Edible/Usable

Fava Bean Salad

Looking back through my posts from the last few months, I've realized that I actually haven't been providing a lot of usable food information, (that is food information in the form of recipes).  I've been a little obsessed with pickles and pickling (a pickled beet recipe is coming soon - once they've had time to cure and I can verify that they really worked), but pickles are condiments, and not really full meals, and therefore aren't especially useful to someone who's trying to feed themselves or their family.  So it's time for a useful recipe.

Even though it's been a cool and rainy summer in NYC so far I've also been making a lot of different salads.    I got some of the last fava beans from the farmers market last week, and decided that rather than pureeing them into a tapenade or topping for bruschetta, I'd make a salad of some sort.  The edible/non edible ratio of fava beans is pretty low, and you need to get A LOT of whole unshucked fava beans to get a little bit of actual fava beans.  There is the tough outer shell, then a thin inner skin that you need to remove from each bean, so they actually aren't easy beans to make.   I knew it needed to be a salad that had fava beans as a component rather than as the main ingredient.  I like to make bean salads a little ahead of when I serve them so they have time to marinate and soak up the dressing and meld all of the flavors together.

This salad is great as a side to a Mediterranean dinner: Grilled or broiled merguez sausage, cous-cous pilaf and fava bean salad.  Or just use a cracker or a slice of bread and scoop it up.

Fava Bean Salad:
1 1/2 cups of fresh fava beans* (you get about 1/2 cup of fava beans for every pound you buy, so plan on 3 lbs)
1 large radish, diced
1 small red onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 scallions sliced
1/2 large tomato, or 1 small tomato
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
Salt & Pepper to taste
Crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 T dijon mustard
1/4 cup white wine or rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 T olive oil

Remove the fava beans from their shells and blanch for 2 minutes in boiling water.  Soak in cold water for 30 seconds then remove skins from the beans.   Steam or pan sear the shelled fava beans for 5-8 minutes. 

Add all salad ingredients including the fava beans to a medium bowl and toss together. 

For the dressing, smash the garlic in a small bowl.  Add the mustard, vinegar, salt and lemon juice.  Mix well.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil.

Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients, mix well, taste for salt.  Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour, or in the fridge for longer.  Serve with crumbled feta cheese and fresh ground pepper on the top.

*The photo is of the version of this I made with Trader Joe's Steamed vacuum packed fava beans.  It was different, but just as good.

Sustainability and a Scrimshaw Pastry Crimper

In my search for unique vintage kitchen tools, I got this fantastic scrimshaw pastry crimper (I actually bought it from a collector friend of mine).  I secretly have a crush on this little sailor.  He is so handsome and fine-featured.  And even though I'm sure that it is perfectly functional as a tool (though I haven't actually crimped any pastry with it), to me it is much more valuable as a piece of art.  I haven't had it evaluated for authenticity, age or it's provenance (hello Antiques Roadshow!), but the basic web only research I've done about it has gotten me thinking about the (possible) history of this specific artifact, the tools we use to make food, and how this object's history relates to what's going on in the food industry right now.

Scrimshaw is the folk art and craft of carving objects out of or etching drawings into the various byproducts of the whaling industry, including teeth (whale and walrus) and bone.   Scrimshaw was originally practiced by sailors on long whaling voyages - some of which lasted for years.  It was the "pastime of lonely and often dispirited seamen far from home".  The most common forms of scrimshaw were nautical scenes etched into whale teeth (JFK was apparently a big collector of this type of scrimshaw), but scrimshanders (makers of scrimshaw) also carved many useful and decorative objects such as napkin rings, bodkins, canes, toys, spoons and pastry crimpers (also often referred to as jagging wheels) and other kitchen implements.  I think that the crimper I have is made from whale ivory, partly carved, partly constructed from carved pieces.  I'd like to think that my sailor pastry crimper, if authentic, was made by a bored and homesick sailor as a gift for his wife back home in Massachusetts, who used it to make beautiful fruit pies.

From the early 18th through the mid 19th century, the American whaling industry grew to be one of the preeminent industries in the country.  At it's peak, reached in the mid 1800's, there were 736 whaling vessels registered under the American flag in the 'Yankee' fleet alone.  Hundreds of whaling voyages each year brought back hundreds of thousands of gallons of whale oil derived from whale blubber.  Whale oil was used as lamp oil, in lighthouses, to light city streets and to make candles.   Sperm whale oil, oil derived from the waxy substance "spermaceti" found in the head of sperm whales was even more valuable and useful because it burned much cleaner and had a wider range of uses including soap, cosmetics, pharmaceutical compounds and specialized machine lubricants. 

Other whale byproducts including teeth (ivory), bones, ambergris (a flammable and waxy substance found in sperm whale digestive tracts) and whale baleen, (flexible but sturdy keratin plates baleen whales use for feeding - the 'plastic of the 1800's') were harvested and used to create multiple different products including tools, mens collar stays, women's corsets, toys and utensils.  Scrimshaw pieces were also traded and bartered in ports of call around the globe.

Most species of whales are now either considered endangered or vulnerable due to this history of commercial whaling. Whaling continued in various forms through into the 20th century when the International Whaling Commission was set up in 1946 to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus "make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry," but their success and influence is debatable. Greenpeace regularly documents Japanese whaling boats that are purportedly catching whales for 'scientific' purposes.

List Post: A Cornucopia of Food Blogs

Back in the olden days of the internet, in the late 90's, before hosted blogging tools like Blogger, Typepad and Livejournal, it was relatively difficult to post your thoughts and photos online, have people comment about them, deliver almost real-time notifications of updates and get real-time stats on who's been visiting.  The challenge then was how to get content online.  The challenge now is that it has become so easy, fast and in many cases free to post content online, that the number of blogs and content on niche subjects is overwhelming.  Technorati has some interesting statistics on "the state of the blogosphere".  Since I started this blog and joined the fray, I've realized that food bloggers are a huge group (271 people have tagged themselves on Twitter as being "foodbloggers" and I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg).  The issue for me has been figuring out which blogs I want to read on a regular basis.

There are several things I've come to realize about my use of food blogs in compiling this list. First, I've relied on Twitter way more than Google for referrals and links to new blogs that I wasn't previously familiar with. Second, I definitely have noticed a 'birds of a feather' syndrome - both on blogs and on Twitter.   People link to to similar blogs on blogrolls and follow similar 'Tweeps' on Twitter.  I started following a locavore food blogger and subsequently was following and was followed by lots of other locavore food bloggers.  When I tweeted something about a diet I was on, I got several followers who wrote blogs about diets and nutrition.   Third I really don't like using RSS - or I haven't found the right RSS reader.  I'd much rather go directly to each blog and read posts in context.  I think this method works well for blogs that are updated at most once a day - the general publication scheudle of most food blogs that I read. 

Despite all of the blog content I consume on a daily basis, and the fact that I've started my own food blog, I really don't think that blogs are the best medium for recipes.  Two things that I want to do with a recipe when I find one are to 'save' it for future reference (a digital version of clipping it from the newspaper and sticking it in a binder or folder somewhere) and/or to print it so I can either make it right away or save it for future use.   Neither of these things are easily possible with most blogs in the way they are formatted.   You have to use a 3rd party for saving (del.icio.us or other bookmarking tool) and either print a whole long post or cut and paste to print.  Most of the online recipe sites have added this sort of functionality, but most blogs don't have it.  Lastly, in general Google does a lousy job of finding recipes on food blogs.  Unless you know the specific title of the post, or unless is particularly popular, rarely do you get results for blog posts in a Google search.  I haven't found a good search tool for finding recipes posted on blogs.

So here's my list of blogs that I've been reading and using in the past few months.  It doesn't include blogs that are only about restaurants or the restaurant scene (like Grub Street which I read occasionally).  I'll probably add to and remove items from this list in the future.

Cookbook Review: Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone

There's been a lot in the press lately about preserving food at home:  canning, curing and pickling.  Maybe it's because of the bad economy, or maybe because of the growing movement for people to be closer to and more in touch with the food they consume.  Since 1967 with the "Fair Packaging and Labeing Act", the ingredients of any packaged food must be listed on the label.   But beyond having the ability to decipher what some of the ingredients actually are, are you ever really sure what's in the packaged food you buy? 

From the article on Salon last week about home canning, the discussion in the letters  was both about whether or not home canning really can be economical (the article starts out with the author stating that she's eating a $17.00 peanut butter sandwich because she spent so much money on the homemade jam in it) or if it's just a anachronistic craft and a craze that guilty city dwellers partake in to make themselves feel better about themselves.  For me, the answer is "sorta both."

I live in Brooklyn.  I don't have a garden, and for the past few years, I haven't belonged to a CSA.  My only source of fresh vegetables is the farmers markets that dot the city and my occasional trip to Vermont, upstate NY or Pennsylvania.  As anyone who's shopped at farmers markets in the city, even when produce is in season and plentiful, it's often not cheap.  But I really enjoy the process and hard work that goes into making jam, chutney, pickles and other condiments that can easily be preserved (either canned or frozen), and I'm always proud of the end product.

That's why I especially like Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone .  Though it does give good, basic instructions on the process of preserving food, the real focus of the book is how you can make small batches of preservable foods that become pivot points for meals that you can make all year long.  The book is structured into sections on types of food - fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, & fungi and meats and fish.  Within each section, there are several "master recipes" - for things like Brandied Figs, Meyer Lemons, Preserved Zucchini and Sauerkraut, followed by recipes for meals and dishes that use the "master recipe."

Although I've only tried one recipe in this book so far, I wanted to review it now, mainly because it's summer and it's time to be inspired by some of these recipes and start putting stuff up.

How it stacks up to the cookbook review criteria:

Restaurant Review: T. J. Buckley's, Brattleboro, VT

There are tons of sources on the internet and in print for restaurant reviews.  Professional food critics make big bucks, small newspapers often hire freelance food reviewers, there are user generated food review sites like Zagat (the original user generated book of amateur foodies) and Chow.com (one of the first big amateur food review sites and forums), as well as countless blogs, independent papers and websites, online city guides and iPhone apps devoted to food and restaurants.  Many of them use some sort of standardized criteria or rating system that includes thoughts or values ascribed to the quality of the food, the sprightliness of the service and the beauty or appropriateness of the decor. 

In previous posts, I've created a methodologies for reviewing products (including websites) and cookbooks, so I'd like to do the same for restaurants:

Edible/Usable Restaurant Review Criteria:

1.  The Food - Obviously the most important one - it's why we go to restaurants and I personally am willing to forgive any of the following criteria if the food is tasty enough.
2.  Eco-ness - There are tons of publications, blogs and personalities talking about local and sustainable agriculture these days, and rightly so.  Many restaurants have taken the lead in showing consumers what can be done with a seasonal menu that is locally sourced and in many cases organically grown.   I think this is an important criteria and one that I look for when I eat out.
3.  User Friendliness - Most restaurants don't think of their customers as being 'users' (many restaurants don't think about their customers, period) but they should.  When I enter a restaurant space I want to feel reassured and like I can accomplish what I am there to do.   This could include everything from decor and furnishings to menu design to service and ambiance. 
4.  Value - This won't only be about cost, but also about how a restaurant makes you feel about the money you spent.  Was it really worth it?  If given a choice, would you spend that money in the same way again?

The first restaurant I'd like to apply my new methodology to is T.J. Buckley's, a lovely little restaurant in Brattleboro, VT.  

1 T flr&sug - Otherwise known as Twitter Recipes

One of the first things I remember from my 4-H cooking class was learning the difference between a 'T' and a 't' when you read or wrote down a recipe.  The difference in case could mean a successful recipe or a total disaster.  A lot of experienced cooks start with a recipe and add or remove or replace ingredients as they are inspired to do, so an accurate detailed recipe isn't often required.  The same isn't true of baking. Some experienced bakers know enough about the science of baking to know proportions and required ingredients, but for many, exact amounts and detailed instructions are necessary.

When I started this blog, I expanded my Twitter followings to a lot of food related tweets.  I did a search for cooking, food, recipes and randomly followed a bunch of people.   I found others to follow based on tweets in my feed.  Some of the more intriguing posts came from @cookbook  (definitely a Twitter name that many, many people/companies wish they'd gotten first...) who tweets recipes in a severely abbreviated form.  For example, here's a recipe that was posted on June 10th:

Apricot Platz: Mennonite. Mix8T milk&sug/c flour/t bkgpdr&vanil/5T mltbutter/egg. Top w 8halvedfruit/mixed 6T butter&flour&sug. h@175C/350F.

I was on the fence about this at first.  I love the fact that Twitter has inspired a concise way of writing.  For some writers, this means normal grammar and rules, but choosing your words very carefully.  For others, it means creating a new grammar and language that uses abbreviations and short cuts in similar to texting.  For general thoughts, opinions, feelings, references to more detailed information, this new form of grammar is fine.  But for any type of information where details are important, Twitter fails.  From a usability point of view, recipes on Twitter fail miserably.

Take the example above.  If I reference the glossary  "Mix8T milk&sug/c flour/t bkgpdr&vanil/5T mltbutter/egg" I think means 8 tablespoons of milk and 8 tablespoons of sugar.  But how much flour and baking powder and vanilla? According to the glossary,  "/" means "and another amount."  But what that other amount is isn't clear.  But beyond the amounts and ingredients, this recipe has no context for me.  I assume from the list of ingredients (milk, sugar, flour, vanilla, egg, fruit) that it is some sort of cake.  But what kind of cake?  I have to Google "Apricot Platz" to find out that it's a coffee-type cake with fruit on top.  What sort of pan do I use?  How long do I bake it?  What is it going to look like in the end?  I need a lot more information that simply cannot be conveyed in 140 characters. 

The other usability issue I have with this format is a lack of scan-ability.  I think it is important to be able to scan through a recipe and either mentally or physically note that you have the required ingredients, the right tools, the amount of time necessary to prepare it.  Twitter recipes require an extra level of translation that makes them more complicated and easier to make mistakes.   Recipes on Twitter are the opposite of what a real recipe offers, where context, photos and details inspire and instruct.

I would have much less of an issue with recipes on Twitter if there was a link to a more detailed recipe.  I would be happy to get a new Twitter recipe every day from multiple sources (Martha Stewart  has started tweeting recipes as well) that provided a quick link to the detailed recipe.  This to me is the power of Twitter:  a one to many relationship that allows people to easily publish content and create their own feeds of content based on keywords and that is influenced by what other people are reading, re-tweeting and saying.

Here's an alternate opinion.