Agenda: 4/27 to 5/3
COMING UP
Adventurous Eating, food writer and critic Gael Greene will moderate a discussion "about the world’s most unusual meals" with chefs Fergus Henderson, Mario Batali, and Lidia Bastianich on Wednesday, May 4, 8:00 p.m., at the 92nd Street Y, 92nd Street at Lexington Avenue. $25/person (212.415.5500).
EVENTS THIS WEEK
1. Sherry and Soup Tasting, tasting event presented by Women for WineSense, Wednesday, April 27, 6:30 p.m., at Pulse, 45 Rockefeller Center Plaza. $55/person, $45/Women for WineSense members (212.218.8666).
2. 15th Annual James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Reception, annual awards ceremony will be held on Monday, May 2, at the New York Marriott Marquis. $300/person, $250/Foundation members (866.362.6442).
3. Beyond Farmers' Markets: Putting Food Systems on the Urban Map, the Baum Forum on Sustainable Food and Farming will present a four-part series of events on food systems and "how they interact with urban systems and assistance programs (such as land use, transportation, economic development, and public health), and their potential to improve or disrupt city life" beginning Tuesday, May 3, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at The Graduate Center (CUNY) 34th Street and Fifth Ave. $25/session, $80/series (212.817.8215).
ONGOING EVENTS
1. Have You Eaten Yet? The Chinese Restaurant in America, an exhibit exploring the Chinese restaurant’s origin and growth in America and its cultural significance, at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (70 Mulberry Street, 2nd Floor). The exhibit continues through June 2005. Suggested admission is $3 (212.619.4785).
2. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
Second Annual Central Park Flower Show
Around this time last year, I posted photos of spring flowers shot during an early morning walk through Central Park, employing a tenuous connection between the profusion of flowers and the bounty of spring vegetables arriving in stores and markets.
This year, The Food Section is going completely off topic and just posting photos of spring flowers in Central Park with no food-related content whatsoever.
The photos were taken yesterday morning, and looking at them again now is bringing tears to my eyes . . . and sneezes to my nose. I'm talking a serious allergic reaction! But, it was worth it. The flowers are simply stunning, and I have filled my Allegra prescription.
For more allergy-inducing photos, view a slideshow of the rest of the images.
Agenda: 4/20 to 4/26
1. The Medium Is the Matzo, a Passover art installation, featuring -- among other elements -- a video projected on a movie screen made of matzo, will be on display through May 2 at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University, 7 East 10th Street (212.998.4114).
2. Dine in Brooklyn, three-course meals for $19.55 at participating Brooklyn restaurants, concludes Wednesday, April 20 (718.802.3846).
3. New York City Drinks, Professor David Wondrich, co-founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans, will speak about the history of libations in early America, Wednesday, April 20, 6:30 p.m., at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, 421 East 61st Street. $25/person, $22/Members (212.838.6878).
4. Fresh from the Past: Recipes and Revelations from Moll Flanders' Kitchen, Sandra Sherman, a food and culture historian and a professor of British Literature at the University of Arkansas, will discuss how the recipes of 18th century British cookbooks serve as a window into the period's culture, society, and geopolitics, presented by the Culinary Historians of New York, Thursday, April 21, 6:30 p.m reception/7:00 p.m. lecture, at Park Avenue Methodist Church, 86th St. at Park Ave. $30/person (212.334.1061).
5. Food on Film Salon, film series at Makor exploring the intersection of gastronomy and cinema, continues on Thursday, April 21, with the Japanese "noodle Western" Tampopo (1986). Screening is at 7:30 p.m. at the Steinhardt Building, 35 West 67th Street, followed by a post-screening discussion with Bill Yosses, executive chef at Joseph’s, Joanna Ney of the New York Film Festival, and Ruda Dauphin, American director of the Deauville Film Festival. $15/person (212.415.5500).
6. Taste of Chinatown, food festival featuring tastings from more than 50 Chinatown restaurants, bakeries, tea houses, and specialty shops, Saturday, April 23, 1:00 to 6:00 p.m., on Mott, Baxter, Mulberry, Bayard, Pell, Doyers Streets (between Canal & Worth Streets). Free admission; $1.00 tasting stations (212.653.9141).
7. 15th Annual Windows on Long Island Wine “Get Local: Eat Local. Drink Local,” annual fundraising event presented by the Long Island Wine Council and Earth Pledge will feature food from 30 New York restaurants and gourmet specialty purveyors and wines from 34 Long Island vintners, Monday, April 25, 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at Capitale, 130 Bowery. $125 Grand Tasting, $150 at the door (212.725.6611, ext. 225).
8. New York Rising Stars Revue, StarChefs.com will present a tasting event featuring "up-and-coming culinary stars from the top restaurants in town," Tuesday, April 26, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., at Flatiron Studio, 33 West 19th Street. $100/person in advance; $125/at the door (212.966.7575). The event will be preceded by a culinary industry Career Fair from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and a "How to Make It" career seminar, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
ONGOING EVENTS
1. Have You Eaten Yet? The Chinese Restaurant in America, an exhibit exploring the Chinese restaurant’s origin and growth in America and its cultural significance, at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (70 Mulberry Street, 2nd Floor). The exhibit continues through June 2005. Suggested admission is $3 (212.619.4785).
2. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
Introducing the Foodblog Ad Network
Adam Kuban, the pioneering mind behind Slice, "America's Favorite Pizza Weblog," has spearheaded the creation of the Foodblog Ad Network through the weblog advertising network Blogads.
The Foodblog Ad Network brings together a series of diverse food and wine weblogs that share a combined audience of more than 130,000 readers per week. Whether you are a large cookware company seeking to advertise your latest product, a publisher promoting a new cookbook, or a small purveyor of artisanal foods, the Foodblog Ad Network offers a new way to reach smart, savvy consumers of food stuff.
In addition to advertising via the Foodblog Ad Network, individual advertisements on this site through Blogads will continue to be available, as will custom advertisement arrangements and sponsorships. For more information about advertising with The Food Section, send an email to [email protected].
Shopping List: Pesach Granola
As the tradition of Passover persists year after year, so do the myriad efforts by Jews to improve upon eight long days without leavened bread. One moment, we're solemnly remembering and reflecting on weighty themes of slavery and suffering, symbolized in matzo, the "bread of affliction," next thing we're doing anything we can to turn the stuff into something else, from matzo pizza to caramel matzo crunch (not to mention flourless chocolate cakes and cookies).
It was inevitable that this special brand of culinary ingenuity would find its way to the breakfast table. Step aside egg matzo and matzo brei, because kosher for Passover luxe granola has joined the ranks of holiday breakfast possibilities.
Made in Brooklyn at the Hirsch Brothers Bakery under strict Orthodox supervision, Savta's Pesach Granola is certified kosher for Passover by the by the Organized Kashrus Laboratories. The granola, a mixture of farfal (broken matzo), sliced almonds, coconut, honey, and brown sugar, is sweet and crunchy, with the distinct aroma of toasted matzo. Another variation is embellished with dried cranberries. Have it as a cereal in milk, sprinkled on yogurt, or straight from the bag.
So, what's coming next from the Passover culinary labs? The world's first Passover granola bar, according to Savta's Web site: "Savta is busy working on modifying the recipe and the baking process in order to produce the best kosher for Passover granola bar ever made."
Savta's Pesach Granola is $9.95 for a one pound bag. It may be ordered online at savtas.com or by phone at 866.697.2882. The granola is also available for purchase in New York City at The Kosher Marketplace, 2442 Broadway (212.580.6378), as well as other retail locations nationwide.
Korean Barbecue Dos and Don'ts
Who could resist the multiple sensory pleasures of Korean barbecue: the spicy, salty flavors and the combination of textures and temperatures (crisp lettuce juxtaposed with succulent grilled meat and fish), not to mention the hands-on fun of going through a pile of lettuce leaves, wrapping your own individual little barbecue "sandwiches" and popping them into your mouth. And then there's the fear factor of watching an iron basket of fiery charcoal travel from kitchen to table. Just close your eyes and pray, "Please don't let the busboy slip on that errant piece of kimchi and doom us all."
At a recent dinner at Shin Chon Kalbi (43-01 Queens Boulevard) in Sunnyside, Queens, not only did we enjoy a wonderful meal of grilled short ribs and pork and a steaming bowl of bibimbap, but we were also treated to an unsolicited, though thoroughly elucidating, seminar from our waitress on how to properly eat Korean barbecue.
"I see a lot of people who don't know what they're doing," our waitress told us, rolling her eyes. Clearly bothered by the dining transgressions she sees day in and day out, she proceeded to educate us on a few Korean barbecue dos and don'ts.
Lettuce
DO tear off a small piece of lettuce ("face up," with the bottom of the rib facing down) to wrap around the freshly grilled meat and make a bite-size sandwich.
DON'T grab an entire leaf of lettuce to form a Chipotle-caliber Korean burrito.
Banchan
DO taste the complimentary assortment of banchan, small plates of kimchi, pickled vegetables, and other side dishes typically brought to the table just after ordering.
DON'T try to stuff the banchan into your barbecue/lettuce sandwich. Leave them as side dishes to savor on their own. In other words, keep the sandwich simple: lettuce, meat, bean paste, shredded scallion or leek, and garlic (see below).
Garlic
DO eat the garlic, often served in a small bowl with sliced green chiles. First, roast the garlic atop the grill, and then add a slice to your barbecue sandwich, if you are so inclined.
DON'T eat the garlic raw. Our waitress commented, without explanation, that garlic is considered by Koreans to be more healthy when it has been cooked. It also tastes better grilled, not to mention the fact that you will be doing your significant other a favor by avoiding raw garlic.
Agenda: 4/13 to 4/19
1. Dine in Brooklyn, three-course meals for $19.55 at participating Brooklyn restaurants, continues through Wednesday, April 20 (718.802.3846).
2. Sake Dinner, six-course tasting menu paired with eight sakes, Thursday, April 14, 6:00 p.m., at Riingo, 205 East 45th Street. $95/person, limited seats available (212.867.4200).
3. Taste of the Lower East Side, annual tasting event benefiting the Grand Street Settlement, Thursday, April 14, 7:00 to 11:00 p.m., at The Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, 172 Norfolk Street. $100-500/person (646.201.4207).
4. Brewtopia, beer tasting event featuring "unlimited samples of over 300 of the finest craft beers in the world," hic, Saturday, April 16, at The Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th Street (Session I: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Session II: 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.). $40/person in advance, $50/person at the door (877.772.5425).
5. Be a Cheese Wiz, a class on tasting cheese for children and their parents, because "Isn't it time your child learned the difference between processed singles and fine, artisanal cheeses?" Saturday, April 16, 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., at the Artisanal Cheese Center, 500 West 37th Street, 2nd Floor. $75/parent-child pair (children ages 6-12) (877.797.1200).
6. Taste of the Nation, Share our Strength will hold fundraising events to benefit hunger relief, Monday, April 18, in Princeton (609.924.3663) and Northern New Jersey (781.381.3252).
7. Flavors of EN Sake Tasting, sake tasting and four-course dinner will feature Kosuke Kuji, Master Brewer of Nambu Bijin Brewery in Iwate, Japan, Tuesday, April 19, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., at EN Japanese Brasserie, 435 Hudson Street. $60/person (212.647.9196, ext. 204).
ONGOING EVENTS
1. Have You Eaten Yet? The Chinese Restaurant in America, an exhibit exploring the Chinese restaurant’s origin and growth in America and its cultural significance, at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (70 Mulberry Street, 2nd Floor). The exhibit continues through June 2005. Suggested admission is $3 (212.619.4785).
2. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
David Eyre's Pancake
Back in late February, when Molly at Orangette posted about her friend's dutch baby pancake, she got me craving a similar breakfast treat from my youth, the David Eyre's Pancake. When Megan at Not Martha posted about her own dutch pancake making experience, it put me over the edge.
For some inexplicable reason, the oven-baked pancake, first popularized in a 1966 New York Times article by Craig Claiborne, was always known in my family as the "John Eyre’s pancake." Only when I searched for the recipe online a few years ago did I discover the misnomer. It turned out the pancake was named for David Eyre, the founding editor of Honolulu Magazine.
Craig Claiborne recalled the storied pancake in a 1985 article in the New York Times:
I discovered the pancake 20 years ago at a holiday brunch given by friends in Hawaii. The host was David Eyre, who has retired from newspaper and public relations work. Along about midday I arrived at his mountainside home in Honolulu. Describing the event soon after, I wrote: ''With Diamond Head in the distance, a brilliant, palm-ringed sea below and this delicately flavored pancake before us, we seemed to have achieved paradise.''
With the description, I printed a recipe for the holiday pancake. It turned out to be perhaps the most popular recipe to appear in this newspaper. I received a letter from Mr. Eyre telling me with mock anger that he wished he had been more discreet. It seems that he was deluged with telephone calls at odd hours of the night, sometimes from thousand of miles away, commenting on the recipe. It was not uncommon, he said, for tourists to knock on his door to tell him how much they enjoyed his contribution to their holiday breakfasts.
I'm not surprised he got this response. The pancake is so good and so incredibly easy to make, he deserved the deluge. Nevertheless, Mr. Eyre claimed that the recipe was not his in the first place, but, in fact, came from a 1919 cookbook.
When I was little, the pancake seemed like one of those truly magical foods. Into the oven goes a pan with a thin pool of batter and out comes a puffy new animal, rising, curling, and lifting up on the sides. The texture and flavor sort of resembles an open-faced popover, if there were such a thing. The traditional embellishment is to give the pancake a sweet-tart finish by dousing it, straight from the oven, with lemon juice and powdered sugar.
Kitchen Notes: (1) In my adaptation of the original recipe, I cut the butter down to three tablespoons from four. However, I did use a non-stick pan. (2) In this instance, the pancake not only puffed out on the sides but all over, rising up in the middle as well, as you can see in the photo. This may have been due to using a slightly smaller pan (a 10-inch ovenproof non-stick pan). (3) When I made the pancake, I got the idea of trying to make individually sized versions, not unlike the dutch babies, only in small gratin dishes that could be served at the table to each person. It's not something I've actually attempted, but it's something I'd like to try.
David Eyre’s Pancake
Adapted from Craig Claiborne
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
confectioner’s sugar (to taste)
fresh lemon juice (to taste)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, flour, and tablespoon of sugar. Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet or ovenproof dish. Pour the batter into the pan or dish and bake for 20 minutes or until the pancake puffs up and turns golden brown (as seen in the photo above). Sprinkle with the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice. Watch it quickly deflate (as seen in the photo below) and serve immediately.
Serves two to four (depending on your will power).
RISE AND FALL The David Eyre's Pancake, in its puffed out state straight from the oven (above) and doused with lemon and sugar before devouring (below).
Correction
Today's Agenda indicated incorrectly that the price of admission to the "Pinot and Pork" event is $40/person. In fact, the correct price of admission is $65/person.
Agenda: 4/6 to 4/12
1. Beer Tasting Party, tasting of nine German beers paired with German food, Thursday, April 7, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., at Loreley, 7 Rivington Street. $29/person (212.253.7077).
2. The Meaning of Food, a three-part television program exploring the culture of food -- from production to preparation -- will air its first installment on Thursday, April 7, 10 p.m., on PBS stations.
3. East Meets West Dinner, a three-course dinner will be held to raise funds for Culinary Institute of America students to to travel to Vietnam, Sunday, April 10, 6:30pm, at Django, 480 Lexington @ 46th Street. $125/person (212.473.7805).
4. Pinot and Pork, a tasting event featuring wine and swine, Monday, April 11, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Ruby Falls, 609 West 29th Street. $40/person $65/person benefiting Slow Food U.S.A. (866.562.7263).
5. Dine in Brooklyn, three-course meals for $19.55 at participating Brooklyn restaurants, beginning Monday, April 11, and continuing through Wednesday, April 20 (718.802.3846).
6. Exquisite Mushrooms, the American Museum of Natural History will present a discussion on mushrooms led by author Gary Lincoff and chef Amy Farges as part of its lecture series "Adventures in the Global Kitchen," Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m., at Linder Theater, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street. $15.00/person, $13.50/museum members, tastings included (212.769.5200).
7. A Taste of the Hudson River Valley, the Stony Brook University Center for Wine, Food and Culture will hold a tasting of wine and food from the Hudson River Valley, led by Waldy Malouf, chef at Beacon, Tuesday, April 12, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at Stony Brook Manhattan, 401 Park Avenue South at 28th Street (631.632.9404).
ONGOING EVENTS
1. Have You Eaten Yet? The Chinese Restaurant in America, an exhibit exploring the Chinese restaurant’s origin and growth in America and its cultural significance, at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (70 Mulberry Street, 2nd Floor). The exhibit continues through June 2005. Suggested admission is $3 (212.619.4785).
2. Cookin': A Sizzling Entertainment, "a fast-paced kitchen percussion show combining comedy, rhythm, and non-verbal performance," at the Minetta Lane Theatre, 18 Minetta Lane (212.420.8000).
