A Literary Culinary Journal
by Jonell Galloway
Tourettes-sur-Loup in France is the world capital of violets, and yes, you can eat violets. Candied, as you’ll see on my dessert in the photos; syrup; as jam (the stacked tins); and they even make violet pasta.
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What a flavor (oysters) have – mellow, coppery, with almost a creaminess when you chew and analyze. I drank some good beer with them and floated on a gastronomically sensual cloud.–James Beard
James Andrew Beard was an American chef, cookbook writer, cooking teacher and television celebrity. Beard became active in the culinary community in New York soon after World War II, going on to become a true culinary reference in the United States. He helped Americans discover, identify and define their culinary heritage through his travels, teaching, and work, and through some 20 cookbooks, about half of which are still in print. His lively and sometimes eccentric personality made him somewhat of a celebrity, but his true measure lies in “his vast culinary knowledge; they are the measure of the times, too. The James Beard collection is a slice of American history. Written between 1940 and 1983, the books tell us through the language of food what we had and what we longed for, who we were and whom we hoped to become,” said Alexandra Zohn and Peggy Grodinsky in James Beard (1903–1985): The Complete Works.
His work lives on through the Beard Foundation which continues to provide culinary education and encourage excellence in American cuisine.
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From the archives
One should never think that everybody in Switzerland eats the same thing for Christmas dinner. With four languages and a multitude of “mini-cultures” tucked away its various mountain niches, and with a huge international population, Switzerland may well have more Christmas menus than any other country in the world.
In the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Geneva’s traditions are quite apart from the Vaud, for example, due to the late date Geneva finally decided to become part of Switzerland. Geneva traditions are often more influenced by their Savoyard and French neighbors, since they share about 100 km of border with them and only 5 km with canton Vaud.
Many Genevois eat a sausage specific to Geneva called longeole. Every region and many villages have their own sausage recipes, but the longeole is quite apart from the others for several reasons.
For one thing, it contains not only ground pork but also ground pork rind. This keeps it from drying out and gives it fuller flavor. The other, and quite major, difference is that that it is speckled with fennel seeds, probably a Savoyard influence.
Any good local butcher makes his own longeole. If not, it is advisable to find one who does. It’s Christmas, so you want to be certain it’s of good quality.
Longeole is easy to cook, but you must allow yourself enough time. It takes longer to cook than other cooking sausages because of the addition of the pork rind, which is harder than simple ground pork.
Use a soup pot tall enough to hold your sausage. Fill with water and bring water to boil. Add a touch of salt. Drop in sausage, lower heat, and let it simmer for 2 hours 45 minutes or 3 hours. The water should be just on the verge of boiling during the whole cooking time. It is then ready to slice and eat.
Some cooks prick the Longeole with a fork before cooking, but purist that I am, I think you risk losing some of the juices, which would take away from the flavor and make the sausage less succulent in the mouth. It is also important not to let it boil, because this too will dry it out.
Like everywhere, different families have different traditions, different favorites, but the most common accompaniments are potatoes cooked in white wine, lentil stew and cardoon gratin, all Geneva specialties as well.
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by Leonor White
Celeste, located on Amsterdam Avenue between 84th and 85th, in New York, is one of my favorite places when I’m facing a cash squeeze. Thanks to the excellent value it offers, as well as the authentic Italian food it serves, it has deservedly become a popular fixture in the neighborhood.
After being greeted by the owner, you are taken to your table and presented with fantastic Italian bread and extra-virgin olive oil. The antipasti range from Fegatini Di Pollo (chicken livers) to Saute Di Cozze (sautéed clams) to Crostini Con Alici (breadsticks wrapped in anchovies), and my personal favorite, the Involtini De Melanzane, consisting of eggplant rolls stuffed with prosciutto and pecorino cheese baked with tomato sauce.
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The joys of the table belong equally to all ages, conditions, countries and times; they mix with all other pleasures, and remain the last to console us for their loss.—The Physiology of Taste (1825) by Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was a French lawyer and politician, and gained fame as an epicure and gastronome. His famous work, Physiologie du goût (Physiology of Taste), was published in December 1825. The full title is Physiologie du Goût, ou Méditations de Gastronomie Transcendante; ouvrage théorique, historique et à l’ordre du jour, dédié aux Gastronomes parisiens, par un Professeur, membre de plusieurs sociétés littéraires et savantes. The book has never been out of print since it first appeared, two months before Brillat-Savarin’s death. Its most notable English translation was done by food writer and critic Physiology of Taste, who remarked, “I hold myself blessed among translators.” Her translation was first published in 1949.
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by Alice DeLuca
We’re turning down the new thermostat daily, stubbornly staving off the inevitable start-up of the furnace for the coming home-heating season. It’s the hot soup season and the knitting season also, so there are reasons to celebrate. Animals are busy storing everything they can get their paws on, for a long winter of curled up dreaming. I picture them underground and know why some people covet their fur coats. My coat of choice is made from the knitted wool of sheep, and to the sheep I am grateful.
Our new Nest thermostat is “smart” in that it knows what we are doing, but we maintain the illusion of control by tweaking it via tablet technology, even from remote locations. The designers thought of everything, down to the specially designed stickers for labeling the wires during installation. We’re hoping we won’t have to fool this new thermostat in to turning on when the temperature dives like a submarine, the first week of January; nor will we be tempted to put a space heater under it to keep it warm so it won’t activate the furnace, as my father used to do with his mercury-switch driven thermostat from those days.
When the temperature drops, the Canada geese start making tracks. Often they are flying south, but sometimes they appear to be confused and fly east or north, which is because some of them winter-over. The V-formations of confused geese overhead is another clear indication that the time has come to consider hot soup.
Japanese soup
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by Amanda McInerney
The celebrity cooks and chefs of the United States, the UK and Europe are frequently familiar to Australians too, but I sometimes wonder if the reverse is true. We’ve bred some truly remarkable kitchen talents down here in the antipodes — both in Australia and New Zealand — and we well and truly have our share of local celebrity chefs on TV shows and cookbook shelves. While the international Masterchef franchise has blazed across our screens and spawned an entire new crop of culinary household names, there are plenty that have been steadily and consistently doing their kitchen/foodie thing without all of that fanfare and I’m taking this opportunity to introduce you to one of them.
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Some sensible person once remarked that you spend the whole of your life in your bed or in your shoes. Having done the best you can buy shoes and bed, devote all the time and resources at your disposal to the building up a fine kitchen. It will be, as it should be, the most comforting and comfortable room in the house.–Elizabeth David, Slow Food, 1951
here was a British cookbook writer who, on her return from “exile” in Egypt after WW2, decided that action had to be taken with regard to the quality of food in Britain. She was outright hostile to second-rate cooking and the use of frozen, canned and out-of-season ingredients, and is, in many people’s mind, a precursor of the concept of Slow Food. In any case, she was a primary mover in bringing true traditional home cooking using quality ingredients back into the mainstream in Britain.
All her books are listed here, and most are still available at Book Depository or other online independent booksellers.
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by Jonell Galloway
Click to see the Tasting Week program for the entire country. Tasting week runs from 13 to 23 September 2012.
This year many of the events are sponsored by Savoring a week of ‘slow food’ across the country.
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by Simón de Swaan
A chief maxim in dining with comfort is to have what you want when you want it.—Thomas Walker, The Original, 1835
Thomas Walker was a police magistrate and author. On 20 May 1835 he began publishing The Original, and continued it weekly until the following 2 Dec. It is a collection of his thoughts on many subjects, intended to raise “the national tone in whatever concerns us socially or individually,” but his admirable papers on health and gastronomy form the chief attraction of the work.
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Meet Jonell Galloway, a freelance writer and editor specialized in French cuisine. 
