Papawow!

What we've been eating... 3/11/2010

Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 6:00AM

This week has been a busy one at work. Outside from the normal intake of fast food, fine dining, home cooked meals, coffee and beer, I bought a box each of chocolate and strawberry milks. There was another Black Box of wine, I kept making Yogurt Sodas, and had a great night of kine beer with one of my oldest friends in Los Angeles.

On the road, I saw a school bus getting towed (you don't see that very often), twice the people in front of me ran into the people in front of them, I watched the Goodyear blimp take off, and I saw a monster truck that looked like it had tattoos. We made fresh popcorn from scratch - you know, with a pot, a lid, some oil, some elbow grease, and a handful of corn. I hadn't done that since I was a little kid.

We made waffles! Picked some grapefruit and lemons, ate a bunch of peanuts, and saw a warning at a restaurant saying that they served food and/or drinks that contain chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer. Sure, I'm assuming they were referring to tuna and swordfish; nevertheless, no one wants to read that.

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American Food in 1937

Dave Koch |

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 6:00AM

photo by stgermhKrispy Kreme, since July 1937

I recently completed a book that was written in 1937. There were some funny passages that had no intention to be humorous, they were so because because so much has changed since publication. For instance, how bald men are so because they wear hats that are to tight and they cut off the circulation to the follicles in the head. That may have been sound in the 1930's even though we are now pointing fingers at the EDA2R gene.

Well there was one short passage about food and I thought it was so profound because of how much has NOT changed. 1937 was the year that SPAM was introduced and Krispy Kreme was founded, but putting those aside. in the book, there was a break-down of a breakfast in New York City, where the food was shipped from, and how much it cost. It is as follows:

"A family of two living in the heart of the Times Square district... far removed from the source of the production of foods...

Grapefruit juice from Florida, 2 cents. Rippled wheat breakfast food from Kansas, 2 cents. Tea from China, 2 cents. Bananas from South America, 2 and a half cents. Toasted bread from a Kansas farm, 1 cent. Fresh country eggs from Utah, 7 cents. Sugar from Cuba or Utah, one half cent. Butter and cream from New England, 3 cents.

Grand total 20 cents. It is not very difficult to obtain food in a country where two people could obtain all they want or need for a dime a piece.

Observe that this simple breakfast was gathered by some strange form of magic from China, South America, Utah, Kansas, and the New England states and delivered on the breakfast table ready for consumption in the very heart of the most crowded city in America at a cost well within the means of the most humble laborer. The cost included all Federal, State, and Local taxes."

What is more a testimony to the industrial food shipping and distribution system and their "strange form of magic" was not the spread at breakfast available for New Yorkers in 1937 - but the existence of New York City in the first place. The population then was more than 80% of what it is today.

Here are some other food prices from 1937 via The People's History:

Campbells Tomato Soup - 4 cans for 25 cents Indiana 1937
Oranges - 2 dozen 25 cents Indiana 1937
Kellogs Corn Flakes - 3 Pkgs 25 cents Indiana 1937
Mixed Nuts - 19 Cents per pound Indiana 1937
Pork Loin Roast - 15 cents per pound Indiana 1937

Other notable events that year included: Amelia Earhart disappearing, the Hindenberg burst into flames, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, The Hobbit was published by J. R. R. Tolkien, and Of Mice and Men is published by Steinbeck.

Goulash - Hungarian Beef Stew

Dave Koch |

Monday, March 8, 2010 at 7:00PM

I have traveled twice to Hungary, both times as a youngster to play water polo. It is their national sport and outside Southern California, Hungary is one of the few places you can find formidable opponents. They have more Olympic medals in water polo than any other country; and there, everyone plays. In some of the towns we visited the pool was akin to their community center.

Ever since my first visit, Goulash has forever been forged in my head as one of the most delicious things you can do with a cow. I remember going to a "hunting lodge" about an hour's drive outside Eger where a big cauldron of Goulash was literally suspended outside over a wood fire. One of the hosts was telling me that you can't call it Goulash unless it cooks for 24 hours. Otherwise, it is simply beef soup.

This may have been my first cooking lesson, I was 13.

It was amazing. The meat dissolved in your mouth and the paprika warmed you up from the inside. They served it over spätzle. At the hunting lodge it was also customary for everyone to drink palinka, the local fruit brandy, even the kids (us). We played kickball [I think] and someone threw up on the way home. It was awesome.

Amy recently made a big batch of Goulash and based the recipe on the one from Cook's Illustrated. She used a little less meat, a little less paprika, wine instead of vinegar, and a little less onion. She has made it now with both the Hungarian sweet paprika and with Spanish smoked paprika and she highly recommends not to use the smoked stuff; it is just too overbearing.

We don't expect anyone to have a spätzlemaker so you can serve it over boiled potatoes or egg noodles. We used egg noodles.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. boneless chuck roast (or any stewing meat), trimmed and cut into 1-2 inch cubes
1/4 cup Hungarian (sweet) paprika
1-12 ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 teaspoons white wine
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced small
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch long rounds
1 bay leaf
1 cup beef broth, warmed
1/4 cup sour cream, plus additional for a garnish
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Sprinkle the meat with a teaspoon of salt and allow to sit while you blend the sauce. In a food processor or blender, add the paprika, roasted peppers, tomato paste, 3 teaspoons of the white wine, and 1/2 cup of the beef broth and blend well. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed.

In a large pot (that has a lid and is oven proof) or Dutch oven, add the onion, vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt, stir briefly and cover over medium heat. Cook stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes, but don't let the onions brown.

Once the onions are softened, add the paprika and red pepper mixture and cook until the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2 minutes. Add the beef, carrots, and bay leaf and stir so that everything gets coated well.

Scrape down the sides of the pot, cover, and place in oven until meat is tender, about 2-2 1/2 hours. Be sure to stir about every 30 minutes. If the Goulash becomes too thick, use the remaining 1/2 cup of beef broth to thin it to your desired consistency.

Keep the level of the sauce about 1/4 inch from the top of the meat. the key here to developing deep flavors is that the top of the meat is browning in the oven while the bottom half of te meat braises. Then you stir it and incorporate that top layer back into the sauce.

It is done when the meat if fork-tender. When you are getting close, boil your potatoes or egg noodles so that they are ready when the Goulash is also.

If there is any fat or oil on the surface, skim it off. Add the remaining white wine and sour cream and fish out the bay leaf. Add salt and pepper as needed, garnish with more sour cream if you like and serve hot.

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