Apple pie is supposed to be the quintessential American dessert, or high on the list of icons of the much-desired wholesome foundation of this country. I have to admit I enjoy a warm slice of home-made apple pie topped with a dollop of whipped cream. The basic requirement is a tender crust and firm apple slices. And it can’t be just any apple. The traditional variety would be Granny Smith because of its tartness and firm texture. Granny isn’t the type of apple you would choose as a snack, even though some actually prefer it over other varieties. People who don’t pay much attention to ingredients probably wouldn’t give it a thought. I believe that would explain why some people dislike an item after trying it once. It could be they weren’t presented with a properly-prepared version.
Among the many challenges for anyone who prepares food, whether they are the sous chef de cuisine in a Michelin star kitchen, or a line cook in a hotel or restaurant, or a home “chef” looking to perfect their craft (c’est moi), ingredients make all the difference. The old-school recipes sometimes mention we should have all the ingredients at room temperature. My wife freaks out slightly when she sees the eggs sitting out for hours. The freshness of the ingredients also matters, in most cases. I have noticed that slightly older eggs when boiled are easier to peel. But I buy celery and onions every week because I like to cook savory dishes, even during summer months. Having the right ingredient is important; there’s no substitute for ripe tomatoes or in-season strawberries.
Lately the news has mentioned how climate change is hitting the agriculture industry very hard. And we who love food are going to feel it. The economical response would be to adapt our palettes to locally-grown and seasonal items. That makes sense from a gastronomical standpoint, inasmuch as some of my ancestors came from Europe and Britain. We can grow many of the crops they depended on right here in the Southern Plains. But no one expected to have strawberries in December before the last century. I don’t know, maybe this will all pass; but, just in case it doesn’t, there are still plenty of crops that provide a variety of flavors. We may need to get used to not eating as much meat, and maybe that’s not all bad.
Coffee is not grown in North America. While Hawaii produces some coffee, that is not the Americas. Coffee is a picky plant. If doesn’t tolerate extreme cold or heat. It prefers a cool, moist climate, yet lots of sun. The solution: highlands in the tropics. Columbia is the perfect place to grow these plants, the Arabica species of coffee that we’re accustomed to. It also grows well in much of Central America: Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. East African nations like Ethiopia and Kenya produce unique varieties, as well as Yemen on the Arabian peninsula, and the Indonesian province of Sumatra. Coffee from Yemen is very expensive lately because of the difficulty they’re having exporting anything. It seems coffee is one of the most valued commodities on the planet.
Coffee enthusiasts will tell anyone who listens (and many who don’t give a shit) how terrible Starbucks coffee is. They will say Starbucks produces a sort of mediocre sameness of a cup that is indistinguishable from one bought anywhere else in the world. That hasn’t stopped millions upon millions of customers from coming back day after day. The truth is I don’t like Starbucks because of economics. I can make a decent espresso for a fraction of what they charge. And I order my coffee directly from the roaster, so it’s pretty fresh, which I can’t say for most coffee. I guess that makes me a snob. So I am. But I know the difference. My coffee is a shiny, red Braeburn apple compared to another’s peach pit.
Every week I cook a pot of soup, usually made with beans or peas. For about 77 ¢ I can produce enough food for several days for me and my wife. I sometimes add meat, which lately has become more expensive. Otherwise it is the cost of 450g beans, 2 or 3 carrots, some celery, an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and enough water to cover, and the cost of the electricity in the pressure cooker. But I get a craving for beef sometimes, and so I like to make bolognese every once in a while.
An apple is sometimes simply an apple to most people. Not many of us would know the difference between a Gala and a Braeburn or a Fuji, not form appearance anyway. Many of us might not have given a second thought to the subtleties in the varieties of wheat flours like durham or spelt, not to mention other grains.
I laugh when I watch TV and someone comes up to a bar and orders “a beer”. Then the bartender passes them one. I haven’t seen any place that offers one variety of beer. They might have a house wine, but that’s becoming rarer these days. Even my local pizza place offers at least a half dozen brands of beer. I guess the TV show’s network would have had to take care not to accidentally hit a nerve with a recognizable name brand, especially if a character was really drunk and visibly impaired. What would Coors or Miller do with that? “I mean, the idea that people could get drunk on beer?! Preposterous!” Those commercials lied to us! Meanwhile a pub in my town serves a number of Belgian Tripels, some of which sneak up on you and pull the rug out from under you. I’d like to see just once when a character on TV orders a beer, and the bartender lists off like 30 different ones. Roll credits.
Bebop Marmaduke 