Archives for January 2009
Forrest Gump-Like Beaker at Ben’s Chili Bowl
Snap via Serious Eats. More Beaker qua Gump in D.C. at the sportabulous Kissing Suzy Kolber.
Free the Roquefort! Free Trade!
Got this email today from the proprietor for Cheesetique in the Del Rey neighborhood of Alexandria–a cri de coeur in defense of imported Roquefort in the face of a new 300 percent tariff.
My mouth dropped open this morning while reading the Washington Post. No, it wasn’t over the section about the proposed Buy American stipulation requiring that all new stimulus projects be completed using only American goods and equipment, though I’m sure Thomas Jefferson, owner of the illustrious words, “The exercise of a free trade with all parts of the world [is] possessed by [a people] as of natural right” and Ronald Reagan, who said, “Our trade policy rests firmly on the foundation of free and open markets. I recognize … the inescapable conclusion that all of history has taught: The freer the flow of world trade, the stronger the tides of human progress and peace among nations”, rolled over in their respective graves.
I was shocked and awed not by that cavalier attack on our broad free-trade liberties, but by the specific violation featured prominently on the front page (albeit below the fold): little old Roquefort is under attack! That sublime product of lactation, coagulation, and fermentation has always held a special place in my heart, despite its high price tag and limited availability. Not only do I have a particular affection for Roquefort, but so do Cheesetique’s discerning customers, who marvel at its romantic story of creation, rustic approach to production even today, and exclusive availability. Your love of raw milk Roquefort has made it a staple in many of my cheese classes and one of the most popular and consistent sellers at Cheesetique. Since opening our doors more than four years ago, we have never been without Roquefort Papillon (I prefer this brand above others, though we have also carried Carles, which is outstanding). We have sold hundreds of pounds of Roquefort despite its title as the most expensive cheese consistently carried at Cheesetique.
To sum up today’s article on Roquefort, the Bush administration recently imposed a 300% tariff on the importation of this rare cheese as a form of retaliation against the EU’s refusal to import America’s hormone-laden meat. Obviously, Roquefort is a TEENY TINY portion of imported food in the US, so why pick on this poor little cheese and, by association, the 600-person town of Roquefort? It’s called symbolism, my friends. Roquefort, like foie gras and truffles, simply says, “France”.
Why do I focus today on this seemingly insignificant example of protectionism at it worst when there are such large-scale issues to consider in our tumultuous time? For that reason exactly. There are so many huge examples of economic policies gone awry, totaling billions and trillions of dollars, and for that very reason, I point out this easily identifiable, but no less extreme violation of the American ways of free choice and trade.
As our own form of culinary protest, Cheesetique will continue to carry Roquefort until it is no longer available, which I assure you, will only be a matter of time. Not only will we continue to carry it, but its price will never exceed that which we pay for it. We encourage those of you that might have shied away from this pricey perfection in the past to come in and pick up a piece of one of the most historically significant and perfectly created foods in the world – at $20.00 per pound. Yes, you read correctly. $20 per pound.
Remember: Protectionism is bad. Roquefort is good. Long live the latter!
Live Long and Suffer
Those cranky septuagenarian journalists of 60 Minutes ran a piece this past weekend on a possibly life-extending component of red wine. No one needs another excuse to partake of the vino tinto (even merlot!), but the best part comes around the 6:15 mark when Morley Safer, in-between pulls on the oxygen mask, hobnobs with some self-flagellators in a scene featuring more dessicated skin than Wilson’s Leather:
Meet the members of CRS – the Calorie Restriction Society – a group that has been severely restricting their calories for years now. They are also part of a Washington University study to see if humans “mimic” the monkeys. Does this kind of self-denial makes them live longer, healthier lives?
60 Minutes joined them for what they call “happy hour,” consisting of a cocktail of low-calorie soup for starters, and walnuts, and baby food – green bean puree on flour-free bread to top off this feast fit for a flea.
So far the participants have lowered their blood pressure, reduced body fat, and lessened risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.
Look. I foresee me dying in one of two ways: in my sleep or in a fiery explosion saving humanity from the Islamic Republic of Necrotopia 6. Either way, hitting the century mark via privation isn’t a goal. I’m not opposed to transhumanism but I’ll never understand the reasoning behind mortification of the flesh as a gateway to anything, whether it be God, Nirvana, or longer life. So many self-deniers I meet or read about, like the Skinnies of Safer’s report, seem eager to trade quality for quantity, if only to spend their extra hours on Earth playing World of Warcraft. I’ll take my chances with steak and Dunkin Donuts and looking like I didn’t walk off the lot of a 1930s Universal film.
Photo by Mr. Barry Norman, Gadabout.
Why Buy the Cow?
From today’s Wall Street Journal front pager on the stimulus bill:
Dairy and beef cattle producers butted heads over talk that the government might buy up dairy cattle for slaughter to drive up depressed milk prices.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the image of families scrimping and saving to buy milk for the children a classic Depression tale of woe? Here we are, with the 1930s foremost in everyone’s minds, and we’re going to legislatively order the deaths of a bunch of cows in order to keep prices high as a favor to a small but powerful group of dairy farmers?
Who will think of the children?
This Week in Bacon
Bacon is rising to the top of the national consciousness as The Bacon Explosion is today’s #2 most emailed article on nytimes.com. We at Crispy love bacon, so this is a good development. But even better is that the Bacon Explosion is bringing the country together in a meat/salt/fat kumbaya and there is even a football angle. From the article:
For a nation seeking unity, a recipe has swept the Internet that seems to unite conservatives and liberals, gun owners and foodies, carnivores and … well, not vegetarians and health fanatics.
Certainly not the vegetarians and health fanatics.
This recipe is the Bacon Explosion, modestly called by its inventors “the BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes.” The instructions for constructing this massive torpedo-shaped amalgamation of two pounds of bacon woven through and around two pounds of sausage and slathered in barbecue sauce first appeared last month on the Web site of a team of Kansas City competition barbecuers. They say a diverse collection of well over 16,000 Web sites have linked to the recipe, celebrating, or sometimes scolding, its excessiveness. A fresh audience could be ready to discover it on Super Bowl Sunday.
For a helpful slide show on how to make the Bacon Explosion, go here.
Too Much is Never Enough for NYC Food Nannies
The latest target in New York City’s war against food freedom is salt. As reported today in the New York Times, the Orwellian-sounding Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has put a dartboard on the back of that evil seasoning.
As evidence of the existence of a slippery slope, the department is emboldened by its recent victories against smoking, trans fats and calories and believes it can likewise succeed in getting New Yorkers to decrease their sodium intake. The effort will be voluntary, according to department head Dr. Thomas Frieden. Voluntary like Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) famously called our IRS tax system. Money quote:
“If there’s not progress in a few years, we’ll have to consider other options, like legislation,” [Frieden] said in an interview last week.
If reducing sodium intake is a noble goal, why not run a public service ad campaign instead of reducing choice, coercing the public and harrassing food producers and restaurants? Give people the facts and let them make their own choices.
The law of unintended consequences might also kick in here as the cure could end up being worse than the disease as companies try to create salt substitutes under pressure from regulators and interest groups. For an historical perspective, let’s recall the hysteria in the 90’s over McDonald’s using beef fat to fry its fries. Public health groups mobilized to decry the practice and pillory the company so it replaced beef fat with… trans fat, the new wonder fat. As a rule of thumb, synthetic “foods” are less healthy than natural ones, so it is not a leap to imagine that salt substitutes will be worse for one’s health than actual salt. And the industry is already heading in this direction as it anticipates growing regulatory pressure:
Kraft alone has spent $20 million on sodium reduction research, studying chemicals that block taste receptors and experimenting with yeast or potassium as substitutes.
Whole NY Times article is here.
End Farm Subsidies
Unfortunately, when many people hear they words “free market” they think “corporate apologist” or “in the tank for big business.”
But that’s not why I’m a libertarian. I’m a libertarian because I believe the free market is the best way–indeed the only way–to guarantee individual rights, economic freedom, and prosperity for everyone.
Editor Nick Gillespie and his colleagues at Reason.tv have put together a really nifty video calling for an end to farm subsidies that demonstrates this point.
While Gillespie and the farmers and economist he speaks with note that U.S. farm subsidies hurt not just Americans but, worse, the very, very poor in the developing world–countries like Mali, for example–that doesn’t stop some from erroneously defending farm subsidies as just the thing to help our “increasingly hungry world” eat.
When Macking on Deadly Fish Balls Goes Wrong
Eating fugu is a ballsy pursuit that every once in a while goes terribly wrong.
Blowfish testicles prepared by an unauthorized chef sickened seven diners in northern Japan and three remained hospitalized Tuesday after eating the poisonous delicacy.
[...]
[Police official Yoshihito] Iwase said the seven men ordered sashimi and grilled blowfish testicles at the restaurant Monday night.
Shortly after, they developed limb paralysis and breathing trouble and started to lose consciousness — typical signs of blowfish poisoning — and were rushed to a hospital for treatment, Iwase said.
More here. Homer Simpson suffers the same fate below.
via videosift.com
The Bobby Burns Cocktail
I am a day late a dollar short but still thought the irreverent food community would want to know a great cocktail recipe to celebrate Robert Burns. Here it is from the WSJ:
Robert Burns
2 oz Scotch whisky
¾ oz sweet (red) vermouth
¼ oz DrambuieStir with ice and strain into a stemmed cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. Variations are worth trying — replace the Drambuie with Benedictine (the most common way to make the drink) or with a scant dash of absinthe (perhaps the original way the drink was made). And with any version, you can add a dash of bitters, whether orange, Angostura or Peychaud’s.
Not Even Red Bull Can Give You (Chicken) Wings
The Superbowl is this weekend. That means beer and wings!! Oh yea, and also football. This year, though, the recession may even affect your opportunity to enjoy Sunday’s game. Because Pilgrim’s Pride, a major chicken producer located in Texas, filed bankruptcy in late December, there is now a chicken wing shortage – even in Buffalo, the capital of chicken buffalo wings:
The demand for chicken wings is higher than ever. But meeting that demand has become a problem. One reason is a poultry farm in Texas has filed for bankruptcy which has reduced the supply. The end result is higher prices.
“I have to raise my prices, and the people who can’t afford it won’t spend money,” explained Musolino[, owner of Sam's Pizza in Buffalo, NY].
While the National Chicken Council says there is no reason to fret, how can you not, when Pilgrim’s Pride was responsible for nearly one-quarter of the 24 billion wings eaten last year? With this shortage in chicken supply, you may still be able to get your wings, but you are going to have to pay the price. Otherwise, the only thing you’ll be dipping in blue cheese is celery.
Will the New Commander-in-Chief Visit Local Restaurants?
The restaurant community of DC is abuzz and hopeful that the Obama administration will help the local restaurant business by actually going out and not hunkering down at Camp David every weekend. The Bushies, led by the president, made no impact on the dining or cultural life of the city. The Bushes in eight years made no more than one restaurant visit that I can remember (that was post 9/11 having dinner at Morton’s with then DC mayor Anthony Williams).
All signs are that the Obamas will be more on the scene as Barack has indicated that he wants to have “date nights” with his wife Michelle.
Wa Post food critic Tom Sietsma compiled a list of restaurants for the First Family to visit. Among them is my favorite neighborhood hang-out, Comet Ping-Pong. While I agree with that pick I dread the motorcade and SS security issues. Still, I agree that Malia and Sasha would love the ping-pong and the food is great. Tom Sietsma’s Obama recommendations are here.
Kucinich Inaugural Party?
On my walk to work today I happened upon this curbside scene, a fitting end to the presidential aspirations of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio):
Check out the empty beer bottles in the upper left corner, and the bottle of (diet!) tonic water in the lower right. And of course, the Whole Foods bags are appropriate for the last stand of our first vegan presidential candidate.
(NOTE: While I doubt this was actually the wreckage of a Kucinich family inauguration party, you never know—he and his very lovely wife have been known to gallivant in the Dupont Circle area.)
A Waste of a Good Bunny?
Generally, I don’t like to see a good rabbit–chocolate or otherwise–go to waste. How about a nice Lapin Rôti à la Moutarde? Or a nice nibble from the chocolate ears? But I’ll make an exception in this case: The team at LERNERT ENGELBERTS has turned chocolate bunnies into fodder for arty mini-movies. Dark, dark arty mini-movies. Probably about mortality and stuff. Click on the bunny to watch.
Via BoingBoing
Origins of Rubber Chicken in French Recipe?
Molecular gastronomist Heston Blumenthal of Fat Duck, speaking to the Daily Mail for its food issue, relates the craziest recipe he’s ever come across. And it’s a real doozy.
The most outrageous recipe I found was from an antique French cook book – although I’d be amazed if anyone actually made it. You pluck a chicken while it’s still alive, brush its skin with a wheatgerm-and-saffron dripping, then tuck its head under its wing and rock it to sleep.
Then you put it on a serving platter between two cooked chickens, bring it to the table and wait for someone to try to carve it – at which point this apparently roast chicken wakes up, squawks and runs down the table. You then take the poor bird, kill it, stuff its neck with mercury and sulphur, stitch it up and roast it, and as you bring it back to the table the chemicals in its neck are still making a clucking noise – as if it were alive.
Wow. And wow.
That’s probably the highlight, but there are several other fun nuggets in the article, which features Brit celeb chefs Blumenthal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Gordon Ramsay, and loathesome crumb opponent Jamie Oliver.
Also this weekend across the pond, Brit chef Antony Worrall Thompson came out against nationwide plans for a menu-labeling scheme in The Sun.
Bans snuff out more than cigarettes
One more post about smoking bans and then I’ll move to actual food. Or maybe drinks. But first, this:
Yet as wonderful as the beer is at the Horse Brass, its community revolves around something more: smoking. The bar is notorious among non-smokers for its tobacco haze and its brown walls and ceiling, which people swear were once white. For those who enjoy tobacco, the Horse Brass is a welcome sanctuary in a city where many businesses are already smoke-free. It’s easy to light a cigar, strike up a conversation, and make new friends. Unfortunately, I had only three months to feel at home here: The state legislature decreed that on January 1, 2009 all bars and restaurants in the State of Oregon had to become smoke-free.
That’s from my article at Doublethink today about my favorite bar in Portland and how its culture has been wiped out by the nanny statists in Salem and their brand new smoking ban. At a bar like the Horse Brass, you either get it or you don’t. The busybodies in the state legislature clearly don’t.
