SOFT DRINK COOKERY

What's with the soft focus?
Is this a Meryl Streep film

The idea of taxing Soda is all the rage. Fob friend of the blog Charlie Seluzicki has some different ideas on what to do with soda.

I was recently at a house sale in my neighborhood and found myself digging through a stack of cooking pamphlets prepared by companies and states promoting their brands or their products: Fleischmann’s Bake-it-easy Yeast Book, Florida’s Favorite Seafoods. James Beard wrote a number of these for the likes of Crosse & Blackwell, Cuisinart and Corning Ware.  Most dated from the 40’s to the 60’s.  But only a few were unusual.  Among these I was happiest to unearth “quick recipe favorites distinctively different with...7up” (1965).  

It was years ago that I first became aware that there had been a vogue for cooking with soft drinks after WW II.  I had found a Dr Pepper cook book and passed it along to bookman and novelist Larry McMurtry whose collection of vintage bottles of Dr Pepper was not widely known.  I had never seen such a thing and, frankly, was horrified at the thought of basting a pork roast with Dr Pepper.  But that was then.
James Beard’s magnum opus, AMERICAN COOKERY (1972) makes at least two references to cooking with soft drinks and these had escaped my gaze in early readings.  In a note on ready-to-eat hams, he writes “You may bake tenderized or ready-to-eat hams fat side down in a pan with a pint of sherry, Madeira, apple cider, or ginger ale.” In the narrative accompanying “Ham Baked in Cola,” he simply notes that “[t]his Southern-style dish has come into fashion within the last twenty or twenty-five years.” This is Beard the chronicler, passing no judgement except the obvious: he thought it worthy of inclusion in his book.
While I understand the cook who chooses to askew such trends, I value the discreet inclusion of them in the repertories of many of the chefs that I prize most highly.  Soft drinks provide a singular form of acid, sugar and a distinctive taste.  They tenderize, promote carmelization and add a chosen dimension of flavor. No doubt their use inevitably provokes highbrow / lowbrow subtexts. There is that person who flavors the whipped cream with a few drops of Grand Marnier who would be aghast at the thought of poaching pears in 7-UP or adding Dr Pepper to the duck sauce.
While I will take a pass on 7-UP cheese fondue, it strikes me that the current proliferation of soft drinks made with good ingredients that are actually revealed on the label might introduce yet another dimension of welcomed experimentation and fun into the kitchen.  Besides, those Southern cooks know a thing or two.

Charles Seluzicki