calories and 44 grams of fat. Susan Yager Funnel Cakes

Yield: 6 cakes Ingredients 3 large eggs ¼ cup sugar 2 cups whole milk 3²⁄³ cups flour ½ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder Vegetable oil for deep-frying Powdered sugar

FUNNEL CAKE

Directions 1. Beat eggs and sugar together in an electric mixer or with a handheld beater. Add the milk slowly, beating as you pour it into the mixture. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth. 2. Heat about two inches of oil in a cast-iron frying pan or (preferably) a deep fryer, to a temperature of 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 3. Pour about half a cup of batter into a funnel with a half-inch opening, taking care to use your finger to plug the hole at the bottom. 4. When the oil is hot enough, slowly release your finger and move the batter in a circular, snail-like pattern, or in a lacy one, stopping when it is a six- or seven-inch round. Cook for about two minutes, until golden, flip, and brown the other side for an additional two minutes. (Be very careful, as the oil may splatter. It is best to use the traditional long-handled funnel, and to wear protective gloves.) 5. Remove and drain well. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately. Further Reading Devlin, Ron. 2010. “For Almost 30 Years, Maidencreek Woman Wears Unoffical Title of Funnel Cake Queen.” Reading Eagle. May 16. http://www2.readingeagle.com/article​ .aspx?id=220031. Olilvie, Sheilaugh, Markus Kupker, and Janine Maegraith. 2009. “Women and the Material Culture of Food in Early Modern Germany.” Early Modern Women 4: 151–152. http:// jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/emw/article/viewFile/14804/11846. Stallworth, Lyn, and Rod Kennedy. 1994. The County Fair Cookbook: Yankee Johnnycakes, Tater Pigs, Shoofly Pie & 200 More Recipes from America’s Best Country Cooks. New York: Hyperion. Weaver, William Woys. 2013. As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

141

G G A R B A G E P L AT E The garbage plate is a dish from Rochester, New York, that has fed local workers, residents, and university students for nearly a century. Part of the loaded plate tradition that includes St. Louis slingers and Springfield, Illinois’s horseshoes, the garbage plate’s nearest cousin is poutine, as Rochester is only a 90-minute drive from the Canadian border. This platter of potatoes, beans, beef, onions, and chili is a staple in the former factory town of Rochester, in an area that embraces classic, rib-sticking American cuisine and eschews fast-food franchises. First served during the Great Depression at Nick Tahou Hots, the dish has since been trademarked and featured as the restaurant’s signature dish. The menu at Nick Tahou’s offers several ways for the diner to customize the garbage plate. You start with a cardboard plate or divided take-out container and select the items to build the base, then choose two of the following items: French fries, cubed home fries, baked beans, or mayonnaise-based macaroni salad, whose light sweetness balances the saltier components of the dish. On top you have the choice of two of the following: cheeseburgers; hamburgers; griddle-cooked split hot dogs, called “white hots” or “red hots”; grilled cheese sandwiches; eggs; fried ham; fish; or veggie burgers. Everything is topped with a generous scoop of chili— made with ground beef, tomato paste, and spices more savory than hot—and diced raw onions. (The signature flavor of the chili is cinnamon, a nod to Tahou’s Greek background and the traditional sauce of makaronia mi kima.) The weighty plate, which runs from about $7 to $10, is served with a split roll or sandwich bread, necessary for mopping up the remainders. Then the task for each diner is to finish the plate while constructing the perfect bite, a skill that Rochesterians develop over many trips to Nick’s to “grab a plate.” The city of Rochester, with a population of just over 200,000, was one of America’s first boomtowns in the first half of the 19th century, as the city experienced a massive influx of workers and their families during the construction of the Erie Canal and development of the region’s industrial roots. The city’s notable residents include suffragist Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Kodak founder George Eastman, and jazz musician Cab Calloway. Greek immigrant Alexander Tahou opened his Rochester restaurant in 1918 and offered the “hots and potots” plate to countless patrons in the 1920s and ’30s, at the low price of 35 cents. The restaurant, named for Alex’s son Nick, was located in an 1881 building formerly used as a railroad depot for trains carrying coal from western Pennsylvania through Rochester and Buffalo to Lake Ontario. The restaurant relocated to its current location on 320 West Main Street, near the west entrance of what was



GARBAGE PLATE

The Sport of the Garbage Plate It is a tradition for University of Rochester students to participate in the annual Nick Tahou’s Run, which requires running the two-plus miles from campus to the restaurant and tagging off to another student, who must scarf down a garbage plate before the first turns to run back to campus.

once an underground transit system, in 1968. Nick took over the restaurant from his father in the 1940s, and he passed away in 1997; his son Alex now runs the business. In 2010, a second location of Nick Tahou’s opened in Henrietta, but that location closed in 2014. The garbage plate has been kept alive by many Rochesterians, but most devoutly by the generations of students attending the area’s colleges. Current students and alumni of the University of Rochester speak of the garbage plate with reverence, as the first college party and first garbage plate often go hand in hand. It was these college students who christened the garbage plate—as legend has it, students in the 1980s began to repeatedly ask for “the plate with all the garbage on it,” and Nick officially renamed and trademarked the dish in 1992. Students from the Rochester Institute of Technology visit Nick’s grave on his birthday each year, bringing a garbage plate with them as tribute. While Nick Tahou’s offers no official nutritional information about the garbage plate, homemade recipes estimate that the three-pound treat delivers between 100 and 200 grams of fat, two to three times the daily recommended limit. Though none are allowed to call the dish by its proprietary name, plate variations are featured at over 30 eateries around town, including as empanadas, burritos, pizzas, and egg rolls. However, students are contented to stick with the traditional garbage plate as their late-night treat of choice. “You know it’s bad for you,” one alumna said, “but it’s a community thing. Buffalo has their own stuff . . . but we have plates” (Carbone 2017). Jessica Carbone Garbage Plate, Homestyle Version

Yield: 2 servings Ingredients For the chili: Vegetable oil, for cooking Half a yellow onion, diced 2 heaping tablespoons tomato paste 1 pound ground beef Several dashes of any of the following: cinnamon, cumin, allspice, cayenne pepper Salt and ground pepper, to taste

143

144

GEODUCK

For the plate: 1½ cups cubed fried potatoes 1 heaping cup macaroni salad (mayonnaise base, with diced sweet pickles) Vegetable oil, for frying ½ cup diced yellow onion One of the following: 4 cooked beef hamburger patties (add 2 slices American cheese if desired) 4 hot dogs or sausages, partially split down the middle and griddle-cooked 4 grilled American cheese sandwiches on white bread Directions 1. Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring, until the onions are softened, about 15 minutes. 2. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat the onions. Add the ground beef, spices, and salt and stir to combine. Add 1 to 2 cups water to cover the meat by an inch, stir, then let cook over medium heat for about 45 minutes, seasoning to taste, until you have a thick brown chili. 3. Keep warm until ready to serve. 4. Fill half a large dinner plate with fried potatoes, and the remaining half with macaroni salad. Top with your cooked items of choice. 5. Ladle the chili over the plate, and garnish with diced onion. Serve warm with mustard, ketchup, and hot sauce, with slices of bread if desired. Further Reading Carbone, Jessica. 2017. Interview with Emily Bango—Garbage Plate. Personal. Courneen, Trevor. 2015. “Garbage Plates: An American Tale of Autonomy.” Paste. March 12. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/03/garbage-plates-an-american-tale-of -autonomy.html. Sablich, Justin. 2016. “Beyond the Buffalo Wing in Upstate New York.” New York Times. October 12. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/travel/upstate-new-york-regional​-local -food-buffalo-wings.html. Sietsema, Robert. 2015. “The Wonderful Working-Class Fare of Buffalo and Rochester.” Eater NY. July 21. https://ny.eater.com/2015/7/21/9001087/best-food­-buffalo-rochester​ -garbage-plate-red-hots-wings. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 2011. The Lexicon of Real American Food. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press.

GEODUCK Geoduck (Panopea abrupta; also, Panopea generosa), a large, edible species of saltwater clam, is pronounced not as spelled, but as “gooey-duck,” a name derived from the indigenous American Lushootseed (Nisqually) word gwíd∂q (meaning “dig deep”), then adopted by early European settlers in the Puget Sound region of modern-day Washington state. One of the 100,000 or so mollusks on Earth, geoducks can be found in Alaska, California, and Oregon but are massed in the

GEODUCK

A whole geoduck cooked and ready to eat, or to be incorporated into a recipe. (Beijing Hetuchuangyi Images Co,. Ltd./Dreamstime.com)

Puget Sound and off southern British Columbia. For eaters, it is today one of the most celebrated of clams. At first glance, it might seem that the geoduck’s meat is so beloved because of its large size and, to some, its obscene shape, but its meat is delicate in flavor and firm of texture. A bivalve living on phytoplankton, the geoduck can grow quite large and live for over a hundred years. Usually weighing from one to three pounds, it has a rectangular shell that is striated, or layered, as it grows larger. The shell’s color ranges from whites and grays to khaki and even light seaweed green. The shell can grow up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in length and 5 inches (13 centimeters) in height. The valves, which when grown never quite come together, are held together by a ligament hinge. Its neck or siphon (though more accurately referred to as a tail, because it extends from the posterior end of the clam) extends well beyond its shell. This siphon contains two long tubes: inhalant and exhalant channels. The channels are covered by a muscle sheath that is covered, in turn, by a wrinkly brown skin that allows the siphon to extend and withdraw. Because the geoduck can extend its neck outward as far as 39 inches (1 meter), it is difficult to get past the thought that the clam resembles a giant phallus. As 19th century French biologist F. Vles put it, “l‘aspect du penis d’un vieux cheval.” More recently, Mark Kurlansky said, “There really is no polite way to effectively describe [geoducks]. They look like a large clam that has bitten an even larger penis” (Kurlansky 2010, 319). Indeed. It is no doubt this aspect of the beloved clam that prompted the Evergreen State College to adopt it as its mascot. The song and mascot costume do little to mask its dependence on the phallic look and movement of the siphon for its lyrics and

145

146

GEODUCK

Hunting for Geoducks Geoducks live deep in the mud and extend their siphon up through the soil and beyond the seafloor surface in order to feed, oxygenate, and excrete. It is during low tide that they are most vulnerable to humans, who have devised a simple but sweat-inducing method (yes, true even in the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest weather) of capturing them. Geoducks comprise the largest mass of marine animal in the Puget Sound region, and when the Department of Fish and Wildlife allows an opening, many enjoy the difficult “hunt.” The way to find a ‘duck is, at low tide and usually at night, to look for expelled streams of water. Also a defense strategy, one is sure to get wet when procuring the clams. Once a geoduck is located, one does not just yank on the phallic protuberance, which would break the siphon, thus killing the clam and not getting the bulk of the meat. Rather, a clam gun—a wide metal cylinder open at both ends—is shoved down into the mud, and digging commences. The clam gun keeps the mud from filling back in with every shovelful. Getting closer, it is best to dig carefully to avoid spearing the clam with the shovel. Rather, get down on hands and knees and dig, dig, dig around for the clam. Once located, rock it back and forth, and its foot will release from the mud. Always refill the hole, for the good of the beach and other intertidal creatures.

outfit. It’s no common wildcat or bear mascot, but by all accounts this school is proud of its choice, and not only because Time magazine rated it the number one worst mascot in 2009, worst being best in this case. Geoducks are commercially harvested primarily in the south Puget Sound area, with the biggest and most famous local producer being Taylor Shellfish Farms. Geoducks had been harvested on a small-scale basis by local tribes and then settlers, but stocks had been largely depleted by the 1920s. In the 1960s U.S. Navy divers were chasing after dummy torpedoes when they encountered a field of geoducks. The find prompted the state of Washington to begin a harvesting program; today, they are raised commercially and sustainably and sold around the world. Geoducks have other predators, though they are most at risk when young, being easily buried and smothered by shifting seafloor mud and earth, as well as by layers of decaying sea plants. Crabs and sea stars, particularly, enjoy eating the clams when young, although the large pink sea star Pisaster brevispinus can eat a fully grown geoduck. It waits by a burrow and then attaches itself to a protruding siphon. Other predator-connoisseurs include the sea otter, the dogfish shark, and the Pacific staghorn sculpin. Geoducks can be eaten just as any other clam can be, but its size yields big chunks for chowders. Replace small, canned clams with geoduck cubes in your favorite clam chowder recipe. Or use it in your favorite ceviche recipe; alternatively, serve it as sushi or sashimi. They are also great breaded and deep-fried. Jeff Birkenstein

GOAT

Pan-Fried Geoduck

Famous Shelton cook and restaurateur Xinh Dwelley, now retired, cooked Puget Sound seafood with a Vietnamese spin from her native country. Here, she serves up fried geoducks. Yield: 2 servings Ingredients Vegetable oil, for frying ¹∕8 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil ¼ teaspoon of hot pepper oil (optional) 1 geoduck, cleaned and cut into razor-thin slices Ponzu sauce, for dipping Directions 1. Heat vegetable oil with toasted sesame oil and, if desired, hot pepper oil. 2. Drop no more than three or four slices of geoduck into the oil at a time. Let them cook for one or two minutes before extracting them. 3. Place them on a plate with a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. They should be only just cooked or even a bit on the still-raw side, depending on preference. 4. Using chopsticks, quickly dip the lightly fried geoduck slice into a dipping bowl of ponzu sauce. Eat and enjoy. Recipe adapted from one originally created by Josephine Yung, who used to cook them up during international week at Saint Martin’s University, just 20 miles from where Taylor Shellfish raised them. Further Reading Gordon, David G. 1996. Field Guide to the Geoduck. Seattle, WA: Sasquatch Books. Kurlansky, Mark. 2010. The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food: Before the National Highway System, before Chain Restaurants, and before Frozen Food, When the Nation’s Food Was Seasonal, Regional, and Traditional: From the Lost WPA Files. New York: Riverhead Books. Strickland, Ron. 1990. Whistlepunks & Geoducks: Oral Histories from the Pacific Northwest. New York: Paragon House.

G O AT Goats are mammals belonging to the Bovidae family along with buffalos, cows, sheep, and antelopes. These animals all have cloven hooves, meaning that their hooves are split into two toes. They are also herbivores that digest their food through rumination, by which plant matter is fermented in a specialized stomach to produce cud, which is chewed again before being swallowed and digested. Goat meat and milk are widely consumed throughout the world but have not been historically significant in the foodways of the United States until recently. Goats are one of the most widely consumed animals on Earth. Adult male goats are referred to as “bucks” or “billies” and produce tougher meat with a stronger

147

148

GOAT

flavor. Young goats of either sex, called “kids,” produce a more tender, milder flesh. Goat meat, like beef, is considered a “red meat,” although it is generally much leaner. Many consider the flavor of goat meat to fall somewhere between that of beef and lamb. Goat’s milk has a tangier flavor than cow’s milk and has been long touted for its high nutritional value, low cholesterol, and other health properties. Goat’s milk has also been promoted in the United States as a more easily digestible dairy product for those with lactose intolerance. It is also used to produce a variety of cheeses, including a soft, spreadable variety commonly referred to as chèvre, which originated in France but has become commonplace in the United States over the past 30 years. The ancestor to the domesticated goat is thought to have originated somewhere between Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. It is believed to be one of the earliest domesticated animals, and fossil remains dating back 10,000 years have been found in modern-day Iran. From their place of origin, domesticated goats spread throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe and were later brought to the Americas and Oceania with European explorers and colonizers. Goats were among the first livestock to arrive with Europeans in the present-day United States, beginning with Spanish and later with English and other European settlers. A 1630 census of the English settlement of Jamestown includes mention of goats. Spanish goats were the most common in North America until the beginning of the 20th century, when Swiss goats were introduced. Over time, several varieties of goats—most notably Swiss, Austrian, and Spanish—were crossbred to produce a native breed of American goat. The overwhelming majority of these goats were bred and raised for their milk production rather than their meat, and in spite of the goat’s long history in the United States, the animal never became a commodity like beef, pork, or chicken. An industry developed around the production of goat’s milk in the 1930s, when it began to be heavily marketed in the United States as an alternative to cow’s milk, particularly for people with allergies. The Jackson Mitchell Company was one of the first to produce and process goat’s milk on a commercial scale, and much of it was sold in pharmacies as a health food. The company continues to produce goat’s milk products to this day under the Meyenberg brand. With the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s, many Americans began to rethink their traditional diets, as well as the ways in which food was produced in this country. Many were attracted to the health benefits of goat’s milk, as well as the fact that goat farming generally had less of an environmental impact than the farming of dairy cows. In the 1980s, goat’s milk and goat cheese, especially, came to be seen as a gourmet specialty and gained status as a food of the socioeconomic elite of the time. Goat cheese gained in popularity throughout the following decades and has become a fixture on many American menus as an addition to salads and sandwiches, as well as a popular food to serve at parties along with crackers or bread. Both goat’s milk and goat cheese are widely available in many, if not most, grocery stores in the United States today. In spite of their increased popularity, goat’s milk products are often considered specialty foods in this country.

GOAT

While goat’s milk and its byproducts have proliferated to some degree in the United States, goat meat has been slow to catch on with the general American population. It has, however, seen a dramatic increase in domestic consumption over the past 20 years, and this is due in large part to an increase in immigrant communities that feature goat meat prominently in their cuisines. As previously mentioned, goat is one of the most widely consumed meats in the world, and many immigrants from South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions of the world continue to seek out and enjoy goat meat in this country. Because the United States never had a strong tradition of goat consumption, domestic production far from meets the ever-increasing demand of this growing demographic. Because of such, the vast majority of goat meat available in this country—as much as 98 percent—is imported from Australia, which has a thriving goat meat industry. The meat is shipped frozen to the United States, where it is sold at grocery stores catering to the aforementioned communities. As many immigrant communities become more established in American society, their goat dishes have become more accepted and even sought out by the general public. As a result, a greater number of domestic producers have begun offering goat, and more restaurants are beginning to experiment with this meat. A stigma against consuming goat still persists among many Americans, however, and the American goat meat industry has struggled to build a significant domestic market. Because of such, goat meat is still best enjoyed in diverse ethnic enclaves throughout the country. Because of its prevalence throughout so much of the world, there are a dizzying variety of dishes made with goat meat. Perhaps one of the most prominent dishes is called Curry Goat, which hails from former English colonies in the Caribbean, most notably Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The spicy dish is a fixture in places with significant Caribbean populations. Carlos Olaechea Curry Goat

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 pound bone-in goat, cut into 2-inch cubes 2 tablespoons vegetable oil ½ cup diced white onion 1 garlic clove, minced 1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 2 tablespoons Madras curry powder ½ teaspoon Scotch bonnet pepper, finely chopped (optional) ½ teaspoon dried thyme 1 cup hot water Salt and pepper to taste

149

150

GOETTA

Directions 1. Rinse goat meat under cold running water to clean. Make sure to clean away any small bone fragments. 2. Pat goat meat dry with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper, and set aside. 3. In a medium-sized pot, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add goat meat and fry on all sides until browned, about one minute per side. 4. Add onion and garlic, reduce heat to medium, and cook until onions soften, stirring the pot often to avoid burning. 5. When onions are translucent, add potatoes, curry powder, Scotch bonnet pepper (if using), thyme, and hot water. Season with salt and pepper. 6. Bring pot to a simmer, cover, and reduce heat to medium low. 7. After one hour, check the curry for salt and add as necessary. If curry appears too dry, add more water one-half cup at a time. 8. Cover pot again and continue to cook over medium-low heat until the goat meat falls off the bone, approximately 30 minutes. 9. Serve with boiled or steamed white rice. Further Reading Gipson, Terry A. 1999. “Demand for Goat Meat: Implications for the Future of the Industry,” pp. 23–30 in Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Goat Field Day. April 1. http://www2​ .luresext.edu/goats/library/field/gipson99b.pdf. Long, Lucy M. 2015. Ethnic American Food Today: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Weinstein, Bruce, Mark Scarbrough, and Marcus Nilsson. 2011. Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang.

G O E T TA The proper way to think about the meat and grain sausage goetta is to begin by casting aside all notions of origin and history. Focusing solely on the sublime, savory, pork-rich culinary delight that it is happens to be of the utmost importance. Goetta is a culinary miracle in the same class as a properly French-fried potato; it is deeply bronzed and crispy on the outside and gloriously mushy, chewy, and savory on the inside. With a laundry list of nicknames, comparisons, and culinary cousins, goetta is situated in the niche charcuterie stratum and is certainly a bright star. Casting aside a history lesson (for now), goetta is best understood through its composition, for which there are two explanations. The simpler of the two is this: goetta is a mix of ground pork and beef, pinhead oats, and spices. Juxtaposed with this is to define goetta by what it is not: scrapple, pâté, terrine, savory pudding, or a sausage loaf. To be sure, goetta is inherently pork-centric. This is not hotly debated. In fact, not much about goetta is hotly debated due to its localized popularity, except perhaps secret ingredient additions. It can be found commercially in grocery stores, in some Ohio and Northern Kentucky greasy spoons, in the kitchens of Ohio grandmothers keeping tradition alive, or at the hands of intrepid displaced goetta-loving people who cannot find it in their new homelands.

GOETTA

Goetta is neither alone in its porcine-centric composition nor in the addition of grain. Uniquely, though, the addition of goetta’s specific type of grain is one of its main distinctions. Pinhead oats, sometimes referred to a steel-cut oats, thicken the ground pork and beef base and give it a characteristic texture and unique nickname: “Cincinnati caviar.” The crispy exterior of griddled goetta yields to a savory interior, with a mushy texture that is only interrupted by the pop of the occasional oat, vaguely akin to the texture of caviar. In the 19th century, Cincinnati was a city known by another name, “Porkopolis.” This moniker was given in the 1840s when the city became the largest pork producer in not only the United States but also the world. Pork and pork processing was abundant, as were German, Scottish, and Irish immigrants. Returning to the history lesson, any of these immigrant groups could claim preparations as kin to goetta. Germans love sausage, and their habit of adding grain to it created a class of sausages called Grützwurst that could be a culinary ancestor of goetta. Then again, so could the black or white puddings and similar ground meat preparations from England, Scotland, and Ireland. A more convincing argument, and one that ends with less tension, is the proliferation of immigrant American cuisines within the respective diasporas. This argument concludes that immigrants came to the United States and recreated the recipes of their native countries by utilizing what was most abundant in their new homeland. In the case of Cincinnati in the 1800s, this no doubt included the abundant pork products and oats. The oats, in fact, may hold the key to the true origin of goetta, since a German word for oat groats is Götta. The German immigrants to Cincinnati in the 1840s may have simply added some beef to their Grützwurst and swapped an ö for an oe to arrive at “goetta.” The first commercial preparation of goetta burst onto the scene nearly a century later, after World War II. Robert Glier, who apprenticed as a sausage maker at his family’s meatpacking company, added beef to the recipe, as well as ground pork, pork hearts, pork skin, spices, and salts, including monosodium glutamate. His take on the preparation was to cook the mixture to a consistency that could be molded into a loaf, sliced, and then fried. The addition of beef is another of goetta’s departures from similar preparations that include ground meat and grain. Glier’s company today makes over one million pounds of goetta in various forms that include an all-turkey variety, original loaves or sausage-shaped links, and a spicy version that has both black and white pepper. Their goetta is put on pizzas and stuffed in between hot dog buns, and it serves as the Official Goetta of the Cincinnati Bengals. In 2001, Glier’s created Goettafest to “revel in the glory that is goetta.” In the four-day festival, Glier aims to “reconnect the faithful and convert some new believers” (Glier’s Meats). Although Glier’s may make the most, it is not the only contemporary commercial producer of goetta. Bob Lillis is the fourth generation in his family to run Eckerlin Meats, which opened in the mid-1800s as a Cincinnati slaughterhouse. His sublime goetta is made in rectangular loaves in small batches, contains no scraps or excess fat, and is promised to have come from his grandmother’s south German recipe. This promise blends what promotes goetta as a folkloric icon: celebrated as a curated

151

152

GOETTA

consumer good, yet simultaneously revered as a historic family tradition replete with symbolism. Bob says his family company is “so Cincinnati.” So too is his goetta. In Cincinnati, goetta has been established as a breakfast preparation. Its sausage-­ like identity helps to corroborate this, but it is often masked by ketchup, maple syrup, grape jelly, and another Cincinnati favorite: apple butter. Purists prefer it unadulterated, perhaps accompanied with an egg or some toast. What is clear, though, is that—whether it is smothered with condiments or not, shaped into a sausage link or a loaf—it must be kissed by a hot griddle when cooked. The best recipe for making goetta, then, includes a plane ticket to the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, a lift to Tucker’s Restaurant in Over-theRhine, a bar stool, a cup of coffee, and an order of the Classic breakfast special, with extra goetta. It’s from Eckerlin Meats, of course. And, as Bob said, “it’s so Cincinnati.” Lucy Long Goetta

Yield: 24 servings Ingredients 1 gallon water 2.5 pounds pinhead oats, Dorsel brand 2 pounds ground pork shoulder 2 pounds ground beef chuck 8 ounces yellow onion, coarsely chopped 4 bay leaves 1 tablespoon marjoram, dried 1 tablespoon sea salt 1 tablespoon black pepper, coarsely ground Directions 1. Bring the water to a boil, and add the oats while stirring constantly. Cover and simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally. 2. Add the last four ingredients to a spice grinder and turn them into a fine powder. 3. Add the meat and onions to the oats, and stir in the seasoning. Simmer for another hour. 4. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap that has been greased. 5. Cool until firm. Further Reading Eckerlin Meats. “Eckerlin Meats Homemade Goetta.” 2009. http://eckerlinmeats.com /Goetta.html. Glier’s Meats. http://www.goetta.com. Weaver, W. W. 2003. Country Scrapple: An American Tradition. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.



GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

GOOEY BUTTER CAKE Gooey butter cake is a low-rise pastry connected with the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Cut and served in squares, it is made primarily from wheat flour, butter, sugar, and eggs, then dusted with powdered or confectioner’s sugar. The “gooey” descriptor stems from the texture of the upper layer, which when hot will ooze right off onto the plate, but which thickens into a creamy, lemon bar–like texture when fully cooled. Though the precise origins of the pastry have been lost to lore, and several stories proliferate crediting a handful of different bakeries, certain key details are uncontested: the first gooey butter cake was created by mistake when a baker in 1930s South St. Louis mixed up the proportions of ingredients in a coffee cake– style recipe. Whether he inverted the portions of butter and flour, added too much sugar, or confused two different types of buttery spreads in the stockroom, the result was a thick, sweet, gooey layer atop a yeast-bread base. Owing to Depression Era frugality, the baker sold it anyway, customers loved it, the mix-up was replicated, and a Midwestern tradition was born. Given the substantial German community in South St. Louis, descendants of the large German immigration that took place nearly a century earlier, it is little surprise that the St. Louis gooey butter cake shares some resemblance, both in name and in ingredients, to the German Butterkuchen, a similar yeast-dough pastry with a sweet, custardlike topping. Though but a few of the original German bakeries remain, the gooey butter cake has become prolific and is now a mainstay of nearly every bakery in the area. In the 1970s, commercial wholesale production of gooey butter cakes began; prepackaged gooey butter cakes and gooey butter cake mixes began to appear in grocery stores in and around St. Louis. The Haas Bakery, a St. Louis commercial baker, ensured that customers would associate the pastry with the Gateway to the West regardless of where they purchased it by emblazoning “A St. Louis Tradition” on the wrappers of its gooey butter cake, alongside other St. Louis iconography, including the Gateway Arch and the Spirit of St. Louis. Numerous recipes for gooey butter cake exist (no community cookbook would be complete without several variations) but cluster into two distinct versions: those closely adhering to the bakery-style recipe of a yeast dough with butter/sugar topping; and another, more recent, home-baked iteration that calls for boxed yellow cake mix and cream cheese. Opinions strongly differ as to which of these creates an “authentic” gooey butter cake, but flavor variations within these two categories tend to be welcome. Chocolate, nuts, berries, and peanut butter are regularly seen additions to gooey butter cakes; one can even find key lime–flavored gooey butter cake in St. Louis today. Gooey butter cake, though plenty sweet, is most commonly treated as a breakfast pastry and eaten in the morning, not as a snack or dessert. Each 100-gram serving contains around 400 calories, the majority of which are in the form of fat (from butter) and carbohydrates (from refined sugar and wheat flour). For lifelong residents of the St. Louis area, a bite of gooey butter cake can evoke memories of family gatherings, weekend traditions, and loved ones. For those who have moved away, it can taste like home. Much as one has pride for the local

153

154

GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Gooey butter cake must be served cooled, as the butter, sugar, and egg mixture will ooze right off the crust when hot. (James G. Milles)

sports team, St. Louisans take pride in gooey butter cake—what many see as the region’s greatest culinary contribution to the American food scene. For newcomers, acquiring knowledge of gooey butter cake can mark one’s transition from outsider to local, and for visitors passing through, gooey butter cake can allow one, even if just temporarily, to embrace what it’s like to be a St. Louisan. Stephanie Jolly St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

Yield: 12 servings Ingredients for dough ¼ cup milk (whole preferred) 1 packet active dry yeast (2 teaspoons or ¼ ounce) ½ cup (1 stick) softened butter 3 tablespoons granulated sugar ¾ teaspoon salt 1 egg 1¾ cups all-purpose flour



GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Directions for dough 1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until warm, between 95˚ and 115˚F. Transfer to a small bowl; sprinkle the yeast over the milk to activate. Let stand for five minutes. 2. Using a stand mixture, cream together sugar, salt, and six tablespoons of the butter until pale yellow and sugar is nearly dissolved, approximately two or three minutes. 3. Incorporate the egg and continue to beat another one or two minutes. 4. Stir the milk/yeast mixture to dissolve. Alternate adding the flour and milk/yeast mixture, beating to combine each time, until all ingredients have been added. 5. Beat the dough for five minutes on medium-low speed until it is smooth and elastic. 6. Use the remaining butter to grease two eight-inch square glass baking dishes. Stretch the dough and press into the buttered pans. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm location for two hours. Ingredients for filling 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter 2 cups granulated sugar ¾ teaspoon salt ¹⁄³ cup light corn syrup 2½ teaspoons vanilla 2 eggs ¹⁄³ cup milk (whole preferred) 1¼ cups cake flour Powdered sugar for dusting Directions for creating filling and assembling the cakes 1. After the dough has finished rising, preheat oven to 350˚F. 2. Cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and corn syrup until light and the sugar has nearly dissolved, approximately three minutes. 3. Incorporate the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. 4. Alternate adding the milk and the cake flour, mixing to combine after each addition, until all ingredients have been fully incorporated. 5. Spread the topping evenly between the two baking dishes. 6. Bake for 25–30 minutes. The topping will continue to bubble and may still appear melted or undercooked, but it should appear golden brown toward the edges. Be careful not to overbake; the topping will set as it cools. 7. Let cool in the baking dish. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before cutting and serving. Further Reading Barry, Ann. 1989. “A Butter Cake That Sticks to the Gums.” New York Times. April 18. http:// www.nytimes.com/1989/04/19/garden/a-butter-cake-that-sticks-to-the-gums.html.

155

156

GRITS

Byrn, Anne. 2016. American Cake: From Colonial Gingerbread to Classic Layer, the Stories and Recipes behind More Than 125 of Our Best-Loved Cakes. Emmaus, PA: Rodale. Clubb, Shawn. 2010. “You Know You’re a St. Louisan When . . . .” St. Louis Post-Dispatch. March 3. http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/life/you-know-you-re-a-st -louisan-when/article_041a0b05-cc7c-562c-8aa0-44842bd4612f.html

GRITS The dish known as “grits,” or “hominy grits,” consists of corn that has gone through nixtamalization, a process involving drying, soaking in a dilute solution of lye or slaked lime, washing, and hulling that results in hominy. Processing the corn in this way makes it easier to remove the hull from the grain, easier to grind, and easier to digest. It also removes the germ and reduces mycotoxins, poisonous chemical compounds produced by fungi in the corn, which can cause disease in humans and animals. The resulting hominy is then dried and ground into a grainy meal. The coarser the grind, such as that produced by a stone burr gristmill, the more nutrients are retained. Nixtamalization also renders the cornmeal into something that can produce dough when mixed with water. To make grits, the coarse meal is boiled and flavored with a variety of foodstuffs depending on local traditions. Grits are often eaten with breakfast, but they are also eaten at other times of the day. The practice of eating grits began in what are now the Southern states and is still most popular there, having a long history in both African American and European American cultures. Its low cost and straightforward preparation made it a staple across socioeconomic lines and racialized identities. Traditionally prepared in the home, grits can also be purchased at grocery stores in instant or quick varieties. They are found on restaurant menus throughout, and now outside of, the South. On its own—without additions like milk, butter, or cheese—a serving of grits contains small amounts of fiber, iron, magnesium, folate, potassium, thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin. It is also low in calories and fat while providing carbohydrates for energy. Whole-grain and enriched grits offer more nutrients than refined grits. Borrowing heavily from the foodways of Native Americans, European immigrants and enslaved Africans learned how to process corn and incorporated it into their diets. Grits is an official state food of Georgia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, states in the so-called Grits Belt running from Virginia to Texas. Some consider grits to be the definitive comfort food of the South. Basic breakfast grits are seasoned with milk and butter, salt, or sugar in Texas, while grits may be eaten with fish for the morning meal in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Served with the evening meal in Florida, grits may be mixed with cheese and served with shrimp. In Alabama, shrimp and grits may be given an extra tanginess by adding sour cream as well as cheese. Grits with liver, onion, and gravy is a Cajun favorite. Cold leftover grits may be revived with a bit of water or milk, and fried or incorporated into a casserole or other dish. The Southern staple is the theme of a number of summer festivals, such as the Warwick National Grits Festival in the “Grits Capital of Georgi,” the Kymulga Grits

GRITS

Festival in Alabama, and the World Grits Festival in St. George, South Carolina. At the World Grits Festival, attendees can compete in the Miss Grits pageant, a grits eating contest, or the rolling in the grits contest. The winner of the latter is the individual who is covered in the most grits after rolling in an inflatable tub filled with 27 cases of instant grits for 10 seconds. Grits appear in various genres of folklore and popular culture. Long before Kid Rock recorded his debut album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast (1990), Tennessee bluesman Little Milton sang, “Grits ain’t groceries” (1969). Debates over the proper way to eat grits have also made their way into popular culture in the form of the “10 Commandments of Grits.” The lists of commandments one may find on the Internet is variable, but they typically include warnings against using a spoon or knife to eat them, or against adding syrup, margarine, or ketchup. In some lists, the commandment not to put syrup on your grits is repeated multiple times. Redeye gravy and biscuits, not toast, should accompany your grits. Instant grits are taboo. Referring to Cream of Wheat as grits is blasphemous. Grits should be eaten on Sunday, because they are actually manna from heaven. Finally, keep your eyes on your own grits; do not covet your neighbor’s manna. The word “grits” was also used as a substitute for “ass” in the television series Alice (1976–1985). Primarily set in a Phoenix, Arizona, diner named Mel’s, the show featured three waitresses, one of whom, Florence Jean Castlebury, created the catchphrase “Kiss my grits!” Holly Everett Grits

Here is an easy recipe for breakfast grits. Remember to eat them with a fork! Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 3 cups water ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup hominy grits Black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons butter ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese Directions 1. Bring the water and salt to a boil in a saucepan. 2. Whisk in the grits. Once all the grits are mixed in with the water and salt, continue whisking for about one minute. 3. Bring this mixture to a boil, then turn the heat down low. 4. Cook the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes. To keep lumps from forming or sticking to the bottom of the saucepan, stir frequently. 5. Remove the grits from the heat and add butter, cheese, and pepper; mix well.

157

158

GUMBO

Further Reading Egerton, John. 2005. Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. McIntosh, Susan McEwen. 2009. Glorious Grits: America’s Favorite Comfort Food. Birmingham, AL: Oxmoor House. Miller, Adrian. 2017. Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

GUMBO Gumbo is a thick soup or stew common in Louisiana. While no two are made exactly alike, there are some common elements that most would agree are essential to gumbo. First, the gumbo begins with a dark—deep brown to nearly black— roux, a thickener made with equal parts flour and fat. While roux is used to thicken many sauces, especially those of French origin, gumbo is unique in requiring the roux to be exceedingly dark, almost to the point of being burnt. As roux browns, it loses thickening power, giving gumbo its thick soup consistency (as opposed to a thick sauce, more common to lighter rouxs such as béchamel). In addition to the roux, the base of gumbo consists of the “Cajun trinity” of small-diced onion, celery, and green bell pepper, and stock, which, depending on the type of gumbo, may be meat, poultry and/or seafood. An ingredient distinctive to gumbo is gumbo filé powder: dried, ground sassafras leaves, best added at the end of the cooking time. Another key ingredient is okra. While some recipes omit the mucilaginous vegetable, especially to be more accessible to tourists, gumbo likely derives its name from okra, called gumbo (or a similar-sounding variation) in many of the languages and dialects of Western Africa. While those are the consistent elements of gumbo, variations abound, especially based on the particular ingredients added. Gumbo often contains a cured meat (such as andouille sausage or tasso), seafood (including crawfish), chicken, or game. Much of the distinction relates to what ingredients are available. The dish, like the music, cuisine, and broader culture of New Orleans represents a mixture of cultural influences—African okra and stew traditions, French roux-thickened soups, Native American sassafras-thickened and -flavored stews, Spanish-style sausage—combined with locally available ingredients such as shrimp and crawfish, or, in Cajun country, squirrel or rabbit, to name a few. Gumbo, given its variety of cultural influences, is often used as a metaphor for the multicultural Creole culture of New Orleans. While precursors of gumbo have been served for hundreds of years, the Louisiana gumbo as we know it likely developed in the 1700s. Food scholar Cynthia Nobles suggests that the first written reference to gumbo as a Louisiana dish of that name dates to 1802: “The dish they call gumbo which is made principally of the ochre into a thick kind of soop and eat with rice, it is the food of every body for dinner and supper” (Nobles 2009, 104). Gumbo is traditionally served with rice. It is, by itself, a full meal, though in fine dining settings it may, like other soups, be eaten as an appetizer course. It is often prepared for festive celebrations or parties, especially given its one-pot nature that can feed a crowd. Like Brunswick stew and Dundas sheep stew in this volume,

GUMBO

the special-occasion aspect of the dish sometimes has men cooking it together in large quantities for many hours. However, unlike communal festival-only dishes, gumbo is commonly made at home and in food-service settings as well. Jonathan Deutsch Gumbo

Yield: 16–20 servings 1 cup fat (vegetable oil, lard, or bacon grease) 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup diced onion 1 cup diced celery 1 cup diced green bell pepper 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced 1 pound okra, sliced 1 gallon stock (chicken, shellfish, or pork) 4 pounds meat, poultry, game, or seafood of choice 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (or more to taste) 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon gumbo filé powder Salt and cayenne pepper to taste Directions 1. Combine fat and flour in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Cook over low heat until deep brown, stirring occasionally and being careful not to burn. It may take as long as 45 minutes to one hour. It can also be done in an oven with occasional monitoring. 2. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper (Cajun trinity) to roux. Cook until tender, about five minutes. Add sausage and okra and cook until some fat is rendered from the sausage, about three to five minutes. 3. Add stock and bring to a boil over high heat, whisking the roux mixture to incorporate. 4. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Add meat and cook until all ingredients are thoroughly cooked. This may be thirty minutes or so for seafood or as much as three hours for game. 5. Season to taste with salt, cayenne, hot pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. 6. Remove from heat and add filé powder. 7. Serve with cooked white rice. Further Reading Nobles, Cynthia Lejeune (2009). “Gumbo,” in Susan Tucker, ed., New Orleans Cuisine: Fourteen Signature Dishes and Their Histories. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Williams, Elizabeth M. (2012). New Orleans: A Food Biography. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.

159

H HALF-SMOKE The “half-smoke” sausage is, for residents of all political persuasions, the most iconic and perhaps only indigenous culinary creation of Washington, DC. While it falls into the general “hot dog” category, the half-smoke’s mixed meat composition, spiced flavor, and crisp skin are linked to the city’s most vibrant communities and its most beloved institutions. As the late journalist David Carr once said, enjoying a half-smoke at a DC eatery meant being at the “place where black meets white, drunk meets sober, and the munchies meet their match.” In a city where many learn how the political sausage is made, there can be no question that the halfsmoke is Washington’s favorite dish. The meat is composed of half pork and half beef, coarsely ground together and seasoned heavily with an array of spices; many variations feature red pepper flakes for heat. The meat is packed into a larger-than-average natural casing made from hog intestines—many sausages are made with either artificial casing or sheep casing, but the half-smoke’s hog casing produces the often remarked-upon “snap” upon biting into it. The sausage is then lightly smoked before cooking, when many chefs will slice it nearly in half lengthwise and throw it on a griddle, cut side down, to sear open the dog and to give the skin a light char. The grilled dog is then tossed into a fresh bun and topped with condiments and sauces. The sausage’s name has many different origin stories—some say that it comes from its half-smoked preparation, some from its split grilling format, or its mixed pork-beef composition. Others note that, in its similarities to Polish kielbasa, it has “half the seasoning” of its Eastern European progenitors. The “half the seasoning” explanation is the least provable; there are many butchers and sausage distributors selling the half-smoke, but few have released a definitive recipe, and not all prepare their dogs by slicing or searing before serving. The term “half-smoke” appears in several articles from the 1930s as a common name for hot dogs, but the DC version has since become the definitive item. The first official half-smokes were distributed by Briggs and Co., a DC meatpacking company founded in 1936 by brothers Luther, Raymond, and Lester Briggs. The Briggs’ father operated a meat stand in Washington’s old Central Market, and the Briggs brothers sold their half-smokes to an array of small eateries throughout the DC area in the 1930s. When the business was sold to a larger distributor in the 1960s, the quality of the company’s half-smokes quickly declined. Today many of the half-smokes sold in Washington are made by the Baltimore-based Manger Packing Corporation, opened in late 1860 by German immigrant George Mange (Krut 2011).

HALF-SMOKE

Half-smokes can be found all over the Washington area, but their prominence can be most clearly traced to two DC-area institutions: the first is Weenie-Beenie, a grill-and-takeout spot that first opened in 1954 in the Shirlington area of Arlington, VA. This drive-up spot run by Bill Staton offered the half-smoke as a breakfast item, alongside fried eggs and American cheese. (Once a regional chain, the original Weenie-Beenie is now its only remaining location.) In August 1958, the half-smoke appeared at Ben’s Chili Bowl, a diner on Washington’s U Street. Housed in a vacant movie house and only a 15-minute walk from Howard University, the city’s historically black university, the restaurant sat in the central location of what was known as DC’s “Black Broadway,” the epicenter of black cultural life. Born in Trinidad, Mahaboob “Ben” Ali received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska and was in the process of studying medicine and dentistry at Howard when a debilitating fall took him out of school. He transferred his talents to the food world, and with his wife, Virginia, he served up half-smokes by the dozens at his restaurant, topped with chopped onions, mustard, and a generous portion of homemade chili. It was due to the support of both notable figures and neighborhood residents that Ben’s Chili Bowl was able to weather the political tumult of the late 1960s. When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968, Ben’s opened its doors to feed both protesters and police officers, even as neighborhood storefronts were vandalized or destroyed. Ben’s endured through the following decades of economic decline and failing city infrastructure, and today it is one of the few Washington, DC, establishments to remain mostly intact as it was in 1958. A visit to Ben’s for a half-smoke has become a rite of passage for DC politicos—following his successful 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama stopped in and ordered a half-smoke, as many noted, “like a pro.” Ben Ali passed away in 2009, but Virginia and their sons have kept up the business, and in 2011, Virginia donated archival material from the restaurant, including a 1963 menu, restaurant keepsakes and artifacts, and more than 800 photographs, to the Africana Research Center at George Washington University. The restaurant celebrates its 60th year of business in 2018. The half-smoke is the official sausage of the Washington Nationals, and Ben’s Chili Bowl continues to serve them at its stadium outpost. Many contemporary DC restaurateurs have put their own spin on the item, from pickled half-smokes to those composed of one part pork to three parts goat meat, all to look for the right balance of spice, smoke, fat, and flavor. At Ben’s and elsewhere in the city, the

Celebrities at Ben’s Chili Bowl In its early years, Ben’s Chili Bowl served many of the jazz icons performing on U Street, including Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as comedian Bill Cosby during his time stationed at the Marine base in Quantico, Virginia. Cosby returned to the restaurant many times during his rise to comedic fame in the 1970s and 1980s, and he featured half-smokes from Ben’s as part of his press tours.

161

162

HALF-SMOKE

questionably nutritious but highly satisfying half-smoke, chili-topped or not, is a memorable late-night, post-drinking culinary experience. Jessica Carbone Half-Smoke

Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 2 tablespoons canola oil 8 ounces ground beef 1 small red onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, chopped 2 tablespoons chili powder ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed 2 cups chicken stock 6 half-smoke sausages 6 hot dog buns 1 small white onion, chopped ¼ cup yellow mustard Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. In a large Dutch oven, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add ground beef, onion, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook until beef is browned. 2. Add chili powder, cayenne, and tomato paste. Stir to combine, and cook for about five minutes. 3. Add kidney beans and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 4. Heat a grill on medium. Place the half-smokes on the grill and cook on all sides, until lightly charred. Open hot dog buns and toast lightly. 5. Place a half-smoke inside each bun. Top with chili, chopped onions, and mustard. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Carr, David. 2009. “A Monument to Munchies.” New York Times. January 15. http://www​ .nytimes.com/2009/01/16/arts/16chil.html. Jamieson, Dave. 2007. “The Missing Link.” Washington City Paper. January 26. http://www​ .washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/13004644/the-missing-link.

HOAGIE

Krut, Steve. 2011. “A Model of Efficiency.” Meat+Poultry. May 9. http://www.­meatpoultry​ .com/articles/news_home/Business/2011/05/A_model_of_efficiency.aspx?ID=%​ 7BBD97316D-7490-431A-82D8-B7C29A708850%7D&cck=1. Mercuri, Becky. 2007. The Great American Hot Dog Book: Recipes and Side Dishes from Across America. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith. Schudel, Matt. 2009. “Ben Ali, 82, Whose Chili Bowl Became a D.C. Landmark, Dies.” Washington Post. October 9. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article​/2009 /10/08/AR2009100804353.html. Witchel, Alex. 2009. “Ben Ali: Hot Sauce.” New York Times. December 26. http://www​ .nytimes.com/2009/12/27/magazine/27Ali-t.html.

HOAGIE A submarine, hoagie, or grinder is a sandwich served on a large Italian roll, made up of Italian meats and cheeses, lettuce, tomato, and onion, and topped with olive oil and spices. However, the sandwich is fully customizable and can include any array of fillings and toppings, including roast beef, tuna salad, egg salad, pickles, hot peppers, vinegar, etc. The remarkable aspect of this large, overstuffed sandwich is not its fillings, but rather its wide array of names and their etymological origins. The sandwich appears to have been invented in several different locations throughout the early to mid-20th century, due to an influx of Italian immigrants to North America. Names vary regionally, but the largest variety of lexical oddities can be found in Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and other Northeastern states. Regional names include “hoagie,” “hero,” “grinder,” “torpedo,” “wedge,” and “Italian sandwich.” The sandwich is eaten throughout the United States, but it is more widely known simply as a “sub.” While the name of the submarine sandwich has a variety of origins, most sources agree that this type of long, overstuffed sandwich was introduced by Southern Italian immigrants in the early to mid-20th century and may be a play on European-style stuffed breads, which had been introduced in the 19th century by immigrant laborers. One such bread would be the Italian muffuletta. As Americans embraced this type of large sandwich, they assimilated it and substituted

Po’ Boy The po’ boy sandwich is a New Orleans specialty made from different kinds of meat (roast beef, hot sausage, oysters, or fried seafood) heavily packed into French bread. A fully “dressed” po’ boy comes with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and mayonnaise. The history of the po’ boy sandwich is long and varied, but many attribute the official origin to Clovis and Benjamin Martin, who opened a restaurant in New Orleans in the 1920s. In 1929, the Martin brothers supported the streetcar drivers’ strike by providing the “poor boys” with big sandwiches. The name and popularity of the sandwiches became inextricably tied to the city of New Orleans, and it is still a local favorite. Josianne Leah Campbell

163

164

HOAGIE

traditionally Italian ingredients with American ones, such as American and Swiss cheese, turkey, roast beef, spreads, and vegetables. While the sandwich itself stays largely the same with minor variations, the title switches from region to region. The name “submarine” supposedly originated with an Italian immigrant named Dominic Conti, who served long Italian sandwiches in his grocery store in Paterson, New Jersey. After seeing a recovered 1901 submarine called the Fenian Ram, he was inspired to rename his Italian sandwich a “submarine,” or “sub” for short. It’s also possible that the term originated in New London, Connecticut, where the U.S. Navy has its primary submarine base during World War II. Probably the most colorful and complex term for the sandwich is “hoagie,” which was declared “The Official Sandwich of Philadelphia” by then–Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell. The hoagie unequivocally originated in the greater Philadelphia area, but there is such a wide range of possible etymological roots that it is impossible to determine the word’s exact date or story of origin. In 1953, the Philadelphia Bulletin reported that the sandwich came into existence in a Philadelphia-area shipyard called Hog Island, which served as an emergency shipping depot during World War I. Italians working in the area brought sandwiches to work made of meats, cheeses, and lettuce stuffed between two slices of long Italian roll. The sandwich became known as the “Hog Island,” and later “Hoggie,” after the men who worked in the shipyard. Eventually that was transformed into “hoagie.” Alternatively, the name came from Irishmen working in the shipyard who were called “Hogans.” Once they started eating the sandwich, the name “Hogan” was applied to the sandwich, and later switched to “hoagie.” There are several other possible sources for the term “hoagie.” In the 1920s, the Italian community in South Philly would say that unemployed or destitute people were “on the hoke.” Deli owners would distribute scraps of meat and bread to these people, which would be eaten as sandwiches, thus taking on the name “hoke sandwich.” This later became “hokie” and then “hoagie.” Similarly, “hokey pokey men” would sell antipasto salads in long sliced buns, creating a “hokey” sandwich, which also became “hoagie.” Yet another variation on the story comes from the 1930s. The lines of meat and cheese in the sandwich resembled the meat butchered from a pig or hog, thus earning the sandwich the name “hoggie.” From there it was switched to “hoagie,” but in some areas the term “hoggie” or “hoggy” is still used. Still another story claims that the name “hoagie” came from schoolkids playing hooky whose parents would have been notified. They students wouldn’t return home right away, to avoid being punished, and they would eat loaded sandwiches from streetcart delis. Passersby would see children eating “hooky sandwiches,” eventually leading, once again, to “hoagie.” A final, less likely origin of the name “hoagie” was relayed in a 1967 interview with a hoagie shop owner. The owner suggested that the term was derived from the word “honky,” which was what African Americans called whites in the 1940s. While observing whites eating this sandwich in lower-income neighborhoods, they called the sandwich a “honky sandwich,” which eventually was transformed into “hoagie.” It is important to note



HOPPIN’ JOHN

that the term “hoagie” did not show up in Philadelphia phone directories until 1945, but when it did it, showed up alongside the term “hoggy,” making it likely that the source of the word “hoagie” is the “hoggie” or “hoggy” version of the story. Still, it is not possible to truly determine the official etymological origin. Some other, less popular terms include “grinder,” commonly used in New England and more often referring to a hot sub, called such possibly because of the effort it took to chew the bread. In New York, subs are known as heros (not heroes), with the term being attributed to the food writer Clementine Paddleford. It first appeared in 1937. Other terms used less widely include “torpedo,” “rocket,” “zeppelin,” “bomber,” “wedge,” and “Blimpie.” In any case, the names of the sandwich describe either the sandwich or the eater of the sandwich. The wide-ranging nature of this sandwich’s names is likely due to the fact that the sandwich did not make its way around the country in a rapid or continuous way, but rather popped up apart from other sandwich discoveries. Subs/hoagies/grinders are often available at pizzerias, and their appearance in those stores established a pizzeria as more than just a common low-quality eatery. Now, subs and hoagies are widely available at specialty shops, chains (such as Subway), and convenience stores (like Wawa) as well. Esther Martin-Ullrich Further Reading Eames, Edwin, and Howard Robboy. 1967. “The Submarine Sandwich: Lexical Variations in a Cultural Context.” American Speech 42 (4): 279–288. Labov, William. 2003. “Pursuing the Cascade Model.” IMPACT 9–22. doi:10.1075/impact​ .16.03lab. Wilton, Dave. 2003. “A Hoagie by Any Other Name.” Verbatim 23 (3): 1–5.

HOPPIN’ JOHN On January 1, American Southerners (and Southerners who have migrated north) make sure to eat Hoppin’ John—a dish that is believed to bring prosperity in the New Year. It’s a kind of pilaf of black-eyed peas and rice that symbolizes the coins that will jingle in the pockets of those who eat it on New Year’s Day. A mess of accompanying slow-cooked greens (cabbage, collards, kale, mustard, or turnip greens) signifies “foldin’ money.” Black-eyed peas (Vigna unguiculata) are sometimes called “cowpeas,” which was a way of denigrating them as unsuitable for the refined tastes of slave-owners, in contrast to the slaves who brought them from Africa. Today, the dried tan beans, with their characteristic black “eyes,” are the most common type used in Hoppin’ John, but that was not always the case. The earliest versions were very clear about using “peas of other colors.” In any specific district, the inhabitants will insist that there is only one proper pea for Hoppin’ John: the one that is used there, with its own name. But there must have been a number of V. unguiculata in use in the Lowcountry, although it does seem that the red or black peas were favored traditionally. While closely related, all

165

166

HOPPIN’ JOHN

Hoppin’ John with rice and pork, a traditional New Year’s dish. The black “eyes” that give the characteristic beans their name can be clearly seen. (Bhofack2/Dreamstime.com)

of those peas are surprisingly different in flavor and other characteristics. In practice, people in any given corner of the South know which pea to use, and as far as the rest of the country is concerned, black-eyed peas are generally the most easily available (Hess 1998, 98). In “Little Senegal,” part of New York City’s Harlem, hardly a rural enclave, the grandfather dish of all rice and beans preparations is well known. In the small food markets . . . one sees heavy bags of rice and cowpeas in different colors . . . all under the label niebe, a West-Atlantic language family (Wolof, Serer, Fula) name for the cowpea. Rice and cowpeas cooked together, as far as we know, a 3,500-year-old or more dish, is known to the Wolof and Serer as thiebou niebe (pronounced chebu-­ neeyebay), a meatless version of other thiebou (rice-based) stews. The connection is immediately spotted by Senegalese masterchef Pierre Thiam who states that thiebou niebe “became hoppin’ John in the New World.” (Twitty 2012)

The simplest version of Hoppin’ John lists just three ingredients: a pound of bacon, a pint of black-eyed peas, and a pint of rice. The earliest printed version of the recipe, which doesn’t bother with amounts but specifies red peas, lists only the method: First put on the peas, and when half boiled, add the bacon. When the peas are well boiled, throw in the rice, which must first be washed and graveled. When the rice has boiled half an hour, take the pot off the fire and put it on coals to steam, as in boiling rice alone. (Rutledge 1851)



HOPPIN’ JOHN

Rice and Beans The combination of beans and rice is common all over the world, since it is filling and cheap, and it provides a balanced protein diet to folks who are denied adequate supplies of meat. It was adopted, almost everywhere, long before anyone knew about amino acids and the strategy of using complementarity that Frances Moore Lappe espoused in 1971’s Diet for a Small Planet.

And here’s a slightly more luxurious recipe from “Uncle John,” in South Carolina: Take a handful of cow peas (small black-eyed peas) that have been soaked overnight, one onion, parsley and a laurel leaf. Let them boil in a quart and a pint of water for an hour, or until soft. Add two cupfuls well washed raw rice. The rice must cook fifteen or twenty minutes. Then add a quarter pound of well-fried sausages, a slice of ham and a small piece of bacon, both cut in pieces and fried. Put your saucepan aside to soak, or dry. Cover closely. Be careful it does not burn at the bottom. If the rice has to be stirred use a fork, as it turns easily, and still cannot be stirred too much, or it becomes soggy. Those old-fashioned black pots are the best to use. (Eustis 1904, 16)

The New Year’s Day tradition utilizes inexpensive preserved foods (dried rice and beans, plus smoked/salted pork) that are tasty and filling and that preserve continuity with a shared past. Like the ancient Roman two-faced god of doorways, Janus, the tradition looks simultaneously to the past and to the future. According to Jessica Harris, black-eyed peas with rice form one corner of the African-American New Year’s culinary trinity: greens, beans and pig. The greens symbolize greenbacks (or “folding money”) and may be collards, mustards or even cabbage. The pork is a remembrance of our enslaved forebears, who were given the less noble parts of the pig as food. (Harris 2010)

In fact, using dried legumes together with rice to welcome the New Year is much older than the American slave era. It might even be older than the holiday that begins our calendars. Something similar (about serving beans, for luck, on Rosh Hashana) appeared some 1,500 years ago in the Talmud. Whether it was a result of mistranslation or not, it became an accepted part of Sephardic Jewish culture by the 16th century, and it remains so to this day. Sekihan, white rice combined with tiny dried red azuki beans, is often served at New Year’s Day in Japan, while dried lentils—believed to bring coins to those who eat them—appear on many Mediterranean tables on New Year’s Day. Gary Allen Hoppin’ John

Yield: 16 servings

167

168

HOPPIN’ JOHN

Ingredients 1 pound dry black-eyed peas 4 slices bacon, chopped 1 small onion, diced 4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 small red pepper, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, minced 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon ground cayenne 1 bay leaf ¼ cup apple cider vinegar 8 cups chicken stock Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Place black-eyed peas in a large container. Cover with water and let sit overnight. 2. In a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat, render bacon until just starting to crisp, about 10 minutes. 3. Add onions, garlic, red peppers, celery, and jalapeno to pot with bacon. Stir and sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes, until they start to soften. Season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and cayenne. 4. Drain the soaked beans and add to pot. Add bay leaf, vinegar, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for about two hours, until the beans are soft. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Remove the bay leaf. Serve with rice. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Eustis, Célestine. 1904 (1980). Cooking in the Old Créole Days. Toronto, Ontario: Coles Cook Books. Harris, Jessica. 2010. “Prosperity Starts With a Pea.” New York Times. December 29. http:// www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/opinion/30harris.html. Hess, Karen. 1998. The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. Rutledge, Sarah. 1851. House and Home; or, The Carolina Housewife. Charleston, SC: John Russell. Tolbert, Frank X. 1994. A Bowl of Red. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. Twitty, Michael. 2012. “The Transnational Dish of the Motherland,” in Richard R. Wilk and Livia Barbosa, eds., Rice and Beans: A Unique Dish in a Hundred Places. London: Berg Publishers.



HORSESHOE SANDWICH

HORSESHOE SANDWICH This open-faced sandwich is almost exclusively served in and around Springfield, Illinois. It is traditionally made with two slices of toasted white bread topped with a thick piece of bone-in ham—which provides the horseshoe shape—covered in a tangy white cheddar cheese sauce and topped with a handful of homemade French fries—considered the “nails” in the horseshoe. It was originally served on a castiron steak plate, known as an “anvil.” Those wanting only half a serving, with just one slice of toast, can order a “pony-shoe,” or simply a “pony.” The sandwich has been considered to be “perhaps the most massive single-dish meal in the nation,” noted Michael Stern in 500 Things to Eat before It’s Too Late, with some recipes weighing several pounds. One version that clocked in at 2,144 calories was called one of the country’s “most ridiculous eats” by the Web site Thrillist. The sandwich’s creation is attributed to a chef, Joe Schweska, at the Leland Hotel in Springfield, Illinois, in the late 1920s. The sandwich’s legacy was carried on by Steve Tomko, who had worked at the Leland with Schweska and later brought the dish to Wayne’s Red Coach Inn. The sandwich was originally considered a highend restaurant dish but has since been transformed into a more downscale pub food, with a host of places replacing the ham with hamburgers or processed meats. Even the Springfield outlets of the Steak ‘n’ Shake, one of the Midwest’s favorite fast food chains, serve a version of the horseshoe that involves their own branded “steakburgers”—not on the official menu but highlighted on a paper placemat. Some of the modern takes on the sandwich have become super-sized using a variety of meats, including whole pieces of fried chicken and heaping helpings of cheese sauce drenched over a mound of crinkle-cut French fries. Also popular in the capitol town are breakfast horseshoes made with hash browns, fried eggs, sausage, and a half-and-half portion of cream gravy and cheese sauce. Ritz’s Li’l Fryer diner in Springfield offers a breakfast horseshoe with an “egg, choice of bacon, ham, or sausage, hash browns or American fries with cheese sauce or sausage gravy.” On its lunch menu—the place is only open from 5:30 am to 2:00 pm on most days—Ritz’s offers horseshoes made with a choice of “hamburger, bacon, turkey, egg, fish, sausage, roast beef, ham, chicken fillet strips, grilled chicken, buffalo chicken, breaded or grilled tenderloin, veggie burger [or] shrimp.” And for an extra charge, Ritz’s allows customers to replace the French fries with other “addons,” such as hash brown, onion rings, Tater Tots, mushrooms, and tomatoes. DJ’s Café in Springfield offers six varieties of horseshoes on its menu, including bacon, ham, hamburger, fish, sausage, and chicken breast. The shoes at Charlie Parker’s Diner have become legendary after being featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri, who designed his own “off the hook” horseshoe on a pizza-sized 16-inch pancake topped with piles of breakfast meats, eggs, French fries, and tangy cheese sauce. Michael Stern, on his Roadfood.com Web site, notes that some “Springfield shoe makers” use canned cheese sauce but the better ones start with a roux to which is added Kraft’s Old English cheese and milk to achieve a consistency that “will cling to meat and potatoes but not weigh them down.”

169

170

HORSESHOE SANDWICH

Horseshoe Spreads The horseshoe sandwich’s notoriety is gaining in popularity outside of Springfield, as some Springfield expats in Chicago and St. Louis have opened eating establishments serving horseshoes—one even offering a dessert version with chocolate and caramel sauce replacing the traditional cheese sauce.

“Although beer is not part of most recipes, Springfield’s better sauces have hopsy verve that balances their thickness and offers contrast to the heft of potatoes above and meat below,” Stern adds. The original cheese sauce used on the horseshoe sandwich created by Schweska, and copied today at a host of diners and restaurants across the city, is a version of the Welsh rarebit sauce. “No one would think about using a canned sauce in Springfield,” Charlie Parker’s owner Mike Murphy told Peoria magazine in 2014. “The key is to make it every day.” Murphy’s recipe starts with a processed cheddar, which “melts better and is much smoother” than the real thing. He jazzes his sauce with a little Worcestershire and hot sauce and makes the cheese sauce “with milk and cheese, using a roux [mixture of butter and flour] to thicken it up.” Depending on the recipe, the horseshoe is made with either a white cheddar or yellow cheddar sauce, and sometimes both are offered. Parker’s horseshoe went on to win a national breakfast food contest that began with 135 chefs and culminated in a national telecast in 2015 and earned Murphy $25,000. But the shoe was made with English muffin instead of toast, since the sponsor of the breakfast contest required the dishes to be made with English muffins. Schewska’s original recipe used potatoes cut into wedges and not the shoestring cut that most Springfield restaurants now use. “The actual idea of the horseshoe sandwich came from Elizabeth Schweska, Chef Joe Schweska’s wife,” Tom McGee, Joe Schweska’s brother-in-law, was quoted as saying in a 2008 Springfield newspaper article. “Chef Schweska came home one day and remarked to his wife that he needed a new lunch item for the Leland Hotel’s restaurant menu. She had seen a recipe using Welsh rarebit sauce and suggested the possibility of an open-face sandwich using the sauce. Joe Schweska liked the idea and developed his own sauce and sandwich creation, ‘The Horseshoe’.” Dan Macey Horseshoe Original Sauce

Yield: About 15 servings Ingredients 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter 1½ teaspoon salt



HOT DISH

½ cup all-purpose flour 3 cups milk, divided 1½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon dry mustard 1½ pounds good sharp cheddar, grated 6 ounces beer, room temperature Directions 1. In a saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter and salt and add flour and whisk for several minutes to remove the raw flour taste. 2. Slowly add the milk and whisk gently. Whisk in the Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and dry mustard. 3. Continue to whisk, allowing sauce to thicken slightly. Then add the grated cheese in handfuls until melted. Add the beer and whisk until smooth. Further Reading Childers, Liz. 2014. “Fat Kid Fridays, April 11th Edition: The Week’s Most Ridiculous Eats, Ranked by Calorie Count.” Thrillist. April 11. https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/fat-kid -friday-horseshoes-cinnamon-roll-breakfast-sandwich-mariners-stadium-april-11th. Glatz, Julianne. 2012. “What Happened to Horseshoes?” Illinois Times. February 2. http:// illinoistimes.com/article-9620-what-happened-to-horseshoes-.html. Sangamon County Historical Society. 2013. “The Horseshoe Sandwich.” 2013. October 24. http://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=2067. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 2009. 500 Things to Eat Before It’s Too Late and the Very Best Places to Eat Them. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Stern, Michael. 2017. “Ritz’s.” Roadfood. Accessed September 28. https://roadfood.com /restaurants/ritzs. Stradley, Linda. “Horseshoe Sandwich Recipe and History.” What’s Cooking America. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/HorseshoeSand wich.htm. Zvereva, Stevie. 2014. “Follow That Horse . . . Shoe!” Art & Society. August 20. http://www​ .peoriamagazines.com/as/2014/sep-oct/follow-horseshoe.

HOT DISH On a freezing day in the Upper Midwest, a type of creamy meat and vegetable casserole topped with Tater Tots and known as “hot dish” brings great joy to hearty folks, especially to those needing to prepare a tasty, nutritious, convenient, simple, thrifty, mix-it-together meal while on a busy schedule, and especially on those occasions calling for potluck or picnic comfort food contributions. Whether it be the famed Tater Tot hot dish so loved by the Norwegian bachelor farmers of Garrison Keillor’s mythical Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, or the delicious deluxe North Dakota funeral hot dish served in the church hall of a Swedish Lutheran congregation, hot dish warms the bodies and hearts of Midwesterners gathered for whatever

171

172

HOT DISH

occasion in Minnesota, western Wisconsin, northern Iowa, and eastern North and South Dakota. In short, says Star Tribune columnist Sharyn Jackson, in the Midwest, “hot dish is not just dinner; it’s a way of life” (Jackson 2015). She notes that hot dish welcomes, comforts, and provides sustenance, survival, and social glue wherever Midwesterners gather. And, since most hot dishes can be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen until needed, they are instantly and conveniently available on short notice. The classic post–World War II Tater Tot hot dish combines a can of Campbell’s cream of something soup (from 1934 onwards, usually cream of mushroom soup, aka “Lutheran binder”) with “some hamburger” (i.e., ground beef), “some” frozen Tater Tots, “some” frozen vegetables, maybe “some” cheddar cheese, and milk, and an onion, mixed together in a two-quart casserole dish, which is then baked in a “moderate oven” for an hour “or until taters are brown and crusty.” (“Tater Tots®” is a registered trademark of the Ore-Ida division of Kraft Heinz that is used generically in the vernacular of hot dish country.) Ingredients, amounts, proportions, and cooking times vary from dish to dish, from day to day, from cook to cook, and from congregation to congregation, as do the punchlines of the many Tater Tot hot dish jokes. Minnesotans and Wisconsinites often upscale their basic Tater Tot hot dish offerings with the addition of their states’ famous mahnomin (i.e., wild rice), resulting in a tasty, high-end wild rice hot dish delight highlighting the region’s native grain. Prior to the arrival of Campbell’s condensed cream soups in 1934, and Tater Tots in 1953, hot dish aficionados relied heavily on noodles, macaroni, and sometimes rice. The first recorded hot dish recipe is most often said to be that appearing in the 1930 Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid Cookbook from Mankato, Minnesota, a recipe calling for two pounds of hamburger, Creamette® brand elbow macaroni, and canned peas (Heffelfinger 2015). Little research has been done on hot dish. While hot dish is commonly associated with Scandinavian Lutherans, its initial popularity may actually have been fostered by events surrounding the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II (1939 to 1945). The documentary Minnesota Hotdish: A Love Story suggests that the now iconic fare first became a staple during the Great Depression when it was popularized as an inexpensive yet nourishing way to feed a family when food and fuel were scarce. Government and food industry home economists and nutritionists distributed recipes for casseroles, and newspapers printed suggestions for low-cost meals, while cooking en casserole became a favorite topic of food columnists, further entrenching hot dish as the Midwestern go-to all-in-one nutritious meal. Tom Isern, professor of history and University Distinguished Professor at North Dakota State University, specifically questions the idea that the hot dish “is a particularly Lutheran (or Norwegian or Swedish or German) institution” (Isern 2003). Professor Isern investigated this notion in the collections of the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University and discovered that “well into the twentieth century, hot dishes were almost unknown in Lutheran circles” (Isern 2003). Professor Isern continues on to note, “Where hot dishes first showed up was in the cookbooks of Anglo-American women in such institutions as the Federated



HOT DISH

Hot dish in a common form, with crispy, golden brown tater tots covering the filling of ground beef, cheese, mixed vegetables, and condensed soup. (Dreambigphotos/Dreamstime.com)

Women’s Clubs. The convenient casserole resulted from the drive for efficiency and timesaving in the kitchens of women with English surnames. Lutherans and other descendants of more recent immigrants adopted hot dish ways later” (Isern 2003). Lamenting that hot dish proliferation has today “gone too far,” Professor Isern proposes a “Lutheran Recipe Factory Formula” for hot dish creation: Simply choose your ingredients from three groups, taking care to include at least one from each group. Group 1: Bulk. This includes hamburger meat, tater tots, canned tomatoes, canned pork & beans, frozen mixed vegetables, elbow macaroni, fruit cocktail and Rice Krispies®. Group 2: Lubricants. Select from cream of mushroom soup, cream of celery soup, cream of chicken soup, Cheez Whiz®, ketchup, evaporated milk, butter and more butter. Group 3: Fancy Stuff. Here add chocolate chips, marshmallows, Jell-O®, M&Ms®, pimento-stuffed olives and canned French-fried onions. Have I left anything out? Whatever, throw that in, too. (Isern 2003)

Experienced Midwestern cooks have followed at least the spirit of Professor Isern’s approach for generations. Catholics, although usually having an entire section of meatless hot dish recipes in their church cookbooks, most often turn to tuna hot dish with crushed potato chips on top for their meatless Friday and Lenten meals. And as author Theresa Millang notes, “As the years marched on, Minnesota, a heavily Scandinavian populated state, began to incorporate other foods in new hot dishes. Tex-Mex became very popular. Then came Cajun, Creole, tofu, Southern,

173

174

HOT DISH

and more Chinese hot dishes. The possibilities are endless” (Millang 2000, 2–3). Minnesota Spam hot dish, however, remains an “acquired taste” for many. For generations, family-favorite hot dishes have been satisfying hearty Midwesterners. Everyone, of course, thinks their hot dish is exceptional, although folks in small communities do allow modest recognition of hot dish virtuosos. All agree, however, that the best hot dish is that which their mother made. While no state, Midwestern or otherwise, is brazen enough to claim hot dish as its state food—hot dish eaters most often tending to be on the modest and shy side—individuals in the food and beverage industry have proposed the fourth Sunday in September (by which time the weather has cooled to prime hot dish– eating temperatures) as official Hot Dish Day in Minnesota—no doubt a prelude to its eventual canonization as the Official State Food. It is inevitable that hot dish enmeshes Midwestern politics. One finds hot dish ever-present on campaign trails. Sporting the motto, “Working together to improve the lives of Minnesotans, one hot dish at a time,” the Minnesota Delegation of the United States Congress each year hosts an annual hot dish competition, under the leadership of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.). The 2016 winner of the sixth annual Hot Dish Off, an entry by Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.)—“Tim’s Turkey Taco Tot Hotdish”— was a bipartisan culinary success. Sen. Franken’s second-place “Land of 10,000 Calories Hotdish” and Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) third-place “Babe the Brew Ox Steak and Ale Hotdish” bested Rep. Betty McCollum’s (D-Minn.) “Making Hotdish Great Again Hotdish,” which, although it fared only as runner-up in the contest, will no doubt become a favorite of the Trump administration (KARE-TV 2016). Hot dish inspires Midwestern politics as well as church and civic cookbooks, songs (“Jean Redpath & Garrison Keillor” 2012), literature (Cooney 2013; Dennis 2000), poetry (Dennis 2005), film (Bartholdi 2013), ceramic arts (Minnesota Northern Clay Center 1995), fabric and fiber arts (Atkinson 2000), comedy (Bartholdi 2013; Mohr 2013), souvenirs and hot dish kitsch (Minnesota Historical Society 2017), and even a “Minnesota Nice Hot Dish Red” wine “which pairs really well with tater tot hot dish” (Chaffins 2014). Midwesterners feed on hot dish, whether it be Spam Tater Tot hot dish, potluck hot dish, breakfast hot dish, funeral hot dish, congressional competition hot dish, unexpected company hot dish, baby shower hot dish, brunch hot dish, or Minnesota nice neighbor-is-sick hot dish (Millang 2000, 2). Our favorite State Fair food? Ole and Lena’s Tater Tot Hot Dish on a Stick, of course. In short, in the Midwest, hot dish is not just dinner; as they say, “It’s a way of life!” Timothy G. Roufs The Campbell Girls’ Tater Tot Hot Dish

Yield: 4-6 servings Ingredients 1 pound ground beef 1 onion, chopped 1 can mixed vegetables (or 16-ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables)



HOT DISH

16 ounces frozen Tater Tots 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 can milk Directions 1. Brown beef and onion. 2. Transfer to 9×13-inch baking dish. 3. Mix up the milk and soup, then stir in the vegetables. Add remaining ingredients to the baking dish and top with frozen Tater Tots. 4. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour or until Tater Tots are brown and crusty. Recipe adapted from Feasts from Friends (Winsted, MN: St. Martha’s Society Cook Book Committee, Holy Trinity Church, 1971), p. 219. Recipe originally submitted by Mrs. Milo “Keene” Kubasch. Further Reading Atkinson, Terry. 2000. Minnesota Hot Dish. Elk River, MN: Atkinson Designs. Bartholdi, Maria. 2013. Minnesota Hotdish: A Love Story. KSMQ Public Television. https:// vimeo.com/65158243. Burckhardt, Ann. 2006. Hot Dish Heaven: Classic Casseroles from Midwest Kitchens. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. Chaffins, Amy. 2014. “Hot Dish: Should It Be Our State Food?” Echo Press. September 26. http://www.echopress.com/content/hot-dish-should-it-be-our-state-food. Cooney, Jeanne. 2013. Hot Dish Heaven: A Murder Mystery with Recipes. St. Cloud, MN: North Star Press. Dennis, Pat. 2005. Hotdish Haiku. Richfield, MN: Penury Press. Dennis, Pat. 2000. Hotdish to Die For. Minneapolis, MN: Penury Press. Heffelfinger, Julia. 2015. “The History of Hot Dish.” Food & Wine. December 30. http://www .foodandwine.com/blogs/history-hot-dish. Isern, Tom. 2003. “Plains Folk: Hot Dishes.” North Dakota State University news release. February 14. http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extnews/newsrelease/2003/021303/04plains​ .htm. Jackson, Sharyn. 2015. “Let’s Dish on Hot Dish, Minnesota’s Homegrown Casserole.” Star Tribune. April 22. http://www.startribune.com/let-s-dish-on-hot-dish-minnesota-s -homegrown-casserole/300937641. “Jean Redpath & Garrison Keillor: ‘Tuna, the Food of My Soul.’ ” 2012. YouTube. September 27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzyI_Hh8ufI. KARE-TV. 2016. “Walz Wins Congressional Hot Dish Contest.” May 11. http://www.kare11​ .com/news/walz-wins-congressional-hot-dish-contest/185522156. Millang, Theresa. 2000. Great Minnesota Hot Dish: Your Cookbook for Classic Comfort Food. New York: Adventure. Minnesota Historical Society. “Minnesota Hotdish Towel and Hot Pad.” Accessed January 31, 2017. http://shop.mnhs.org/products/minnesota-hotdish-towel-and-hot-pad. Minnesota Northern Clay Center. 1995. Minnesota Hot Dish: March 10–April 28, 1995 (Exhibition Catalog). St. Paul, MN. Mohr, Howard. 2013. How to Talk Minnesotan: Revised for the 21st Century. New York: Penguin Books.

175

176

HUCKLEBERRY ICE CREAM

Nehil, Tom. 2013. “Minnesota Hotdish: The Documentary.” MinnPost. May 2. https://www .minnpost.com/minnclips/2013/05/minnesota-hotdish-documentary. Schmierbach, Edie. 2016. “Mankato Cookbook Credited with Printing First Hot Dish Recipe.” Mankato Free Press. February 21. http://www.mankatofreepress.com/news​/local_news /mankato-cookbook-credited-with-printing-first-hot-dish-recipe/article_889f7bf6 -d436-11e5-bfd0-0fb51ed60de6.html. Tran, Lina. 2016. “Everything You Need to Know about Hotdish.” Eater. May 15. http:// www.eater.com/2016/5/15/11611558/what-is-hotdish.

H U C K L E B E R RY I C E C R E A M Huckleberry ice cream is a regional and seasonal specialty of the Western United States, mainly found in the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, and Montana, where huckleberries are a native plant species. There are several species of huckleberry, but those used in this specialty ice cream are, at peak ripeness, slightly larger and darker in appearance than blueberries. Because they flourish in coastal and mountainous terrains and have not been commercially cultivated, huckleberries are viewed as a delicacy, and ice cream made from the berries is not typically shipped outside of the berry-growing regions. A number of ice cream manufacturers feature the huckleberry flavor, but like many regional specialties, small-scale producers and home cooks keep the tradition alive. Oregon coast–based Tilamook’s Mountain Huckleberry features a huckleberry ribbon swirled into a base of vanilla ice cream, one of the few large-scale commercial producers to use real huckleberries in its recipe (most use blueberries, or “natural and artificial flavors”). Huckleberries played an important role in traditional Native American foodways, with the sweet-tart berries being eaten fresh and, more importantly, dried. The dried fruits provided a sweet snack on their own, but they were also preserved in the form of pemmican, a prototypical protein bar composed of lean meat, fat, and berries or other fruits that provided much-needed energy through food-scarce winter months. In addition to its position as a key ingredient in indigenous cuisine, the roots, leaves, and flowers of the huckleberry plant were used for a number of medicinal purposes, for joint pain, blood purification, and colic in infants. Native peoples viewed the huckleberry not only as a culinary and medicinal staple, but also as a culturally significant product: Harvesting season was a time of both spiritual and social connection in many tribal communities. The short growing season and delicate nature of huckleberries means they lend themselves to preservation of all types, which in modern regional cultural food traditions comes in the forms of jams and syrups; it is also used as a flavor base for other products, such as honey and barbecue sauce. Roadside stands in Western states tout these local shelf-stable specialties, and in some cases, the more volatile preservation method of freezing is on display in the form of ice cream. The quintessential American dessert, ice cream has been a popular frozen treat throughout the nation’s history, with summertime marking prime time for its consumption. American vacationers visiting such Western landmarks as Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park can stop for a cup or cone of huckleberry ice cream at any number of shops or restaurants featuring the specialty.



HUCKLEBERRY ICE CREAM

The naturally sweet and, some might argue, cheerful disposition of the fruit is represented in a number of popular cultural works, including the wistful “Moon River,” popularized by Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in which she croons over her “huckleberry friend” on the balcony, and the western Tombstone, with Doc Holliday’s tongue-in-cheek self-introduction, “I’m your huckleberry” (i.e., the man for the job), during his standoff with Johnny Ringo. The ultimate huckleberry reference, though, is Mark Twain’s classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which the titular character represents the evolving consciousness of a nation with regard to race and morality. The all-American mystique around the huckleberry is evidenced in the nostalgic way in which it is viewed: the revered berry continues to hold a special place in traditional first fruit ceremonies on tribal lands and in heritage festivals celebrating mid-19th-century pioneer days alike. Brandie Roberts Huckleberry Ice Cream

Yield: 1½ pints Ingredients for huckleberry compote Water, enough to cover bottom of saucepan ¹⁄³ cup sugar Pinch of sea salt 2 cups huckleberries, fresh or defrosted 1 teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed Ingredients for ice cream base 2 cups heavy cream ²⁄³ cup sugar ¹⁄8 teaspoon sea salt 6 large egg yolks Directions 1. In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine water, one-third cup sugar, pinch of salt, and huckleberries. Cook over medium heat for 10–12 minutes, stirring and slightly mashing so most berries break down but some remain whole. 2. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Set aside and allow to cool completely while preparing ice cream base. 3. In a separate small pot, simmer cream, two-thirds cup sugar, and one-eighth teaspoon salt until sugar completely dissolves, about five minutes. 4. Remove pot from heat and set aside. 5. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks until smooth. Whisking all the while, slowly pour about a third of the hot cream into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream.

177

178

HUSH PUPPIES

6. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook, stirring constantly to avoid curdling, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. 7. Strain custard mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. 8. Stir compote into ice cream base to combine, and set aside to cool. Once at room temperature, cover and chill for four hours or overnight. 9. Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Store in freezer to harden, or serve directly from ice cream maker for soft serve. Further Reading Hedrick, U. P. 1922. Cyclopedia of Hardy Fruits. New York: MacMillan. Hummer, Kim E. 2013. “Manna in Winter: Indigenous Americans, Huckleberries, and Blueberries.” Horticultural Science 48 (4): 413–417. Quinzio, Jeri. 2009. Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making. Berkeley: University of California Press.

HUSH PUPPIES Hush puppies are fried dumplings made from cornmeal batter. This popular American side dish is generally associated with Southern cooking and is typically paired with fried fish, notably fried catfish. Looking into the source of the term “hush puppy” reveals a multitude of lively folk stories. Geographic regions in the United States tend to have their own particular versions of hush puppy recipes, as well as their own legends as to why they are named “hush puppies.” Even the shape in which they should be formed before frying is subject to dispute. The most widespread account of how hush puppies came about is that Confederate soldiers tossed bits of fried corn batter to the dogs in their encampment, hoping to quiet the animals’ barking or whining, and thereby escaping detection from Yankee forces. Another popular story is that huntsmen threw fried cornmeal scraps to their tracking dogs, bidding them to not alert prey to their presence. An alternate account derives from the notion that a cornmeal-based diet was long an indicator of poverty. Eating these bits of cornmeal batter or mush, fried in leftover fat, then, was a marker of a distinctly humble existence. Discreet Southern homemakers may have wanted to “hush” their liberal use of a lowly ingredient. Another version is due to the practice of hungry Southerners eating salamanders— catching the lizard-like creatures, coating them in cornmeal, and frying them. These “mud puppies,” as they were known, were a food borne of hardship, and perhaps their use was something to be “hushed” about. “Hush puppy” may instead have stemmed from the fact that fried cornmeal mush dishes were deemed “mush puppies.” Yet another theory is that the term is based on the French word hache, meaning “to cut up,” echoing the fact that the batter is derived from small scraps of dough. Or, sticking with a French flavor, some say that 18th-century French nuns in New Orleans popularized cornmeal croquettes, and the “hush puppy” name was later coopted to refer to them. The name, too, may even be a play on words, given that the dumplings were often eaten with catfish, meaning dogs and cats were put together on a plate.



HUSH PUPPIES

In colonial America, newly arrived settlers were not pleased with the ample use of corn in the diet of their adopted homeland. Colonists arrived prejudiced against corn, thinking it a staple food of the poor and a feed for swine. They craved the foods of their European roots and yearned for the light bread produced from wheat flour. Yet in the New World, corn proved to be nutritious, easy to grow, and easy to harvest. For the poor and for the enslaved, in particular, corn was essential. As settlers harnessed the potential of their new fields, however, wheat became more commonplace, especially for those of means. Some plantation owners allowed slaves access to a small plot of land on which they could grow corn. Some owners allotted a portion of corn to each slave family with which they could cook independently in their quarters. In the South particularly, various corn preparations such as hoecakes (cornmeal pancakes), pone (cornmeal and water), and ash cakes (cooked in the hot embers left from the fire used to prepare plantation meals) served as a means of survival. Food historian Adrian Miller writes that as the appeal of Southern food grew within the greater population, the origin stories of hush puppies became “whitewashed.” Enter the white Confederate soldier or hunter who accidentally discovered the usefulness of these little fritters, quickly cooked and made with minimal ingredients (Miller 2013, 198–199). In the psyche of popular culture, this version, starring white people, replaced the notion that hush puppies were once a subsistence food, derived from hungry slaves and sharecroppers, whose clever use of limited ingredients ensured their survival. And yet there is too the story that the term “hush puppy” was inspired by runaway slaves who employed the little treats to quiet pursuing bloodhounds. Hush puppies range in size from small balls to cylindrical thumb-shapes. Hush puppies traditionally have been fried in lard or bacon fat, yet many contemporary recipes employ vegetable oil instead. Numerous versions feature a spicy element, with jalapenos or hot sauce, and some contain beer or buttermilk. Hush puppy batter may have originally been made with the dustings left over after fish had been coated in cornmeal, and a modern fish fry is often considered incomplete if they are not included. One curious cultural aside is that of the shoe brand Hush Puppies. In 1957 the creators of America’s “first casual shoes” are said to have had a meeting in a seafood restaurant, and someone made the connection between the food they were eating (hush puppies) and their soft crepe shoes meant to soothe “barking dogs” (aching feet). Claire Stewart Hush Puppies

Yield: Approximately 3 dozen donut hole–sized hush puppies Ingredients 1 cup fine-ground yellow cornmeal ½ cup flour

179

180

HUSH PUPPIES

2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder Dash of hot sauce (more as desired for spiciness) 1 egg, beaten ½ cup milk 1 small onion, grated (may substitute with sliced green onion) Vegetable oil for frying Directions 1. In large bowl, mix together first six ingredients. In small separate bowl, combine hot sauce, egg, and milk. Fold these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add onion. Mix all, taking care not to overmix. 2. Heat oil. 3. Using teaspoons to form small balls of batter, drop gently into hot oil. Using slotted spoon, roll hush puppies around in oil in order for them to brown evenly. Cook until brown. Hushpuppies will have to be quite brown in order for the inside to be cooked through. 4. Blot on paper towel to drain excess grease. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Serve hot. Further Reading Jurafsky, Dan. 2015. The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Miller, Adrian. 2013. Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. O’Connell, Libby Haight. 2014. The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

I INSECTS The human consumption of insects and arachnids, known scientifically as entomophagy, has been a customary dietary practice worldwide for millennia. Today, although insects are eaten in a majority of the world’s nations, most people in Western countries typically view entomophagy with disgust and associate eating insects with primitive behavior or famine. Contrary to conventional thinking, insects are not eaten only in times of food scarcity by hunter-gatherers. Many modern cultural communities eat insects out of choice, because bugs are plentiful, palatable, and nutritious. Farming insects also has low environmental costs in comparison to industrial animal husbandry. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has documented more than 1,900 known species of insects that are edible to humans (FAO 2013, xiii). Globally, the most commonly consumed insects are beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, cicadas, termites, dragonflies, houseflies, butterflies, moths, and cockroaches. Most edible insects are harvested in the wild. However, some insect species, such as bees and silkworms, have a long history of domestication because they produce valuable commodities like honey and silk. After being harvested, insects can be processed and consumed in three ways: as whole insects; in ground or paste form; and as an extract of protein, fat, or fiber used to fortify conventional foods. Edible insects may be purchased live, frozen, and ready-to-eat online, at ethnic markets, and in restaurants. The taste of insects has variously been compared to nuts, popcorn, broccoli, crabmeat, eggs, honey, bacon, Gorgonzola cheese, and chicken. Insects also take on the flavor of spices and seasonings. Insects are a very nutritious food. They are particularly high in protein, at levels comparable to beef and milk, as well as unsaturated fats, at levels comparable to fish. Insects are also rich in essential amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids, prebiotic fiber, B vitamins, and minerals including zinc, copper, potassium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, selenium, iron, and calcium. The nutritional value of edible insects is highly variable because of the wide range of edible insect species. Even within the same species, nutritional value may differ depending on the metamorphic stage of the insect, the habitat in which it lives, and its diet (FAO 2013, xiv). The earliest written reports of entomophagy can be found throughout religious literature in the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths. Even before biblical times, cave paintings in Altamira, Spain, which have been dated from about 30,000 to 9,000

182

INSECTS

Fried crickets. With increased interest in sustainable sources of protein, these insects may become increasingly common as an ingredient in American food products, or eaten as is. ­(Jonathan Hugo Jiménez Gómez/Dreamstime.com)

BCE, depict the collection of edible insects. In ancient Greece, cicadas were considered a delicacy, while in ancient Rome, cossus, the larva of the longhorn beetle, was a highly coveted dish. During the eighth century, Middle Eastern elites dined on locusts at royal banquets. Insects also played an important role in foodways and medicine during the Ming dynasty in China (FAO 2013, 40). It was not until the 19th century that the Western world grew familiar with entomophagy. Explorers’ accounts of Africa that featured stories of insect-eating, such as those by David Livingstone, were instrumental in introducing the practice to the West (FAO 2013, 41). Until recently, negative perceptions about insects as pests or vermin have been entrenched in Western societies. These attitudes have been changing in the last few years of the sustainable food movement. Insects are a more ecologically sustainable food source than meat and poultry. They require less energy and water than conventional livestock and produce less waste and fewer greenhouse gas emissions (FAO 2013, xiii). New technologies are being developed to produce insect-based meat substitutes and protein-fortified dry products, including cereals, bars, and snack foods. Some American restaurants, especially those serving Latin American and Asian cuisine, increasingly offer insects on their menus (Dossey 2013). Food writers and nutritionists currently describe edible insects as “the new sushi.” Before the 1980s, most Americans would not consider eating raw fish, but today sushi is one of the most popular takeout foods nationwide. This trend might also occur for insects, considering that they are closely related to shrimp, crab, and lobster, which are delicacies in American cuisine. James Martin Moran

INSECTS

Dry-Roasted Chili-Lime Crickets

Crickets are probably the most commonly eaten insects in North America. They can be fried, boiled, sautéed, and even milled into flour. When roasted, crickets have a pleasant, nutty flavor. Yield: 2–4 servings Ingredients 50 raw crickets 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice Directions 1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Gently combine crickets, soy sauce, and chili powder in a large bowl. 3. Wrap crickets tightly in foil. 4. Place on top oven rack and bake for 10 minutes. 5. Open foil, give the crickets a shake, and bake for three to five more minutes until dry, golden brown, and fragrant. 6. Remove legs and wings (optional). 7. Sprinkle with lime juice. 8. Serve as a snack or appetizer. Adapted from a recipe by Ana Day. Further Reading Anderson, Matt. 2015. “Top 50 Edible Insects List.” Bugs for Dinner. May 9. http://www​ .bugsfordinner.com/top-50-edible-insects-list-981626.html. Boboltz, Sara. 2014. “Here’s Why You Should Start Eating (More) Bugs.” Huffington Post. February 10. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/10/eating-bugs-food_n _4726371.html. Borel, Brooke. 2015. “The Rise of the Incredible Edible Insect.” Popular Science. May 12. http://www.popsci.com/rise-incredible-edible-insect. Capinera, John L. 2006. Encyclopedia of Entomology. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. Day, Ana C. 2015. “A Beginners Guide to Roasting Insects.” Grub. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://www.eatgrub.co.uk/recipes/roasting-insects. Dicke, Marcel. 2010. “Why Not Eat Insects?” TEDGlobal 2010. http://www.ted.com/talks /marcel_dicke_why_not_eat_insects. Dossey, Aaron T. 2013. “Why Insects Should Be in Your Diet.” February 1. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34172/title ­ /Why-Insects-Should-Be-in-Your-Diet. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2013. “Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security.” Accessed January 31, 2017. http://www​ .fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e.pdf. Gordon, David George. 1998. The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

183

184

INTESTINES

Oaklander, Mandy. 2015. “20 Delicious Bug Recipes from Chefs.” April 22. Accessed January 31, 2017. http://time.com/3830167/eating-bugs-insects-recipes. Radia, Shami. 2016. Eat Grub: The Ultimate Insect Cookbook. London: Francis Lincoln. Ramos-Elorduy, Julieta, and Peter Menzel. 1998. Creepy Crawly Cuisine: The Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects. Rochester, NY: Inner Traditions.

INTESTINES In the culinary arts, “intestines” typically refers to the small intestines of a mammal, such as a pig, cow, sheep, or goat. The small intestine in most mammals is located between the stomach and the large intestine. The organ is mainly responsible for absorbing nutrients and minerals from food after being processed in the stomach and prior to moving toward the large intestine, from where the food is later expelled from the body. In spite of being much longer than the large intestine, the small intestine is considerably narrower; hence its name. In the United States, the majority of intestines that are consumed come from pigs. Because of their role in the digestive process, intestines require a great deal of cleaning before being used for food, and this process—along with cooking—can produce a distinct aroma that some find pungent. Raw intestines can be found fresh or frozen in many grocery stores, particularly those in the southern United States or those catering to African American, Asian, or Latin American communities. Although intestines are mostly cleaned during commercial processing, many cooks insist on additional cleaning. Perhaps the most widespread use of intestines in this country is in the form of casings used in sausage making that hold together mixtures of meat, seasonings, and other ingredients. The casings do not consist of the entire intestine, but are made from the sub-mucosa, a layer within the intestine composed of collagen. The elasticity of the collagen allows for the meat inside the casing to expand and contract slightly during cooking or curing without bursting the sausage or forming large air pockets. It is also what gives the characteristic “snap” when you bite or cut through the finished product. Sausage making has been a part of cuisines around the world for thousands of years. Historical mentions of sausages exist as early as 3,000 BCE in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and later in China and Greece, around 600 to 500 BCE. These ancient people discovered that intestines were efficient receptacles in which to stuff scraps left over from the butchering process, decreasing the amount of food waste. Sausage making was and is a major part of the foodways of many European countries, and immigrants from these countries brought their recipes and techniques with them to the United States, where they became an integral part of American cuisine. Sage-seasoned breakfast sausage links find their origins in traditional English bangers, while German and Polish immigrants brought their bratwurst and kielbasa to the American table. One of the most iconic foods in American cuisine, the hot dog, also traces its lineage to Germany, where it is known as the Frankfurter. Italian immigrants gave American cuisine their sausages, along with pepperoni and salami, which have become indispensable pizza toppings and sandwich fillings. In

INTESTINES

Raw pork intestines, which are also called chitterlings or chitlins, ready for boiling. Once cooked, they will have a somewhat pungent flavor and a soft, chewy texture. (Woravit ­Vijitpanya/Dreamstime.com)

Louisiana, French-speaking Cajuns contributed their own sausage, andouille, to the local cuisine. Presently, many industrially produced sausages, including hot dogs, are made with artificial casings manufactured from collagen found in pig and cow skin, bones, and tendons. There is also vegetarian casing made from plant cellulose, as well as inedible plastic casing that is discarded prior to cooking or eating. Nevertheless, traditional sausage makers value natural casing from intestines, and artisanal and homemade sausages are still largely made using this material. Natural casings can be found at specialty meat markets and butcher shops and typically require soaking prior to being stuffed. In the southern United States and among African American communities throughout the country, pork intestines find their way into a dish called “chitterlings” or “chitlins.” The intestines are painstakingly cleaned, traditionally outdoors to prevent their distinctive smell from permeating the kitchen and house. They are then boiled, often with onions to further dull their aroma, for hours until tender. Chitterlings are typically served on their own, although adding a few dashes of hot sauce is a traditional embellishment. Occasionally, after being boiled, they are battered and fried and served with vinegar and hot sauce. Cooked chitterlings retain some of their pungent flavor, but their soft and slightly chewy texture is what is most valued among aficionados. Chitterlings’ association with African Americans largely comes from accounts of how pork meat was portioned out and distributed in plantation society. Many accounts of formerly enslaved people recall white masters reserving the flesh, often referred to as “the best parts,” for themselves while giving such items as feet, tails, ears, neck bones, and intestines to their slaves. Nevertheless, chitterlings became

185

186

INTESTINES

popular across races and socioeconomic strata, particularly during meager times. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit the South particularly hard, and many white Southerners enthusiastically embraced chitterlings during this time. However, after the economic hardships were over, white Southerners largely abandoned intestines, and the dish became associated almost exclusively with African Americans. The dish is not without its controversy, particularly after the civil rights movement of the 1960s. While some African Americans consider it a touchstone to their heritage and a testament to their community’s ingenuity, some consider it a backwards food that is used to paint a negative picture of their community as backwards or uncivilized. Nevertheless, chitterlings have persisted in American cuisine. They can presently be found in African American communities throughout the United States, primarily at restaurants specializing in soul food, although these types of restaurants have seen a decline in recent years. Chitterlings are still made in some African American homes, and in certain parts of the American South there are annual events where pork intestines are prepared and enjoyed. Many ethnic communities within the United States also have their own recipes involving intestines of different animals. A visit to a Latin American enclave can include sampling intestines stuffed with blood and sometimes rice, known as morcilla and popular among Latin Americans from various countries. Intestines can also appear in soups or stews, as a crunchy fried snack, or skewered and grilled over hot coals. Carlos Olaechea Chitlins

Yield: 20 servings Ingredients 5 pounds fresh or thawed pork intestines Half a white onion, peeled 2 cloves garlic, smashed Pinch of cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon salt Directions 1. Cut intestines into six-inch strips. 2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pork intestines and cook for five minutes. Drain. 3. Place drained intestines into a large bowl and cover with cold water. 4. With your fingers, poke through the intestines and draw out any foreign matter and extra fat. Do this under running water and rinse out each piece of intestine, cleaning out again with your fingers and rinsing until the piece is thoroughly cleaned. Place in a separate bowl. Repeat with remaining intestine strips.

INTESTINES

5. Fill bowl of cleaned intestines with cold water. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Drain water, and refill. Repeat this process until water is clear, at least three times. 6. When intestines are thoroughly cleaned, place them into a large pot and fill it with cold water. Bring pot to a simmer over medium-low heat. 7. After one hour, drain the pot and refill it with cold water. Add onion, garlic, cayenne pepper, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook until tender, about three hours. 8. Serve with hot sauce. Further Reading Allen, Gary. 2015. Sausage: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books. Edwards, Nina. 2013. Offal: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books. Miller, Adrian. 2017. Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Opie, Frederick Douglass. 2010. Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America. New York: Columbia University Press.

187

J J A M B A L AYA Jambalaya, a “composed rice” dish, is an iconic New Orleans food and common throughout the Gulf South. It combines poultry, sausage and/or ham, or shellfish with aromatic vegetables, hot peppers, and rice, and it is commonly referred to as “Creole jambalaya.” Every recipe includes some combination of spicy sausage, hot red pepper, cayenne, or green chilies. Additionally, recipes for “composed rice” dishes are most closely derived from the iconic Senegalese thiébou dienne, the ruddy rice and fish recipe often seen as the precursor of paella, another composed rice dish similar to Low Country pilau, or pilaf. These aspects refer back to West Africans’ use of hot peppers, and the superior skill in rice farming and cookery by Sene-Gambians, sought out by European colonizers. To analyze the dish, the word “Creole” must be addressed. Historically, as a noun, “Creole” referred to white European settlers born in a colonized country (especially those of Spanish or French origin), Caribbean peoples of European or African descent, persons of mixed ancestry in a former European colony, or black Africans born in the Americas. As an adjective, “Creole” distinguishes or complicates a dish’s origin, referring to a “Creole” area, or a mixture of influences, particularly French, Spanish, and African influences. Dr. Jessica B. Harris quotes Garcilaso el Inca, in the year 1602, as saying, “It’s a name that the negroes invented . . . it means negroes ‘born in the Indies,’ they invented it to distinguish those . . . born in Guinea from those born in America” (Harris 2012). In 1900, Lafcadio Hearn defined Creoles this way: “It only remains to observe that the Creoles of New Orleans and of Louisiana (whatever right any save Spaniards may originally have had to the name), are all those native-born who can trace their ancestry to European immigrants or to European colonists of the State, whether those were English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Russian, or Sicilian” (Hearn 2001). So origins of this dish are fraught. Etymological attempts to define the dish have often focused on linguistic cognates of the word “jambalaya.” “Jam” was ostensibly taken from the French jambon (ham) and “ya,” from aya or yaya, an African word for rice. Today this is seen as legend more than fact. Yaya, bayou patois for “everyone’s talking at once,” is linked to gumbo, yet in relation to either dish, it speaks to its diverse influences. This intervention introduces Cajun (Acadian) roots to the dish, which was further complicated by Hank Williams Jr.’s 1952 “Jambalaya (On the Bayou),” a Cajun rendition, since covered by numerous bands. Further study analyzed alternate spellings (jambon pilau, jabalaia, jombolaya, jumbalaya, and jumberlie), leading researchers to the non-cognate “jumble,” referring obliquely to the dish’s influences. The word “Creole” has come to mean more “muddled and impure.”

JAMBALAYA

The name seems closest to French-Provençal dialect, although the attribution to Frédéric Mistral’s 1878 citations link it to literature and language, wrongly identifying it as having Arabic roots. The oldest published recipes are from an African American living and cooking in San Francisco, Mrs. Abby Fischer’s 1881 “Jumberlie—A Creole Dish,” and Solon Robinson’s Mobile, Alabama, recipe “Hopping Johnny” from 1849. These predate the oft-named New Orleans versions: Madame Begué’s The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book (1901), and Lafcadio Hearn’s Creole cookbook (1885). The French etymology supports New Orleans cuisine’s Creole-French influence. Creole cooking was seen as refined, well-seasoned, delicate, and not spicy. Cajun cookery was more rustic and boldly spiced, as were West African influences, leaving jambalaya as a culinary conundrum. Scott A. Barton Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya

Yield: About 10 servings Ingredients 2 cloves minced garlic 4–6 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup chopped white onions ¼ pound hot spicy sausage, cut into half-inch pieces ½ cup green bell pepper, finely chopped ½ cup celery, finely chopped 1½ pounds Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped 1 teaspoon pimentón de la Vera 1 teaspoon salt 2 springs fresh thyme 1 pound large Gulf shrimp (16–20 count), skin on, vein removed 1 pound uncooked Carolina Gold rice 1–2 cups shrimp stock, vegetable stock, or water ¼ cup sliced scallions 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped Italian flat-leafed parsley Freshly ground black pepper to taste Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 2. Heat a six-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil to the pot. 3. Stir in the garlic and cook for one to two minutes until fragrant. Add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, five to seven minutes, stirring occasionally. 4. Add the sausage, bell pepper, and celery; cook, stirring, for another five minutes until the vegetables are soft and tender.

189

190

JAMBALAYA

5. Add the tomatoes and pimentón de la Vera. Stir the tomatoes to keep them from burning. Cook them for approximately 8–10 minutes until they are soft and jammy. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. 6. Add the rice and thyme sprigs, and stir to combine. Cook for five minutes, stirring to keep it from sticking. 7. Add the shrimp, herbs, and one-half to one cup of stock or water. Cover and place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. 8. Remove from the oven. Check the flavor and texture of the rice. If needed, add additional liquid, cover, and let steam off of the heat for eight minutes. Serve hot. Further Reading Begué, Elizabeth Kettenring, and H. M. Mayo. 1900. Mme. Begué and Her Recipes: Old Creole Cookery. San Francisco: Southern Pacific, Sunset Route. Bultman, B. E. 2006. “Who Saved Jambalaya?” Petits Propos Culinaires 80: 79–92. Burton, Nathaniel, and Rudy Lombard. 1978. Creole Feast: 15 Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets. New York: Random House. Harris, Jessica B. 2012. Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim. New York: Simon and Schuster. Hearn, Lafcadio. 1966. La Cuisine Creole: A Collection of Culinary Recipes. New Orleans, LA: F. F. Hansell. Hearn, Lafcadio, and S. Frederick. Starr. 2001. Inventing New Orleans: Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Olver, Lynne. 1999. “Jambalaya.” Food Timeline. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmeats .html#jambalaya. The Original Picayune Creole Cook Book: Reprinted from the Fifth Edition, Containing Recipes Using Wines and Liquors Customary before Prohibition. 1938. New Orleans: TimesPicayune. Robinson, Solon. 1971. Solon Robinson, Pioneer and Agriculturist; Selected Writings. St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press. Saxon, Lyle, Edward Dreyer, and Robert Tallant. 1998. Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales. Gretna, LA: Pelican. Sigal, A. 2007. “Jambalaya by Any Other Name.” Petits Propos Culinaires 84: 101–119.

K KENTUCKY HOT BROWN The Kentucky Hot Brown, an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in Mornay sauce, was originally created in the 1920s or 1930s as nourishment for after-midnight dancers at the famous upscale Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky (years vary, though the Brown Hotel Web site claims that it was the 1920s, while its J. Graham Café menu reads 1926). Chef Fred Schmidt gets the credit for this hearty, rib-clinging creation. The sandwich is certainly an American institution, and yet it is not commonly known outside the Kentucky–Indiana area unless, experience dictates, a person has traveled to or lived in the region and then brought a recipe with them when leaving. Once tried, the Hot Brown is not forgotten, and if not eaten late at night just before bed, it is usually served best with a post-indulgence nap. When Kentucky food and drink traditions are examined, the Hot Brown—along with bourbon, mint juleps, country ham, burgoo (originally a stew made with various varmints), spoonbread, and fried chicken—is almost sure to get a mention. Almost. Mario Batali offers a recipe for it in his Big American Cookbook: 250 Favorite Recipes from Across the USA (Batali 2016) with “roasted turkey breast.” The Rombauer–Becker clan includes it in Joy of Cooking—placed in the index under “Southern cuisine”; they call for “thinly sliced turkey” (Rombauer et al. 2006). But it is not everywhere it should be. Ironically, Mark Bittman ignores it in his apparently inappropriately named 2011 cookbook, How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food. Such an examination of “everything but the kitchen sink” cookbooks could go on, but the Kentucky Hot Brown remains both a ubiquitous delight in certain circles and an unknown commodity more generally. The Hot Brown contains two meats, turkey as the main, as well as bacon. Turkey is the key ingredient, the style of which appears to separate the highbrow Hot Brown from the lowbrow. The Brown Hotel, with table linens and other finery, serves its version with turkey breast meat that has been roasted in the oven while still on the bird, before being sliced onto the sandwich. In nearby Lexington (80 miles east of Louisville, straight down I-64), Ramsey’s Diner, the ever-popular Southern eatery chain, serves its excellent version with a middle-grade, thick-cut turkey luncheon-style meat. The Brown’s current version is served in a modern minimalist way, as something of a tower and with spare but significant use of sauce. As of this writing, the menu notes that it costs 17 dollars, takes 20 minutes to prepare, and comes with complimentary parking. It is delicious. The Ramsey’s version is $9.95 and also wonderful but very different. It is served diner-style, broiled to within an inch of its life. It does not reach for the sky, and it comes to the table bubbly and

192

KENTUCKY HOT BROWN

steaming with the ingredients all but indistinct from one another. Ramsey’s also serves a vegetarian version, with asparagus, mushrooms, and zucchini instead of turkey and bacon. Clearly, ingredients and preparations may vary. For its probable 90th year, in 2016 the Brown Hotel sold a $90 Hot Brown with gilded croutons; that same year, a Louisville girl won a recipe cook-off using Spam as the Hot Brown’s meat. Most Hot Browns will be made with, besides turkey (chicken breast may also be used) and bacon (or substitute country ham), white toast points, Mornay sauce, tomato, and a hard, grated white cheese of some kind (Parmesan Reggiano or, for a slightly stronger flavor, Pecorino Romano). Oddly, Joy of Cooking omits the cheese altogether. Some recipes call instead for cheddar cheese or a combination of cheddar and a white cheese. Chef Schmidt also made a Cold Brown, but it is nowhere to be found today, neither in cookbooks nor restaurants, so it appears to not have been a crowd pleaser. As we Americans seek to put all things in categories, the Hot Brown presents problems. As John Egerton, one of the founders of the influential Southern Foodways Alliance, puts it, “It’s hard to know how to classify a hot Brown [the capitalization of this dish is also not generally agreed upon] in a collection of recipes. It’s a sandwich, but not the handholding kind; with turkey and ham, it’s also quite definitely a meat dish; and it’s a casserole of sorts. We finally chose to put it here with cheese dishes because of the Cheddar and Parmesan” (Egerton 1993, 286–287). Ultimately, you should cook it at home and experiment, as any good cook does with a recipe. Jeff Birkenstein Kentucky Hot Brown

Yield: 1 serving Ingredients 1 slice white toast 4 ounces oven-roasted turkey breast ½ cup sautéed mushrooms ½ cup sautéed spinach 2 slices beefsteak tomato Mornay sauce to taste, made scratch from your favorite recipe. (This sauce may seem intimidating, but it is easy to make, and recipes abound on the Internet. It is essentially béchamel sauce with additional cheese and spices added [a pinch of ground red pepper and nutmeg]. The key is to have plenty of sauce, but you don’t want your sandwich to be absolutely swimming in the rich stuff. In a 2013 interview, former Brown Hotel executive chef Laurent Geroli said the hotel now adds heavy cream to the Mornay sauce, in addition to whole milk from the original recipe [Senyei 2013].)



KING CAKE

2 slices crisp bacon Cayenne and/or smoked paprika powder to taste Directions 1. Place the toast in an open ovenproof dish, pile all ingredients on the bread in the order listed above, and broil until the cheese and sauce are bubbly and browned. (Granted, the mushrooms and spinach might be seen as blasphemy by some, but recipes often benefit from some modernizing, and the mushrooms and spinach help to balance out the heavy cheese, meat, and sauce combination. Other variations would be excellent too.) Further Reading Batali, Mario, Jim Webster, and Quentin Bacon. 2016. Big American Cookbook: 250 Favorite Recipes from Across the USA. New York: Grand Central Life & Style. Bittman, Mark. 2011. How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Egerton, John. 1993. Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Green, Maggie. 2016. Tasting Kentucky: Favorite Recipes from the Bluegrass State. Helena, MT: Farcountry Press. Rombauer, Irma S., Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, and John Norton. 2006. Joy of Cooking. New York: Scribner. Senyei, Kelly. 2013. “Home of the Hot Brown Sandwich: Kentucky Derby.” Epicurious. https:// www.epicurious.com/archive/holidays/kentucky/hot-brown-sandwich-brown-hotel.

KING CAKE The king cake is the American version of the European Twelfth Night cake. King cakes are primarily made and eaten in Louisiana. The cakes are eaten during Epiphany, which lasts from Twelfth Night to Mardi Gras and officially ends on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Several countries have different versions of Twelfth Night cake, including galette des rois in France, Dreikönigskuchen in Germany/Bavaria, the black bun in Scotland, bolo rei in Portugal, and rosca de reyes in Spain and Mexico. The Twelfth Night cake is an important part of the Twelfth Night celebration, which, in Christian tradition, commemorates the Three Wise Men/Magi/Kings that visited baby Jesus on the twelfth night after he was born. However, the celebration of Twelfth Night has its roots in an ancient Roman festival called Saturnalia, a pre-Christian harvest and winter solstice celebration held throughout the Roman Empire. It celebrated Saturn or Saturnus, the god of agriculture, and the king of Rome’s Golden Age. During the festival, whoever found the single bean in a special galette (a flat, round, crusty cake) became the king of the festival. The tradition of electing a mock king carried over to the Middle Ages in the form of the Twelfth Night king. He was called the Lord of Misrule, and he presided over all the festivities with his accomplice, the boy bishop. All in attendance were subject to the mock king’s whims as a way of celebrating the end of the Christmas season. People masqueraded, danced, cross-dressed, and gambled.

193

194

KING CAKE

King cake sliced to show the doll that is traditionally baked inside. (Kathrine Martin/Dreams​ time.com)

Every Twelfth Night cake contained at least one object. The object could be anything (pea, coin, nut, etc.), but the bean was the most traditional option. The finder was the king, and he was given the opportunity to choose his queen. In some places the cake also included a pea. The finder of the pea became the queen, while the finder of the bean became the king. If the woman found the object, she could choose her own king, and vice versa. The king and queen could direct others to do their bidding for the rest of the night. Sometimes a clove would be baked into the cake as well, and its recipient would be the jester. This particular tradition originated around the 16th century. In the 19th century, when picking up the Twelfth Night cake from the baker, one could buy a set of cards that contained a set of court characters. Once the king and queen had been discovered, a hat was passed around with the cards, and everyone would pick one, getting their character for the evening. At first, characters were famous historical people or heroes from stories and legends, but eventually specific characters were invented. Some cakes contained honey, flour, ginger, and pepper, while English cakes had raisins in them. Similar Epiphany kings and cakes can be found in Holland and Germany. The German Dreikönigskuchen is encased in a gold paper crown. There’s also the King of the Bean in Italy, but there is no Twelfth Night cake or king in Eastern Europe. European Twelfth Night cakes don’t differ much from their medieval predecessors.



KING CAKE

American Twelfth Night cake, the king cake, has its roots in Creole tradition. The Spanish and French who settled in Louisiana combined their cake traditions, so that the Twelfth Night cake was served on January 6, the day that the Spanish celebrated their King’s Day, le jour des Rois. Gifts were given on King’s Day in memory of the gifts the Wise Men gave, and it was called le petit Noël (little Christmas). They also adopted the Spanish custom of throwing large, lavish balls that night, when a king and queen were chosen for the week. A large feast would be held in one of the manors of the wealthier families. Choosing the king was done by cutting the king cake, a huge, ring-shaped cake made of brioche batter that was decorated with bonbons, dragées, caramels, and whatever else they felt like. When the clock hit midnight, everyone would be seated around the table, and the cake was brought in and cut into as many slices as there were guests. The cake was covered with a napkin while cut, as a precaution in case the person slicing the cake accidentally hit the inserted object and had to move the knife over. Guests ate their cake while drinking champagne, until someone found the trinket, usually a diamond ring. If a lady found the item, she would choose her king by giving him a bouquet of violets (which was always provided with the cake). If it were a man, he would have all the ladies take a turn round the parlor, which was called le tour du salon. He’d give the flower in his lapel to the lady of his choosing, and if it happened to be a ring in the cake, he would give her that too. After the king and queen had been chosen, a grand ball was given at the home of the queen. The king was expected to cover all expenses, regardless of whether or not he found the bean or was chosen by his queen. During the course of the week, he would also present the queen with some jewels, which is where the custom of Carnival kings giving queens jewels comes from. This was repeated every week until Ash Wednesday, and eventually this tradition became the Carnival season. In 1871, organizers of Mardi Gras celebrations picked their queens using the Twelfth Night cake method. This stuck, and every year the queen is chosen the same way. The cake is decorated with icing dyed purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. The krewe of Rex, a parade organizer, chose the colors in 1872 for that year’s festival, and they have been colored so ever since. Traditionally, the cake contains one red bean, sometimes covered in gold or silver leaf, and a tiny figurine of baby Jesus. Whoever finds the object is promised good luck for the rest of the year and has to hold the king cake party next Epiphany. The finder of the object was considered very lucky. If it happened to be a bean and had been found by the lady, she would cut it in two and give half to her king. If the man found the bean, it was kept as a talisman. Old Creole families kept their beans as a reminder of those wonderful times. Before the Civil War, the cakes often held gold, diamonds, or other valuables instead of beans. After the war, peas, beans, pecans, or coins were used. Esther Martin-Ullrich King Cake

Yield: 8 servings

195

196

KING CAKE

Ingredients ½ cup milk ¼ cup sour cream 1 package active dry yeast ¼ cup sugar 3 eggs 2½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 cup melted butter, divided ¼ cup bourbon ½ cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon King cake baby 1 cup powdered sugar Purple, green, and yellow sprinkles Directions   1. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, sour cream, yeast, and sugar. Allow the yeast to bloom for about 10 minutes.   2. Add eggs and half a cup of melted butter and whisk to combine.   3. Combine flour, salt, and nutmeg and stir into the wet ingredients. Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Proof the dough for two hours, or until doubled in size.   4. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining half-cup of softened butter, bourbon, brown sugar, and cinnamon.   5. Flour a work surface, and roll the dough into a 12×8-inch rectangle. Spread the butter and sugar mixture onto the dough in an even layer. Place the king cake baby somewhere on the filling.   6. Roll the rectangle into a log, like a jelly roll. Bring the two ends together to form a ring, pressing the ends together. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and proof for an hour.   7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  8. Place the king cake in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool.   9. In a small bowl, whisk powdered sugar with two tablespoons of water. Add water until a spreadable glaze forms. 10. Pour the glaze over the cake and top with sprinkles. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz.

KISHKE

Further Reading Hatic, Dana. 2017. “The King Cake Tradition, Explained.” Eater. January 11. https://www​ .eater.com/2017/1/11/14168802/king-cake-history. Thomson, Julie R. 2017. “Here’s Why There’s a Plastic Baby Jesus Hiding inside Your King Cake.” Huffington Post. March 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/plastic -baby-in-king-cake_us_58b433bde4b0780bac2b5fbb.

KISHKE Kishke (Slavic for “intestine”; occasionally spelled “kishka”) is a hearty dish identified with the Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jewish community, prepared according to kashrut dietary laws that forbid the consumption of pork or the mixing of meat and dairy. It is also known as “stuffed derma,” Derma being the German word for “intestine.” Kishke is traditionally made by filing the large intestine of a cow with a mixture of flour or matzo meal, onion, chicken fat, salt, and pepper. It is then boiled, baked, simmered, or fried before being sliced into rounds. Like haggis (sheep’s stomach stuffed with offal and onions), chitterlings (fried pork intestines), and other dishes crafted by the poor, kishke utilized an unwanted portion of an animal whose most coveted parts were consumed by the rich. The large intestine of a cow was perhaps the unkindest cut of all; in addition to having no meat, no bones, and no flavor, the preparation was extremely time-consuming, in that the thick casing had to be turned inside out and scrubbed for a very long while to remove both odor and debris. This large, starchy sausage dates to mid-18th-century Germany (Roden 2001, 148), where it was sometimes boiled or baked and then sliced and served as a side dish. More often, it was boiled in salted water for a few minutes, formed into a circular shape, and placed on top of the hearty Sabbath stew called cholent, traditionally prepared on Friday afternoon before sundown. The stew and kishke were left to cook overnight in the lowest possible oven, and served as the midday meal after synagogue on Saturday (Roden 2001,146). Jewish law prohibits cooking between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday; thus, a slow-cooked dish was a necessity in order to have a hot Saturday afternoon meal. Kishke became a part of the Sabbath tradition, and by extension, it became a mainstay of holiday and celebratory meals. German Jewish immigrants took their recipes along when they immigrated to America, and kishke became a staple of the Jewish sabbath and holiday homecooked meal. In the early part of the 20th century, some opened restaurants that introduced Ashkenazi cuisine to the world. Many were successful, and by the 1930s there were at least 1,500 Jewish delicatessens in New York City and kishke had become readily available outside of the home. In 1940, it was offered three ways at Moskowitz & Lupowitz, a popular New York City establishment: as a first course, or appetizer; as a side dish to roasted meats; or, when paired with another Ashkenazi dish, kasha varnishkes (bowtie pasta and buckwheat groats), as a main course. By mid-century, it would have been difficult to find a delicatessen menu in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Detroit, Montreal, or Chicago that didn’t offer it.

197

198

KISHKE

The “kishke king” of Brooklyn, Jack Sohn, owned a restaurant with a nine-foot sign implying that he served the best kishke of them all, but some would disagree. New York Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, reviewing Sammy’s Rumanian Steakhouse in 1976, said that the establishment served “the only really good stuffed derma (kishka) I’ve ever had in a restaurant, each slice of the paprika, flour and onion-filled casing having been broiled to prevent it from becoming soggy.” In recent decades, in spite of recipes recommending inedible synthetic casing, aluminum foil, or parchment paper to hold the filling in the shape of a sausage, popularity began to wane. Perhaps it was due to health concerns or simply shifting tastes, but as people stopped ordering kishke, it appeared less frequently on menus. Then the menus themselves began to disappear, as even iconic restaurants like the Stage and Carnegie delicatessens in Manhattan closed their doors. In a 2009 book about the demise of Jewish delicatessens, author David Sax defined kishke as “beef intestine stuffed with chicken schmaltz, matzo meal, and the traces of what were once vegetables, smothered in gravy to reach every last artery” (Sax 2010, 295). And historian Ron Rosenbaum said, “If you don’t know what it is, you don’t want to know” (Rosenbaum 2007). A two-ounce serving of kishke is 260 calories and contains 9.4 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbohydrates, and 1.3 grams of protein. There are minimal amounts of sugar, fiber, and iron. If beef casing is used, the nutritional value per serving is altered, but barely, with trace amounts of protein primarily in the form of collagen, fat, and residual salts. Susan Yager Kishke

Yield: 2–3 servings Ingredients 1 onion, chopped fine ¹⁄³ cup raw chicken fat, grated or chopped fine (or substitute cooking oil) 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon paprika Directions 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Mix all ingredients well, and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a sheet of aluminum foil, and shape into a sausage-like cylinder about eight or nine inches long. Tightly twist the ends of the foil to contain the mixture. 3. Bake for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes to one hour more, or until the kishke feels solid. 4. Open foil and return to oven for a few minutes, until the top is browned and crisp. Slice into rounds and serve with roast chicken or pot roast. Note: It may be possible to buy fresh, cleaned beef casings from a kosher butcher. For the filling, follow the recipe above. If you need more filling, the recipe can be

KOMBUCHA

doubled. Cut the intestine into two or three pieces. Tie the end of each segment with white sewing thread or kitchen string, fill loosely, and tie the other end. Use a fork to prick the casing in several places. Place the sausages in a baking dish with a little water or broth, and bake for one to two hours in a 350-degree oven until browned. Serve as above. Further Reading Roden, Claudia. 2001. The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York with More Than 800 Ashkenazi and Sephardi Recipes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Rosenblaum, Roger. 2007. “Where Is the Schmaltz of Yesteryear? Christmas Eve in a Jewish Delicatessen.” Slate. December 27. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2007 /12/where_is_the_schmaltz_of_yesteryear.html. Sax, David. 2010. Save the Deli: In Search of the Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of the Jewish Delicatessen. New York: First Mariner Books.

KOMBUCHA Kombucha is a bracing, fermented tea that originated in China during the Qin dynasty (250 BCE), where it was known as the recipe for immortality. Often incorrectly believed to derive from a mushroom, kombucha is a fungus clinically known as a zoogleal mat, brewed using a culture (SCOBY—“symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast”) that, when fully developed, resembles a flat mushroom or pancake. While kombucha has a small following in China, the beverage emerged in the early 2000s as a celebrity-driven health food fad in the United States. A biologically active beverage, kombucha is a celebrated folk remedy high in antioxidants, folic acid, B vitamins, amino acids, probiotics (like yogurt), and glucuronic acid (a liver detoxifier). It is said to increase energy and vitality and to cure everything from indigestion to cancer, although to date there have been no authoritative medical studies. Kombucha is not an herb, supplement, or drug. A jar of kombucha, in which the probiotic culture The tea begins with a komSCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) can bucha baby, or starter culture be seen. (Vitalii Shastun/Dreamstime.com)

199

200

KOOLICKLES

(the mother culture creates babies every seven to ten days), which is traditionally obtained by passing the culture among friends. The culture can also be purchased online. To make kombucha, the baby is added to a glass jar of room-temperature sweetened tea (caffeinated works best). The mixture is then covered with clean cheesecloth or a coffee filter, secured with a rubber band, and stored out of direct sunlight, at room temperature. After seven to ten days, when a creamy, gelatinous pancake has formed along the jar’s rim, the drink is ready. Refrigerated kombucha lasts up to five days. The mother may be reserved for future batches. Homemade kombucha is the most economical option, but making it takes time and care. Some supermarkets and health food stores carry ready-made kombucha. Popular brands in the United States include GT’s Kombucha and Kombucha Wonderdrink. Natalya Murakhver Further Reading Frank, Günther W. 1999. “Where to Get a Kombucha Starter Culture.” Kombucha Journal. http://www.kombu.de/source.htm. Organic Kombucha. “Kombucha Mushroom Tea Cultures Provides a Low Cost, Proactive Approach to Health & Wellness.” http://www.organic-kombucha.com. Pryor, Betsy. 2017. “Make Your Own Kombucha Tea Safely, Easily and Economically at Home.” Laurel Farms. http://www.laurelfarms.com.

KOOLICKLES “It’s all about the taste, crunch and color.” Country store countertops adjacent to cash registers often express preferred regional foodways. Local tastes may be reflected by handmade rice noodles, beef jerky, jarred pig’s feet, boiled eggs, preserved lemons, cured sausages, or over the last dozen or so years, candy-pickles, known as Koolickles. Visually, Koolickles may vaguely reflect Middle Eastern torshi, pickled turnips dyed red with beet juice, or the West Indian holiday sorrel punch, made from sweetened hibiscus tea, and sometimes laced with rum. These Mississippi Delta snacks consist of either sour, dill, or hot dill pickles steeped in a Kool-Aid–laced brine. Most recipes add sugar and red (strawberry or cherry) Kool-Aid to the existing salty-vinegary brine. Everyone experiments to find their favorite flavor combination and the best balance of sweet to sour to salt. Some DIY picklers prefer blue raspberry lemonade, tropical punch, orange, or grape Kool-Aid. Early adopters describe engineering peppermint stick holders for their pickles. In this case one end is bitten off, and the sweet candy is jammed lengthwise through the pickle. The candy cane–shaped peppermint stick’s hook becomes a handle to hold onto, or to suck on. The pickle’s flavor becomes a combination of sweet, sour, salty, and peppermint. According to NPR’s Jacki Lyden’s interview with Ms. Beverly Boddie, owner of Eastend Grocery in Cleveland, Mississippi, the turn to Kool-Aid began by boring the hole and filling the crevice with Kool-Aid powder.

KOOLICKLES

Reminiscent of now old-fashioned Lik-M-Aid packets, the sweet-tart center was a counterpoint to the salty-sour pickle. Quickly it became a straight line to adding sugar and powdered Kool-Aid packets to pickling brine and steeping the pickles at room temperature until their nubby skins glowed red, green, or gold. Southerners have long enjoyed bracingly sweet iced tea, soda pop, or Kool-Aid. This suggests an easy transition for white and black consumers to readily adopt this new snack, more commonly associated with African Americans. Koolickles arrived as an ingenious new trend in print in 2007. Someone may try another (healthier?) modification by substituting pomegranate or beet juice for Kool-Aid powder, similar to the aforementioned torshi. Others may believe that substituting corn syrup, agave syrup, or artificial sugars will demonstrably improve the flavor and lower Koolickles’ calories. However you produce this relatively inexpensive snack, kids are said to love them. Children have been known to make them for school or community fundraisers, sparking convenience store chains to market their own versions. Some people morph their Aussie burgers, usually garnished with sliced fresh or canned pineapple, pickled beets, and a fried egg, by substituting Koolickles for all but the egg. Soon after food writers and journalists spotted the trend, corporate food manufacturers jumped onboard. Kraft Foods has promoted them online since 2007. Scott A. Barton Kool-Aid Pickles

Yield: 10–12 pickles Ingredients 1 cup distilled white vinegar 4 cups water 1½ cups sugar 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon dill seeds 1 teaspoon mustard seeds 1 (13-ounce) envelope Kool-Aid cherry flavor unsweetened soft drink mix 2 pounds Kirby cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise Directions 1. In a large pot, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, dill seeds, mustard seeds, and Kool-Aid mix. Bring to a boil on high heat. 2. Place cucumbers into a large plastic container or glass jar. Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers. Seal the container or jar, allow to cool, and place in the refrigerator. Let sit for at least 24 hours before serving. Kool-Aid pickles can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz.

201

202

KOOLICKLES

Further Reading Carter, Ben. 2013. “How to Make Koolickles, Kool-Aid Soaked Pickles.” Serious Eats. April. http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/04/how-to-make-koolickles-kool-aid-pickles -memphis-tennessee.html. Edge, John T. 2007. “A Sweet So Sour: Kool-Aid Dills.” New York Times. May 8. http://www .nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09kool.html. Lyden, Jacki. 2007. “Pickles Steeped in Kool-Aid? Oh, Yeah!” National Public Radio. July 21. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12149848.

L LIVERMUSH Livermush is a loaf made of pork liver and cornmeal boiled together, allowed to set, then sliced and usually fried, preferably in lard or bacon grease. Other scraps of pork and head parts might be added to it, and spicing is usually salt, pepper, and sage. Calves’ liver sometimes replaces or supplements the pork liver. Part of a genre of foods made with ground or chopped offal and stretched with grains, livermush is sometimes called “liver pudding” and is sometimes confused with other types of liver puddings, headcheese, liverwurst, scrapple, and similar sausage-like mixtures. It tends to be a breakfast food, served with grits and eggs or between a sliced biscuit. It also can be a quick meal or snack, sliced cold or fried and used in sandwiches with mayonnaise or mustard. Livermush tends to appear primarily in central and western North Carolina and is usually served at home, in “down-home” eateries, or at places that usually serve quick and inexpensive food, such as gas stations and country stores. It is little known outside the South, and few Southerners outside the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Piedmont area of North Carolina seem to have actually experienced it. Grocery stores in that region carry commercially produced packages in the refrigerated meat sections. A number of diners in the city of Charlotte serve it, and at least three towns in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains—Shelby, Drexel, and Marion—hold annual festivals celebrating the food. It seems to be a highly localized food that seems to have faded away as American tastes moved away from organ meats. It also does not appear in accounts of African American or other non-European ethnicities in the South, nor on contemporary soul food menus. The origin of livermush seems to be German, specifically, Palatine Germans settling the Appalachian Mountains in the 1700s (Dabney 2010). A 2016 popular press article claims that it evolved from German pon hoss (pork scraps and buckwheat) (Rhew 2016). As German settlers came into western North Carolina via the “Great Wagon Road,” they replaced the buckwheat with the more commonly available cornmeal. A different theory is that it was introduced first into South Carolina in the 1700s by German settlers brought in specifically to be a buffer between British plantations and Native Americans. Most of the Germans moved on, but the Saxe Gotha settlement between the Broad and Saluda rivers succeeded and became known as Dutch Fork. Their tradition of liver pudding in a sausage casing with ground pork organ meats, rice, and red pepper may have led to livermush (Reenstjerna 2008). Livermush today carries a very local, regional association and is part of a tradition of home butchering and eating “everything except the squeal.” Jim Wayne

204

LIVERMUSH

Sliced, pan-fried livermush. Though sold in loaves, this mixture of pork liver and cornmeal is typically sliced and prepared as pictured. (Dale Haas)

Miller refers to it in his autobiographical novel: “Hog killing also provided us with a prepared food we called liver mush, which could be fried and served like pork sausage” (Miller 2005, 68). Joseph Dabney agrees: “Liver mush was one of the delicious byproducts of a hog-killing. A mountain delicacy, it was worked on a day or so later when the priority jobs had been taken care of” (Dabney 2010, 183). Livermush also brings together two basic staples of the South, and specifically of the Appalachian mountains—pork and corn—and along with salt-curing and smoking, it was another way of preserving meat. Although livermush can be made at home, it seems to be more commonly purchased premade. Several companies, all based in North Carolina, advertise it (Mack’s Liver Mush and Meats, Jenkins, and Hunter), and these commercial

Traditional Livermush The following is a basic traditional recipe for livermush, adapted from Dabney. Scald a pork liver and then cut it into small pieces and boil until tender. Grind the cooked liver, then add back into water. Bring to a boil, and add about a cup of cornmeal—as much as it takes to make it very stiff. Cook and stir. Season with red pepper, salt, and sage as desired. Pack into a loaf pan and chill, then slice and fry, preferably in bacon fat or lard. Optionally, an onion can be boiled and ground along with the liver.



LOCO MOCO

versions add some ingredients—pork broth, pork fat, pork rind, wheat flour, rice flour, caramel coloring—to the traditional pork liver and cornmeal. Salt, black pepper, a smidgen of red pepper flakes, and sage seem to be the standard spices. These commercial versions are all sold in the typical loaf form that can be sliced into half-inch rectangles. Recent trends in American food culture toward interest in regional dishes as well as more sustainable eating have recently garnered some attention for livermush, and several towns, eateries, and chefs are attempting to capitalize on this interest. Be that as it may, its name and primary ingredient make it a difficult food to sell to the American public. Lucy Long Further Reading Dabney, Joseph Earl. 2010. Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking. Naperville, IL: Cumberland House. Egerton, John. 2005. Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Long, Lucy M. 2009. Regional American Food Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Miller, Jim Wayne. 2005. “From Oats to Grits, Mutton to Pork: Northern British Foodways in Southern Appalachia,” pp. 59–71 in Ronni Lundy, ed., Cornbread Nation 3: Foods of the Mountain South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Neal, Bill. 1989. Bill Neal’s Southern Cooking. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Reenstjerna, Fred R. 2008. “Wie Geht’s, Y’All? German Influences in Southern Cooking,” pp. 270–272 in Dale Volberg Reed and John Shelton Reed, eds., Cornbread Nation 4: The Best of Southern Food Writing. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Rhew, Adam. 2016. “In North Carolina, Livermush Still Wins Hearts.” Eater. September 16. https://www.eater.com/2016/9/16/12921932/what-is-livermush-north-carolina.

LOCO MOCO Loco moco is a contemporary Hawaiian comfort food consisting of rice, a hamburger patty, and an egg (sunny side up), topped with gravy. It can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or as a snack. Variations of the dish may include (but are certainly not limited to) bacon, chili, ham, Spam, pork, linguiça (Portuguese sausage), teriyaki chicken, teriyaki beef, mahi-mahi, shrimp, or oysters, to name a few. It is considered a cultural emblem of the Hawaiian plate-lunch cuisine. There are two legends as to how the dish was named; both agree that it was created in 1949 at Nancy and Richard Inouye’s Lincoln Grill in Hilo, Hawaii. The first legend claims that that when Nancy Inouye threw the dish together as something the neighborhood kids would like and could afford, she asked her husband what they should call it, and Richard huffed that the kids were crazy, call it loco moco. The other story is that some local teenagers from the Lincoln Wreckers Sports Club seeking something other than American-style sandwiches and a quick meal (fast food) asked the owners of the Lincoln Grill to make something for them. One of the boys, George Okimoto, nicknamed “Crazy George” for the way he played football, was chosen to ask Nancy Inouye if she would put rice in a saimin bowl

205

206

LOCO MOCO

Loco Moco is a traditional Hawaiian dish consisting of a burger patty on rice with a fried egg and brown gravy sauce. (Anteroxx/Dreamstime.com)

with a hamburger patty and top it with gravy. She did and only charged 25 cents, which was actually cheaper than ordering a hamburger steak entrée. The kids made up the name: “loco” means crazy in both Portuguese and Hawaiian pidgin, and “moco” rhymed and the kids liked how it sounded, and so it was decided. It only got better when they realized that “moco” meant “snot” in Spanish! The fried egg was added later. The way the egg is prepared is even contested. Some loco moco purists claim that if the egg is prepared in any way other than sunny side up or over easy (the important part being the presence of a runny yolk), then it is not a true loco moco. At Honolulu’s Fifth Annual Rice Festival in 2014, Chef Hideaki Miyoshi of the Tokkuri Tei restaurant made the world’s biggest loco moco bowl, weighting 1,126 pounds. Miyoshi and his crew used over 600 pounds of rice, 200 pounds of ground beef, 300 scrambled eggs, and 200 pounds of gravy. The dish was donated to charity. Loco moco is made in other Pacific Islands such as Samoa, Saipan, and Guam and is also a popular dish in Japan. Sally Baho Loco Moco

Yield: 4 servings



LOOSE MEAT SANDWICH

Ingredients Non-stick cooking spray 1 pound ground beef chuck (You can use a number of other meats in place of the hamburger patties: Spam, chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki, shrimp, etc.) 1 (12-ounce) jar brown gravy (such as Heinz) 4 eggs 4 cups cooked rice Directions 1. Prepare a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. 2. Divide ground chuck into four equal portions; form into patties. 3. Fry patties in skillet until they are beginning to firm and are hot and slightly pink in the center, about six minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 140°F (60°C). Remove patties to a plate, retaining drippings in the skillet. 4. Heat gravy in a small saucepan. 5. While the patties cook and the gravy is heating, prepare a separate skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Fry eggs in the hot skillet until the white is opaque but the yolk remains runny, two to three minutes. 6. Divide rice between four plates. Top each rice portion with a beef patty, and top each patty with an egg. Pour gravy equally over each portion. Further Reading Bailey, Chris. 2009. “Food Network Mag Discovers Hawaii’s Loco Moco: Here Are Our Favorites.” Hawaii Magazine. May 20. http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs/hawaii​ _today/2009/5/20/loco_moco_Hawaii. Cave, James. 2014. “Here’s Why the Loco Moco Is Hawaii’s Ultimate Comfort Food.” ­Huffington Post. October 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/loco-moco​ -hawaii-food_n_5903898.html.

L O O S E M E AT S A N D W I C H While popular at many diners throughout the Midwest—and even served at some Dairy Queens—it is in Iowa where the loose meat sandwich reigns supreme. In its most basic form, it is made up simply of unseasoned, crumbled ground beef and onions, sautéed and served on a white-bread hamburger roll. Some have called it a sloppy joe without any of the slop. “An American regional hamburger classic that is generally forgotten and obscure but is totally awesome—a cult classic,” is how one food writer characterized the sandwich. Much of the rest of the country was introduced to the sandwich on the popular sitcom Roseanne when comedian Roseanne Barr’s character Roseanne Conner owned the Lanford Lunch Box, specializing in loose meat sandwiches. Reality mimicked the television show for several years when real-life Roseanne opened a real-life loose meat diner called Roseanne and Tom’s Big Diner in Eldon, Iowa.

207

208

LOOSE MEAT SANDWICH

But the shop closed after only two years of operation after Barr and Tom Arnold divorced in 1995. Although the basic recipe is really simple, other variations include Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, beef stock or bouillon, cheese, bacon, pickles, and mustard. It is almost always served wrapped in waxed paper, but never just on a plate. Mario Batali, in his Big American Cookbook: 250 Favorite Recipes from Across the USA (2016), included a recipe for a loose meat sandwich, and he suggests adding a chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. And apparently there is a bit of science to the sandwich. “Unlike a hamburger patty, loose meat is essentially porous, thereby allowing condiments to burrow into the protein,” explains Jon Yates, a loose meat sandwich aficionado and writer for the Takeout, a food and pop culture Web site. “It’s a matter of engineering— because there’s more surface area coated in seasonings and more beef gets browned when it contacts the grill top, loose meat sandwiches manage to deliver more beefiness and flavor.” Yates adds that the sandwich is “an inefficient but delicious method of consuming ground beef” since much of the meat winds up falling out of the bun and has to be eaten with a spoon to scoop up the piles left behind on the plate (Yates 2017). The mecca for the loose meat sandwich is considered by many to be the small Wichita-based NuWay chain, but others consider the quintessential sandwich and the “king of the loose meat sandwich” to be the one served by the casual dining franchise Taylor’s Maid-Rite, a 33-restaurant chain based in Des Moines, Iowa, with outlets in five states. In fact, some also refer to the sandwich as “a Maid-Rite.” Others refer to it as a “tavern sandwich,” crediting a man named Dave Higgins at Ye Olde Tavern in Sioux City, Iowa, with the sandwich’s invention—if you can call it that—in 1924. But others say it first appeared on a restaurant menu four years earlier, invented by Carroll Dietz in Missoula, Montana, calling it a “steamed hamburger.” But Maid-Rite claims that Floyd Angell of Muscatine, Iowa, created the sandwich in 1926. He developed a special grind of meat, added some spices, cooked it loosely rather than in a patty, and piled it into a bun. As legend has it, he told a deliveryman that the sandwich was “made right.” Angell went on to establish the Maid-Rite restaurant chain in 1927. Many have speculated on the ingredients of Maid-Rite’s version, including claims that it is made with beer or even cola syrup. In his 2009 book, Top Secret Recipes Unlocked, Todd Wilbur claims to have discovered the secret to the popularity of Maid-Rite’s loose meat version, which he reported “elicited more e-mails than any recipe” posted on his Web site. Wilbur suspects, after ample testing, that plenty of liquid is actually the secret to the recipe, and he calls for adding one cup of water or a quarter-cup of beef broth and then simmering the ground beef for a couple of hours to break down the meat and tenderize it. Maid-Rite says that its loose meat sandwiches are “made from the finest 100 percent choice beef available in Iowa” and ground fresh daily. They also can ship their sandwiches anywhere in the United States. However, some don’t consider the mass-produced loose meat sandwiches to be as genuine as the original.



LOOSE MEAT SANDWICH

Home Cooking Video instructions on how to make “the perfect” loose meat sandwich abound on YouTube, including some recommendations for using a slow cooker, a pressure cooker, a grill, and one recipe that includes cooking the ground beef in bacon fat and the addition of beer and pickle juice. The same recipe even includes using veal demiglace for added flavor. Some of the recipes call for a lean cut of ground beef, while others encourage the use of the fattiest ground chuck you can get, for its mouthfeel, flavor, and generally soul-fortifying qualities.

For the longest time, it was not considered proper to serve ketchup on the sandwich. The chain Maid-Rite had patrons vote “Yes or No for Ketchup,” and in 2006 ketchup was introduced to the counter. Maid-Rite now offers the “Blue-Rite,” made with blue cheese, and the “Jalapeno-Rite,” made with cheddar cheese sauce and jalapenos. It even offers the loose meat served with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and shredded cheddar cheese in a flour tortilla wrap. Besides being known as a “Maid-Rite” or a “Tavern” in much of the Midwest, the loose meat sandwich goes by a variety of different names depending on what part of the country is making it. It also goes by “Charlie Boy,” “Steamer,” “Big T,” and “Tastee.” And some of these regional variations including serving the loose meat in a single slice of white bread folded over, or served on potato rolls. There are some joints in Iowa that serve only loose meat sandwiches but no hamburgers, such as Sioux City’s Miles Inn and Tastee Inn & Out. But apparently the sandwich also has its detractors. A writer on the Thrillist Web site named the loose meat sandwich one of the country’s “grossest foods”—“It looks like a Sloppy Joe that forgot to get dressed, or a burger that just gave up on life” (Fulton 2017). Dan Macey Flavorful Loose Meat Sandwich

Ingredients 1½ pounds 80/20 ground meat 1 cup onions, diced 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 (14.5-ounce) can of beef broth 8 slices of white bread Directions 1. In a skillet, heat ground beef and onions. Separate meat with a potato masher until fine and browned.

209

210

LUTEFISK

2. Add Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and one cup of beef broth. Stir to combine, and cover. Simmer until the liquid is absorbed, about 20–30 minutes. 3. Remove the cover and add the remaining beef broth. Simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes. 4. Serve between two slices of white bread, with a spoon, to be able to eat the meat that has spilled out of the bread. Further Reading Fulton, Wil. 2017. “Every State’s Grossest Food (That People Actually Love).” Thrillist. Janurary 27. https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/worst-foods-to-eat-states. Horlyk, Earl. 2014. “Battle of the Loosemeats.” Sioux City Journal. July 8. http://siouxcity journal.com/weekender/food/battle-of-the-loosemeats/article_bc8d98ca-b0b4-54d0​ -b0ea-7e5594f68179.html. Maulsby, Darcy Dougherty. 2016. Culinary History of Iowa: Sweet Corn, Pork Tenderloins, Maid Rites and More. Charleston, SC: American Palate. Mercuri, Becky. 2004. American Sandwich: Great Eats from All 50 States. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith. Motz, George. 2011. Hamburger America: A State-by-State Guide to 150 Great Burger Joints. Philadelphia: Running Press. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 2009. 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late and the Very Best Places to Eat Them. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Yates, Jon. 2017. “An Iowan Childhood Overflows with Loose Meat Sandwiches.” The Takeout. June 6. https://thetakeout.com/an-iowan-childhood-overflows-with-loose -meat-sandwiches-1798262665.

LUTEFISK Lutefisk, or lye fish, is a crystalline-looking gelatinous white fish most commonly served once a year at Scandinavian American holiday feasts. It is infamous—and often stereotyped—for its squishy, jelly-like texture and rank, pungent odor. Historically, lutefisk originated as a dish among the Nordic cuisines, yet in those nations it is a custom in rapid decline. Today, considerably more lutefisk is consumed in the United States, especially during the Christmas season. American manufacturers annually produce nearly 750,000 pounds of lutefisk for church dinners, cultural lodges, community fund-raisers, and home cooks, where serving lutefisk is a way for Americans of Scandinavian descent to commemorate their immigrant ancestors. Lutefisk is most prevalent in the Upper Midwest (especially the Great Lakes region) and the Pacific Northwest, where strong enclaves of Scandinavian descendants reside—the belt between Chicago and Seattle is playfully referred to by suppliers as “the Lutefisk Zone.” Lutefisk is most popular among the older generation, despite recent attempts to normalize the food within youth culture, including launching a frozen lutefisk TV dinner or branding lutefisk as an aphrodisiac. Lutefisk begins as whitefish, most often cod, caught in the Nordic seas. The fish is immediately field dressed: the head, neck collar, and fins are removed; the internal organs are gutted; and, in some instances, the fish is sliced down the spine

LUTEFISK

Lutefisk, re-hydrated, cooked, and ready to be part of a Scandinavian American dinner. (Alexander Mychko/Dreamstime.com)

in a butterfly cut. Next, the carcass is hung by the tail from wooden racks (called hjells in Norway). These outdoor racks stand along the Nordic seashore, where cool temperatures and consistent winds aid the preservation of the fish. This initial stage of the drying process is the longest portion of the preparation and can take three to four months to complete. During that time, moisture evaporates from the fish, helped by the natural elements, and the carcass shrinks to one-fifth its original size. It is important to note that by suspending the fish from the wooden hjells, the natural elements (i.e., wind, temperature, sun) are the only agents that dry the meat, which distinguishes the lutefisk precursor, known as “stockfish,” from other dried fish such as baccala (salt cod). Unlike other curing techniques, which rely on salt to initiate the process, no minerals or additives are applied to stockfish. Preserving the fish in this manner, largely due to the clement spring weather of the Nordic regions, ferments the flesh and protects it from bacteria, mold, and rot. From there, the fish is transferred to an indoor facility, where it continues to cure for an additional two to three months. Once complete, the shrunk, rigid whitefish, which are now technically “stockfish” (either as a nod to the sticks from which it hangs to dry or the horses that haul the fish to market), can be stored for years. To make lutefisk, the hardened and leathery stockfish must be reconstituted. To begin, the tail is removed and the flank meat is quartered. The pieces are soaked in cold water for one week, and the liquid is changed daily during that time. Next, a lye preparation is made by mixing one teaspoon of lye per pound of stockfish into a pot of boiling water. The stockfish is transferred to a glass jar or crock, and the

211

212

LUTEFISK

lye mixture is poured over the fish. If some meat remains uncovered, extra water may be added to ensure the complete submersion of the fish. A weight is applied to keep the portions immersed, and the vessel is set aside for two to four days. After the lye soak, the fish is removed from the solution, scrubbed diligently to remove the slime that accumulates during the breakdown of the proteins, and placed in a fresh, cold water bath for another week. The second cold water soak is a crucial step when making lutefisk: during the lye bath, the fish reaches a pH level of 12, which classifies it as chemically caustic and stronger than some toxic household cleaners. This second cold water bath neutralizes the pH level within the fish and dilutes the lye. Before concentrated lye was commercially available, for centuries stockfish was soaked in the ash of hardwoods. The tough, leathery proteins of the stockfish were broken down by the ash of beech or birch trees, where lye is naturally present. Different hardwood ashes can provide different flavor profiles to the fish. At the end of the week, when the fish meat has swelled beyond its ocean size, the lutefisk is ready to be cooked. It can be roasted, steamed, parboiled, or boiled. Because the fish meat is saturated with water, baking is the easiest and most common preparation. Due to the reconstitution process, lutefisk is a tricky dish to cook correctly. Done right, it is tender and flaky. If oversoaked or overcooked, lutefisk will satisfy its stereotypes. Lutefisk has a bland flavor profile complemented by a slight alkaline character, which is why most lutefisk recipes call for dressing the fish with a sauce or spice of some kind. Customs vary on how the dish is served: traditionally, Swedish Americans will garnish the lutefisk in a white cream sauce, or béchamel, whereas Norwegian Americans employ a simple butter sauce. Other preparations can include ground mustard or allspice added to the cream sauce or sprinkled directly onto the fish. Rounding out the Christmas meal, lutefisk is served with boiled potatoes and peas. Although historical evidence dates the custom of eating lutefisk as early as the Middle Ages, its origins are unknown. Due to the mystery, various myths have been created that explain lutefisk’s creation and justify its consumption. These myths, which range in tenor from the sacred to the profane, suggest that lutefisk came into existence by—or at the expense of—the Vikings. Some myths concern a failed plot by St. Patrick to poison the Vikings by adulterating their fish stores with lye. Others tell of warring Vikings destroying neighboring villages, the ash from the pillage mixing with puddles of water and rehydrating the dried fish strewn across the ground. More likely, lutefisk derived from a perfect blend of geography, climate, and need. Codfish was and remains in abundance. Also, due to its cooler temperatures and drier weather conditions, the region yielded little salt production; thus, Nordics had to depend on other, cheaper methods for food preservation. The same conditions that made salt hard to come by were the ones that made the Nordic region ideal for dry curing. Dry curing the meat was the most affordable way to conserve and stockpile their food stores. Consequently, stockfish became a staple of Nordic cuisine.

LUTEFISK

Simple economics likely contributed to the rise of lutefisk as well. When fully cured, stockfish is hard and leathery, with a consistency equivalent to cardboard. But, like all foods, there are higher grades (prime) and lower grades (utility)—even of dry preserved fish. Higher-grade stockfish can be rehydrated by a simple water solution, such as a soup broth. Utility-grade stockfish was sold to those of lower socioeconomic status. Due to its poorer quality, it is appreciably harder to reconstitute. Hence, lye was used to expedite the rehydration process, break up the flinty proteins, and make the cheaper stockfish more digestible albeit less palatable. The acrid flavor of the lye, combined with the noxious fishy odor from the low-quality stockfish, defines the lutefisk from this period. Among the upper- and middle-class citizens, the higher-grade lutefisk was adopted as a necessary form of sustenance to help them endure the requisite fasting during the Advent season. For these reasons, lutefisk was viewed as a survival food. It is speculated that these connotations and negative stereotypes may account for the food’s waning status in the Nordic countries. In the United States, however, lutefisk is seen as a symbol of the privation from which Scandinavian Americans emigrated and is consumed with pride. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when nearly 1.25 million Nordic people immigrated to America, lutefisk was an affordable way for the settlers to show solidarity with their cultural identity. Lutefisk was therefore served as a traditional meal designed to celebrate heritage and appreciate prosperity. Lutefisk has also been a vehicle for a considerable volume of folk humor. Given its properties (noxious odor, jelly-like consistency, and alkaline flavor), it is often ridiculed. Sometimes these two dominant cultural modes—cultural remembrance and folk humor—come together: a sign selling lutefisk at a community fund-raiser will offer plates of lutefisk at $5 for a large plate and $10 for a small one. For centuries, lutefisk took six months to travel from the waters off the Nordic coast to the dinner table. However, modern industrial techniques have rapidly diminished the window between capture and consumption. Today, most stockfish found on the commercial market is dried in climate-controlled, sanitary drying rooms or in wooden kilns and takes two months to cure. These changes have hastened the curing process, standardized the taste, and diminished the fishy odor. Premade, store-bought lutefisk is sold in vacuum-sealed packaging, and after being boiled in the bag for 10 minutes, the fish is ready to be served. Cody Whetstone Lutefisk

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 pound filleted lutefisk 1 teaspoon lye 4 slices bacon ½ teaspoon ground pepper

213

214

LUTEFISK

Directions 1. Place lutefisk in a large bowl filled with water. Refrigerate for three days. Drain the lutefisk. Fill the bowl with water again and add lye; stir to combine. Place the lutefisk in the bowl and refrigerate for one day. 2. Drain the lutefisk from the water and rinse thoroughly. Pat the lutefisk dry and cut into four portions. 3. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp. Remove bacon from pan and chop. 4. Add lutefisk to pan with bacon fat. Season with pepper and cook for about five minutes per side. 5. To serve, top each portion of lutefisk with chopped bacon. Serve with mashed peas. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Stokker, Kathleen. 2000. Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. Sulem, Matt. 2016. “What in the Heck Is a Lutefisk, and Why Do Minnesotans Eat It?” Daily Meal. March 24. https://www.thedailymeal.com/travel/what-heck-lutefisk-and​-why -do-minnesotans-eat-it.

M MAPLE The word “maple” is regularly used to refer to several related things. Maple is a tree of the genus Acer, but it is also a flavor and a food item, both derived from the tree. By far, the most common way that maple is eaten in the United States and Canada is in the form of maple syrup. Real maple syrup is very different from the more common syrups on store shelves, such as Aunt Jemima or Log Cabin. These syrups (derisively called “table syrups” in much of the maple-making world) are mostly corn syrup, with natural or artificial maple flavor added. Real maple syrup has only one ingredient—the sap from maple trees—and it is noticeably different from artificial table syrups, in texture and flavor. Real maple syrup is much thinner in consistency than corn syrup, and the flavor of real maple is much more intense and complex. While maple syrup is enjoyed in many parts of the world, maple is made in a specific and limited part of the world, in a region that covers the southeastern part of Canada and the northeastern part of the United States. The main reason that maple is confined to this broad region is that the concentration of maple trees suitable for tapping is limited to this area by climate and vegetation growth zones. Maple trees have been tapped in North America for centuries. Sap was first collected by the indigenous people of the region, and they shared their knowledge and techniques with the newly arrived Europeans during the colonization of North America. Maple has been an important part of the culture and economy of the region for generations, with the sugar in the syrup being very valuable nutritionally in the sometimes-harsh climate.

Sugar-on-Snow One very common way to eat maple syrup in New England is called “maple taffy” or “sugar-on-snow.” To make sugar-on-snow, you need good-quality maple syrup, snow (or shaved ice, if you live in an area without clean snow available), and a candy thermometer. Pour the syrup into a pan or kettle, and bring it to a boil. Continue heating it until it reaches 235 degrees Fahrenheit. Carefully pour the hot syrup onto a pile of snow, and immediately stir. The combination of rapid cooling and stirring whips air into the syrup and “pulls” it like taffy, creating a chewy, light texture. It is best to use a wooden implement like a chopstick or a popsicle stick to stir once the syrup is poured onto the snow. In Vermont, sugar-on-snow is traditionally eaten with a cake doughnut and a dill pickle.

216

MAPLE

Maple is made by collecting sap from any of several species of maple tree. The most common is the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), but other related species in the genus Acer can be used, and a handful of other types of trees can be tapped as well. Regardless of the species, the sap is collected by drilling a hole in the side of the tree and gathering the sap that the tree exudes. The sap comes out of the tree with anywhere between 0.5 percent and 7.5 percent sugar concentration, with the most usual amount in the range of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. Maple syrup has a sugar concentration of around 66 percent (the exact percentage can vary a bit from one state or province to another), so the main job of processing involves removing water, leaving the sugars and other mineral content from the sap behind. Traditionally, this water removal was accomplished exclusively by boiling sap until enough water was driven off as steam. The boiling occurs in a machine called an evaporator, which is basically a big pan over a heat source. There are many, many variations in the size, type, and setup of evaporators, to the point that there is no such thing as a standard. Pans can be two feet by three feet, or as large as a truck. Sap can sit in a single, open pan, or it can be directed through a series of flues. Sap can enter cold or be preheated. The heat source can be wood fire, oil fire, gas flame, or steam. The only universals are that the sap is boiled over the heat until it is concentrated to the proper degree to be called syrup. Several important technological changes were introduced into syrup making (which is called “sugarmaking” or “sugaring” colloquially) in the 20th century, and changes continue to be researched and developed in the 21st. The two largest changes affect the sap before it becomes syrup. The first is the introduction of plastic tubing for sap collection. Before tubing, all sap was collected in buckets that hung on the sides of the trees. Collecting with buckets requires a sugarmaker to constantly be in the woods, checking and emptying buckets. By attaching a plastic tube to each hole in a tree, the sap can drip into a network of tubing to a central location for collecting, perhaps even to the sugar house where it will be boiled. The second major technological change in maple making is the introduction or reverse osmosis, or RO. Reverse osmosis is a process that separates water from other materials, and in the case of sugaring, it is used to separate water from the sap for removal before it is boiled. Tubing and RO are widespread in the maple world, but neither is universal. There are still sugarmakers who collect sap in buckets and boil over a wood fire. What matters most is that the only ingredient allowed in real maple syrup is pure maple sap. Maple syrup is the most common maple food product, but maple can also be eaten in other forms such as maple sugar, which has all of its moisture boiled away until what remains are dry crystals just like granulated sugar. While real maple syrup is available all over the world, it is only made in one corner of North America. As might be expected, it is more common there, both by itself and as an ingredient. One would be hard pressed to find a barbecue sauce in northern New England that didn’t have maple syrup in it, for example. Maple cream, which is simply syrup whipped until it becomes aerated and smooth, is used as frosting on cakes and doughnuts. Maple-smoked bacon and maple sausage adorn many a

MAPLE

breakfast in that part of the continent, and maple cheddar cheese can be found as well. In many places where one would find honey, sugar, or molasses (such as in brown breads), maple fills that culinary role. Michael Lange Maple Scones

Yield: About 8 scones Ingredients 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup chopped pecans (optional) 1¼ cup cold butter, diced, divided 1 cup maple syrup, divided ½ cup milk, plus 2 tablespoons 1 egg, whisked 1 teaspoon maple extract 1 cup powdered sugar Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and (optional) pecans. 3. Add one cup cold butter to flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. 4. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add a half-cup of maple syrup, milk, egg, and maple extract. Stir the wet ingredients together, then mix in the dry. Gently mix the dough together until it forms a large ball. If the dough is too dry, add a tablespoon of water. 5. Turn the dough onto a floured board and roll into a square about an inch thick. 6. Cut the square in half horizontally, then cut each strip into triangles. Place each triangle onto the baking sheet. Brush the tops of each scone with remaining milk. 7. Bake the scones for about 20 minutes, until slightly golden. Allow to cool. 8. Melt remaining quarter-cup of butter and pour into a small bowl. Add remaining half-cup maple syrup and powdered sugar. Whisk the glaze until smooth. 9. Pour the glaze evenly over each scone. Allow the glaze to set for about 15 minutes before serving. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz.

217

218

MUFFULETTA

Further Reading Mancini, Mark. 2016. “10 Sticky Facts about Maple Syrup.” Mental Floss. March 1. http:// mentalfloss.com/article/59330/10-sticky-facts-about-maple-syrup. Pickert, Kate. 2009. “A Brief History of Maple Syrup.” Time. April 16. http://time.com/3958051 /history-of-maple-syrup.

M U F F U L E T TA Muffuletta, muffoletta, muffaletta, or simply “muff” is one of the most beloved sandwiches in America. It is a signature sandwich of New Orleans, Louisiana, where it is savored by locals and tourists alike. It consists of a large, flat sesame-crusted loaf similar to focaccia, split open and generously layered with a marinated olive salad, traditional Italian cold cuts, mortadella, Genoa salami, and capicola ham, provolone cheese, and mozzarella. Muffuletta is usually served cold or at room temperature, but many vendors will toast it to soften the provolone. Muffuletta is appreciated best when it is abundantly filled and is nearly too messy to eat because of oil dripping down your hands. This sandwich was first created commercially by Salvatore Lupo, the founder of Central Grocery on Decatur Street in New Orleans, in 1906. At that time in the French Quarter, carts would peddle wheels of this bread. Local workers at lunchtime would buy the bread from the cart and the cold cuts, cheese, and giardiniera (pickled vegetables in vinegar and/or oil) from their favorite groceries and eat their bread, salami, and cheese separately. Lupo was the first to make and sell the sandwich preassembled in his store. The original muffuletta of the Central Grocery, at two pounds in weight and ten inches in diameter, is such a big sandwich that four people can easily share one. Nowadays, it comes in various sizes. Even bite-size versions are prepared as canapés at dinner parties. Muffuletta takes its name from a round, sesame-crusted bread in Palermo, Sicily. Depending on which dialect, there are various versions of the original word in Sicily: muffuletta, mufuletta, muffiletta, mufiletta, muffulett, muffuletu, muffulittuni, muffulitteddu. All of these possibly derive from pane buffetto, a soft and spongy bread.

Olive Salad Although the name of the sandwich comes from the bread, what makes muffuletta muffuletta is the olive salad. This salad consists of diced green and Kalamata olives, and a giardiniera of celery, cauliflower, pimiento peppers, carrots, and vinegar, seasoned with oregano and garlic, covered in olive oil, and allowed to combine for at least 24 hours. The Italian olive salad of the Central Grocery additionally includes capers and secret spices. The exact recipe is religiously guarded. The olive salad softens the bread and delivers a desirable tangy contrast to the fatty and piquant meats and mildly sweet cheeses. Central Grocery brushes both sides of the bread with a generous amount of olive oil from its olive salad.

MUFFULETTA

Muffuletta sandwich with meat, olive salad, and cheese. A single sandwich is typically large enough to serve four people. (Bhofack2/Dreamstime.com)

Legend has it that a Sicilian baker from Palermo and of Albanian descent first baked and sold the loaf of bread in New Orleans. In Palermo, Sicily, still today moffoletta sandwiches are prepared with caciocavallo cheese, anchovies, oregano, and olive oil for breakfast on the morning of the Day of the Dead. There are other versions using ricotta cheese or tomatoes. The muffuletta reflects the diverse heritage of New Orleans. It is emblematic of the Sicilian working class that inhabited the French Quarter and Tremé neighborhoods of New Orleans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1880 and 1914, more than four million Italians immigrated to America and most of them came from rural homes in Italy. In Louisiana, many Italians, mostly from Sicily, worked on sugarcane and cotton plantations, which were left without sufficient workers after the Civil War. Some Italian immigrants were employed as bricklayers and wroughtiron workers in the city. By the 1920s some of the Italian immigrants had launched agricultural enterprises, such as strawberry businesses in Tangipahoa Parish, while others opened restaurants, stores, ice cream parlors, bakeries, produce stands, and groceries. During that time, the French Quarter was known as “Little Palermo.” The muffuletta emerged as a culinary icon in this period. Unlike many other migrated dishes, which became localized, such as snowballs (shaved ice mixed with flavored syrup) and red gravy (tomato sauce), it kept an Italian name and a strong indication of its origin, perhaps because the way it sounded was so much like New Orleans itself: big, hearty, and vibrant. Despite the continued popularity of the classic version, new muffuletta recipes emerged over time. For example, the seafood muffuletta uses muffuletta bread for

219

220

MUFFULETTA

fried seafood stuffing, often including oysters, shrimp, catfish, and occasionally soft-shell crab. It exchanges the olive salad for the traditional dressings of a seafood po’ boy (another signature sandwich of New Orleans), such as melted butter and pickle slices, or mayonnaise and lettuce. Some places serve “Frenchulettas” (muffulettas on French bread), muffuletta “pizzas,” or muffuletta king cakes: baked ring-shaped savory pastries for Mardi Gras, filled with muffuletta stuffing and decorated with Romano or parmesan cheese dyed purple, gold, and green. Locals have different opinions about which shop serves the best muffuletta. Whether it is the original muffulettas at the Central Bakery or one of its competitors, this popular sandwich of New Orleans is still served in the Crescent City over a thousand times a day. Demet Güzey Muffuletta Sandwich

Yield: 2 to 4 servings Ingredients 1 10-inch round loaf Italian bread with sesame seeds (muffuletta, ciabatta, or focaccia) Olive salad (recipe follows) ¼ pound Genoa salami, sliced ¼ pound capicola, sliced ¼ pound mortadella, sliced ¹⁄8 pound mozzarella, sliced ¹⁄8 pound provolone, sliced Directions 1. Cut the bread in half. Brush both surfaces of the bread with the oil from olive salad. Layer half of the Genoa salami on the bottom half of the bread, then add the mortadella, mozzarella, capicola, provolone, and the remainder of the Genoa salami. Top this with olive salad. 2. Close the sandwich and press down gently to compress, and let it stand for 10–15 minutes. 3. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest at least one hour before serving, so the olive juices get absorbed into the bread. 4. Unwrap the muffuletta, quarter it, and serve it. Olive Salad

Ingredients ½ cup green olives, pitted ½ cup Kalamata olives (or other black olives), pitted

MUSKRAT

½ cup giardiniera (pickled cauliflower, carrots, celery, and pepperoncini) ¼ cup roasted red peppers, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon capers 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped 1 tablespoon fresh oregano 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon green onions, thinly sliced Salt and pepper, to taste 1 cup extra virgin olive oil Directions 1. Crush each olive on a cutting board with your hand. Combine all ingredients and cover them with olive oil. 2. Put into a bowl or jar, cover, and let the flavors marry for at least a day. Further Reading Folse, John D. 2004. The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. Gonzales, LA: Chef John Folse & Company Publishing. Mercuri, Becky. 2004. “Muffaletta,” in Becky Mercuri, American Sandwich: Great Eats from All 50 States. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith. Wilson, Nancy Tregre. 2005. Louisiana’s Italians, Food, Recipes & Folkways. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company.

M U S K R AT Technically not a rat, the muskrat is a furry, marsh-dwelling rodent. It is native to North America and can be found in wetlands in Canada, the United States, and northern parts of Mexico. Belonging to the order Rodentia and family Cricetidae, Ondatra zibethicus is also known as “marsh rabbit,” “mush rat,” or “musk beaver.” The name refers to the musky scent of the rodent’s preputial glands with which it marks its territory, and to the strong brackish, musky flavor of its meat that lingers on the tongue. The muskrat’s name might also be derived from the Algonquian word for “red,” muscascus, which could refer to the deep red color of its meat. The muskrat was valuable to Native Americans both for its pelt and meat, and it features in Sioux, Abinake, Anishinabe, and other Native American myths and legends. Muskrat was also used as a food source by Southern slaves living in the Lowcountry, who hunted the creature at night to complement their meager diet. During the Great Migration, former slaves took their cuisines with them to the North, where they were adopted by other low-income groups living off the land in order to survive.

221

222

MUSKRAT

Today, culinary muskrat traditions still exist in various places in the United States. They are most established near the marshlands of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, and in Michigan’s Detroit River region. In this part of Michigan, muskrat is part of a regional culture known as “Muskrat French.” This group and their cuisine emanated from the Métis, French Canadians involved in the fur trade who trace their descent to First Nations peoples and European settlers. Every winter, social clubs, parishes, and volunteer fire companies in Michigan and the Mid-Atlantic hold traditional muskrat dinners and fund-raisers. One of the best known is the annual wild game and seafood dinner at the Milford Moose Family Center in Milford, Delaware. During this event, not only muskrat, but also deer, duck, geese, beaver, and raccoon are served, along with oysters on the half shell, frog legs, steamed shrimp, fish, clam chowder, crab soup, and beer. Muskrat can be purchased from independently owned butcher shops, where they tend to be popular with lower-income white and African American customers. Today, some Catholic churches permit eating muskrat on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays during Lent, as the rodent is a semiaquatic animal and thus considered by some church officials to constitute an exception to the prohibition of eating meat on those days. Muskrat trapping season runs from October through April, depending on state laws. Today, a muskrat pelt sells for about $1.50, and the meat of a big muskrat might fetch $3 at butcher shops. While muskrats are still plentiful in the wild, due to these low prices, muskrat trapping is in decline, which has made it harder for fans to get their hands on their wintertime treat. At Bill’s Meat Center in Wilmington, Delaware, the 50 or so muskrats they might receive from a local trapper on any given day during the trapping season will all be sold by closing time. Muskrats are delivered to butchers skinned and cleaned with the musk gland removed, but the head remains attached for recognizability. It is easy to recognize muskrats by their very long upper and lower incisors, which are the creature’s main form of defense and which they use to munch through hard things. Customers can choose to have the head removed by the butcher or remove it themselves. One skinned muskrat weighs a little over a pound and is deeply dark red, its flesh fine-grained and tender. Some have likened the taste of muskrat to that of a wild duck shot in a marsh. Prior to cooking, it is advised to soak muskrat in several changes of salted water over the course of a few days to drain the blood out of the meat and to remove some of its gamey, marshy taste and smell. This is particularly important if the musk glands were accidentally punctured during the cleaning process. After soaking, cooks typically parboil the muskrat in water seasoned with aromatics such as onions, peppers, and herbs till tender. After that, the muskrat is drained, dried, dredged in flour, and pan-fried in oil or bacon fat. Drippings can be bound with flour to make a “rat gravy.” In Michigan, a traditional muskrat preparation has Native American roots and includes creamed corn. Neri de Kramer

MUSKRAT

Layered Muskrat and Corn

Yield: 4–6 servings Ingredients 3 muskrats, skinned, cleaned, and head removed 2 celery stalks, sliced 2 medium-sized onions, sliced 2 cans cream-style corn 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons milk Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Soak the muskrats overnight in lightly salted water. Drain. Repeat. 2. Disjoint the muskrats and cut into pieces. 3. Parboil for 20 minutes in fresh water seasoned with celery, onions, salt, and pepper. Drain. 4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Separate the meat from the bones. Layer meat and creamed corn in a casserole, topping off with the corn. Pour over the milk and finish with two tablespoons of butter. 5. Place in oven, and bake until well done and browned on top, about an hour. 6. Serve with biscuits. Further Reading Au, Dennis. 1990. “Let Them Eat Muskrat: Marie Antoinette 1987.” The Digest: A Review for the Interdisciplinary Study of Food, Spring 1990: 4–6. Guy, Chris. 2002. “Eastern Shore Delicacy.” Baltimore Sun. January 9. http://articles .baltimoresun.com/2002-01-09/news/0201090032_1_muskrat-trapping-eastern -shore. MidatlanticCooking. “Muskrat.” 2012. MidatlanticCooking. October 20. https://midatlantic​ cooking.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/muskrat. Naveaux, Ralph J. 2007. “Remnants of ‘Mushrat French’ Cuisine in Monroe County, Michigan.” Repast: Quarterly Publication of the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor, Spring 2007: 3–6.

223

O OLIVE LOAF Olive loaf is a loaf-type of luncheon meat, generally made from a combination of beef, pork, and spices embedded with pimento-stuffed green olives, most often served on sandwiches in place of bologna. While it is mistakenly thought to be bologna stuffed with olives, olive loaf is actually made entirely differently. Olive loaf is made in a loaf pan and baked, while bologna is actually a type of sausage and stuffed into a casing and smoked. One writer called the olive loaf “the exotic temptress of the deli counter,” due its “showy” display of perfectly round, colorful green olives and red pimentos that stands out from the rest of the bland-colored lunchmeats at a deli counter. Consider the olive loaf as more of a very finely ground meatloaf, as one manufacturer explained. To make olive loaf, to keep the emulsion at low temperature, ice is added to a mixture of beef and pork, which is then chopped finely, almost to a paste. Olives are then slowly tossed into the meat batter to prevent them from breaking up, so that a nice distribution of olives can be created within every slice. The mixture is then put into loaf pans, like meatloaf, and cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The loaf is often removed from the pan about halfway through the cooking process to allow all sides to be browned. It can take up to 10 hours to cook a large olive loaf. It is then generally cut at a deli counter into thin slices and used as a sandwich filling.

Olive Loaf in Popular Culture Culturally, the olive loaf is often much maligned, especially among younger eaters. It has been described as being “untradeable” among schoolchildren at cafeteria lunch tables, since olives are not considered a favorite. Even television programs use olive loaf as an example of a disgusting food or the butt of a joke. One segment of The New Mickey Mouse Club portrayed a “Buddy Oliver, president of the Luncheon Meat Institute of America,” coming to the defense of the cold cut, noting there could be worse lunchmeat inventions, such as “the asparagus loaf, sardine loaf and even lug nut loaf.” One character in the cartoon Ren and Stimpy could even read emergency messages encoded in slices of olive loaf. And in 2014, the MeTV television network ran a “Guess Who Is Behind the Olive Loaf” sweepstakes, suggesting that the lunchmeat was an amusing symbol for its younger viewers watching old television shows.

OLIVE LOAF

One of the largest producers of olive loaf, Oscar Mayer, a division of Kraft Foods (which actually adds chicken to its olive loaf), explained that the olives are mixed into the meat with a coating of a milk powder so that they remain in place, similar to how blueberries are tossed in a cornstarch mixture to prevent them from falling to the bottom of a muffin when baked. But the olives have to be blended into the meat mixture very slowly and the whole mixture thoroughly combined to assure that the olives remain in place, according to Carl Aulbach, a plant manager for Hummel Brothers, a New Haven, Connecticut–based cold cuts maker. And, he notes, generally pimento-stuffed green olives are used—often imported Spanish Manzanilla olives—because they are firmer and don’t tend to bleed like their black counterparts. While pork and beef and pork back fat are the primary ingredients in olive loaf, a good number of spices are added to the mixture as well, including salt, onion powder, paprika, white pepper, garlic powder, celery seed, coriander, cardamom, and nutmeg. The olive loaf has several very close delicatessen cousins, made by a host of lunchmeat manufacturers who use various names for their products, including “Pickles and Pimiento Loaf,” “Pickle and Pepper Loaf,” “Pimiento Loaf,” “Pickle Loaf,” and “P&P Loaf.” “Add it to your favorite sandwich or enjoy by itself for a quick and tasty snack,” is how Oscar Mayer suggests how to eat olive loaf. And that is almost entirely how the lunchmeat is consumed. Very few recipes using olive loaf as an ingredient can be found in cookbooks or even on the Web. And the key manufacturers of olive loaf don’t even include recipes for using it. It appears that those who enjoy olive loaf don’t like to complicate the taste of the olive-laced lunchmeat with a lot of condiments and fancy additions. Dan Macey Make-at-Home Olive Loaf

Yield: About 12 servings Ingredients 1½ pounds ground pork ¾ pound 80/20 ground beef ¼ cup lard 2 teaspoons salt 3 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon paprika ½ teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon celery seed ½ teaspoon coriander powder

225

226

OLIVE LOAF

½ teaspoon cardamom powder ¼ teaspoon nutmeg ½ cup ice 1 cup green pimento-stuffed olives, rinsed ¾ cup milk powder 1 teaspoon Freeze ‘Em Pickle (Available online. You can make it without this but the product will be much grayer in color. The Freeze ‘Em Pickle will make the product pinker, like a store-bought product.) Directions 1. In a food processor, add the ground meat, lard, and spices and pulse several times to combine. Add the ice and keep pulsing the meat until the entire mixture is emulsified almost into a paste nearly the consistency of peanut butter, about five minutes. For an even finer mix, use a handheld emulsifier blender for another three to four minutes. (For an even pinker color, leave this mixture in your refrigerator for up to four hours). 2. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the olives and milk powder and toss until the olives are well coated. There will be excess milk powder, which is fine. Add the meat mixture to the bowl, and gently fold into the olives and the remaining milk powder until well combined. 3. Turn the meat mixture into a loaf pan and bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour and 15 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Remove from oven and place in the refrigerator to cool up to four hours. Remove from refrigerator and remove from the pan. Slice thinly to serve. Further Reading Daley, Bill. 1997. “Uncovering The Secrets Of Olive Loaf.” Hartford Courant. May 22. http://articles.courant.com/1997-05-22/entertainment/9705210022_1_olives-loaf -lovers-meat-loaf. Oscar Mayer. “Olive Loaf.” http://www.oscarmayer.com/our-products/cold-cuts/00044700009178.

P PEEPS Peeps, the bright yellow marshmallow-shaped chicks, are America’s favorite Easter candy. Composed primarily of sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin (with carnauba wax for the eyes), these treats are sold throughout the United States in the eight weeks leading up to Easter and, for many Americans, are an iconic sign of spring. The origin of these marshmallow chicks traces back to the 1920s and the Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In a process that took 27 hours from start to finish, women in the Rodda factory used pastry tubes to shape threedimensional chicks by hand. In 1953, Just Born Inc. (under the leadership of Sam Born) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the Rodda Candy Company; it automated the marshmallow forming process the following year. Mechanization meant that the marshmallows could be quickly shaped and cooled, streamlining the Peep-making process to only six minutes. By the 1960s, other shapes and colors started to be introduced under the Peeps brand, including the popular pink marshmallow bunny. Today, Peeps are available in 40 unique shapes, flavors, and colors designed to span the major holidays—including heart-shaped Peeps for Valentine’s Day, tombstone-shaped Peeps for Halloween, and snowman-shaped peeps at Christmas. Even colorful speckled summer-themed Peeps chicks are available in the flavors Party Cake and Sweet Lemonade. Each day, Just Born Quality Confections currently produces an average of 5.5 million Peeps chicks and other shapes. Roughly two billion Peeps are manufactured in one year—enough Peeps, the company says, to circle the earth three times. In its Bethlehem factory, rows of white aerated marshmallow fluff are extruded into shapes by a machine called the depositor, which functions like a mechanized pastry bag. Formed chicks ride on a conveyer belt thickly covered in sugar and proceed through a dusting machine, where compressed air blasts brightly colored sugar over the entire marshmallow. Peeps chicks then pass under an automated decorating gun that applies carnauba wax eyes, and advance onto the packaging area, where they are placed into trays and flow-wrapped. Since the main ingredients are sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin (along with some flavoring, coloring, and preservative), Peeps chicks are fat-free and 28 calories each. Ninety-seven percent of those calories comes from sugar. The Just Born company describes Peeps as “iconic,” and indeed their chick shape makes them so. Yet the Peeps chick’s iconic nature extends beyond its form, since American consumers powerfully associate this mass-produced treat with Easter. Beyond the corporate-created buzz, however, Peeps have made inroads in

228

PEEPS

Peeps, fresh from the package. These bird-shaped marshmallows are, to many, a quintessential symbol of spring. (Kwiktor/Dreamstime.com)

PEEPSonality Test The Just Born, Inc., company regularly surveys Americans in its PEEPSonality™ questionnaire, releasing fun factoids in press releases that include claims like “97% of respondents consider Peeps a ‘must have’ in Easter baskets” and “yellow is America’s bestselling color of PEEPS chicks and bunnies, followed by pink and then blue.” Media outlets across the country routinely publish or broadcast these trivialities.

American culture. In Jesus and the Jewish Festivals (2012), religious studies professor Gary Burge recounts that he once asked his students to identify the “most obscure symbol that immediately brought to mind Easter.” The answer? Marshmallow Peeps. Burge’s students, however, were mistaken about Peeps’ obscurity, as a symbol or otherwise. One billion Peeps are produced specifically for Easter each year: the product not only is America’s bestselling Easter candy but is also ubiquitous. According to the advertising agency representing the brand, only 60 percent of the two billion Peeps made each year are eaten straight out of the box. The rest debut in art, crafts, alcoholic drinks, literature, science experiments, or cookbooks, or form the inspiration for a wide-ranging fan culture. Myriad Pinterest pages, tweets, YouTube videos, Flickr groups, and the like are devoted to Peeps by self-identified fans; all are a testament to the marshmallow’s infiltration into popular culture. Some consumers have an uncanny desire to debate the protocol of eating a chick head or tail first. Others—if YouTube videos (and views) are any indication—prefer

PEEPS

to see Peeps explode in the microwave. Peeps are a staple of fun recipes and even a garnish for alcohol. They have been the raw materials for museum displays and sculptures (including artist Christian Twamley’s six-foot Muppet made of Peeps at Baltimore’s Visionary Museum). In 2004, Minnesota’s St. Paul Pioneer Press hosted the first diorama contest featuring Peeps; numerous other Peep-themed diorama events and contests across the States ensued. The Washington Post also picked up the diorama concept in 2006, inviting U.S. residents to “peepify” events for prize money. The only rule was that all diorama characters must be played by Peeps. In 2016 the Washington Post announced that its annual Peeps Diorama Contest had become one of the paper’s “most beloved traditions”—a contest “where zeitgeist meets confection in an explosion of color and camp” (O’Sullivan 2016). Winning entries have transformed Peeps into Donald Trump’s head, Martin Luther King Jr., and Marilyn Monroe, as well as into events such as the Occupy movement and the Chilean mine rescue. Beyond these representations, Peeps have also taken center stage in cultural rituals, ranging from New Year’s Eve celebrations (where, in 2016, revelers in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, could watch a 200-pound replica of a Peeps chick drop to ring in the new year) to competitive eating contests. For example, in 2016 the National Harbor World Peeps Eating Championship was hosted in Maryland, attracting amateur and professional eaters. Matt Stonie of San Jose, California, won the professional division trophy for eating two hundred Peeps in five minutes—a world record in the category. Peeps are made to be eaten out of the box, although Peeps recipes for every season (and reason) can be found on the Internet—recipes range from frosty Peepsicles, Peeps Sushi, and Peeps Crispy Rice Treats to Spiked Peeps for adults. The following recipe puts Peeps chicks at the core of s’mores. Charlene Elliott Peeps S’mores

Yield: 1 serving Ingredients 2 graham crackers Chocolate bar Marshmallow Peep Directions Set the oven broiler to high 1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Place graham cracker on baking sheet, and top with a marshmallow Peeps chick. 3. Broil just until the top of the chick starts to brown. 4. Remove from oven and top the Peep with a square of chocolate and a second graham cracker.

229

230

PEMMICAN

Further Reading Chang, Elizabeth. 2016. “Classic Peeps: A Decade of Sugary Social Commentary.” Washington Post. March 16. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2016/03/16/classic -peeps-a-decade-of-sugary-social-commentary. O’Sullivan, Michael. 2016. “Peeps Diorama Contest.” Washington Post. March 21. https:// www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/peeps. “The PEEPLE Have Expressed Their PEEPSonality™ In the 2013 PEEPS® Survey.” 2013. PR Newswire. March 25. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-peeple-have -expressed-their-peepsonality-in-the-2013-peeps-survey-199840981.html.

PEMMICAN Pemmican is a dried meat product originally made by the Native American people of North America. The word “pemmican” comes from the Cree word pimîhkân, the prefix pimi meaning fat or grease. Cree is a dialect of Algonquin and spoken by approximately 117,000 people in North America, between Montana and Alberta, Canada. Traditionally, pemmican was made from the meat of bison, moose, deer, and elk, the meat sources available in the land. It consists of the dried lean meat of large game such as buffalo, elk deer, or moose; fat; and sometimes fruits such as cranberries and Saskatoon berries. Other fruit, such as blueberries, cherries, chokeberries, and currants are sometimes included, especially for ceremonial and wedding pemmican. Traditionally the meat was cut into very thin slices and dried, either in the sun or over a slow fire, until it was hard; it was then pounded into very fine pieces using a mortar and pestle. The finely ground meat was then mixed with the melted fat of the same animal at a 1:1 ratio. The blend was packed into rawhide bags to be stored—for up to ten years, according to some. It takes about five pounds of fresh meat to make one pound of pemmican. Pemmican has been referred to as “the ultimate survival food,” as it is said to sustain a man for a full day and can be stored for long periods of time. One twoounce serving of pemmican contains approximately 275 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 10 grams of protein, of course depending on how it is prepared. European explorers and fur traders adopted pemmican as a source of protein and sustenance in their adventures and exploits in the New World. The Métis people of the Red River region of Canada and the northern United States engaged in the pemmican trade; they would travel southwest to the prairie, hunt for buffalo, make pemmican, and trade it at the North West Company posts. Pemmican was a major source of revenue for the Métis people. Pemmican was so important during the time of the fur trade that in 1812, Governor Miles MacDonell started the Pemmican War, which lasted until 1821. The war was a series of armed conflicts between the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Company over the North American fur trade. One outcome that intensified the war was MacDonnell’s “Pemmican Proclamation,” which forbade the export of pemmican from the Red River Colony to the other colonies. Many famous explorers carried pemmican on their voyages, including Alexander Mackenzie in 1793 on his expedition across Canada to the Pacific, and North Pole explorer Robert Peary around the turn of the 20th century—for both his men

PEMMICAN

and his dogs. Pemmican was included in troop rations as a source of iron and protein during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902 in South Africa. Sally Baho Pemmican

Yield: 8–10 servings Ingredients 3 pounds meat (moose, elk, beef, bison, or deer) Salt, to taste Dry ingredients of choice (nuts or dried fruit such as raisins, cherries, cranberries) Wet ingredients (honey, maple syrup, peanut butter) Directions 1. Dry the meat. Cut off the fat and reserve for later steps. Slice the meat as thinly as possible and place on a drying rack in full sunlight or directly on the oven rack with the oven temperature set to the lowest setting. The meat needs to get dry enough such that it cracks when you bend it. Adding salt will make the final product last longer. 2. Grind the meat. You want to get the meat to powdered form; this can be done by using a food processor or a blender, or by chopping repeatedly until small bits and eventually powder are formed. 3. Render the fat. Heat the fat from the first step, in a crockpot, in the oven, or on the stovetop. Heat the fat for several hours using low heat, and make sure to stir it occasionally. It will be ready when it has stopped bubbling. Strain through a fine sieve to filter out any chunks or pieces of remaining meat. 4. Add dry ingredients. If you desire nuts or dried fruit, stir them in with the dried meat powder at this time, leaving room for the fat. Adding any dried ingredients, especially dried fruit, will reduce the shelf life. 5. Add the fat. Add one part fat per two parts of dried meat mixture, stirring well as you add the liquid fat to the meat powder. 6. Add wet ingredients. If you desire wet ingredients, mix them in now. Adding wet ingredients will reduce the shelf life. 7. Form pemmican. You can spread the mixture out in a casserole dish, allowing it to get firm before cutting it into squares or bars. Alternatively, you can form the mixture into balls and store it that way. Adapted from a recipe originally published on Off the Grid News (see below). Further Reading Drevets, Tricia. 2015. “How to Make Pemmican: A Survival Superfood That Can Last 50 Years.” Off the Grid News. June 2. http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2 /how-to-make-pemmican-a-survival-superfood-that-can-last-50-years. Foster, John E. 2006. “Pemmican.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. February 7. http://www .thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pemmican.

231

232

PIG’S EARS

PIG’S EARS The average domesticated pig in the United States weighs between 200 and 500 pounds, offering consumers a number of edible parts. Pork is eaten across the United States in a variety of ways. For example, pork ribs are commonly prepared by the whole rack. Cooks might cover the ribs in a sticky barbecue sauce or dust the ribs in a spicy rub made from a number of heat-bearing spices. Then they are slow-cooked, preferably over an open flame or grill. Americans slice pork belly and fry it in a pan, calling it bacon. Ham is so commonly eaten that baked ham is a ubiquitous main dish during Christmas dinners across the country. Even the less savory-sounding intestines of the pig are washed thoroughly and used as casings for sausages of all types. Today there is an emerging American trend of eating “nose-to-tail.” This means eating the entire animal, which may require creative thinking. One such lesser-eaten item is pig ears. Today, chefs in the United States are expanding previous modern concepts of what is and is not edible by employing ingredients like pig ears in their dishes. One can find pig ears used as the main ingredient in James Beard award–winning restaurants, Southern sandwich shops, gastropubs (higher-end pubs with an emphasis on food), and Asian noodle dishes. These chefs are experimenting with ways of barbecuing, pickling, roasting, and otherwise preparing the pig ear, historically considered discardable. Pig ears do not have a very strong flavor by themselves, but their texture is strong enough to stand up to high-temperature cooking and strong seasoning flavors. Pig ears are considered an exotic food for most of the United States because they have not been eaten regularly for many years. Pig ears were always inexpensive to purchase from butcher shops. This low price led to them being seasoned, dried, and sold as dog treats. In an ironic twist of events, the pig’s-ear dog treat industry has actually driven up the price of pig ears on the modern market. They are now reportedly more expensive for business owners like Geno Lee of the Big Apple Inn in Jackson, Mississippi. Lee is the fourth-generation owner of the inn, which is known simply as “Big John’s” to locals. The sandwich shop’s original owner, Big John himself, began making pig ear sandwiches, which are the shop’s claim to fame. Big John’s inspiration came from necessity and the will to turn an inexpensive box of pig ears into a profit. The “ears,” as they are known by the shop’s regulars, are still prepared the same way, although now they become tender enough to eat after spending two hours in a pressure cooker. Previously, they required a minimum of six hours boiling over open flame. Each pig ear is cut into three pieces before being cooked in the pressure cooker. Slices of pig ear are put on top of a steamed bun with mustard cabbage slaw and tangy barbecue sauce. Each “ear” is sold for only $1.05, and patrons never order only one. Pig ears are predominantly made of cartilage, which is a very soft, bone-like connective tissue also found in the human ear. Cartilage and the thick skin of the pig ear are the reason why they can be chewy and difficult to bite through. After biting through the skin, the teeth pierce the central layer of cartilage, which is hot, soft, and gelatinous. Chefs and home cooks have concocted a number of ways to tenderize pig ears so that they are more easily consumed. One solution is to brine



PIG’S EARS

Smoked pig ears. When cooked, the ears have a porky flavor somewhat similar to bacon, but with a much chewier texture. (Tanya Polovik/Dreamstime.com)

Appreciation for Offal Modern preferences do not usually involve offal, but various trends among those interested in food have been part of creating the “nose-to-tail” movement. For example, today there is an annual traveling foodie event called Cochon 555. Borrowing the French word cochon, meaning “pig,” the event features five heritage-breed pigs from five different area farms being cooked by five different chefs. The event travels across the United States, holding a number of nights of porcine pleasure. Participating chefs are called on to be creative in making their dishes while using as many parts of the pig as possible. Cochon 555 is indicative of society’s refound acceptance of the nose-to-tail tradition of eating the entire animal.

them overnight in a mixture of equal parts salt, sugar, and water. They can also be brined in buttermilk, which is favorable for pig ears that are destined to be coated in flour or cornmeal prior to frying. In this case, the buttermilk serves a double purpose, both softening the pig ear and providing a coating that allows it to be dredged in a dry ingredient such as flour. Pig ears have predominantly been eaten in the United States as part of a near-subsistence diet (meaning a diet that is taken up during times of great economic hardship). Traditionally, butcher shops discarded pig ears, which is what made them a valuable source of protein and other nutrients for those with little

233

234

PIG’S EARS

money to spend upon food. Pig ears are considered offal. The offal, which is sometimes called the “pluck,” refers to the parts of an animal that are not normally consumed, such as organs, intestines, and in this case, ears. While the pig ear is eaten in many cultural areas throughout the world where pork consumption is sanctioned, it is an important ingredient in the United States within the tradition of soul food cooking. Soul food is not just an inventive and enduring cooking style for African American communities in the South. It is also a cohesive force in those communities that preserves cultural tradition and identity. The cuisine embraces the nose-to-tail cooking aesthetic that is inherent in traditional Southern cooking, and modern Southern cuisine not only embraces the region’s traditions but also utilizes modern culinary experimentation. It is events like the porcine foodie extravaganza Cochon 555 and institutions such as the Big Apple Inn that are the primary forces leading the way for a wider acceptance of the “throwaway” parts of the pig. Chefs across the United States are putting dishes like Pad Thai Pig Ears, Pig Ear Terrine, and Crispy Pig’s Ear Salad on their menus. Thus, the pig ear not only is becoming more accessible to American diners but is also gaining recognition as a versatile and interesting foodstuff. Dani M. Willcutt Southern Pig Ears

Yield: About 24 servings Ingredients 4 pounds of pig ears, thoroughly cleaned 1 teaspoon cayenne 1½ teaspoons black pepper 1½ teaspoons granulated garlic 1½ teaspoons salt Vegetable oil, for cooking ¼ cup all-purpose flour 1 medium yellow onion, diced Directions 1. Put pig ears into a five-quart pot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and allow to cook over high heat for 10 minutes. 2. Pour out the water and rinse the pig ears before covering them again with water. 3. Return to medium heat and add cayenne, pepper, garlic, and salt. 4. In a skillet, heat oil until very hot. Add flour and stir constantly. Cook until a golden caramel color appears. Add onions to roux. Stir until onions are wilted. Add to the pot with pig ears and cover until they reach boiling point.



PIG’S SNOUT AND TAIL

5. Reduce heat to medium low and let cook covered about two hours, until tender. 6. Season to taste. Serve over rice. Further Reading Cochon 555 Tour. 2017. http://cochon555.com. Essig, Mark. 2015. Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig. New York: Basic Books. “Pig Ears: Smothered Pig Ears.” 2014. SoulFoodCookbook. January 13. https://soul foodcookbook.com/smothered-pig-ears. York, Joe. 2015. Smokes & Ears. Southern Foodways Alliance. http://www.southernfoodways .org/film/smokes-ears.

P I G ’ S S N O U T A N D TA I L The pig’s snout and tail—considered humble by many and delicacies by some—are to be found prepared and eaten in many ways around the world. Snouts and tails fall into the category of offal, or variety meats; that is, those parts of the animal that are cut out or cut off when preparing the carcass for eating. A pig’s snout may be sold as just the snout, or it may include skin and some of the meat of the face. There are no bones in the snout, only cartilage. A pig’s tail does have bones, as it comprises the end of the spine, and its meat is quite fatty and rich. Snouts and tails are eaten all over the world. Seasoned, grilled, and spiced, snouts are folded into soft corn tortillas in Mexico and stewed with black beans in Brazilian feijoada. Chopped, stewed, and spiced, and formed into loaves, they are the basis of Pennsylvania Dutch scrapple and North Carolina livermush. In the Philippines, and among Filipino Americans, snouts and tails are grilled, chopped, and fried with onions, hot chilies, and lime to make sisig. Pickled tails—along with ears and trotters—are served with sauerkraut and split pea purée in German Sulperknochen. Celebrated for their savor in literature and music over many centuries, snouts and tails appear in the Greek literature recorded by Athenaeus in The Deipnosophists in the third century. In 19th-century Wisconsin, Laura Ingalls Wilder eagerly anticipated roasting and eating the pig’s tail at the annual slaughter of the family pig in Little House in the Big Woods. The raucous R&B performer Andre Williams sang the praises of St. Louis–style crispy snouts, or snoots, in 1968’s “Pig Snoots.” Tails, snouts, and pork in general are culturally identified with African American and Afro-Caribbean cooking, both historically in slave cooking and in contemporary cookery. Tails, in particular, are often the seasoning in the New Year’s pot of black-eyed peas—the centerpiece of a traditional African American New Year’s feast. Recalling the New Year’s feasts of her youth, Ntozake Shange cooked up pig’s tails and included the recipe “Pig’s Tails by Instinct” in her book If I Can Cook/You Know God Can. In the New Year’s feasts of many cultures, pork symbolizes progress because pigs root forward, toward the future. Pigs were first introduced to the United States by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, followed by French and English settlers in the following two centuries.

235

236

PIG’S SNOUT AND TAIL

From colonial times until the mid-20th century, Americans who raised pigs usually handled their own slaughtering. The preparation, cooking, and eating of snouts and tails was part and parcel of the slaughter, and the ways in which people prepared these parts was influenced by their ethnic origin. European, Mexican, and African and Afro-Caribbean slave cookery formed the basis for traditional culinary preparations still made today. Examples include souse or head cheese, a jellied and molded cold meat dish that has versions in many cultures; Pennsylvania Dutch pickled snouts; and the soul food stew of black-eyed peas and pig tails. Preparation was also influenced by the perishable nature of offal: either it needed to be cooked and eaten right away, or it needed to be preserved. Reliable, affordable refrigeration was not widely available in the United States until the 1930s. Families who raised or hunted pigs for food slaughtered them late in the fall when the weather began to turn cold and meat could be more safely processed and stored. The traditional practice was to use every part of the animal, either for food or for household items—for example, the bristly hair of a pig could be used for toothbrushes or hairbrushes. Tails were something of a delicacy. Rich and meaty, they could be roasted over a fire right at the slaughter site, along with other offal. As family farms dwindled, urbanization and industrialization increased, and refrigeration and commercially processed pork became commonplace, the consumption of variety meats like snouts and tails became relegated to ethnic enclaves around the United States. The general perception of these parts as foreign, weird, and even repulsive spread. Increasingly, snouts and tails from the United States were exported to countries in Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and elsewhere for consumption. We may turn up our noses when faced with the prospect of eating the nose or the tail of a pig. But a new interest has taken hold of the modern culinary imagination, whose icon is a pig: nose-to-tail eating. The practice of eating and cooking nose to tail is now largely dictated by choice, rather than necessity or thrift, and reflects a desire on the part of home and restaurant cooks and diners to explore the flavors and textures of all the edible parts of the animal. One can order pig snouts as a pizza topping, or munch on crispy pig tails as a restaurant appetizer. The trend is evident in rising prices for variety meats, formerly the most economical cuts. Also contributing to the surge in consumption in the United States is its growing Hispanic and Asian populations, who have long been consistent and creative consumers of pig’s snouts and tails. As of 2007, one in three consumers of pork in the United States was Hispanic, Asian, or African American, and according to the Census Bureau, by 2050, that ratio will increase to one in two. Health concerns related to the high fat and cholesterol content of pork, as well as the sodium content in pickled, smoked, or otherwise processed pork, deter many people from consuming pork or pork products. Religious dietary restrictions, as in Islam and Judaism, prevent others from consuming pork of any kind. Margaret Ragland



PIG’S SNOUT AND TAIL

Crispy Barbecued Snoots (St. Louis, Missouri)

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 2 cups ketchup 1 stick butter 1 cup water ½ cup Worcestershire sauce ½ cup canned meat broth or bouillon 1½ tablespoons tomato paste 1½ tablespoons brown sugar ½ cup cider vinegar 1 tablespoon dry mustard 1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste Juice of 1 lemon 8 pig snoots Directions 1. To make the St. Louis–style barbecue sauce, combine all the ingredients, except for the snoots, in a two-quart saucepan and simmer until reduced to a quart. 2. To make snoots from snouts, you’ll need to trim them of excess fat and blood vessels, and to cut off the nostril end. Or you can ask your butcher to trim them. 3. Slice the snoots into strips two inches across, and score them on the fat side—scoring keeps the snout from curling up while cooking. 4. Fill a stockpot with cold water to cover the trimmed snoots. Bring to a boil and then simmer briskly for one hour. Simmering helps cook off excess fat. Drain and rinse the snoots. 5. Prepare a charcoal fire. When the coals are glowing, push them to one side of the grill and place the rack at the highest setting. Allow the rack to heat, then place the snoots on the cooler side of the rack, meat side down. Grill them slowly for 60–90 minutes, turning two or three times, until the snoots are crispy. 6. Remove the crisped snoots to a pan, and dress with warmed St. Louis–style barbecue sauce. 7. Once the snoots are dressed, spoon a serving onto a hearty slice of white bread, top with a second slice, and have at it. Further Reading Covey, Herbert C., and Dwight Eisnach. 2009. What the Slaves Ate: Recollections of African American Foods and Foodways from the Slave Narratives. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press/ABC-CLIO.

237

238

PITTSBURGH SANDWICH

Elie, Lolis Eri. 2005. Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. Henderson, Fergus, and Anthony Bourdain. 2004. The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. New York: CCC Publishing. Shange, Ntozake. 1998. If I Can Cook/You Know God Can. Boston: Beacon Press. Smith, Andrew F. 2009. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. New York: Oxford University Press. Weaver, William Woys. 2002. Sauerkraut Yankees: Pennsylvania Dutch Foods & Foodways. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.

PITTSBURGH SANDWICH The Pittsburgh sandwich was created by Joe Primanti at his small sandwich shop in Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood during the height of the Great Depression. A colossal all-in-one treat consisting of two slices of soft Italian bread layered with meat and cheese, French fries, a sweet Italian dressing coleslaw, and a tomato slice, the Pittsburgh sandwich originated as an easy meal for truckers to grab on the go as they drove through the Steel City. Today, the Pittsburgh sandwich is a classic staple at Primanti Bros., which now has locations across Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana. In the midst of the Great Depression, Pittsburgh’s Strip District neighborhood saw lines of truckers coming and going as they transported steel and other goods through the industrial areas near the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers. Joe Primanti’s sandwich cart was a popular stop for lunch, dinner, or any meal in between, as it was open 24 hours a day. In 1933, Joe Primanti closed his sandwich cart and opened up a brick-and-mortar location with his brothers, Dick and Stanley, at the corner of 18th and Smallman streets. The brothers fed blue-collar workers from the hours of 3:00 am to 3:00 pm at this location, which still operates today. Joe Primanti did not open his sandwich shop serving fried potatoes between slices of bread, though the story of the Pittsburgh sandwich’s creation is quite simple. Legend has it that one winter a trucker brought some potatoes over to the sandwich shop, where Joe Primanti proceeded to fry them up. As customers requested fresh fries, he put the them on the sandwiches he was making. The Pittsburgh sandwich, now a heartier on-the-go meal thanks to the addition of starchy potatoes, was born. Variations of this origin story say that Joe, Dick, and Stanley Primanti forgot to buy plates and forks before their sandwich shop opened for the first time. Some think Joe Primanti intentionally stuffed the sandwiches with fries in order to make it easier for patrons to take their sandwiches on the go. Whatever the true story, truckers were able to easily continue on their routes with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a massive sandwich thanks to the Primanti brothers. The neighborhood housing the original Primanti Bros. location, known as the Strip District, turned from industrial transport to wholesale produce, meat, cheese, seafood, and other goods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the many



PITTSBURGH SANDWICH

Primanti Expansion The Primanti family opened its second location in the heart of Oakland, the neighborhood that makes up the University of Pittsburgh campus. This location caters to both students and professionals. There are 27 more Primanti Bros. locations scattered across Pennsylvania, as well as West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Florida.

abandoned warehouses in the area have transformed into bars, clubs, restaurants, and specialty food stores. The Strip District is a vibrant, must-visit location for tourists and locals alike. Though the city of Pittsburgh has graduated from its industrial origins, the heart of the city remains the same. The Pittsburgh sandwich, stacked nearly half a foot high and wrapped in wax paper, presents a challenge for most consumers. This is just what classic Pittsburghers, with their blue-collar backgrounds and industrial past, thrive upon. While there are 21 varieties of meat to choose from at most Primanti Bros. locations today, the Pittsburger Cheese Steak is the most popular on the menu, though it is listed as the number-two best seller. If you ask any employee at Primanti’s, they’ll tell you that the number-one best seller is beer (Iron City, to be exact). Other popular sandwich choices are capicola, kielbasa, and pastrami, which speaks to the melting pot of ethnic cultures that the city of Pittsburgh has come to represent. Though not a true Pittsburgh sandwich due to the lack of meat, there are two vegetarian options on the Primanti Bros. menu: cheese and Southwest black bean burger. The Pittsburgh sandwich is so ingrained in the city’s culture that Primanti Bros. created a special edition to celebrate the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup winning streak. The HBK Sandwich pays homage to the Penguins’ HBK line of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel. Available for only a limited time, the sandwich featured a triple-meat center: ham, bacon, and kielbasa. The sandwich was advertised as “large enough for Phil Kessel’s unruly appetite while still being perfect for Hagelin, Bonino, and all Pens’ fans” (Tribune-Review 2016). Joe Primanti, whose last name is now synonymous with the Pittsburgh sandwich, unknowingly started the Pittsburgh culinary trend of adding French fries to dishes that otherwise would not include them. The Pittsburgh salad, for example, features lettuce and veggies with chicken or steak, cheese, and French fries on top. The Primanti Bros. sandwich has been featured on Bizarre Foods America, Guilty Pleasures, Food Paradise, and Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America. In 2008, Adam Richman visited the original Primanti Bros. location for an episode of Man vs. Food in which he ate the “Almost Famous” capicola and egg sandwich. Rebecca Berland

239

240

POI

The Pittsburgh Sandwich

Yield: 1 sandwich Ingredients 2 slices thick-cut Italian bread 4–6 slices meat 1 large handful French fries 1 large handful Italian dressing–based coleslaw 2 slices tomato Directions 1. Layer meat and cheese on one slice of bread. 2. Add fries on top, followed by coleslaw. 3. Top with tomato and second slice of bread. 4. Cut in half and serve. Further Reading Primanti Bros. 2016. “Our Story.” August 9. http://www.primantibros.com/story. Schultz, Patricia. 2016. 1,000 Places to See before You Die: In the United States and Canada. New York: Workman Publishing. Tribune-Review. 2016. “Primanti’s Honors Penguins’ HBK Line with Sandwich.” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. May 20. http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/10499500-74/sandwich -hbk-primanti.

POI In various Polynesian cultures in the Pacific region, including the Hawaiian islands, fermented taro pastes and puddings, known as poi, are of great cultural and ceremonial significance. Traditionally the Polynesian puddings were served to chiefs and important guests, and they were an integral part of feasts. The pastes or puddings are prepared with taro (Colocasia esculenta) or aroids, belonging to the arum plant family in botany known as Araceae. Taro originates in the Indo-Malaysian Peninsula, from where it was probably taken into the Pacific region. This occurred around 1600 to 1200 BCE when the invention of a new type of canoe enabled societies to experience long-distance voyaging. Around 800 to 900 CE, taro migrated from western Polynesia (Samoa and Tonga) into eastern Polynesia (the Cook, Society, and Marquesas islands). In 1769, Captain Cook and his crew observed cultivated taro in Maori plantations, after which several eyewitness accounts start making mention of the cultivation of taro and the fermentation of pounded taro in large pits in the ground. In Polynesia there is no generic term for taro, which is also known as dalo, kalo, and talo, and no overlapping name exists for the fermented paste or pudding locally also known as fakakai, fai’ai, feikai, fekei, loloi, poke, po’e, poi, popoi, roroi, sua, susua, tukituki, taufolo, and vaihalo. In west Polynesia taro is commonly grated for

POI

the preparation of the starchy pudding, and for eastern Polynesians the prevalent practice is the pounding of taro. In ancient Hawaii, taro, locally better known as kalo, was one of the most important crops. The flowers, leaves, peeled corms, and leaf stems or petioles all were used as food. Still today, Hawaiians are well known for their love of kalo, and especially for the fermented paste or pudding locally known as poi. In Hawaii, both the plant and poi are sacred, as the greatest force of life of all foods is attributed to kalo. According to Hawaiian mythology, taro is linked with creation. The legend is that taro grew from the body of Hãloa-naka, the first stillborn son of Wãkea (father sky) and Papa (mother earth). After the burial of Hãloa-naka, from this union a second child, called Hãloa (everlasting breath), was born. In this belief system, Hawaiians are descendants of Hãloa, the second child. According to many Hawaiians, the taro plant is superior to man, and by eating poi, not only people are brought together, but also ohana (family) relationships are supported and the aumakua (ancestors) are appreciated. Poi is served at every luau (Hawaiian feast). In order to prepare poi, traditionally the taro corms are cooked in the imu (underground oven), after which a stone pestle and pounder are employed to pound the corms. Nowadays the corms are often peeled and boiled in water, and pounded or mashed into a smooth paste. The desired thin or thick consistency is reached by slowly adding water. By fermenting the paste for a number of days, the desired taste is reached. Fresh poi has a sweet taste, and the longer it ferments, the sourer it becomes. Hawaiians indicate the thickness of the taro paste by the number of fingers needed to eat poi, which is referred to as one-, two-, three-, or four-finger poi. In Hawaii, numerous people and companies prepare and sell poi commercially. Poi can be purchased fresh and frozen, in plastic bags, and even in cans. Taro corms consist of 17 to 29 percent carbohydrates, 1.5 to 3 percent protein, and other valuable nutrients such as vitamin C, B vitamins, and minerals. Taro contains oxalic acid, which is known to cause irritation of the skin and mouth, and the corms and other plant parts have to be heated or fermented before consumption. Karin Vaneker Poi

Yield: About 3 cups of poi Ingredients 1½ pounds raw taro root Directions 1. Small taro corms in their skins can be boiled in salted water. The corms are ready when they can be pierced with a fork. Larger corms should be peeled and into chunks. Boil these for approximately 40 minutes.

241

242

POKE

2. Reserve the cooking liquid. Put the slightly cooled, boiled taro in a bowl (or food processor), add a little of the reserved cooking liquid (or water), and use a potato masher to process the taro into a consistent paste that clings to a finger. Add more liquid if necessary. Further Reading Bown, Deni. 2000. Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family. Portland, OR: Timber Press. Cho, John, Roy A. Yamakawa, and James Hollyer. 2007. “Hawaiian Kalo, Past and Future.” Sustainable Agriculture, February 2007: 1–8. https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs​ /pdf/SA-1.pdf. Flach, M., and F. Rumawas, eds. 1996. Plant Resources of South-East Asia 9: Plants Yielding Non-Seed Carbohydrates. Leiden, Netherlands: Backhuys Publishers. Laudan, Rachel. 1996. The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

POKE Poke is a raw fish salad originating in Hawaii. Traditionally, it is diced-up raw fish seasoned with salt, limu (seaweed), roasted kukui nut meat (candlenuts), and sometimes peppers and/or furikake (a Japanese dry seasoning made of dried, ground fish, sesame seeds, seaweed, sugar, and salt). There are a variety of poke dishes, some made with sesame oil and green onion, which reflects the ethnic diversity of Hawaii. There are even “pokirritos,” following the burrito model but using rice and seaweed as a wrap and filling the pokirrito with poke salad and other fresh ingredients, such as cucumbers, pickled carrots, and so on. The word poke in Hawaiian means “cut piece” or “small piece.” Poke dishes can be made with tuna, octopus, salmon, or other shellfish, and the very popular ahi poke is made with yellowfin tuna. Recipes for poke do not appear in cookbooks published before the 1970s. It can be thought of as a fusion dish of traditional and locally occurring Hawaiian ingredients with an Asian—specifically Japanese— taste for the same raw fish. Poke can be considered sashimi’s homegrown cousin. Sashimi is a raw fish dish that is perfectly cut in thin, even slices and served with soy sauce and other condiments such as wasabi and pickled ginger. Sashimi is all about appearance and considered a delicate dish. On the other hand, poke is served in a bowl or platter, does not demand precise knife work, and can easily be made at home with its sauces and seasonings mixed in. With an increase in health consciousness and a mass food exchange, poke is gaining popularity. It can be commonly be found on appetizer and happy hour menus, from poke salad on taro chips to poke tacos and nachos. There are even restaurants dedicated entirely to the dish, such as Wisefish (New York) and Poke Bowl (San Francisco), among many others, offering poke over rice and/or green salads, allowing diners to customize their dish with a wide variety of common condiments including pickled ginger, furikake, cucumbers, edamame, and more. This trend has made the Hawaiian dish a fast-food trend all over, from Los Angeles to New York. Poke is enjoying an increase in popularity similar to the sushi craze.

POKE

Seasoned and marinated raw tuna poke, garnished with scallions, fresh herbs, and plumeria (“lei”) flowers. (Ronin Photography/Dreamstime.com)

The raw fish base is flexible, making customization easy. Diners can easily create a “poke bowl” according to their taste and dietary preferences. Poke is quite nutritious, being mainly raw fish and seasonings. Poke also lends itself to the increasing trend of “bowl foods,” with Americans ditching the sandwich habit and avoiding carbohydrates. Poke, essentially pure protein, can be served over salad greens and alongside vegetables, catering to the high-protein, low–processed carbohydrate diet trend in current American foodways. Sally Baho Inamona Poke

Yield: 4–6 servings Ingredients 1 pound fresh raw aku (skipjack tuna), ahi (yellowfin tuna), or other fish, in bite-sized cubes ½ cup chopped limu kohu (red seaweed) 1 teaspoon inamona (roasted, crushed kukui nut) 1 red chili pepper, minced Salt to taste

243

244

POLISH BOY SANDWICH

Directions 1. Rinse and chop limu. 2. Combine all ingredients except the fish, and set aside. 3. Place fish in a bowl, drizzle with the freshly mixed inamona mixture, and stir so that the fish is thoroughly coated. Further Reading Kearns, Landess. 2017. “What You Need to Know about This Popular Hawaiian Food Trend.” Huffington Post. August 10. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/poke-bowl -recipes_us_5743abb0e4b0613b512b1bfd. Laudan, Rachel. 1996. The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

POLISH BOY SANDWICH The Polish Boy sandwich is a sausage sandwich typically prepared with a grilled, griddled, or deep-fried smoked kielbasa link stuffed into an oversized roll or bun, smothered with sweet and spicy barbeque sauce, topped with hot French fries, and covered with creamy coleslaw. In Cleveland, “Polish Boy” was once a general term for any large kielbasa on a bun. In the same way, Chicago and Detroit have their own unique ways of preparing hot dogs, the Polish Boy is considered a Cleveland original, and it is Cleveland’s signature sandwich. “Kielbasa” is a word borrowed from Polish meaning “sausage.” Generally, in the United States, and specifically in Cleveland, “kielbasa” refers to a medium-grind smoked sausage made with beef, pork, or a combination of both, seasoned with garlic and spices and stuffed into a natural casing. As this is a traditionally Polish way of making sausage, kielbasa is most commonly found in areas with a significant population of Polish descent, such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, and Cleveland, Ohio. Sausage-making has long been part of Cleveland’s culinary history, and the Polish Boy sandwich prominently features locally produced kielbasa. Not to be confused with the Big Easy’s po’ boy, the Polish Boy sandwich is a uniquely Cleveland, Ohio, invention. While there is no origin story for this Cleveland original sandwich, the Polish Boy has been offered at Cleveland eateries for decades. One of the earliest versions of the Polish Boy is attributed to Virgil Whitmore, who opened the original Whitmore’s Bar-B-Q in the 1940s, in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Making use of the ingredients at hand—smoked beef sausage, coleslaw, French fries, and his famous barbecue sauce—Whitmore came up with new and creative way to use them. Shortly after Whitmore combined these ingredients as a sandwich, other barbecue joints across Cleveland began offering their versions. As the Whitmore family grew, so did their presence in the Cleveland culinary scene. Various Whitmore family members went on to open other Cleveland-area barbecue shops, including Mt. Pleasant BBQ, which opened in 1977 and is currently operated by Virgil Whitmore’s grandson Larry Turner. Mt. Pleasant BBQ has



POLISH BOY SANDWICH

Celebrity Chef Polish Boys It would seem natural that when Michael Symon opened his “Cleveland-style” barbecue restaurant, Mabel’s BBQ, in the Gateway District of Downtown Cleveland, he would include his version of his favorite sandwich on the menu. Symon serves a version of the city’s famed kielbasa sandwich made with a fat kielbasa from the nearby West Side Market, topped with smoked pork, barbecue sauce made with Stadium Mustard (Cleveland’s favorite local-produced brown mustard), creamy coleslaw, and French fries. Symon’s “Polish Girl Sandwich” is included on Food & Wine’s list of “America’s Best Hot Dogs.”

been preparing and serving the Polish Boy since it opened, and the sandwich is still one of the most popular items on the menu. In addition to Whitmore’s and Mt. Pleasant BBQ, Polish Boy sandwiches are also available at many local eateries across Cleveland. While Polish Boys can be found at various establishments throughout Cleveland, one of the most popular places was the long-running, widely claimed favorite, now-defunct Freddie’s Southern Style Rib House. Freddie’s was best known for its sweet and spicy Southern-style barbecue sauce. Another long-running favorite is Seti’s Polish Boys food truck. Seti’s version is unique because of optional chili and cheese that can be added to the sandwich. More recent entries into the Cleveland Polish Boy sandwich scene are the Rib Cage and Hot Sauce Williams. The Rib Cage offers two versions of this Cleveland classic: the Jumbo Polish Boy, an all-beef polish sausage topped with slaw, fresh-cut fries, and Carolina Mustard Vinegar; and the Jumbo Polish Girl, a Jumbo Polish Boy with the addition of smoked pulled pork. Hot Sauce Williams features a variation that adds smoked and barbecued pork shoulder to the sandwich. The Polish Boy sandwich is also included on the menu at several contemporary restaurants. The Polish Boy sandwich rose to national recognition in the 2000s when Esquire magazine declared the Polish Boy sandwich at the now-defunct Freddie’s Rib House in Cleveland “soul on white.” Further recognition came as celebrity chefs and television personalities explored regional and local food traditions for national broadcast programming. In 2010, the Seti’s Polish Boys food truck was featured on the Food Network’s The Best Thing I Ever Ate. James Beard award–winning chef Michael Symon cited the Polish Boy sandwich at Seti’s as the best sandwich he had ever eaten. More attention was directed to this local sandwich when Zagat honored Seti’s Polish Boy sandwich as Ohio’s representative sandwich in its list of “50 States, 50 Sandwiches.” Zagat suggests that the Polish Boy sandwich best embodies the spirit of Cleveland and its local cuisine. Hot Sauce Williams was featured in June 2010 on the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food. Nathan C. Crook

245

246

PORK ROLL

Polish Boy Sandwich

Yield: 4 sandwiches Ingredients 1 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons yellow mustard 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar ½ teaspoon celery seeds 3 cups shredded green cabbage ½ cup shredded carrots ½ cup thinly sliced red onion 4 Polish sausages, precooked 4 hot dog buns 2 cups French fries, homemade or store-bought Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. In a large bowl add sour cream, mustard, vinegar, and celery seeds. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. 2. Add cabbage, carrots, and onions. Toss the slaw with the dressing. 3. Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Place Polish sausages on grill and sear until the casing is brown, about three minutes per side. 4. Place a sausage on each hot dog bun. Top with slaw and French fries. Serve. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading “Between Bread.” 2010. Episode. The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Food Network. http://www .foodnetwork.com/shows/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate/episodes/100-series. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 2009. 500 Things to Eat Before It’s Too Late and the Very Best Places to Eat Them. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Zagat Staff. 2013. “50 States, 50 Sandwiches.” Zagat. August 27. https://www.zagat .com/b/50-states-50-sandwiches.

PORK ROLL Pork roll, also known as Taylor ham, is a log of salted, seasoned, and hickory-smoked pork that is served sliced throughout New Jersey and in surrounding areas of the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The ingredients of this processed meat are lean pork (85–90 percent lean), salt, sugar, and a proprietary blend of spices. Pork roll is consumed throughout the state of New Jersey by all classes of people, but there is a geographical divide in its name: in central and southern New Jersey, it goes by “pork roll,” and in the north by “Taylor ham.” Where in central New Jersey this divide occurs is unclear.



PORK ROLL

Pork roll is the mainstay of diners, delis, coffee shops, and food trucks in New Jersey, and it is also available at local supermarkets. The most common way to consume pork roll is in the form of an egg and cheese sandwich on a soft roll. To make it, the meat is sliced, warmed on a griddle or frying pan, and then placed in a roll with an egg and slice of cheese. This is known as a Jersey Breakfast or Triple Bypass Sandwich and is a popular hangover cure. Restaurants and home cooks have gotten creative with pork roll, topping burgers or pizza with it; folding diced meat into an omelet, soup, or pasta; chopping it into a hash, a filling for tacos, or a batter for muffins; or substituting it for fish in sushi. In almost any recipe that calls for bacon or ham, pork roll can take its place and make the dish distinctively New Jerseyan. Pork roll is unique to New Jersey, but it has its origins in early U.S. diets. Until the age of refrigeration, Americans had a preference for pork, since it could be easily cured with salt, which would allow the meat to be stored well beyond the butchering season, which took place in the autumn or winter. Before 1900, barrel pork was the cured meat of choice in the United States—cuts of pork placed in a barrel filled with a flavorful brine solution of salt and a sweetener. New Jersey pork roll is a regional expression of cured pork. After World War II, fresh pork, which had been a highly seasonal product, surpassed the cured expression, and barrel pork disappeared. This was not the case with pork roll, which is now produced year-round and is regionally loved. Only two companies, both based in Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, produce pork roll commercially. They are Taylor Provision Company and Case’s Pork Roll, both of which have been in business for over 150 years. Both companies offer whole, thick logs of pork roll (about three and a half inches diameter and in options of 1, 1.5, or 3 pounds) or presliced (approximately a quarter-inch thick). What differs between the two brands is their signature secret blend of spices. There are chefs, both professional and recreational, with origins in New Jersey who are known to make their own pork roll, but who do not sell it commercially. Taylor Provision Company, started by John Taylor in 1856, was the first in the game and is considered the inventor of pork roll. The Taylor family, who arrived in New Jersey from England in 1677, had long been in the pork business. John Taylor’s grandfather, also named John Taylor, sold minced ham in taverns in pre-revolutionary Trenton, a city that was on the route between New York City and Philadelphia. The younger John Taylor, who was born in 1836, started his own grocery store, Taylor Provision, in Trenton and sold his pork roll there. It was called “Taylor ham.” John Taylor’s son, William, took over the business and was forced, by the passage of the 1906 Federal Meat Inspection Act, to change the name, since the processed pork product wasn’t technically a ham. To promote the newly named pork roll, William Taylor invested in advertising in key places: the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Jersey Shore, and the Trenton State Fair. To this day, a descendant of this family runs the company. The history of the other producer, Case’s Pork Roll, is almost as long. It was founded in 1870 by George Washington Case, a former butcher who had a hog

247

248

PORK ROLL

Pork Roll beyond the Region Despite its popularity and the great number of visitors to the Jersey shore every summer, pork roll is not well known outside of the state and is rarely available. As such, there are mail-order companies that are devoted to sending pork roll to people across the country. Pork roll also brings people to New Jersey. In 2014, the first annual pork roll festival, complete with a Miss Pork Roll Queen competition, was held in Trenton. Thousands of people attended from as far away as Alaska and Canada.

farm in New Jersey. At first he sold his pork roll from a cart, and then he set up shop in a brick-and-mortar location in Trenton in 1909. His son, Andrew Jackson Case, was the first to manufacture pork roll outside the fall and winter months, allowing for a greater volume of production. Despite a massive fire in 2012 that halted production, Case’s Pork Roll is still in operation and is run by a Case family member. Back when pork roll came into being in the mid-19th century, Cincinnati and Chicago were the major pork processors, but Newark held its own and still does. Despite most of Trenton’s manufacturing industry—rubber, wire rope, ceramics, and cigars—having disappeared, pork roll still remains, even though with the advent of refrigeration, the culinary desire for cured meat outweighs practical reasons. Diana Pittet Jersey Breakfast Roll

Yield: 2 sandwiches Ingredients 2 soft sandwich rolls or English muffins 2 slices of cheese, your choice 4–6 slices pork roll 2 eggs Directions 1. Toast sandwich rolls or English muffins (optional) and top with the cheese. 2. Make small cuts around the edge of the pork roll slices so that they don’t curl during cooking. Add pork roll to one side of a medium skillet sprayed with cooking oil. On the other side of the skillet, crack the egg and cook as you like. Cook over medium heat until the pork roll is browned and the egg is how you like it. 3. Add the cooked pork roll and eggs to the sandwich rolls or English muffins. Add ketchup or mustard (optional). Recipe adapted from one originally published in The Pork Roll Cookbook (Pizzi and Yeske 2015).



POTICA

Further Reading Correa, Cynthia. 2015. “All About Pork Roll, New Jersey’s Own Cheap Eat.” Eater. July 16. https://www.eater.com/2015/7/16/8962643/pork-roll-taylor-ham-new-jersey. Pizzi, Jenna, and Susan Sprague Yeske. 2015. The Pork Roll Cookbook. Kennebunkport, ME: Cider Mill Press.

POTICA (Pronounced po-TEET-za, po-teet-sa, po-tee-zah, po-tee-sa, poh-teet-sah, po-teets-sah, paw-tee’-tzah, pat-tee-tsa, puh-teet’-za, potteezza, p∂ `tiːts∂, po¯-te¯e¯-tsa˘) “What do you feed him?” Pope Francis asked Melania Trump about her husband when they met at the Vatican in Rome on May 24, 2017. “Potica?” “Potica, ah yes,” confirmed the Slovenian-born First Lady (“Potica–What Is the Slovenian Pastry” 2017), about her country’s rich, highly nutritious, sweet, strudel-like groundnut bread favorite of Pope Francis that remains an important part of Slovenian cultural identity in both Slovenia and in the Americas. Slovenia—not to be confused with the Central European country of Slovakia located north of Hungary, nor the eastern historical region of Slavonia in the neighboring nation of Croatia to the south-southeast—is a small, largely Catholic, highly literate republic of about two million people tucked in between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea, with Italy to the west, Austria to the north, and Hungary to the east. Slovenia became independent from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, merged with Croats and Serbs in that same year, and became recognized as Yugoslavia in 1922 (renamed “Kingdom of Yugoslavia” in 1929). Slovenia split from Yugoslavia in 1991 and, after a short 10-day war, established its largest city, Ljubljana, as its capital. Slovenia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) in 2004. In 2007 Slovenia joined both the Eurozone monetary union (EZ) and the Schengen Area countries, arrangements aimed at promoting “free and unrestricted movement of people, goods, services, and capital” across member-state borders. Strategically located, Slovenia controls some of Europe’s major transit routes. Slovenia’s iconic potica (also Povtíca and Povitica in early mention from 1575) takes its name from the Slovenian word poviti, referring to “rolling up,” as in the rolling up of a piece of dough or a rolled pastry or simply a roll (Bogataj 2007; Rolek 2016). While there are over 40—some say as many as 80—different fillings that can be rolled up in potica, its sweet, transparent-thin yeast dough is most commonly spread with high-quality ingredients such as eggs, honey or sugar, butter, and cream, along with finely ground walnuts or hazelnuts, poppy seeds, raisins, pork cracklings, leeks, dried fruit, or tarragon. Potica with tarragon remains the most distinctly Slovenian food specialty, as Slovenia is one of the few places in the world where tarragon is used in sweet pastry dishes (Prešeren 2013). The most “obscure” of all poticas is made with greaves—crisp pieces of residue left after hog fat has been rendered during a fall family pig slaughter (koline)—which rural folks sometimes

249

250

POTICA

use instead of raisins. Children in cities did not often get potica made with greaves, “but children from small rural cities and villages like Melania’s home town Sevnica loved it” (“Potica—What Is the Slovenian Pastry” 2017). One of the oldest potica fillings is honey, long provided by Slovenia’s rich beekeeping traditions (Bogataj 2007). In hard times, when butter, eggs, nuts, sugar, and honey were scarce, Slovenians in the Dolenjska and other economically poor regions crafted a marbled mixed-grain bread known as revna potica (“poor man’s potica”), or pisani kruh (“colorful bread”), in an attempt to create or imitate “an atmosphere of Kathleen S. Roufs slathering walnut filling on potica. festive abundance” from sim(Tim Roufs) ple ingredients. The faux potica often consisted of a layer of wheat dough topped with a layer of buckwheat dough, rolled up like a true potica (Kilpatrick 2016; Prešeren 2013). Historically, as every family prepared potica for festive occasions, the filling of the sweet treat was a symbol of the family’s social status: “The wealthier families used expensive fillings such as walnuts and cream, and the poor could only afford to fill it with herbs or . . . hard bits of fat. Today the filling is not an indicator of a family’s class anymore, but Potica continues to be a tradition in Slovenian families” (Posedel 2017). Nowadays poticas include other sweet fillings like vanilla, chocolate, coconut with orange, and a host of others, including fillings like cottage cheese, cracklings, prosciutto, and chives used in savory poticas. Potica was and continues to be Slovenia’s most festive dish, ever-present at holidays, weddings, birthdays, christenings, funerals, anniversaries, and all other important occasions and celebrations. Traditionally, tarragon potica was a homemade Easter treat, and walnut potica was baked at home mostly at Christmas. “Potica could not be bought in shops in the old days in Slovenia. It was a family prepared pastry, normally in festive times. Normally grandmothers would be in charge for their preparation. And every one had her own secret recipe. It is without big doubt to say that Melania remembers her grandmother by how she had eaten her potica. . . . Being religious or not in her youth . . . potica was one of the rare desserts children had eaten. When she was growing up in Slovenia . . . a socialist country that did not engage in Western culinary trends like McDonald’s [or] sweet



POTICA

chocolate snacks like Mars and others . . . the children [first] got a cake that their mothers baked for birthdays. And potica was their number two dessert. On third place there was ice cream” (“Potica—What Is the Slovenian Pastry” 2017). On their first day of a new school year, children are often given a slice of poppyseed potica in the hopes of making them smarter in the upcoming year (Bogataj 2013, 112). Slovenian Americans of all ages fondly remember the potica and potica-making of their youth. Mary Lou Voelk, president of the Slovenian Union of America, for example, fondly recalls potica-making from her childhood in Ely, Minnesota: “Once they cleaned out the [potica filling] pan, I got to sit behind the wood stove where it was toasty warm, and with my finger, trace the walls of the pan, licking up the walnut filling. Never will I forget this wonderful time.” Nataša Smid of central Slovenia warmly recollects that the best part of potica-making was “licking with fingers what was left when Babica was done with the filling. I helped her spreading the dough with my fingers. When she was lifting the linen to roll it I was making sure with my hands that no air was left in. My grandma always ‘hid away’ a piece of potica for the next day—because it really IS better next day, but if not hidden nothing was left.” Potica, in short, “symbolizes a festive time when the whole family gathers at home. It brings out happy memories and hopes for a good future” (Posedel 2017). “When speaking about Potica it is almost impossible not to mention family,” suggests freelance writer Andreja Posedel. “Many cookbooks offer recipes on how to prepare traditional Potica, but most households still make this traditional dish with the recipe that has been passed down in their family from generation to generation” (Posedel 2017). Recipes differ not only from family to family, but they also vary from one of the twenty-four Slovenian gastronomic regions to another (Bogataj 2007, 436–439; Lebe and Blažic 2006). “The country is divided into small regions that are [not] comparable between themselves. And so different are also recipes for potica. The pastry itself has a common dough basis, but what differentiates many kinds of potica are the [filling] ingredients [nuts, herbs, white sugar, brown sugar, honey, and the mixtures and proportions]. There are people that will only eat one kind of potica and they will hate eating another kind of potica in the meanwhile. Also parents are very surprised in Slovenia when they discover their child will not eat the kind of potica they admire, but will love a totally different kind of taste” (“Potica—What Is the Slovenian Pastry” 2017). Every family has its favorite, often secret recipe, and because cooks use different methods, even the popular walnut potica often varies from one household to the next (Rolek 2016). The consensus is, however, that homemade potica of whatever nature is the best, especially potica made by Babica, one’s grandmother. Slovenian grandmothers and their daughters have been preparing potica for centuries. The original mention of potica goes back to the very first books printed in the Slovenian language in the 16th century, the Abecedarium (Alphabet Book) and Katechismus (Catechism), published by the Lutheran Protestant reformer Primož Trubar in 1550. Trubar’s works, along with other 16th-century books, “became the foundation of the establishment of the national identity of Slovenians” (Drake 2003). Almost 250 years later, in 1799, the Franciscan priest, poet, and author

251

252

POTICA

Father Valentin Vodnik featured potica in the first published Slovene-language cookbook, Kuharske bukve. One of the earliest Slovenes in America, the Roman Catholic diocesan missionary the Venerable Father Frederic Baraga, was two years old when Father Vodnik published Kuharske bukve. Father Baraga was born in what is the modern-day village of Knežja Vas. He arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1831, and 22 years later, in 1853, Father Baraga became the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette, Michigan. Known as “the Snowshoe Priest,” he worked among the Anishinabe and Ottawa peoples of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Canadian shores of Lake Superior, and the area around the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie. A prolific multilingual writer (he spoke eight languages fluently), Father Baraga’s writings became well known throughout Europe, informing his fellow Slovenes and others, lay and religious alike, about native and immigrant cultures and lands of the Upper Midwest, thereby inspiring thousands of Slovenes to leave their homeland in the 19th century for the United States (“Keweenaw Ethnic Groups” n.d.). Slovenes migrated to the United States and parts of Canada, settling in Slovene communities principally in Cleveland and other areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the “Copper Country” of the northwestern region of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the UP). The early settlers who followed Father Francis Xavier Pierz, the “Father of Central Minnesota,” to the rich farming region of St. Cloud, Minnesota, established what “is recognized as the oldest Slovenian Settlement in America” (“Saint Stephen Lodge 197” n.d.). By 1871 Slovenian Catholics built St. Stephen Catholic Church, one of the earliest parishes in the Diocese of Saint Cloud. Descendants of the original settlers continue to value their Slovenian culture to this day, including, of course, their potica. Later Slovenian settlers searching for non-farm work were attracted to the Copper Country of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, which boomed from 1845 until 1887. “Calumet [in the UP] was one of their chosen destinations and is considered one the oldest Slovene communities in America” (“Keweenaw Ethnic Groups” n.d.). Beginning in 1884, when the first iron ore was shipped from the Vermilion Range in Minnesota, Slovenian mine workers headed to the developing Minnesota Iron Range country, bringing with them their prized potica. After iron ore production began on the Iron Range, Father Joseph Francis Buh, a young Slovenian priest who had been recruited by Father Pierz in 1864 to serve as a “traveling missionary” to American Indian populations, was reassigned to the Iron Range in 1888, and he served the area as missionary and pastor of St. Martin’s Church in Tower, Minnesota. As part of his pastoral work on the Iron Range, Father Buh founded the Slovene paper Ameriški Slovenec (American Slovene). His fellow Slovenians subsequently “poured into the area.” Today, the Reverend Monsignor Joseph Buh is considered the patriarch of the Diocese of Duluth, although he might well also be considered the patriarch of potica in Northern Minnesota. Throughout the Slovenian areas of the Upper Midwest, large numbers of immigrants arrived between 1880 and World War I, and especially between 1905 and 1913.



POTICA

Potica Pride In the broader political world, in 1993 potica and its associated national heritage was promoted by the Slovenian government with the issuance of a postage stamp. A second stamp was issued in 2005 in the Europa—Gastronomy series, featuring three typical poticas: walnut, poppy seed, and tarragon, symbolizing three geographical regions of Slovenia: the Alps, the Pannonian plains, and the Mediterranean (“Potica, the Traditional Cake” 2017). Currently, the Slovenian Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry has asked the European Union (EU) to register potica as a national food, a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG) product, with six types of filling—including the iconic varieties “Slovenska potica—orehova” (walnut), “Slovenska potica—makovo seme” (poppy seed), “Slovenska potica—pehtranka” (tarragon), and “Slovenska potica—lešnikova” (hazelnut)—thus legally protecting its recipe, production process, and ingredients (“Slovenia Seeks Protected Status” 2017). In support of its EU Traditional Specialty Guaranteed request, the first Otocˇec Castle Slovenian Easter Potica Festival was held in 2017, with the Slovenian minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Dejan Židan, serving as its honorary sponsor.

The immigrants to Michigan’s Copper Country and Minnesota’s Iron Range, as elsewhere, brought with them the foods with which they grew up. “If there’s one thing Slovenian emigrants take with them when leaving the homeland, it’s a recipe for potica, a simple walnut dessert, known today as Slovenia’s sweetest ambassador” (Žoldoš 2017). And an effective “ambassador” it is. Business correspondent Gene Rebeck reports that U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, whose family is of Minnesota Iron Range Slovenian origin, has served potica to politicos in Washington, DC, where it has reportedly won fans on both sides of the aisle—a remarkable feat in the early 21st-century U.S. political milieu (Rebeck 2014). Modern-day descendants of Slovenian immigrants devotedly carry on their potica-loving traditions, although, as in modern-day Slovenia itself, in recent years potica is increasingly being made by commercial bakeries, year-round and nationwide. Mary Lou Voelk reflects, “A day was set aside for the potica making, a festivity never to be forgotten. Grinding the nuts, making sure the room temperature is just right, preparing the table with the linen sheet. Just watching the dough get thinner and thinner as it is stretched! Heaven forbid if there was a hole in the dough. My eyes were always big when the sheet was picked up and the potica began its trek down the table, growing in girth as it rolled along” (Rebeck 2014). Most seasoned potica-makers note that the most important part of making potica is the preparation of the leavened dough, which is a delicate process that takes time, patience, and a lot of practice (Posedel 2017). “Potica experts—and there are many—recommend pulling the dough out on a table that you can access from all sides, especially if you have people to help with the stretching. Having two or even four sets of hands makes this step go faster while lessening the chance

253

254

POTICA

of tearing, and usually results in an even, thin sheet of dough. The professional potica makers say it must be ‘thin enough to read the newspaper through’” (Carpenter 2015, 36). “If you have thick dough,” muses Iron Ranger Pat Roberts, a seasoned poticamaker, “you might as well just make coffee cake!” Thin dough is essential for American-style potica, and it is best if stretched the full length of a large table, with “hands under the dough, palms down” so as not to poke holes in the dough— palms up, and fingers poke holes. The secret in making potica dough lies in using high-quality, fine-grained, dry, warmed, all-purpose wheat flour, and patiently preparing it in a hot kitchen by kneading it thoroughly for elasticity. Flour was customarily kept atop traditional bread ovens to keep it warm and dry. The baker assembles the carefully prepared ingredients and then begins the fine art of dough stretching. Once the potica dough has been suitably stretched, the baker patiently slathers on the paste-like filling and then carefully rolls up the entire dough jellyroll-fashion, whereupon it is cut into appropriate-sized loaves. The loaves are traditionally baked until golden brown in special round, high-sided, often colorful earthenware baking molds called poticˇnicas. Potica baking molds, grooved or smooth and with a circular cone-shaped protrusion in the middle, date from the end of the 18th century, and today they are considered a hallmark of authentically made potica. However, long ago, housewives baked potica without molds. The festive poticas made today were developed from these earlier rolled-dough cakes. In those days housewives baked the cakes directly on oven floors rather than in earthenware baking dishes. Give it a try, with or without the molds. Pauline Virant Rupar’s recipe “made potica popular throughout the country.” Mrs. Rupar, born in Slovenia, was an active member of the Slovene Women’s Union of America (SWU) as well as a number of Slovenian heritage groups in and around Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Her most popular activity and hobby included “good old-fashioned cooking and baking.” Potica was her “Specialty!” (Rupar 2016). Modern recipes such as Mrs. Rupar’s are detailed, generally giving precise measurements and directions. Early recipes for potica, such as that in Father Vodnik’s first cookbook, specified only the ingredients and rarely gave the quantities. In those days every housewife knew “it was a handful of this and a spoonful of that; a half glass of something”—baking instructions they learned from watching the adults make up a potica. Making potica is a lot of work, but people have been loving it since the 16th century. With practice, yours could be “just like Babica used to make!” Or at least almost as good as Mrs. Rupar’s. Enjoy your potica heated, chilled, or at room temperature, with coffee, a dry white wine, or a cold Laško lager—the day after it is baked . . . if you can wait that long. And if you are ever in Slovenia, be sure to check out the annual fourday Potica Days festival on Bled Island in northwest Slovenia, which attracts potica enthusiasts from far and wide. Timothy G. Roufs



POTICA

Walnut Potica (Orehova Potica)

Yield: Two traditional earthenware molds (or four 12×4" or five 9×5" loaves, if using loaf pans) Yeast Ingredients 1 large cake compressed yeast (2 ounces), or 4½ teaspoons dry yeast (2 packages) ½ cup lukewarm milk (105–110°F) 1 tablespoon sugar Yeast Directions 1. Dissolve yeast in milk; add sugar, and combine. Cover and let rise in a warm place, about 10 minutes. Dough Ingredients 1½ cups milk ¾ cup butter (1½ sticks, or 6 ounces) 5 egg yolks ¾ cup sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 7 to 7½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour Dough Directions 1. Scald milk; add butter. Cool to lukewarm. 2. In small electric mixer bowl, beat egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla until lemon-colored. 3. Put three cups flour in large bowl, and add prepared mixture and proofed yeast. Mix until smooth. Add additional flour, about a half cup at a time, until mixture can be handled without sticking and dough is elastic. 4. Place on floured board and knead for about 15 minutes for elasticity, adding flour as needed, to make a non-sticking dough. 5. Place dough in well-greased bowl; turn to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place for about two hours, until double in bulk. Do not punch down. Walnut filling Ingredients 2 pounds walnuts, finely ground ½ cup butter (1 stick, or 4 ounces) 1½ cups milk or half-and-half cream 2 cups sugar ½ cup light honey 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

255

256

POTICA

Grated peel from 1 orange or 1 lemon 5 egg whites Cinnamon (optional) Walnut filling Directions 1. Grind walnuts in food chopper until fine. 2. Melt butter in large saucepan. Add milk, sugar, and honey; cook to rolling boil, taking care not to let it boil over. 3. Pour hot mixture over walnuts and let rest for 10 minutes. (This takes out the bitter taste of walnuts.) Add vanilla and grated peel. Mix thoroughly and allow to cool (although some prefer using warm filling, which is easier to spread). 4. Beat the egg whites until stiff, and fold into the cooled nut mixture. Rolling and baking Directions 1. Position oven rack in the middle (use two racks with loaf pans), and preheat oven to 400°F. 2. Grease well two traditional earthenware molds (or four 12×4" or five 9×5" loaf pans). 3. On a table or other flat surface that is at least 4×6 feet, spread a clean fabric or sheet so that the edges hang slightly over the sides; lightly flour the surface. (It is best to use a printed fabric material on the table as that lets you see the print through the dough, highlighting any thicknesses that need to be worked out.) Sprinkle the surface liberally with flour. 4. Roll out the dough to form about a 9×13-inch rectangle on the covered table. Place your hands under the dough with palms down. Lift up the dough several inches and begin pulling it toward you with your fingertips down. Carefully stretch it out, trying not to tear the dough, lifting and pulling until it is evenly thin and transparent (this amount of dough can be rolled to about 50×32"). 5. Spread cooled (although some prefer warm) filling evenly over entire dough, sprinkling generously with cinnamon, leaving a 3/4-inch margin around all the sides. (If desired, raisins may be added at this point.) The thickness of dough and question of filling, of course, varies with personal taste. 6. Start rolling up the dough using the cloth to roll it (jellyroll fashion) beginning from the wide side, stretching the dough slightly with each roll. Keep the side edges as even as possible. Prick the roll every few turns with a thin knitting needle or cake tester to help eliminate air pockets. Continue rolling to opposite edge. Cut to desired lengths. Seal ends by gently pulling dough down to cover ends and tucking underneath when placing in pan. 7. Make holes on top of dough several times with toothpick so the air can go out, then cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about one hour. 8. Reduce preheated oven temperature to 350°F, and bake on middle rack (or middle of oven) for about 30 minutes, or until color turns to light brown.



POTICA

9. Reduce oven temperature to 320°F, and bake an additional 30–45 minutes. The length of baking varies depending on whether you prefer it “well done” or just slightly brown, but after the additional 30 minutes, make a test with a long toothpick or wooden skewer. If it is dry, it is done; if it is moist, bake 15 minutes more. The heat of the oven comes into play in making potica, so experiment a bit. 10. If a glossy top is desired, brush each loaf with one egg yolk beaten with one tablespoon of milk 15 minutes before potica is done. Recipe notes 1. A word of caution: Do not bake this bread on a convection setting if your oven has one; it will dry the outer crust too much. 2. One can also make dough, weigh it, and divide it in half and let the two halves raise separately. This is much easier, especially at first, as dividing the dough gives you less dough to master when stretching it out and rolling it up. Recipe adapted from Pauline Rupar’s “Walnut Potica (Orehova potica),” which was reprinted as “Potica Recipe” on the Web site of the Slovene National Benefit Society (Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota; see SNPJ in Further Reading). Further Reading Bogataj, Janez. 2013. Recipes from a Slovenian Kitchen: Explore the Authentic Taste of an Undiscovered Cuisine in over 60 Traditional Dishes. Wigston, Leicestershire: Aquamarine Publishing. Bogataj, Janez. 2007. Taste Slovenia. Ljubljana, Slovenia: National Geographic Society. Carpenter, B. J. 2015. Come, You Taste: Family Recipes from the Iron Range. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. Drake, Miriam A., ed. 2003. Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, Second Edition, Volume 3, p. 2080. New York: Marcel Dekker. “Keweenaw Ethnic Groups: The Slovenes.” Accessed July 24, 2017. http://www.ethnicity .lib.mtu.edu/groups_Slovenes_print.html. Kilpatrick, Blair. 2016. “The Poor Man’s Potica: Pisani Kruh.” Slovenian Roots Quest. July 4. http://slovenianroots.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-poor-mans-potica-pisani-kruh.html. Klemencic, Matjaz. “Slovene Settlements in the United States of America.” The Slovenian. Accessed July 24, 2017. http://www.theslovenian.com/articles/klemencic4.htm Lebe, Sonja Sibila, and Polona Blažic. 2006. “Strategija Razvoja Gastronomije Slovenije” (“Strategy of Gastronomy Development of Slovenia”). Multidisciplinarni raziskovalni institut Maribor. Slovenian Tourist Board. May. https://www.slovenia.info/uploads /dokumenti/turisticni-produkti/Strategija_gastronomije-31.8.2006_4277_11649.pdf. Posedel, Andreja. 2017. “A Brief History of Potica, the Traditional Slovenian Dish.” Culture Trip. May 26. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/slovenia/articles/a-brief-history-of -potica-the-traditional-slovenian-dish. “Potica, the Traditional Cake of Slovenia.” 2014. Slovenia Incognita. December 25. http:// slovenia-incognita.com/potica-the-traditional-cake-of-slovenia. “Potica—What Is the Slovenian Pastry Pope and Melania Trump Were Talking about?” 2017. Monkibo.com. May 25. https://monkibo.com/potica-slovenian-pastry-pope -melania-trump-talking.

257

258

POUTINE RÂPÉE

Prešeren, Polona. 2013. “The Taste of Tradition: Slovenian Potica.” Slovenia.si. December. http://www.slovenia.si/culture/tradition/the-taste-of-tradition. Rebeck, Gene. 2014. “The Potica Invasion.” Twin Cities Business. November 22. http:// tcbmag.com/opinion/northern-exposure/columns/the-potica-invasion. Rolek, Barbara. 2016. “You Say Potica but I Say Povitica. Which Is It?” The Spruce. December 2. https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-potica-or-povitica-1137159. Roufs, Timothy G. 2017. “Slovenia.” University of Minnesota Duluth. July 22. http://www.d .umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1095/Slovenia.html. “Rupar, Pauline.” 2016. Sheboygan Press. January 6. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries /sheboyganpress/obituary.aspx?pid=177156892. Rupar, Pauline. 1992. “Walnut Potica (Orehova potica),” pp. 18–19 in Pots & Pans, 4th Edition. Sheboygan, WI: Slovene Women’s Union of America (SWU). Saint Stephen Lodge 197. “Saint Stephen, Minnesota.” Accessed July 31, 2017. http:// kskj197.weebly.com/about-saint-stephen.html. “Slovenia Seeks Protected Status for Famous Potica Cake.” 2017. RTV Slovenija. May 26. http://www.rtvslo.si/news-in-english/slovenia-seeks-protected-status-for-famous -potica-cake/423426. SNPJ (Slovenian National Benefit Society, Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota). “Potica Recipe.” Accessed July 31, 2017. http://www.snpj.org/slovenian-culture/potica-recipe. “The World Factbook: Slovenia.” 2017. Central Intelligence Agency. September 27. https:// www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/si.html. Žoldoš, Martina. 2017. “10 Things Slovenians Can Be Proud Of.” Matador Network Culture Guides. June 27. https://matadornetwork.com/read/10-things-slovenians-can-proud.

POUTINE RÂPÉE The poutine râpée (pronounced poo-tsin rah-pay) is a dumpling of sorts, made with a mixture of both grated raw potato and cooked mashed potato, filled with pork meat stuffing, shaped into a ball, wrapped in cheesecloth, and boiled for two hours. Poutine râpée is simply referred to as “poutine” by those who make and enjoy eating it. They are commonly found in the New England states, primarily in Massachusetts, cooked by those of Acadian decent. They are often consumed plain, with a little salt and pepper, melted butter, a meat-based gravy, vinegar, or tomato ketchup. Some prefer their poutines on the sweeter side and will sprinkle on granulated white or brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, or fruit preserves. Poutine râpée is known as “the other poutine” or “the Acadian poutine.” The Quebecois poutine of Canada, in areas such as Montreal and Quebec, is famously known as a heaping mound of French fries that are smothered in gravy and topped with cheese curds. The fries are also frequently topped with a variety of caramelized vegetables, meats, and seafood. The only thing the two versions have in common is the use of potatoes, a staple food item that was readily available to poor farming families in the 1700s to 1800s. Poutine râpée is found on the eastern seacoast of Canada, in the areas of the New Brunswick province. Acadian descendants in Massachusetts share a lineage with this area, particularly the cities of St. John and Moncton. Our Lady of the Holy Rosary church in Gardner, Massachusetts, has hosted an annual church bazaar every year for the past 65 years. The bazaar sells traditional



POUTINE RÂPÉE

poutine râpée, tourtiere (pork pie), and râpée pie (baked poutine) to hundreds of visitors over a three-day period. The church relies on dozens of volunteers to create over 5,000 poutines râpées and over 3,000 slices of râpée pie in the four days prior to the event, processing a total of five tons of raw potatoes. The team of volunteers works in a commercially equipped kitchen known as “the poutine factory” and consists of many elder members of the church. The younger generations have begun to participate in the factory to learn the recipes and techniques to carry on for many years to come. Due to the labor-intensive preparations of making poutines, they are traditionally served at events or for holidays such as Christmas Eve, New Year’s Day, and birthdays. Acadians who migrated to the New England region of the United States in the 1700s took with them their love of potatoes and salt pork. The potato is a staple crop of eastern Canada due to its ideal growing climate and topography. Currently there are over 250 types of potatoes grown in the New Brunswick area. Although there are many varieties now, dishes such as poutine râpée are made with common, all-purpose potatoes such as round white potatoes or Yukon gold. The all-purpose potato has a medium level of starch, less than a russet potato and more than waxy varieties. The Yukon gold was a creation of crossbreeding in Canada of a North American white potato and a South American yellow potato. The result was a potato with a firm texture that is ideal for frying, roasting, stewing, and grating due to its ability to hold its shape. Yukon gold potatoes are also a perfect fit for the poutine râpée recipe, since they will easily withstand being grated or mashed. It takes approximately one pound of potatoes to make one completed poutine. Salt pork is also an Acadian favorite for many dishes. Salt pork is made from the pork belly, fat back, or sides of the hog and is mostly fat with small slivers of pork meat mixed through. The look of salt pork is similar to bacon, although it is not smoked, only cured with salt and sometimes other seasonings. Salt pork is often a special request at the meat market; you will often find that it is stored in the freezer to retain freshness. Pork belly can be cured at home to make salt pork by placing it in a perforated pan in the refrigerator to allow for drainage, generously covered with a salt crust and flipped daily (see Further Reading). The salt will draw the excess moisture from the pork belly and cure the product. Recipes for the poutine râpée will often call for a blend of salt pork and fresh ground pork. This was only done when the fresh meat was available; the fresh pork offers a delicate texture and lessens the salty flavor in the filling. As with many longstanding traditional dishes, there are hundreds of ways to make poutine râpée, based on your family recipe or ingredients available at the time. What the recipes do have in common is the techniques for creating the poutine and how to properly cook it. First the poutines need to be started with two parts grated potato and one part cooked and mashed potato. This ratio can vary in recipes, some requiring half grated and half mashed. All the potatoes are peeled and soaked in cold water to prevent discoloration. Traditionally the potatoes were grated using a large metal sheet punctured with many nail holes. Some still handgrate their potatoes or use a large-holed blade in a food processor.

259

260

POUTINE RÂPÉE

The grated potatoes are squeezed, historically in a clean linen pillowcase or in cheesecloth, to wring out any excess moisture, in order to prevent the poutines from falling apart when shaping. The potatoes are blended together with the eggs and baking powder and shaped into a ball about the size of a baseball. The raw meat mixture is blended for the filling that is placed carefully in the center of the potato ball, which is sealed to keep the meat in the center and then wrapped snugly in a piece of cheesecloth. The poutines are then placed in constant boiling water for approximately two hours. Poutines râpées are kept in the cheesecloth bundles in the warm cooking liquid until ready to serve. They are pulled from the pot and allowed to drain, and then the cheesecloth is cut and the poutine released onto the plate. The texture of Acadian poutines is somewhat pasty and glutinous, and they can have a sticky feel. The poutine râpée can be reheated and should be stored in the cooking liquid to retain the moisture. The recipe below gives the specific amounts of ingredients for a large portion. Susan Brassard Poutine Râpée

Yield: 15 poutines Ingredients 15 pounds all-purpose white or Yukon gold potatoes (5 pounds mashed, 10 pounds grated) 2 pounds ground pork (or finely chopped pork shoulder) 1 pound salt pork diced ½ sleeve of saltine crackers 2 eggs ½ teaspoon baking powder Directions 1. Peel all 15 pounds of potatoes; hold in cold water. 2. Place 5 pounds of the potatoes in a large pot of salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender. 3. While the potatoes are cooking, grate the remaining 10 pounds of potatoes and place in cheesecloth, wringing out the potato water until the potatoes are dry to the touch. 4. When the boiled potatoes are cooked, drain and mash. 5. Crush the saltine crackers. 6. Combine all potatoes, crushed crackers, baking powder, and eggs in a large mixing bowl or on a clean table, and mix until combined. 7. Divide the potato mixture into 15 equal-sized balls; shape until perfectly rounded.



POUTINE RÂPÉE

8. Combine the raw ground pork and salt pork in a separate bowl. 9. Create a hole in each potato ball and place approximately two tablespoons of the meat mixture inside. 10. Carefully seal the potato ball, making sure it is perfectly round, and place in a 12-inch piece of cheesecloth; tie closed. 11. Place the wrapped poutine into a pot of boiling salted water. Keep water simmering and cook for two hours. 12. Remove from heat and keep poutines warm in the cooking liquid. Further Reading “About Potatoes NB.” 2017. Potatoes New Brunswick. August 18. http://www.potatoesnb .com/about/why-buy-nb-potatoes. Acadian.org. “Recipes.” https://www.acadian.org/culture/popular-acadian-recipies. McLagan, Jennifer. 2008. “Homemade Salt Pork.” The Splendid Table. https://www .splendidtable.org/recipes/homemade-salt-pork.

261

R RÂPÉE PIE A râpée pie (pronounce rah-pay) is a traditional dish of potatoes and salt pork that is baked until it forms a crisp crust, with similar ingredients to the poutine râpée. Râpée pies are a made with just grated potatoes or a blend of both grated and mashed potato. The word “râpée” is a form of the word râper, which means “to grate” in French. The pie often contains family or regional variations, which include onions, ground pork, salt pork, bacon, chicken, beef, rabbit, seafood, turkey, and pork chops. Râpée pie is considered to be a peasant dish that originated in early Canada. The dish is still consumed there today and in the New England area, particularly Massachusetts. Recipes can also be found under the names “rappie pie” and “rapure pie.” Râpée pie is not a traditional pie, as it contains no crust and relies on the outside surface crisping enough to make a sliceable product. Râpée pie is made with a large quantity of grated white all-purpose or Yukon gold potatoes. The PEI (Prince Edward Island) potatoes are known as being the best potatoes for making râpée pie and are available in the Canadian and American marketplace. Historically the potatoes are grated on a large handmade grater that would have been a metal sheet on a frame with hundreds of nail holes pounded through to create the rough texture needed to achieve a fine grating. These early hand graters are also frequently referred to as “knuckle graters,” since users are susceptible to scraping their hands while using them. Grating the potatoes in a food processor frequently makes modern versions of râpée pie a quicker task. Others use what is known as a “block”: the potato block is a sealed package of frozen grated potatoes that weighs 20 pounds commercially and less for supermarket varieties. Unfortunately potato blocks are only available to purchase in Canada and have not yet reached the American market. There are even some businesses in Canada, such as D’Eon’s Râpée Pie, that specialize in making a râpée pie potato mix that can easily be turned into pie at home by adding your choice of meat. The râpée pie is typically constructed in a large square or rectangular heavyduty baking pan. Many families have a specific râpée pie pan that is passed down and only used for making the dish. Some modern versions are made in disposable aluminum pans, which allows for easy travel to events or for sale by restaurants. The process of making râpée pie is a full day’s event if you choose to handgrate the potatoes. Whether you use traditional or modern methods, the potatoes need to be peeled before grating and properly squeezed of their liquid afterward. The potatoes can be squeezed in a linen bag, clean pillowcase, or cheesecloth

RÂPÉE PIE

by hand, and one will find it to be a workout. Modern râpée pie makers often place the tied linen bags into laundry washing machines and remove the liquid with the help of the machine’s spin cycle. Some can even be seen using a new, clean commercial-style mop bucket and wringer to squeeze out the liquid. These modern methods allow businesses to create râpée pie more frequently than just for special occasions. The history of the râpée pie is believed to have begun after the great deportation of Canadian residents around 1750 by the British. When Acadians returned to their homes, they were left with farmlands that produced little due to the rocky soil, although there was much success in growing potatoes. The râpée pie is a product of the eastern Canada areas of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The land in the southern Atlantic coast of Canada is known for its ability to produce high-yield potato crops that would have been stored over harsh winter months in root cellars and cold storage. The typical Acadian diet was considered to be a meat-and-potato diet, one that was hearty enough to sustain a day’s work on the farm. The râpée pie by today’s standards would be considered a high-fat and high-carbohydrate dish. The recipes call for large amounts of fat-laced meats and often the addition of secondary fats such as shortening or a topping of extra salt pork. Although not the healthiest of recipes, the râpée pie is a hearty dish that many consider comfort food. The dish also brings forth sentimental feelings of shared family meals, holidays, and other special occasions. The râpée pie is often topped with a variety of condiments depending on personal taste. These topping include rendered salt pork, bacon, molasses, butter, tomato ketchup, malt vinegar, applesauce, gravy, and white and brown granulated sugar. Râpée pie also varies greatly in its final texture. Many Nova Scotia varieties contain more liquid (from the addition of chicken stock) and are similar in flavor and texture to a mushy chicken pot pie. This variety is also served with chicken gravy and is a hearty dish. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island varieties tend to be much drier, do not contain additional liquid, and tend to rely on added fat from pork to create a crispier crust on the top, bottom, and all sides. Often there is a fight to call dibs on the corner pieces, because those are the crispest. Much of the râpée pie made commercially today tends to honor the area where the pie is being produced. Varieties in the Massachusetts and New England area tend to be drier and to contain various forms of pork meats and pork fats. Râpée pie continues to be an important part of many holiday celebrations, often being served at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. The demand for this sentimental recipe and poutine râpée has even become a source of inspiration for group social media pages and postings. The dish can be found in many areas of Massachusetts on a limited basis at local restaurants, diners, and church fairs. Additionally, many of the younger generation are learning and cooking these traditional recipes to pass on their heritage to future generations. Susan Brassard

263

264

RÂPÉE PIE

New Brunswick–Style Râpée Pie

Yield: About 20 servings Ingredients 15 pounds all-purpose white or Yukon gold potatoes (5 pounds mashed, 10 pounds grated) 2–3 pounds ground pork (or finely chopped pork shoulder) 1 pound salt pork, diced (or ½ pound raw bacon, diced) ½–1 sleeve of saltine crackers 2–3 eggs 1½ teaspoons baking powder 1–2 tablespoons salt Directions 1. Peel all 15 pounds of potatoes; hold in cold water. 2. Place five pounds of the potatoes in a large pot of salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender. 3. While the potatoes are cooking, grate the remaining 10 pounds of potatoes and place in cheesecloth. Wring out the potato water until the potatoes are dry to the touch. 4. When the boiled potatoes are cooked, drain and mash. 5. Crush the saltine crackers. 6. Combine all potatoes, salt, half of the crushed crackers, baking powder, and two eggs in a large mixing bowl or on a clean table. Mix until combined (if too dry, add in the third egg; if too wet, add in the additional half-sleeve of saltine crackers). 7. Mix the raw ground pork and salt pork (or bacon) into the potato mixture; set aside. 8. Heat the oven to 450°F. Place a large spoonful of vegetable shortening into the baking pan, and place the pan in the hot oven to melt the shortening to grease the pan. 9. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and fill with the potato mixture. Press evenly until some of the shortening comes up the sides and corners of the pan. 10. Use a brush to spread the excess shortening over the top of the pie to help with crisping. 11. Bake at 450°F for one hour, uncovered. Reduce the heat to 350° and bake for another hour. Further Reading Lugonja, Valerie. 2014. “D’Eons Rappie Pie: Demystifying Rappie Pie.” A Canadian Foodie. June 18. https://www.acanadianfoodie.com/2014/06/16/deons-rappie-pie -demystifying-rappie-pie.

RED-EYE GRAVY

Wiggs, Jonathan. 2015. “Humble Nova Scotia Rappie Pie Used to Include Scraped ­Knuckles.” Boston Globe. April 21. https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining /2015/04/21/humble-nova-scotia-rappie-pie-used-include-scraped-knuckles /0VPGuJLyiYJnAbeIH4WD6J/story.html.

R E D - E Y E G R AV Y Like many traditional foods, red-eye gravy does not have an exact recipe, is known by a variety of names, and has an unknown origin. Usually associated with the American South, the gravy, in its most basic form, is coffee or water stirred into the pan juices or “drippings” left over from frying country ham or bacon. In cooking terms, this is deglazing the pan, which, according to tradition, would be cast-iron. This creates a thin sauce that is then poured over other foods—particularly biscuits, cornbread, grits, or potatoes—or is used for dipping bread or meat. The alternate names for red-eye gravy refer to its appearance, the way it is made, or the class of people usually associated with it, and they may also suggest something of its origins. “Poor man’s gravy,” for example, suggests a shared history with numerous other sauces and gravies that stretched ingredients to make a meal or were ways to make use of scraps left over from cooking. Pioneer American foodways, in general, were thrifty and creative in this way. “Bottom sop” suggests poverty, even though the technique of creating an au jus sauce from drippings is well known in refined cooking techniques. The name lacks the cachet of fine dining, but it does suggest a British origin, since the word “sop” comes from an Old English word meaning to dip bread in a liquid. This can also affirm the claim of Southernness and particularly an association with the southern Appalachian Mountains where British and German cultural traditions of the 1700s were maintained. The name “red ham gravy” also implies a Southern provenance or at least tradition, since the South is also known for the production and consumption of ham, particularly the salt-cured hams that are felt now to leave the tastiest drippings. The other names seem to refer to the appearance of the gravy. The reddish color from the ham and coffee creates “muddy gravy” or “cedar gravy,” and the separation of grease and water that commonly happens with the gravy is similar to the image of an eye, giving “red-eye,” “red-eyed,” and “bird-eye” gravy. A legend behind the “red-eye” name also suggests a Southern association. According to Southern food historian John Egerton, Andrew Jackson, when serving as a general prior to becoming president (1829–1937), told his cook, who had been out drinking moonshine the night before, to bring him gravy “as red as your eyes.” Regional food writer Linda Stradley also recounts that legend, but she adds that the “red eye” might also refer to the wakefulness created by the coffee in the gravy. Most food writers and historians today associate red-eye gravy with the South. Egerton, for example, points to Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee as where it is famous; while others note variations in Alabama, where it is mixed with ketchup or mustard, and Louisiana, where red pepper flakes might be added. More recently, chefs and restaurateurs, who present it as an iconic food, evoking a romanticized image of the simplicity of rural Southern foodways, have popularized

265

266

RED-EYE GRAVY

this regional identity. Cracker Barrel, for example, a national franchise based in central Tennessee and known for its Southern fare, includes “Fried Ham and Red Eye Gravy” on their menu. The sauce has also been adopted by entrepreneurs and foodies looking for local foods carrying a connection with past or place. These cooks frequently update it with gourmet and trendy ingredients, while environmentally aware consumers see it as representing a more sustainable approach to the food system, since it uses leftovers rather than disposing of them. Recipes for red-eye gravy rarely appeared in cookbooks, due more, according to Southern food historians, to its simplicity and familiarity than to a lack of use. They also tended to be more commonly found in oral tradition, so that instructions for making it are as varied as the names for it, and it allows for a great deal of creativity on the part of the cook. Recipes can now be found in cookbooks and on the Internet, from sources ranging from down-home Southern cooking (Loveless Café) to more upscale and nationally recognized (Paula Deen, Emeril Lagasse, Craig Claiborne, Guy Fieri, Steve Reichlin, Epicurious). Contemporary chefs also are experimenting with developing new dishes out of the basic gravy; for example, red-eye mayonnaise, red-eye barbecue sauce, and red-eye glaze for meats. Saveur, a gourmet cooking periodical, even offered a pastry made with the gravy. Like many other traditional foods, this dish can be primarily functional or can express a cook’s imagination. Lucy Long Red-Eye Gravy

Given the range of variations possible, use this basic recipe as a starting point for your own experimentation. Yield: ½ cup of gravy Ingredients Salty “country” ham—about 1 pound, in ¼-inch slices (bacon or pork chops can substitute) ½ cup black coffee Grease (fat) left from frying the meat (butter or extra oil might be needed if meat was not fatty enough) Optional Additions: 3 tablespoons brown sugar Black pepper Red pepper flakes Worcestershire sauce Anything possible within your imagination! Directions 1. Cook the ham in a skillet or frying pan, ideally cast iron, for about two minutes on each side. You can cook it in butter if it seems not to have enough fat to create its own grease.

ROADKILL

2. Remove the ham and set aside. Stir the coffee into the pan with the scrapings left over from the ham. Hot water can be added to create more liquid. Bring to a boil for several minutes, until thickened slightly. (Some contemporary recipes suggest stirring in flour or cornstarch to thicken it into more of a gravy texture.) 3. Season and serve over the ham slices along with grits, fried potatoes, biscuits, or cornbread. Further Reading Egerton, John. 2005. Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Gordon, Steve. 2013. “Country Ham and Red Eye Gravy.” Our State. December 10. https:// www.ourstate.com/red-eye-gravy. Milam, Sara Camp. 2013. “Pass the Gravy: Eyes Wide Open.” Southern Foodways Alliance. December 17. http://www.southernfoodways.org/pass-the-gravy-eyes-wide-open. Stradley, Linda. 2002. I’ll Have What They’re Having: Legendary Local Cuisine, p. 93. Guilford, CT: ThreeForks/Globe Pequot Press. Stradley, Linda. “Country Ham and Red Eye Gravy History and Recipe.” What’s Cooking America. Accessed November 26, 2017. https://whatscookingamerica.net/History /CountryHamHistory.htm.

ROADKILL “Roadkill” is the name given to an animal that has been rendered dead as a result of a collision with a moving vehicle. Most often, the casualties are mammals: squirrels, badgers, opossums, deer, cats, dogs, hedgehogs, rats, and raccoons. To a lesser extent, unfortunate birds such as pheasants, ducks, and pigeons become roadkill. Roadkill is a relatively new phenomenon, introduced to modern civilization in conjunction with the automobile. Horse-drawn wagons and carriages lacked the speed and the force to routinely riddle roadways with animal carcasses. Roadkill consumption—observed on all continents—appears to increase and become less stigmatized in leaner years. During the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States, for example, eating roadkill—or “flat meats,” as some called them—was more common, and it was seen as less reprehensible than in the prosperous decades that preceded or followed. When the freshly slaughtered animal happens to be a game animal (e.g., a deer), it also serves to minimize the attached stigma. For instance, a recently slaughtered buck strapped to the top of one’s Land Rover is less likely to elicit cries of “Roadkill!” than a hardened, dead-for-a-week opossum. Rigor mortis, which sets in between 6 and 12 hours after death, obviously provides a good indication of how long an animal has been dead. Although rigor mortis, in and of itself, does not present a health risk, it does indicate that the animal has had more time in which to become susceptible to factors that may have compromised its quality. As with meat from any source, the temperature at which one cooks roadkill and the length of time over which it is cooked remain crucial, for the high heat destroys harmful microorganisms within.

267

268

ROADKILL

Roadkill Safety Devouring the flesh of animals killed on roadways can be a bit dicey. Health risks include bacterial and insect infestation, disease, and the presence of toxins from ruptured spleens, livers, stomachs, and intestines. These toxins can prove hazardous even when dealing with an animal that has been freshly killed. Hence, prior to ingesting, one must take into account any unpleasant smell, flies, or maggots, or an unusual appearance (aside from that which comes from having been run over by four tons of heavy metal), all of which may indicate the presence of sickness or disease.

Those on the lookout for roadkill ought to inspect roads that they themselves use for transit on a daily basis. Their familiarity with a particular road will give them a more accurate idea of how long an animal has been dead. As with all sorts of food, the fresher, the better. Newly drawn, unclotted blood on the animal or on the roadside indicates a recent expiration. One ought to shy away from animals that have been dead more than a day, unless temperatures are quite cool, in which case freshness may last a day or two longer. Advocates of roadkill consumption argue that the animals are an ideal source of antibiotic- and hormone-free meat, at low or no cost. Roadkill has even managed to work itself onto the cutting boards of celebrity chefs. Fergus Drennan, a UK culinary personality known as “Fergus the Forager,” has peddled roadkill meat to London restaurants such as the Ivy. He also hosted a BBC program titled Roadkill Café (produced by “Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver). On this program, he instructed viewers how to skin badgers and prepare wild squirrel stew—standard culinary know-how, but with one significant twist: Drennan claims to abstain from meat unless it comes from an animal that has been killed by another’s vehicle. Prior to removing animal carcasses from the road, one should make sure to take into account any local laws on the book in regard to absconding with such goods. In California, for instance, collecting dead animals from the road for consumption is strictly prohibited. In Illinois, on the other hand, anyone may take a slaughtered deer (and deer only) from the road, so long as they phone the Roadkill Deer Reporting System hotline within 24 hours. In Alaska, residents are required to contact the highway patrol, which then turns the dead moose, caribous, and bears over to charity organizations such as the Anchorage Rescue Mission, where they are divided and distributed to the needy. Thomas Crowley Further Reading Knutson, Roger M. 2006. Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. Peterson, Buck. 1987. The Original Roadkill Cookbook. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

ROOT BEER AND BIRCH BEER

ROOT BEER AND BIRCH BEER Root beer is a sweet beverage flavored by the root of the sassafras tree or sarsaparilla vine (Sassafras albidum and Smilax ornate, respectively). Similar to root beer, birch beer is made from birch bark. Both drinks can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, caffeinated or non-caffeinated; both have their origins in the “small beer” tradition. Sassafras root beverages were made by Native Americans long before the arrival of European settlers. In addition to their aromatic taste, sassafras root beverages were consumed for their medicinal properties. Root beer was sold in confectionary stores since the 1840s, and the earliest known written recipes for root beer are from the 1860s. In those days, it was most likely sold as a syrup. Root beer production is believed to have grown out of the production of other “small beers” that were fermented drinks made from various herbs and barks and roots, such as ginger, birch, and sassafras. With a very low alcohol content, small beers were believed to be healthier to drink than the local water sources and were thought to enhance both the medicinal and nutritional qualities of the ingredients. The pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires from Philadelphia is credited with being the first to market a commercial line of root beer. In 1876, he developed a powdered root tea made from sassafras that he began selling for 25 cents a packet, and later that year he introduced his liquid root beer to the public at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Hires root beer is the second longest continuously made soft drink in the United States, after Vernor’s Ginger Ale. Root beer became increasingly popular, especially during Prohibition, when it was consumed in lieu of alcoholic beverages. Not all root beer is made with sassafras; in fact, Barq’s began selling sarsaparilla root beer in 1898. Similarly, in 1919, Roy Allen opened the A&W root beer stand in Lodi, California, which led to the development of the A&W Root Beer brand and eventually restaurant chain that still exists today. Sarsaparilla beer was believed to be preventative against venereal diseases and in 1885 was advertised as a remedy for hangovers, headaches, and morphine addiction. The traditional way of making root beer involves preparing a syrup from molasses and water and then adding root ingredients. After, yeast was added, and the liquid was allowed to ferment for 12 hours, at which point it was strained, rebottled, and allowed to ferment a second time (secondary fermentation). This method results in about a 2 percent alcohol content, although the preparation could be modified to increase the alcohol content of the beverage. The ingredients of root beer vary, including vanilla, allspice, wintergreen, cherry tree bark, licorice root,

Sassafras Safety Present-day root beer is most commonly flavored with artificial sassafras flavoring, since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned sassafras in 1960 due to the alleged carcinogenicity of safrole, its active ingredient. There are some commercial sassafras extracts that are safrole-free, as a method was developed to remove the oil from sassafras, the oil being the part that contains the safrole.

269

270

ROOT BEER AND BIRCH BEER

sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, acacia, anise, molasses, cinnamon, birch, honey, dog grass, prickly ash bark, juniper, spicewood, guaiacum, pipsissewa, spikenard, and burdock, among others! Similar to root beer, birch beer is a brewed, often carbonated beverage made with herbal extracts. Birch beer, as the name would suggest, was made from birch bark but was also made with the bark of the oak tree in the colonial era. Specifically, birch beer is made with black birch, which is also known as “spice birch” or “sweet birch.” Birch beer can also be made using birch sap; in this preparation method, the sap is collected and distilled into an oil and then added to the carbonated drink. It is said that the flavor of distilled birch oil is similar to that of teaberry. Birch beer can also be made alcoholic. To do this, the birch sap is fermented rather than distilled into an oil. The oldest recipe for birch beer (alcoholic) is from John Worlridge’s 1678 book Vinetum Britannicum or a Treatise of Cider, And other Wines and Drinks extracted from Fruits Growing in this Kingdom. In southeastern and central Pennsylvania, in the dairy country, a popular ice cream soda is made with birch beer and vanilla ice cream, the “birch beer float”; a similar drink made with chocolate ice cream is a “black cow.” In American popular culture and cuisine, the root beer float is a common dessert enjoyed at diners and ice cream shops. The nutrition facts of root beer and birch beer are rather dismal; as sugary, carbonated drinks, neither soda boasts much more than sugar and calories, despite the potential health effects of the herbs and barks used to produce them. Sally Baho Root Beer Syrup

Yield: About 10 cups of syrup Ingredients 6 cups water 3 ounces sassafras roots 1 ounce burdock or dandelion root ¼ cup molasses 1 clove 1 star anise 1 teaspoon coriander seeds 2 drops wintergreen or peppermint extract 6 cups sugar Directions 1. Chop the sassafras and burdock roots into half-inch pieces. 2. Place the roots in a medium-sized heavy pot with the clove, star anise, and coriander seeds; cover with the water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.

ROOT BEER AND BIRCH BEER

3. Add the molasses and simmer another five minutes. 4. Turn off the heat and add the wintergreen or peppermint extract. Place the cover back on the mixture. 5. When the mixture cools, strain it though cheesecloth to remove all debris. 6. Return to the pot with an equal amount of sugar. Stir to combine. Bring it to a simmer and cook it for five minutes, uncovered. Pour into quart mason jars and seal. Keeps a year in the fridge. Recipe adapted from Hank Shaw’s blog (see below). Further Reading Bellis, Mary. 2017. “Love Root Beer Floats? Thank This Guy.” ThoughtCo. April 19. https:// www.thoughtco.com/history-of-root-beer-1992386. Shaw, Hank. 2016. “Homemade Root Beer Syrup.” Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. ­December. https://honest-food.net/root-beer-syrup-recipe.

271

S S A LT P O R K Salt pork sports various names dictated by regional geography or what is within a butcher’s parlance. Among them are “side meat,” “barrel pork,” “fatback,” “streak o’ lean,” “seasoning meat,” “middlins’,” “sow belly,” “white bacon,” and “streaky bacon.” Salt pork is drawn and prepared from one of three primal cuts: the pork side, pork belly, or fatback. Therefore salt pork may be lean, streaky, or entirely fatty. It resembles slab bacon but is considerably saltier and not bacon-cured or smoked. An inexpensive utilitarian cut, salt pork, like bacon, has natural glutamates, or umami, thus enhancing surrounding flavors. This makes it popular in stews, braised beans, or greens, to render tough lesser cuts of meat more unctuous, or simply breaded and/or fried on its own. Salt pork is fundamental to a number of regional dishes, including Boston baked beans, Appalachian Leather Britches (dried string beans, later stewed with middlins’), and the Southern New Year’s Day dish, Hoppin’ John. Shelf-stable due to the salting process, salt pork has been used for centuries as a mainstay to feed the military, as rations for the enslaved, and as a condiment in poor and rich kitchens to enhance flavor and provide meatiness to pseudo-vegetarian preparations. Due to the extended nature of overseas travel, sailors have traditionally relied on non-perishable foods. For example, when Columbus set sail from Palos in 1492, the sailors’ basic subsistence food was hardtack, which is a simple type of biscuit or cracker. To supplement the hardtack, ships such as his carried salt pork (much in demand) and other long-lasting foods like wine, cheese, and broad beans. Soon Irish butchers and meatpackers were turning their surplus cattle into salt beef, which along with salt pork rapidly became a leading export to the colonies and to foreign ports. In the Parliament 23 December 1706: there were two states of a vote offered, the first in these terms, approve of the clause following, viz. And that there shall be allowed 5 shilling Ster. for every barrell of beeff or pork, salted with forreign salt, and exported for sale, alterable by the Parliament of Great-Brittain Yea or Not. And the Second in these Terms, Continue the Praemium of five Shillings upon the Barrel of Beeff and Pork, till the same be altered by the Parliament of Great Brittain, or during the Imposition upon Salt. Then the Vote was put, Which of the two should be the State of the Vote, First or Second, And it carried First. (Parliament of Scotland 1706)

Military troops have long been big consumers of salt pork, and the fatty, preserved meat has played a vital role in many wars. During the Civil War, two pieces of hardtack with a slice of raw, fat salt pork between them was not a “dainty meal, but was a solid provender to fight on” (Smith 2013) for the Twenty-Ninth United States Colored Troops.

SALT PORK

Early settlers in Mississippi also relied heavily on salt pork as a dietary staple, leading to a strong desire for more variety, as James Creecy complained: “I had never fallen in with any cooking so villainous. Rusty salt pork, boiled or fried . . . and musty cornmeal dodgers, rarely a vegetable of any description, no milk, butter, eggs, or the semblance of a condiment—was my fare often for weeks at a time” (Hilliard 2014). The use of meat as a condiment is a culinary grammar endemic to most cultures for flavor or economy. The ubiquity in popular literature indicates how frequently salt pork or side meat stood in as a main protein source or household remedy for many, regardless of ethnicity or cultural background. Literary examples include Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Zora Neale Hurston’s I Love Myself When I Am Laughing, Cynthia Bond’s Ruby, Yu Hua’s To Live, and Patricia Polacco’s children’s book Pink and Say: “What you using for bait?” Ephram handed her more salt pork. She took one look at it and rolled her eyes, “No wonder.” (Bond 2015) The next mornin’ we mustered to leave. We packed corn bread, salt pork and dried beans. I would have done just about anything to stay, but my place was to go with Pink. (Polacco 1994) Finally, meat in hand, she departs, remarking on the meanness of some people who give a piece of salt meat only two-fingers wide when they were plainly asked for a hand-wide piece . . . With the slab of salt pork as a foundation, she visits various homes until she has collected all she wants for the day. (Hurston 1998) But—you see, a bank or a company can’t do that, because those creatures don’t breathe air, don’t eat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat. It is a sad thing, but it is so. It is just so. (Steinbeck 1939) “Side-meat tonight, by God! We got money for side-meat! . . . Run in ahead an’ git us four poun’ of side-meat. The ol’ woman’ll make some nice biscuits tonight, ef she ain’t too tired.” (Steinbeck 1939) Those four dishes were all vegetable dishes. Jiazhen had prepared each one differently, but as I got to the bottom, I started to find pieces of pork hidden in each dish . . . She was trying to teach me that although women all look different on the outside, when you get down to it they are all the same. (Hua 2003) She sings-songs in a high keening voice, “gimme lil’ piece uh meat tuh boil a pot uh greens wid. Lawd knows me an’ mah chillen is SO hungry!” (Hurston 1998)

Salt or barrel pork is historically cured in a ratio of one pound of meat to four pounds of salt. As society has become more health-conscious, such foods have become thought of as contributors to heart disease and digestive problems. Accordingly, this led to salt pork falling out of common usage in the early 20th century, aside from traditional regional applications. Scott A. Barton

273

274

SALT PORK

Salt Pork and Pea Soup

Yield: About 16 servings Ingredients ½ pound salt pork, diced small 1 onion, diced small 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 Yukon gold potatoes, chopped 4 quarts low-sodium vegetable stock 2 pounds frozen peas, thawed ½ cup heavy cream Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, add salt pork. Render the fat of the pork and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove the pork and drain on paper towels, leaving some of the fat in the pot. 2. Add onions and garlic to the pot. Sweat for about 10 minutes, until translucent. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Add potatoes and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. 4. Add peas and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. 5. Blend soup until smooth, and stir in heavy cream. 6. Serve garnished with crisp salt pork. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Bond, Cynthia D. 2015. Ruby. Londres, UK: Hodder & Stoughton. Hilliard, Sam Bowers. 2014. Hog Meat and Hoecake: Food Supply in the Old South, 1840– 1860. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Hua, Yu, and Michael Berry. 2003. To Live: A Novel, p. 17. New York: Anchor Books. Hurston, Zora Neale, Alice Walker, and Mary Helen Washington. 1998. I Love Myself When I Am Laughing and Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York. James, Francis G. 1963. “Irish Colonial Trade in the Eighteenth Century.” William and Mary Quarterly 20 (4): 574–584. Mariani-Costantini, Aldo, and Giancarlo Ligabue. 2009. “Did Columbus Also Open the Exploration of the Modern Diet?” Nutrition Reviews 50 (11): 313–319. Parliament of Scotland. 1706. Proceedings: 23 December 1706. National Library of Australia. http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/27655939. Polacco, Patricia. 1994. Pink and Say. New York: Penguin. Smith, Andrew F. 2013. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, p. 209. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Steinbeck, John E. 1939. The Grapes of Wrath, p. 32, 408. New York: Bantam Books.

SCRAPPLE

SCRAPPLE Scrapple, sometimes called “pork mush,” is a spiced grain and meat dish that has roots in Germany but has become an American dish. It is most common in Pennsylvania, but regional variations occur in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The Philadelphia or Pennsylvania scrapple combines a cereal grain, meat, and spices, which are cooked together and then pressed into a loaf pan. The mixture is cooled and then sliced, fried (sometimes floured or breaded), and served with ketchup or syrup for breakfast. It is often found on diner menus throughout the region. Scrapple was originally made in winter by farm families as a means of preserving meat scraps—the final product often has a layer of lard atop it, similar to pâté. Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch words pon haus, panhoss, or pannhas, is a dish that originated in the German black puddings (Panhas is a German term originally meaning “false hare” used to describe a meatloaf or black pudding). The term panhas originates in the 16th-century Celtic word panna, meaning vessel. The term “scrapple” originated in the 1820s with the German Panhaskröppel, or slice of Panhas. The Philadelphia version forgoes the inclusion of blood, is often spiced with sage, thyme, savory, and black pepper, and is sometimes served with eggs. Scrapple is made primarily with cornmeal, but sometimes buckwheat, barley, wheat, or oats are used. Buckwheat is strongly associated with the inhabitants of the New Netherlands colony that was briefly in Delaware. The meat is often pork meat—organs, trotters, and head meat—but can also be made of beef or other meat leftovers. It is similar to goetta, a German dish popular in and around Cincinnati, which combines steelcut or chopped oats and ground meats. Livermush is a North Carolina, South Carolina, and northern Virginia version that combines pig liver, head parts, and cornmeal—an adaptation of a dish brought to the Appalachian mountain range by German settlers from Philadelphia. Livermush is sliced, fried, and served with either grape jelly or mustard, sometimes placed between two slices of bread to form a livermush sandwich. All versions—scrapple, goetta, and livermush—were traditionally made in the home; today, there are commercial versions of all these products available in restaurants, diners, and grocery stores. Companies now package and market scrapple, touting it as the original brown-and-serve food, while others refer to it as the product that contains everything but the oink. There are even vegetarian versions of scrapple available commercially, made with soy protein or gluten instead of meat. Kristina Nies

Scrapple Fest Scrapple has become a folk food tradition with an annual food festival dedicated to the mush. Delaware is home to the Bridgeville Apple-Scrapple Festival held annually in October. The 18-year-old tradition includes a carnival, street dance, scrapple chuckin’, scrapple carvin’, and an all-you-can-eat scrapple breakfast. There is a Miss and Little Miss Apple Scrapple competition—with proceeds benefiting a scholarship fund. The festival also showcases other local foodstuffs, arts, and crafts.

275

276

SCRAPPLE

Scrapple, ready to eat. Though sold in a loaf, the mixture of meats and grain is typically sliced and pan-fried, which gives it its delectable texture—crispy outside, soft inside. (Kate Hopkins)

Scrapple Carbonara

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients ¼ cup all-purpose flour ¼ cup olive oil 1 pound scrapple, diced 12 egg yolks, divided ½ cup heavy cream 2 cups Parmesan cheese, freshly grated ¼ cup chives, chopped 1 pound spaghetti Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. 2. Place flour in a medium bowl. Lightly dredge scrapple in flour, shaking off excess.

SHOOFLY PIE

3. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add olive oil. Add scrapple and fry until golden brown, about two minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel and hold. 4. In a large bowl, whisk together eight egg yolks, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and chives. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Add spaghetti to boiling water and cook until al dente according to package instructions. Reserve three cups of pasta water before draining pasta. 6. Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add two cups of pasta water and bring to a simmer. Add cooked pasta. 7. Add remaining cup of pasta water to the cream cheese and yolk mixture. Whisk together. Remove sauté pan with the pasta from the heat and add the egg mixture to the pasta. Toss the pasta with the sauce until coated. Season with salt and pepper. 8. Plate each dish with a portion of pasta and scrapple. Top each portion of pasta with a remaining egg yolk. Serve. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Cunningham, Marion. 1996. “Scrapple,” in Marion Cunningham, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. New York: Knopf. Smith, Andrew F., ed. 2007. “Scrapple.” Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. New York: Oxford University Press. Weaver, William Woys. 2003. Country Scrapple: An American Tradition. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Publishing.

S H O O F LY P I E Shoofly pie is a type of sugar pie made of molasses or brown sugar with a sugar, flour, and butter crumble topping. While sugar pies are common throughout history, this particular type of sugar pie came into its current form sometime in the 1880s. While the name “shoofly” is attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch, it is more commonly called Melassich Riwwelboi or Melassichriwwelkuche (molasses crumb cake) in Pennsylvania Dutch. Many sources provide evidence that sugar pies have been made all over the world since ancient times, with sugar-filled pastries originating in the ancient Middle East. The sugar pie is a dish that is easily adapted based on the available ingredients, as most cultures have some form of a sugar-based pastry or pie. Similar sugar pies are treacle tarts in England, chess pie in the American South, and Montgomery pie, also of rural Pennsylvanian origin. Sugar pie recipes were introduced to America by European settlers, who substituted ingredients such as white sugar and treacle for molasses. The term “shoofly pie” did not come into use until the 20th century. The food historian William Woys Weaver describes the shoofly pie as a hybridized dessert that did not exist as part of the food culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch until sometime after the Civil War. Shoofly pie has become emblematic of the

277

278

SHOOFLY PIE

frugal cooking style of the Pennsylvania Dutch because it did not use eggs. One associated story is that the pie came into being during the leaner seasons of late winter and early spring, right before the beginning of times of plenty, when ingredients and supplies from fall harvests were running short and all that remained was lard, flour, and molasses. In an effort to create something good to eat and to use up the few remaining supplies on hand, shoofly pie came into being. Following a more historical train of thought, the pie itself contains molasses but no eggs, leading historians to believe that it was a winter pie, as hens laid no eggs during the winter, and molasses would ferment in the summer without refrigeration. It is also possible that the lack of eggs was due to the 1870s baking powder revolution rather than thriftiness. A descendant of the Jenny Lind pie, a soft gingerbread pie eaten for breakfast with coffee, shoofly pie began as “Centennial Cake” but was usually called “molasses crumb cake” in Pennsylvania Dutch. It was eaten for breakfast with hot black coffee and not as a dessert, as is seen in Amish tourist spots today. When cast-iron cookware became available after the Civil War, the Pennsylvania Dutch began utilizing the pie shell, an Anglo-American technology, to more easily transport the cake from plate to mouth. Once the cook stove made it possible to work with pie crust, the filling evolved, creating two types of “traditional” shoofly pies: wet bottom and dry bottom. A wet-bottom shoofly pie has a soft, sticky filling with a crumb topping, while a dry-bottom pie has the crumb topping mixed into the softer ingredients and cooked until more firmly set, creating a more coffee cake–like texture. The name “shoofly pie” did not come into use until the 1880s and is not seen in print until 1926. There are several popular theories as to the origin of the name. Folklore says the name “shoofly pie” is because as it cooled, small puddles of molasses would form on the top of the pie, resembling flies. Alternately, the name could have come from the pie’s tendency to attract flies as the molasses cooled. However, it is possible that, as a dish of Pennsylvania Dutch origin, the word “shoofly” may be an interpretation of a German word. More recently, it is said that the name “shoofly” comes from a brand of molasses called Shoofly Molasses, which in turn was named after a popular Pennsylvania circus attraction, Shoofly the Boxing Mule. Modern shoofly pies found in Lancaster, Pennsylvania–area “Amish markets” tend to be mass-produced and served as a dessert dish rather than a breakfast dish. They are considered something of a “tourist trap” treat—an integral part of the tourist cuisine that draws many visitors to the area, and one that is firmly ingrained in the food mythology of the Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish. One of the most popular locations for shoofly pie when visiting Lancaster is Dutch Haven Shoo-Fly Pie Bakery, which touts itself as “the original shoofly pie bakery.” Now, independent bakers are experimenting with types of shoofly pie and creating ever more hybridized versions, such as a honey shoofly pie, where the molasses is replaced with honey. Weaver suspects that this brings the pie closer to its origins, as shoofly pie likely existed in variations depending on what was available in the Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen. Esther Martin-Ullrich

SHOOFLY PIE

Shoofly pie is a Pennsylvania Dutch dessert made from molasses. It can have a wet, sticky, and gooey bottom, as shown here, or the crumb topping can be mixed in, creating a more coffeecake-like final product. (George Sheldon/Dreamstime.com)

Shoofly Pie

Yield: 1 pie, about 8 servings Ingredients 1½ cups all-purpose flour, divided ½ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar ½ cup cold butter, diced, divided 6 tablespoons cold water ¼ cup brown sugar 1 cup molasses 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ cup hot water Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. In a large bowl, place one cup of flour, salt, and sugar. Stir to combine.

279

280

SLINGER

3. Add one-quarter cup butter and, using hands or pastry cutter, mash the butter into the flour until the pieces of butter are small and incorporated. 4. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to become a ball. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. 5. Roll the piecrust into a large circle, about a quarter-inch thick. Transfer the crust to an eight-inch pie pan. Press the dough into the pan and pierce with a fork. Bake the crust for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden brown and set. 6. In a large bowl, add remaining half-cup flour, remaining quarter-cup butter, and brown sugar. Mix together, pressing the butter into the flour and sugar until coarse crumbs form. 7. In another large bowl, whisk together molasses, egg, vanilla extract, and baking soda. Slowly whisk in hot water until smooth. 8. Pour molasses filling into prebaked crust. Top with crumb topping. Return pie to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the crumb topping is golden brown. 9. Allow to cool before serving. Recipe by Alexandra Zetiz. Further Reading Byrn, Anne. 2016. American Cake: From Colonial Gingerbread to Classic Layer, the Stories and Recipes behind More Than 125 of Our Best-Loved Cakes. Emmaus, PA: Rodale. Stevens, Patricia Bunning. 1998. Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes. Athens: Ohio University Press. Weaver, William Woys. 2017. As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

SLINGER The slinger is a classic Midwestern diner dish made with two hamburger patties, two eggs any style, cheese, hash browns, and onions smothered with chili; it can be served with a side of toast and/or hot sauce. It is very popular in Saint Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. If you manage to eat the whole dish at the open-24-hours Diner Grill on Irving Park in Chicago, you earn a certificate. According to Saint Louis food writer Rose Martelli, the slinger is “a hometown culinary invention that might account for St. Louis’ high rate of heart disease: a mishmash of meat, hash-fried potatoes, eggs, and chili, sided with your choice of ham, sausage, bacon, hamburger patties, or an entire flippin’ T-bone steak. It’s dirt cheap, damn good and a drunk’s dream.” Feast Magazine did a piece on the Eat-Rite Diner near the Busch Stadium in Saint Louis; the diner’s owners, the Powers family, claim to be the creators of the slinger. They say they started serving slingers around 1985. David Powers, one

SLINGER

Variations of the Slinger Top One: served with a tamale on top Vegetarian: replace hamburger with veggie burger and meat chili with vegetarian chili The Toby/The Hoosier: white gravy instead of chili (named after a customer at Tiffany’s Original Diner in Saint Louis, Missouri) Yin & Yang: covered with half gravy, half chili (a customer favorite at Tiffany’s Original Diner in Saint Louis, Missouri, and named by manager Tom Gray) The Jared: covered with equal parts chili and white gravy The JP Slinger: has extra onions and extra chili Devil’s Delight: no hamburger patties Chicago Style: served with white bread toast on the side, burgers are cheeseburger patties, eggs are over easy, contains grilled onions (served specifically at the Diner Grill in Chicago)

of the brothers, explained that at their Fenton store in the 1970s, “A truck driver from Texas came in and ordered chili on his eggs, and it evolved from there. Two waitresses started saying ‘sling it’ to the cooks instead of explaining that the whole order included chili, cheese and onions,” and that’s how it all started. The slinger is Eat-Rite Diner’s bestseller (Cothran 2016). Sally Baho Diner-Style Slinger

Yield: 1 serving Ingredients 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 cup shredded hash brown potatoes (refrigerated or frozen) 1 3-ounce hamburger patty, cooked to desired doneness 2 eggs, fried or cooked in preferred style 2 tablespoons diced yellow or white onions 1 cup prepared mild chili with beans (such as Edmonds Chile), heated through (see variation below) ½ cup grated mild cheddar cheese 2 slices buttered toast Directions 1. Melt butter in a six-inch skillet; add hash browns and pan-fry until crispy and browned. In a large plate, spread hash browns in a layer. 2. Place hamburger patty on top of hash browns. Set two cooked eggs over hamburger. Sprinkle with raw onions.

281

282

SNAKE

3. Cover everything with chili, then top with grated cheese. 4. Serve with buttered toast. Further Reading Cothran, Shannon. 2016. “Eat-Rite Diner.” Feast Magazine. October 25. http://www .feastmagazine.com/image_a276c7a0-9af1-11e6-9a8e-ef1662333c06.html. Gerzina, Daniel. 2013. “The Legend of the ‘Slinger’ and ‘Dick Burger’ at Diner Grill.” Eater Chicago. July 17. https://chicago.eater.com/2013/7/17/64020705/the-legendary -slinger-and-dick-burger-at-diner-grill.

SNAKE Snake is the meat acquired from any variety of the animal of the same name. While snakes are plentiful throughout the United States, the preparation and eating of snake are relatively rare things, done as a novelty; a few restaurants offered snake prepared by immigrant chefs from homelands where snake eating is more common. A stringy, versatile meat, snake can be pickled, fried, boiled, grilled, and potted. Generally not abundantly flavorful, snake complements any number of other ingredients and takes on other flavors easily. Snake eating is found around the world, but nonetheless it remains a relatively uncommon food practice, owing to the very small amount of meat that snakes yield. Additionally, many cultures around the world associate snakes with taboos or omens good and ill—such as the form of Satan in Eden in the Christian tradition, or one of the zodiac animals in Chinese culture—and so they are avoided on semi-spiritual grounds. Perhaps more vexingly for snake-meat enthusiasts in the United States, snakes are frequently kept as pets, and so their consumption also runs up against certain American prohibitions on eating companion animals. For others, reptile aversion is sufficient to keep them from eating snake. At the same time, some sectors of U.S. food culture venerate snake for its supposed aphrodisiac properties (owing no doubt to its phallic characteristics) or as an entertaining bush meat. Known by the name “hedge eel” in parts of the Northeast (where the sea-dwelling eel is common as a food), most consumption of snakequa-snake takes place in the West and the South, where rattlesnakes are most often consumed out of a kind of amusing vengeance. At Rustler’s Roost in Phoenix and Spoto’s Steak Joint in Dunedin, Florida—not to mention at numerous church and community fund-raisers—rattlesnake is found fried in appetizers, barbecued, and as a substitute for or addition to beef in chili. Elsewhere, at hipper urban restaurants like Los Angeles’s Wurstkürche and Love’s Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Fort Worth, snake and rabbit are ground together into sausage, a play on the two animals’ relationship as predator and prey. Additionally, the novelty meat producer Meat Maniac sells canned smoked rattlesnake nationwide through its Web site. Because of the influence of immigrant populations on U.S. food, and because snake is revered in cuisine across a number of cultures in southeast Asia, one finds snake on the menu in restaurants serving traditional international cuisine, most of these in major metropolitan areas. Variously stir-fried, boiled, or made into soups,

SNAKE

these snake dishes’ purveyors often trade on snake’s role in traditional medicine as increasing sexual potency and the “warming” of certain organs (often the heart and ankles), and they usually put special emphasis on ingesting the blood for full effect. A popular part of Cantonese seasonal cuisine, snake soups are considered healthful and auspicious to consume in the winter, while Vietnamese restaurants occasionally copy the success of Hanoi’s famous Hung Snake Restaurant by preparing snake dishes. In both cases, foods such as these are “open secrets,” in that they appear on foreign-language menus in restaurants that serve a large number of native and first-generation eaters. In very rare cases, snake wine—a bottle of wine, sake, or some other liquor into which a snake has been inserted, like the worms in bottles of mescal—is imported and served, so long as the snake contained in the bottle is not a listed endangered species (such as cobra, as is common in Thailand), lest the cargo be seized by U.S. Customs officials. Those interested in eating snake in the United States are advised to procure their meat from a reputable dealer or wholesaler. Though it is relatively simple to find a snake in the wild, and all are edible by most standards, such acquisition is not recommended. It is often difficult to differentiate nonvenomous snakes from their poisonous counterparts on the fly, and so snakebite injury can occur while stalking them. That said, even among poisonous snakes, the meat itself is not dangerous; the rattlesnakes mentioned above, for example, produce venom in small glands in the head that are easily avoided and discarded in the butchering process. (This is exceptionally simple, unlike in the preparation of fugu, where accidental poisoning is relatively common.) Even so, many snakes in the wild may become poisonous to humans if they have recently eaten small mammals that have themselves ingested commercial rodent poisons. Because of these dangers, most snake available in restaurants is bought prepped from commercial suppliers. All the same, the preparation of any whole snake is reasonably simple. One begins by killing the animal—usually beheading it, as in the preparation of an eel—and lopping off the tail where the body begins to taper substantially. As a note, many traditional recipes insist that after removing the head of a venomous snake, one ought to bury it; some precaution to secure the head is necessary, as the mouth can snap shut for several hours after death and inject the cook with venom, though the injunction to bury it often carries an air of harmless superstition. Gutting the snake, a process called “drawing,” involves ringing the body with one’s hand and running down the length of it, which squeezes out the organs. Then, a simple cut lengthwise allows the cook to pull back the skin, much like a banana peel. For larger snakes—especially rattlesnakes, which can weigh a few pounds—a deeper cut after drawing to flay the body will be necessary in order to remove the larger organs and sturdier bones, though some recipes call for cooking the snake with bones intact. At this point, the meat is ready for any preparation one might find, with many recipes (especially in the Western tradition coming from French haute cuisine) being derived from those used for eel. Thomas Hertweck

283

284

SON-OF-A-B—TCH STEW

Simple Grilled Snake

Because snake is a novelty for most people, a simple preparation on the grill is usually a good way to sample the flavor. Ingredients One snake, procured from a supplier or prepared as described above Wooden, bamboo, or metal skewers Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. Preheat grill. 2. Take prepared snake, flay wide, and cut into pieces two or three inches long (as snake’s body allows). 3. Skewer and place on grill, turning regularly and listening to the meat cook. The snake is done just as the sizzling noise is about to stop. 4. Salt and pepper lightly; taste carefully, watching for any missed bones. Further Reading “Chef Serves Eight Courses of Boa Constrictor—Including Salad.” 2015. Fine Dining Lovers. January 7. https://www.finedininglovers.com/blog/news-trends/eating-snake -boa-constrictor. LeVaux, Ari. 2014. “How to Cook a Rattlesnake – If You Have To.” High Country News. May 7. http://www.hcn.org/wotr/how-to-cook-a-rattlesnake-if-you-have-to. Painter, Tracy. 2015. Rattlesnake Cooking Made Easy. Orofino, ID: Elbow Grease Publishing. Schwabe, Calvin W. 1999. The Unmentionable Cuisine. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.

S O N - O F - A - B—T C H S T E W Son-of-a-b—tch stew is a beef stew that is made of whatever ingredients a cowboy might have on hand, and traditionally it includes the meat scraps and offal from a recently butchered calf. There’s an old cowboy song that many of us learned as children, without really understanding its lyrics: Whoopee ti yi yo, Git along, little dogies, It’s your misfortune And none of my own

A “dogie” is an unweaned calf. It’s short for “dough gut,” and dough gut had a special meaning for hungry cowpokes. While the song continued, “You know that Wyoming will be your new home,” some dogies never made it much farther than the chuck wagon. These peripatetic kitchens were a uniquely American invention. Charles Goodnight (1836–1929) is said to been first to modify a buckboard into one. He

SON-OF-A-B—TCH STEW

Son-of-a-b—tch stew can be prepared with basically any cuts of beef and vegetables that one has on hand, but the traditional secret ingredient is a section of a calf’s digestive tract known as marrow gut. (Alexander Mychko/Dreamstime.com)

added heavy-duty running gear to the wagon and built a cook’s cabinet on the rear. The cabinet had many compartments for holding various things needed for cooking, as well as a fold-down door that served as the cook’s worktable. The chuck wagon cook was second in command on the trail drive. In his domain, which was the wagon and a 60-foot radius around it, he was the boss, and no one crossed him. It was said that if a chuck wagon cook was not fractious, he just had not been cooking long enough. (Raven 2009)

These oxen-propelled wagons had no refrigeration, so they carried very few fresh ingredients. Coffee, salt, sugar, flour (and/or cornmeal), and dried beans constituted the cook’s primary provisions. Meat, if any was to be had, was usually bacon or some other form of salt pork, unless an unwary antelope happened by. True, they had an entire herd of beef cattle at hand—but the herd didn’t belong to them, and a dozen cowboys, no matter how hungry, couldn’t consume an entire steer before most of it rotted. Instead of the sailor’s “water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink,” the cowhand could lament “cattle, cattle, everywhere, but not a beeve to eat.” However, a herd was not just marketable steers. It generally included a few calves, and calves were just about the right size to feed the cowhands on a typical cattle drive, and eating one or two along the way wouldn’t noticeably reduce the selling price of the herd at the end of the drive.

285

286

SON-OF-A-B—TCH STEW

Parts of the calf could be eaten as steaks, or chopped up in chili con carne (another cowboy creation), but the rest of the animal was edible and would not be wasted. Son-of-a-b—tch stew was “nose-to-tail cookery” long before the term became fashionable. Breast meat and tenderloin, as well as the offal (brain, heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, sweetbreads, tongue), were browned in the calf’s own fat and then simmered for hours in a Dutch oven. The key ingredient, however, was “marrow gut” (the “dough gut” of the song), an intestine-like tube connecting a calf’s stomachs. It was filled with partially digested milk, which is why the organ is known as tripas de leche in Mexico. The precise ratios of the various bits to the others were each trail cook’s trade secret. He (for the cook was always male, someone who was not easily offended by serving his creations along with the mingled scents of cows and unwashed cowboys) would cut up the meat in tiny pieces (3⁄8" or smaller, as for chili) and then add his special blend of the sorts of meats that would horrify most diners, if they knew what was being served: some chopped spleen (which the cowboys called “melt”), peeled tongue, not all of the liver (because that could make the son-of-a-b—tch too bitter), the brain (dissolved into the stew, as a thickener), plus any other organs the cook found lurking in the calf’s carcass. The most important ingredient was a yard or so of “mar gut,” short for “marrow gut.” Whether or not to include it was not open for discussion. The choice of seasoning was another variable, with some cooks adding civilized herbs, like sage—but various hot peppers (especially the wild chili piquin, a variety of Capsicum annuum: fiery little peppers that grew wild in bushes, from May until frost, all along the trail) were certainly more common. One thing was certain: No self-respecting son-of-a-b—tch (i.e., cook) would ever consider adding vegetables—let alone potatoes—to the dish. Son-of-a-b—tch stew, in Texas, is a pure thing, immutable as Texas chili con carne (which must never, under any circumstances, contain beans). Son-of-a-b—tch is, first and foremost, a celebration of unalloyed meatiness. “Made of unmentionables, it is the pièce de résistance of the chuck wagon. What matter the ingredients when the result is a culinary poem. . . . It is the Sacrament of the Plains, the recompense of hardy men and daring women. It is the grand contribution of the prairies to the Valhalla of Gourmets” (quoted in Tolbert 1966, 83–84). As for its name, If a woman or a preacher were in camp, the stew might be called SOB. It finally became Son of a Gun stew, which was more appropriate for tame society. It was also called by the name of any person or thing that was out of favor at the time. If there was someone from a West Texas town that was out of favor, the stew might have been called “the gentleman from Odessa.” (Raven 2009)

Odessa, at the time, had a rather unsavory reputation, the sort of place that could boast few, if any, gentlemen. The stew’s name might be replaced by a euphemism for use in refined company, or modified to serve as an insult. Consequently, it might be called “County Attorney” or “District Attorney,” since prosecutors from

SON-OF-A-B—TCH STEW

the places cowhands visited rarely welcomed their rowdiness. The dish also served more topical functions, as required: After President Grover Cleveland ran the cattlemen out of the Cherokee Strip, some cafés started printing it [on menus] “Grover Cleveland Stew.” In the depression of the 1930s it was styled “Herbert Hoover Stew.” (Tolbert 1966, 88)

Gary Allen Son-of-a-B—tch Stew

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients 2 tablespoons canola oil 2 pounds beef stew meat, diced 1 pound calf liver, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 large carrots, chopped 2 russet potatoes, chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped ¼ cup flour 2 tablespoons chili powder 1 teaspoon celery seeds 1 teaspoon mustard powder 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 bottle beer 8 cups beef stock 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce Salt and pepper to taste Directions 1. In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add canola oil. Working in batches, sear the stew meat and liver on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Once seared, reserve on a plate. 2. Add onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and garlic to the pot. Sauté for about 10 minutes until the vegetables start to soften. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Add meat back to the pot. Add flour, chili powder, celery seeds, mustard powder, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine and cook for about two minutes.

287

288

SONORAN HOT DOG

4. Add beer, beef stock, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for about two hours, or until the meat is tender and the vegetables are soft. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Raven, John. 2009. “Chuck Wagon Cooking for Cowboys: Part 1.” Traditional Texas Food. September. http://www.texascooking.com/features/sept2009-chuck-wagon-cooking .htm. Sharpe, Patricia. 1987. “Texas Primer: The Chilipiquin.” Texas Monthly. November. http:// www.texasmonthly.com/food/texas-primer-the-chilipiquin. Tolbert, Frank X. 1966. A Bowl of Red: A Natural History of Chili con Carne. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

SONORAN HOT DOG The Sonoran hot dog is a bacon-wrapped play on the American classic. It originates in the northern state of Sonora, Mexico, but has become attributed to the southwest United States. The original style is most commonly found in southern Arizona, but adaptations have occurred over time and place, traveling north to Phoenix, west to Los Angeles, east to New York, and even making their way back home to Hermosillo, Sonora. Generally sold from a roadside cart, typical ingredients include a grilled hot dog, bacon, beans, chopped tomatoes and onions, avocado crema, mayonnaise, salsa, and the signature slightly sweet, soft yet sturdy bun. Some believe that traditional Sonoran hot dogs were originally served at baseball games in Sonora in the 1940s, but they gained their street food credibility with the fast-paced students of the University of Sonora at the start of the 1980s. Served by “dogueros” grilling behind small streetcarts, the “Sonoran-style” or “Estilo Sonora” hot dog was the cross-border Mexican upgrade to the all-American ketchup and mustard–topped meal. Entrepreneurial food enthusiasts in bordering U.S. cities Tucson and Los Angeles quickly took to the new taste, carrying on the cart service but not always the signature Sonoran hot dog style. In Tucson the “dogo,” as it’s affectionately called in Mexico, officially assumed the name “Sonoran hot dog” and began to assimilate to its new culture. In Los Angeles, it secured its American identity with toppings like “Ruffles con Queso,” canned mushrooms, and a white bread bun, and it even acquired a new moniker: the “Danger Dog.” Ingredients for authentic Sonoran hot dogs today vary depending on region and doguero; however, to dogueros, using bacon and a particular style of bun is as necessary as the hot dog itself. At the base of every Sonoran hot dog is a bolillo. Found at most Mexican bakeries, the elongated split-top roll is soft, chewy, and structurally sound enough to be the foundation of success for the loaded dog. A hot dog is then wrapped in strips of uncooked bacon, grilled, and stuffed inside. Dogueros from southern Arizona, including the nationally famous el Guero Canelo, offer a variety of toppings for guests to choose from, such as pinto beans, fresh tomatoes, fresh or grilled onions, mayonnaise, avocado crema or guacamole, and a fresh salsa

SONORAN HOT DOG

or salsa verde, serving the dogs with a roasted side of whole jalapeño or chile guero (banana pepper). Dig a little deeper, or travel a bit farther south, where dogs arrive with a side of thick-cut fries, condiments might include beans with chorizo, lime mayonnaise, shredded lettuce, charred corn, cucumbers in sour cream, pickled vegetables, and queso fresco or shredded cheddar cheese. In a return to its origins, the Sonoran hot dog can also be found in baseball parks. Alongside selections like the Sonoran vegan burger or churro dog, Chase Field in downtown Phoenix offers baseball fans a version of the Arizona favorite with mesquite-smoked bacon, pico de gallo, ranch-style beans, and a mayo drizzle on an American-style bun. It is estimated that, while the Sonoran hot dog remains a street food and one fairly contained to its region, there are roughly 200 vendors of the bacon-wrapped borderland specialty in Tucson, Arizona, alone. While it is possible to find brick-and-mortar shops selling Sonoran hot dogs, most are still sold out of a cart on the corner. Menus and service are simple. Dealing solely in dogs and drinks, most vendors only accept cash. Some stands are open for lunch and early dinner, while others are open for dinner and late night. Typical day patrons include laborers, contractors, and policemen looking for a fast lunch. Dogueros who’ve chosen the night scene are meeting the needs of quick family meals and serving a filling late-night fix for night owls, as well as frequently dodging the inevitable and risky visit from the health department. Either way, a good sign you’ve found a roadside stand serving the Sonoran variety are the temporary white tents and picnic tables pitched as a makeshift eating area in an activated empty space previously invisible to those passing by. Natalie Rachel Morris

Sonoran Hot Dog

Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 8 all-beef hot dogs 8–12 bacon strips 1 small white onion, sliced in quarter-inch rounds 6 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo 1 cup cooked pinto beans 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and ¼" diced ½ cup mayonnaise 1 ripe avocado ¼ cup fresh Mexican cream

289

290

SPAM

1 serrano pepper 2 limes Pickled jalapeños and carrots (en escabeche), as needed 8 very large hot dog buns (potato, challah, or brioche), preferably uncut Cooking oil, as needed Directions 1. Wrap each hot dog completely with bacon. If needed, use soaked wood toothpicks to secure the ends. Cook the hot dogs along with the onion rounds in a large skillet with a small amount of cooking oil over low-medium heat, turning as needed. To prevent bacon from burning, avoid using too high a temperature. Remove bacon from pan and reserve. 2. Over medium heat, cook the fresh chorizo in a small amount of oil, breaking into small clumps. When cooked through, add the cooked pinto beans. Season to taste. 3. Mash the avocado until very smooth and mix with fresh Mexican cream. Add minced serrano chili, removing the seeds if desired to cut down spiciness. Season with fresh-squeezed lime juice and salt to taste. The avocado cream should be thin enough to pour out of a squeeze bottle or a plastic bag. 4. Using a good quality store-bought mayonnaise, season it liberally with freshsqueezed lime juice. 5. If possible, cut a pocket into the hot dog buns, leaving the ends intact, making a boat for the hot dog and toppings. Steam or gently warm buns without toasting them. 6. Build the hot dog by starting with a good amount of lime mayonnaise, followed by the bacon-wrapped hot dog. Top with cooked onions, followed by the chorizo beans. Add diced tomato, and drizzle generously with avocado cream. Add pickled jalapeños and carrots as desired. Further Reading Kraig, Bruce. 2009. Hot Dog: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books. Nevarez, Griselda. 2015. “Tucson’s Savory Invention: The Sonoran Hot Dog.” NBC News. August 15. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/tucsons-savory-invention -sonoran-hot-dog-n406211. Robbins, Ted. 2009. “The Sonoran Hot Dog Crosses the Border.” National Public Radio. August 6. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106366080

S PA M Spam is a canned meat brand introduced to the U.S. market in 1937 by Hormel Foods, a Minnesota-based company that started out as a meatpacking operation in 1891. The name “Spam” is said to be derived from “spiced ham.” Its ingredients are chopped pork shoulder and ham, salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate. The precooked luncheon meat is often fried but can also be cooked in other ways (such as baked or grilled) or used straight from the can.

SPAM

Spam is heavily consumed in many parts of the United States, most especially in Hawaii and Alaska, in the U.S. territory Guam, and in the U.S. protectorate Northern Mariana Islands. It is sold in over 40 countries and is beloved in the Philippines, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Although derided by many Americans because of its highly processed nature and unhealthy reputation owing to its heavy salt and fat content, Spam has iconic status in both American food and popular culture, which is largely attributed to its role as a food ration in World War II (1939–1945). Close-up of Spam on a grill. Though it is sold fully Hormel created Spam to cooked, the meat is often removed from the can, make good use of surplus pork sliced and grilled, sauteed, stir-fried, or pan-fried shoulder that otherwise would before consumption. (Zkruger/Dreamstime.com) have been discarded by the company. Jay C. Hormel, the founder’s son and company president at the time, came up with the product idea and the recipe in which ham was added to the pork shoulder. The tinned meat was named by Kenneth Daigneau, brother of a Hormel executive, who won $100 at a company party where invited guests were given the challenge of naming the product prior to its 1937 introduction. Meat products were marketed generically in those days, and Hormel’s Spam helped usher in the branded meats era. A groundbreaking marketing campaign that included the slogan “The meat of many uses” and a radio advertising jingle touting it as Hormel’s “new miracle meat in a can” supported its introduction in the market. Hormel aggressively promoted the fact that unlike fresh meat, which consumers had to refrigerate to avoid spoilage, Spam did not have to be refrigerated until after opening. It set out to convince skeptical homemakers that canned meat was convenient, affordable, versatile, and nutritious. Spam became the luncheon meat that America’s Depression-era lower classes increasingly consumed. Spam’s popularity got an even greater boost during World War II, when Americans were strongly encouraged to eat it in lieu of fresh meat, and when it was sent as protein rations to American troops in the Pacific and to Allied forces in Europe. Millions of pounds of luncheon meat were shipped to the Pacific and to Europe to feed troops and locals during this period. But Spam was not the only tinned meat fed to the troops. The U.S. government created a generic recipe for the war,

291

292

SPAM

although the troops’ most common belief was that Spam was the only luncheon meat they were fed. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev lauded its life-saving virtues, and UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher recalled it as a “delicacy.” Spam became an iconic wartime symbol, a shelf-stable meat that locals in the countries occupied by American troops developed a fondness for. But for military troops who had to eat it far too often, it became one of the most reviled foods of their time, and the butt of many jokes. Spam’s dominant presence during World War II became America’s culinary legacy in places that were occupied by its military, particularly in the Pacific and the United Kingdom. Mostly, these countries had positive associations with American troops and the United States, whom they viewed as their protectors or saviors. In Hawaii, which consumes more Spam per capita than the other states, it is firmly and lovingly entrenched in the culinary culture—localized in ways like the ubiquitous Spam musubi (sushi rice with fried Spam wrapped in nori), Spam fried and served with rice and eggs, or simply added to favorite dishes like the loco moco (rice topped with hamburger patty, egg, and gravy). Hawaiians took to Spam during World War II not only because its saltiness appealed to their palate and meat was scarce, but also due to the perception that anything that came from the United States had value and status (this was pre-statehood). For Korea and the Philippines, both occupied by the United States during World War II, canned American goods were considered premium, and being able to buy Spam implied affluence. Spam in the Philippines remains a popular breakfast food, served fried alongside rice and eggs or in a sandwich, and in South Korea it is still highly prized, typically given out as gifts for weddings and other special occasions. The United Kingdom continues its lovefest with Spam in dishes like Spam fritters (battered and fried like their popular fish and chips) and in the traditional hearty Yorkshire breakfast composed of eggs and various meats. Over the years Hormel has introduced several varieties of Spam, and some of the flavors reflect the popular tastes or flavor principles of other cultures, such as Spam Jalapeño (Mexico) and Spam Teriyaki (Japan). There are also varieties more in line with nutrition-conscious times, like Spam Lite (lower in fat and sodium) and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey (not pork-based).

Competition Spam Hormel sponsors the annual Great American Spam Championship, which involves recipe competitions at several state and county fairs. The Waikiki Spam Jam in Honolulu, Hawaii, is one of the largest and most celebrated annual food festivals honoring the state’s passion for Spam. Past culinary creations from various recipe challenges include Spam in chocolate truffles, cheesecake, chowder, and raviolis, and Spam French fries. For those who don’t care to cook or eat it, there are Spam-carving competitions.

SPAM

Spam’s iconic status in pop culture has inspired numerous activities in its honor. In the several decades following its inception, countless innovative and sometimes highly unusual recipes using Spam have been created, many as a result of Spam cook-offs held in various parts of the country, from San Francisco to Florida. Spam also inspired the popular British comedy troupe Monty Python to create a muchlauded Spam sketch that aired on their TV show in 1970. It hilariously depicts a woman who gets increasingly frustrated when she can’t order any dish without Spam from the diner’s breakfast menu. This “unwanted Spam” sketch is said to be the origin of the Internet-based term “spam,” which relates to junk or unsolicited e-mail. Spam has also inspired numerous Web sites and posts by passionate fans, including haiku sites, Spam hacks, and countless recipes. Hormel maintains a Spam Museum at its headquarters in Austin, Minnesota. Maria Steinberg Garlic and Spam Fried Rice

Yield: 2–3 servings Ingredients 3 cups cooked rice, cold and crumbled into separate grains 6 ounces (half of a 12-ounce can) of Spam Classic, diced 5–6 cloves garlic, crushed 2 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tablespoons vegetable oil ½ teaspoon sesame oil (optional) Salt and pepper, to taste Directions 1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, fry garlic cloves until golden brown. Take out garlic and set aside. Turn heat up to high. 2. Add cubed Spam and fry until brown. Add garlic and rice to pan and toss until mixture is heated through. 3. Push rice mixture to the side of pan. Add more oil if needed. Cook beaten egg until it starts to set. Gently toss egg with rice mixture until egg breaks up in pieces and all ingredients are well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper, and sesame oil if using. Stir-fry a few more minutes until hot. Plate and serve. Further Reading Lewis, George H. 2000. “From Minnesota Fat to Seoul Food: Spam in America and the Pacific Rim.” Journal of Popular Culture 34 (2): 83–105. Stone, Judith. 1994. “More Than You Wanted to Know about Spam.” New York Times Magazine. July 3. Wyman, Carolyn. 1999. Spam: A Biography. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.

293

294

SPIEDIES

SPIEDIES The spiedie (pronounced spee-dee) is a sandwich hailing from Binghamton in Broome County, southern New York and enjoyed throughout Central New York. It can be made with cubes of beef, chicken, lamb, pork, veal, or venison; the sandwich is made with soft Italian bread. The meat is marinated overnight or for days in a tart, special marinade and then grilled on a spit, over charcoal or gas; steel skewers known as “spiedie rods” are often used. Traditionally, the leftover marinade is cooked and drizzled over the meat on the sandwich, and it is common to find the sandwich served on a submarine roll. The skewer of meat is placed inside the open roll, the meat is gripped, and the skewer is pulled out, leaving the meat inside of the roll. Alternatively, the meat can be eaten straight off the skewer or served over a salad, cooked into a stir-fry, etc. The secret is in the marinade, which is made with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and Italian herbs. Commercially prepared marinades are sold at markets in the region or can be ordered online. The Italian word spiedo means “kitchen cooking spit” and spiedini means the cubes or balls of meat that are cooked on a skewer. In Abruzzo, Italy, the dish spidducc’ consists of mutton skewers grilled over a spit. Spiedies originated with Binghamton’s Italian immigrant community in the 1920s, and the sandwich was traditionally made with spring lamb, but nowadays chicken is the most popular variety. Camilli Iacovelli is believed to have created the spiedie in Endwell, New York, but it wasn’t until his brother Augustine “Augie” Iacovelli and Peter Sharak popularized spiedies at their restaurants, Endicott and Sharky’s, respectively. Augie’s marinade, which was originally called “zuzu,” was made with wine vinegar, water, lemon juice, garlic, and mint. The other spices and olive oil were added later as the recipe was refined and developed. Spiedies have been celebrated at the three-day Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally in Binghamton, New York, every August since 1983, with hot-air balloons, live music, and countless vendors featuring their variety of the spiedie. Spiedie Fest is actually one of the top balloon rallies in the country, attracting over 100,000 guests annually. The event always concludes with a spiedie cook-off on Sunday. Sally Baho

Spiedie Sandwich

Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 2 pounds meat cut into 1½-inch cubes (boneless/skinless chicken breast, leg of lamb, pork tenderloin, or top round steak) 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice ¾ cup red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar

SQUIRREL

4 cloves garlic, minced 1 bay leaf ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper 1½ teaspoons dried thyme 1½ teaspoons dried basil 1½ teaspoons dried oregano ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground pepper 6 Italian rolls Metal skewers Directions 1. In a large bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and sugar. Stir well, until sugar is dissolved. Add garlic, bay leaf, herbs, salt, and pepper; stir until blended. 2. Place meat cubes in a resealable plastic bag, pour marinade over meat, seal bag, and place in refrigerator for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days. Turn bag over to ensure that meat is evenly marinated. 3. Remove from refrigerator and let sit in marinade, at room temperature, for two hours; afterward, drain the marinade, reserving it for later use. Meanwhile, prepare the BBQ according to your individual grill. 4. Put four or five meat cubes on each skewer. Arrange skewers over prepared grill and cook for 8–10 minutes or until done to your preference, basting lightly with leftover marinade. 5. Remove from grill and sandwich the skewer in the bread, pulling out the skewer and leaving the meat in the sandwich. Top with leftover meat and serve hot. Recipe adapted from What’s Cooking America Web site (see below). Further Reading Stradley, Linda. 2017. “Spiedie Sandwich Recipe and History.” What’s Cooking America. August 12. https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/Spiedie.htm.

SQUIRREL When most people think about hunting, they imagine big-game hunters. However, big-game seasons are short, and hunters spend much more time in pursuit of small game. Small game includes migratory birds (waterfowl) and upland game (game birds such as pheasants and grouse, and various mammals). Of the latter, the small- to medium-sized rodents known as squirrels are probably the most often harvested. Most hunters begin as squirrel hunters and continue long after they’ve graduated to big game. Squirrels are plentiful and tasty. Consequently, squirrels often appear on our dining tables. While humans have eaten rodents in many parts of the world (e.g., carefully fattened dormice were an ancient Roman delicacy), for the most part Americans have

295

296

SQUIRREL

avoided them. Squirrels are the main exception, although beavers and woodchucks are sometimes eaten here. White House steward Hugo Ziemann coauthored The White House Cook Book in 1887. He had only positive things to say about squirrels and their relatives. They are excellent when broiled or made into a stew, and, in fact, are very good in all the different styles of cooking similar to rabbit. There are many species common to this country; among them the black, red, gray and fox. Gophers and chipmunks may also be classed as another but smaller variety. (Gillette and Ziemann 1887, 89)

To clarify, black squirrels are merely a melanistic (color variant) phase of gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis in the east, Sciurus griseus in the west). Fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) are bit larger and can be found in most of the United States— other than New York, New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are much smaller and are more closely related to chipmunks. While any squirrel can be eaten, in practice gray and fox squirrels are the ones that are treated as game—and food (chipmunks and gophers play, literally, a very small part in American cuisine). Frank Ashbrook and Edna Sater, in their 1943 book on game cookery, explained, “Squirrel meat if properly prepared is truly delicious. The flesh is light red pink in color and has a pleasing flavor. The slight gamy taste present in most game is not so pronounced in the squirrel. The young ones can be fried or broiled the same as rabbits” (quoted in Davidson 1999, 750). Like rabbits, squirrels are very lean, and there is a distinct difference between the flesh of young and older animals. Large, older squirrels often require long, moist cooking—braising or stewing—and since a hunter’s game bag likely contains squirrels of varying ages and sizes, we tend to find many stewing-type recipes. The most famous squirrel recipe is for Brunswick stew. It’s a southeastern enhancement of succotash—a mixture of corn and lima beans, stewed together with meat (originally squirrel, or sometimes rabbit or opossum, but more likely to be chicken in modern recipes). It usually gets its red color from tomato sauce, and it may contain chunks of potato. Typically, it is flavored with bottled hot sauce, such as Texas Pete’s (which was actually invented in North Carolina in 1929), and Worcestershire sauce. The meat is boiled first, on the bone, and then picked off and cooled. Some of the broth is used to cook the vegetables. The cooled meat is shredded before being added back to the stew. Tomatoes and seasonings are added, and the pot is left to simmer for an hour or more. Booyah is a similar dish cooked in the Midwest, while burgoo simmers in Kentucky and parts of Indiana. Both Brunswick, Virginia, and Brunswick, Georgia, claim to have originated Brunswick stew. Both have created their own histories (or myths) about the dish’s invention, and the conflict is unlikely ever to be resolved. Commercial canned versions of Brunswick stew have been produced since the 1940s (in North Carolina today). None contain any squirrel meat.

SQUIRREL

Mad Squirrel Disease “Mad squirrel disease” may sound like a joke, but it’s not at all humorous. As a genetic disease, Creutzfeldt–Jakob is very rare, causing loss of muscle control, dementia, and eventually, death. However, prion diseases are much more commonly caused by our eating habits than our genes. Dr. Eric Weisman, a behavioral neurologist who practices in rural western Kentucky, reported in the distinguished British medical journal the Lancet that he had treated 11 people for Creutzfeldt–Jakob in four years, and all had eaten squirrel brains at some time. Six of the victims, ranging in age from 56 to 78, have died. The normal incidence of the disease in the area should be one case in about ten years, he said. (Wolfe 1997)

Brunswick stew (and burgoo and booyah) is often prepared in giant cauldrons as part of community fund-raising events. During the 1930s, the WPA had field agents scour the country to discover how Americans really ate. From their data, we learn that In the early days—and they weren’t too far back, either—squirrel meat was one of the chief ingredients thrown into brunswick stew and booya pots. The main reason for this was there were so many squirrels around. In the spring and fall, when a lot of community events took place, the critters were out and about so much that they might as well just jump in the pot. (Willard 2008, 23–24)

Squirrel brains are a Kentucky nose-to-bushy-tail regional specialty. It’s difficult to estimate the number of squirrel brains required to feed a family of four. Squirrel brains are a lip-smacking memory for Janet Norris Gates. They were the choicest morsels of the game her father once hunted in Tennessee. “In our family, we saw it as a prized piece of meat, and if he shared it with you, you were pretty happy. Not that he was stingy,” said Mrs. Gates, an oral historian in Frankfort, “but there’s just not much of a squirrel brain” (Wolfe 1997) A larger problem is that consuming nerve tissue from several mammalian species can result in a prion disease like scrapie, mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt– Jakob, or kuru. It turns out that eating squirrel brains can cause it too—“the tiny scoop of brain that goes down in one swallow just like an oyster before you have time to worry about mad squirrel disease or anything else like that” (Willard 2008, 24). These diseases are transmitted only by consumption of infected nerve tissue, such as brains. Some people (presumably those who enjoy squirrel brains) have questioned this news, asking, in effect, “Since squirrels don’t eat meat, how could they contract the disease?” In that they have been mistaken. Some animals that are thought of as herbivores also eat animals. According to the National Geographic Society’s online encyclopedia, “Squirrels eat mostly nuts, fruits, and seeds, but they sometimes eat insects, small birds, and other creatures.” Gary Allen

297

298

STEAMED CHEESEBURGERS

Squirrel

Yield: 2 servings Ingredients 2 tablespoons canola oil 1 small onion, chopped ¼ cup flour 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 squirrel, skin removed, cut in half lengthwise along the backbone 4 cups chicken stock (or water) Directions 1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, add canola oil. Add onions and sauté until translucent, about 10 minutes. 2. In a small bowl, add flour and season with salt and pepper. Coat squirrel on all sides with flour. Add to the pan and sear on all sides until golden brown, about five minutes per side. 3. Add chicken stock, bring to a simmer, and cover the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the squirrel is cooked through and tender. 4. Serve with cooking liquid and mashed potatoes. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading Ashbrook, Frank G., and Edna N. Sater. 1943. Cooking Wild Game. New York: Orange Jud. Davidson, Alan. 1999. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford University Press. Gillette, Mrs. F. L., and Hugo Ziemann. 1887. The White House Cook Book. Chicago: Werner. National Geographic Society. 2011. “Omnivore.” January 21. http://www.nationalgeographic .org/encyclopedia/omnivore. Willard, Pat. 2008. America Eats! On the Road with the WPA. New York: Bloomsbury. Wolfe, Charles. 1997. “Squirrel Brains May Be Unsafe.” Associated Press. Reprinted on Grey Squirrel’s Page of Silliness. http://www.greysquirrel.net/brain.html.

STEAMED CHEESEBURGERS Long considered a Connecticut icon, the steamed cheeseburger is a sandwich unique to the central part of the state. Unlike the burgers offered anywhere else in the world, this burger never touches the flame of a grill. Instead, the patties and cheese are loaded into a custom steamer that cooks them through. The unusual cooking method, paired with the fact that it is only available at a few select locations, makes the steamed cheeseburger one of the last truly regional specialties in the United States. The legacy of this ultra-local dish dates back to the early 1900s, when Connecticut was a crucial part of the Industrial Revolution in America. Factories thrived

STEAMED CHEESEBURGERS

Steamed cheeseburger displaying the characteristic “blanket” of gooey melted cheese covering the patty. (Chris Kelly)

throughout the state, including in Middletown, where several machine tool and die manufacturers were the mainstay of the city’s economy. A few years earlier, the local history goes, a steamed hamburger had been invented in nearby New Haven when a man walked into Louis’ Lunch asking for a sandwich he could eat on the run. Local lore tells that a fellow known only as “Jack,” with the newly popular hamburger version in mind, decided to make a living by setting up a handmade portable steaming box on a street central to Middletown’s factories and selling “steamed cheeseburgs,” as they were called. These steamed cheeseburgers were so popular among the factory workers that the man was able to move indoors and open his own diner, Jack’s Lunch, considered the original home of the steamed cheeseburger. While Jack’s Lunch no longer exists, the legacy of the steamed cheeseburger lives on, but only at a half dozen or so scattered burger joints within a few miles of where the original was once served in Middletown. The best known of the places still serving up steamed cheeseburgers is Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden. Ted Duberek opened his 650-square-foot, 18-seat shop in 1959, and it has been run by the family ever since, with the “World Famous Steamed Cheeseburger” as its signature dish. Now, the third generation of family members works Ted’s custom-built stainless-steel steam chest, known as the “Burg’r Tend’r,” which also happens to be manufactured in Connecticut. In the bottom of the chest is a pan filled with water, which creates a substantial amount

299

300

STEAMED CHEESEBURGERS

of the steam fundamental to the famous delicacy. The chest has several shelves on which a dozen rectangular metal trays perfectly fit. Five ounces of fresh—never frozen—ground beef is hand-packed into each tray on a couple of the shelves, and on the others, the trays hold two ounces of cheese. These trays slide onto the shelves in the steaming cabinet to be cooked, which takes about 10 minutes. Each steamed cheeseburger is assembled to order. They are served on Kaiser rolls, for a hamburger bun can’t hold up to their juices. A traditional one is dressed with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and sliced raw onion. Finally, each burger is topped with the gooey, molten steamed cheese, which is the real star of this sandwich show. One of the only secrets left at Ted’s is the cheese itself. The family is very protective of this secret ingredient; all they will say is that it is a locally sourced cheddar. Regardless of where it’s from, however, once it comes out of the steam cabinet, it envelops the burger in a thick, golden, lava-like, cheesy blanket. With a typical grilled or flame-broiled burger, the natural fats and oils inside the meat are rendered, and a lot of the flavor comes from the charring of the beef. With the steamed version, the steaming process adds moisture, which makes for a puffier, somewhat healthier, and naturally juicier burger, with the flavor coming from the moist beef itself rather than the flame. What was once a hidden delicacy known only to locals is now a specialty that is served to cheeseburger aficionados from all over. As the only place where the steamed cheeseburger exists, central Connecticut has become a burger-lover’s destination spot. Ted’s Restaurant has been featured in books and newspapers, on television shows such as The Phantom Gourmet and Hamburger Paradise, and in George Motz’s burger documentary, Hamburger America. They have two locations, in Meriden and Cromwell, and more are in the works. Other places that serve steamed cheeseburgers are all in central Connecticut, including K LaMay’s in Meriden and East Hampton, O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown, and American Steamed in Wallingford. However, this regional specialty can be recreated at home with the recipe below. Amy S. White Steamed Cheeseburgers

Yield: 2 burgers Special equipment Stockpot with steaming colander insert and cover 2 heatproof ramekins Ingredients 10 ounces ground beef 4 ounces cheddar cheese 2 Kaiser rolls Optional toppings and condiments: lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise

SUCCOTASH

Directions 1. Place an inch of water in the bottom of the stockpot and bring to a gentle boil. 2. Divide the ground beef into two five-ounce patties. 3. Place the patties inside the colander insert, and lower it into the pot. Cover, and allow the meat to steam for eight minutes. 4. Place two ounces of cheddar into each ramekin. Lift the lid off the pot, and place the ramekins next to the meat in the colander insert. 5. Cover the pot again and allow to steam for six additional minutes. 6. Cut the Kaiser rolls in half, and prepare the toppings and condiments. 7. Check the temperature of the meat by inserting a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the patty. The meat should be cooked to a minimum of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. 8. Carefully remove the colander insert from the stockpot and use tongs to transfer the meat onto the bottom rolls. Pour the cheddar from the ramekins onto each burger, and top with toppings and the other half of the bun. Further Reading Motz, George, Andrew Zimmern, Kristoffer Brearton, and Douglas Young. 2016. The Great American Burger Book: How to Make Authentic Regional Hamburgers at Home. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. Motz, George. 2011. Hamburger America: A State-by-State Guide to 150 Great Burger Joints. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press.

S U C C O TA S H Succotash is a mixed corn and bean dish with Native American roots that highlights the hybrid nature of U.S. culinary traditions. The word “succotash,” or msickquatash (Jones 2007, 9), comes from the Narrangansett language of Native Americans located in the Rhode Island area. Depending on the reference, “succotash” means broken kernels or boiled whole kernels of corn. Other authorities state that the word refers to a hodgepodge dish consisting of whatever is on hand. Versions of the dish also diffused to the southeast and southwest and are even claimed as authentic to other parts of the globe, such as West Africa and throughout Latin America. In the United States, succotash is a food that came to symbolize national cohesion and a sense of historic continuity. Like many staple dishes, succotash takes on local interpretations depending on the needs and view of the people and place where it is made. There have been recipes for succotash in American cookbooks since before the 1800s, and the dish has a rich history. Native Americans in the Northeast and New Englanders reportedly kept succotash simmering all day for any guest who might arrive and need to be fed, and some versions could take up to two days to cook. The dish originates with Native Americans who first cultivated corn (Zea mays, maize) and its many products; however, Yankees also claimed ownership of it. Succotash was considered a staple in colonial New England, famous for its one-pot-meal food

301

302

SUCCOTASH

culture. Although there is no evidence that turkey was served at the Thanksgiving meal, it is posited that Pilgrims made a version of succotash for the historic meal (Jones 2007). Later, succotash came to be associated with Southern U.S. culinary traditions. During the Great Depression and other times of austerity in U.S. history, succotash was a common dish for poor folk. While succotash holds an important place in American food history, there are also reported negative connotations to the dish because of its overuse in 20th-century school cafeterias (Tanis 2015). In contemporary food circles, succotash is popularly claimed by proponents of “paleo” and meat-based diets, and by proponents of veganism. Historically, it is likely that the dish fit the context of the preparer: there are summer and winter versions, and meat and vegetarian variations of succotash. Many claim authenticity in their recipes for succotash, but two recurring ingredients across all versions are corn and beans. Succotash may be served as the main item of a meal or as a side dish, and it may have a stew- or soup-like consistency. Succotash was both a harvest dish made with fresh corn, and a dish made during harsh winters in colder climates, from ingredients that were preserved. Native Americans froze winter succotash and melted chunks of it for a meal when needed (Jones 2007). Winter succotash, also known as Plymouth succotash, used dried hominy and dried beans with the addition of dried meats. Bear fat; dried venison, fish, or game; ground nuts or acorns; pumpkin and other squashes; and sunflowers are ingredients in some Native American variations of succotash. Many recipes used lima beans, but New England traditions incorporated cranberry beans, a bean native to North America. Bacon, salt pork, lamb, corned beef, and cream are additions with European American origins in many New England recipes. During the Great Depression, succotash was made into a casserole or topped with pastry and made into a pie (Choi 2009). Southeast Creole versions used the African American contribution of okra. Both Southern and Pennsylvanian versions of succotash add tomatoes and green peppers. The Pennsylvania Dutch serve succotash with potatoes and dumplings. As a mixed dish, succotash was an important staple with a good nutritional profile. Many agricultural societies developed combination dishes of grains and beans or legumes as staple foods that met human needs. This combination provides a complete spectrum of amino acids to meet protein requirements. Corn and beans are also two of the “Three Sisters” that Native Americans used in their tradition of sustainable agriculture, where companion planting helped to maintain healthy soils. The Three Sisters consisted of corn, beans, and squash, and many Native American recipes for succotash also include squash. Additionally, hominy is a processed dried corn often used in winter versions of succotash. Hominy is made using a process developed by Native Americans, called nixtmalization, which increases the nutritional value of corn. The process involves adding wood ash (or an alkaline solution) when cooking the corn to remove the hull, and makes niacin, a B vitamin, more available. Kimberly E. Johnson

SUCCOTASH

Double Corn Succotash

Yield: 6 servings Ingredients ¼ cup small-diced bacon 1–2 tablespoons high oleic sunflower oil 1 cup diced onion ½ cup diced green pepper 2 teaspoons chili powder (or paprika) 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed 1 15-ounce can white or yellow hominy, rinsed (Goya brand) 1 cup diced butternut squash ¾ cup frozen white or yellow corn Directions 1. Render bacon in a saucepot over medium heat and cook until crisp, stirring as needed. 2. Add sunflower oil, onion, pepper, chili powder, oregano, and a pinch of salt. Stir and sweat till onions are translucent. 3. Add tomatoes, beans, and hominy. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 35 minutes. 4. Add frozen corn and butternut squash, and simmer till corn and squash are tender. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve as an entrée with bread and salad. Further Reading Choi, Christina. 2009. “It Was All About Succotash.” Nettletown. August 18. http:// nettletown.blogspot.com/2009/08/sufferin-succotash.html. Jones, Evan. 2007. American Food: What We’ve Cooked, How We’ve Cooked It, and the Ways We’ve Eaten in America Through the Centuries. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press. Ojibwa. 2010. “Mohegan Succotash.” Native American Netroots. January 5. http:// nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/331. Tanis, David. 2015. “Yes, Succotash Has a Luxurious Side.” New York Times. August 19. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/dining/yes-succotash-has-a-luxurious-side .html.

303

T TESTICLES Testicles maintain a unique position in food culture. Due to their association with the human male sex organ, eating testicles triggers questions about the ethics of food consumption more often than any other cut of meat. The eating of testicles can cause a transgressive and even comical relationship between eater and food. Although they have a global culinary presence, the eating of testicles is usually associated with country living and featured at cultural festivals of rural life—as evidenced by their euphemisms: cowboy caviar, prairie oysters, swinging beef, calf fries, dusty nuts, lamb stones, and, most popularly, Rocky Mountain Oysters. The euphemisms also serve to shield the identity and source of the meat from the consumer. Testicle glands are most often butchered or taken after castration from bulls, pigs, and sheep. However, avian testicles—namely, those of turkeys, roosters, and ostriches—are also often served. The size, shape, and texture of the testicles vary according to the species and age of the castrated animal. Most often, raw testicles are egg-shaped glands that are light pinkish in color with a firm, spongy texture comparable to tofu. When cooked, the color pales and the meat stiffens to a rubbery texture similar to scallops. The flavor and chewiness of the food has been likened to kidney or liver. Donkey and horse testicles can grow as large as ostrich eggs and weigh half a pound when removed, while the testicles of turkeys and roosters are the size of small olives. Testicles are prepared for consumption by roasting, broiling, pan-frying, poaching, or baking and dressing with a sauce. Most commonly, they are pounded with a meat tenderizer, breaded, deep-fried, and served with a condiment such as gravy, ketchup, or shrimp cocktail sauce. Other preparations include sautéing the testicles in oil along with garlic and fresh herbs, or pickling the testicles and preserving them for consumption at religious or holiday festivals later in the season. They are served whole or sliced into discs. References to the eating of testicles date back to ancient Rome. Further evidence of its consumption is found in India, England, Spain, and Asia during the Middle Ages. Testicle eating is prevalent today in large geographic and economic centers of cattle (and other range animal) ranches. The consumption of testicles has long been associated with virility in sexual performance. In ancient Rome, eating testicles was believed to remedy impotence. In India, eating testicles was thought to be an aphrodisiac. In colonial Canada, a tea made from beaver testicles was believed to work as a contraceptive when consumed by women before intercourse. Today in Asia, eating the testicles and

TESTICLES

Bull fries are sliced, breaded, and deep fried bull testicles served with dipping sauces, toast, and a pickle. (R. Levans)

genitalia of various animals, notably tigers, is thought to augment sexual vigor and boost testosterone. The link between hormone growth via ingestion of the gonad that produces the desired hormone remains inconclusive. In the mid-19th century, following Western expansion in North America, eating testicles became synonymous with the “waste not, want not” ethos associated with settlement living. Today, eating or preserving testicles is occasioned by the end of the spring branding season when cattle are worked. This large-scale operation includes tagging, vaccinating, and castrating livestock. Testicle fries are organized to celebrate the end of this massive seasonal undertaking and often include other traditional “cowboy fare” such as beer, whiskey, beans, and cornbread. In North America, testicle-eating festivals are convened in the West between Kansas and California, Idaho and New Mexico. Nevada and Montana are home to the most attended annual testicle-eating festivals in the United States—the Rocky Mountain Oyster Fry in Virginia City, Nevada, and the Testy Festy in Clinton, Montana. It is also within this region that you are likely to find testicles as a novelty menu item at restaurants and local cafés. This is not to suggest that America holds the exclusive purview of testicle-eating festivals in the world. The World Testicle Cooking Championship, known colloquially as the “Ball Cup,” is held annually in Lipovica, a remote mountain village in Serbia. Cody Whetstone

305

306

TURDUCKEN

Testicles

Ingredients 1 pound beef testicles, cleaned 2 cups buttermilk 2 cups flour 2 tablespoons paprika 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons onion powder 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper ½ cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons hot sauce Directions 1. Place testicles in a large bowl and cover with buttermilk. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, or as long as overnight. 2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, paprika, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 3. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and hot sauce. Stir to combine, and set aside. 4. Drain testicles from buttermilk. Coat well with prepared seasoned flour. 5. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. Add about a half-inch of canola oil. Once the oil is warm, add coated testicles and fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. 6. Serve fried testicles with prepared sauce. Recipe by Alexandra Zeitz. Further Reading O’Brien, Anna. 2013. “Tasty Testes: On Eating Rocky Mountain Oysters.” Modern Farmer. November 14. https://modernfarmer.com/2013/11/tasty-testes. Stradley, Linda. 2017. “Rocky Mountain Oysters Recipe and History.” What’s Cooking America. September 23. https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/RockyMtnOyster.htm.

TURDUCKEN Turducken is made by placing a deboned chicken inside of a deboned duck, which in turn is placed inside of a semi-boneless turkey (the wing and drumstick bones typically remain intact) prior to cooking. This interesting compilation is probably the best-known modern American example of a long-standing culinary method sometimes called “engastration”—the technique of stuffing and cooking one animal inside of another. Turducken originates from Cajun cuisine, a unique regional

TURDUCKEN

Historic Turducken Historic examples of similar dishes include Pandora’s Cushion or Victorian Stuffed Goose, a boned Goose stuffed with a boned chicken stuffed with a boned pheasant stuffed with a boned quail; and Rôti Sans Pareil (Roast Without Equal), consisting of 17 different birds stuffed inside one another, credited to the 19th-century French gastronomist Grimod de la Reynière and published in L’Almanach des Gourmands. More recently, Eater San Francisco gave a comical nod to the turducken in an 2014 article subtitled, “He sees your turducken and raises you lambpigcowquailduckchickenturkey,” describing celebrity chef Michael Mina’s “roast beast” dish “consisting of a side of Wagyu beef rolled over a deboned parade of meat: 24 quail, 12 chickens, eight ducks, six turkeys, two lambs, and a pig, all stuffed with chestnut-turkey sausage” (Pape 2014).

American style of cooking that developed with immigrants of French descent arriving in Louisiana from Nova Scotia in the late 18th century CE. In addition to the birds themselves, turducken usually contains stuffing (or “dressing,” as it is known in the American South), inside of the chicken cavity and/or layered between the birds. Typical dressings include Cajun staples such as cornbread, oysters, andouille (a spicy smoked pork sausage), and jambalaya (a tomato-based dish of rice, crawfish, and shrimp). Although Cajun cuisine dates back several hundred years, the turducken as it is known today appears to be a dish of relatively recent origin. According to Merriam-Webster, the word “turducken”—“a portmanteau (a word whose form is derived from a blending of two or more distinct other words)”—was first noted in print in 1982. Several sources credit Paul Prudhomme (1940–2015), a nationally known New Orleans chef and food entrepreneur, with popularizing turducken, along with “nouvelle Cajun” dishes like blackened catfish, in the 1980s and 1990s. Prudhomme even registered a trademark for the turducken in 1986. Engastration has a much longer history and reflects a certain style of culinary opulence, requiring costly ingredients, skill, and time to prepare, not to mention a sort of macabre creativity. The technique puts a premium on dramatic presentation, as evidenced by the introduction to Prudhomme’s own turducken recipe on his Chef Paul Web site: “It’s a lot of fun to let your guests think you’re serving them a regular holiday turkey. When you start to carve the ‘turkey,’ they’ll be quite surprised to see you cut through its ‘bones’!” Because of the work and skill that go into deboning the fowl, turducken are often purchased from specialty stores and grocers ready to cook at home, and the dish is often associated with holidays and special occasions. A natural fit for the turkey-centric Thanksgiving holiday, turducken took on a higher profile nationwide during the 1990s thanks to a celebrity fan, John Madden, the longtime National Football League (NFL) commentator. Madden frequently mentioned his love of turducken during broadcasts, carved one on the air in 1997, and even

307

308

TURDUCKEN

made a habit of gifting turducken to players on the winning team of the Thanksgiving Bowl. Meanwhile, the Real Cajun Recipes Web site (realcajunrecipes.com) features the “Red, White and Blue Turducken” geared toward Fourth of July feasts, relying on cranberry, basic, and blue cornbread stuffings, respectively, to deliver the thematic hues. Turducken has found its way into the consciousness of the performing arts as well as sports. In 2008 playwright Josef Evans created The Turducken, a satirical play inspired by Anton Chekhov’s classic The Seagull. Beyond the obvious parallel of the bird themes, the title highlights the play-within-a-play plot device used by both works and signals the newer work’s decidedly American take on the themes and motifs (Johnson 2012). Susan Miller-Davis Simplified Turducken

This alternative approach to turducken, which relies on pre-boned turkey and duck breasts and chicken sausage dressing with Cajun flair (incorporating spicy smoked sausage and the “Cajun holy trinity” base of onion, celery, and bell pepper), takes less time and deboning skills and may be more approachable for many home cooks. Yield: 6–8 servings Ingredients for Cajun chicken sausage stuffing 1½ cups cornbread, cubed, toasted, and cooled 3 tablespoons butter ½ pound chicken andouille sausage, casings removed and diced 1 cup chopped green bell pepper ½ cup diced shallots ½ cup finely chopped celery 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage ½ teaspoon ground allspice ¹∕3 teaspoon cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon minced bay leaves or ¹∕8 teaspoon bay seasoning 2 large eggs, beaten to blend Up to ¾ cup low-sodium chicken stock Directions for Cajun chicken sausage stuffing 1. Melt butter in heavy, large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. 2. Add sausage, pepper, shallots, celery, garlic, thyme, sage, allspice, cayenne, and bay leaves/bay seasoning and sauté until vegetables are just tender and mixture is very moist, 7–10 minutes.

TURDUCKEN

3. Stir vegetable mixture into cornbread. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix eggs into stuffing. Add chicken stock to moisten to the desired consistency. Ingredients for turducken 6 cups water ¹∕3 cup kosher salt 1 boneless, skinless turkey breast 2 boneless, skinless duck breasts 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1–2 cups Cajun chicken sausage stuffing 12 slices prosciutto or bacon, sliced thickly enough to hold up Butcher’s twine 2 tablespoons olive oil Directions for turducken 1. Bring water and salt to a boil in a large pot, then remove from heat. Once cool, submerge turkey breast in brine for at least 1 hour, up to 12 hours. Remove turkey and pat dry. 2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place turkey breast on a large cutting board and cover with a large piece of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, gently pound the turkey to an even quarter-inch thickness. Do the same with the duck breasts. 3. Season the turkey and duck breasts with fresh herbs, salt, and pepper. Lay the turkey breast flat, then place the duck breasts on top. Distribute the stuffing evenly along the length of the breasts. Bring the sides of the breasts up around the stuffing and press together to hold, creating a roulade. Set aside. 4. Layer the prosciutto or bacon, slightly overlapping, on the cutting board. Place the roulade on top, seam side up. Bring the prosciutto or bacon up around the roulade, overlapping the ends. Truss with butcher’s twine to secure. 5. Place the olive oil in a large, nonstick pan over high heat. Once hot, add roulade and turn on all sides to sear the exterior. Place roulade on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 90 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 170°F is reached. Allow to rest before slicing. Recipe adapted from Cassandra Vires, “A Simplified Turducken Recipe for Thanksgiving,” in Feast magazine online. Further Reading Bienvenu, Casey. 2008. “Turducken.” Chef Paul Prudhomme. https://chefpaul.com/site .php?pageID=300&view=186.

309

310

TURTLE

Bolois, Justin. 2016. “An Investigation Into the Perverse, Gluttonous History of Turducken.” First We Feast. October 20. http://firstwefeast.com/eat/2015/11/investigation-​perverse​ -history-turducken. Friedland, Josh. 2017. “The Brief History of the Turducken (and Stuffing Food in Food).” Food52. July 11. https://food52.com/blog/14637-the-brief-history-of-​the​-turducken​ -and​-stuffing-food-in-food. Hesser, Amanda. 2002. “Turkey Finds Its Inner Duck (and Chicken).” New York Times. November 19. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/dining/turkey-finds-its-inner-duck-and -chicken.html. Johnson, Brian R. 2012. “Evans’s The Turducken and Chekhov’s The Seagull.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 14 (4). http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol14/iss4/5. Pape, Allie. 2014. “Michael Mina’s Lambpigcow Is Basically an Edible Noah’s Ark.” Eater San Francisco. December 4. http://sf.eater.com/2014/12/4/7334011/michael​ -minas​ -lambpigcow​-is-basically-an-edible-noahs-ark. Vires, Cassandra. 2015. “A Simplified Turducken Recipe for Thanksgiving.” Feast. November 21. http://www.feastmagazine.com/dine-in/tech-school/article_7ca143c8-e06e​-11df​ -95ea​-00127992bc8b.html.

TURTLE The term “turtle” refers to three types of reptiles: sea turtles (that live at sea, coming ashore only to lay eggs); terrapins (that live in fresh or brackish water near sea coasts); and tortoises (land or freshwater species, such as snapping turtles). People eat turtles on every continent except Antarctica. Early European settlers in North America noted the abundance of turtles. Coastal Native Americans ate turtles to the point that they were called “buffaloes of the Caribbean,” comparing them to the usefulness of buffalo to inland Native Americans. Many ships carried live turtles, kept on the deck or in tanks. Turtles can go for a long time without food, so the crew could kill a turtle for fresh meat when far from land. The meat contains vitamins that kept the sailors from getting scurvy. Ships also carried salted turtle meat. In the 1700s, ships brought live turtles from the Americas to England in wooden tanks on their decks. Because turtles were so large, restaurants or public houses were the major purchasers. Turtle meat doesn’t keep well, so it must be cooked as soon as the turtle is killed. To attract enough people to eat the turtle, they published newspaper notices saying they would be cooking one. In North America, taverns were also major purchasers of turtles. They put on popular entertainments known as turtle barbecues, turtle frolics, or turtle feasts, where people spent the day eating turtle and indulging in leisure pastimes such as drinking tea or fishing. Ships carrying turtles from the West Indies brought other ingredients for the feast, especially rum and limes for making punch. At a time when domesticated meat was not readily available, turtle meat added variety to the diet. For a long time, Europeans considered turtles an English dish, and both France and Spain eschewed turtle meat because of their political disagreements with the British. It was not until the early 1900s that turtles appeared on menus of luxury restaurants on the continent.

TURTLE

People considered turtle soup healthful and easy to digest. It was served as invalid food, and also as the first course at banquets, to prepare the stomach for a heavy meal. It was usually highly spiced (e.g., with sherry, capsicum, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg). Opinions varied about the best recipe: should one use only turtle meat for broth, or use beef as well? Should one add sherry during cooking, after cooking, or not at all? Some connoisseurs feel that sherry overpowers the turtle’s musky taste (which, to others, might be a good thing) and use wine instead. Baltimore and Philadelphia competed over the merits of their recipes for terrapin soup. The Baltimore style contained salt, pepper, and Madeira, while the Philadelphia version used butter and cream. In 1893, “an impartial jury” decided in favor of Baltimore’s recipe. Canned turtle meat became available in the mid-1800s, and canned turtle soup by 1882. By the mid-1900s, exporters sent refrigerated turtle meat from the Americas to Europe. Turtle was considered an upper-class food in the early 1900s, becoming one of the most expensive foods in America by 1911. Currently, turtles have an interesting dichotomy: they are considered epicurean fare for sophisticated diners, but also inexpensive fare for rural people who hunt them. In some rural areas, people serve turtle soup at special occasions such as church fairs. While many participants are not enthusiastic about eating turtles, they are a link to the area’s traditional foods. There are 300 turtle species, of which most are edible. In some cases, a species’ meat is not edible, but its eggs are. Green sea turtle makes the best soup, but it is now illegal to export it. Cooks sometimes keep turtles for several days before slaughter, feeding them grain, vegetables, and clean water to cleanse their alimentary system. Howard Micham suggests, “It’s best to use live turtles, but dressing and preparing them is a diabolical and macabre business. If you’re fainthearted . . . just buy some frozen or canned turtle meat at a good fish market or gourmet specialty store”—advice echoed by other authors (Micham 1978). Many books glibly explain how to kill a snapping turtle: get the turtle to grab a stick, and use it to pull its head out of the shell enough to chop the head off. While one author suggests, “With a little practice, 5 or 10 minutes will suffice for [dressing] a 10-pound snapper” (Ashbrook and Sater 1945, 300); another, based on her experience, disagrees. “The traditional way of killing a snapper is to allow it to snap onto a stick, then extend the head and chop it off with an axe. . . . Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Our turtle would not cooperate. It had to be shot in the head” (Bashline 1979, 57). Lee Edwards Benning describes what an early American housewife went through to kill a 60-pound turtle, whose jaws could “crush a human arm” (“retractable heads have a tendency in strange surroundings to stay retracted”), concluding, “And I’m not sure but that women secretly welcomed the news that it was becoming more and more difficult to get sea turtles” (Benning 1992, 117). Another method for killing a turtle is to lay it on its back on hot ashes or coals; when it gets overheated, it sticks out its legs and head in an attempt to escape, and the head is then cut off. Other methods include boiling them to death, and shooting them.

311

312

TURTLE

A cook who has killed a turtle and drained its blood must then butcher it. This involves sawing off the bottom shell, skinning the legs and neck, and removing the gallbladder (next to the liver), and any part of the liver the gall bladder has touched. As turtle meat is very perishable, one must freeze any meat one doesn’t plan to use immediately, but without the fat, as it gives the meat a gamy taste. Turtle meat is chewy and fibrous, like well-cooked pulled pork (Weil 2006). Female turtles’ meat tastes better than that of males, and is considered best at the time when they lay their eggs. Therefore, turtle steaks are from females; meat from males goes into soup. People have compared turtle meat to veal or chicken. Many sea turtles (but not the green turtle) have a somewhat unpleasant fishy taste. Turtles have both white and dark meat. Gourmets especially prize the neck’s white meat, the flipper meat, and two white fillets that rest against the upper shell. Various sources state that there are seven (or nine) types of meat (or muscle) within a turtle, each having a specific taste. In a simpler classification, cooks can substitute white meat in recipes for veal; red meat for beef; and the flippers for chicken. Many authors consider the calipash and calipee the best parts. Calipash is a green fatty jelly inside the turtle’s upper shell; calipee is a yellow fatty jelly inside the lower shell. Cooks add cubes of these delicacies to turtle soups and stews. There are thousands of recipes for turtle meat. Cooks can boil, bake, roast, sauté, fry, deep fry, steam, grill, bread, cream, curry, or fricassee it. They can make steaks, stew, soup, stroganoff, meatloaf, or vindaloo from it. A selection of soup recipes gives an idea of the variety: Brandywine Snapper Soup, Cajun Swamp Turtle Soup, Camp Town Turtle Soup, Chinese Turtle Soup, Colonial Virginia Turtle Soup, Creole Turtle Soup, English Turtle Consommé, Green Turtle Soup au Sherry, Key West Turtle Soup, Lady Curzon Soup, Maryland Diamondback Terrapin Soup, Mermaid Soup, Mexican Turtle Soup, Philadelphia Snapper Soup, Swamp Turtle Soup au Rhum, Tennessee Turtle Soup, Turtle Soup Gulf Coast, Turtle Soup Louisiana, and Turtle Soup New Orleans. Turtle herbs, a mixture of basil, chervil, fennel, marjoram, and savory (with some variations), give the characteristic flavor to turtle soup, and also to turtle sauce, used to give turtle flavor to calf’s head and beef tongue. Female turtles sometimes contain eggs. The eggs have a membrane rather than a shell and have almost no white. Anything one can do with a chicken egg, one can do with a turtle egg: hard boil it, fry it, and make it into an omelet. A Brazilian recipe prescribes creaming the eggs to the consistency of butter and spreading them on toast. Turtles are good sources of protein. The diamondback terrapin is 18.6 percent protein and green turtles are 19.8 percent protein (Schwabe 1979). The meat is low in fat and cholesterol, and low calorie compared with beef. Beware of information about availability and use of turtles dating from before 1973, when the Endangered Species Act classified most sea turtles as either threatened or endangered. Overfishing in the 1800s and early 1900s drove them almost to extinction. Despite efforts to bring up their numbers, ocean pollution and building on their nesting areas still cause problems for them. Turtles also die from eating garbage (e.g., plastic bags) in the ocean. In 2010, a massive oil spill in the Gulf of

TURTLE

Mexico destroyed sea turtle nesting areas and killed many turtles. In response to their endangered status, some areas have changed their definition of turtles from food to tourist attraction, and use turtles as part of an ecotourism movement. Most turtles people eat in the United States are snapping turtles. Being nocturnal, they are hard to catch, and it is illegal to catch them in some states. Their strong bite makes them dangerous; sources invariably describe their reputed ability to bite a broom handle in half. In the United States, one can purchase meat of farm-raised snapping turtles and alligator snapping turtles (wild alligator snappers may weigh over 100 pounds, but farm-raised ones are harvested at 10 to 12 pounds). Look for turtle meat in supermarkets, gourmet stores, and Chinese markets. It is available frozen or canned. Snapping turtle soup is a specialty of the famous Bookbinder’s Restaurant in Philadelphia; those who don’t live nearby can purchase Bookbinder’s Restaurant-Style Snapper Soup via the Internet. Turtles have supplied other products besides food. In the time of oil lamps, turtle oil was used for lighting; it is still used in food and cosmetics. Turtle shell, especially from the hawksbill, which has a mottled appearance, is used to make hair ornaments and decorative boxes. The shell can also be made into cooking pots; Native Americans made shells into drums and rattles. Turtle skins are tanned into leather. Chinese medicine uses turtle jelly, made from the shell, as a cure for cancer and as a tonic. In some areas, people consider turtle eggs and the turtle’s penis to be aphrodisiacs. Mock Turtle Soup A discussion of turtles would be incomplete without mentioning Mock Turtle Soup. Because turtles were so large and expensive, soon after turtle soup became popular, recipes for mock turtle soup appeared. These use a calf’s head, as the brains are similar to turtle meat, plus the calf’s liver and heart. The cook boils the head and other meat, then removes them from the broth, and spices and thickens it. Before serving, chopped meat and brains are returned to the broth. In American Cookery, Amelia Simmons gives a recipe for a turtle casserole and follows it with a recipe “To dress a Calve’s [sic] Head Turtle fashion.” Although calf’s brains substitute for turtle meat in mock turtle soup, most people who are squeamish about eating turtle are probably also squeamish about eating brains. Mock turtle soup is cheaper to make than turtle soup, but it is a long process, and it is difficult to find a calf’s head. Beef can also stand in for turtle meat in soup and stew recipes. The taste is popular enough that there are even vegetarian versions. Vegetarian Times published a recipe for “No-Turtle Soup,” which substitutes tofu and textured vegetable protein for meat. Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer Further Reading Ashbrook, Frank G., and Edna N. Sater. 1945. Cooking Wild Game: Meat from Forest, Field and Stream and How to Prepare It for the Table—432 Recipes. New York: Orange Judd. Bashline, Sylvia G. 1979. The Bounty of the Earth Cookbook: How to Cook Fish, Game and Other Wild Things. New York: Winchester Press.

313

314

TURTLE

Benning, Lee Edwards. 1992. The Cook’s Tales: Origins of Famous Foods and Recipes. Old Saybrook, CT: Globe Pequot Press. Bronner, Simon J. 1986. Grasping Things: Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. Crawford, Dez. 1991. “On the Bayou.” Vegetarian Times, July 1991: 30–34, 36. Hibler, Janie. 1998. Wild About Game: 150 Recipes for Cooking Farm-Raised and Wild Game— from Alligator and Antelope to Venison and Wild Turkey. New York: Broadway Books. Mariani, John F. 1983. The Dictionary of American Food & Drink. New Haven, CT: Ticknor & Fields. Micham, Howard. 1978. Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz: A New Orleans Seafood Cookbook. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Parsons, James. 2000. “Sea Turtles and Their Eggs,” pp. 567–573 in Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, eds., The Cambridge World History of Food, vol. 1. New York: Cambridge University Press. Perl, Lila. 1965. Red-Flannel Hash and Shoo-Fly Pie: American Regional Foods and Festivals. Cleveland: World. Schwabe, Calvin W. 1979. Unmentionable Cuisine. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. Simmonds, Peter Lund. 2001. The Curiosities of Food, or, The Dainties and Delicacies of Different Nations Obtained from the Animal Kingdom. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2001. Simmons, Amelia. 1984. The First American Cookbook: A Facsimile of “American Cookery,” 1796. New York: Dover. “Turtle Soup.” 1901. Black and White Budget 6 (110): 229. Weil, Christa. 2006. Fierce Food: The Intrepid Diner’s Guide to the Unusual, Exotic, and Downright Bizarre. New York: Penguin Group.

W WA L R U S F L I P P E R The indigenous peoples of Arctic Canada, Greenland, and Alaska commonly hunt the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) and consume almost all parts of the animal, including the flippers. These indigenous peoples were once collectively referred to as “Eskimo,” but in 1977 the term “Inuit” replaced the term “Eskimo” in Canada and Greenland. While the indigenous peoples of Alaska prefer to be called by their autonyms—for example, the Inupiaq—they do not mind being collectively referred to as “Eskimo.” Many do, however, object to being referred to as “Inuit.” Both the Inuit and the Eskimo eat many sea mammals, but the walrus has properties that are particularly adaptive for these northern hunters. Walrus meat is high in calories but is digested slowly. These properties of walrus meat allow the Inuit and Eskimos to remain out on the ice, hunting for long periods of time without food. When eating walrus, the blubber and meat is aged, boiled, or eaten raw, while the liver is generally eaten raw. The outer covering of the walrus, including the skin and blubber (called maktaaq among the Inuit), is also eaten raw or aged. More and more often, however, walrus meat is now being cooked before being eaten, because the meat may contain Trichinella, a tiny parasitic roundworm. Trichinella can cause trichinosis, a gastrointestinal illness with flu-like symptoms that, in severe cases, can cause death. A traditional treat among the Inuit and Eskimo is pickled walrus flipper, referred to as utniq among the Inupiaq of northwestern Alaska. Aged, fermented— pickled—walrus hide gets soft, juicy, and chewy and is said to be a delicious snack. The taste of the pickled walrus flippers has been likened to the taste of pickled pigs’ feet. To prepare this delicacy, the walrus flippers are first immersed in walrus blubber. They are then wrapped in walrus skin that is turned inside out. The traditional method of fermenting the walrus flippers is to place the meat in a grass-lined hole in the ground. In modern times, people use glass jars and plastic buckets and leave the containers in a shed to ferment. Although utniq is a favorite dish, especially among the elders, it can be a dangerous food to eat because of the possibility of botulism. This is especially true when the nontraditional methods of fermentation are used. According to Dr. Tom Hennessy, chief of the epidemiology branch of the Arctic Investigations Program (NCID, CDC), “Making fermented foods in plastic containers with tight-fitting lids makes an ideal growing situation for the botulism germs.” Between 1975 and today, Alaska has had the highest rate of botulism of any state in America, and it is believed that this is due to the use of glass jars and plastic buckets for fermenting food. The eating of traditional foods is very important to

316

WATERGATE SALAD

many Arctic dwellers. Those who want to continue to enjoy pickled walrus are encouraged to use the traditional methods of fermenting food, which ideally keeps the meat cool (less than 37˚F) and allows the air to circulate around the food. Laura P. Appell-Warren Fermented Walrus Flipper

Ingredients Desired number of walrus flippers Salt Rendered walrus blubber Directions 1. Rinse the walrus flippers in fresh water that has been slightly salted; then immerse the walrus flipper in rendered (liquefied) walrus blubber until the flippers are well coated. 2. Place the flippers in a hole in the ground lined with fresh grass, cover the flippers with more fresh grass, and then cover the hole. Make sure that air can circulate around the meat. (Note: Never place fermenting walrus flippers in a sealed plastic container, as this can cause botulism.) 3. Leave for two weeks, more or less, depending on the air temperature. The colder the air temperature, the longer the fermentation process takes. 4. Uncover and slice the flipper meat. Further Reading Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. “Fatal Botulism—Fermented Walrus Flipper.” 1990. State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin. January 5. http://epibulletins.dhss​ .alaska.gov/Document/Display?DocumentId=1497. Fall, James A., Molly Chythlook, Janet Schichnes, and Rick Sinnott. “Walrus Hunting at Togiak, Bristol Bay, Southwest Alaska.” Alaska Department of Fish and Game. http:// www.adfg.alaska.gov/techpap/tp212.pdf. Garner, Dwight. 2009. “Growing Up and Getting By in the Land of the Nine-Month Winter.” New York Times. January 27. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/books/28garn .html. Hensley, William L. Iggiagruk. 2009. Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People. New York: Picador. Schwatka, Frederick. 1885. Nimrod in the North, or, Hunting and Fishing Adventures in the Arctic Regions. New York: Cassell.

WAT E R G AT E S A L A D Watergate Salad is a sweet, fruity, gelatin-based offering that may be considered both a salad and a dessert. It contains crushed pineapple, marshmallows, and whipped topping, and very often pistachio nuts. The dish’s origins are linked to the introduction of pistachio-flavored gelatin mix, and it is this mix that explains



WATERGATE SALAD

the salad’s notable green color. Gelatin preparations had been popular for years prior to the arrival of Watergate Salad, but this concoction became particularly fashionable simultaneously with the unfolding of the presidential Watergate scandal of the 1970s. Gelatin was long considered a luxury item, inaccessible to all but the wealthy, due to the lengthy and painstaking process of extracting collagen from boiled animal bones. A patent for packaged gelatin arrived in 1845, though, and industrialization soon brought prepared powdered gelatin to the masses. Jell-O brand, flavored with fruits such as strawberry, raspberry, or orange, was introduced in 1897. By early in the 20th century, intricate gelatin dishes were all the rage, and Jell-O brand in particular was a mainstay in the American diet. Elaborate salad recipes invited cooks to stuff various vegetables and fruits into intricate molded creations, often made with the now-defunct savory flavors of celery, mixed vegetable, and seasoned tomato. For the sweet tooth there were once gelatin mixes flavored with cola, coffee, apple, and chocolate. By the early 1970s, the ascension of processed food, which had surged after World War II, was met with enthusiasm by a population that found the multitude of prepared food items to be a sign of modernity and American ingenuity. By the 1960s, however, a thriving counterculture turned from industrialized food and extolled organic foods, embracing whole grains and granola. This desire to return to nature was at odds with an onslaught of frozen and convenience foods, and countless Americans could not resist the lure of the many novel foods created in a laboratory. By the early 1970s, pistachio-flavored gelatin mix (introduced by Royal, a Jell-O brand rival) had become widespread, and recipes featuring the product, such as “Pineapple Delight” and “Green Dream,” circulated frequently in magazines and newspaper columns popular with homemakers. In 1974 the U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon due to his alleged involvement in the burglary of the offices of the Democratic National Committee in its Washington, DC, Watergate complex. It was contended that Nixon had actively worked to cover up his duplicity in the incident, had abused his presidential power, and had further refused to release tapes of conversations held in the Oval Office. In 1974 Nixon was the first and only U.S. president to resign. In 1973, anonymous authors, mockingly named “The Committee to Write the Cookbook,” published The Watergate Cookbook (Or, Who’s in the Soup?). Their “unimpeachable recipes” included “Clam-Up Chowder,” “Hush Puppies,” and “Hot Crossed Wire Buns.” The recipes, with the common feature of pistachio gelatin mix, circulated in the media, and popularized sardonic names such as “Watergate Cake with Cover-Up Icing.” Throughout 1975 the Watergate scandal was the topic of many backyard barbecues, and simultaneously Jell-O brand, spurred by the robust sales of Royal brand, had introduced its own version of pistachio-flavored dessert mix. The Washington Post boasts what may be the earliest recipe for a pistachio pineapple gelatin salad (in November 1973), but there are numerous accounts regarding who later originated the name “Watergate Salad.” Allusions to the Watergate

317

318

WATERGATE SALAD

The fluffy greenish mixture known as Watergate Salad is often topped with crushed nuts to add an additional, crunchy texture component to the dish. (Bhofack2/Dreamstime.com)

proceedings, employing the terms “nuts” or “fluff,” are obvious. The “fluff” in the salad, incidentally, can be attributed to Cool Whip, introduced in 1966 as the first “non-dairy whipped topping.” Cool Whip’s prodigious creator, General Mills food scientist William A. Mitchell, also invented the 1970s staples Tang and Pop Rocks. Lest self-proclaimed foodies eschew gelatin salads as unfashionable, sales continue to be brisk, and one state in particular takes its Jell-O particularly seriously. Utah, which entered into the Union in 1896, just one year before Jell-O was introduced, has deemed Jell-O the “Official Snack Food of Utah.” The 2001 state senate resolution cited that Salt Lake City residents were the number one consumers per capita of Jell-O in the country. They edged out Des Moines, Iowa, who briefly enjoyed the title in 1999. When the 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, a much-desired official souvenir was the pin featuring a bowl of quivering green gelatin. The following recipe is perhaps the most “official” of Watergate Salad recipes, hailing from Kraft Foods, although the corporation does not take official credit for the creation of the recipe. Kraft Foods, an enormous conglomerate, owns the brands that produce most of the ingredients in the recipe (Planters nuts, Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, Cool Whip, and Jell-O). To “upscale” the recipe, use fresh pineapple rather than canned, and fresh whipped heavy cream rather than Cool Whip. A low-fat version may be made by using low-fat Jell-O mix, omitting marshmallows and nuts, and adding yogurt. Claire Stewart



WHOOPIE PIE

Watergate Salad

Yield: 6 servings Ingredients 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple in juice (do not drain juice) 1 package. (3.4 ounces) instant pistachio pudding mix 1 cup mini marshmallows 1⁄ cup + ¼ cup chopped toasted shelled pistachios (or substitute other nuts) 3 1½ cups non-dairy whipped topping Directions 1. In large bowl, mix pineapple with dry pudding mix. 2. Fold in marshmallows. 3. Add one-third cup toasted chopped nuts. 4. Fold in whipped topping. 5. Refrigerate until chilled. 6. Sprinkle with one-quarter cup nuts and serve cold. Further Reading Shapiro, Laura. 2001. Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century. New York: Random House. Wyman, Carolyn. 2001. Jell-O: A Biography—The History and Mystery of America’s Most Famous Dessert. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.

WHOOPIE PIE The whoopie pie is a New England treat consisting of two round chocolate cakes or cookies with a sweet cream frosting sandwiched in between them. Alternatively, the cakes or cookies can be stuffed with marshmallow fluff. The whoopie pie is also called a “black moon,” “gob,” “black-and-white,” “bob” (in the Pittsburgh area), “Big Fat Oreo” (“BFO”), “Devil Dog” (not to be confused with a nickname for a member of the United States Marine Corps), and even “Twins.” It has been referred to as a cookie, pie, or cake, and while traditionally made with chocolate cake or cookies, it can be made with pumpkin or gingerbread cake or cookies. The true origin of the whoopie pie is greatly contested, with Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New Hampshire all claiming to be the birthplace of the whoopie pie. The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau claims that the whoopie pie’s origin is from the region’s Amish and German culture. One explanation for the origin of the whoopie pie dates back to the Depression. According to the Amish, a cook had leftover cake batter and baked it in rounds and filled it with frosting. As legend has it, children would find the cream-filled treats in their lunches and scream “whoopie!” Berwick Cake Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was selling “whoopee pies” (note the variation in spelling) since the 1920s, although the company has

319

320

WHOOPIE PIE

Whoopie pies. The sandwich form of these cream-filled cookie-cakes makes them the perfect handheld treat. (Sergii Koval/Dreamstime.com)

since gone out of business. According to the New England Historical Society, the faded words “Whoopee! Pies” can still be read on the old brick Berwick Building. Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine, has been making whoopie pies since 1925, according to its Web site; in fact, the bakery has been in the same location since that time, and the site proudly claims that “Maine’s first Whoopie Pie walked out [their] door!” The Yummy Book by the Durkee Mower Company—the manufacturer of Marshmallow Fluff—featured a recipe for an “Amish Whoopie Pie” in the 1930s as a finale to the company’s variety show, The Flufferettes, on the Yankee Radio Network. In 2011, the state legislature of Maine went back and forth about naming the whoopie pie the official state pie. The proposal, officially known as “An Act to Designate the Whoopie Pie as the State Dessert,” received bipartisan support; however, it was finally decided that the whoopie pie would be made the “state treat,” and the legislature chose blueberry pie (made with Maine blueberries) as the official state dessert. Every June, the annual Maine Whoopie Pie Festival is held in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, where dozens of bakers come to exhibit and sell their whoopie pie. In September the annual Whoopie Pie Festival (the “Most Delicious Day in Lancaster County!”) takes place in Pennsylvania at the Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn, where over a hundred different whoopie pie flavors can be sampled and celebrated. Sally Baho



WHOOPIE PIE

Whoopie Pie

Yield: 8 individual desserts Ingredients for cakes 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder 1¼ teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 large egg Directions for cakes 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl. 3. Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about three minutes in a standing mixer or five minutes with a handheld; then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth. 4. Spoon quarter-cup mounds of batter about two inches apart onto two buttered large baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely. Ingredients for filling 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened 1¼ cups confectioner’s sugar 2 cups marshmallow cream (such as Marshmallow Fluff) 1 teaspoon vanilla Directions for making filling and for assembly 1. Beat together butter, confectioners’ sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about three minutes. 2. Spread a rounded tablespoon of filling on flat sides of half of cakes and top with remaining cakes.

321

322

WHOOPIE PIE

Cook’s notes 1. Cakes can be made three days ahead and kept, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature. 2. Filling can be made four hours ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature. Recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine. Further Reading Landrigan, Leslie. 2017. “The Great Whoopie Pie Controversy.” New England Historical Society. June 9. http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/great-whoopie-pie​ -controversy. Maynard, Micheline. 2009. “Whoopie! Cookie, Pie or Cake, It’s Having Its Moment.” New York Times. March 17. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/dining/18whoop.html. McLellan, Susan Plaisted. 2009. “Whoopie Pie,” in Andrew F. Smith, ed., The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. New York: Oxford University Press.

Selected Bibliography

Atkins, P., and I. Bowler. 2001. Food in Society: Economy, Culture, Geography. London: Arnold. Beardsworth, A., and T. Keil. 1997. Sociology on the Menu. New York: Routledge. Bell, D., and G. Valentine. 1997. Consuming Geographies: We Are Where We Eat. London: Routledge. Brillat-Savarin, Jean Anthelme. 2000. The Physiology of Taste; or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press. Brown, L. K., and K. Mussell, eds. 1984. Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States: The Performance of Group Identity. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Counihan, C., and P. Van Esterik, eds. 2007. Food and Culture: A Reader. New York: Routledge. Crosby, A. W. 1972. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Deutsch, J. (Ed.) 2012. They Eat That? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from Around the World. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Deutsch, J., and R. Saks. 2009. Jewish American Food Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Dietler, M., and B. Hayden. 2001. Feasts: Archeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics and Power. Washington, DC: Smithsonian. Douglas, M. Purity and Danger. 1952. London: Routledge. Edge, J. T. 2017. The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South. New York: Penguin. Ferris, M. C. 2005. Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Gabaccia, D. R. 1998. We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans. Cambridge, MA: Harvard. Harris, M. 1985. Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture. New York: Simon and Schuster. Hauck-Lawson, A. 1998. “When Food Is the Voice: A Case Study of a Polish-American Woman.” Journal for the Study of Food and Society 2 (1): 21–28. Hauck-Lawson, A., and J. Deutsch, eds. 2009. Gastropolis: Food and New York City. New York: Columbia University Press. Hopkins, J. 2004. Extreme Cuisine: The Weird and Wonderful Foods That People Eat. Berkeley, CA: Periplus. Levi-Strauss, C. 1968. The Origin of Table Manners: Introduction to a Science of Mythology. New York: Harper and Row. Long, Lucy. 2015. Ethnic American Food Today: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Long, Lucy. 2009. Regional American Food Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. MacClancy, J. 1992. Consuming Culture. London: Chapman. Mennell, S., A. Murcott, and A. H. van Otterloo. 1992. The Sociology of Food: Eating, Diet and Culture. London: Sage.

324

S e l e c t e d B ibli o g r a phy

Menzel, P., and F. D’Alusio. 2004. Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects. New York: Material World. Miller, J., and J. Deutsch. 2010. Food Studies: An Introduction to Research Methods. Oxford, UK: Berg. Mintz, S. W. 1985. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin. Mintz, S. W. 1997. Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Power, and the Past. Boston: Beacon. Pilcher, J. M. 2005. Food in World History. New York: Routledge. Pilcher, J. M. 1998. Que Vivan los Tamales: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Pillsbury, R. 1998. No Foreign Food: The American Diet in Time and Place. Boulder, CO: Westview. Schwabe, C. Unmentionable Cuisine. 1979. Richmond: University of Virginia Press. Simoons, F. 1994. Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidances from Prehistory to the Present. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Twitty, M. 2017. The Cooking Gene: A Journey through African American Culinary History in the Old South. New York. Amistad. Weaver, W. 1997. Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking. New York: Artabras, 1997. Williams-Forson, P. 2016. Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food and Power. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

About the Editor and Contributors

Editor

Jonathan Deutsch, PhD, is professor in the Center for Food and Hospitality Management and Department of Nutrition Sciences at Drexel University and previously edited They Eat That? for ABC-CLIO. He is the James Beard Foundation Impact Fellow, leading a national curriculum effort on food waste reduction for chefs and culinary educators. Before moving to Drexel, Deutsch built the culinary arts program at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York (CUNY), and the PhD concentration in food studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. At Drexel, he oversees the Drexel Food Lab, a culinary innovation and food product research and development lab focused on solving real-world food system problems in the areas of sustainability, health promotion, and inclusive dining. He is the author or editor of eight books including Barbecue: A Global History (with Megan Elias), Culinary Improvisation, and Gastropolis: Food and Culture in New York City (with Annie Hauck-Lawson) and numerous articles in journals of food studies, public health, and hospitality education. He earned his PhD in Food Studies and Food Management from New York University (2004) and his culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America (AOS, Culinary Arts, 1997), and he is an alumnus of Drexel University (BS, Hospitality Management, 1999). A classically trained chef, Deutsch worked in a variety of settings including product development, small luxury inns, and restaurants. When not in the kitchen, he can be found behind his tuba. Contributing Editor

Benjamin Fulton is a graduate student in the food science program offered by the Center for Food and Hospitality Management at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is also a part of the Drexel Food Lab team, which aims to solve real-world problems through culinary innovation. Recipe Editor

Alexandra Zeitz is the manager of Drexel University’s Food Lab, as well as a chef and a graduate of the Culinary Arts program at Drexel. Contributors

Meredith E. Abarca, PhD, is professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.

326

Ab o u t t h e Edi t o r a n d C o n t r ibu t o r s

Gary Allen—an adjunct professor at Empire State College (part of the State University of New York)—has authored, edited, or contributed to over 40 books, most often on the subject of food history. Sally Baho is a master’s student at University of the Pacific’s new interdisciplinary Food Studies program in San Francisco, California. She currently works as a research associate at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and writes a food column for her local newspaper, the Cedar Street Times. Scott A. Barton is a PhD candidate in Food Studies at New York University. Rebecca Berland is a master’s student in the Gastronomy program at Boston University. Jeff Birkenstein is a professor of English at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington. He received his PhD from the University of Kentucky. Thus his interest in geoducks and hot browns. Chef Susan Brassard is culinary arts and food studies instructor at Lowell High School and an adjunct professor at Newbury College, in the culinary arts department. She holds a master’s degree in Gastronomy from Boston University. Josianne Leah Campbell (MA, University of North Carolina–Charlotte) is instructor of English at York Technical College. She has enjoyed a long career as a professional educator, and her research and teaching expertise lies in the field of children’s literature, folklore, and popular culture. Jessica Carbone is a doctoral candidate in American Studies at Harvard University, where her research examines immigrant food traditions in the rural United States. She has previously worked as a curatorial associate and host of food history public programming at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, and as a cookbook editor at Clarkson Potter and Alfred A. Knopf, both divisions of Penguin Random House in New York City. Adam Centamore is a Boston-based professional food educator and awardnominated author of Tasting Wine and Cheese: An Insider’s Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing. Nathan C. Crook, PhD, is an associate professor at the Ohio State University (Ohio State ATI). He is author of A Culinary History of the Great Black Swamp: Buckeye Candy, Bratwurst & Apple Butter (2013). Mark D’Alessandro is assistant professor and program director of Culinary Arts at Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, New York. Professor D’Alessandro has been cooking and teaching for 20 years and has been eating goetta for every single one of them. Neri de Kramer is a cultural anthropologist and chef. She holds a PhD from the CUNY Graduate Center and graduated from the International Culinary Center in

Ab o u t t h e Edi t o r a n d C o n t r ibu t o r s

New York. She teaches food anthropology at the University of Delaware and freelances as a consumer insights consultant. Jennifer Rachel Dutch completed her PhD in American studies with a focus on American foodways from Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg in 2013. Since then, she has worked as an assistant professor of English and chair of the English Department at York College of Nebraska. Charlene Elliott, PhD, is professor of communication at the University of Calgary and holds the Canada Research Chair in Food Marketing, Policy and Children’s Health. Dr. Elliott’s program of research focuses on food marketing, promotion, and policy, with a particular emphasis on foods targeted at children. She has headed up federal, provincial and not-for-profit grants on this topic and has published extensively in the area. She is editor of several books, including How Canadians Communicate about Food: Promotion, Consumption and Controversy (2016). Holly Everett, PhD is an associate professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Rachel Feit is a freelance writer and historical archaeologist living in Austin, Texas. She has been a regular contributor to the Austin Chronicle and has written for the magazines Saveur and American Archaeology. Rachel F. Giraudo, PhD, is associate professor of anthropology at the California State University, Northridge. Her latest project examines cannabis tourism within the political context of cannabis legalization in the United States, addressing current cannabis tourism activities and destination-making endeavors. Demet Güzey is a food writer with a PhD in Food Science from UMass. She has published in journals and magazines ranging from Gastronomica to the Smart Set. She is author of Food on Foot: A History of Eating on Trails and in the Wild. She lectures on Food and Wine Culture at USAC, the University Studies Abroad Consortium in Verona. Laura K. Hahn, PhD, is a professor at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. Thomas Hertweck is a lecturer and the assistant director of Core Writing at the University of Nevada. Katherine Hysmith completed her MLA in Gastronomy at Boston University and is currently a PhD student in American Studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Kimberly Johnson is assistant professor in the Nutrition department at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Her teaching focuses on sociocultural aspects of food and nutrition. Her interdisciplinary research is on public engagement in the science and policy of food and nutrition and its influence on health and citizenship.

327

328

Ab o u t t h e Edi t o r a n d C o n t r ibu t o r s

Stephanie Jolly is an independent scholar. Constance Kirker is a retired Penn State University art history professor. Michael Lange is professor of anthropology and folklore at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. He has conducted ethnographic work in Scotland, Norway, Morocco, China, and the United States. He is author of Norwegian Scots and Meanings of Maple. Lucy M. Long, PhD in Folklore, University of Pennsylvania, directs the nonprofit Center for Food and Culture and is an adjunct assistant professor in ethnic studies, American culture studies, and popular culture at Bowling Green State University. Dan Macey is a food historian and writer and has been a commercial food stylist for 20 years, as the principal of Dantasticfood, Inc., creating mouth-watering and eye-appealing food for the camera. He is the president of the Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley and contributed to the James Beard award–winning Oxford Companion to Cheese. Esther Martin-Ullrich is a master’s degree candidate in Gastronomy from Boston University with an emphasis on food history and culture. She studies food folklore, food mythology, and the intersection of food and museums. Jeffrey P. Miller, PhD, CEC, is an associate professor and program coordinator of the Hospitality Management Program at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Dr. Miller has been a food-service educator for over 20 years and in 2017 was named the Sysco/CAFÉ National Educator of the Year. Susan Miller-Davis is principal of Infinite Table, a Bay Area consultancy supporting resilient and regenerative food economies. Susan is a consulting partner with the Perennial restaurant and serves on the boards of Zero Foodprint and the Berkeley Food Network. Susan holds an MPA in Economics and Public Policy from Princeton University. James Martin Moran is a Boston-based freelance writer currently enrolled in the MLA in Gastronomy program at Boston University. Natalie Rachel Morris has been teaching the core classes for the Sustainable Food Systems Program at Mesa Community College for five years and is also the director of Food Initiatives for Local First Arizona. Having an MA in Food Culture and Communications, she enjoys researching and writing about food history. Mary Newman, PhD, is a former professor of environmental health at Ohio University. She is coauthor of Edible Flowers: A Global History (2016) and is currently working with Constance Kirker on “Cherry” for Reaktion’s Botanical Series. Carlos Olaechea has an MLA in Gastronomy from Boston University. He is a food scholar, writer, consultant, and culinary tourism specialist based in South Florida. He specializes in cultures and cuisines of South Florida, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Ab o u t t h e Edi t o r a n d C o n t r ibu t o r s

Diana Pittet is an adjunct professor in the Department of Food Studies and Nutrition at New York University. Brandie Roberts is a master’s student in the Food Studies program at the University of the Pacific. Timothy G. Roufs is an award-winning teacher specializing in the anthropology of food at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He has published in the areas of the anthropology of food around the world, and the cultural history of the Anishinabe Indian peoples of Minnesota. Prof. Roufs received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife, Kathleen Smyth Roufs, EdD, are the authors of Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (ABCCLIO, 2014). Maria Steinberg is a marketing communications professional and food and travel writer. She earned her MA in food studies at New York University and is a graduate of le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She has published several academic and consumer food articles in the United States and abroad. Claire Stewart is an assistant professor at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York. She is a professional chef and author of As Long as We Both Shall Eat: A History of Wedding Food and Feasts. Diane Tye is a professor in the Department of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has published articles on the intersections of food and place in Atlantic Canada and is author of Baking as Biography: A Life Story in Recipes (2010). She is former coeditor of Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture, the online journal of the American Folklore Society’s Foodways section. Cody Whetstone is a prospective American studies scholar with a special interest in food studies and cultural economics. Amy S. White, MA, MEd, is a teacher and freelance food writer in Connecticut. Dani M. Willcutt is pursuing an MLA in Gastronomy at Boston University with a certificate in Economic Development via Tourism Management. Through her work on culinary tourism in the American South, Willcutt connects foodways to place, identity, and the economic advancement of the diverse region through sustainable tourism models. Susan Yager, MA, is a diet historian and author of The Hundred Year Diet: America’s Voracious Appetite for Losing Weight (2010). Yager and her work have been featured in the opening segment of CBS Sunday Morning and written about in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She has been interviewed by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Barbara Walters, NPR’s Marketplace, and Good Morning America, and she appeared in the HBO series The Weight of the Nation. She is an adjunct professor of food studies at New York University.

329

Index

Page numbers in bold refer to main entries; page numbers in italics refer to photographs. Acadian food: chaudin, 64–65; poutine râpée, 258–261 Akutaq, 1–3 Alaskan food: akutaq, 1–3 Ali, Mahaboob “Ben,” 161 Allen, Roy, 269 Alligator, 3–5, 4 Anadama bread, 5–7 Anderson, Aeneas, 89 Angell, Floyd, 208 Appetizers. See Snacks and appetizers Arizona food: Sonoran hot dog, 288–290 Armadillo, 7–9 Arnold, Tom, 208 Ashbrook, Frank, 296 Ashkenazi Jewish food: bialy, 20–22, 21; kishke, 197–199 Aulbach, Carl, 225 Bagels, 20 Baltimore, Maryland, food: Bergers, 18–19; coddies, 95, 95–97 Baraga, Venerable Father Frederic, 252 Barbacoa, 10–13, 11 Barr, Roseanne, 207–208 Batali, Mario, 191, 208 Baye, Donald Edward, 33 Bean-hole beans, 13–16, 14 Bear, 16–18 Beard, James, 232, 245 Begué, Madame, 189 Belasco, Warren, 103 Bendele, Marvin C., 10 Benning, Lee Edwards, 311 Ben’s Chili Bowl, 161 Berger family, 18 Bergers, 18–19

Beverages: chicory coffee, 83–87; coffee milk, 97–99; goat’s milk, 148; kombucha, 199, 199–200; root beer and birch beer, 269–271 Bialy, 20–22, 21 Birch beer, 270 Birds: emu, 114–117, 115 Bison, 45–47 Bittman, Mark, 191 Black-eyed peas, 165–168, 166 Blimpie, 165 Blood, 22–25 Boddie, Beverly, 200 Boiled peanuts, 25–28, 26 Bomber, 165 Bond, Cynthia, 273 Bone marrow, 28–30, 29 Bonino, Nick, 239 Booyah, 30–36 Boston baked beans, 14, 15 Boudin blanc and noir, 36–39, 37 Bourdain, Anthony, 29 Brains, 39–41, 40 Bread: Anadama bread, 5–7; frybread, 136–138, 137 Bread-and-butter pickles, 41–43 Briggs brothers, 160 Brunswick stew, 43–45 Buffalo, 45–48 Buh, Father Joseph Francis, 252 Burge, Gary, 228 Burgoo, 48–51, 49 Cactus, 52–55, 53 Cajun food: chaudin, 63–65; turducken, 306–310 Cakes: king cake, 193–197, 194

332

Index

Calhoun, Suellen, 106 Canadian food: maple, 215–218; râpée pie, 262–265 Candy, 228–230, 229 Cannabis, 55–58 Cape May salt oysters, 58–60 Carr, David, 160 Carter, Susannah, 111 Case, Andrew Jackson, 248 Case, George Washington, 247–248 Casings, 184–185 Catfish and waffles, 60–63 Chamarande, Jacques Augustin Henri, 36–37 Chaudin, 63–66 Cheese ball, 66–69 Cheese curds, 69–71, 70 Cheesesteak, 71–74 Chekhov, Anton, 308 Cherry pie, 74–78 Chicago, Illinois, food: deep-dish pizza, 100–102, 101; slinger, 280–282 Chicken, 306–310 Chicken feet, 78–81, 79 Chicken-fried steak, 81–83 Chicory coffee, 83–87 Chislic, 87, 87–89 Chitlins, 185, 185–186 Chow-chow, 89–91 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 132 Cincinnati, Ohio, food: Cincinnati chili, 91–94, 92; goetta, 151–152 Cincinnati chili, 91–94, 92 Civil War, 26 Claiborne, Craig, 113, 266 Clams, 144–147, 145 Cleveland, Grover, 287 Cleveland, Ohio, food: Polish boy sandwich, 244–246 Cochon 555, 233 Coddies, 95, 95–97 Coffee, 83–87 Coffee milk, 97–99 Condiments: Dorothy Lynch (dressing), 105–107; fry sauce, 134–136; maple, 215–218; red-eye gravy, 265–267; salt pork, 272–274

Connecticut food: steamed cheeseburgers, 298–301, 299 Conti, Dominic, 164 Cook, Captain, 240 Cool Whip, 318 Corn and beans, 301–303 Corn dogs, 103, 104–105 Cosby, Bill, 161 Cow’s cheek, 10 Creecy, James, 273 Creole jambalaya, 188–190 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, 297 Curtis, Emma and Amory, 120–121 Dabney, Joseph, 204 Daigneau, Kenneth, 291 Daoud brothers, 93 Davidson, Alan, 90 Deen, Paula, 266 Deep-dish pizza, 100–102, 101 Deep-fried fair foods, 102–105, 104 Defnet, Mary Ann, 31 Delaware food: muskrat, 222 DeLucia, Angelo, 97 Desserts and pastries: akutaq, 1–2; Bergers, 18–19; cherry pie, 74–78; gooey butter cake, 153–156, 154; huckleberry ice cream, 176–178; king cake, 193–197, 194; potica, 249–258, 250; Shoofly pie, 277–280, 279; Watergate salad, 316–319, 318; Whoopie pie, 319–322, 320 Dietz, Carroll, 208 Doolin, Charles Elmer, 128–129 Doolin, Daisy Dean, 129 Dorothy Lynch (dressing), 105–107 Dough, 118–119 Dougherty, Peter, 75 Drennan, Fergus, 268 Duberek, Ted, 299 Duck, 306–310 Dumplings, 258–261 Dundas sheep stew, 107–110 Durkee, H. Allen, 121 Dwelley, Xinh, 147 Edwards, Don Carlos, 134 Eel, 111–114, 112

Index

Egerton, John, 192, 265 Elizabeth I, Queen, 74 Ellerston, Mrs. Selmer F., 67 Ellington, Duke, 161 Emu, 114–117, 115 Entomophagy, 181–182 Epicurious, 266 Eskimo food: walrus flipper, 315–316 Evans, Josef, 308 Fanning, Cora and Omar, 41–43 Farmer, Fannie, 112, 120 Fastnacht, 118–119 Fieri, Guy, 169, 266 Fischer, Abby, 189 Fish: Cape May salt oysters, 58–60; catfish and waffles, 60–63; eel, 111–114, 112; poke, 242–244, 243. See also Shellfish Fitzgerald, Ella, 161 Flagg, Fannie, 127 Fletcher, Neil and Carl, 103 Fluffernutter, 120–122 Foie gras, 122–126, 123 Foley, Neil, 10 Francis, Pope, 249, 250 Frank, Ken, 72 Franken, Al, 174 French food: boudin blanc and noir, 36–39, 37; foie gras, 122–126, 123 French fries, 134 Fried green tomatoes, 126–128 Frito pie, 128–131, 129 Frog eye salad, 132–134 Fruit: cherry pie, 74–78; dragon fruit, 52–55; prickly pear cactus, 52–55 Fry sauce, 134–136 Frybread, 136–138, 137 Funnel cake, 138–141, 139 Garbage plate, 142–144 Gates, Janet Norris, 297 Gelatin, 316–319, 318 Geoduck, 144–147, 145 German food: funnel cake, 138–141, 139; livermush, 203–205, 204 Gilbert, Kenny, 3 Glasse, Hannah, 111 Glier, Robert, 151

Goat, 147–150 Goetta, 150–152 Gonzales, Abel, 104 Goodnight, Charles, 284 Gooey butter cake, 153–156, 154 Gravy, 265–267 Gray, Tom, 281 Grinder, 163, 165 Grits, 156–158 Grützwurst, 151 Gumbo, 158–159 Hagelin, Carl, 239 Half-smoke, 160–163 Hamburgers, 298–301, 299 Harjo, Suzan Shown, 137 Harris, Jessica B., 188 Haskin, Harold H., 59 Haskins, Dr. Creed, 44 Hawaiian food: loco moco, 205–207, 206; poi, 240–242; poke, 242–244, 243 HBK Sandwich, 239 Hearn, Lafcadio, 188, 189 Hemp, 56 Hennessy, Tom, 315 Hepburn, Audrey, 177 Herber, Mary Jane Ann, 32 Herbert Hoover Stew, 287 Hero, 163 Higgins, Dave, 208 Hill, Charles and Thomas, 89 Hires, Charles Elmer, 269 Hoagie, 163–165 Hoellwarth, John, 88 Hoover hog, 7 Hoppin’ John, 165–168, 166 Hormel, Jay C., 291 Hormel Foods, 290–293 Horseshoe sandwich, 169–171 Hot dish, 171–176, 173 Hot dogs, 288–290 Hotten, J. C., 89 Huckleberry ice cream, 176–178 Hurston, Zora Neale, 273 Hush puppies, 178–180 Iacovelli, Augustine “Augie,” 294 Ice cream, 1; huckleberry, 176–178

333

334

Index

Idaho food: huckleberry ice cream, 176 Illinois food: deep-dish pizza, 100–102, 101; horseshoe sandwich, 169–171; slinger, 280–282 Inca, Garcilaso el, 188 Inouye, Nancy, 205–206 Inouye, Richard, 205 Insects, 181–184, 182 Intestines, 184–187, 185, 197–199 Inuit food: walrus flipper, 315–316 Iowa food: loose meat sandwich, 207–210 Isern, Tom, 172, 173 Italian sandwich, 163, 164 Jackson, Andrew, 265 Jackson, Sharyn, 172 Jambalaya, 188–190 Jefferson, Thomas, 67 Jell-O, 317–318 Jenkins, Stanley S., 103 Jewish Ashkenazi food: bialy, 20–22, 21; kishke, 197–199 Jewish food: coddies, 95, 95–97 Kalamojakka, 32 Kalil, Stephen, 130 Keillor, Garrison, 171 Keller, Thomas, 125 Kentucky food: burgoo, 48–51, 49; Kentucky hot brown, 191–193 Kentucky hot brown, 191–193 Kessel, Phil, 239 Khrushchev, Nikita, 292 Kielbasa, 244–245 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 161, 229 King cake, 193–197, 194 Kiradjieff, Tom, 92–93 Kishke, 197–199 Klobuchar, Amy, 174, 253 Kohn, Dave, 72 Kombucha, 199, 199–200 Kool-Aid, 200–201 Koolickles, 200–202 Kurlansky, Mark, 145 Labourdette, Diego, 124 Lagasse, Emeril, 266 Lambert, Almeda, 27 Lambrinides, Nicholas, 93

Lame Deer, John (Fire), 46 Lappe, Frances Moore, 167 Lee, Geno, 232 Letterman, David, 76, 104 Lewis and Clark, 74 Lillis, Bob, 151 Little Milton, 157 Livermush, 203–205, 204, 275 Livingstone, David, 182 Lloyd, Tim, 93 Loco moco, 205–207, 206 Loose meat sandwich, 207–210 Lorenzo, “Cocky” Joe, 72 Louisiana food: chaudin, 63–66; chicory coffee, 83–87; gumbo, 158–159; king cake, 193–197, 194; muffuletta, 218–221, 219; Po’ Boy, 163 Lovegren, Sylvia, 67 Luncheon meat, 224–226 Lunenberg County, Virginia, food: Dundas sheep stew, 107, 108 Lupo, Salvatore, 218 Lutefisk, 210–214, 211 Lyden, Jacki, 200 Lynch, Dorothy, 105–107 Macco, John, 31 MacDonell, Miles, 230 Mackenzie, Alexander, 230 Mad squirrel disease, 297 Madden, John, 307–308 Maid-Rite, 208–209 Main dishes: buffalo, 44–48; Cape May salt oysters, 58–60; catfish and waffles, 60–63; chaudin, 63–66; cheesesteak, 71–74; chicken-fried steak, 81–83; Cincinnati chili, 91–94, 92; deep-dish pizza, 100–102, 101; eel, 111–114, 112; emu, 114–117, 115; garbage plate, 142–144; geoduck, 144–147, 145; goat, 147–150; goetta, 150–152; hoagie, 163–165; hot dish, 171–176, 173; intestines, 184–187, 185; Kentucky hot brown, 191–193; loose meat sandwich, 207–210; lutefisk, 210–214, 211; muskrat, 221–223; Pittsburgh sandwich, 238–240; Polish boy sandwich, 244–246; pork roll, 246–249; roadkill, 267–268;

Index

Scrapple, 275–277, 276; slinger, 280–282; snake, 282–284; Sonoran hot dog, 288–290; Spam, 290–293, 291; spiedies, 294–295; squirrel, 295–298; turducken, 306–310; turtle, 310–314 Maine food: Whoopie pie, 320, 320 Malnati, Rudy, 100 Mammals: armadillo, 7–9; barbacoa, 10–13, 11; bear, 16–18; bison, 45–47; buffalo, 45–48; chicken feet, 78–81, 79; Dundas sheep stew, 107–110; goat, 147–150; muskrat, 221–223; pig’s ears, 232–235, 233; pig’s snout and tail, 235–238; roadkill, 267–268; squirrel, 43–44, 295–298; turducken, 306–310; walrus flipper, 315–316 Mange, George, 160 Maple, 215–218 Margherita, Queen, 100 Marrow, 28–30, 29 Marshmallow, 120–122, 228–230, 229 Martelli, Rose, 280 Martin, Clovis and Benjamin, 163 Massachusetts food: fluffernutter, 120–122; Whoopie pie, 319–320, 320 Matthews, “Uncle” Jimmy, 44 McCollum, Betty, 174 McGee, Tom, 170 Mears, Nathan, 100 Meister, Erin, 85 Mexican food: Sonoran hot dog, 288–290 Micham, Howard, 311 Michigan food: booyah, 30–36; muskrat, 222 Midwestern U.S. food: bread-and-butter pickles, 41–43; hot dish, 171–176, 173; loose meat sandwich, 207–210; lutefisk, 210–214, 211 Millang, Theresa, 173 Miller, Adrian, 179 Miller, Emma, 140 Miller, Jim Wayne, 203–204 Miller, Viola, 140 Mina, Michael, 307 Minnesota food: booyah, 30–36; hot dish, 171–176 Missouri food: gooey butter cake, 153–156, 154; slinger, 280–282

Mistral, Frédéric, 189 Mitchell, William A., 318 Miyoshi, Hideaki, 206 Mock turtle soup, 313 Monroe, Marilyn, 229 Montana food: huckleberry ice cream, 176 Monty Python, 293 Mormons, 132 Moss, Robert F., 126 Mower, Fred L., 121 Muffuletta, 218–221, 219 Murphy, Mike, 170 Muskrat, 221–223 Napoleon, 84 Native American food: barbacoa, 10–13, 11; bean-hole beans, 13–16, 14; buffalo, 46; frybread, 136–138, 137; pemmican, 230–231; succotash, 301–303 Nebraska food: Dorothy Lynch (dressing), 105–107 New England food: Anadama bread, 5–7; bean-hole beans, 13–16, 14; poutine râpée, 258–261; Whoopie pie, 319–322, 320 New Jersey food: Cape May salt oysters, 58–60; pork roll, 246–249 New Orleans, Louisiana, food: chicory coffee, 83–87; jambalaya, 188–190; muffuletta, 218–221, 219; Po’ Boy, 163 New York food: garbage plate, 142–144 Nick Tahou Hots, 142–143 Nitka, Dan, 31 Nixon, Richard, 317 Nobles, Cynthia, 158 Nopales, 52–55, 53 Nordic food: lutefisk, 210–214, 211 North American food: bear, 16–18 North Carolina food: livermush, 203–205, 204 North Dakota food: hot dish, 172 Nose-to-tail movement, 233, 234, 236, 286 Novaretti, Richard “Ric,” 100, 101 Obama, Barack, 46, 161 Offal, 233, 234, 284, 286 Ohio food: Polish boy sandwich, 244–246 Okimoto, George, 205

335

336

Index

Oklahoma food: chicken-fried steak, 81–83 Olive loaf, 224–226 Oliver, Jamie, 268 Olivieri, Pat and Harry, 72 Olympic frog eyes, 132 Olympics (Winter 2002), 132, 134 Oregon food: huckleberry ice cream, 176 Oysters, 58–60 Pacific Northwest food: huckleberry ice cream, 176–178; lutefisk, 210–214, 211 Paddleford, Clementine, 165 Pastries. See Desserts and pastries Peanut butter, 120–122 Peanuts, 25–28, 26 Peary, Robert, 230 Peeps, 227–230, 229 Pemmican, 230–231 Penn, Billy, 72 Pennsylvania Dutch food: fastnacht, 118–119; funnel cake, 138–141; Shoofly pie, 277–280, 279; Whoopie pie, 319, 320, 320 Pennsylvania food: catfish and waffles, 60–63; cheesesteak, 71–74; hoagie, 164; Scrapple, 275–277, 276 Perkins, Jimmy Don, 81 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, food: catfish and waffles, 60–63; cheesesteak, 71–74; hoagie, 164 Pickles, 41–43, 200–201 Pie eating contests, 75 Pierz, Father Francis Xavier, 252 Pies: cherry pie, 74–78; Shoofly pie, 277–280, 279 Pig’s ears, 232–235, 233 Pig’s snout and tail, 235–238 Pig’s stomach, 63–66 Pittsburgh sandwich, 238–240 Pizza, 100–102, 101 Pizza Margherita, 100 Plants: cactus, 52–55, 53; cannabis, 55–58 Platina, 120 Pliny the Elder, 120 Po’ Boy, 163 Poi, 240–242 Poke, 242–244, 243 Polacco, Patricia, 273

Polish boy sandwich, 244–246 Polish food: bialy, 20–22, 21 Polynesian food: poi, 240–242 Pork, 150–152, 272–274 Pork liver, 203–205, 204 Pork roll, 246–249 Posedel, Andreja, 251 Potatoes, 258–261, 262–265 Potica, 249–258, 250 Poutine râpée, 258–261 Prickly pear cactus, 52–55 Primanti brothers, 238–239 Prudhomme, Paul, 307 Puck, Wolfgang, 125 Puddings: blood, 22–23 Quebecois food: poutine râpée, 258–261 Query, Archibald, 121 Randolph, Mary, 22, 24 Râpée pie, 262–265 Rebeck, Gene, 253 Recipes: Anadama Bread, 6; Armadillo Pibil, 8–9; Bean-Hole Beans, 15; Bear Roast, 17–18; Bergers Cookies, 19; Bison Burger, 47; Blood Sausage, 24–25; Boiled Peanuts, 27–28; Boudin Blanc, 38; Brunswick Stew, aka Squirrel Muddle, 44–45; Burgoo, 50–51; Campbell Girls’ Tater Tot Hot Dish, 174–175; Cannabutter, 57–58; Carolina Eel Stew, 113–114; Cheesesteak, 73–74; Cherry Pie, 77–78; Chicken Booyah, 34–35; Chicken Feet Stock, 80–81; Chicken-Fried Steak, 82–83; Chicory Coffee Chocolate Pie, 85–86; Chitlins, 186–187; ChowChow, 90–91; Cincinnati Chili, 93–94; Coddies, 96–97; Coffee Milk, 98; Crispy Barbequed Snoots (St. Louis, Missouri), 237; Curried Bread-and-Butter Pickles, 42–43; Curry Goat, 149–150; DeepDish Pizza, 101–102; Deep-Fried Mars Bars, 105; Dewitt Bialy Melt, 21–22; Diner-Style Slinger, 281–282; Double Corn Succotash, 303; Dry-Roasted Chili-Lime Crickets, 183; Easy Fried Catfish and Waffles, 62–63; Emu Flank Steaks with Gorgonzola and Walnut

Index

Stuffing, 116–117; Ensalada de Nopales, 54–55; Fastnachts, 119; Fermented Walrus Flipper, 316; Flavorful Loose Meat Sandwich, 209–210; Fluffernutter, 122; Fried Gator, 4–5; Fried Green Tomatoes, 127–128; Frito Pie, 130–131; Frybread, 138; Funnel Cakes, 140–141; Garbage Plate, Homestyle Version, 143–144; Garlic and Spam Fried Rice, 293; Goetta, 152; Grits, 157; Gumbo, 159; Half-Smoke, 162; Home-Style Slow-Cooker Sheep Stew, 109–110; Hoppin’ John, 167–168; Horseshoe Original Sauce, 170–171; Huckleberry Ice Cream, 177–178; Hush Puppies, 179–180; Inamona Poke, 243–244; Jersey Breakfast Roll, 248; Kentucky Hot Brown, 192–193; King Cake, 195–196; Kishke, 198–199; Kool-Aid Pickles, 201; Lamb Chislic, 88–89; Layered Muskrat and Corn, 223; Loco Moco, 206–207; Lutefisk, 213–214; Make-at-Home Olive Loaf, 225–226; Maple Scones, 217; Modern Akutaq, 2–3; Muffuletta Sandwich, 220; New Brunswick–Style Râpée Pie, 264; Olive Salad, 220–221; Pan-Fried Geoduck, 147; Party Cheese Ball, 68; Peeps S’mores, 229–230; Pemmican, 231; Pittsburgh Sandwich, 240; Poi, 241–242; Polish Boy Sandwich, 246; Pork Chaudin, 65–66; Poutine Râpée, 260–261; Prickly Pear Lemonade, 55; Red-Eye Gravy, 266–267; Roasted Bone Marrow, 30; Roasted Cape May Salts with a Spicy Soy Chili Glaze, 59–60; Root Beer Syrup, 270–271; Salt Pork and Pea Soup, 274; Scrambled Eggs and Pig Brains, 41; Scrapple Carbonara, 276–277; Seared Foie Gras, 125; Shoofly Pie, 279–280; Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya, 189–190; Simple Grilled Snake, 284; Simplest Frog Eye Salad, 133–134; Simplified Turducken, 308–309; Slow-Cooker Barbacoa, 12–13; Son-of-a-B—tch Stew, 287–288; Sonoran Hot Dog, 289–290; Southern Pig Ears, 234–235; Spiced Mandarin Orange Bundt Cake,

106–107; Spiedie Sandwich, 294–295; Squirrel, 298; St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, 154–155; Steamed Cheeseburgers, 300–301; Testicles, 306; Utah Style Fry Sauce, 135–136; Walnut Potica (Orehova Potica), 255–257; Watergate Salad, 319; Whoopie Pie, 321–322; Wisconsin Cheese Curds, 71 Red-eye gravy, 265–267 Reichlin, Steve, 266 Reinert, Alice, 140 Rendell, Ed, 164 Reptiles: alligator, 3–5, 4; snake, 282–284; turtle, 310–314 Rhazes, 84 Rhode Island beverages: coffee milk, 97–99 Rice, 165–168, 166 Rice and beans, 167 Richelieu, Cardinal, 36 Richman, Adam, 239 Roadkill, 267–268 Roberts, Pat, 254 Rochester, New York, food: garbage plate, 142–144 Rock, Kid, 157 Rocket, 165 Root beer and birch beer, 269–271 Roufs, Kathleen, 250 Rupar, Pauline Virant, 254 Russell family, 18 Safford, Virginia, 67 Salads: Dorothy Lynch (dressing), 105–107; Watergate salad, 316–319, 318 Salt pork, 259, 262–265, 272–274 Samuelson, Tim, 100 Sandwiches: cheesesteak, 71–74; fluffernutter, 120–122; hoagie, 163–165; horseshoe sandwich, 169–171; Kentucky hot brown, 191–193; loose meat sandwich, 207–210; muffuletta, 218–221, 219; olive loaf, 224–226; Pittsburgh sandwich, 238–240; Polish boy sandwich, 244–246; spiedies, 294–295; steamed cheeseburgers, 298–301, 299 Sap, 215–217 Sassafras, 269 Sater, Edna, 296

337

338

Index

Sausages: blood, 22–23; boudin blanc and noir, 36–39, 37; half-smoke, 160–163; intestines, 184–185; Polish boy sandwich, 244–245 Sax, David, 198 Scandinavian food: lutefisk, 210–214, 211 Schmidt, Fred, 191 Schultz, Bill, 73 Schweska, Elizabeth, 170 Schweska, Joe, 169, 170 Scrapple, 275–277, 276 Sedaris, Amy, 68 Sewell, Ike, 100, 101 Shange, Ntozake, 235 Sharak, Peter, 294 Shellfish, 144–147, 145. See also Fish Sheraton, Mimi, 198 Shoofly pie, 277–280, 279 Shrove Tuesday, 118–119 Sicilian food: muffuletta, 218–220 Side dishes: bean-hole beans, 13–16, 14; brains, 39–41, 40; cactus, 52–55, 53; cheese ball, 66–69; cheese curds, 69–71, 70; foie gras, 122–126, 123; fried green tomatoes, 126–128; frybread, 136–138, 137; grits, 156–158; Hoppin’ John, 165–168, 166; hush puppies, 178–180; kishke, 197–199; livermush, 203–205, 204; pig’s ears, 232–235, 233; pig’s snout and tail, 235–238; poi, 240–242; poutine râpée, 258–261; râpée pie, 262–265; testicles, 304–306, 305; walrus flipper, 315–316 Simmonds, Peter Lund, 17, 84 Simmons, Amelia, 112 Skincare, emu oil used for, 115 Slinger, 280–282 Slovenia food: potica, 249–258, 250 Smid, Nataša, 251 Snacks and appetizers: boiled peanuts, 25–28, 26; chicken feet, 78–81, 79; chislic, 87, 87–89; coddies, 95, 95–97; deep-fried fair foods, 102–105, 104; fastnacht, 118–119; funnel cake, 138–141, 139; insects, 181–184, 182; koolickles, 200–202; Peeps, 228–230, 229; pemmican, 230–231; poke, 242–244, 243 Snake, 282–284

Snow and maple, 215 Sohn, Jack, 198 Son-of-a-b—tch stew, 284–288, 285 Sonoran hot dog, 288–290 Soups and stews: booyah, 30–36; Brunswick stew, 43–45; burgoo, 48–51, 49; chicken feet, 78–81, 79; Cincinnati chili, 91–94, 92; Dundas sheep stew, 107–110; eel, 111–114; Frito pie, 128–131, 129; frog eye salad, 132–134; gumbo, 158–159; jambalaya, 188–190; son-of-a-b—tch stew, 284–288, 285; turtle, 310–314 Sousa, Eduardo, 124 South American food: armadillo, 7–9 South Dakota food: chislic, 87, 87–89 Southeastern U.S. food: alligator, 3–5, 4 Southern U.S. food: boiled peanuts, 25–28, 26; bread-and-butter pickles, 41–43; Brunswick stew, 43–45; fried green tomatoes, 126–128; grits, 156–158; Hoppin’ John, 165–168, 166; intestines, 185–186; koolickles, 200–202; red-eye gravy, 265–267 Southwestern U.S. food: cactus, 52–55, 53 Spaghetti, 91–94, 92 Spam, 290–293, 291 Spiedies, 294–295 Springfield, Illinois, food: horseshoe sandwich, 169–171 Squirrel, 43–44, 295–298 St. Louis, Missouri, food: gooey butter cake, 153–156, 154; slinger, 280–282 Staton, Bill, 161 Steamed cheeseburgers, 298–301, 299 Steinbeck, John, 273 Stern, Michael, 169 Stews. See Soups and stews Stonie, Matt, 229 Stradley, Linda, 265 Straubentrichter, 139 Submarine sandwich, 163–165 Succotash, 301–303 Symon, Michael, 245 Taro, 240–242 Tater tots, 171–176, 173 Taylor, John, 247 Taylor, William, 247

Index

Tea, 199, 199–200 Testicles, 304–306, 305 Texas food: barbacoa, 10–13, 11; chicken-fried steak, 81–83 Thatcher, Margaret, 292 Tomatoes, 126–128 Tomko, Steve, 169 Torpedo, 163, 165 Trotter, Charlie, 125 Trubar, Primož, 251 Trump, Donald, 229 Trump, Melania, 249, 250 Turducken, 306–310 Turkey, 306–310 Turner, Larry, 244 Turtle, 310–314 Twain, Mark, 177 Twamley, Christian, 229 Twelfth Night, 193–195 Twinkies, 104, 105 Twitty, Michael, 10 Ullmer, Judy, 34 Utah foods: fry sauce, 134–136 Van Shelton, Ricky, 127 Vegetables: bread-and-butter pickles, 41–43; chow-chow, 89–91; fried green tomatoes, 126–128; koolickles, 200–202; succotash, 301–303 Vento, Joey, 72 Vikings, 212 Virginia food: Dundas sheep stew, 107–110 Vles, F., 145 Vodnik, Father Valentin, 252 Voelk, Mary Lou, 251, 253

Walrus flipper, 315–316 Walsh, Robb, 10, 11 Washington, DC, food: half-smoke, 160–163 Washington, George, 56, 74 Washington (state) food: geoduck, 144–147, 145 Watergate salad, 316–319, 318 Weaver, William Woys, 61–62, 277 Wedge, 163, 165 Weems, Parson, 74 Weisman, Eric, 297 Western U.S. food: huckleberry ice cream, 176 Whiteshot, Charles Austin, 61 Whitmore family, 244–245 Whoopie pie, 319–322, 320 Wilbur, Todd, 208 Wilcox, Estelle Woods, 17 Wilder, Laura Ingalls, 235 Williams, Andre, 235 Williams, Hank, Jr., 188 Winfrey, Oprah, 104 Wisconsin food: booyah, 30–36; cheese ball, 67; cheese curds, 69–70; hot dish, 171–176 Wissahickon supper, 60 Wolcott, Imogene, 112 Woodward, Stanley, 108 Worlridge, John, 270 Wyman, Carolyn, 72, 73 Yates, Jon, 208 Zeppelin, 165 Židan, Dejan, 253 Ziemann, Hugo, 296

339