Peanut Butter Goes High Fashion Thanks to Diana Vreeland

Peanut butter is generally thought of as ideal for children’s school sandwiches or as a key ingredient in after school snack cookies.

Actually peanut butter was first savored in 1890 when a St Louis doctor thought a high protein peanut paste would be a nutritious treat for his elderly patients with poor teeth.

By the turn of the century Dr. George Washington Carver had identified over 300 uses for the humble peanut, including a much improved peanut butter spread.

In 1908 the Krema Products Company in Columbus, Ohio produced the first commercial peanut butter, followed in 1928 by Swift & Company (a company that later became Peter Pan).

But least you think all peanut butter is restricted to primary school lunches or the home cookie jar, a new documentary, entitled The Eye Has to Travel, has revealed that Vogue’s legendary editor Diana Vreeland’s favorite daily lunch in her elegant red New York office was, yes, you guessed it – a peanut butter sandwich!

But a peanut butter sandwich with flair. The peanut butter had to have enough flavor to prompt Vreeland to declare that peanut butter was the best invention since Christianity.

Her sandwich bread had to be equally unique - cut from a freshly baked loaf of whole wheat bread. Vreeland disliked bland commercial white bread so much she was known to remark that it would make better glue than bread.

Last but not least, she regularly finished off her peanut butter sandwich with a tablespoon of her favorite marmalade jam, made from Spanish oranges.  

Being a powerful arbiter of fashion, her lunch time beverage of choice was a long shot of memorable scotch. Wow! – definitely not for Johnny or Mary at school, but so elegantly Vreeland: a healthy, classy peanut butter sandwich with Highland scotch! (No wonder she defined style as the editor of Vogue for over 30 years and later as the esteemed director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute!)

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

New York Health Department Plays Grinch to Algonquin Hotel Beloved Cat

‘Tis the holiday season, a time for fun and good cheer when all are friends and kindness fills the air.

Or should be…

In what can only be called a ‘cat-astrophe’, the New York City Health Department apparently forgot to refer to their calendar when they recently banned the Algonquin's ‘direcfurr of guest relations’, the beautiful kitty Matilda III from many sections of this historic hotel.

Now certainly the Health Department has a valuable job to do but perhaps this is an overreaction to a tradition that since the 1930s has harmed no one.

Matilda, the Algonquin's famed cat, is part of a proud line of feline greeters who have been delighting guests since the first kitty was welcomed, cold and hungry, out of a stormy night by the hotel's compassionate owner Frank Case.

Honored by no less than the actor John Barrymore with the names “Hamlet” or “Matilda”, depending on their sex, the current kitty can now only grace the registration area – and only while on a leash.

All these restrictions are thanks to the NYC Health Department’s grumpy ‘grinch-y’ attitude during a season of supposed cheer and good well.

Surely the ghosts of such legendary literarties as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Mark Conley, Edna Ferber and George F. Kaufman, all members of the Hotel’s famed Round Table, would object to such an injustice against a noble kitty who is dedicated to the very spirit of a warm welcome and a gentle purr. 

One can hope that amidst all the glorious sparkle and glitter that typifies New York City during the winter holidays, the New York City's Health Department will perhaps review their decision and adopt a more objective perspective that honors both the values of the Season and the traditions of welcome that are the hallmark of our Industry all year round.

Post Note, November 28, 2011 - If you're interested in learning more about the Round Table of Literary Greats that gathered during the 1920's at the Algonquin Hotel, be sure to check out the film, Mrs. Parker and Her Vicious Circle. 

The hotel's insightful owner Frank Case often sent complimentary popover rolls and celery to their corner table as those gathered there tended to talk first, drink second (whiskey sours were a favorite) and eat last - a combination that anyone in the Industry knows is not the best for any guest no matter their talent or the season. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Shackleton's Whisky Reborn at Last!

If whisky were only a science than Whyte & Mackay must be truly the masters of the medium as they have brought Ernest Shackleton's recently rediscovered 100 year old Arctic whisky alive again. Congratulations!

After carefully airlifting three precious bottles from New Zealand, Richard Paterson and his staff slowly removed samples of the whisky from each bottle using the latest scientific tools. Special attention was given to avoiding any contamination of this rare whisky. 

Each sample drawn was then analyzed for it's unique makeup, marking out the chemical contents of the whiskey. Eventually an entire scientific paper would be creating sharing the results.  

But as every lover of the 'fine spirit' knows, whisky is far more than science - it's an art that captures place and character within a flavor as memorable as courage itself. And here is where the legendary million dollar nose of Richard Paterson easily replaces all the computers and tubes of any laboratory.

The result is his amazing flavor profile for Shackleton's whisky for the brave. It is a truly remarkable blend, now recreated by Whyte & Mackay for us all.  An Amazing Rediscovery! Many, many thanks to Richard for his great skill and effort to save the true taste of a whisky that sure to be treasured for another hundred years!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

There Is No Game like THE GAME Between Yale and Harvard for Tailgating Fun

November 19^th is fast approaching and that can only mean one thing - The Harvard - Yale Game is scheduled for one more mighty confrontation of brawn and brain.

Since 1875, there's been a game. For years it was called either "the Yale - Harvard Game", if one attended Yale or "the Harvard - Yale game" if one went to Harvard. 

Then in the late 1940s, the famous sport columnist Red Smith wrote about the game as “The Game” and the name stuck. Why such praise?  

Because as one of the first games ever played at the university level, this annual contest of Ivy League will significantly defined the game of American football, making it ‘the” major college sport in the U.S. 

This legacy would continue through the years, leading to such memorable games as the 1968 contest when the battered Harvard team made a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie a highly acclaimed Yale squad. The next day the Harvard headlines read with justifiable pride, "Harvard beats Yale 29 - 29". 

This year The Game is at New Haven and Yale can’t wait to welcome the hardy Harvard Pilgrims (players, students and fans) down from Cambridge, near Boston.

Besides hoping to break a sad record of five years of straight losses, Yale students and alumni are also looking forward to enjoying another great tailgating event for which they are truly famous.   

And while the University administration has issued various 'rules of engagement' (no under 21 drinking, beverage ID wrist bands required, gas grills only and no glass bottles), that won’t stop the fun, given the combined IQ of both schools.

The joint student bodies are sure to enjoy beer and any other spirited beverage obtainable in the nearby vicinity. Food to hopefully balance the liquid intake is kindly being provided by Yale University’s College dining halls.

Those who have graduated have a far more elegant spread at their disposal be it from the assorted alumni groups or various association hospitality tents. Here the fare is far more gourmet and the beverages as memorable as the fabled ivy covered walls of Yale and Harvard.

If distance or duty keeps you from The Game, you can still enjoy the tradition and heritage of it all with these classic cocktails – ones sure to be enjoyed by many while waiting for The Game (and the fun) to begin. (Will M.I.T. appear and try another of their infamous pranks? Who knows).

Good luck all and remember classes (and work) commence once again, bright and early, on Monday morning.

Harvard Cooler

1/2 tsp. superfine sugar
2 oz. carbonated water
2 oz. applejack

Stir sugar and carbonated water together in a 12 oz. Collins glass. Fill with cracked ice and add applejack. Top off with more carbonated water, or ginger ale. Insert spiral of orange or lemon peel over the rim of the glass.

Yale Punch

1 tsp. sugar dissolved in a little water
1 or 3 dashes lemon juice
1 or 2 dashes lime juice
2 or 3 dashes raspberry syrup
2 or 3 dashes Bénédictine
1/2 oz. St. Croix rum (probably any decent dark rum will do here)
2 oz. brandy (the recipe specifies Hennessey)

Mix with ice in a glass. Garnish with mint. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Restaurants and Hotels Brace for Hurricane Irene Hit

As the East Coast of the United States braces for the impact of mega Hurricane Irene, restaurants and hotels from North Carolina to New York City are getting ready for a major hit – financial as well as physical. 

The approaching storm is now being compared to the legendary New England “Long Island Express” Hurricane of 1938 which caused over 400 million dollars-worth of damage and resulting in the death of over 600 people. President Obama has even addressed the nation via T.V. and advised everyone in the Hurricane’s path to take this storm VERY seriously.

The cancellation of the long awaited dedication of the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington D.C. is further confirmation that this storm is big, very big and very, very dangerous.

The many restaurants and hotels in New Orleans, who endured the very slow response to the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina under the George Bush, Jr. Administration, are watching and wishing the best for their colleagues on the heavily populated eastern seacoast.

Because two-thirds of all hurricanes make landfall within the more southern region of the Gulf Coast, residents there are more historically acquainted with the possibility of stronger breezes and heavier gales. They have even adapted their Victorian wind-blocking “hurricane lamp” into the perfect glass that holds their favorite post-storm beverage: the famed Hurricane Cocktail.

During World War II, the owners of Pat O’Brian’s Bar had to purchase large quantities of the more available rum under wartime regulations in order to be able to obtain any amount of whiskey, bourbon or scotch. Faced with over 55 cases of unwanted rum, there had to be a way to save both the day and the Bar’s profit.

And that is how the rum-based Hurricane Cocktail came to be. Soon it was a must-have before, during and after any storm… be it actual or personal, for such is life.

Just be prepared: stock up, buy extra batteries and have a great network of professional friends to help you out if the waters rise. And be assured that the many chefs of New Orleans, who have not forgotten how the northern chefs aided them during their time of need, are standing ready to help their now storm-threatened colleagues in return.  

Let us all hope such aid is not necessary, but be ever grateful that it is a given within our industry. Now that’s something we can all raise a glass to!

The Hurricane Cocktail (it's the perfect beverage for a benefit fund raiser!)

Ingredients:

1 ounce Fresh Lemon or Lime juice
4 ounces Dark Rum
4 ounces Passion Fruit Syrup

Crushed Ice
Orange and/or Lime Slice
1 Maraschino Cherry

Preparation:

In a cocktail shaker, add lemon juice, rum, passion fruit syrup, and crushed ice; shake vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes.

Strain into a hurricane cocktail glass (but of course). Garnish with an orange and/or lime slice and a maraschino cherry. Serve with a long straw.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011