Move over Ralph Lauren and Coke, Bouillon Cubes Were First Olympic Sponsor

As the Running of the Bulls comes to a close in Pamplona, Spain, all eyes will soon be turning to the London's Summer Olympics.

And you are correct, if it seems that there are almost as many sponsors for the Olympics this year as there are athletes. After all, the Games, which began in 1896, are expensive and the seemingly endless bills for lodging and arena construction have to be paid.

Indeed, heavy governmental funding for the Utah 2002 Winter Olympics, not to mention that the Olympic torches used were made in Burma, have been very stressful topics for the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, in the current US presidential election.

So as you might have expected, commercial sponsorship has been a controversial element of the Olympics since its beginning. But did you know that its first official sponsor was the company that first offered soup made from bouillon cubes to tired athletes?

That's right – bouillon cubes, those invigorating little compact squares of concentrated soup.

Even less known is the fact that Nicolas Apperts, who first marketed bouillon cubes, also invented the process of canning as we know it today. A failed champagne producer and an unsuccessful innkeeper and chef, Nicolas Apperts was a man who collected talents to seemingly no benefit.

But when Napoleon announced he would award a huge cash prize to anyone who could develop a method to preserve food for his far-flung army, Nicolas Apperts knew his day had come

As an unsuccessful chef, he well understood spoilage. As a failed winemaker he knew bottling – especially champagne.

As a result, he developed a method so simple, so obvious it had been overlooked by everyone else. Just put the desired food in a bottle, top it off with a liquid sauce, seal the bottle like a champagne bottle and then heat the bottle until the internal liquid boils.

It worked! Nicolas Apperts received the award, got the huge government contracting and built the very first commercial bottling plant.

It was in the research lab of his newly flounded company, that he reduced soup to its most compact form to the delight of weary athletes and hurried chefs everywhere.

And what better place to first demonstrate the "Cube's" restorative powers to the public than at the 1908 Summer Olympics, where Dorando Pietri, the couragous Italian Marathon Runner AND pastry chef, enjoyed its nurturing and resorative powers. (And what chef would not identify with his final push in their own effort to make it through a long and seemingly endless day of effort).  

Video Text by Sir Arthur Conan Doyale, Famed Author of Sherlock Holmes Novels

So let us never underestimate the power of the small, the few, be it a single world-class athlete or a tiny little bouillon cube in the hands of a creative chef who can inspire us all!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Why You Should Celebrate Bastille Day in a Restaurant

July 14 is Bastille Day or “La Fête Nationale” as it is known in la belle France. There will be fireworks, street dances and, of course, parades.

But hidden within the history of this great celebration of freedom is the little-known story of how restaurants first came to be.

Before the French Revolution (which started with the storming of the hated royal prison of Bastille in Paris), dining was largely restricted to the grand estates of the French nobles or around the far more humble hearths of France’s working poor.

Indeed, even the right to cater was an exclusive affair, granted solely to the “Traiteur” Guilds by the King. These select chefs prepared only certain dishes by royal license, serving them only within their own kitchens at a fixed time with a preset menu.

So what was the average diner to do when it came to dining when one wanted to, regardless of time or appetit?

Enter Monsieur Boulanger, who in 1765 opened a “restaurer” or soup shop. He offered a choice of restorative soups (hence the name in French), along with bread and wine to the weary wishing to rest and restore their strength no matter the hour.

As one might expect, the effected Traiteur Guild saw his activities as a threat to their exclusive culinary rights within the capital. Soon Monsieur Boulanger found himself called before a royal judge for violating a royal grant of culinary privilege.

But to everyone's surprise, he was acquitted because the judge, who was a lover of fine food, ruled that the Guild was chartered to serve only ragout, and as he pointed out from the bench, anyone who loved fine food should know that a rich thick ragout is NOT ever a thin restorative broth!

Boulanger’s crowd pleasing shop/restaurant was saved! Soon he opened additional restorative soup shops across Paris. There the average man (and woman) could gather, choose what THEY wished to eat AND so empowered, discuss how the royal government seemed to serve only the wealthy and not the needs of the people, who were the true soul of France.

The final result of such conversations was revolution! And the world would never be the same again, thanks in part to soup and the new social institution it helped to create – Restaurants.

Still to this day, people around the world gather in restaurants to freely discuss life, meaning and the whether their governments serve them well. Once again, we should all raise our glasses and toast France for both the courage to claim the right of individual expression and the innovative ability to create something as beneficial to humanity as restaurants!

Post Note, July 13, 2012: If you still have any doubts about celebrating Bastille Day in a restaurant, just consider a much enjoyed tradition within the Culinary Industry, the Waiters' Race, now run in over 53 countries by the very best with a tray! 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

London's Soaring Shard Tower Was Designed on the Back of a Restaurant Menu

Change always concerns some people. And the proof of that statement is now being born out in London as Europe's newest AND tallest skyscraper, the Shard Tower, nears completion.

Developed by property magnate Irvine Sellar (who made his first fortune selling flared hip-hugger pants on Carnaby Street to the flower-power generation in 1960s) and designed by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano (Paris' Pompidou Centre was an early collaboration) first conceived this soaring structure on the back of a restaurant menu.

Yet the English Heritage Group is not impressed. They feel it is an intrusion on a World Heritage Site. They fear that the 1,016 feet building will alter the beloved skyline of London.

Leading members of the international business community have no such fears. Such style-defining firms as the Shangri-La Hotel system have already signed on as tenants, offering both rooms and restaurants with stunning high views.

For those still concerned, please remember that London has always been a city of change. Once Roman, it became medieval only to reshape itself after the Great Fire of 1666, thanks to the then 'modern' architect Christopher Wren. Even Hilter could not destroy a city so full of life and living history.

The Shard Tower is just another wonderful part of a City that's always reaching for the future, no matter the Age. And that is why London will delight all those who visit her now and in future - eternally young, classically grounded for this is how London has always soared towards the expression of its singular spirit. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Macarons are THE Chic New Wedding Trend

Every once in a while a new wedding trend appears that captures the heart of brides everywhere.

One such trend now sweeping the wedding world is macarons, yes, macaron cookies – but as you've never seen them before.

But first a little history to put things in perspective. Catherine de Medici brought the ancestor of the macaron from Italy to France in 1533 when she arrived (with Italian chefs in tow) to marry France's King Henry II.

She also brought forks and napkins – and medieval table manners improved greatly, to say the least. For the several centuries that followed, sweet delights such as macarons were enjoyed only by members of the upper class.

Indeed by the time the French Revolution occurred in 1789, the mobs of Paris were more than ready to believe that the French Queen Marie Antoinette had answered their cries for food with the indifferent remark, “Let them eat cake". She never said any such thing. The revolutionary pamphleteers made up the statement merely to further their cause.

As the French State spun into a mad frenzy of bloodletting, thanks to "Madame Guillotine", Napoleon appeared and with a strong military arm re-established order. Once in control, he began to redesign French life, starting with the removal of many privileges enjoyed by the elite upper-class.

One such action taken by Napoleon was to close the monasteries and convents in France, which had long been allied with the privileged monarchy. Thousands of monks and nuns were suddenly without home or work. Some chose to fight the Dissolution Order and went to their deaths instead.

Others adapted to secular life yet privately continued their spiritual practice. The Carmelite Sisters in Nancy, France chose to live rather than die. Kindly offered lodging by the convent’s former doctor, Monsieur Gormand, Sisters Marguerite and Marie–Elizabeth left their black and white habits behind in 1792 and dressed in the clothes of the day. 

But how to support themselves? Once funds from the Crown had provided for the necessities of life. But no more. It was then that the Sisters remembered the Order’s recipe for macarons that had delighted so many visitors to their Convent in better days.

Soon the Sisters’ tasty brown macarons, made from ground almonds, egg whites and sugar, began to make the city of Nancy a leading culinary destination. Indeed, the Sisters became so famous they came to be referred to simply as "les Soeurs Macarons” or “the Macaron Sisters”. (Their shop still operates in Nancy to this day).

It wasn't long before the Sisters’ fame and culinary creations were noted in Paris. But sweetly humble has never been Paris' style. Pastry Master Louis Ernest Laduree converted the Convent treat into a stunning dessert available in a seemingly endless array of colors.

Today creative brides around the world are using macarons to create weddings with an elegant French flair. Whether it's a modified croquembouche tower replacing the traditional tiered wedding cakes or as stunning guest favors, macarons are now enjoyed everywhere. Look how lovely (and how inexpensive - $3.20 per serving vrs $5.00 per traditional cake slice)! Nice, nice, nice!

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Post Note, July 5, 2012: "Macaron" with only one "o" is the correct spelling for this French culinary treasure. "Macaroons" with two "o's" referes to a different pastry containing shredded coconut that often appears within Jewish cuisine.

Macarons are smooth; macaroons resemble small peaked mountains. There IS a difference but both are perfect for celebrating Bastille Day (or La Fête Nationale) on July 14th. Viva la France!

How a Microwave Works Then and Now

In 1945 Dr. Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer working for the Raytheon Company in Massachusetts, discovered quite by accident that a chocolate candy bar in his lab coat pocket had melted while he was experimenting with magnetron tubes, a new kind of vacuum tube developed by the English during World War II.

Besides snacking on candy bars, Dr. Spencer was also fond of popcorn as an afternoon snack. So being a true scientist, he placed a few unpopped kernels next to magnetron tubes and was amazed when they begin to vibrate and then pop.

The next day he and his excited lab associates tried cooking an egg still in its shell.  It cooked and then exploded.

By 1947 his amazing discovery (minus the exploding egg) was transformed into the first microwave test model, which weighed 750 pounds, stood five feet tall and cost $5,000! It also required addition plumbing be installed as the heated magnetron tubes had to be cooled constantly by water.  

At this price range, Raytheon believed only professional chefs would consider purchasing this new cooking tool. In fact, the first field testing was done by valiant chefs in Boston. Thank you brave Chefs.

By the 1960’s the price had dropped to such a low point that microwaves began to appear on the kitchen counter in some homes.

But without the innovative focus of professional chefs, they were initially used largely to reheat and defrost foods quickly.

Then in the 1980’s Orville Redenbacher microwave popcorn packets, along with a host of microwave cookbooks for the home cook, appeared on the market. And the rest, as they sat, is culinary history.

Yet there is a problem, for as much as the microwave is now a part of any contemporary kitchen, few of us actually know how it works, except maybe for Chef Ferran Adrià and his amazing staff.

So here’s a quick tutorial – just remember to enjoy some popcorn while watching, thanks to Dr. Percy Spencer and, of course, Orville Redenbacher! 

Post Note, June 30, 2012: Is it our imagination, or is there a a very strong resemblance between Dr. Spencer and Orville Redenbacher?

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012