John-Bryan Hopkins's Blog, page 7
January 14, 2019
January 14th is Pastrami Sandwich Day!
Pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before modern refrigeration.
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For pastrami raw meat is brined, dried, and seasoned with various herbs & spices, then smoked or steamed.
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Pastrami is a technology for preserving meat that our ancestors used before refrigerators.
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To make pastrami, you start by making corned beef.
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By smoking corned beef, you turn it into pastrami! Smoking adds flavor to the meat.
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Today’s Food History
1814 The last London Frost Fair on the frozen Thames River. Entertainment, and a large selection of food vendors on ice.
1841 Juliet Corson was born. A cookery teacher and writer, founder of the New York Cooking School in 1876. She wrote many articles and several cookery books, including ‘Cooking Manual’ (1877), ‘Twenty-five Cent Dinners for Families of Six’ (1878) and ‘Miss Corson’s Practical American Cookery’ (1886).
1861 David Wesson was born. Wesson was an American chemist and in 1900 he developed a method to make pure cotton seed oil palatable, and formed the Southern Oil Company. Wesson Oil was the first vegetable oil used in the U.S. Cotton seed oil is noted for its lack of taste, which allows the flavors of foods to come through. It is used in margarine, salad dressings, and in commercially fried foods.
1890 Rolla N. Harger was born. A biochemist, he invented the first successful test machine for blood alcohol content, the Drunkometer, in 1931.
1948 T-Bone Burnett, record producer and artist was born.
1984 Ray Kroc died in San Diego, California. Ray Kroc sold blenders for milkshakes, and one of his customers was a restaurant in San Bernardino, California owned by Maurice and Richard McDonald. Kroc set up a chain of drive-in restaurants based on their efficient assembly line production kitchen. He opened his first restaurant on April 15, 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. By 1961 he had 228 restaurants and he bought out the McDonald brothers. When he died in 1984 there were over 7,500 McDonald’s restaurants
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January 13, 2019
January 13th is National Gluten-Free Day! #GlutenFreeDay
Here are today’s five food finds about gluten:
~Gluten is a naturally occurring protein composite found primarily in wheat, rye and barley, as well as some types of oats.
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~Corn, rice and certain types of oats do not contain gluten.
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~People with Celiac disease do not interact well with gluten. Celiac disease is an autoimmune illness where consuming gluten damages the lining of the small intestine.
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~Gluten is a common cause of vitamin B12 deficiency.
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~Excessive gluten consumption can cause both excessive weight gain or loss.
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On This Day in Food History…
1808 Salmon Portland Chase was born. He was Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice.
1921 Pierre Franey was born. A French chef who became famous as the chef of ‘Le Pavillon’ restaurant in New York City from 1945 to 1960. He published several cookbooks and collaborated with Craig Claiborne on the New York Times food column, ‘The 60 Minute Gourmet’.
1957 The Frisbee was invented. The pie tins of the Frisbee Pie Company of Connecticut were the inspiration for the creation of the Frisbee. A Wham-O employee supposedly saw drivers for the pie company showing Yale students how to throw the pie tins.
1962 Ernie Kovacs, innovative comedian, died. One of Kovacs’ first TV appearances was in Philadelphia in 1950 with a chef, Albert Mathis from the Gulph Mills Country Club, in a live unrehearsed cooking show titled ‘Deadline for Dinner.’
1968 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Gladys Knight & Pips is #1 on the charts.
2002 U.S. President George W. Bush fainted after choking on a pretzel while watching a football game on TV in the White House.
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January 12, 2019
January 13th is National Peach Melba Day!
One of the OLDEST recorded Food Holidays.
Here are today’s Five Food Finds about Peach Melba:
~Peach Melba, a truly classic dessert made of peaches served with vanilla ice cream, raspberries & sauce.
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~Melba toast & Peach Melba are indeed related.
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~The dessert was created to celebrate the famous and slender opera singer, Nellie Melba in 1892.
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~It is said when she gained weight in her later career the same chef created a thin baked toast for her diet, Melba toast.
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~Other versions of this dessert use pears, apricots, or strawberries instead of peaches and / or use raspberry sauce or melted red currant jelly instead of raspberry purée.
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On This Day in Food History…
1808 Salmon Portland Chase was born. He was Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice.
1921 Pierre Franey was born. A French chef who became famous as the chef of ‘Le Pavillon’ restaurant in New York City from 1945 to 1960. He published several cookbooks and collaborated with Craig Claiborne on the New York Times food column, ‘The 60 Minute Gourmet’.
1957 The Frisbee was invented. The pie tins of the Frisbee Pie Company of Connecticut were the inspiration for the creation of the Frisbee. A Wham-O employee supposedly saw drivers for the pie company showing Yale students how to throw the pie tins.
1962 Ernie Kovacs, innovative comedian, died. One of Kovacs’ first TV appearances was in Philadelphia in 1950 with a chef, Albert Mathis from the Gulph Mills Country Club, in a live unrehearsed cooking show titled ‘Deadline for Dinner.’
1968 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Gladys Knight & Pips is #1 on the charts.
2002 U.S. President George W. Bush fainted after choking on a pretzel
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January 12th is National Glazed Doughnut Day!
It’s National Glazed Doughnut Day!
Here are today’s five food find about doughnuts:
The word “doughnut” comes from the Dutch origin of olykoeck or “oily cake”.
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The two most common types of doughnuts are the flattened sphere (you know…the ones that are injected with jelly or custard) and the ring donut.
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Internationally, Dunkin’ Donuts has over 1700 locations in 29 countries and over 6,000 stores in 30 countries world-wide! In the U.S. there are over 4,400 locations across 36 states.
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Krispy Kreme is probably best known for their fresh, hot, glazed, yeast-raised doughnuts. The company’s “Hot Doughnuts Now” flashing sign is an integral part of the brands appeal and fame.
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Jelly-filled and Chocolate frosted also rank as their top sellers.
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Americans consume 10 billion doughnuts annually.
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On This Day in Food History…
1833 Marie-Antoine Carême died in Paris at the young age of 48. Carême was known as “the cook of kings and the king of cooks”. He is the founder and architect of French haute cuisine.
1885 John Bloomfield Jarvis died. A civil engineer, he designed and built the Boston Aqueduct and the 41 mile long Croton Aqueduct (New York City’s water supply for over 50 years from 1842).
1899 Paul Hermann Muller was born. A Swiss chemist who discovered that DDT was a potent insecticide. It was the most widely used insecticide for more than 20 years, and helped to increase food production around the world. Due mainly to its accumulation in animals that eat insects, and its toxic effects on them and those further up the food chain, it has been banned in the U.S. since 1972. DDT residue is still found in some foods grown in the U.S. in 2002.
1916 Ruth Rogan Benerito was born. American chemist who was a pioneer in the development of wash and wear fabrics. She also helped develop cotton fabrics that are stain resistant.
1948 The opening of Britain’s first supermarket, at Manor Park, run by the London Co-Op.
2001 William Hewlett died. Founder with David Packard of Hewlett Packard Company. Before they became famous for computers and printers etc., one early invention; a weight loss shock machine.
January 11, 2019
January 11th is National Hot Toddy Day! #NationalHotToddyDay
National Hot Toddy Day? Call me in!!
Here are today’s five thing to know about liquor:
The first cocktail party was held for 50 house guests in St. Louis in 1917. The house still stands today….as the residence of the Archbishop.
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While Prohibition resulted in a decline in alcohol it also resulted in a dramatic increase in crime as money flowed to the bad guys. Crime rose as high as 500%.
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Calling an illegal bar a ‘speakeasy’ came from a lady barkeep who would warn her customers to “speak easy, boy, speak easy” whenever they became loud enough to attract police.
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Prior to Prohibition, America was enjoying its first golden age of mixology. Once liquor became illegal, ‘rum runners” brought it in by boat but watered down their blends so they could ship less and make more.
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At the same time, gin and vodka replaced rum and whiskey as cocktail ingredients because they didn’t require as much aging and were easier to make illegally.
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Today’s Food History
1874 Gail Borden died. Borden was the Inventor of the process for making condensed milk, and founder of New York Condensed Milk Co., later to become the Borden Co. (
1917 The French government regulated the price of Gruyere cheese as a war rationing method.
1949 The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
1963 The ‘Whisky A Go-Go’ opens in Los Angeles – the first disco in the U.S.
January 10, 2019
January 10th is National Bittersweet Chocolate Day! #BittersweetDay
Bittersweet chocolate is a sweetened form of dark chocolate that does NOT contain milk. It’s usually used for baking.
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Dark chocolate is most popular among men.
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More than twice as many women than men eat and crave chocolate.
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The first chocolate bar was produced by Cadbury in England in 1842.
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The word Chocolate comes from the Aztec word xocolatl, meaning, bitter water.
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Today’s Food History
1778 Carolus Linnaeus died. He was a Swedish botanist who developed the modern system for defining and naming plants.
1839 Indian tea became available in Britain for the first time.
Until this time only tea from China had been available, and that was very expensive.
The development and import of Indian tea brought the price down so all could afford it, and it quickly became the national drink.
1919 Restaurateur Milton Parker was born. Owner of the famous Carnegie Deli in New York City from 1976 until his retirement in 2002.
1977 Ruth Graves Wakefield died. Inventor of the Toll House Cookie,
the first chocolate chip cookie, at the Toll House Inn neart Whitman, Massachusetts in the 1930s.
1984 Wendy’s ‘Where’s the Beef?’ ad campaign began. Burgers aren’t just for kids anymore.
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January 9, 2019
January 9th is National Apricot Day!
“Apricots are Eaten for Good Luck For the New Year!”
Here are today’s five things to know about the apricot:
In Latin, apricot means ‘precious’.
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2. The apricot, discovered about 4,000 years ago in China, was introduced to the United States in the 18th century.
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3. Brought to California by Spanish explorers, the apricot quickly became a popular crop.
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4. Today, apricot farmers in California produce more than 95 percent of the apricots grown in the United States.
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5. Choose an apricot that’s plump and that responds to the slight pressure of your thumb. It should be slightly soft.
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Today’s Food History
1838 The first Flea Circus in the U.S. opened at 187 Broadway in New York City.
1858 Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton was born. An American botanist, her efforts were a major factor in the establishment of the New York Botanical Gardens.
1956 The first ‘Dear Abby’ column was published.
1969 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye is #1 on the charts.
1980 “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes is #1 on the charts.
1995 Peter Cook, British actor and comedian died.
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January 8, 2019
January 8th is National Toffee Day!
Toffee and Caramel are sometimes interchangeable.
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Toffees consist of mainly sugar and water, while caramels use dairy products in their production, making them softer
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Almond butter treats are toffee from England.
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Michigan toffee comes in varies styles, some hard and some chewy, some chocolate covered with nut sprinkles.
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Tafia, a West Indian rum of molasses or sugarcane juice, is theorized to be the source of the word “toffee.”
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Today’s Food History
1676 Charles II of England revoked his previous proclamation suppressing Coffee Houses due to public response.
1800 The first soup kitchens in London were opened to serve the poor.
1823 Alfred Russel Wallace was born. Wallace was a British naturalist who developed a theory of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin. He sent his conclusions to Darwin, and their findings were both presented to the Linnaean Society in 1858.
1825 Eli Whitney died. Inventor of the cotton gin, but more important he developed the concept of mass producing interchangeable parts.
1872 African American inventor Thomas Elkins received his second patent. It was for a ‘Chamber Commode’ – a combination “bureau, mirror, book-rack, washstand, table, easy chair, and earth-closet or chamber-stool.”
1894 Pierre Joseph van Beneden died. A Belgian parasitologist, he discovered the life cycle of tapeworms.
1926 Comedian ‘Soupy Sales’ was born. Most of his routines ended with Soupy receiving a pie in the face.
1992 President George H.W. Bush becomes ill on a trip to Japan and vomits on Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi.
1998 Walter E. Diemer died. While working for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company, he experimented with recipes for chewing gum as a hobby. (He really liked his gum!). He invented bubble gum in 1928.
2002 Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Hamburger chain, died.
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January 7, 2019
January 7th is National Tempura Day!
Did you know?
Tempura is actually a Portuguese form of cooking. Introduced to Japan in the 1500’s by Jesuit Priests.
Today’s 5 facts about Tempura:
Tempura was considered a local delicacy in Nagasaki, Japan for well over 100 years.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, considered the first Shogun of Japan, reportedly loved tempura.
The word “tempura” comes from the word “tempora”, a Latin word meaning “times.”
Outside Japan there are many nontraditional uses of tempura. Chefs over the world include tempura dishes on their menus, and a wide variety of different batters and ingredients are used, including the nontraditional broccoli, zucchini, sliced sweet potatoes, and asparagus.
No Panko or Breadcrumbs are used in Tempura, as this method of using breadcrumbs is called Furai.
Today’s Food History
1618 Francis Bacon became Lord Chancellor of England.
1827 Sir Sanford Fleming was born. He devised the present system of time zones while working for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
1896 The ‘Fannie Farmer Cookbook’ was published.
1901 Alfred Packer is released from prison. He served 18 years for cannibalism after being stranded in the Rocky Mountains. (Actually he was convicted of murder, since cannibalism was not against the law).
1958 Ant Farms go on sale. Milton Levine had the idea at a July 4th family picnic. I wonder if he had dreams of fencing them in so they would not bother him at picnics?
1972 “American Pie” by Don McLean is #1 on the charts.
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January 6, 2019
January 6th is National Shortbread Day!
Scottish shortbread evolved from medieval biscuit bread. Eventually butter was substituted for yeast, and shortbread was born.
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Since butter was such an important ingredient, the word “shortbread” derived from shortening.
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Shortbread may have been made as early as the 12th Century.
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It’s invention is often attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th Century.
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Petticoat Tails were a traditional form of shortbread said to be enjoyed by the queen.
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Traditional round shortbread was flavored with caraway seeds, baked and cut into triangular wedges.
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Today’s Food History
1884 Gregor Johann Mendel died. Mendel was an Austrian botanist whose work was the foundation of the science of genetics. Working mainly with garden peas (some 28,000 plants over 7 years), he discovered what was to become known as the laws of heredity.
1901 Philip Danforth Armour, died. American industrialist who pioneered the use of refrigeration and meat canning. Armour & Co. became the largest meatpacker in the world and this helped Chicago become the meatpacking capital of the world. (The fact that Chicago is the ‘Windy City’ may have helped also).
1910 ‘Kid Chocolate’ (Elgio Saldana) was born. He became Cuba’s first world boxing champion in 1931 after defeating Benny Bass for the Jr. Lightweight Championship.
1929 Sheffeld Farms of New York began using wax paper cartons instead of glass bottles for milk delivery.
1936 Warner Bros. Loony Tunes character ‘Porky Pig’ makes his debut.
1988 The famous Paris restaurant ‘La Coupole’ was sold and eventually replaced by an office building. It was famous for its Welsh rarebit, and had been frequented by James Joyce, Henry Miller and many other notable Americans.
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