World On A Plate

Community Cookbooks

"Everyone feels nourished and replenished, body and soul, no matter what else is going on in their lives. And in these moments they are reminded that food has always been--and will continue to be--the tie that binds people to the past, to the future and to each other."

---pg. 308 Celebration Cookbook
Nancy Butcher, Saratoga Springs, NY

It's not as intense as the annual wedding dress sale at Filene's Boston. It does reach it's own level of intensity. Be assured that here's always someone looking in your cart or peering over your shoulder to see if you hold something that they desire at the annual book sale fundraiser for the Friends of the SF Public Libary. Readers can be an idiosyncratic bunch. My annual outing is primarily for one reason--the ongoing expansion of my personal cookbook library, which has been at about 300 assorted volumes.

As I walked the rows of old cookbooks I started to give some consideration to my collection and wondered if I could benefit with specialization. I need to be honest with myself; in this lifetime I am not going to collect every recipe and cookbook out there. Right?

Many serious collectors have bents to their efforts. Building libraries around Pillsbury Bake-Off cookbooks, corporate public relations cookbooklets, single subject cookbooks or cooking method like baking or braising or children's cookbooks, just to name a few possibilities.

Another area, which seems vast, is the category of community cookbooks. Several of my new weekend additions included these fundraising recipe collections. The style of these bound recipes range from spiral bound and folksy looking to the more polished and professionally published and edited Junior League editions.

The cookbook fundraiser dates back to the Civil War, when the Ladies' Aid Societies came together to raise money for military casualties and their families. After the war ended the beneficiaries of these efforts moved to hospitals, churches, orphanages and veterans' groups. Compiled by nonprofit organizations such as Junior Leagues, art museums, religious groups, historical societies, service and charity leagues they reveal entertaining styles of the time and a living history of the community the fundraiser serves.

Today the princesses of community cookbook land are the numerous Junior League editions. Since their initial publication in the 1950s, more than 18 million copies of local chapter cookbooks have been sold, with proceeds supporting programs that further the organizational mission of improving social conditions, promoting volunteerism and developing the potential of women.

The Junior League founded in 1901 celebrated their 100th anniversary and 50 years of community cookbook leadership with The Junior League: Celebration Cookbook a collection of recipes from its 295 local chapters around the country. More than just a best of the best it is a strong presentation of the act of preserving regional food traditions and a recipe for community strength and growth through the many stories of how proceeds have literally changed the quality of life in each community.

The all time best-selling book in the collection is River Road Recipes produced by the Baton Rouge chapter. The most recent in the series called River Road Recipes IV, Warm Welcomes. The series, according to their website has sold more than 1.8 million books since late 1959.

What I particularly like about community collections is that the pages reflect the way people cook and eat regionally and stylistically rather than the way professionals think the home chef should actually cook. The recipes reflect simplicity and no fuss. That's not to say that there's not complexity. The older books reflect many recipes such as Bear Pot Roast and Veal Kidneys Flambé. The recipe below Thai Spicy Prawn Soup is not exactly up Rachel Ray's alley either!

The recipes often lack number of servings, tips on technique and occasionally references such as 'cook in the moderate heat of an oven.' The more comfortable and experienced home chef can easily work through these small hurdles. A small price to pay in exchange for a treasured family recipe that is often the first time it has been written down.

This week I'm going to share recipes and stories from these new additions to my library that chronicle and preserve local culinary traditions--American Regional cooking at it's best.

SHF:ISTBE # 1

Domestic Goddess has launched a new effort, Sugar High Fridays. I forget what the balance of the acronym stands for but the SHF sums it up enough. The first effort involves cooking with white chocolate. I'm a purist. I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate. It's not really chocolate. At times it can be elegant particularly when paired with fruits. But next to the complex and sexy dark chocolate well, bah.

But I do like a group challenge so here I am with the only way that I do like white chocolate, Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Macadamia nuts are a rich, buttery tasting nut. They are so high in fat and calories that I only think of them as very, very special occasion only type of eating. I associate macadamia nuts with trips to Hawaii. Every where you go throughout the islands there are huge displays of macadamia nut products, gift packs of dry roasted nuts, chocolate covered nuts, macadamia nut brittle and cookies.

Surprisingly Australia, is the world's top producer, followed closely by Hawaii, Africa then Guatemala, according to a recent USDA report.

In the early 1900s a sugar plantation manager from the Big Island, visited Australia and was impressed by the beauty of the tree. He brought the seeds back to Hawaii where he planted them at Kapulena. For the next 40 years, the trees were raised primarily as ornamental trees and not for their fruit. It wasn't until the 1950s and a lot of research hours later that were focused on cultivation did the nut reach commercial production.

Today most of Hawaii’s macadamia nuts come from the Big Island of Hawaii. The biggest commercial producer is Mauna Loa with the U.S. being the biggest consumers followed by Japan.

Photo credit: Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Associates

Recipe: Macadamia White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Viva Mexico

Last Thursday was Mexican Independence Day. The holiday marks the day in 1810 when Miguel Hidalgo, a priest in the town of Dolores, rang the church bells and called for rebellion against the Spanish. It also began a war that would last 11 years that would end Spanish monarchy.

Generations ago my maternal ancestors came from Mexico to California. I’ve been working on learning more about Mexico, it’s history, culture and of course the food. Celebration food always brings tamales to mind.

One of my favorite foods to indulge in are tamales. A tamale is a wrapped steamed bundle of corn dough with either a savory or sweet filling. The tamale was recorded as early as 5000 BC, possibly 7000 BC in Pre-Columbian history. Initially, women were taken along in battle as cooks. They prepared the masa for the tortillas, the meats, stews, drinks, etc. As the warring tribes of the Aztec, Mayan, and Incan cultures grew, the demand of preparing the nixtamal (corn) itself became so involved a process, that an alternative was needed for food on the go. Tamales were the next food evolution for revolutions. They could be made ahead and packed, to be warmed as needed by steaming, grilling on the comal (grill), over the fire, or placed directly on top of the coals to warm.

Tamales are simple enough to prepare but they are very labor intensive. Because of the time commitment in modern day Mexico they have become special occasion or holiday food. It’s also a way of extended family members, particularly the women, to come together a few days before the event and prepare and assemble the tamales and complex moles (sauces). The masa (dough) is prepared fresh and assembly, wrapping and tying of the bundles are done before steaming in large pots on the stove. It’s an epic effort needless to say so dozens are prepared what remains can be frozen for use at a later time.

Versions of tamales exist throughout Latin America with the recipe varying from region to region. Some filled with small, sweet beans and pineapple as they are in Sinaloa to shredded meat and red chili in Monterrey, and one of my favorites, the chicken and black mole found in Oaxaca. While the filings differentiate the types so do the wrapping--banana leaves mainly in coastal and tropical Mexico, corn husks in the north and central parts of Mexico. I've experimented with swiss chard with pretty good results.

Both Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless write about huge three or four foot long tamales called zacahuiles found in NW Mexico they are made with very coarsely ground masa with flavorings of red chile, pork and wrapped in banana leaves. Holy Tamale!

Here’s a list of the different regional names for tamales (tamal is the Mexican "singular" use):

Cuba, Mexico, South and Central America - Tamal

Michoacan, Mexico - Corunda

Veracruz, Mexico - Zacahull

Nicaragua - Nacatamal

Guatemala - Paches and Chuchitos

Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Ecuador - Humita

Puerto Rico - Pasteles

Columbia - Bollo

Venezuela - Hallaca

I often don't make tamales at home. In San Francisco the Mission is filled with good spots to pick up all kinds of fresh tamales. And given that this is California there's a few healthier interpretations such as Donna’s Tamales. These delights are vegetarian, organic, and most of them are low in fat. I'm currently in a state of obsession with what is called an Enchamale. This enchilada-tamale hybrid has a generous helping of Straus organic Monterey jack cheese, sliced black olives and yellow onions and it's covered with Donna's enchilada sauce. Okay, this is probably not low fat who am I kidding. It's too good to be.

A great book that got me introduced to the process--ingredients, wrapping techniques and variations on themes-- is Tamales 101: A Beginner's Guide to Making Traditional Tamales. Straightforward and friendly it builds confidence as you move along in the effort. There are many illustrations. The author, Alice Guadalupe Tapp owns Tamara's Tamales in Marina Del Rey. One thing that ruffles my feathers a bit is that she suggests using margarine as the fat. Lard is the more traditional taste and use in the preparation of tamales. Some say that the lard is absorbed during the steaming process into the husk or banana. Experiment after all that's what cooking is all about.

If you don't have a Mexican neighborhood where you can pick up fresh masa or other supplies a good online resource is MexGrocer. They sell ingredients such as corn husks, instant masa and the essential cooking vessel for this effort the tamaleros or steamer pot.

The key is to be organized, allow yourself enough time, invite some friends to help out and enjoy!

Green Goddess

Regional food specialties pique my interest as they are window into local lore. San Francisco has given birth to several, one of those being the creamy, herby dressing known as Green Goddess. In the 1920's the chef at the historic Palace Hotel was inspired to create this signature dressing in honor of William Archer's hit play The Green Goddess.

The lead of the play, an English actor and a legend of the silver screen, George Arliss, later starred and was nominated for an Academy award for his role as the Rajah in the film version of the play. He didn't win for this role. He did win and was the first British actor ever to win an Academy Award for his role in the sound version of the play, Disraeli. He certainly commanded a presence didn't he. No wonder the dressing was dedicated to him.

There are lots of versions of this dressing out there but the classic recipe typically includes, in one form or another: anchovies, mayonnaise, vinegar, green onion, garlic, parsley, tarragon and chives. Sometimes the anchovies are in the form of anchovy paste, and often the tarragon flavor comes is delivered in the form of tarragon vinegar.

It's great with steamed artichokes, over fish or hard-boiled eggs. I've chosen Fanny Singer's version. You may be more familiar with her as Alice Waters' daughter.

Image: autogramy.slansko.cz

Harissa

Harissa is a red chili paste originating with the Berber people in Tunisia. The harissa sauce (pronounced huh-REE-suh) is made from hot chiles, garlic, cumin, coriander, caraway and olive oil. Harissa is served with cous cous and is also used in soups and stews. Commercially-produced harissa in tubesand jars can be easily purchased in Middle Eastern grocery stores.

It can be served as a dip for cooked meat or stirred into casseroles and soups to give a fiery kick. Stir a little harissa into natural yogurt to make a tasty marinade for chicken and pork dishes. Harissa can also be added to couscous to give a spicy flavor. Mix a little harissa with some mayonnaise or stock and serve it as an accompaniment to thick vegetable or fish soup.

Tunisians mix it liberally with almost every dish, while Algerians and Moroccans prefer to serve it on the side, adding it according to individual taste. The kick of your harissa will depend upon the variety of dried chile peppers used to make the harissa. If you are ambitious and want to make it yourself for a mild harissa choose a New Mexico red or guajillo; for medium, pasilla or a chipotle; and use cayenne or habanero for a fiery flavored harissa.

Clifford Wright the writer and scholar of Mediterranean food writes about "harisa" in A Mediterranean Feast:

Harisa comes from the Arabic word for "to break into pieces," which is done by pounding hot peppers in a mortar, although today a food processor can be used. This famous hot chili paste is also found in the cooking of Algeria, Libya, and even in western Sicily, where cuscusu is made. In Tunisia it would be prepared fresh in a spice shop.

Harissa is worth having in the kitchen as it elevates the ordinary to something special and unique. At about $3.00 a tube it's money well spent.

Indonesian Coffee Shake

When it's hot nothing picks me up more than an iced coffee. The combination of caffeine and cold is revitalizing. And it was warm this weekend in the City by the bay. Several days of over 90 degree temps. So what you say? Well, there is not a lot of relief to be found here as air conditioning is not prevalent. It's never been needed until recent years as we've had significantly longer and warmer spells. It might be a worthwhile study to document ice coffee sales for same period for the last 7 years and correlate it to global warming numbers.

In anticipation of a possible winter trip I've been reading about Indonesian and Southeast Asian cooking. I came across this most unique combination of ingredients for a milkshake. Surprisingly tasty. The color was vastly different than the one in the cookbook. While mine was pea green the other was a nice latte color. I don't think I would have made a pea green drink.

Peachy Reading

For many of us, a peach is quintessential summer. It's all that's best about summertime. Long, sunny, hot days--homemade peach ice cream, a BBQ beginning with peach sangria and finished with peach cobbler, or just simply fresh from the farmer's market barely blushed, tree-ripened with a burst of sweet juices running down your chin.

I find the peach to be sexy with its downy, velvety skin blushed with red and voluptuously curvaceous shape. Good peaches awaken all the senses.

Although Georgia may have the immediate association to peaches California is the largest peach source, growing more than half of the world's supply.

One of those California growers is David Mas Masumoto, an organic peach farmer, philosopher, in Central California who writes about his practices and peaches in several books.

Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm, describes life on the farm and his family's work to save the juicy, flavorful Sun Crest variety of peach. Alice Waters in Chez Panisse Fruit states, "I cannot imagine how anyone could fail to be charmed by Sun Crest's lovely golden skin overlaid by a brilliant red blush." This non-fiction book won the 1995 Julia Child Cookbook Award, among other honors, and earned him a loyal audience of people hungry for writings on finding a deeper connection to the land, and to an agrarian way of life.

Over the weekend summer has finally arrived in long hot form here in San Francisco I sat in front of a fan reading David Mas Masamuto's 2003, Four Seasons in Five Senses: Things Worth Savoring. Throughout this collection of short essays we embark on a lyrical literary journey through the senses on the ups and downs in a year of growing peaches. We come to love the land, peaches and develop an appreciation and understanding of what the farmer goes through during a day, month and year. As romantic as this may sound our lesson here is that by saving a peach, a farm is saved and in turn family, community and a way of life.

We need more everyday heroes like David Mas Masumoto.

Baklava

I was less nervous than when I had my wisdom teeth out. But the only way to overcome it all was to face my fear of filo. Although it was a tense and focused effort I am well on my way to demystifying the effort.

Filo (phyllo or fillo) dough is named after the Greek word for "leaf". The thickness (or for that matter, the thinness) of Filo gives baklava its delicious crispy taste. So, when some people eat a piece of baklava, they may want to think of Greece. However, the history of baklava reveals it came from farther East.

According to The Kitchen Project, around 8th century B.C., it was recorded that Assyrians baked thin layers of dough with nuts, poured honey over it. However, Greek voyagers and sea merchants brought this treat back and improved on it. By creating a technique that made the dough as thin as a leaf, compared to the rough, bread-like texture of the Assyrian dough.

Various countries offer tasty variations using this pastry made from only flour and water it is used in the making of many Middle Eastern savories and sweets. The Armenians, as their lands were along the Spice and Silk Routes, added cinnamon and cloves to the recipe; the Arabs introduced rose water and cardamom. Strudel is also another pastry direction using filo.

Baklava is layers of nuts blended with cinnamon and spices layered between light, flaky filo dough bathed in honey.

Although tradition suggests you lay a sheet down and then paint the sheet with butter I saw a local cooking show this weekend that used a butter-flavored cooking spray, such as PAM. But since this is pastry making a bit of real butter maybe on every other sheet could be the happy compromise.

Having read a good deal about baklava and dozens of recipes I settled on the version that appears in The Professional Pastry Chef, 3rd edition, by Bo Friberg. This was probably my first judgment mistake was made. Mid way through I was moving from this pastry school textbook to the back of the Athens filo box. By choosing the pastry school recipe I overcomplicated what is a simple and elegant creation.

Due to my novice approach and the overstated instructions I inadvertently swapped the sugars using the white sugar to process the nuts instead of the brown causing a less than desirable texture I'd say that baklava is easier than I anticipated. And seeing a tray of golden brown flaky treats cut into uniform triangles was rewarding. Maybe I'll try spanakopita. I'm encouraged.

Tips:

1-pound packages of filo dough come packaged approximately 20 to 25 sheets per box. However if the filo sheets are larger than the size of your sheet pan, cut through the stack of unrolled sheets with scissors so that they fit properly.

Allow filo dough to thaw in refrigerator overnight. Bring to room temperature before using about 30 minutes.

Use a damp towel to keep the filo from drying out as you create the layers.

Don't worry about tears on the sheets, particularly on the inside layers. After buttering and baking they will disappear.

Brush the final layer with butter.

Glykismata-Greek Desserts

As I look back on my marathon of Greek culinary exploration I realize that there are no sweets present. Every culture has something sweet to indulge or celebrate the holidays or special occasions.

When I think of Greek desserts I think of that flaky treat baklava. I'll be writing more about that in the next few days. I'm determined to take on the first time challenge of homemade Greek pastry using this baking component.

Clarified butter is frequently used in Greek baking as this imparts a rich, nutty flavor. Olive oil is often used with savory pastries or used as it is here in the following recipe where it is featured in this delicious olive cookie. This baked treat originates from the island of Lefkada, where they are known as ladokoulouro.

Often a lemon-honey syrup is used to dress many Greek desserts after baking. In classical mythology, the golden syrup was said to be food for the gods; adding lemon juice to the honey prevents it from crystallizing.

Fruit, such as oranges or figs, sometimes served with yogurt is often served at the end of a Greek meal. More elaborate desserts are an afternoon treat or a gesture of hospitality.

The most illuminating tidbit I learned was that Greek havlas, a semolina and almond cake, differs from that in Middle Eastern countries where it is a confection from sesame seeds and honey.

The Complete Book of Greek Cooking has been a great discovery during this Greek culinary odyssey here at World on a Plate. This book assembled by the members of the Recipe Club of St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Cathedral in New York is charming and full of explanations on culinary and cultural traditions. Favorites such as creamy rizogalo (rice pudding), karithopita (Kefalonian walnut cake), galaktoboureko(custard in a crispy phyllo pastry shell) are featured.

If you want immediate virtual gratification there's a number of recipes provided over at Greek Boston , the Boston Greek online community forum.

Photo credit of Dionysus: http://www.kirtland.edu

Recipe for OLIVE OIL COOKIES WITH ANISE AND SESAME SEEDS

Mediterranean Diet

Crete, located in the Southern Aegean Sea is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean. It’s also just about equidistant from three continents--Asia, Africa, and Europe. This rugged island is said to be the birthplace of Zeus. Visions of hiking in the White Mountains through orange-scented breezes and olive groves while listening to goats bray are starting to build. Or possibly I could squeeze in a lesson at Cooking in Crete and conquer my fear of filo.

Cretan food is uncomplicated and simple. It reflects the natural abundance found on the island--olive oil, lemons, oranges, wild greens, lentils, beans, barley, snails, and fish. Interesting food note is Crete was also the source of that catch phrase “Mediterranean diet”, derived originally from a case study in the late 1940s.

Clifford Wright has historical notes on the history of this island’s food culture. He writes:

Cretan food is actually quite simple, based on olive oil, olives, pulses and vegetables and fresh and dried fruits with very little meat and fish consumption. Crete also has deep traditions surrounding two food items that remain special on islands: bread and cheese. There are many breads, from votive breads to preserved rock-hard breads for times of famine. Like its other Mediterranean islands, Crete shares the same traditions when it comes to bread and a whole book could be written about them. So too with cheeses, many are still unnamed, just as in Corsica, called simply "cheese." Although when pressed, Cretans will tell you that you are eating kefalotyri, or malaka or a clotted cream-like product called staka. Each of Crete's invaders influenced the food. The ancient Greeks made sausages. The Byzantines salt and dry-cured meats and used honey in both sweet and savory dishes. With the Venetians wine production grew as did olive. Although many Cretan dishes have Italian names, they are not necessarily Italian in origin. The Turks brought the use of various spices such as sesame seeds, cumin, and coriander seed and certain other dishes such as the chicken liver and cinnamon pie called tzoulama. But there are other influences including Jewish.

Photo credit: somethingspecial.co.uk