Apple pie was brought to England from France sometime around 1066 by William the Conqueror. It made it to America when the Pilgrims arrived. I was able to find a recipe dating back as far as 1381.
On average, every American consumes 109 pounds of beef a year. It takes eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. Looks like beef consumption hit an all time high of 94.3 pounds in 76 and has declined ever since.
Dolley Madison is credited with inventing ice cream. Nancy Johnson, the wife of a naval officer, is credited for inventing the ice cream freezer. I see nothing to support this at all. Here is a good history in wiki that mentions nothing of Dolly Madison.
Before Columbus, Europe had never tasted cord, potatoes, tomatoes, red peppers, sweet potatoes, tapioca, chocolate, pumpkins, squash, coconuts, pineapples, strawberries, and much more. Why? All these food items are native to America. Sounds logical to me.
The citrus industry started in the United States in 1873 when two Riverside, CA ranchers obtained some orange saplings from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Two years earlier, the government had secured a dozen saplings from Brazil. It appears that fFlorida had them beat by a few decades if you read the history section here.
The above comes from mindlesscrap.com, my comments follow in red. Check out the sight if you have some time to kill. There is always some interesting stuff there.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
More Alligator Recipes
Well, I just finished putting together a recipe sheet to hand out to our customers. In addition to the grilled alligator recipe from last week, here are a few more.
Fried Alligator Strips
1 lb. alligator meat cut in strips, 1 cup flour, ½ cup milk, 2 eggs, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp red pepper
Mix eggs and milk in small bowl and set aside. Add garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper to flour in a large bowl. Dredge alligator strips through the milk and egg mixture, and then lightly pad each side of the alligator strip min the flour mixture. Pan fry in your choice of oil or grease until golden brown on both sides. Salt and pepper to taste.
Beer Batter Alligator Strips
Same process as above, but substitute the following for the egg, milk, and flour method.
Mix together one 12 oz. can of beer with ½ cup flour. Salt and pepper to taste. Let stand for 2 hours before dredging fillets through beer batter.
Baked Alligator
Alligator Fillets, garlic powder, chopped parsley, lemon juice, butter, salt and pepper, lemon slices
Arrange alligator fillets in an ovenware dish large enough to place in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic. Squeeze lemon juice over the fillets. Cut a generous amount of butter into squares and place all over the fillets. Arrange lemon slices over the fillets and sprinkle generously with parsley. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until fillets are cooked through. Serve with French bread.
Fried Alligator Strips
1 lb. alligator meat cut in strips, 1 cup flour, ½ cup milk, 2 eggs, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp red pepper
Mix eggs and milk in small bowl and set aside. Add garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper to flour in a large bowl. Dredge alligator strips through the milk and egg mixture, and then lightly pad each side of the alligator strip min the flour mixture. Pan fry in your choice of oil or grease until golden brown on both sides. Salt and pepper to taste.
Beer Batter Alligator Strips
Same process as above, but substitute the following for the egg, milk, and flour method.
Mix together one 12 oz. can of beer with ½ cup flour. Salt and pepper to taste. Let stand for 2 hours before dredging fillets through beer batter.
Baked Alligator
Alligator Fillets, garlic powder, chopped parsley, lemon juice, butter, salt and pepper, lemon slices
Arrange alligator fillets in an ovenware dish large enough to place in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic. Squeeze lemon juice over the fillets. Cut a generous amount of butter into squares and place all over the fillets. Arrange lemon slices over the fillets and sprinkle generously with parsley. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until fillets are cooked through. Serve with French bread.
A little Gator info from Wikipedia.
Alligator farming is a big and growing industry in Florida, Texas and Louisiana. These states produce a combined annual total of some 45,000 alligator hides. Alligator hides bring good prices and hides in the 6-7 foot (1.8-2 m) range have sold for $300 each, though the price can fluctuate considerably from year to year. The market for alligator meat is growing and approximately 300,000 pounds (140 000 kg) of meat is produced annually. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, raw alligator meat contains roughly 200 calories per 3oz (85 g) serving size, of which 27 calories come from fat.
Monday, May 5, 2008
It's Monday! Fun Food Facts
I will try to get some content out this week, but will resort to fun food facts as I have become accustomed to doing on Mondays.
Imperia, Italy is the home of the Agnesi Historical Museum of Spaghetti. I was hoping to find a link to post for your viewing pleasure, but can not find one. I do however find many mentions of it out there.
Forks weren't widely used in the United States until the 1800s. It is true. Click here for the wiki.
Italians in Italy consume a million and a half tons of spaghetti every year. Well I see that as of 2007 there are 58 million people in Italy. That works out to about 52 pounds per person per year averaging one pound per week. Seems like a good number.
The national dish of Scotland, haggis, is made of the heart, liver, lungs and small intestines of a calf. It's then boiled in the stomach of the animal, and seasoned with salt, pepper and onions. Oh, and don't forget to add the suet and oatmeal. I'll pass on this dish.
The brewing of beer is recorded as far back as 6,000 years ago. Until the 12th century (when skilled experts took over), women performed the task of making beer as part of their household chores.
The above all comes from mindlesscrap.com a good trivia site. Red are my comments.
Imperia, Italy is the home of the Agnesi Historical Museum of Spaghetti. I was hoping to find a link to post for your viewing pleasure, but can not find one. I do however find many mentions of it out there.
Forks weren't widely used in the United States until the 1800s. It is true. Click here for the wiki.
Italians in Italy consume a million and a half tons of spaghetti every year. Well I see that as of 2007 there are 58 million people in Italy. That works out to about 52 pounds per person per year averaging one pound per week. Seems like a good number.
The national dish of Scotland, haggis, is made of the heart, liver, lungs and small intestines of a calf. It's then boiled in the stomach of the animal, and seasoned with salt, pepper and onions. Oh, and don't forget to add the suet and oatmeal. I'll pass on this dish.
The brewing of beer is recorded as far back as 6,000 years ago. Until the 12th century (when skilled experts took over), women performed the task of making beer as part of their household chores.
The above all comes from mindlesscrap.com a good trivia site. Red are my comments.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Completely NOT About Food
Happy 50th anniversary to my parents, Jack and Hilda Smith!
We met up with them almost 2 weeks ago for brunch at a restaurant that I used to work at in high school. It has since changed hands a couple of times. While the food was very good, I thought that there were some things lacking to round off the menu.
Ok, it's about food again. Sorry. As I was saying. The food was good, but didn't have the finish to it. They had potato skins on the buffet. I like potato skins. However, these were completely plain with nothing on them. I grabbed one anyway assuming that down the line there would be some cheese sauce, maybe some bacon bits, chives, etc., to top them with. Nope, sorry. No toppings for my potato skin.
Then my niece Michelle gets back from the line. She was depressed that they had ran out of the glazed carrots that she had liked so much. She had a couple of mozzarella sticks on her plate that they had replaced them with. Cool! I love moz sticks dipped in marinara sauce. I find them and grab a couple, and guess what? NO marinara sauce. I've never heard of such a thing.
I think there was something else, but it didn't matter. We had a good time eating and talking. We had to leave early though due to a funeral.
Anywho. Congratulations Mom and Dad on 50 years!
We met up with them almost 2 weeks ago for brunch at a restaurant that I used to work at in high school. It has since changed hands a couple of times. While the food was very good, I thought that there were some things lacking to round off the menu.
Ok, it's about food again. Sorry. As I was saying. The food was good, but didn't have the finish to it. They had potato skins on the buffet. I like potato skins. However, these were completely plain with nothing on them. I grabbed one anyway assuming that down the line there would be some cheese sauce, maybe some bacon bits, chives, etc., to top them with. Nope, sorry. No toppings for my potato skin.
Then my niece Michelle gets back from the line. She was depressed that they had ran out of the glazed carrots that she had liked so much. She had a couple of mozzarella sticks on her plate that they had replaced them with. Cool! I love moz sticks dipped in marinara sauce. I find them and grab a couple, and guess what? NO marinara sauce. I've never heard of such a thing.
I think there was something else, but it didn't matter. We had a good time eating and talking. We had to leave early though due to a funeral.
Anywho. Congratulations Mom and Dad on 50 years!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Dandelions
OK, why is he talking about dandelions in a food blog? I saw something this morning about dandelions as food and since they are everywhere right about now, I thought why not discuss?
I recall a school field trip when I was young that centered around dandelions. I don't remember what all we did, but I remember they made dandelion fritters and I kind of liked them at the time. I think I even remember coaxing my mom into making them shortly after that once.
I assume that it was a simple batter. One cup milk, one egg and about a cup of flour (give or take depending on your batter preference). The open heads (plucked just above the stem) were dipped in the batter and then deep fried. Hmmmm. I may have to try these again. If I do, I will probably add some pepper to the batter and maybe a little maple syrup or some hot sauce.
There are also recipes for dandelion root tea. Here is a little information about that. I think I will pass on the root tea.
Here is another list of various dandelion recipes.
It seems that almost the entire plant is used except for the stem. The roots are used for tea or coffee, the leaves for salad and the head for various things including wine. They say that the stem is very bitter.
I am going to pass on the salad, but may have to try making some wine out of them.
Here is the wikipedia link if you would like to know more about this plant.
I actually think that a yard full of them looks very nice. That is until they go to seed and keep shooting up as soon as you chop them down.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Fun Food Facts
Pineapples are classified as berries. I couldn't find anything to support this. But I do love pineapple.
The apricot can be traced back to China at least four thousand years ago, and it first appeared in Greek mythology as the "golden apple."
Two-thirds of the world's coffee comes from Brazil. While Brazil IS the largest coffee producer in the world, it is closer to 1/3rd and not 2.
One pound of tea can make nearly three hundred cups to drink. Yum. I like my tea iced with no sugar or lemon. During the winter I can be found with a hot cup of Eark Grey on occasion.
Whiskey was first brewed in the United States in 1640. It was made from a mixture of corn and rye.
Vanilla is the extract of fermented and dried pods of orchids. I did not know this, but looked it up and sure enough, it is true.
Chewing gum was created by the Mayans over 300 years ago. They boiled the sap of the sapodilla tree and chewed it. The Mayan civilization ended about 1200 years ago. While they did have this for hundreds of years before they met their demise, the greeks beat them to it around 2,000 years ago or more.
Milk is actually considered to be a food and not a beverage. I can buy this one.
The above all comes from mindlesscrap.com. Stop in and check it out if you want to kill some time and pick up some trivia. Red comments are mine.
The apricot can be traced back to China at least four thousand years ago, and it first appeared in Greek mythology as the "golden apple."
Two-thirds of the world's coffee comes from Brazil. While Brazil IS the largest coffee producer in the world, it is closer to 1/3rd and not 2.
One pound of tea can make nearly three hundred cups to drink. Yum. I like my tea iced with no sugar or lemon. During the winter I can be found with a hot cup of Eark Grey on occasion.
Whiskey was first brewed in the United States in 1640. It was made from a mixture of corn and rye.
Vanilla is the extract of fermented and dried pods of orchids. I did not know this, but looked it up and sure enough, it is true.
Chewing gum was created by the Mayans over 300 years ago. They boiled the sap of the sapodilla tree and chewed it. The Mayan civilization ended about 1200 years ago. While they did have this for hundreds of years before they met their demise, the greeks beat them to it around 2,000 years ago or more.
Milk is actually considered to be a food and not a beverage. I can buy this one.
The above all comes from mindlesscrap.com. Stop in and check it out if you want to kill some time and pick up some trivia. Red comments are mine.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Grilled Alligator Tail Roast
I got this from my partner Billy.
1 Alligator Tail Roast
1 jar Italian dressing
2 lemons
4 limes Marinate alligator tail roast overnight in Italian dressing in a zip lock bag.
Slice lemons and limes.
Prepare a grill for medium low cooking
Lay out the lemon slices on the grill and place alligator tail roast on lemon slices to cook for 12-20 minutes depending on the thickness. Before you flip the roast, lay out the lime slices in the same manner. Flip roast onto lime slices and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 135. Allow to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
1 Alligator Tail Roast
1 jar Italian dressing
2 lemons
4 limes Marinate alligator tail roast overnight in Italian dressing in a zip lock bag.
Slice lemons and limes.
Prepare a grill for medium low cooking
Lay out the lemon slices on the grill and place alligator tail roast on lemon slices to cook for 12-20 minutes depending on the thickness. Before you flip the roast, lay out the lime slices in the same manner. Flip roast onto lime slices and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 135. Allow to rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
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