REPASTS

REPASTS: BLANC MANGER

Jon Fasman — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:09:23 +0000

In his latest Repasts column, which considers meals found in books, Jon Fasman writes of blancmange, a dessert Chaucer associated with his cook's weeping ulcer ... read more »

REPASTS: SALMAGUNDI, PIRATES' DELIGHT

Jon Fasman — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:14:16 +0000

What salmagundi tastes like "is anybody’s guess", writes Jon Fasman of this maritime grub. "You presume—indeed, you hope—that the ship’s occupants were drunk on rum when they had to eat this mess" ... read more »

REPASTS: REGENCY-ERA ROUT CAKES

Jon Fasman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:41:40 +0000

Rout cakes have faded into obscurity, as podgy and forgettable as Joseph Sedley of "Vanity Fair", writes Jon Fasman ... read more »

REPASTS: CANVASBACK DUCK

Jon Fasman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:05:04 +0000

Though canvasback ducks have fallen from favour since Edith Wharton's time, they remain delicious, "with the gamy taste and muscular chew of wild meat," writes Jon Fasman in his latest column about meals in books ... read more »

REPASTS: SYLLABUB, ELIZABETHAN EGGNOG

Jon Fasman — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:41:39 +0000

A frothy bubbly drink chronicled by Samuel Pepys, preparing syllabub is "a sure way to carpal-tunnel syndrome," writes Jon Fasman in his latest column on literary treats ... read more »

REPASTS: WARM, SOFT, YIELDING TRENCHER

Jon Fasman — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:19:08 +0000

Trencher is a chewy bread that once served as plates in medieval times. Jon Fasman considers its literary roots in his latest Repasts column ... read more »

REPASTS: THE CROWNING GLORY OF THE CLASSICAL RUSSIAN KITCHEN

Jon Fasman — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:11:27 +0000

"Russians will stuff dough with anything that doesn’t stuff them first," writes Jon Fasman. He devotes his latest RePasts column to the layered fish pie kulebyaka ... read more »

REPASTS: JOHNNYCAKES FOR BREAKFAST

Jon Fasman — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:17:46 +0000

Hoecakes and johnnycakes are like bouillabaisse: "the only thing their partisans agree on is that everyone else gets them wrong", writes Jon Fasman ... read more »

REPASTS: IN PRAISE OF CALVES-FOOT JELLY

Jon_Fasman — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:32:10 +0000

COLD FEET | August 7th 2008

"A basin of melted calves-foot jelly was, I'm sure she thought, a cure for every woe" ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, "My Lady Ludlow" (1858)

From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, Summer 2008

Calves-foot jelly has two forms: sweet, common in 19th-century Britain and America (likely the version Gaskell mentions above); and savoury--called petcha, a standard of Ashkenazi Jewish cooking. Both dishes start with a long braise of split cow's feet. The latter adds garlic, onion, salt and pepper, and usually retains the meat that falls from the feet; the former adds sugar, Madeira wine, brandy, cinnamon and citrus, and discards the meat. In both cases the stock is chilled until it sets, and the fat that rises to the top is skimmed off.

The key component of both is collagen--a protein found mainly in connective tissue, in which feet abound. Collagen makes meat tough, but it also makes the same cut, after stewing, silky and rich. Smart cooks have long begged chicken feet from the butcher: they give chicken soup extra body. Hot, collagen imparts richness; chilled, it turns to gelatin. read more »