alacarte: the food blog

[alacarte]

It looks like I'm up -- as I told bergerka, it had to happen sooner or later. I'll warn you up front that I don't own a digital camera, so there won't be any luscious pix in this blog, sorry. But hopefully I'll be able to offer enough description to leave everyone drooling over their keyboards anyhow.

OK, here's my story. For starters, here are some of the things that color my food world:

1. I am an aspiring food writer. I've actually sold a few pieces at this point, so that likely makes me actual rather than aspiring, but in my opinion I still have a ways to go. I'm not quitting my "day job" just yet. My "day job" is working in financial research and editing for a large information services conglomerate. Since I've been working there for a few years now and I even have a staff reporting to me it qualifies as a career rather than a day job, but my intent is to move into food writing in a full-time capacity sometime in the near future. Since many of my posts will be made from said day job, I won't name my employer, but I will tell you that I work in the culinary wasteland of downtown Manhattan (right next to Ground Zero, as a matter of fact. And I'm grateful to report that no, I was not there on 9/11, though unfortunately I know many people that were).

If you want to read some of my work, here's a link to a piece I did for The Daily Gullet on "Cubicle Cuisine."

2. I keep a kosher kitchen. I am married to a wonderful guy who grew up in a kosher household. And although I did not grow up keeping kosher, like many others on this board when I married I opted to keep a kosher household. It's a labor of love, and sometimes a royal pain in the neck. Mr. alacarte (as slkinsey has dubbed him ) keeps kosher always, everywhere. It's a lifestyle choice. However...when I am away from home and away from Mr. alacarte, I cheat on the kosher diet with abandon. Shrimp scampi. Cheeseburgers. You name it. Mmm, mmm, trayfe.

When I'm cooking at home, I'm usually cooking with kosher meat, or more often than not I'm cooking vegetarian (dairy or pareve, no meat).

3. One of my geekiest food-geek traits is my long-time interest in food history. I'm even on the board of The Culinary Historians of New York. This started as a general interest in women's history, which evolved into a deeper and geekier interest in how women were tied to the kitchen and how they cooked. Then I started collecting vintage cookbooks and learned how to cook, and all was lost.

I'm especially interested in cooking at the turn of the century (um, the last one, so that means the wonderful opulent dishes of the early 1900s) as well as wartime cooking, which is as far away from wonderful and opulent as you can get. I wrote an article about WWI cooking for the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink (which is due for release in fall 2004). I also wrote about the history of Twinkies for the encyclopedia.

Sometimes I try to cook historical recipes, with varying levels of success. My last experiment was ice box cake.

edited to add links.

Edited March 14, 2004 by alacarte (log)

[jackal10]

Wonderful! I am looking forward to this.

I have inherited a number of old Jewish cookbooks. Let me know if I can help your research

For example "Dainty Dinners and Dishes for Jewish Families" 1902 by May Henry and Kate Halford (Wertheime, Lea & Co, London).

The forward says they were sisters, and authors of "The Economical Jewish Cook Book"

The suggested Menu for March is

Julienne Soup

Fillets of Sole Orly

Brain Patties

Fillets of Beef with Horseradish Sauce

Leg of Mutton

Potatoes la Lyonnaise

Spinach

Rum Sorbet

Duckling, Apple Sauce; Salad

Charlotte Russe

Lemon Whip

Deviled Sardines

Edited March 14, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[alacarte]

It's Sunday, which means I don't have to eat around a workday schedule. Hooray!

I am an early riser (waking at 5:45 AM each day to make sure the first financial reports are out before the market opens will do that to you). So even on a Sunday, by 8AM I had an iced mochaccino in hand.

I am fanatical about my iced mochas. I have never been a fan of hot drinks. Used to drink iced hazelnut coffee with lots of milk and three sugars, and then I discovered mochas, which are like rocket fuel with the extra caffeine (espresso) and sugar (chocolate) already added in. It's like drinking a milkshake.

The best mochas are made with espresso and chocolate syrup blended together while the espresso still is hot, and THEN poured over cold milk and ice. Frothed steamed milk on top is nice, but optional from my point of view. I dislike (OK, like less) mochas made with powdered chocolate, which can make for a grainy texture, or mochas made from already-iced coffee that's been sitting in the fridge overnight, which can create a metallic flavor. And it has to be espresso, not regular joe. I wasn't kidding when I said I was fanatical.

Most coffee shops I frequent know me by sight -- I'm the crazy lady who orders iced drinks even in the dead of winter, and who comes in at the crack of dawn when most customers still are hitting the snooze button.

Yes, I could make my own mochas. It would save me lots of money. I do own an espresso machine. But it has never been used. Iced mochas made by someone else are but a small pleasure in the grander scheme of things, in my opinion. If it puts a smile on my face before the sun is up, it's well worth the price tag to me.

[alacarte]

Thanks Jackal!

"Brain patties"? That sounds economical in the extreme to me. I'd still love to hear the recipe though!

[slkinsey]

5:45 AM!!!!!!!!!!!! Great Caesar's ghost!

[alacarte]

Lunch is a little early today, since I didn't have breakfast with my AM iced mocha. I know, I can hear my mom disapproving right now. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I skip breakfast more often than I care to admit.

Lunch today is vegetarian chili left over from the batch I made last night, with shredded monterey jack cheese melted over the top.

I have a great recipe for veg chili that I modified from the Moosewood Cookbook. The original recipe calls for bulgur and onions -- I omit both -- and more spices than I like. My version of "red, green, and gold chili" calls for sauteeing 1/2 each a green and yellow pepper in olive oil, and then adding a box of chopped Pomi tomatoes, a can each of red kidney and black beans, and about a cup and a half of frozen corn. I spice the chili with cumin, chili powder, and a touch of garlic, but about half of what Moosewood calls for.

Last night, the chili was served over white rice and sprinkled with chopped green jalapenos, which added crunch but not as much heat as I would have liked. It's also good inside tortillas as a quesadilla or burrito filling.

I like to cook on the weekends, when I have more time. During the week I'm more likely to order in or bring in food, since I often arrive home STARVING! One of my favorite weekend habits is to walk over to the Union Square Greenmarket on a Saturday morning, while Mr. alacarte sleeps in, and then bring home a tote bag full of vegetables to plan a meal around. It's still a little early in the season for Greenmarket produce, but in a couple of weeks the season will begin in full force!

[alacarte]

5:45 AM!!!!!!!!!!!! Great Caesar's ghost!

Yes, Virginia, your clock does have a 5:45 AM on it too.

But the flip side is that I'm rarely awake past 11PM most nights.

[Suzanne F]

So we weren't FORCING you to eat that burger at City Hall? That's a relief!

(edited because I hit the wrong button, )

Edited March 14, 2004 by Suzanne F (log)

[jackal10]

Not sure your blog is the right place for this - I don't want to take it over..

Brain Patties (source as above)

1/2lb puff pastry

1 set ox brains

1 tablespoonful vinegar

1/4 pint white sauce

1 blade mace

salt and pepper

Line some patty-pans with puff pastry, mark the centres with a small round cutter and bake them. Soak the brains in cold water and skim them, then tie them up in muslin and boil them in hot water to which vinegar and salt has been added for 15-20 minutes. When cold chop them finely and add white sauce in which mace has been boiled, and the seasoning. Mix well, fill the baked patty cases and re-heat in the oven until served.

I assume the puff pastry is made with margarine. I guess the white sauce must have been a veloute, rather than a bechamel, otherwise I don't know how they made a parve white sauce.

Alas in these days of BSE beef brain is no longer available here. I guess chicken liver could be substituted...

[bloviatrix]

5:45 AM? The only way I ever see that hour is if I haven't gone to sleep yet.

[alacarte]

So we weren't FORCING you to eat that burger at City Hall? That's a relief!

(edited because I hit the wrong button, )

oh my goodness, no! That burger was high escapism to me. And it was fine company to boot!

[nessa]

Goodness. I get up at 4 AM on week days. Granted, that means I get off early afternoon and can go to all the lovely grocery stores before they get crowded....

How does one keep a kosher kitchen? Can you cook kosher in a non-kosher kept kitchen?

Does that mean that there are certain bowls and utencils for meat and others for dairy etc? I have an aunt who is Hassidic, and she is coming to visit the family in April. I'm guessing we will have to get food from a kosher deli, since our kitchen is not kept kosher?

Anyway, alacarte, I'm enjoying this blog. Its just facinating.

I was once part of the SCA and we did a lot of medieval cooking. It was quite interesting to delve into the history of food, I must admit. I'm a fool for authenticity.

[alacarte]

Thanks for the recipe, jackal. And I don't mind one bit about posting one of your recipes in "my" blog, it's all good!

I don't think that any of my cookbooks or food history books contain recipes for ox brains. There are more than a few gross ones in there, though, such as the recipe for pigeon pie. That might be just euphemism for quail or capon, but I didn't see any footnotes to suggest that the recipe called for anything other than NYC rats-with-wings.

Speaking of books, I'll post a few of my favorite titles. (I'm starting to see what bergerka meant when she referred to the "It's all about ME ME ME" syndrome! Even when I go off topic, it's still sanctioned!)

alacarte's favorite cooking books (not necessarily cook books)

1. Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century, by Laura Shapiro (food history)

2. The Kosher Palette (a compilation cookbook that almost never fails)

3. Almost Vegetarian, by Diana Shaw (cookbook)

4. My Kitchen Wars, by Betty Fussell (memoir)

5. Choice Cuts, edited by Mark Kurlansky. (I've only just started to read this, but already I am hooked. It's a compilation of food writing "from around the world and throughout history" and it's rapidly filling in many of the gaps in my admittedly limited food-reading canon. Everything is in here. Elizabeth David, MFK Fisher, Mrs. Beeton, Anton Chekhov, Waverley Root....if it's possible to be gluttonous about food reading, that's how this book is making me feel. I consume page after page and I just want to swallow the volume whole. It's a hardcover book that includes recipes and illustrations and photos. I'm not even trying to read it in order, I just keep flipping open the pages and reading wherever the book takes me. Next up: A letter from Ernest Hemingway to Charles Scribner dated May 1951 on how he likes to eat, to be followed by James Beard on Hot Chocolate. )

Signing off now, you can guess what I'll be doing for the next hour or so.

Edited March 14, 2004 by alacarte (log)

[Squeat Mungry]

Most coffee shops I frequent know me by sight -- I'm the crazy lady who orders iced drinks even in the dead of winter, and who comes in at the crack of dawn when most customers still are hitting the snooze button.

Me, too! Iced coffee drinks all year round. Not so much on the crack of dawn thing, though.

alacarte I'm really enjoying your blog and looking forward to the rest of it. I'm a goyisher guy who's fascinated with kashrut and kosher cuisine.

Cheers,

Squeat

[bergerka]

You have already inspired Sam and me...we made iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk this morning, even though it's like 35 degrees outside.

This is GREAT!

K

[JennyUptown]

Most coffee shops I frequent know me by sight -- I'm the crazy lady who orders iced drinks even in the dead of winter, and who comes in at the crack of dawn when most customers still are hitting the snooze button.

Me, too! Iced coffee drinks all year round. Not so much on the crack of dawn thing, though.

alacarte I'm really enjoying your blog and looking forward to the rest of it. I'm a goyisher guy who's fascinated with kashrut and kosher cuisine.

Cheers,

Squeat

Me three! Grande iced skim latte most of the time. I am supposed to try to get it half-caf (doctor's orders!), but so far, creating that new habit has been a huge failure.

[slkinsey]

I'll be very interested to read about the things you cook. I've always had an interest in kosher cooking, but less so in Ashkenazi cooking than some of the other traditions. I find the idea of traditional Italian Jewish cooking especially interesting (believe it or not, there was a time when there were a lot of Jews in Italy). There are several interesting books on the subject, as it so happens. One of my favorite Jewish-Italian dishes is to make some tagliatelle and roast a chicken. Then, while the chicken is resting the fresh pasta is tossed with the chicken pan drippings and some herbs to make the starch course. Very tasty! I really want to go to Tevere 84 (meat) and Va Bene (dairy) some time. They are kosher Italian places on the East Side, but not Italian-made-kosher. They are restaurants run by a Jewish family from Rome making real Roman Jewish Italian food. Supposed to be very good.

[bloviatrix]

I'm suprised that you like Kosher Palette so much. What is it about the volume you like?

[tsquare]

The best mochas are made with espresso and chocolate syrup blended together while the espresso still is hot, and THEN poured over cold milk and ice.

If you are ever in Seattle, go to Le Pichet. I watched them make iced mochas for the cooks this morning - exactly what you wrote, except they make their own chocolate sauce to mix into the espresso. And they use Vivace espresso - a local premium roaster. And only whole milk. Don't ask for non-fat, low-fat, rice or soy. Don't have any, never (?) will.

[alacarte]

Goodness. I get up at 4 AM on week days. Granted, that means I get off early afternoon and can go to all the lovely grocery stores before they get crowded....

How does one keep a kosher kitchen? Can you cook kosher in a non-kosher kept kitchen?

Does that mean that there are certain bowls and utencils for meat and others for dairy etc? I have an aunt who is Hassidic, and she is coming to visit the family in April. I'm guessing we will have to get food from a kosher deli, since our kitchen is not kept kosher?

Anyway, alacarte, I'm enjoying this blog. Its just facinating.

I was once part of the SCA and we did a lot of medieval cooking. It was quite interesting to delve into the history of food, I must admit. I'm a fool for authenticity.

Nessa, I'm glad that you are enjoying the blog, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who knows what a sunrise looks like!

About the rules of kashrut (kosher) -- I'll direct you to this FAQ instead of trying to outline all the rules myself. In general, I just do the best I can. But my very fastidious mother-in-law is willing to eat in our home, so I guess that means we're doing OK.

I bring only kosher meat into our home; do not mix milk and meat (yes, we have two sets of dishes, plus another set for Passover); do not cook shellfish or other non-kosher items. That said, I am not as strict as others -- for example, my MIL has designated one countertop for milk and another for meat. I make do with cleaning the countertop. Also, I'm willing to bring cookies or other (non-meat) items into my kitchen even if it's not explicitly labeled kosher, but I do read the ingredients carefully. For example, I would not bring products made with lard into our home.

As for your aunt -- I'd say that you're on the right track by bringing in kosher delicatessen. You might want to use paper plates and plastic (disposable) cutlery instead of your usual plates if you want to make her feel extra comfortable. Plus, no dishes to do after dinner!

[alacarte]

Most coffee shops I frequent know me by sight -- I'm the crazy lady who orders iced drinks even in the dead of winter, and who comes in at the crack of dawn when most customers still are hitting the snooze button.

Me, too! Iced coffee drinks all year round. Not so much on the crack of dawn thing, though.

alacarte I'm really enjoying your blog and looking forward to the rest of it. I'm a goyisher guy who's fascinated with kashrut and kosher cuisine.

Cheers,

Squeat

Very cool. Squeat, I enjoyed your blog too, way back when!

[alacarte]

I'm suprised that you like Kosher Palette so much. What is it about the volume you like?

I like the Kosher Palette cookbook for two reasons:

1. I find it to be reliable -- I have too many cookbooks (now growing dusty on the shelf) that offer recipes that sound great and then don't work out properly because the directions aren't explicit enough.

2. I like the recipes. I think some of you will be disappointed to find that just because I keep kosher, that doesn't mean that I'm cookin' up Nana's Jewish soul food every night. I do make things like brisket and matzah ball soup from time to time -- but otherwise, I have relatively mainstream tastes when it comes to my own cooking. Kosher Palette does a good job of offering non-"soul food" recipes, only kosher. For example, Chicken a l'Orange or Braised Short Ribs, but with no butter or bacon or whatever involved. It just makes things really easy.

That said, it can be kind of uninspired. I find that the NY restaurants can offer plenty of inspired food. When I cook at home I like my food to be uncomplicated, healthy, and straightforward -- maybe it's an antidote to all the hidden MSG and sodium and cream and fat on most restaurant (and worse, take-out) menus.

Blo, what's your favorite cookbook?

[Suzanne F]

Of the books that Sam linked to, I can report that Joyce Goldstein's Cucina Ebraica is terrific. One year for Passover I handed out recipes for people to cook and bring, and everything was delicious. Goldstein gives a lot of credit to Edda Servi Machlin, so I'll bet her book(s?) would be worth investigating, too.

[afoodnut]

And I can report that Edda Servi Machlin's books are wonderful, for recipes, and even more, for her stories and reminiscing.

Edited March 15, 2004 by afoodnut (log)

[helenjp]

I hear what you say about mainstream food, only kosher...my sister's favorite cookbook is a UK paperback called The Jewish Cookbook (can't find it right now...). She doesn't like food surprises, and she hates it when things turn out less than perfectly - that book is her pillow!

Maybe Jewish mainstream cookbooks are so good because kosher cooks cook at home so much?

Interested to read Jackal's brain recipe...the pastry was a surprise! I was served fried brains by my mother's friend once. They were sheep brains, breadcrumbed and deep fried. They may have been steamed and mashed in a white sauce and then formed into croquettes, but I don't recall the details - I was 7 at the time, and after one mouthful, I opened the window and dumped them in the bushes while my mother and her friend were gossiping in the kitchen. That mushy texture reminded me of instant mashed potatoes.