Month: January 2012

Three Questions

Reader Bill writes in with three interesting questions. In order, they are:

1) Why does cream last so long in the fridge? It smells and tastes fine weeks after its expiration date. Am I crazy for using it?

2) I have a chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe that doesn’t spread enough, the opposite of what people usually complain about with cookies. How do I get more, ahem, spread? More butter, more sugar? I’ve already tried cooler and hotter temps with little effect.

3) I reread your Neopolitan pizza piece and wondered whether you dock your pizza dough at some point. When I’ve made pizza I get too many giant bubbles that ruin the texture of the crust. I’ve skulked around several pizza sites and some dock, some don’t. What’s your opinion?

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Pigs in America

As I mentioned on Friday, the totality of American pig history can be traced back to a single man: Spanish explorer and so-called “Father of the American Pork Industry”, Hernando de Soto. Pigs as I mentioned aren’t from this neck of the global woods. They’re native to Eurasia, where they were domesticated some 15,000 years ago. Hogs had to be imported into America — and were, somewhere near Tampa Bay, Florida in 1539. Hernando de Soto landed there with thirteen of them, and in just three years’ time they multiplied into a herd of some 700. Just to add a little perspective to that number, that total did not include the swine he and his men ate, the ones they sold, they ones that ran away, that died, or were stolen in Indian raids.

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Where do tamales come from?

That’s a tough question. Probably it makes more sense to ask where corn comes from, since it’s a sure bet that tamales came along quite soon after corn became a staple crop among Mesoamericans, around 10,000 years ago. There’s no way to know who came up with the idea of wrapping up small portions of cooked corn gruel in husks or banana leaves, though it seems clear that originally the tamal was a proto-fast food idea, a sort of Mesamerican meal-on-the-run type of affair. It might have been developed for travelers or traders, maybe for military purposes. One guess is really as good as another here.

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Hey, Puddin’!

A pastry shop devoted completely to pudding? Sounds great to me. These are American puddings, mind you — “custards” to those of you at other points in the Anglosphere. It’s located — where else — in the Village in New York City. Before you say to yourself oh, that’ll never work, I’ll say that I never thought Peanut Butter & Co. would last six months when it opened (the missus and I used to spend a lot of time in New York). But flash forward twelve or so years and it’s going stronger than ever. Puddin’ opens today, and let me tell you friends, I could sure use some for my poor throat. Clio, any chance I can place an emergency order?

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Why is it…

…that whenever I have a cold all I want to listen to is 70’s-era Neil Young and Pink Floyd? Something about those slow, loopy grooves must go well with Sudafed. Or LSD.

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Ever met my friend Dan?

For about a month now I’ve been meaning to make an introduction, but have been too scatterbrained to set fingers to keys to make it happen. Dan Carberry is the fellow I’ve been wanting you to meet. He’s the driving force behind a new food site called ChopBiscuit. Dan is a man after my own heart: a former food business owner and comedian turned blogger. For a living Dan Works in R&D for Panera Bread. He’s got a brand new son, Paden, born on Thanksgiving Day, and a decidedly un-corporate attitude about food and drink.

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Daddy Sang Bass

Amazing how a good head cold really opens up those lower vocal registers. If this keeps up I might just blow this cyber popsicle stand and hit the road as part of a bluegrass quartet. Anyway, I’ll try to get something going a little later in the day. For now I’m going back to bed…

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This Year’s Gingerbread House

I promised I’d put up a picture of this year’s effort, an accurate representation of the Pastry family home — and here it is, an absolutely photo-realistic edible representation of our hundred-year-old bungalow. People don’t realize how daring the architects and builders of central Kentucky were in 1905, but as you can see the details are competitive with the most extravagant motifs of Gaudí-inspired Catalan Modernism. Eat your heart out Josep Jujol!

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Next Up: Tamales

No, they’re not pastry and not really bread, either. They’re not even baked now that I think about it. However last year I swore that when tamale season returned, I’d do them. Also given all the holiday breads, cakes and cookies we’ve all been exposed to I think they might make a nice breather from […]

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