Grocery store bins are still overflowing with fresh sweet corn, its silky hair littering the tile floors like pine needles, so you might as well get as much as you can, while you can. The New York Times has a good story on stretching late summer corn, with an especially awesome-looking recipe for corn, basil and tomato chowder. This thick soup packs in the trifecta of summer flavors, made hearty with potatoes and a dollop of crème fraîche. And, best of all, soup's great for freezing, which means you can thaw a container-full any time during the winter for a burst of early September's golden goodness.Late Summer recipe: Corn, Tomato and Basil Chowder
Grocery store bins are still overflowing with fresh sweet corn, its silky hair littering the tile floors like pine needles, so you might as well get as much as you can, while you can. The New York Times has a good story on stretching late summer corn, with an especially awesome-looking recipe for corn, basil and tomato chowder. This thick soup packs in the trifecta of summer flavors, made hearty with potatoes and a dollop of crème fraîche. And, best of all, soup's great for freezing, which means you can thaw a container-full any time during the winter for a burst of early September's golden goodness.Recipe alert: New Chez Panisse cookbook
Check out this week's New York Times magazine, which features several recipes from Chez Panisse chef David Tanis's new cookbook. The book, "A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes," embodies the Chez Panisse philosophy: "simple cooking meant to illuminate nature's perfect simplicity."
Think strawberries elevated with just a splash rose-petal syrup; braised carrots with a whiff of saffron, simple avocado salad of avocados, scallions, salt and limes. There are three featured recipes in the magazine: no-casing fennel sausage with nothing more than pork, salt, crushed red pepper, fennel seed and garlic; the aforementioned saffron carrots, and a moist, deeply mahogany duck breast with baked figs.
Cupcake backlash
I must have read half a dozen articles in the past year which contained some sneery line about the women on Sex and the City bus tours of NYC standing outside Magnolia Bakery trying out Carrie Bradshaw's favorite cupcakes. High-end cupcakes were awesome a few years ago, the message goes, but now they're becoming a little....déclassé.
And now, a wave of imitators is spreading across the city; the Crumbs franchise is planning to open 40 shops in the next year. This leaves some to wonder whether cupcakes are the new Krispy Kreme - a beloved, slightly kitschy dessert raised to sugary highs by the media only to become overexposed and fall as flat as a punctured souffle.
Apparently there are already signs of a "cupcake backlash." Joel Stein, writing in Time, says cupcakes are "fake happiness, wrought in Wonka unfood colors. They appeal to the same unadventurous instincts that drive adults to read Harry Potter and watch Finding Nemo without a kid in the room."
I disagree. Taking something as humble as the cupcake and transforming it from cloying pink nastiness to something much more sophisticated and sublime seems to be part of the larger, positive foodie movement of reclaiming and elevating ordinary American foodstuffs - red velvet cake, mac and cheese, tuna noodle casserole.
Novelist poisoned by mushrooms
Nicholas Evans, the author of the best-selling novel "The Horse Whisperer" is recovering in a hospital after eating a highly toxic variety of mushroom.
Evans, his wife, her sister and the sister's husband became sick after cooking and eating Cortinarius speciosissimus mushrooms, which they'd gathered in the woods during a vacation in Scotland. The mushrooms contain kidney toxins; all four received dialysis and were reportedly doing well.
Incidents like this shouldn't scare you off mushroom hunting, especially during prime chanterelle season. Just be VERY sure you know exactly what you're doing. Check out Jonathan's 'Chasing the wild mushrooms' features for more on (non-deadly) mushroom hunting.
New York Times Dining & Wine in 60 seconds: New restaurants, corn, Slow Food
A preview of the new NYC restaurants opening this fall. NYC restaurants take cost-saving measures to keep afloat. Smaller lobster?
The Minimalist takes on the chickpea.
Recipes for end-of-summer corn: chowder, corn bread, fried corn with bacon and chipotle.
The Slow Food movement throws itself a party in San Francisco.
Eric Asimov talks Côtes du Rhône.
Native chicken breed is helping rural Indians
Just like in many other parts of the world, industrial chicken farms are putting small breeders out of business in rural India. They just can't compete with the immense economies of scale that the industrial farms have cultivated. Of course, the giant farms keep the birds in unhealthy conditions and then feed them all sorts of antibiotics to keep them healthy.
The Guardian reported last week on a new way that rural Indians are fighting back, and it turns out to be an old way. They are turning to a native chicken breed that is better adapted to the area, can be raised outside, and has a strong immune system so the birds don't get sick as often. Due to all of this, the giriraja breed is easier and less expensive to raise, so even poor rural families can have a few chickens for food and maybe a little bit of profit.
What do you think about returning to native chicken breeds?
The Baltimore Sun in 60 seconds: Cheap meat and Maryland's best eating month
As the economy tightens and people look for ways to fight back against rising grocery prices, one thing consumers can do is select cheaper, flavorful cuts of meat. - Rob Kasper announces that the very best eating month in Maryland is September, especially since the tomatoes came late this year.
- Digging deep into the science of menu design.
- Make gazpacho a day or two ahead for best flavor.
- Make and freeze potstickers for quick meals during the week.
- A local church tries to help their neighborhood by buying and giving away $30,000 worth of groceries.
The New York Times Dining & Wine section in 60 seconds: Supper clubs, lavender, fortune cookies
Underground supper clubs - half dinner party, half restaurant - are in.
Low alcohol beers gain popularity.
Thinking of opening a restaurant? Think twice. Then think again.
Memories of teenage boy food.
The Minimalist shows us how to cook with lavender without making the dish smell like your grandmother's powder room.
Artisanal cocktails are here. Of course.
Fortune cookies are not Chinese.
Are you getting the fish you're paying for?
Lots of people love a good piece of sashimi and nigiri sushi, and most of us are willing to pay more for a higher quality fish. The only question is whether or not you're getting what you paid for.
Last week there was an article in the New York Times about two teenage girls and their fish-y experiment. The students got 60 different samples of fish from 4 sushi restaurants and 10 supermarkets and sent them off to a lab in Canada. About 60% of the fish were mislabeled, and in general cheaper fish were masquerading as more expensive fish. Apparently no one knows what red snapper is.
There's a lot more science in the New York Times article, but what's really important is that so many people who should know what fish is what have been selling it under the wrong name. I'm sure that there are some unscrupulous vendors out there willing to make a quick buck, but I prefer to think that it's mainly just people making mistakes. What do you think about possibly paying more for cheaper fish?
School lunch costs go up as food prices rise
As food prices rise, so do school lunch costs, reports the New York Times. Meal prices have increased about 25 cents across the country as schools struggle to feeds students with increasingly expensive fruits, vegetables, milk and bread.
While some schools are raising lunch prices, others are reducing food management costs, buying cheaper plates and cups, or replacing individual rolls with slices of French bread. The U.S.D.A. recently issued a report called "Meeting the Challenge of Rising Food Costs," to help school districts learn to stretch their budgets.
Many worry that price increases are hitting schools hard just as administrators are getting hip to the idea of healthier - and more expensive - fare, replacing chicken nuggets with baked chicken breasts, french fries with fruit. Will we go back to the bad old days of "economy loaf" and iceberg lettuce salad?
Champagne bottles may be getting lighter
As with everything else these days, the price of glass is going up. Some wine and beer bottlers have already switched to less glass-intensive bottles and a French champagne maker is experimenting with the same idea.Mumm, is experimenting with bottles that are 65 grams lighter than regular champagne bottles (which are about twice as heavy as wine bottles), in an attempt to cut down on costs. The company is currently storing the test bottles for two years to make sure the thinner glass can withstand the pressure that is produced by the bubbly. If they do determine to use these lighter bottles, Mumm will also have to get approval from Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne, the trade association that represents grape growers and champagne producers.
If the bottles survive and the CIVC approves the change, we'll be seeing these new, thinner champagne bottles around 2010. The question is, if Mumm gets CIVC approval, will other champagne bottlers will be quick to follow?
[Via the Guardian]
Possibly the best food fight ever: The flour wars in Galaxidi, Greece
There are definitely some odd (to those on the outside) rituals that have developed throughout the world. There's one ritual in Galaxidi, Greece that really takes the cake, or perhaps could make the cake.
In that Greek town, to celebrate the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent, the citizens get together for a giant flour fight. According to Spiegel, the villagers go through roughly 3000 pounds of flour, and each one dyes his or her lot. The historic buildings are all covered in tarps, and by the end of the day the town is "covered in sticky, brightly colored flour." Goggles, windbreakers, and face masks are all popular apparel choices, and a lot of people take a dip in the ocean afterwards to clean off a bit before an evening of tavern-hopping.
This actually sounds like a lot of fun. I wouldn't be up for running with the bulls, but I would definitely throw some flour around. The tradition started at the beginning of the 19th century, but no one is really sure why except it had something to do with rebelling against the Turks (who were in charge at the time). Whatever the reason, this is my kind of party. What are some odd community traditions that you know about?
[via Coldmud]
The Philadelphia Inquirer in 60 seconds: Cold soups and edible bugs
As we near the end of summer, the Inquirer wonders if you've gotten tired of firing up the grill yet. If so, their answer is soup! Yes, that's right, chilled summer soups!- Joyce Gemperlein ponders how to beat the late summer dinnertime malaise.
- This week, the Market Basket is full of recycled wine glasses, goats milk cream cheese and LushLife sponge gloves.
- Bug cuisine was the special du jour at a recent Creepy Crawly Cook Off at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
- The Rush Hour Gourmet is cooking up grilled oysters this week.
Michael Phelps is set to grace Frosted Flakes boxes
There's so much news about Michael Phelps right now, I bet the guy could write his own ticket for the foreseeable future. When I heard a news blurb that he was going to be on a cereal box by next month I didn't think much about it.Naturally I figured Mr. Phelps would be on the front of a Wheaties box, but apparently that's not the case. According to an article in the New York Daily News, the swimming champion will lend his image to Frosted Flakes (move over Tony). Some nutritionists are a little concerned about the message that sends to kids. While Michael Phelps can handle the excess sugar of Frosted Flakes, experts are concerned about regular cereal eaters who don't burn as many calories as he does.
I admit I was a little surprised by Michael Phelps' choice. It makes more sense when you think about how many calories he eats and burns through in one day, but you'd think the guy would be a little more interested in promoting slightly more healthy breakfast choices. Would you buy Frosted Flakes just because Mr Phelps was on the box?
The Baltimore Sun in 60 seconds: Frozen desserts, blue crabs and rum
Keep things cool in these waning days of summer with chilly desserts. - World traveling sailors learn how to eat that Maryland delicacy, blue crabs.
- Burdick Chocolate in Walpole, New Hampshire, offers a line of politically oriented chocolates and candies, just in time for the conventions.
- Rob Kasper reviews an assortment of artisanal rums.
- Have pie for every meal at the Dangerously Delicious Savory House.
- Laura McCandlish reviews Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food: An Opinionated History and More Than 100 Legendary Recipes By Arthur Schwartz Stewart.
- What to do with self-rising flour? Make biscuits!
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
