I'm Going to Become Wonderful

FINALLY. That time of year again. Tomatoes and Basil from the...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:46:27 -0400

FINALLY. That time of year again. Tomatoes and Basil from the garden. Mozz from a RI farmer.

As somebody with an irrational, yet nonetheless persistent fear of poaching eggs...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:49:26 -0400

As somebody with an irrational, yet nonetheless persistent fear of poaching eggs...:

…I cannot tell you how much use this has been.

The first strawberries have arrived at my local “pick your...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 09:54:35 -0400

The first strawberries have arrived at my local “pick your own” farm. Loving every minute of it. This is a tremendously delicious strawberry lemonade. Just wish there was some way to get lemons locally - the woes of living in New England.

Mint Extract. Stupid Easy. 1/4 pound of torn mint leaves to 1...

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:37:23 -0400

Mint Extract. Stupid Easy. 1/4 pound of torn mint leaves to 1 cup vodka. Combine in a glass jar on a windowsill for 1-2 weeks.

This is exactly what I want to do with my life....

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:29:43 -0400

This is exactly what I want to do with my life....:

An article on NPR, for which I wrote a “feed52” post. Brilliant idea.

I returned from college to find that spearmint had taken over...

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:25:49 -0400

I returned from college to find that spearmint had taken over 40% of the vegetable garden that I had spent spring break dutifully covering in fertilizer and topsoil. I had to rip it out to make room for the rest of the veggies. Expect many mint recipes in the near future.

The way that all cookbook pages should look. Or rather, the sign...

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:32 -0400

The way that all cookbook pages should look. Or rather, the sign of a great recipe.

My most recent article on food52...

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:05:25 -0400

My most recent article on food52...:

Carrots Grow Underground

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The New York Times blog recently featured an article entitled, “Wait, so people are cooking?” (Bittman and Meyer apparently jointly wrote it, although that was unclear as both were listed as authors). The article discussed a recent survey by Share Our Strength, which suggested that many low-income Americans are cooking at much higher rates than we had anticipated.

The common misconception that the survey was attempting to disprove was that Americans as a whole would rather spend less money on fast food, than cook dinner using fresh, local ingredients. I, for one, am not sure that the article did much to dispel the rumor.

Sprinkled between stock photos of attractive minority mother-child photos (in and of themselves mildly offensive and gender normative - fathers cook dinner too), were statistics regarding the median incomes and relative interest in healthy food of participants. They found that of those living below 250% of the poverty line, around 78% reported cooking dinner at home on an average week night. Now, that number seems pretty awesome, but the scientist in me is concerned by the methods of the survey.

Primarily, I could find no information on what they define as a family. Personally, I do not expect to make a salary that is 250% of the poverty line (around $60,000) for many years after graduation. I do, however, expect to eat delicious, healthy meals at home most nights. Were recent college graduates or young couples surveyed?

Secondly, I think the survey may have suffered from something I like to call the “NPR” effect. When surveys are done to determine how many people listen to NPR, there are always more people who say they listen than actually do. Why? Because listening to NPR is the mark of the liberal intellectual. (I know this is true because as the child of two liberal intellectuals, I often exaggerate the amount of time I spend listening to NPR). In studies like these, the participants know the “right” answer. They should say that they eat healthy, local, organic meals at a dinner table with their totally functional and beautiful family 4-5 times per week. My guess is that this leads to an inflation of the reality.

A couple summers ago I lived in an area of NYC somewhere between Spanish Harlem and Washington Heights. The neighborhood was on the verge of gentrification, but the markers of predominantly low-income residents remained - the foremost of which was a lack of any fresh or local food. On my block there were 5 fast food restaurants: McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Popeyes, and Taco Bell. Every night as I returned from work, laden with slightly deformed and therefore unusable carrots (I worked at the farm for a farm-to-table restaurant run by a highly selective chef), I would see swarms of families leaving the restaurants, paper bags in hand, grease dripping through so as to create a translucent view of the fries inside.

Meanwhile, at the farm where I worked, busses of students from low-income schools were brought in for tours. My tours always involved a stop at the carrot beds. I would ask what they were, and instead of the resounding answer I always received from the (mainly Westchester-resident) farm camp students, I would be met with resounding silence. On one occasion, after cutting up a carrot for them to try, the tallest girl of the bunch (rather abrasively) asked me why there wasn’t food like that where she were from. I asked where they were from and she said something in the Bronx that as a non-native New Yorker, I had never heard of.

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I grew up in a comfortable New England town. We grew tomatoes, and every summer, for weeks at a time our dinner consisted only of tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I went home to upper Manhattan that night and checked out the vegetables in the markets along my street. Most had only potatoes and onions, some had corn and tomatoes. None had mushrooms, scallions, squash, shallots, green beans, or any other of my favorites.

I guess what I am saying is that I think it is dangerous to look at our food system, even for a moment, and be satisfied with it. The overall tone of the NY Times article was relief- of “we are doing better than we thought.” We are not. As long as some kids grow up eating 8 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and other don’t know that carrots grow underground, we have a lot of work to do. Food is a basic necessity, but good food should be a fundamental right.

WOMNCBFGAI (Working on my night cheese, but feeling guilty about it),

-Pete

Bittman's Opinion on Anti-Hunger vs. Anti-Obesity

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:48:37 -0400

Bittman's Opinion on Anti-Hunger vs. Anti-Obesity:

A very well done piece.

Let me just tell you about these glorious creatures...

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:02:00 -0400

Let me just tell you about these glorious creatures...:

Maybe the most delicious thing I have ever had. The idea is that you get a piping hot cup of coffee, let them sit on top as it cools, and then dip. Unreal. Actually like nothing I have ever tasted.

This is where Eastern Europe’s fundamental lack of...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:01:52 -0400

This is where Eastern Europe’s fundamental lack of vegetables began to really impact my gallbladder. Not saying I didn’t love it though. Sheep’s milk, salt pork, dumplings. Pretty ridiculous. Pretty unhealthy

The Austrians showing us how to do pastries. I am convinced that...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:58:05 -0400

The Austrians showing us how to do pastries. I am convinced that the gluten content of the flour in Europe has some chemical impact on the tenderness of their crusts. This was heaven - also a really interesting use of dark chocolate to keep the crust from getting soggy. Take notes, people.

Absolutely going on the menu at my eventual tapas bar. Scallops...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:01:23 -0400

Absolutely going on the menu at my eventual tapas bar. Scallops seared with a butter, scallion beurre blanc. Depends on fresh scallops, but can be unreal.

I realize I have been MIA for a bit, but a great deal of school...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:48:47 -0400

I realize I have been MIA for a bit, but a great deal of school work and a trip to eastern Europe will do that to you. In honor of spring, here is my favorite thing in the world.

Add about a quarter cup of water, some lemon juice, a couple tablespoons of sugar, and about 5 cut up rhubarb stalks. Stew until the stalks have broken down to mush. Enjoy - best served over ice cream, on cold mornings also great on oatmeal.

Maybe the tears are what makes the batter break?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:14:00 -0500

Every year, on my father’s birthday, my mother would take some time off (a hard prospect as a physician at a busy hospital), seal off the kitchen from children and golden retrievers, and work tirelessly to create the most delicious baked confection of all time. We call it “the cake that makes us cry”.

It is a genoise with butter cream frosting and an almond praline brittle crumbled on top. If done correctly, it causes involuntary sobbing due to the undeniably rich flavor and unreal texture.

If done incorrectly, it also causes involuntary sobbing, but not as a function of the taste. For each successful attempt, there are roughly 7 failed endeavors.

The recipe is in The New York Times Cookbook, authored by Craig Claiborne - one of the greatest cookbooks of all time. Despite what I am sure were Claiborne’s best attempts, the recipe is a complete failure.

Any combination of the following generally leads to bent over weeping:

1) The eggs do not beat up enough, resulting in a chewy, flat cake.

2) The sugar doesn’t dissolve and the crumb of the cake becomes grainy.

3) The addition of the dry ingredients causes the batter to completely deflate.

4) The frosting breaks as you add the butter.

5) The carmel for the praline boils and you end up with a granulated mess.

So I looked around. I talked to my aunt, a chef, who admits to harboring equal resentment for the recipe - for the simple reason that it does not work. I consulted my favorite food scientist, Harold McGee, but “On Food and Cooking” did not mention the Genoise as far as I can tell.

My next step was to consult the great French chefs that I know and love. First, was Julia. Her recipe included something I had not yet seen - heating the eggs and sugar until dissolved in a pan (using the stand-mixer’s bowl as the top of a double boiler). I had always been told that room-temeperature eggs were essential to ensuring inflation, but this was taking it a step further. Several years ago, on Christmas eve, after failing to get anything edible from the NYTimes recipe, we tried it. It was better, not perfect.

So I went back.

Among French chefs, after Julia, I think of Jacques Pepin. So I looked at his. It was mostly, if not entirely, the same as Julia’s. The one difference was a small footnote in the recipe that suggested (or rather, demanded) the use of fresh eggs. We tried it. Perfection.

This, I could explain using the wisdom of Harold McGee. Apparently, as a function of the osmotic pressures in the yolk and whites, water flows from the white to the yolk at a rate of 5 mg of water every day. In fresh eggs, therefore, the water content of the yolk is much lower, and therefore the flavor and proteins are much more concentrated.

So we figured it out, maybe 25 years after the problem presented itself. Although at risk of insulting Craig Claiborne’s memory, I feel as though I do have to say one thing.

I hate nothing more than a recipe that doesn’t work.

People have a hard enough time cooking. It is intimidating, hard to find the time for, and can be expensive. To waste people’s time by not testing published recipes for accuracy and ease of execution is simply not fair. My mother, a one-time accomplished baker who could whip up a pound cake with here eyes closed and two arms tied behind her back, is now terrified of the kitchen. I blame the “cake that makes us cry.”

Buying a cookbook is a sign of trust. You purchase it because you have faith that the writer has done everything in their power to make sure you will come up with a delicious product.

So please, cookbook authors, don’t let us down! Test your recipes!

WOMGANLC (Working on my genoise and no longer crying),

-Pete and the entire Moulton family

The French Paradox (Or, Why it is okay that I eat so much cheese)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:50:00 -0500

I am usually not a fan of irrelevant photos being used for articles on blogs, but it is important to remember where our cheese and butter comes from (…and no, these cows are not French, but as producers of saturated fats, they too are interested in how they can impact human health).

Here are some facts about the French:

1) On average, they eat 108g/person/day of saturated animal fats. (Americans eat 72).

2) On average, they eat 60% more cheese than Americans, and 3x more pork.

3) Out of every 100,000 deaths, 83 are due to Coronary Heart Disease. In the U.S., that number is 115, an increase of roughly 30%.

How do the French do it?

Well, the most popular explanation is that regular, moderate consumption of red wine helps to maintain heart health. “Moderate” is generally considered to be a glass, maybe two, each day. As cheese and red wine make up nearly an entire tier of my food pyramid, this bit of news is a treasure.

Now, I am not one to follow fad diets (or really diets at all), and I originally met this information with reluctant skepticism. As a biology major, I asked myself, where is the data. Luckily, I did not have to look very far to find it. In fact, my advisor, a Plant Physiologist, received his PhD in the field of Free Radicals and Antioxidants. Long story short, reliable studies have inextricably linked the consumption of red wine with longevity and overall heart health.

The term Antioxidant has become something of an enigma in the last several years. Food producers throw it around and the rest of us, enticed by the prospect of chocolate and wine being healthy (and all the while too lazy to look up how this actually works) are captivated. All of a sudden, I eat pomegranate seeds because they are healthy (not because they taste like grown-up sweet tarts).

But what do antioxidants actually do? It turns out they act as tiny altruistic warriors, keeping our cells safe from attack by throwing themselves in front of the bullet. The bullet, it seems, is something called a “free radical”, which is any of several molecules with unpaired electrons (that is all the chemistry, I promise). Our cholesterol (which becomes more abundant after eating fatty foods as the French do) can be attacked by the unpaired electrons of these free radicals and cause plaque to form. The plaque coats our arteries, and occasionally causes heart attacks (not ideal).

When there are antioxidants in our system the free radicals attack them, rather than our cholesterol. I know, this is the coolest thing ever.

So in short, the French have better heart health because they drink red wine with self sacrificing antioxidants that take the bullet. Not such a bad deal.

Other Antioxidant sources include:

Yellow Onions, Blueberries, Pomegranate Seeds, and Dark Chocolate.

WOMNCAW (Working on my night cheese and wine),

-Pete

A Rhode Island tradition - Creme Fraiche, Smoked Salmon, and...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:22:33 -0500

A Rhode Island tradition - Creme Fraiche, Smoked Salmon, and Jonny Cakes made with Kenyon’s Corn meal.

Unreal.

The un-toppable guacamole. Let’s be real. Everyone loves...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:59:06 -0500

The un-toppable guacamole.

Let’s be real. Everyone loves guac. Avocados, red onion, tomato. Classic. Delicious.

So what happens when you add other things that everybody loves? Nothing that I can adequately describe with words.

I present to you, without commentary, mango-pomegranate guacamole.

Homemade chips are also a nice touch. Deep fry tortillas (corn or flour) and cover in salt, pepper, and finely chopped lime rind.

Not technically cheese...but...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:44:46 -0500

Not technically cheese...but...