Food And Ritual

With Lent coming up, it's interesting to see how food plays a part in our religious rituals. They are entwined together , much like religion and ourselves. Both affect our lives - and how we choose to live.

One of the most traditional religions is Greek Orthodoxy.This is one of the purist of Christianity , being unchanged for over one thousand years. Their rites and beliefs are tightly tied to food and what to eat. Their Lent which starts March 11th, has a strict dietary list. Products from red blooded animals are taboo. The Greek Orthodox live mostly on vegetables, having eschewed all kinds of meat, poultry and even fish with spines. Dairy and eggs are also forbidden along with olive  oil and wine. Their Christmas fasts are somewhat similar wit no fish being allowed between December 20th and December 24th - Christmas Eve.Memorial services are also important and so is the food with them.There is usually the deceased's favorite foods , such as certain kinds of cookies as well as favorite fruits. An ancient mix of wheat berries pomegranate seeds nuts and dried fruit is also given out. It's a kind of granola called koliva, and it's sweetened with cinnamon and sugar Mint is added as well, but some families sub in parsley.

The Catholics and some Protestants like the Episcopalians celebrate Fat Tuesday also called Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday.It's a wild time, especially in New Orleans and Rio. This is the time to truly enjoy Cajun and Creole dishes.A Fat Tuesday meal can start with a rich gumbo, full of shrimp or  chicken along with onion, celery and peppers, the Cajun trinity. The meals end with a festive King Cake, a sweet bread decorated with purple, green, and gold icing.The colors have meaning too - purple  justice, green faith and gold power. To even make it more fun and festive a baby figurine is put into the cake and  means good luck to the person finding it.The Brazilians celebrate the day with a lush, creamy shrimp stew called moqueca and Caipirinha, the country's national cocktail. Shrove Tuesday is the version celebrated in the United Kingdom where pancakes are made to rid the house of butter and dairy before Lent. Fasting only takes place during this time. Meat is given up on Ash Wednesday and Fridays  Some of the more religious people eschew sweets and alcohol for Lent. Many  southern Italians fast on Christmas Eve Day, breaking it at a late dinner of thirteen kinds of seafood. This symbolizes  Jesus.Christ and His apostles.

Food and ritual have been entwined for more than two thousand years. Both symbolize individual religions and their importance Will it ever change? No, they will be here for the next millienna

A Tasty Holiday Issue

The New York Times has given us some great holiday recipes and today is yet another issue of yummy Christmas and Hannukah dishes. It's a wide variety of different flavors and textures. along with a vast array of diverse ingredients. Best of all any of these can be a holiday tradition made year after year.

One of the best articles is by Food regular , Julia Moskin, She wrote about that rich , eggy dense pudding - flan. Her recipe is the perfect recipe.It is a smooth textured one  with the zing of lemon added. Cinnamon can be subbed in for the lemon, for a Northern Spanish twist. One of the most disconcerting aspects of the dessert is the caramel topping. This is usually a burnt sugar ,made with just sugar melted in a heavy saucepan. Home chefs attempting this should try a "wet" caramel, with water mixed in with the sugar.It will finish off the flan with that burnt umber syrup.What can go before the flan is Dave Tanis of A City Kitchen 's column.It is a classic French dish that also has bouquet garni and carrots.Horseradish can be slathered on them for a sharp contrast.

Hannukah is also celebrated, thanks to Melissa Clark's olive oil challah recipe. along with Joan Nathan's article on latkes..The first celebrates the miracle of the oil thanks to the addition of this classic ingredient.It is a braided bread that can also be repurposed for French toast and bread puddings. Challah dough is one of the easiest doughs to work with for home chefs. If you want the most traditional dish, then think latkes.Joan Nathan wrote about them in her article. These are not exactly the classic ones, thanks to Chef Daniel Rose.They're made with clarified butter along with being transformed into one big , crispy pancake as opposed to a slew of tiny little pancakes.Onions are also added for an earthy sweetness.It's fried in grapeseed oil and served with creme fraiche and an apple compote instead of the usual sour cream and apple sauce.It can also be used a a based for Eggs Benedict too.

These recipes will make Christmas and Hannukah more memorable. They're classics updated for a better , more enhanced taste. Make anyone part of the holiday cooking tradition.

Apples Sweet And Savory

It is apple season.There are baskets of them gracing the fruit sections of every supermarket.Orchards are rife with them.What's great about them is that they're versatile in both sweet and surprisingly savory dishes.Another plus is that there are so many different varieties that you can use any one of them in different recipes. Sweet apple recipes abound.One of the easiest and most fun is candy or caramel apples.It does require patience to enrobe them in that sugary goo.However they are fun to eat ,especially if you use the super tart Granny Smith kind.You can add some chopped peanuts or flaked coconut for crunch.Another beloved recipe is for apple fritters.These are purely decadent, especially when a splash of apple cider or apple brand is tossed into the batter.However they're good on their own, with just a dusting of powdered sugar.The best apples for this are Cortland,Golden Delicious or Mutsu.For a pie or tart with bite use Granny Smith in place of the other.Serve the finished pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or to bring out the fruit's earthy sweetness, try a slice of sharp cheddar.One of the easiest apple recipes is apple sauce.This is simply simmered cubed cooking apples with sugar and a scant amount of water.It not only makes for a great dessert but also a relatively healthy snack and even breakfast.Speaking of the first meal, apples are wonderful in pancakes.They're definitely perfect for a Sunday brunch or just a hearty mid week treat.Try the Dutch apple one that"s baked and can be served for the morning meal or as a nice dessert with whipped cream and cinnamon. Apples are a treat in savory dishes as well.Apple slices are the stars in the famed Waldorf Salad.This blend of savory and sweet also has raisins and celery for flavor and crunch.You can also add leftover chicken or turkey to make it more of a main dish than a side.Another tasty apple based salad is one with walnuts and blue cheese.You can also do a salad with only a variety of different kinds from Fuji to Braymore, Mix with romaine and an apple cider based vinaigrette.The Germans have always known that apples go well with pork (and aid in the digestion too).Jazz up those boring pork chops with a mix of butter sautéed apples mixed with onions.You can also make a caramel sauce using brown sugar and peppercorns cooked together.Top the meat with heaping spoonfuls of it.Home chefs can also top a loin of pork with a spicy apple topping.Tenderloins can also benefit from this fruit as can pork loins.Try a stuffing made with Fujis and raisins.Beef dishes can also have the added zing of the fall harvest.Experiment with an apple infused beef stew.It's the perfect ,meal for fall, with the taste of apples and spices, cooked to perfection in a Dutch oven.You can also try beef fillets with apples as well.The two work well with each other, and bring out the other's rich flavors. Apples are in abundance right now.Try them in any meal, from breakfast to dinner or in a lunchtime salad.They're not only tasty but versatile.Try a recipe or two with your harvest.

Wake Up To A Homecooked Meal

Yesterday I made an actual homestyle breakfast. Yup, there were even biscuits and sausage patties. OK , the biscuits came out of a tube and the patties were soy but it was still a homestyle breakfast of sorts. Cooking a big breakfast is easy, especially if you have the time which I did (it was a Sunday).

Biscuits and muffins are th e perfect breads to make for a large breakfast. They're always good with honey butter or to sop up egg yolks. Biscuits go well with ham and bacon along with any kind of sausage be it patty or link. You can make breakfast sandwiches using them, adding a slice of mild cheddar along with a fried egg. Muffins are a great accompaniment to hearty three egg omelets and are more filling than just plain toast. You cam bake variations such as blueberry corn, or walnuts. If you;re having guests over a fun treat is a brunch filled small muffins; miniature versions of the usual mammoth kind.

Most people love eggs and they always play a big part of a homestyle breakfast. Scrambled eggs are good.they're easy to make and are perfect for large crowds. Vary them by tossing in some bacon or hash along with some cheddar. Omelets are good too. The Western variety require pepper and ham tossed in and you can also add some broccoli and onions too. Spinach omelets are also real crowd pleasers. For a fancier take on eggs think about strata. this is an Italian take on an egg dish.This is layers of eggs with veggies, crumbled sausage on a bed of cubed sourdough.

No homestyle breakfast would be complete without waffles and pancakes. it's pays to have a waffle iron because the homemade taste better and are fluffier than what you get from a box. Besides there's nothing like a hot off the press waffle covered in creamy butter and maple syrup. Pancakes are the same way. With these, try to create a foamy, batter for airier lighter cakes. You can add everything from fruit to nuts and make them in a whole range of sizes.

A hearty breakfast can be done. Your family and guests will appreciate the work you've put into it. You'll appreciate the down home flavor and goodness of it yourself.

The Goodness of Maple Syrup

This time of year calls for hot breakfasts, redolent of waffles, pancakes and French toast. What better than maple syrup to pour over these treats. Mixed with melted butter it has the perfect , sweet, nutty taste that adds oomph to any breakfast.

Maple syrup is as old as this continent. Canadian Indians first used it, tapping trees and boiling it to eliminate the water. It was widely used in the 18th and 19th Centuries because it was easily accessible , especially for New Englanders and upstate New Yorkers. Surprisingly enough it's early Spring and not fall when maples are tapped for syrup. A hole is bored into the trunk and then a tap or faucet is installed. This enables maple "farmers" to harvest the sap and bring it to the sugar house. The sugar house is where the sap is then boiled over high temperatures of 217degrees Farenheit and turned into syrup.The whole process from tree to waiting pan must be done quickly because the sap is perishable. From there it's poured into waiting plastic, metal or glass containers and sealed.

There are three levels of maple syrup. The best is Grade A which is then subcatagorized into Light Amber, Medium Amber and Dark Amber. Your more expensive syrups can be any of these. The most widely produced is the grade B which is a darker color and has overtones of caramel. This is mainly used in commercial cooking. The last Grade C is the darkest of all and is the maple syrup found in table syrups. The best is the Grade A , Light Amber which is the most expensive. This is what you should use over your waffles and pancakes. You can also use it along with the Grade C kind for your oatmeal.


This is the time for a hot pancake or waffle breakfast with maple syrup. Enjoy this treat to get you through the cold dreary mornings.