I am proud to announce I've just been featured in an interview on the blog, Seduction Meals, run by friend of the site, Terry Dagrosa (pictured below). Her site is dedicated to food, romance, and seducing that special someone with a great, sexy meal. Apparently, without my knowledge, or consent, some people are using my recipes for the purpose of seducing the objects of their affection. Hey, I'm happy to help, just don't forget me at Christmas.
This very interesting, and disturbing, bit of animation shows, as the creator explains, "An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict."
I watched it a few times to figure out some of the battles, and then I realized they have a website to explain the combatants and the conflicts. I was surprised at how I had forgotten about some of these wars, and had never heard of a few! There is something very poignant about seeing food used to show these conflicts. The word juxtaposition comes to mind. Hey, I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence!
During the California gold rush, legend has it, a miner who had just struck it rich, walked into a restaurant in Placerville (known then as "Hangtown") and demanded the most expensive breakfast possible. The cook fried together the three priciest ingredients at the time; bacon, eggs and fresh oysters. This delicious and decadent breakfast became known as the Hangtown fry, which is the subject of this video recipe.
Another interesting historical angle to this dish was its popularity as a "last meal" request among those unfortunate souls awaiting a walk to the gallows. Since it often took a few days to procure all three of those ingredients, the condemned man could stall his inevitable fate. Maybe is gang could think of a way to bust him out, and he could brag from that point on how his life was saved by a scrambled egg recipe.
By the way, the original recipe had the raw oysters cooked right into the eggs, but this modernized versions places fried oysters on top of the eggs for a more "fancified" plate. Enjoy! Click here for ingredients and transcript
Dulce de leche means "milk candy," and it's basically a thick caramel-like syrup made from slowly cooking milk and sugar. It is extremely popular throughout Latin America, and pound for pound, it's the world's most popular caramel confection.
Legend has it that a maid was making "lechada," a traditional boiled milk and sugar drink, and she forgot all about it. A few hours later she returned to find the pot bubbling with a thick caramel-colored syrup…dulce de leche was born. I'm sorry, but there is nothing worse than a boring "how this recipe was invented legend." Here's my version.
In 1836, an Argentinean dairy caught fire when it was hit with a bolt of lightning, during a terrible thunderstorm. The night watchman, Juan Manuel de Rosas, ran next door to the general store, "Walmartes" to grab a sack of salt, which in those days was commonly used to smother and put out fires. He accidentally grabbed a bag of sugar and began throwing handfuls everywhere. But, he was too late and the fire ended up burning down half the dairy. He panicked, stole a horse, and road out of town, never to be seen again (although rumors circulated that he moved to Peru and opened a shoe store).
When the firemen entered the building they found several pots of sugar-dusted milk that had slowly cooked near the fire. As the pots where being moved to start the clean-up, some of the mixture splashed on someone's hand, was licked off, and dulce de leche was born. Now that's a legend! I hope you try this simple and amazing sauce. Enjoy!
I am proud to announce I've just been featured in an interview on the blog, Seduction Meals, run by friend of the site, Terry Dagrosa (pictured below). Her site is dedicated to food, romance, and seducing that special someone with a great, sexy meal. Apparently, without my knowledge, or consent, some people are using my recipes for the purpose of seducing the objects of their affection. Hey, I'm happy to help, just don't forget me at Christmas.
If you get a chance, check out her blog, and the interview where you can read my amazing, but true, story about cooking the ultimate "seduction meal" for my wife. It's a great story, and something to remember the next time you are staying at a Bed and Breakfast that has a fireplace! Enjoy.
