Food

Asparagus are the crocuses of vegetables, the very first edible herald of spring. Of course, like most exotic luxuries, asparagus can be seen in fancy food shops as early as the January white sales.

War news, which increasingly comes in curt briefings from the Pentagon, rivets the country's attention and also serves to distract citizens from what is either a recession or a depression depending on whose ox is being gored. Sales of yellow ribbon may be up around here but nothing much else is. And February. Can't something be done about this wretched month — like shortening it to 10 days?

"The older it is, sourdough fanciers say, the better bread it makes; some Alaskan families have sour­ dough 50 years old." — Waverly Root and Richard de Rochemont, “Eating in America” 

Pioneer women carried leaven “mothers” across the plains to California, where sourdough bread has remained popular to this day. Sourdough got started in places where no yeast could be brought so had to be made naturally, capturing whatever wild yeasts were ini the air. Hops and beer helped, but plain flour and water ferment after 18 to 24 hours at nor­mal room temperature.

This combination of fresh haricot beans and dried garbanzos (chickpeas) is beautiful, nutritious, and delicious. Even the crankiest of eaters will find nothing to object to.

“By the beginning of the 18th century . . . all the arguments which were to sustain modem vegetarianism were in circulation.” — Keith Thomas, “Man and the Natural World,” 1983

These arguments were: that slaughtering animals has a brutalizing effect on human behavior; that consuming meat is bad for the health; that it inflicts untold suffering on humans’ fellow creatures; that it is simply wrong to kill any animals at all (the dominant view of theologians from the Renaissance on was, and I believe still is, that animals were created by God for the benefit of mankind).

This amazingly tender and juicy pork roast is the result of cooking at high temperature a relatively short time in a covered Weber grill, and butterflied leg of lamb has been seen on fashionable grills for over 20 years but whole leg of lamb is far less commonplace.

Trout with bacon and vinegar sauce is a sophisticated dinner version of an old-time fisherman's breakfast, while flounder takes on an interesting flavor and appearance when stuffed with herbs.

“Man is an epicure just as he is an artist, a scholar, a poet. The palate . . . is as delicate and susceptible of training as the eye or ear, and equally deserving of respect.”  — Guy de Maupassant, Madame Husson’s Rose-king 

This spicy blend of fish, shrimp, and okra isn’t at all difficult to make, but the timing of each ingredient added must be adhered to precisely, because cooking times are brief and overcooking ruins the dish.

"Memory recalls dishes that have pleased the taste; imagination pretends to see them; there is something dreamlike about the whole process." — "On Appetite," Brillat-Savarin

Here we are — locked in the drears of January with nothing much active and pleasurable to do. Except cook! And think about food we shouldn't have and still stick to the traditional New Year's vow to lose 10 pounds.

This fudge pie is a “gooey-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside, heavenly piece of chocolate wickedness,” and the lemon-curd tarts have a rich filling that can also be used in lemon meringue pie or a layer-cake filling.

This is one of the world's great peasant soups, the emblematic soup of Quebec, in fact. Despite this, with our normal maddening indifference to our 'friendly giant to the north,' Canada, there are no recipes to be found for this great soup in any American cookbook I've seen. I tracked it down through a friend in Montreal.

The bald eagle may be the emblem of the United States, but I think Benjamin Franklin got his wish even though it has not been proclaimed by any official source: Turkey is the national bird.

“Often called 'poor man's meat' and, in one form, 'poor man's caviar,' the eggplant is one of the staple foods of the Middle East. It is extremely versatile." — Claudia Roden, “A Book of Middle Eastern Food”

Corn has ears and we’d all better sneak up on it as rapidly as possible.

“The varieties of plum are legion, and have been at least since Roman times when Pliny spoke of the ingens turba prunorum, the enormous crowd of plums.” — Jane Grigson’s "Fruit Book"

The great menagerie of plums begins now and goes on through August, with this luscious stone fruit ranging from blue-black, through the reds and rubies, and on to yellow and the pale, almost translucent green of greengages. 

"Lake shrimp are always used in making this gumbo, the river shrimp being too small and delicate. Purchase three to four pounds, or about 100 shrimp, for there are always smaller shrimp in the pile which, when cooked, amount to little or nothing.” 
- "The Picayune Creole Cookbook," 1901 edition

I don’t think I’d ever had anything but canned spinach growing up, and it was pretty bad stuff. Nowadays, frozen spinach has taken over from the canned, and fresh leafy green spinach is still not an everyday commodity. The reason for this, besides perishability, is that not many people think that swishing spinach through three changes of water constitutes a fun time.

Weakfish, a.k.a. squeteague or sea trout, has begun its annual migration in large schools up the Atlantic coast. . . . The name, weakfish, is no slur on its character; it refers to the delicate mouth of this fish, which is easily torn by a hook. Otherwise the weak has a lean and flaky white flesh that is delicious when very freshly caught. It tends to become soft and flabby if not cooked right away and its blandness needs some exciting flavor accents to be interesting.

Flowers, with their sweet fragrances and riotous color, are balm for the senses and for the eye. Of late, nouvelle-trendy watering spots have introduced them as stylish garnish and amusing nibbles. Less known is the fact that flowers were a common and popular ingredient in recipes in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Ham is to Easter what turkey is to Thanksgiving and it’s best not to tamper too much with tradition. Of course, lamb is traditional if you happen to be Greek, but ham for Easter has come to be the unshakable custom in most American households.

This is the season when the shad, which usually remain in deep water until they are five years old, return to spawn in rivers and on sandy flat bars at the rivers’ mouths.

That comforting line about Christmas coming “but once a year” might ring hollow in your ears, with Christmas parties and Christmas drop-ins to be dealt with by the genial host. To be always at the ready, there are fortunately some delicious things that can be made in advance and refrigerated and served on several occasions.

Here's a French version of apple pie alleged to have been invented by two spinsters who ran a rustic restaurant in Lamotte-Beauvron, a hamlet not far from Paris.

"Hermits" are chewy, spice-laden cookies that date back to early 19th-century cookery in America, and there are many variations on the basic recipe.

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." — G.K. Chesterton

Upon reading this, a poet friend of mine, William Cole, sat down and composed a nine-stanza ode to cheese called “What a Friend We Have in Cheeses!” subtitled “Sing a Song of Liederkranz.” But neither he nor anyone else seems to have gotten around to penning a single line to meat loaf, a subject that sends perfectly rational people into raptures.

Most of the pumpkins dotting the fields with the brilliant orange will get their 15 minutes of celebrity on Halloween night. For although this hardy member of the squash-gourd family grows ubiquitously both in this hemisphere and in Europe, there are few recipes for its use. Too bad, be­cause the pumpkin’s hard rind keeps it usable for many months past the Thanksgiving pie season.

Eggplant seems to be available the year around nowadays, but is more than usually plentiful during the last warm days of September.

There are lots of party foods that can be made in advance at no great expense. The money saved can be used to hire the bartenders and waiters that are essential if the hosts are to have any fun at all and remain on speaking terms with each other.

Florence Fabricant decided to take advantage of the lush peaches and excellent blueberries that will be at their zenith in flavor during late July. There are already fine peaches and berries in the market so you can make this right away.