Food and Drug Abdication
Bread is causing a big brouhaha these days. If you read the FLB regularly this shouldn’t be a shock. Real bread has always been hard to find and even the stuff that poses for good, healthful, or freshly baked bread in the supermarkets is filled with dreck.
Who finds it surprising that there is nasty stuff lurking in rolls sold by fast food joints?
One of the nasty things with a long name that falls under the category of “dough conditioners” is azodicarbonamide. And as Vani Hari (aka The Food Babe) has recently reminded us, it’s the same ingredient that’s used in yoga mats and rubber soles. Just yesterday, Chuck Schumer has joined the chorus of voices opposed the use of this ingredient in our food supply.
Do I want azodicarbonamide in my bread? No. Most certainly, I do not. But I don’t want DATEM in it either. DATEM of course is the much more user friendly acronym than the much scarier sounding chemical, “diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides.” How about bromide or sodium stearoyl lactylate? No and no.
But there is a much bigger problem going on here. Really that should say problems.
Challah Hunting
Bread is one of my favorite things, but I don’t bake it at home. Much like espresso, I leave this troublesome task to the master craftsmen. That leads me to search out good versions of the stuff wherever I roam. And sometimes, it’s harder to find than others.
I love a great baguette with it’s crackly crust, open crumb and deep flavor. Really almost any bread with a crust that means business is going to make me smile. Which isn’t to say there is no room in my heart for soft dinner rolls, brioche or even popovers. But the one bread I eat more than any other is challah.
Challah is the bread that we eat every Friday night for shabbat. Part of the ritual observance is to try and create a special time and space within the home. So we gussy up the place a bit. At the Fussy household that means we change the table linens.
The bread plays an important role in this too. Instead of the plain hard loaves that one might have every day, this one is special. It’s sweeter, more tender, and beautifully braided. Now, what makes one challah better than another is clearly a matter of personal preference. However, I’m going to make the case for the style I think is best.
An Unforgettable Quesadilla
What does it take to make a quesadilla exciting?
We should probably start by saying that this ubiquitous Mexican dish comes in many forms. The most common is in some ways very much like a crappy grilled cheese sandwich. I say crappy because it’s missing the butter toasted bread, which is a critical part to the glory of this great American staple. But quesadillas can be made from corn tortillas, flour tortillas or even a masa dough. They can be cooked a variety of ways, with a variety of fillings, and the cheese can be on the inside or the outside. It’s true.
The way some places try to make it exciting is by mixing up the flavor of the tortilla, filling it with unusual ingredients, and topping it with special sauces. I salute their creativity. But it doesn’t address some of the fundamental flaws of the generic quesadilla.
There is one quesadilla that stole my heart a long time ago. And fortunately, I’ve never seen anything quite like it since, because this is one of those insanely delicious things that could kill you if you made it a regular part of your diet.
Luckily, when I made it a regular part of my diet, I was a much younger man.
AskTP – Merry February
Here we are, in the thick of winter. But even in the ice and the snow the days are totally getting longer and that gives me a bit of hope. Actually, winter in New Jersey isn’t that bad. Sure, our roads are a mess after it snows. And school seems to get cancelled at the mere anticipation of a light accumulation.
Even so, it’s warmer here. Winter started later and I bet it’s going to end earlier. And in the thick of it the cold just isn’t quite as biting in Central Jersey as it is in Upstate New York. Sure, Central New York and Buffalo have it worse. But that’s cold comfort.
I haven’t even needed to pull out my balaclava once.
Today isn’t about gloating about the weather. Today is for answering reader questions. It’s been a while since the last Ask the Profussor, so I’ll give a short reminder to those who may have forgotten. I’ve committed to answering any question that’s asked in the comments section of the blog, just so long as it includes a question mark. No, they may not get answered right away. But they do always get an answer.
Now without further ado, onto the questions.
Troy’s Trials and Triumphs
Troy is a special city.
A long time ago I said something like, “I don’t live in Troy, so I don’t need this place to succeed.” It was about Dante’s Frozen yogurt, and at the time the chorus of support for this new venture was deafening. I was a little more critical. But I’m glad it did succeed in the end, because now it’s one of my favorite FroYo shops in the region.
The idea, though, is that Troy has a very loyal and passionate fan base. People who live there love it. And many of those proponents are part of a tight knit downtown community.
Soon after moving to the region in 2007 I got to witness that community first hand at the winter Troy Riverfront Farmers Market. It was the first thing I had experienced in the region that reminded me of my old life in Northern California.
Over the years the market has grown and downtown Troy has seen some notable improvements. And I find it hard to see these two things as a coincidence. Because from the beginning, the market has always felt like the beating heart of the revitalization effort. But as the town grows, as new people are drawn into its borders, as the market expands, and as standards rise, there can be some growing pains.
Cramming It In
My eyes are bigger than my stomach. Maybe it’s genetic, because it seems to run in the family. I heard from my father that he used to receive the same rebuke from his parents.
Most of the time I’m fairly moderate. But Super Bowl Sunday is one day that I decide to throw moderation out the window. One of these years it’s going to catch up with me and I’ll have to start some other tradition. Part of me feels that day is coming sooner rather than later. For now, I’ll stick to my annual rites.
Still, how many people out there have a difficult time eating all of the things they have set their sights on for the big game? Well this year, I thought I had a clever solution all figured out.
The game itself isn’t all that long. Kick off was at 6:30 and by 10:00 it was over. That’s only three and a half hours of eating. Clearly the answer is what football fans have known for decades: pre-game.
Stupid Super Bowl Sides
There are some things that I’m happy to leave to the experts.
Espresso is one of them. Damn, that stuff is hard to make well at home. First, the beans have a shelf life. So if you have to manage your throughput and make sure not to stockpile (which honestly is very hard for someone like me who is prone to hoarding). Then you need an amazing grinder and to keep it immaculately clean. Plus you need a pre-heated machine head that’s capable of producing a consistent temperature so that when water is pushed through at a high enough pressure, the oils in the beans emulsify into a gorgeous crema.
I’d rather drive fifteen minutes out of my way and plonk three bucks down on the counter every time I fancy a shot of aromatic and soul inspiring espresso than invest thousands of dollars in equipment to try and make something passable at home.
Pizza and chicken wings fall into this category too. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on a Buffalo flavored Super Bowl.
Learn How to Disco Fry in Five Easy Steps
Poutine is a highly desired dish in Albany. But nobody makes it well. I’m starting to think that the reason one can’t find good poutine in America has something to do with government safety regulations. Maybe the cheese curds have to be kept too cold. Or maybe they can’t even be made to squeak in the first place given our stringent laws about cooking young cheeses to death. I don’t know.
But if it’s fries with gravy and cheese that you want, the Capital Region has you covered. There are plenty of joints from bars, to taverns, to diners that can scratch that itch.
Last weekend I set off with a small hand-picked crew of serious eaters to evaluate our region’s most storied Disco Fries. Sure, most places simply called them by their generic name of “Fries with gravy and cheese”. But they aren’t fooling anyone. We stayed away from the diners, because really, who wants to disco at a diner in upstate New York? Jersey diners are another story.
So, what did we learn about this dish? And where can you get the best one? Well, I suppose that depends on what you are looking for in a plate of these cheesy, salty, fatty, pleasure sticks.
The NY NJ Super Bowl
Did I already tell you this story? A few months ago, I found myself at an all-night diner outside of Newark with the kids. We were waiting for Mrs. Fussy to fly in from who-knows-where, and figured I’d give the children an important cultural experience.
In the corner of the diner there was a television on, and some people were watching the football game. It was the New York Giants vs. the Dallas Cowboys.
Young Master Fussy had recently taken up a nascent interest in the sport, so I thought I would explain what was happening on the screen. For the benefit of his younger sister, I decided to frame that description in terms of good guys and bad guys. Sure, this could be a dangerous gambit in the wrong context. Truth be told, the diner and its patrons were both a little rough around the edges. But we were awfully close to the Meadowlands, so I took an educated guess that we were surrounded by Giants fans.
Wrong.
Me: How can you not root for the New Jersey team?
Them: Because they aren’t the New Jersey team.
Me: But where do they play their home games?
Them: Well, tell me this… if they win, where do they throw the parade?
It was a good point. Now let me tell you what this has to do with food.
FUSSYlittleBLOG 