Borscht Dealt

I thought borscht always contained cabbage. The internet asserts that real borscht never, ever contains cabbage. Is the internet right, if so what should I do with the cabbage I bought?

Borscht, sometimes borsch, is a beetroot soup that seems to have originated in the Baltic States. Which country Poland, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania or the Ukraine seems to be a matter of national pride. Outside the nation-states, Ashkenazi Jews also claim the soup’s invention. On a local level, ‘true’ borscht varies from region to region, town to town, house to house and then cook to cook.

Much like attempting to definitively list what goes in a real cassoulet or a meatball, no good comes from a purity test. If I were making borscht I would simmer brisket and a shank bone, while separately cooking julienned beet and shredded cabbage in schmaltz. Combine the two, simmer and top with sour cream. Of course not being Jewish, Polish, Russian or a Uke; people might argue, that being raised in the rural to suburban Midwestern during the epoch of McDonalds, I can lay no claim whatsoever to the authenticity of any food.

Or maybe I am just the person to do so because my exposure to borsht comes directly from the deli experience. Delis preserved a moment in time – Russian Jews feeling late 19th century pogroms immigrated to the US – these new citizens both opened and patronized restaurants that produced a style of food served in the ‘old country’. Funny thing, cuisines are dynamic - constantly evolving, changing. Delis are as much about nostalgia as they are brisket. The Deli became both a reminder of what was left behind and a cultural identifier in a new land – the menus and recipes are static. 

Even staying away from that homogeneous source of information that is the internet - there are a dozen variations for borscht found in the Saucytorium - calling for ingredients as diverse as duck, confit, goose, mushrooms, potatoes, vinegar, kraut, tomatoes, sausage, ham, beef, brisket, marrow bones and one recipe claims in order to be really real – borscht needs kvass – a fermented beverage made of black bread, water and yeast. The constants in all the recipes: beets, onions and water. Sour Cream was the next most cited ingredient and Rassol/the liquid from preserved beets followed. 

Marco Polo didn’t return from China with spaghetti, the Earl of Sandwich wasn’t the first person to put leftover meat between 2 pieces of bread (It was obviously the Duke of Panini) and I don’t think there is ever one right way of making a dish – cooks use the ingredients at hand to forge their craft – if cabbage is around, use it, if not, don’t go to the grocery store for it.  Perhaps it would be easier to view borscht as an extended family, rather than a specific individual – sometimes cabbage shows up at the family reunion. 

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Taxman Drinketh

My neighbors to the north in Washington state are suffering from a rash of hysteria that has replaced reasoned discourse in our society. The culprit – a flare-up in the culture wars? The question of extending constitutional rights to suspected terrorists? Nope and nope, at issue is whether to tax candy bars. “Why do you want to tax one of life’s small pleasures in a time of economic hardship”…This sentiment is not being conveyed from Tom Joad Fellow from the Institute of Simple Treasures but one of the many Chamber of Commerce/lobbyist types that has descended on Olympia on behest of the candy manufacturers of America to shape this debate.

The proposal is not a brand new tax cut from whole cloth, rather a question of how to apply the current sales tax. Washington state does not currently tax food - 45 states levy a sales tax, but only 2 Mississippi and Alabama fully tax food. 11 other states have reduced the percentage people pay on food purchases and 6 states leave the question of taxing food to municipalities. By extending the sales tax to candy, Olympia estimates it will add 28 million USDs to the state coffer.

Washington is not the only state contemplating if not a dollar to donut revenue scheme - or at least a penny to calorie ratio. A recent poll showed New Yorkers overwhelmingly supporting the idea of a tax on fizzy (non diet) soda, the City of Chicago collects $18 million on a soda tax, Philadelphia is considering a similar act, Democratic lawmakers in Colorado are attempting to tax soda and Washington state is looking beyond the candy bar to soda and water to raise revenue. These actions have nothing to do with so-called ‘fat taxes’, like the one recently enacted in Romania in an attempt to address the rising consumption of fatty, salty and sugary foods. That is right Romania was the first EU country to enact a fat tax, take that Sweden.

Normally the thought of a value-added tax or listening to the justification for a sin tax causes me react  somehow like both Howard Zinn and Ayn Rand. It isn't quite that simple I think the best corollary to taxing soda is to take a look how that other fizzy beverage beer is taxed.

Beer is taxed in all states and the District of Columbia. The tax rate seems to have little to due with beer consumption – New Hampshire and Nevada really guzzle beer despite a hefty taxation, Wisconsin likes its beer but taxes it on the low end of the spectrum. And in a state that possesses the highest rate of abstainers, where the drinking of beer is not viewed kindly - I’m talking to you Utah - has Salt Lake levying about a nickel of revenue per pint, yet no one complains about truth, justice and the rights of consumers to make their own choices when beer is taxed.

The idea that consumers will make better food choices if fatty foods are taxed is absurd and punitive and does little to address the availability of healthy food. But the issue before many lawmakers right now is should soda be taxed like beer? I’d vote yes on that ballot measure. Should candy bars be taxed? I don’t have a good answer to that but the debate should be about the budgetary goals not how candy bars represent unhealthy calories. And especially not how confections are about equality, non-elitist enjoyment or the power of personal responsibility.

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Oliver's Twist

There are many ways to trade your fame as a celebrity chef. You can brand your own cookware line, endorse frozen entrees/canned soups/salad dressings, become a spokesperson for Applebee’s, launch an eponymous magazine or rule your own multimedia empire – once you have established your toehold, the payoffs are huge and the responsibilities seem to be limited to extracting as much as you can from your audience as possible before fading from the limelight.

Fame is fleeting and it is hard to disapprove, as only a slacker/ne’er do well can moralize about other's choices. I would not be outraged to see Alton Brown’s iodized salt – even though he makes such a big to do over kosher (Alton is most likely anti-goiter). As much as I (distantly) admire financial security, I am more impressed when people put there hard won public notoriety towards causes greater than themselves (or their personal brand).

Julia Child rolled her energy back into promoting PBS, Alice Waters has traded her name to improve school lunches and promote small scale farmers and growers. Last week, Jamie Oliver, aged 34, won a 2010 TED (technology, entertainment and design) award for his work he done on behalf of improving school lunches in the UK and more recently combating childhood obesity both in his native Britain and here in the States.

His presentation can be seen above. In it Mr. Oliver talks about choices, food literacy and how to everyone should know how to cook 10 things. In his upcoming network show Mr. Oliver will help the town of Huntington, West Virginia (The US’ fattest state) fight obesity one meal at a time. Before departing Huntington, Mr. Oliver found local resources to fund better school lunches and a cooking program at a community center. 

Echoing Michael Pollan’s recent observation that people really don’t know how to cook anymore, Mr. Oliver seeks to encourage people to eat better through home cooking as opposed to radical changes in their diet - the dude doesn’t hate carbs or fat, instead opting to promote a love & knowledge of food - this fall ‘Jamie’s Food Revolution’  – a collection of meal ideas that purportedly will call for bacon just as often as green veg.

Congratulations to Mr. Oliver on his award and recognition from TED- $100,000 is not the biggest prize in the world but TED does have a little more cache for being interesting, forward-looking and cutting edge. Congratulations on taking the road less traveled by endorsing an idea and activity rather than cookware or attitude or garlic presses. Pride, ability, ownership, sharing meals may not have the same sponsorship opportunities but who needs another famous chef hawking non-stick pans. 


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Rice, Rice Baby

Saucy – What do you put in your jambalaya? Mardi Cook

Just as this week’s Fat Tuesday/Ash Wednesday is a moveable feast, jambalaya is an interchangeable dish. Like jazz, another culturally famous New Orleans contribution, jambalaya leaves room for improvisation, changing with the cook’s skill, training and pantry. The Sauctorium, home to 100s of cookbooks and 1000s of recipes that call for everything from frog legs to a vegan variation with green beans – which is a stretch I little hot sauce and ice cold beer to was down green beans and rice – but who am I to judge, oh yeah.

My recipe changes constantly: Chicken stock, usually; water, sometimes; tomatoes, more often than not. Sausage, definitely – Most of the time, I pick andouille sausage but this has to do with what is on sale – substitutions abound - sometimes it is Spanish chorizo, occasionally what my market calls Creole sausage, another substitution has me using something packaged as ‘red hots’ – although considering I need a degree in chemistry to read the label, I mostly avoid those. Kielbasa – either beef or pork have gone in a pinch.

Chicken? Not usually but if I have a smoked turkey thigh, I’ll chop it up and use it like ham, even throwing the bone in while the rice is cooking. Speaking of ham – it almost never is used, more of a dual issue of I don’t usually keep ham in the house and some the hams you buy like spiral, honey baked are so spiced – clove, mace, sugar that they are hard to use in anything but a sandwich...there is a Cajun style of seasoned pork shoulder called tasso that is used every once in a while.

Vegetables are the constant in this dish…Always onion, garlic and bell pepper. Celery and tomatoes are used in 90% of my jambalayas – Tomatoes are a little controversial, not so much in my cookbook collection, whose authors give great latitude for variation but there are people, belligerent folks you meet at parties who will claim after a couple of drinks the addition of tomatoes make the dish etouffee. While green onion is always used when I have a bunch, if I forgot to buy the veg also known as scallion, it isn’t worth an extra trip to the store.

Spices consist of a of a tiny amount of rosemary, along with healthier portions of oregano, black pepper, paprika, cayenne, parsley and hot sauce – Crystal rules my cupboard. Rice is long grain - basmati in a pinch always fried in oil before liquid is added. And I like shrimp added to my jambalaya – not traditional but not as controversial as tomatoes – oysters or crawfish would be the more customary shellfish additions. Crab is usually used in gumbo. Finfish aren’t usually used but once I crafted a catfish jambalaya for a pretty attractive woman who was a self-described pesco-lacto, occasionally-poultritairian, which it turns out is a multi-syllabic way of saying picky eater.

As much as I like to sip a cocktail while I cook, you’d think a Sazerac would be a good aperitif but Jambalaya goes so very well with beer especially cold lager but also a good bitter ale that I usually forgo my pre-diner treat. And because eating rice leaves me hungry in an hour, I find a dessert of bread pudding really helps complete the meal.


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Eating for 2

Saucydood, with the holiday of love coming up, what is a good thing to eat with your true love?

Because 93.5% of all coupled people will go to a restaurant on or near Valentine's Day, perhaps it would be more apt if the day were dedicated to St Thomas, the doubting one, who according to his hagiography, is the patron saint of cooks.

A person can express their affection with a thoughtful gift, words of love or action. My idea of a gift is a book, usually one that I liked and even though I am a born and bred Midwesterner, I still do pretty okay with expressing emotions, but when I really want state declaratively how I feel about someone, I opt for the simple act of doing and that usually means heading into the kitchen.

The peril of cooking for the sole purpose of expressing yourself for someone is that you have to make something for them. If your sweetie doesn’t like tomatoes and you are cook marinara; or your BBQ is famous in 2 time zones and you are hooking up with a vegetarian, you run the danger of glorifying yourself, not your love for another.

While I would love to tell you champagne, lobster and a chocolate dessert are the perfect foods for a Valentine dinner, it really depends on the person. If you don’t like Thai food, try going out for Thai. Better yet, try going out for Thai because your sweetie enjoys it, not because you are performing a noble (and noticeable) sacrifice. Remember it was St. Valentine who was martyred, not your personal idea of what’s for dinner.

Chocolate, flowers and champagne don’t have to be cliché, but they will be if you use them together. Instead try sharing something for your true love – it could be anything from a slow-cooked soup and fresh baked bread; Mac and Cheese for the person who loves the dish but claims to hate the carbs; sharing a bottle of wine when you are more of a beer person. Who knows maybe sending the kids to grandma and taking a bowlful of peanuts into the bedroom for some “couple-time” might be the right answer to the food-holiday riddle.

For me, I do the majority of cooking when I am coupled, so making a special meal, would be all that special but if I were to do something out of the ordinary – I would even do the unthinkable, brunch. Pay $9 for 2 eggs and do it happily because it makes someone else happy. In turn, if someone were to place a bottle of brown liquor and two nice, hefty old fashioned glasses under the Valentine’s Day tree, I’d check my ass to see if Cupid’s arrow were sticking out of it.  


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Oyster Hunger

 It is the week of Valentines - don't be blinded by the Romance-Chocolate-Industrial-Complex. Instead, this week's festivities begin with a few words on the noted aphrodisiac, oysters from our friend, Charlie Seluzicki:

 

A few days ago I was blindsided by an intense craving for oysters on the half shell. It did not take me long to figure that I had not eaten any since before Christmas and here it was the first week of February. The next day I would be across the river on business, so I waited. Newman's Seafood is in the same neighborhood and they have a large live tank which at any time might be home to upwards of a half dozen oyster varieties in addition to clams, dungeness crabs and Maine lobsters.  The selection was small that day, only three types, but among them a favorite from British Columbia's Nootka Bay. They were real beauties just on the small side of medium with a deep cup and lovely salinity. I ate them for lunch, for dinner and for breakfast the next morning.

It happened that on the same day that I bought oysters, I picked up a copy of Ruth Spear's excellent COOKING FISH AND SHELLFISH (1980). After lunch I sat down with it and read the chapter on oysters. It was there that I encountered "oyster hunger," an expression that has eluded me my entire oyster eating life:

                        Indeed the phenomenon of "oyster hunger"- well known in such great oyster
                        towns as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, where a person is
                        suddenly possessed with the need to down several dozen raw oysters- may
                        be an instinctive iodine hunger.

Was that what I was experiencing? Food cravings are not uncommonly related to food chemistry. I am not quite certain. So I investigated "oyster hunger" a bit more. The expression is hardly common. A Google search brings up only three references. One is faux ("oyster, hunger"), one individual mentions it in a very general way in a blog and one cookbook-Frederick's LONG ISLAND SEAFOOD COOKBOOK (1939, Dover reprint 1971)- specifically references the matter of "instinctive iodine hunger." Oddly though he asserts that the phenomenon occurs in persons not from the aforementioned great oyster towns. "The real oyster educated person," he insists, "does not gorge periodically but dines on oysters in many ways on more frequent intervals." Indeed. His cookbook contains over 120 recipes for oysters.

A little breakthrough in understanding came when I noticed that on the copyright page of Spear's book that portions of the title in hand had appeared previously in her 1975 EAST HAMPTON COOKBOOK. The cookbook writers who speak of "oyster hunger" both hail from Long Island. Though proof is sparse, it is an indicator that we are quite possibly dealing with a bit of regional food lore with some basis in fact. Whatever the case, I'll take my minerals on the half shell any day.


Charles Seluzicki

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The Book on Soup

15 years ago, I started keeping a journal of sorts - Not an accounting of navel gazing feelings, day to day events nor hopes and aspirations but the pages were set to record people who came to our apartment to share meals. First entry was May 2, ’95, my brother Carl and I had our first meal in a new apartment – Gumbo, Rice and beer. There is a note that Oregon Book Award winning poet Matthew Dickman didn’t show up. Which unlike the recently deceased author J.D. Salinger, Matthew was not only invited, he said he would be there.

Matthew was there the next week for Carl’s birthday and many times after, there is factual documentation, because of what is known as ‘the book’. The book is a record of not only who showed up and what we ate, but the occasional bit of conversation that was worthy of recording…For instance, In 1997 it was pointed out the only thing I was good at making were generalizations - it would have been a shame if that little bon mot was forgotten over time. On Feb 23, 2003 Red Beans and Rice and pecan tarts were served to 20 people; in April of 2000 there was carrot ginger soup; in 1998 there was Easter lasagna, there were many Thanksgiving celebration.

For most of its life the book has captured the happenings of Soupnight. For most of its decade long run Soupnight was a monthly event where friends gathered to eat a casual meal, drink good beer and not very memorable wine and enjoy a night of company without TV. It was a long run, fondly remembered, not only because we recorded the event in a spiral bound book, but because how often to you set aside a little time to see your friends and share a meal?

Tonight, Carl and my sister-in-common-law (if they ever get married, I will loose my lame-oft-repeated play on words) are hosting a mini-revival of Soupnight. Corn Soup, my contribution is a couple of Meyer lemon tarts. And I am pretty excited to go eat soup after work. I am looking forward to seeing friends, having a beer and talking over the din of conversation. I don’t want to make something more of the night of soup than it is…

People will occasionally make the argument that, more specifically, the making of food is capital A – Art. The art-food conversation, like most of the conversations about ‘what is really art’, only happen after the convivialities of meal, wine and conversation have been unleashed. As a producer of some pretty good meals, I am not sure that food is art. It isn’t the short-lived nature of the endeavor – art can be temporary, never lasting long enough to make it into a museum or to be hung on a wall and stared at with reverence. I just don’t think elevating cooking to an art form makes it any better. Cooking is a craft, learned, practiced, improved upon; there is a deep honor in craft – it need not be apologized for or elevated to something it is not.

Tonight, a gathering where if everything goes right, if the food is good, if the dessert is enjoyable, if the guests are a good enough match that everyone feels comfortable, if there is conversation and laughter that people walk away feeling the world is a better place, full of possibility, then we will have achieved our own little Babette’s Feast – Now there is a work of Art.


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Super Bowl Index

This Sunday is the Super Bowl. Ostensibly the championship for American football, the game is a somewhat minor component in a day, weekend/sick day or possibly a week-long celebration. Far from a solemn event, the Super Bowl is Mardi Gras uncoupled from Ash Wednesday, it is a day of indulgence and as with all celebrations food plays an important part in how the day is observed.

Although Saucyman tries to double source all facts for the readers protection, the following statistical data was not verified and instead chosen for its entertainment value – quote at your peril.

About 1 in 5 people will watch the game in a social setting – 17% attending parties and 4% viewing in a bar.

Even if you don’t watch the game, be careful to have a meal prepared Sunday evening, with 1/8 households ordering out during the game, it is a bad night to crave pizza or Popeyes. With Sushi is gaining popularity as a game time snack, Vietnamese and Thai appear to be fairly safe bets if you must order food.

You’d think that it is all wings and pizza but you’d be wrong, there are more vegetables are consumed than meat and cheese. Lest you think it is large gentlemen squeezed inside of generously sized football jerseys nibbling on crudités, worrying about their figure - it takes some concessions to make that stat work…Avocados (a fruit) go into 8 million pounds of guacamole, the tomatoes in salsa are scooped up by 14,500 tons of corn chips and don’t forget potato chips and French fries adding to the tally. While all this places veggies at the top of the list; Super Bowl Sunday has been designated as a national day of low fiber.

And while beer companies aren’t as anxious to publish PR friendly statistical info like the Avocado Board and Restaurant Association are: This Sunday more drivers will be involved in alcohol related incidents (crashes, DUIs) than any other day of the year other than St. Patrick’s Day.

There is slowing down with the silver bullet: 5-6% of our workforce will call out sick on Monday following the Super Bowl.

Advertisers will spend over $150,000,000 on the roughly 60 minutes of advertising within the game. Collectively, Americans will spend $50,000,000 on food. This is second only to Thanksgiving in terms of dollars and calories.

And just in case this is the only place you hear it – It is the Saints of New Orleans versus the Indianapolis Colts. Although, I don’t have a pony in this race, football suffers greatly from not being basketball or baseball, I’d lean towards picking New Orleans only because it has a prouder culinary history. Jambalaya versus Green Bean Casserole, what are you going to eat. And that is the worst betting information you are ever going to read.


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Meat Me on Sunday

Saucydude - I am supposed to bring food to a party this week. I’ve been assigned to bring something like hors d'oeuvre to share with 20, except it is for a Super bowl party...Are they still hors d'oeuvres? Any ideas beyond wings, chips and guac, mini-pizzas for a finger food? World Cupcake

Ah, football – 20 seconds of action followed by endless commentary, an elaborate system of appeals to challenge the codified rules of the game and coaches who are hailed for being equal parts The Great Santini, Jesus and CEOs - It is the perfect sport for our culture.

While I believe an hors d'oeuvre is an hors d'oeuvre no matter how déclassé the event; the problem here isn’t what to call the dish, it is what to bring. Like Thanksgiving or BBQ/Grill oriented picnics, this isn’t the exact moment for wild ideas or even nominal experimentation - People want something familiar: You could make something delicious like prunes stuffed with pate, almonds and brandy, tiny curried cauliflower samosas or mini-blini topped smoked salmon, sour cream and dill and they aren’t going to move off the buffet table as quickly as the mini-weenies wrapped Pillsbury croissants will.

The presence of the New Orleans Saints in this year’s competition might give you a little room to get creative. A spicy red bean dip or the ability to sprinkle a cayenne-paprika-black pepper-garlic powder mixture on any food and say it has been Cajunized.

One of my favorite finger foods a pretty straightforward combination of meat & potatoes – so unvarnished, in fact, I like to call this dish “Meat & Potatoes”. A slice of steak glued to a sliced, roasted potato with a little horseradish. Not fancy, not original but it goes with beer and it is a winner at parties and really isn’t that what Super Bowl Sunday is really about, fielding a winner and drinking beer?

For 20:

4-5 Yukon Gold or Gold Potatoes
Salt, Pepper and oil
8 oz of Steak – Sirloin, Hangar, Flat Iron or for the fancier; NY Strip
1 oz Sour Cream
1 heaping Tablespoon of horseradish.

Preheat oven to 450

You should get a about 4 to 5 slices per potato. The slices will appropriately look like chips on steroids. While you can’t use the rounded end pieces in the presentation, you still want to roast them – they make a nice treat for the cook.

Toss potatoes in oil, salt and pepper and arrange on a sheet pan lined with lightly oiled foil, parchment or reusable Silipat-type liner. Place 1/4 cup hot tap water on bottom of pan and place in oven. Begin checking for doneness after 15 minutes by poke potato with fork - the fork should both go in and come out easily. An optional 2 minutes under the broiler will develop a nice color.

While the potatoes are cooking, grill or cook steak. Rare is good – about 3 minutes per side. Let Steak rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Mix sour Cream and horseradish together.

Dab the top (the side with the better color) of the potato with a Sour Cream Horseradish. Remove, noticeable grizzle and fat from the steak and cut into thin slices and place on top of the horseradished potato. Arrange on a plate, serve at room temp. A small dusting of cayenne-paprika-black pepper-garlic powder mixture will Cajunize the dish, but I think a light dusting of salt & pepper right before service is more than enough.


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