Holiday 2012 Odds & Ends

Hello, readers!

What follows are bits and pieces from my holiday cooking and reading that you may find amusing:

I.

Cookbooks and Food Literature

I received three cookbooks as presents for Christmas, ranging from chickpeas to Irish pub food to making the most of the finds at farmer's markets.  I'm looking forward to trying them out!

In addition to reading John Mariani's How Italian Food Conquered the World, I also finished  Jean-François Revel’s Culture & Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food.  When choosing what books to bring to read over the holidays this year, this one was high on the list, given that I've let it sit for so long.  I bought it, oh, two or so years ago – and for reasons that I cannot now remember. It must have appeared in some reference or bibliography, and the title grabbed me at the time.

In any event: though Revel ends his examination with the death of Marie-Antoine Carême in the early nineteenth century, there’s much to consider in his analysis of the history of gastronomy and cooking. Particularly intriguing, at least to me, is the idea that certain culinary frameworks and ideas are forever lost to us.

We'll never know, he writes, for example what Falernian wine -- so beloved of the Romans -- tasted like, so the references to this wine in classical literature lack meaning for us.  In a similar vein, he notes that, in a century, the impact written references to eating oysters with a certain French wine may be largely lost to future readers who may no longer have access to that particular wine and have no idea of its taste, especially in relation to oysters.

II.
Holiday Cooking

Some of the many dishes in which I had a hand in preparing over the last several weeks, with links to recipes or sources where available:

Homemade marshmallows
(Top pictures shows bagged and cut marshmallows; the bottom shows a pan of marshmallows setting.)

Roasted cipollini onions

Cranberry chutney  
(With a wedge of brie.)

Pancetta cups filled with pear and goat cheese, topped with thyme

Wonton soup 
(A favorite of my nephew, who requested it from me.)

Recipe Source:  America's Test Kitchen, Soups, Stews, & Chilis (2010)

Fish Chowder 
(To break in one of my mom's new Dutch ovens.)

 

Recipe Source: Jasper White, 50 Chowders (2000)

Also made, but sadly no picture: Caramelized Shallots and Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta.

Likewise missing are pictures of the cookies that my love and I made and delivered just before Christmas -- biscotti, Polish apricot cookies, bourbon balls, and others.  Perhaps next year there will be pictures.

III.

New Kitchen Toys

Santa brought some new kitchen toys for me in his bag of goodies this year, among them --

A new Japanese steel knife:

A tortilla press:

Spoon holders for pots:

You slide the holder onto the handles of your pot using the large slot in the center, then slide the spoon into a hole through the holder.  Your counter stays clean and your spoon handy.

(Please note that no one is compensating me for posting pictures of their products here.)

Do you have any kitchen stories from the holidays, readers?  Feel free to share in the combox below.