Spices I

Allspice; Anise; Aniseed; Basil; Bay leaf

Allspice: The not quite ripe Berry of the pimento tree; also known as Jamaican pepper.

This spice, when sun dried, resembles the peppercorn and the early Spanish thought that it was another source of pepper and gave the name of Jamaican pepper.
If processed when fully ripe they lose flavor and aroma.

The flavor of Allspice is what gives it it's name. At a quick thought you would think that due to the name it would be a combination  of spices. It is not. But the subtle flavor of Cinnamon, cloves and a hint of Nutmeg are present. Of course if you happen to be in the middle of preparing some food that calls for Allspice and you don't have any on hand, combine one part Cinnamon, one part Cloves and a bit of Nutmeg and though it won't be as flavorful the real thing, it will do.

An unique use of this spice in Jamaica, is that it is used for such ills as infant colic, diarrhea, bleeding from the lungs and in Women, PMS.

But it is truly an all around spice for foods and is used in Indian Chutney, vegetable dishes, Swedish meatballs, soups and desserts.

Anise/Aniseed: An herbaceous plant with leaves. The fruit of this plant is the Aniseed, this plant has a heavy licorice flavor.
                        Herbaceous: 1) Of a stem having little or no woody structure.
                                             2) Of or related to or having the characteristics of an herb.
                                             3) Having the texture, color, or appearance of a leaf
The fruit (seeds) of the plant when dried and ground or even used whole can be used to make tea--quite refreshing I'm told.

It is also used in  pastry and candy making and also the liquor Absinthe.

Basil:  Also called Sweet Basil, a Eurasian plant having small white flowers and aromatic leaves used as herbs for seasoning as in marinades and flavor in Soups and Stews and dressings.

The sweet basil is used in Italian dishes while lemon Basil is primarily used in Asian dishes...Thai cooking in particular.

Basil is best used fresh and if added to sauce being prepared or marinades.

Also except in the case of overnight marinating, when the cooking sauce, or soup, the leaves should be added at he nearly done part cooking cycle because heat quickly destroys the flavor.
Basil is high in Vitamins and Minerals; 13 vitamins and 8 minerals.

Bay Leaf: The dried leaf of the Laurel; The Laurel, also called Bay or Sweet Bay is a small European Evergreen tree of the Laurel Family which includes Cherry and Mountain Laurel. The leaves of these last two are poisonous. The Bay Laurel is not.

The Sweet Bay tree of Europe has small dark green and glossy leaves.

The Caribbean Bay is used to flavor some foods but it is also the main ingredient in the first known after shave lotion called Bay Rum.

The uses for the bay leaf are many; they flavor soups; stews; vegetables; meats, and Seafood and not forgetting marinades and other sauces. Always remembering to remove the leaves before eating any food in which they are used. The leaves even if cooked remain very stiff and sharp and if eaten will scratch the internal organs that it comes in contact with. in some cases surgery was needed.

More to come,
Dad



Spice

Definitions:
                  Spice: An aromatic or pungent vegetable substance used to flavor  or enhance the taste of foods.
                  Aromatic: 1) That which has a pleasing or 2) distinctive or pungent smell.
                  Distinctive: Characteristic of one person, place or thing that separates it out from other persons, places or things.
                  Pungent: A sharp or strong taste or smell.

An interesting subject, spice, but not at first glance.

In recent years the very word, spice/spicy has come to mean "Hot." Though it is my opinion that some foods should come with a warning label such as "this will burn a hole in your tongue".

All in all a very unfortunate use of the word spice. Especially when you consider that some spices, paprika for example, are barely noticeable to the taste buds.

And also consider that just about every meal we eat has at least one spice connected to it and gives the dish that distinctive flavor so that even blindfolded you know that you are eating something Italian or Indian (Chutney comes to mind) or whatever.

I decided on this Subject of Spices due to an experience I had a few years ago at a well known steak house that had on it's menu "Blackened Sirloin" and in parenthesis "Spicy". I thought that looked good and had in mind a steak that has been marinated, something like teriyaki or some other exotic flavoring. So I ordered that and when it came and I took that first bite I was nearly jolted out of my seat from the shock that was occurring in my mouth and getting worse by the minute.

It was soon obvious that the overwhelming heat had given me no chance to taste the beef flavor let alone try eating the damn thing. I set it aside and got started on the first of three glasses of ice water. That didn't help much as I found out later that water doesn't help. It didn't, much, but it was soothing to my psyche, and I was able to enjoy the company I was with. We had a good laugh over it and I chalked it up to experience.

There are some other oddities about spice, aside from the Spicy meaning hot; Salt for example is a mineral but "Seasoned Salt" is considered a spice--go figure.

Another interesting observation is the Spice Rack you see in some kitchens, your friends kitchens mostly, that most of the bottles are unused and a thin layer of dust on the lids is the hint. But then you look at the labels of these dust gatherers and some of the names are almost unpronounceable.

So, over the next few posts I will sort out these spices and hopefully, by the end we will all know what the H... to do with them.

Dad

Introduction

When I wrote the first Cookbook for Single Fathers it was an immediate success. So much so that long after I'd sold as many as I ever thought I would, I still received requests for copies.

The purpose of this blog is to show that anyone can become a good cook. The problem with cook books in general, is that they assume that you already know how to cook and therefore are just a list of one recipe after another. I wanted to teach something. I hope I succeed.

Black Gold

Black Pepper

When you hear the term black gold you immediately think of oil. The truth is that it goes much farther back in time than the oil seeps scattered around the world and for which there was no use for.

Black Gold was used to describe Pepper and given the moniker due to the amount of money that peppercorn delivered to the London docks, from the far off spice islands of Indonesia, could be sold for.

Dad

AROMA



Definitions:

Aroma: Anything giving off a sweet smelling fragrance.
Fragrant: Pleasant smell.

If you have a cold and can't smell, it is also true that you can't taste either.
Occasionally when reading a book describing food or watching the food channel or perhaps a TV movie about the holidays and it's attending dinner, you find your mouth watering and especially the scene where someone takes a bite and says something like Wow! or Oh my God! or I can't believe this; all wonderful to hear or read about but I've yet to hear anyone mention the smells.

Here are a couple of examples:
Imagine again, the trail drive: It's the end of the days drive, the cattle are watering and beginning to graze, some already bedding down in the gathering dusk. A cowboy, the first to finish turning his horse out to the Remuda walks into the Chuck Wagon area and not looking at anything, immune to the strong smell of cattle and dust still hanging in the air, gets an image of the cooking fire now reduced to a long bed of glowing coals, he knows from the smell of coffee that there would be two large coffee pots beginning to boil, stomach growls; along with that the tang of fresh sourdough biscuits but not noticing "cookie" removing them from the still hot dutch oven he gets another slight odor of Beef and Beans and his stomach gives another flip and still he hasn't laid eyes on any of the food. Just those wonderful aromas.

Another:
Thanksgiving day, anywhere USA.
Something waking you up in the morning; Coffee aroma-strong; later in the day, something baking; Bread or rolls maybe and still later, the unmistakable smell of Roasting Turkey.
By this time it would be halftime at the game you are watching on TV...probably the Detroit Lions and whomever they playing this year.
But the overriding problem you are having is the accumulation of smells of the day about to drive you nutty.
And speaking of nuts; you eye the now empty nut bowl full of broken shells. and you take a last sip of slightly warm beer and realize that nothing else will do than to sit down to the magnificent feast called Thanksgiving Dinner.
The first, but not the only, thing I'm thankful for is that I don't have a cold.

Happy Thanksgiving day to all.
Dad.

Things We drink

In the earlier posts I mentioned several liquids that we regularly consume; Coffee, water, tea and beer. Except for Coffee I didn't get into much detail on the others.

My last post was 'more on soup' and of course water is the key to that. Water was also gotten into in earlier posts as well.
I mentioned beer in one also. I'd like to expand on that a little:

Definitions:
Beer          :  An alcoholic drink made from malt, grains, and flavored with hops
                  : A non-alcoholic drink made from plants or roots of plants.
                    and example would be "root beer".

Malt         : Grains, such as barley soaked in water and used in the making of alcoholic
                   beverages.
 
Sarsaparilla: (commonly pronounced "Sasparilla").
                   : The leaves and flowers of this vine plant are used in giving bitter flavor
                     to malted liquors.
                     The roots of this plant used in making non-alcoholic root beer.

The origin of Beer is old...old and foggy. Researchers have pinned the origin to ancient Mesopotamia (a part of the middle east between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers extending from the mountains of SE Asia to the Persian Gulf.), in 6 BC. That plus a Sumerian Tablet depicting people sitting around a large bowl apparently sipping from the bowl through straws. But how they came to the conclusion that they were sipping beer is beyond me. Consider that in 6 BC There was no written language, and even if there was, most of the people were illiterate. Even into the middle ages the written word and writing was the domain of monks and friars. But that is just my opinion and has nothing to do with beer except that there is also no evidence of a  recipe for making beer. The Hymn of Ninkasi notwithstanding (in spite of). That hymn supposedly had in its wording the method for making beer. And in this way had a recipe that could be passed on easily.
Therefore lets just skip all that and concentrate on times and places that are verifiable.

According to Statistics, beer is in 3rd place as the most consumed beverage world wide, behind water and tea.
However, That conclusion may or may not be true. in London during the middle ages Water was not a big favorite as a drink, due to pollution. Most of the rivers and streams of England and most of Europe too, were also used as sewers. So Beer, being plentiful and Cheap, and could be made easily by most anyone, was uniformly drank by nearly every citizen. Tea at that time was very expensive. and had to be imported by ship from the far east.
It has been said that the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock instead of further south was because they ran out of beer. I can go with that because of how much water would be needed by passengers and crew and the live animals that were also on those first ships, that beer would have been the primary source of beverage for the people.

So, In the US the most popular and most consumed beverage is Water; followed by Soda (all soft drinks); then Coffee, then Beer. and lastly, Milk.

More on Soup

Definition:

Soup; from Sop...Bread used to soak up the drippings of meats and/or liquid still left in the bowl or on the plate/platter.

When you hear the word soup, what  immediately comes to mind depends largely on, here in the US, what your roots are; Examples: Campbell's soup. European roots: meat and or Vegetables boiled in water, sometimes thickened with flour.
Asian: Especially Chinese since they are so much a part of the history of America. It could be won-ton or egg drop that comes to mind. The various Ramen dried mix with water added also fastley becoming generally popular.
Mexican: It could be tripe, gazpacho served cold and if your roots are Italian it could be just minestrone.

I've even heard that soup was served up on Trail Drives but unless it had thick hunks of meat and plenty of potatoes and other Vegetables found along the creek beds and made into a thick stew, I don't believe that the trail drives had anything to do with soup.
Imagine if you will, a Cowboy who has just come to supper after 12 hours eating dust and literally punching cows, being handed a bowl of vegetable soup or thickened Consommé (thickened broth), he'd probably shoot the cook.

But in the society we now live in there are many choices and some fantastic soups to be had.
Is there anything more welcome on a cold winter day or cold and blustery spring or fall day?

A Brief History of Coffee

Definitions
                 
Coffee

1. From Kaffe, the tree that produces the fruit containing the seeds;  Ethiopia.

Java

1. Dutch coffee

Mocha

1. From Mokka; Arabian coffee

Jamoka

1. slang; probably the blending of Dutch and Arabian coffee's

Joe

1. Slang; US Navy; probably from General Order 99(see below).

Java 

1. Slang; US Navy

Battery Acid

1. slang; US Navy

General Order 99: In the year 1915, Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels issued a General Order (99), that outlawed alcohol aboard all Navy ships. Prior to that date, Grog was very much in use. Grog is from the British Navy and is composed of equal parts of water and Rum.

The substitute for Grog was and remains coffee. Coffee has been such a successful substitute that present day Navy uses 25-30 tons of coffee per day. There is a rumor that the slang term for coffee, e.g., Joe, is a diminutive of Josephus, but there is no written evidence or reference to support that rumor.

Coffee as we know it probably originates in Africa, Ethiopia to be exact. Compared to tea it is truly the new kid on the block. The first mention of coffee is from the tenth century and comes from reports from North Africa traders.

Tea, on the other hand, probably goes all the way back to the Neanderthal and it is easy to see why since Tea is derived from boiling leaves of tea plants.

Coffee is the seed of the red or purple fruit from Kaffe trees. The seed, when removed from the fruit

and dried appears dull gray and definitely unappetizing. The other factor about coffee is that the tree will only grow in a certain climate close to the equator unlike tea which is more universal and therefore has more variety.

Originally coffee was considered a tea due to the fact that the leaves of the Kaffe tree were boiled and though bitter, probably contained enough caffeine  to give the drinker a little buzz. the seeds were of course thrown away.

The first roasting of the seeds, now called beans, was probably in the 1500's in the city of Istanbul. At that time the beans were roasted over a fire, ground and then boiled in water slowly and at that time and place, coffee was born.

The magic of the whole sequence of turning these dull gray seeds into coffee was usurped by order of the Sultan Suleiman of Turkey and the making of coffee was entrusted to the man now known as

The Chief coffee Maker. There were other coffee makers in Istanbul and throughout Turkey but they all had in common the ability to keep secret the process of producing the drink as we know it. and the Sultans Coffee Maker was chosen by Suleiman because he was considered the best. For a long time the only ones allowed to drink the brew were the Royalty.

Despite the keeping of coffee making a secret it was not long before the process was common enough knowledge, that the frying of the beans in a pan and using the small flour grinders to prepare the beans, was soon enough commonplace. But it was one brave individual who took the secret public with the opening of the first commercial coffee house, open to the public. It was such a big success that in very short order, the coffee houses sprang up and  became the social gathering places for just about everyone in Turkey and from there to the rest of the Middle East.

It was in the 1600's that the coffee houses began turning up in Europe. It was the place to gather and chat, play chess, discuss the arts and politics and unlike the middle east it had the added benefit of admitting women, unlike the saloons of the day. The oldest and still operating coffee house is in England, Cornwall I think, and it opened in 1654 and is called Queens Lane Coffee House.

The Banning of Coffee and Coffeehouses:

Mecca 1511: Forbidden by orthodox Imams (Religious leaders), due to the stimulating effect of coffee. Overturned in 1524 by the Sultan Suleiman. Remember that guy who had his own Coffee Maker?.

Late 1500's: Coffee had finally made its way into Christian Europe and sure enough, the "Clergymen" went to Pope Clement VIII, and with passion unique to Religious fervor, implored the Pope to ban coffee, saying it was a heathen drink and thus Satanic. The Pope said that he would do nothing until he himself had sampled the drink. When he did he said that coffee should be baptized it tasted so good and promptly forbade any more banning talk. With that Papal blessing, coffee houses sprang up throughout Europe.

1632: Again in Istanbul, the Ottoman Throne, claimed by Marad IV, not only banned the drink but also installed penalties: A beating for first offenders and then drowned in the Bosporus for second offense.

1730's or so: In Sweden, King Gustav III, not only banned coffee use but also forbade ownership of Coffee Cups and implements of coffee preparation. It is interesting that in the mid last century, Sweden drank more coffee per capita than any other country.

As a counter point, Bach composed a Sonata for Coffee Titled simply "Coffee Cantata". It is the story of a young girl pleading with her father to allow her to continue drinking coffee...

At one point in time New York city had more coffeehouses than saloons. That was early 1900's. Since that time the coffeehouse went into decline until a young entrepreneur named Howard Schultz
opened the first Starbucks in Seattle and the coffeehouse was reborn.

Time for a coffee break.

Dad

A Brief History of the American Breakfast

Definitions:

Breakfast: Literally, to "break fast". Fasting from Supper of one day to noon the next day. An edict of the Catholic Church given in 1300's so as to avoid the deadly sin of "gluttony".

Pork: Meat from the pig/swine. Not native to the Western Hemisphere and Australia. Brought to Mexico, Central and South America by the Spanish and to America by John Smith and the first Colony at Jamestown.

Amish: Followers, but separate sect, of the Mennonite Christians founded in the 1500's during the Reformation.

Grits: A native American preparation of coarse ground kernels of Corn modified over the years primarily in the Southern States.

Hash: Left-over meats of Beef and sometimes Pork Run through a grinder, mixed with chopped onions, green peppers, salt and pepper; Fried and served with a poached egg.

Black Pudding: The congealed (thickened) blood from pigs and cows, mixed with chopped bits of the meats and fat and run through a meat grinder into a pan of prepared chopped onions, green peppers, oatmeal, bread and potato bit to add stiffness to the blood. It is then stuffed into the intestine, sausage like.

Trencher: 1. A large square, wood platter, characterized by a trench, cut near the edge of the platter on all four sides. It collects the juices of the carved meats and vegetables.

2. Smaller versions of the platter used as plates during the middle-ages.

Trencherman: A person with a big appetite.

If one was looking for an interesting subject to write about, you would probably not choose breakfast, and certainly, I was one of those. But for the past month of research I found breakfast one of the most fascinating subjects I could have chosen.

My routine, since childhood was simple enough; normal you might say.
I had hot oatmeal, cream of wheat, malt O meal and cornmeal, during the winter months and various cold cereals like cheerios, kix, corn flakes etc, during the summer.
On Sunday my mom would whip up things like Hot cakes with bacon and eggs and even the occasional eggs benedict or Hash with the poached egg on top. But I never gave a thought to how it all came about, it was just...well...normal.

My first thought in writing about this subject was to find out what the ancients were eating in the mornings and so I began with Egypt and the fact that the written word probably begins there for Western Civilization at about 4000 BC. Surprisingly there wasn't much to learn there for it seems the primary "start the day" meal for all of those early civilizations was various forms of bread dipped in wine or lacking that, in flavored water (tea) and a little later Kafe (coffee).

Fast forward to Rome at about 2500-2000 BC. Breakfast was not something people did  as a  routine so the mid-day meal was usually the first formal meal of the day. However, Rye bread dipped in wine was mentioned as breakfast food.

At the time of Christ, fish was also mentioned but not as a daily routine. We assume then that Bread was probably the main Breakfast food with wine, of course, and possibly cheese.

During the middle ages, the Catholic Church issued a ban on eating breakfast so as not to commit the deadly sin of "gluttony" And the Noblemen and Royal's of that era considered eating in the morning a sign of weakness. But a Ray of sanity was just over the  horizon and begins with the repelling of the Catholic Church by Martin Luther.
 He had been a Jesuit priest and objected to many things the Pope in Rome stood for. The inquisition being one of them. Other reformers appeared such as John Calvin and Menno Simons, the founder of the Mennonites. and it was the Mennonite and later the Amish who agreed that breaking fast at mid-day was a good idea if you didn't have any work to do, such as being a Friar or Monk or Priest.

But for the farming lifestyle of the Amish which was to get up at 4 in the morning to milk cows, clean stalls, gather eggs, feed the stock and have it all done before 6am when they decided that the thing to do was break- fast at that time of the morning. The break-fast was a big meal because it had to restore calories already used in morning chores, but last the until the noon meal as well ,with much work being accomplished along the way.

The Amish break-fast was something like this: Homemade oatmeal mush with fresh milk, pancakes, eggs and both bacon and sausage with bread and fresh butter. All washed down with fresh milk.

When word spread throughout Europe about the Amish eating habits, perpetually hungry peasants got in the act and spelled the death knell of the Gluttony laws. So the large morning meal now called breakfast, one word, was accepted as the norm.

Earlier than the Reformation, in England, King Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church and he also decided that the dietary edict should be abandoned and so it was.
Henry was well know to be a great trencherman and indeed he was, so much so that since he didn't work (like the Amish) he became obese and died that way. But the stage was set, or table if you prefer, for the full English Breakfast, it was: Back or side meat (bacon) Sausage, eggs, baked beans, black pudding and bread washed down with Beer.
And it was the full English breakfast that came to America by the first Colonists.

On arrival at Jamestown the first Colonists ran into something that would change the dietary habits of nearly the entire world. It was corn, cultivated and eaten by the Native Americans.

While the Spanish had known about corn long before the arrival the British Colonists, they didn't really care much for it and since there was no mention of it in the Catholic Bible it was pretty much relegated to something the heathen Indians ate.
  
The Native American use of dried corn kernels, mashed into a coarse flour like substance, had immediate impact on the new arrivals and cornmeal mush was probably the first use of this new vegetable.

But in addition, the Colonists and subsequent shiploads of supplies and more settlers, brought with them, egg laying chickens that were domesticated, pigs, and potatoes and the great American breakfast was now in place. Somewhere along the line, black pudding and baked beans were eliminated from breakfast.

The breakfast of bacon or sausage, fried or scrambled eggs, hash browns and served up with toast and coffee. is the great breakfast unique to America.

In the Southern States, grits are substituted for hash browns.

Dad.








        
                          

Chuck Wagon

Definitions:

Chuck: Cowboy slang for food.
                  
Chuck Wagon: The Studebaker Wagon; A smaller version of the famous Conestoga "Prairie Schooner".
               
Cookie: The cook and most times, second in command of a trail drive.
               
Possum Belly: A length of canvas attached to the underside of the Chuck Wagon. Used to store dry wood.
                   
Tail: The modified Tailgate on the back of the Chuck wagon.
               
Dutch Oven: A three sided iron box with a hinged door on the open side.

The Chuck wagon was invented by Charles Goodnight, a Texas Rancher in 1866.
He bought a surplus Studebaker wagon from the Army and then modified (change to make better) it to make it useful to a Trail Drive. The benefit of that particular wagon was that it had Iron axels and iron reinforced wheels thus eliminating breakdowns on the trail.
He had a large box made that had drawers and cupboards built in and attached it to the back of the wagon and added a long tailgate with hinged legs that when the tail was opened the legs automatically swung down and you now had a work table.

He also removed the rounded bows that held the canvas top and squared them off then added a looser canvas that could catch rainwater during the storms they would encounter during the drive. That water was then transferred to the water barrels, one on each side of the wagon - necessary to keep the load balanced.

In addition, he also added three rods of rolled up canvas to each top side and one on the back top. They could be rolled out to protect from the sun, rain and sometimes dust. they also provided shelter for the cowboys trying to eat in a rainstorm and also from the hard sun. A small fire could also be started and be protected from the elements. Very important to a wet and weary cowboy coming in from night watch to have a hot cup of coffee waiting for him.

The work space at the rear of the wagon became known as simply, 'the tail' and it was the domain of cookie and no cowboy or even the trail boss would ever interfere or even touch anything without checking with cookie and getting permission, rarely given.

On the day the drive left on its Start day, the Chuck wagon would lead off and quickly leave the herd behind. A scout assigned to ride ahead would find the evenings stop near water, and then ride back and let cookie know where to stop.

On arrival, cookie would locate the wagon near the water and get the firewood gathered up, and the beans and coffee water properly hung from iron tripods. He would then, using the tail as his work counter, cut up the bacon, get the biscuits mixed up, formed and laid out on pans and ready for the dutch oven. (When coals were available the oven was set upon them and the trays of biscuits were then baked.) When they were ready to eat they were removed to large pans and set on the tail, covered with a used flour sack. The cowboys would serve themselves.

By the time the herd arrived the cowboys got them watered and then settled on graze and the food was now ready. Beans, Bacon, Biscuits and coffee with the occasional dried apple pie for dessert, a luxury unknown before the advent of the Chuck wagon.
While the cowboys were occupied with their food the cook would gather dry wood to fill the possum belly, ensure the water barrels were topped off and the mules chosen from the Remuda for the next days drive.

Before there was such a thing as the Chuck wagon, cowboys carried saddle bags.
They filled them with the bare necessities: a clean shirt, socks, a pair of spare jeans, a box of ammo and two or three slabs of bacon, a bag of beans, and flour, salt, baking soda and Coffee. Sometimes, for sweetener a bit of molasses.

Pack horses carried things like ground sheets, blankets, spare ammo and additional rifles. Also the tripods, pots and pans. The dutch oven was not carried due to its size and weight. All cowboys carried a quart canteen for water, sometimes two. Additional water, in canteens or water bags, were added to the pack horses or mules.

Mules were hard to come by due to so many killed in the Civil War so Pack Horses were in general use. All of the pack horse items were transferred to the Chuck wagon after 1866. On some the monster drives of 5000 plus steers, an extra wagon was added to carry water, barrels of flour, bags of salt and dried apples, and all of the cooking utensils and other needed supplies. But it was the Studebaker Wagon with its iron axles, small size and stout construction that made these drives possible.

Dad.