Legends of the Tomato

photo: ° d i °/via flickr

I found it amusing that Puritans once shunned tomatoes because they believed them to be aphrodisiacs. Because tomatoes also belong to the nightshade family of plants, it was commonly believed they were poisonous. George Washington even survived a tomato attempt on his life. Thanks, wikipedia!

 

100 Year-old Mayonnaise and DIY Cracker Jack

Richard Hellman opened a deli in New York City in 1905 and the rest is history.

Also courtesy of NPR, here’s a recipe for Cracker Jack-Style Caramel Popcorn with Peanuts

 

friday candy: a fairytale

The Tale of the Sugar Bag Tree

 

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Meet the Mexican Julia Child

Pico De Gallo, Old Mexican Style

3 cans jicama, chopped
2 cans orange, chopped
2 lemons
chile piquin, powdered, to taste
salt to taste

Mix the diced jicama and chopped orange, add the juice from two lemons and salt to taste.
Let it rest for three hours before serving.
Just before serving dust top with powdered chile piquin.

Recipe by Josefina Velazquez De Leon, Mexican Cook Book, 1947.

I was introduced to Josefina Velázquez de León by Jeffrey M. Pilcher, author of ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity, as he spoke on the Splendid Table. Ever since his late introduction to Mexican food, he has undertaken serious academic inquiry into the history of the Mexican table.

[About 1940] the spread of processed foods to the countryside sent folklorists rushing to preserve the previously scorned vernacular cuisine. The most prolific of these culinary researchers, Josefina Velázquez de León, published more than a hundred and fifty cookbooks, including a volume of regional recipes that became the model for future cookbooks seeking to represent the Mexican national cuisine.

In 1947, Josefina made her foray into the American kitchen. Mauricio Velázquez de León writes:

The 1947 edition of Mexican Cookbook Devoted to American Homes, is divided into four sections. The first is a lengthy explanation of Mexican food including an installment called “How to Cook the Mexican Way in the United States.” The two following sections portray an array of recipes, from well-known Mexican dishes like tamales and moles that remain unchanged to this day, to some forgotten delicacies like Caguama (sea turtle) Soup, a “favorite dish among Baja Californians.” The last section of the book offers a look at one of Josefina’s most ambitious projects: to gather, research, and publish recipes from all the different Mexican regions. This task began in the 1940s when she embarked on a series of trips around the country… Mexican Cookbook Devoted to American Homes the first book published in English to collect, in a single volume, a selection of these regional dishes.

And so this 5 de M, raise una cerveza, margarita or horchata and toast Mexico’s own culinatrix, Josefina!

(For a taste of Mexico at home, check out the Missipi Delta’s Tamale Trail.)

cookbook*ing: leave no page unsplattered.

 

The Test of Time

“[Irma Rombauer] wrote ‘The Joy of Cooking’ during the Depression,” says Bill LeBlond, the editorial director of Chronicle Books in San Francisco. “Her upper-middle-class friends (in St. Louis) had lost their servants, and for the first time these women had to do their own cooking. So ‘Joy’ began with ‘Stand facing the stove,’ and it survives as a classic cookbook today because it is one of the few that covers the basics.” More from ‘Basic Training’…

This past week, the Sacramento Bee published a series of fantastic articles revisiting the foundations of our collective cooking consciousness: basics. All you have to do is register for a username, do it, the rewards await.

• 5 new basics
• The basic bible for every cuisine, from breakfast to grilling to southern food.
• What to look for when buying a basic cookbook
• More…
  

Don’t want a shiny new one? Buy original, antique editions here.

Next week: Moms cook!

cookbook*ing: leave no page unsplattered.

 

Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table

What? Which? Huh? We are so civilized now in the 21st century that many among us would be hard pressed to match any of the elegant utensils above with the food for which they’re intended. So if you’ll be passing through NYC in the next 5 months or so, head over to the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (a branch of the Smithsonian) and educate thyself on the history of sifting spoons, ice cream hatchets and, of course, sporks, knorks and knoons! Find a full preview and the correct matches in today’s NY Times.

From May 5 to Oct. 29, “Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005,” will be at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 2 East 91st Street; (212) 849-8400.

cookbook*ing: leave no page unsplattered.

 

breaking news: save the fry-up

LONDON – APRIL 20: In this photo illustration an all English fry up breakfast is eaten, April 20, 2006 in London, England. The traditional English style breakfast ‘Fry-Up’ is under threat of being replaced by more continental style coffee shops (read: Starbucks). (Photo Illustration by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Luckily HP Sauce, a traditional Brit condiment, has launched Save the Proper British Cafe.

While many blame starbucks, according to the BBC “There are even rumours Full English’s evil foreign enemies (Swiss muesli, French croissants and American muffins) had a hand in the death.” Read more here.