1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (140 page)

The chops should be at room temperature before the cooking begins, and must be watched carefully while they broil, lest the fat catch fire and develop an unpleasantly acrid flavor. Should one salt before broiling or after? For maximum juiciness, it’s best to sprinkle the chops with coarse salt immediately
after
they emerge from the broiler, but a light sprinkling of coarse salt before cooking does impart a sprightly essence as the salt caramelizes.

Although a somewhat Mediterranean touch can be added by brushing the broiled chops with a sprig of rosemary dipped in olive oil, no flavorings or condiments other than salt are needed. (Thankfully the days when rib chops were served with mint jelly are but a faint, unpleasant memory.)

Where:
Throughout the U.S.
, Palm restaurants,
thepalm.com
;
in San Francisco
, Tadich
Grill, tel 415-391-1849,
tadichgrill.com
.
Mail order:
For grass-fed lamb chops,
lavalakelamb.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Palm Restaurant Cookbook
by Brigit Legere Binns (2003);
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
, 13th edition, by Marion Cunningham (1996);
The Joy of Cooking
by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker (2006);
cooks.com
(search broiled lamb chops).
See also:
Agneau de Pré-Salé
.

“Put a little syrup in it.”

Soda water from a seltzer bottle, Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, and whole milk—these and only these are the ingredients in a real chocolate egg cream, which authentically contains neither eggs nor cream. This New York original was a standard street treat of yore, dispensed through the open fronts of newspaper and magazine stores throughout the city, but also made at home. The explanation as to how the drink got its name is lost to the archives of history, but thankfully the recipe survives intact.

There’s no arguing the fact that the somewhat acidic, thick golden-brown syrup bears a taste one can only describe as deliciously … cheap. But there’s a thrill in its sweet, chocolaty plainness, so happily modified by the rich taste of milk. Which comes first, syrup, seltzer, or milk? Ideally, syrup is first in the glass, followed by a little shot of seltzer and a quick stir. Then a trickle of milk, and a vigorous stirring as vibrant shots of soda are blasted in. The result is magically frothy and creamy and cool, reassuringly chocolaty and deceptively thick, with the seltzer’s air bubbles adding an illusion of heft. (Who needs eggs and cream when you’ve got seltzer?)

During the Great Depression, soda fountains also dispensed small glasses of plain seltzer, known in New York as “two-cents plain” because of their price. “Put a little syrup in it, it shouldn’t be too plain” was the classic New York comeback from savvy customers.

Where:
In New York
, Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse, tel 212-673-0330,
sammysromainan.com
; Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, tel 212-675-5096,
eisenbergsnyc.com
;
in Brooklyn and New York
, Junior’s,
juniorscheesecake.com
;
in Saint Paul, MN
, Lynden’s Soda Fountain, tel 651-330-7632,
lyndens.com
;
in South Pasadena, CA
, Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain, tel 626-799-1414,
fairoakspharmacy.net
.
Mail order:
webstaurantstore.com
(search fox’s u-bet chocolate syrup).
Further information and recipes:
New York Cookbook
by Molly O’Neill (1992);
The Brooklyn Cookbook
by Lyn Stallworth and Rod Kennedy Jr. (1991);
allrecipes.com
(search chef john’s chocolate egg cream; for a video, search how to make chocolate egg creams).

Riffs on eggs Benedict abound, most especially in New Orleans, where the idea of the festive weekend brunch probably began. Over a lightly toasted English muffin, the runny yolks of gently poached eggs might mingle with nicely firm and salty ham, smoked salmon, or savory creamed spinach. Eggs Sardou takes the eggy inventions several steps further, with credit for its invention going to Angelo (Antoine) Alciatore, chef at the eponymous restaurant Antoine’s.

Born and raised in Marseille, Alciatore opened his French Quarter restaurant in 1840. Sometime during his tenure, the French playwright Victorien Sardou came for a visit, and the chef took to the kitchen in search of a way to honor him. He began by sliding poached eggs into “cups” composed of artichoke bottoms, topping them with slivers of anchovy and ham, and then napping them with a sunny, lemony hollandaise sauce. The result, a distinctly savory, salty delight, is still a classic New Orleans brunch dish at Antoine’s, and also at Brennan’s, where the anchovy and ham are replaced by creamed spinach, but the name of the dish remains the same.

Where:
In New Orleans
, Antoine’s, tel 504-581-4422,
antoines.com
; The Old Coffee Pot Restaurant, tel 504-524-3500,
theoldcoffeepot.com
;
in Houston
, Brennan’s, tel 713-522-9711,
brennanshouston.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Antoine’s Restaurant Cookbook Since 1840
by Roy F. Guste Jr. (1979);
The Glory of Southern Cooking
by James Villas (2007);
nolacuisine.com
(search eggs sardou);
saveur.com
(search eggs sardou).

Great even when middling, almond toffee, alternatively known as butter crunch, simply doesn’t get any better than that turned out by Enstrom’s, the Grand Junction, Colorado, confectionery that’s been at it for over sixty years. Founded by Chet Enstrom and his wife, Vernie, the shop is now run by the family’s third generation. Enstrom’s turns out many chocolaty sweets, but undoubtedly its most sublime offering is the almond toffee, a confection in which almond-dusted chocolate covers a slim inner crackling of crisp, buttery caramel and fresh almonds. You can opt for milk chocolate, but why would you? Go for the dark.

Enstrom’s toffee lends itself to freezing, making it possible to lay in a large supply against stormy weather and bad times. When
the craving hits, crack off frozen pieces and let them gently thaw on your tongue so the flavor combination of chocolate, nuts, and caramel slowly develops.

A few small pieces with a cup of coffee or espresso make for a light but still luxuriously decadent dessert after a large dinner. Following lighter fare, the toffee is unsurprisingly excellent when crumbled over scoops of vanilla, chocolate, or coffee ice cream.

Where:
701 Colorado Ave., Grand Junction, CO, tel 800-367-8766,
enstrom.com
.

Salmon hangs to dry in the Alaskan island town of Shishmaref.

Looking for a recipe for Eskimo ice cream made with reindeer tallow, seal oil, and berries, and maybe also enriched with the snowy white flakes of cooked lingcod, a favorite local fish? Or for information on how to prepare dried salmon eggs and berries? Want to know how to freeze whole flounders so they can be eaten without being thawed? You’ll find what you seek in a tiny paper pamphlet bearing the title
Eskimo Cook Book
, an endearing collectors’ treasure still available through antiquarian bookdealers. (It also includes recipes for seal liver, loon, owl, oogruk flippers, bear feet, ptarmigan intestines, eskimo potatoes, and countless roots, branches, berries, and herbs, all handily defined in a little glossary.)

Written in 1952 by the students of the Shishmaref Day School in Shishmaref, Alaska, to raise funds for disabled children, the cookbook is filled with charming sketches accompanying many of the brief recipes—each signed by its youthful contributor. Recording the dishes their parents and grandparents traditionally prepared, the children unknowingly preserved a valuable slice of culinary history at a time of rapid change and modernization.

The fund-raising cookbook is an American invention developed in the South during the Civil War, when books of “receipts,” as recipes were called then, were compiled and sold at Sanitary Fairs to aid wounded soldiers and their families. With the apparatus still in place after the war, various women’s groups continued the practice, donating the income to needy hospitals, schools, churches, and local families. Although often amateurish, their recipes accurately reflected the cooking fashions of various periods, as they continue to do today.

Further information:
Eskimo Cook Book
by the children of the Shishmaref Day School is available at amazon.com and antiquarian sources. You can see an online version at
archive.org/details/EskimoCookbook
.

The main character of Anne Tyler’s charming novel, Ezra Tull, operates a restaurant in which guests cook their own food. The fictional restaurant’s specialty may have a real Hungarian ancestor in
bechinalt.
It is also a bargain, what with the price of chicken gizzards. Keep any squeamish prospective diners in the dark and they may never suspect the origins of the soup’s savory, well-trimmed, meaty bits.

Serves 2

1 pound fresh chicken gizzards, halved

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed with the side of a chef’s knife

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1.
Place the gizzards, 4 cups water, and the salt and pepper in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat, and simmer until the gizzards are fully cooked, 1 hour.

2.
Remove the gizzards and reserve the broth. Carefully trim all fat and cartilage from the gizzards. Chop the trimmed meat into small pieces and return them to the broth.

3.
Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Add the garlic and sauté for a few seconds. Stir in the flour and cook over low heat until it becomes a smooth paste, a few seconds more.

4.
Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in 1 cup of the hot broth, stirring constantly until smooth. Pour the smooth sauce base back into the simmering broth, and beat with a whisk until all the lumps disappear. Simmer the soup, partially covered, for 15 minutes, adding a little water if the mixture becomes too thick.

5.
Taste, and add more salt and/or pepper, as desired. Serve at once in warm bowls, with crusty bread on the side.

Further information:
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
by Anne Tyler (1982). For the original
bechinalt
recipe that inspired Anne Tyler, see
The Impoverished Students’ Book of Cookery, Drinkery, & Housekeepery
by Jay F. Rosenberg (1967).