1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (134 page)

If available from a bakery or your own kitchen, the firm-textured French sandwich bread
pain de mie
may take the bread-and-butter prize in the mild category. On the more flavorful end of the spectrum lie the German and eastern European sourdough or corned rye breads, with their pungent yeastiness and crisp crusts. Thin, square slices of chocolate-dark, malty, north European pumpernickel are delightfully chewy and hold the butter well, and the mild and buttery-tasting Jewish braided challah (see
listing
) is rich enough to make the result seem almost like a dessert. (Challah should be cut into thicker, one-inch slices.)

As for the butter, it should be soft enough to spread easily but in no way runny. If it’s too cold and firm, cut off the amount you need and mash it with a fork or knife blade until it is spreadable. Salted or sweet is the bread eater’s choice; sweet butter can always be sprinkled with a pinch of coarse sea or kosher salt and, just maybe, a grinding or two of black pepper.

Where:
In New York
, Sullivan Street Bakery at two locations,
sullivanstreetbakery.com
; Breads Bakery, tel 212-633-2253,
breadsbakery.com
; Hot Bread Kitchen, tel 212-369-3331,
hotbreadkitchen.org
;
in Long Island City, NY
, Tom Cat Bakery, tel 718-786-4224,
tomcatbakery.com
;
in Hoboken, NJ
, Marie’s Bakery, tel 201-963-4281,
rmariebreads.com
;
in Philadelphia
, Faragalli’s Bakery, tel 215-468-5197;
in Asheville, NC
, Farm & Sparrow, tel 828-633-0584,
farmandsparrow.com
;
in Los Angeles
, La Brea Bakery, tel 323-939-6813,
labreabakery.com
; in San Francisco, Tartine Bakery & Café, tel 415-487-2600,
tartinebakery.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads
by Bernard Clayton (2006);
saveur.com
(search 20 great american bread bakeries);
kingarthurflour.com
.

Hot butter and sweet, oozy lacings of bourbon whiskey bathing spongy bread that beckons with a crisply golden top crust … This is the enduring magic of an epic Cajun dessert. Pudding, the kind we eat for dessert, is one of those loosely defined, age-old dishes indigenous to many cultures around the world. But the origin of the term is much meatier, most likely tracing back to the Old French–inspired Cajun word for sausage,
boudin.
In the Middle Ages, the word referred to black and white savory sausage “puddings,” and over the course of time evolved into the more common idea of a sweet, generally baked, generally milk-based dessert.

As always, frugal and inventive cooks realized that something delicious could be made from the stale bread with which they were continually confronted, and the bread pudding was born: slices or chunks of bread baked with eggs, milk, sugar, and various sweet and fragrant fixings into a sweet, chewy dessert. It took the Cajuns,
those French-speaking Acadian exiles to Louisiana from maritime Canada, to spice up the formula with a creamy, bourbon-spiked sauce, poured over the pudding when it’s fresh out of the oven. Long a staple of New Orleans restaurants, the Cajun pudding is lusciously thick and mouthwateringly sticky, made with porous, dry French bread that’s excellent at soaking up plenty of sugar, freshly ground cinnamon, and vanilla complemented by the chewy sweetness of raisins or currants—which is not to say that executive chefs like Emeril Lagasse have not come up with delectable riffs, such as praline, and lemon-blueberry bread puddings. The pudding is generally served as dessert, but a nice big, thick chunk along with a cup of bracing, chicory-laced, Creole coffee makes a decadent breakfast.

Where:
In New Orleans
, The Bon Ton Café, tel 504-524-3386,
thebontoncafe.com
; K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, tel 504-596-2530,
chefpaul.com/kpaul
; Emeril’s Delmonico, tel 504-525-4937,
emerilsrestaurants.com
.
Further information and recipes:
New Orleans Classic Desserts
by Kit Wohl (2007);
The Dooky Chase Cookbook
by Leah Chase (1990);
Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen
by Paul Prudhomme (1984);
epicurious.com
(search favorite bread and butter pudding; bread pudding souffle).

A dense, fudgy delight and a classic American dessert.

To whom do we owe the intense pleasure of the dense chocolate brownie? One theory holds that Bertha Palmer, wife of the owner of Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel, asked the chef to create a dainty chocolate dessert to serve at the 1893 Colombian Exposition—and thus the not-so-dainty brownie was born. Or was it the result of a happy accident, when a Maine librarian named Brownie Schrumpf omitted baking powder from a chocolate cake and ended up with a dense, flat bar? The list of possible inventors goes on, but the brownie’s ascension to classic American dessert is due in no small part to the work of Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker, brands whose boxed mixes rose to popularity during the 1950s.

The brownie’s commercial success should come as no surprise. The chocolaty dessert is portable, easy to make, and deeply satisfying to eat (especially with a glass of cold milk). But of course, brownie excellence does not come from a box. Cookie dough enthusiasts maintain that the best brownie is an underbaked brownie, damp and fudgy on the inside; for others, the best brownie is the one that is thoroughly baked to a more maturely spongy texture. When it comes to flavor, the most intense, richest chocolate taste is a goal commonly achieved through the use of very good quality dark, bittersweet chocolate. More timid palates prefer the milder
milk chocolate, and some swear it’s not a brownie without walnuts. Some demand pecans, while others stand for chocolate chips and these days, some welcome the lively touch of chile powder. (For Alice B. Toklas, the treat was wasted without a spiking of marijuana.) But the most texture-obsessed want all cake and refuse any possible distractions.

Tantalizingly chewy and luxuriously fudgy, with a deeply satisfying chocolate flavor, the beloved brownie speaks of simple childhood pleasures. To ensure that its reputation goes unmarred, a word of caution to parents: Forget the diabolical suggestion that you hide spinach in your children’s brownie dough, a move guaranteed to breed a distrust more harmful than an iron deficiency.

Where:
In New York and Long Island
, Citarella at multiple locations, tel 212-874-0383,
citarella.com
.
Retail and mail order:
In New York
, Fat Witch at Chelsea Market, tel 888-419-4824,
fatwitch.com
(click Witches, then Fat Witch original; Java Witch; Fat Witch Walnut); Sarabeth’s Bakery at Chelsea Market, tel 800-773-7378,
sarabeth.com
(search no nut brownies).
Further information and recipes:
For a classic recipe, see the back of packages of Baker’s semisweet baking chocolate,
Sarabeth’s Bakery
by Sarabeth Levine (2010);
The Art of Fine Baking
by Paula Peck (1961);
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies
by Alice Medrich (2010);
epicurious.com
(search brownies epicurious 2001; cocoa brownies bon appetit; chile brownies).
Tip:
A proper brownie should have a shiny, glistening top. To achieve that result, dip a knife blade into cold water and spread it over the top of the unbaked brownies in the pan before setting them in the oven.

A backcountry smoked meat stew.

Care for some squirrel meat in your dinner? Although the origins of Brunswick stew are hotly debated, everyone seems to agree that squirrel was originally a feature of the distinctly Southern dish. Now replaced by rabbit, or more commonly chicken, the meat is joined by potatoes, tomatoes, lima beans, corn, okra, and either fatback, salt pork, or bacon. The stew is distinguished by its trademark smokiness, the result of smoking the meats before they are added into the stew pot, along with a generous dose of smoky barbecue sauce.

A complete meal in which protein is mixed right in with the sides, the barbecue-in-a-bowl has its purported roots in Brunswick County, Virginia; Brunswick County, North Carolina; and Brunswick, Georgia—all of which were founded around the same time in the late 1700s. Virginians have the most elaborate legend, in which the dish they call “Virginia ambrosia” was created in 1828 by an African American chef named Jimmy Matthews, hired to cook for a squirrel-hunting party in the
tobacco-growing community of Brunswick.

With an extra measure of pride, Georgia has gone so far as to create a monument to the dish: a twenty-five-gallon iron pot standing outside its coastal town of Brunswick, near Savannah, supposedly the vessel in which the first batch was cooked in 1898. North Carolina’s claim seems to rest solely on the shoulders of the town name, combined with the state’s significant barbecue tradition.

Whatever its origins, Brunswick stew has become a staple at barbecue joints and Fourth of July picnics throughout the South—whether its rich and complex juices are sopped up with tender biscuits, buttery wedges of cornbread, or crunchy fried cornmeal hushpuppies.

Where:
In New York, Westchester, New Jersey, and Florida
, Brother Jimmy’s BBQ,
brotherjimmys.com
;
in Charleston, SC
, Home Team BBQ, tel 843-225-7427,
hometeambbq.com
;
in Atlanta
, Swallow at the Hollow, tel 770-992-5383,
swallowatthehollow.com
;
in Newnan, GA
, Sprayberry’s Barbecue, tel 770-253-4421,
sprayberrysbbq.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Bill Neal’s Southern Cooking
by Bill Neal (1989);
A Gracious Plenty
by John T. Edge and Ellen Rolfes (1999);
saveur.com
, (search brunswick stew);
epicurious.com
(search brunswick stew; brunswick chicken);
thedailymeal.com
(search 25 best brunswick stews).
Special events:
Brunswick Stew Festival, Richmond, VA, November,
richmond.com
(search brunswick stew); for other stew-related events in Virginia from October through March, tel 866-STEWPOT.

Cool, crisp romaine lettuce torn into fork-size pieces and tossed with golden croutons and a rich dressing of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and egg yolk, with hints of zippy garlic, anchovies, and Parmesan, the elegant Caesar salad is easily satisfying enough to be a main course.

Popular as it is in Italian American eateries, you might assume that this dish was invented by Cornelia or Pompeia, the first and second wives of Julius Caesar, as a way of delighting the emperor. Its provenance is, in fact, much closer to home, dating back to a period during Prohibition when many southern Californians crossed the Mexican border to Tijuana, where they could drink their nights away without risking arrest.

One especially popular destination was Hotel Caesar’s, run by an Italian American restaurateur named Caesar Cardini. According to culinary legend, one busy evening in 1924, Hotel Caesar’s was running short of food, so the chef was compelled to make the most of what he had on hand: romaine lettuce, garlic, eggs, lemons, olive oil, Parmesan, and bread. A born showman, Cardini himself tossed these ingredients together tableside, reportedly with great flourish. Los Angelenos came home bragging about what they had eaten, and soon it became trendy to travel to Tijuana for the salad alone, never mind the cocktails and beer. None other than California native Julia Child made the trip as a young girl. In
From Julia Child’s Kitchen
, she wrote, “One of my early remembrances of restaurant life was going to Tijuana in 1925 or 1926 with my parents, who were wildly excited that they should finally lunch at Caesar’s Restaurant.” Soon enough, the salad crossed the border,
launching an American restaurant trend that has lasted more than eighty years—as well as a similarly long-lasting controversy over its legitimate ingredients. Attempting to approximate the salad based on their diners’ descriptions, L.A. cooks added what has since become the dish’s signature ingredient: anchovies. Cardini never used those briny little fish fillets, but he did employ Worcestershire sauce, which is made with anchovies and imparted that distinctive saltiness. (He also didn’t use raw eggs, but rather broke lightly cooked eggs atop the salad as part of the presentation.)