Before anything else, it is a day to remember and honor all those
who are, or have served our country in faraway places, assuring the freedom for kooks
like me to publish things about food and cooking. I was declared exempt for military service because at the time of the
Viet Nam war draft because I was working in the defense industry. My father was not, he even lied about his age
to get in the Army, went through training in the Field Artillery, and was
ultimately shipped to France where he was wounded in the grusome battle of Chateaux Thierry,
and eventually was sent home for a long recovery. He never did regain full usage of his right
arm. He never talked about his
experiences and I never quizzed him about it. In retrospect, I think it was a dark period of his life which he didn't want to revisit. Archivist MFO organized all his papers and
letters from his training and while he was convalescing and we gave them to his home town historical
society in Holland, Michigan. Thank you
dad and Vets who are still here and those that live in memories…
Seems kind of anticlimactical to talk about food and such,
but it’s what I do.
Hey Matthew you are quoted in the bible in verse 7:1 as
reminding us: “Judge not lest ye be
judged”
Well, while that may be a good life precept in general, it doesn’t
apply well in the Food Judges department. This year we had an exceptionally qualified
panel of judges evaluating the nine finalist dishes. I want to talk more about
one of them, but a brief bio on each follows.
Gwyn Novak: Back for her second year as a National
Oyster Cook-Off judge, Gwyn Novak is the chef and founder of No Thyme to
Cook, Southern Maryland’s premier cooking studio teaching students of all ages
the love of food.
Sandra Martin: Another returning judge She is editor of the
Bay Weekly publication and considered an expert on Southern Maryland cuisine. Though
born in the center of the country, St. Louis, Missouri, Sandra Olivetti Martin
grew up eating native Chesapeake Bay oysters.
Amy Langrehr, Her first time as a judge this year is the
force behind Baltimore's enormously popular Charm City Cook, a Baltimore dining
and cooking Instagram and blog.
Jason Yaskoir, another new addition to the judging team is
Editor-in-Chief of "DCFüd" and a food writer and editor. He is originally from
the most culturally diverse county in the U.S. (Queens County, NYC), where he
grew up eating a variety of cuisines and learned how to cook at his Mom's side
as a kid.
And finally
John Shields, another returning judge,
is a Chef, author, and television personality is the owner of the
celebrated Gertrude’s Restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art. John is often
called “The Culinary Ambassador of the Chesapeake Bay,” and he has written
three popular cookbooks on the cuisine of the region.
After the competition, John
set up a booth to sell his cookbooks, this the latest, the 25th
anniversary edition.
I bought a copy (can't have too many cookbooks!)
With all due respects to
John, I expected just another compendium of crab cake and oyster stew recipes,
until I cracked the cover. What an
amazing collection of not only recipes with provenance, and many historical pictures of the Chesapeake
Bay region. For instance: “Gertie’s Crab
Cakes” recipe starts out by telling us that “Gertie Cleary hailed from Baltimore’s Greenmount Avenue and her cooking
was legendary throughout St. Ann’s Parish and northeast Baltimore“. He may be a bit biased, since Gertie was his
grandmother. Or Polish Marinated
Herring: ”When Polish John’s not operating his crane at the Dundalk Marine
terminal, you’re likely to find him at his East Baltimore home eating or
preparing this delicious snack from this homeland”. He talks about his hometown of Baltimore, or “Charm City”.. the hairdo capital of the
world, screen paintings (heard of those?) crab houses, and beehive coifs”
I found myself just leafing
through the book not only for the recipes but the knowledge that accompanied
them. In emails to John, I learned he
spend over a year in the region gathering the (authentic) recipes and the
stories that went with them.
But what bowled me over was
when I turned the page to 175 and found this:
“in the
old days, a trip to Southern Maryland would not be complete without a visit and
meal with William Taylor”,
and then recounts his legendary dinners. I was fortunate enough to be invited to a few
of the “Dinner Designer’s” meals in his home that could have been an annex to
the Smithsonian, full of playbills, and even costumes from the silent film
era. Anybody who knew Bill Taylor earns
my respect. John is not just some hack
cookbook author.
Quick culinary note and a
small rant for the Christmas Season:
Alert readers may remember that
occasionally MFO and I get food “From a Bag” if we’re out and about. Well, we stopped for such a lunch the other
day at a McDonalds, and I am so tired of quarter pounders with cheese or a
cheese burger meal, that I decided to get a crispy buttermilk chicken
sandwich. It was without a doubt the
worst excuse for food I’ve had in a long time.
Under the gooey coating was a hunk of chicken(?) that was nearly
inedible consisting of loosely held together little packets of gristle with
strings that got in your teeth. I
finally gave up. Awful and disgusting.
‘Tis the season. Every year at this time the so called “luxury”
cars trot out the same old ads’. Lexus
is one of the primary sources of such extravagances. Showing the perfect American family, Mom, Dad, sis and buddy, in their flannel PJ’s and probably fido with his red
bandanna out in front of their spacious home in the equally spacious patio in
front of the multi car garage with a Lexus and a big red bow on top with the
kids bouncing up and down with glee. And
the snobby heavily (British) accented haughty announcing lady telling us to make it a “Decembahhh to
remembahhhh – at yo Lexusss delahhhh”.. and here I thought the auto was made in
Japan
And finally (thank goodness
you say) while most/some auto makers boast about fuel economy and their environmental
efforts, apparently the Dodge company doesn’t buy into that crap. Commercials of Santa driving out of his bag
in a Challenger? With screaming, smoking tires shouting “and to all, get OUTTA
MY WAY”, or another with the obligatory chartreuse (good ol’ boy) Charger(?)
racing around city streets, weaving in and out, boasting about the amount of
horsepower they have (which probably produces massive amounts of hydrocarbons). Only in America!
Okay, I’m done.
If you have a friend (or
yourself!) who enjoys cooking and learning about regional food, I would highly recommend
considering John Shield’s “Chesapeake Bay Cooking”
And if you see or think of a
Veteran, say “Thanks for your Service to our Country”
DFD
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