Cooking With Ideas

Coming Soon to a Blog You Read . . . .Yep, Right Here

Well, I have a pile of cookbooks, again. And so, you can guess that there will be cookbook reviews coming soon. Loads of them.

What else? Check out this blog: feminismisnotdead.wordpress.com which is a new local addition to the local blogosphere in upstate NY.

And, I made a new recipe -- involving lamb -- which you might get to hear about one of these days.

What else? Spring is coming. Please.

Beef and Brew -- Geneva

I love alliteration, Yep, I even remember when I learned about it in an English class long long ago. I have used it even when silly for titles -- building on the time when I worked at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the titles for articles were sometimes generated in long, goofy on occasion, brainstorming sessions. The mag has changed a LOT since then -- click here for its current form -- but alliteration still works for me. Beef and Brew. Yep, an alliterative joint on Main Street in Geneva. Some say the alliterative tendency is even more prevalent for these sorts of places (and steak places). Others say "Never trust an alliterative restaurant." Anyway, back to Geneva's Beef and Brew. Here's its website. 

I ate at there on a blustery April Sunday, after a charity event to raise funds for Japanese survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. It was, by the way, amazing -- taiko drumming.

The Beef and Brew has loads of beers. Truly loads. Mostly bottled, and organized into varieties with descriptions. (One key foodie/drinker question: when exactly did we start a few lines after things on menus and wine lists describing them -- fruity, malty, garnished with a coulis of. . . . local, flash fried and then braised . . . . ) The beer list is indeed dandy. Click here if you want to see their beer list. Plan to spend some time if you like beer. I had a kona fire rock, even though it was not yet 5 pm. And yes, kona made me think coffee, and hawaii, which is where the bottle indicated the Kona Brewing Company is. However, this particular bit of beer was bottled and brewed in Vermont. Interesting, eh? The beer was described as a bit malty, which it was, and I liked it a lot. For me, one of the dandy facts about Kona Firerock is that it does not stuff me up, which some beers do.

The menu at Beef and Brew includes a variety of things; most memorable (though not something I ordered) beef and stilton pie and chicken pot pie. Instead, we had the exact things we intended when we went in: burgers. I had a blue cheese with bacon burger. And, perhaps because the need for one was high, we concluded that they were quite good. Better than. . . . well, most places in Geneva. They come with one side, and of course one of us got the steak fries (which were pretty ordinary I think) and I had (weird I know) home made apple sauce. A tad too much cinnamon for my taste, but otherwise ok.I like my apple sauce chunky.

A few comments on ambience and servcie: (a) The bathroom reeks of floral air freshener. It so put me off I had to comment. Why do people think such smells are better than nothing? Do they not know that some people are made violently ill by such smells? Do they not know. . . well, you get my drift. If I can, I will never use the bathroom there again. (b) The waitress was, on the one hand, over eager -- and thus we felt rushed -- and on the other hand way too casual. I finally said we simply needed a few minutes and to go away. She did a reasonably though not great job of noting when we put menus down and appeared ready to order. I like efficiency -- but I do not like to be rushed or pestered. Nor am I a big fan of the phrase "no problem."  IN fact, she said it so often that it led to an interesting discussion of when that phrase entered the American vernacular and what exactly it means. Like George Carlin and certain words, inflected in a variety of ways the phrase seems to mean almost anything. And in this case, it felt a tad like -- will you just order you pain in the neck customers? (For a discussion of the phrase and surrounding etiquette issues, click here.)  (c) The prices were reasonable -- we spent about $25 total. (d) The room we were in had lovely old pictures, a sort of odd huge (fake I think) fireplace, and a model ship. I had a sense that I now know where the pictures that pile up in local antique stores may end up. I think the ship theme was linked to the menu in some ways through the notion of a seaport, potentially English pub? There was vinegar for the fries on the table -- and as noted above, Beef and Stilton pie. (e) I kept saying -- isn't there more light in here than there used to be -- and it was true. There are lots of windows -- and it was DAYLIGHT out! IT is edging up to Spring here in good ol' Geneva.

To be honest, I enjoyed the place. Alliterative and edible and pretty darn tasty burger.For more (aod for location), click on the urban spoon logo below.

 

Blogo-foodie-land

A few interesting places to stop and lolligag, procrastinate, or . . . explore.

1. Here's a site that lists the top 10 food policy blogs. Not sure why food and policy go together -- and how they might dance -- well, click away and explore. Ranging from insiders to big food business to locavore stuff, you can learn a lot while not doing what you are supposed to be doing!

2. Esquire, it turns out, has a food blog for men. Who knew? Anyway, click here for their list of blogs. Or don't.

3. Yes, I am on a list of lists kind of kick. And here's one on green matters and foodie issues. Yep, just say sustainability five times and roll over.  And here's a list of the top 15 for food/politics.

4. This is still my fave for queer food . . . . and the idea of pop up restaurants is a dandy one. And in case you feel queer, want to go to Montreal, or just one or the other applies, try here.  BTW, when you google around on queer food topics, Cooking with Ideas itself comes up. How fun.

5. And, just in case you need a drink (it's five o'clock somewhere as you read this), try this or this.

And, then, make your own list -- do your own procrastinating -- and share it with the blogosphere -- here!

Food of the Gods

Despite its title, this is not really about religion. Nor is the book to which the title refers about religion. Not really. It is about science and progress and all sorts of things. It is about food and growth and all sorts of things. But not religion. Not really. Despite the title.

It is also not about ambrosia really -- whether you mean that weird marshmallow-y thing or the food of the gods.

What is it about?

Food of the Gods is a peculiar read I came across because I was wildly browsing the kindle store, and it popped up and was . . . well, cheap. Really, its title is The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth and it is a 1904 H.G. Wells novel in which scientists (portrayed in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways) get interested in -- and then discover -- what underlies growth. (Literal growth -- in various forms.) They then come up with a food that enhances growth which they both intentionally give to a few select babies (sometimes out of sympathy, sometimes out of paternal and/or parental desire, and sometimes out of a sort of distorted envy) and both intentionally and unintentionally disperse about the planet (which is more or less Great Britain).Turns out it was a movie in various forms and etc., but hey, who knew?

In part this is a novel about what comes to be called "Boomfood" which leads to giants (babies grow up to be huge) and giant weeds, wasps, bees, rats, earwigs -- vermin, children and farm animals. In some ways it is about racial difference - since the huge are so different that they come to be seen as a new race, obliterating those (short, dwarfish people of our size) who come before both unintentionally and perhaps intentionally. It is a book about fear of science, irresponsible science, politics gone weird and conservative and anti- or pro-science with little actual understanding of it, the distance of "pure" science and curiosity from "real world" implications, and more.

The book reads interestingly from the vantage point of 2011, given all that has intervened since then -- around food and science, and politics and war, and humanity's historic changes. Boomfood is both terrifying and attractive in the context of the novel -- as is much of the world in which we live. Boomfood is certainly not as horrifying in some ways as the pesticides that have similarly unleashed monstrous vermin (e.g., antibiotic resistant germs that . . . . ) and the factory farms that promise growth and health and deliver something much less utopic (and indeed very dystopic for workers, diners, and the animals themselves).

One thing that came to mind as I was musing about all this was: when were vitamins really discovered? Is this a book about vitamins I asked myself. Not so bad a guess in some ways, given this history of vitamins  which cites 1905 as a key year. Another who knew. . . .

I think of H.G Wells as about much much different things than this particular topic  -- like War of the Worlds, for example. But I confess -- while it was a slog to read -- I am glad I read this 1904 novel. It made me think of food differently. And somehow it reminded me that I think he supported women's rights. Hmmm. This site says he was one of the most effective early male voices for women's suffrage.Who knew? (I would not say that the Food of the Gods is particularly feminist in its representaton of women, as a side note.)

For Wikipedia on the novel, click here. Want the H.G. Wells Society? Click here. Or more on his biography? Click here. Or go out there and find a way to read this peculiar, odd, fun book about food. IT is most definitely not our salvation, whoever we are.

Another Pile of Cookbooks

 

These are not piled up in my living room or in my dining room or, gasp, my office. Nope. I got this photo from an on line source - to whom or which I am grateful -=- called Not Martha -- and from exactly here. Nor am I actually writing about any of the books piled up here, though I am writing about a smallish pile that has accumulated since I last did a grouped cookbook review here. Yep, I get to the place where there are piles of cookbooks -- sometimes because I am reading away to entertain myself and sometimes just because. This time it is because there are a few that have come in the mail I have not reviewed, all from the publisher Andrews McMeel who sends me free stuff periodically. .  There are three (and here they are in no particular order):

Sur La Table's Everyday Grilling is subtitled "50 recipes from Appetizers to Desserts." (There may be a trend toward 50 going in smallish cookbooks as this one, and one other reviewed here, are most definitely not the only fifty thises and thats I have seen lately. And I do not mean my face in the mirror or those of friends. . . ) I am not sure why one would want to sir grill (I think this is stir fry over a grill, with a pan with holes in it rather than a fry pan, but even so. Weird?) I am not sure if the whole grill cookbook thing is abotu a) cooking outside; b) the big industry of building and selling outdoor grills and/or grill parts of indoor stovetops; or c) the desperate need for a bit of a char on all food. (I am dismissing the possibility this is all about gender and cooking/grilling.) One recipe here is for grilled prune plums (with anicese ice cream) and another is for grilled flank steak with creamed spinach. As this pair indicates, the book has some quirky new stuff and some traditional stuff. And, it is a small, cute, hardback. Mmmm?

Rebecca Lang's Quick-Fix Southern, is a paperback sub-titled "homemade hospitality in 30 minutes or less." Having recently read a great book called In Praise of Slow, I am not so sure about all this speeding up of cooking; on the other hand, I do have a real job and I have limited time way way way too often. So, I am ambivalent. But this newish book has 100 plus recipes, thematically organized and. . . well, fast. When I opened it the first time, I came upon bacon vinagrette with greens (p. 74). And, I do love my bacon. I am less sure of blue cheese and bacon popcorn (p. 50), despite two of the three of the food items in the title of the recipe being personal favorites. And then I flipped a few more pages and  -- worrisome perhaps, I came upon yet another bacon recipe on page 150: asparagus bundles with bacon. There is, of course, much more. And each recipe is not only quick but takes up a mere page of the book. . . . Hmmm.

Laura Werlin's Grilled Cheese, Please! is sub-titled 50 scrumptiously cheesy recipes. Yes, this plays into the cheese-y theme that has been going on here at Cooking with Ideas for a while, but not intentionally! The book's arrival did, however, lead to me learning that Werlin is a big cheese -- well, not exactly, rather a big cheese expert. And no, I do not mean big as in mammoth (see earlier cheese-y reviews . What I mean is: Werlin has won all sorts of awards for her cheese-related books, including a James Beard Foundation Award. And, frankly, anyone who has a segment of her website devoted to grilled cheese and wine pairings (no, do NOT grill the wine you silly person) has to be serious about grilled cheese. I am not, but I know someone who loves them -- and I suspect this book would meet with her approval. (Werlin wrote another one called Great Grilled Cheese. Hmmm. A theme?!?!?!) Anyway, in this book there are dandy photos by Maren Caruso and dandier recipes for items like gruyere and gorgonzola with hazelnut butter (pp. 57-58) and arepas with monterey jack, black beans and plantains (pp. 83=86). Yes, these grilled cheeses vary in their complexity -- and vary in many different (varied?) ways. There is even a recipe for something I have only had at the Stonecat Cafe -- deep fried pickles (pp. 142-3). I might keep this. And, I might go further and make some of these things. MMMMMMM. Want more grilled cheese data and input? Here are one, two, three sites on grilled cheese! Who knew there was a (virtual) grilled cheese academy or, for that matter, a grilled cheese invitational. . . .

All in all a fun cookbook pile to peruse on a snow-y late March day.

Chicken

No, I do not mean scared. I mean chicken -- as in that food which seems ubiquitous at banquets. As in factory famring in all sorts of scare-y ways (scared-y cat?). As in this close up picture from this site, to which we express our gratitude. As in thighs and breasts, white meat and drumsticks. As in McNuggets and Buffalo wings. As in Colonel Sanders and, my Chicago favorite, Harold's. Chicken. Yes, chicken. In the case of the latter establishment -- whch I only later discovered was a chain -- fried breasts -- huge -- on top of white bread with fries and loads and loads of . . . hot sauce. A graduate student's delihgt.

Here, though, it's the title of a book, dear reader. No, not Harold. Chicken. Subtitle: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food. Authored by Steve Striffler (a professor of Latin American Studies and anthropologist at the University of New Orleans.

I learned a lot form this book. Not about certain things which have become obvious to me -- factory farming and related matetrs, for instance. Other things like:

(1) Did you know that while beef was rationed in World War II in the U.S., chicken was not? (For more on rationing in WW II, click here.) Yes, in the back of my mind (where exactly is that, I wonder?) I knew that chicken was a less ubiquitous food then, and indeed was even in my baby boomer childhood and youth. But not this. Nor did I know that the absence of rationing, accompanied with the need for chicken by the armed forces -- and their purchase of virtually all of what was then the chicken industry's central area for production in Delaware, Maryland and nearby areas -- would lead to the emergence of chicken as a central "product" from the South. The transition from really really bad roads -- and changes in transportation -- made the cpaacity to transport chickens live to more distant locales a big deal -- and helped the South to its chicken empires of today. Of course, chicken is an animal that used to be women's work, used to be fed with scraps left over, is an animal that can be raised where little else can, etc etc. But chicken is today shaped by the history of war and regionalism and poverty and gender.The poverty of the areas that produce and produced chicken is shocking -- though obvious once one thinks about it.

(2) I also knew, of course, that one of the big food-relayted changes is the rise to dominance of increasingly processed foods. Adding "value" allows us to be charged more for foods -- so each increment of increased processing helped make (in the case of chicken) a not-so-profitable bird and a bird whose level of profit changed annually to something more worth the risk. And yes, Chicken McNuggets are part of that. Indeed, when McDonalds went into McNuggets they changed the world -- and others followed. A long term ramification of the notion that we'd be sold not whole chickens (or even live chickens) bbut chickens already butchered -- and butchered elsewhere than by our friendly neighborhood butcher. Apparently all those chicken tenders and nuggets are a huge economic powe, changing the landscape quie literally of chicken farming and of our cities and towns. In Geneva, NY, for example, chickens no longer grace our down town, where historically they likely did. 

(3) And, again, I knew that food and immigration were and are entangled. But the level of connectedness of Latino immigrants and food was made very clear in this book. As the author puts it: "Today, most of the labor of producing nad processing food in the United States is done by Latinos, a majority of whom are immigrants from Mexico and, increasingly, Central America. Much of the behind-the-scenes labor that goes into preparing, serving, and cleaning up food is also done by Latin Americans. . . To find a meal that has not at some point passed through the hands of Mexican immigrants is a difficult task." (p. 5). This explains the rise of Latino populations in a variety of Southern states, where chickens are big big industry. Striffler does an apt job of depicting the chaging racial relations in a town seemingly suddenly transformed in its demographics.

The book has some interesing notes on the relation among immigrants as well in depicting working in a chicken processing plant (a near ubiquitous trend in food journalism these days to match the ubiquity of chicken) -- immigrants of various nationalities sharing food (most definitely not chicken) in the break room remind us of a different nation than their experience outside of work of prejudice and discrimination and hostility. (See p. 126.)

(4) I met "vertical integration" years ago in a book by A.D. Chandler on the emergence of market capitalism (long story). I still remember the book. But the emergence of vertical inegration in regard to chicken was less familiar -- with the egg producers and those who raise chicks i hatcheries and then those who grow them to weight and the feed producers and the truckers entangled in a history -- and then in an economy -- which is simultaneously wonderful and awful.

So, a slim book, worth the read. Chicken.

Word of Mouth

(Thanks to this site for the picture!)

Word of Mouth Catering in Trumansburg, NY is sort of a myth. Or so I thought. Yes, I had seen their store front. And I had even met the two women who run it. But . . . . whenever they send around their emails regarding their dinners, well, it seemed like 5 minutes (maximum) later, well the seats were totally filled. They run what is called "Word of Mouth Dinner Club."

Myth and reality met recently. Why? How? Recently, I replied quickly and oddly enough, got to get on the list of reserved spaces and, gasp, go. Wowzers. No fantasy, but a nice reality located at 

 

        37 West Main Street

        Trumansburg, NY

Word of Mouth does these occasional meals. They send around a menu and you go, eat hor d'oeurvres in their kitchen and then sit family style and eat with a group of (in our case) utter strangers. What a lovely evening. Not easy for the shy or more introverted, but also fun.

Here are some user reviews. Here is their number in case you want to try to get on their mailing list or hire them as caterers: 607-387-3052. Wanna email and beg? Try [email protected]

Meanwhile, what did I eat there? First, the place is byob and we brought a quite wonderful, available only to wine club members, Fox Run rose. Yep. Rose. Dandy. ALong with that we did have some filo with capers/olives/goat cheese which were wonderful - while hanging out in the kitchen (which has the most amazing pro stove/oven). Then we moved into the dining room, which is sort of next door. And we sat where our names were placed, in our case with 7 other people who we did not know. salads were served to each of us, with warm goat cheese in maybe panko, hazelnuts and a lovely dressing. And the remainder of the meal was family style: jasmine coconut rice with cilantro (that actually smelled really really good), cooked carrots, asparagus with a lemon gremolata, and salmon -- accompanied with a bright, fresh, mango hot pepper salsa. All good (though I admit I could have used a little less well done salmon). Dessert was a slice of sour cherry pie with whipped cream and some decaf.

My only critique is, of course, the noise level. With all these people, family style seating, and etcetera, the acoustics were dreadful. On the other hand, meeting strangers is not my favorite thing -- and it urned out ot be more fun than I anticipated. Yes, I would (and will) go again.The cost was $33 per person and we did leave a tip despite hte fact that "tax and gratuity" is included in that. Why?  Service was dandy -- and surprisingly, the whole place responded well to the notion that it was "earth hour" and off went the lights and on went loads of candles for an hour.

All in all, a weirdly commodified version of a dinner club, pretty darn good food, and an evening of conversation . . . . in Trumansburg. Word of Mouth. Not sure where the phrase came from? Click here. And rethink because it is now. . . . word of . . . blog?