On the Table - the curious home of Gary Allen, Food Writer & Dillettante

Remember when foods were still seasonal -- not shipped in from some distant clime -- and you looked forward to the year's first sweet corn, the first sun-warmed tomato?

It's September and the farm stands are starting to run out of local sweet corn; tomatoes are still around in all colors and sizes -- but heaps of squashes and the earliest apples have appeared. We've had a few cool days that suggest Autumn is on the way, and the prospect of cooking indoors -- cooking the sorts of things that take a long time and involve a hot oven -- actually sounds enjoyable.

Regular subscribers to our updates newsletter receive these updates from our blog, Just Served, directly -- but there is much more that doesn't appear, unbidden, like offers of unwanted credit cards, in the mail.

Should you have nothing more worthwhile to do, and feel a craving for more of the sort of bloviating in which we periodically indulge, you can satisfy that urge at our blog. Last month's included: "Hot Wings" -- a touching father-son reminiscence involving irresponsible consumption of capsaicin; "Pink Kashmiri Tea," -- featuring some idle speculation on the inexplicable (or, at least, inexplicable by us); "What's Eating You?" -- a hint of the way cannibalism appears in our everyday speech; and "Food Controversies in Context" -- a somewhat revised version of a talk given at the New School, 20 February 2008.

Leitesculinaria is still in the process of reposting, sometimes with shiny new updates and edits, some of my older articles. The entire list of our currently-posted LeitesCulinaria articles (nineteen, so far) is available here.

As always, we end our monthly sermon with some vaguely seasonal comments from On the Table's culinary quote pages. This month is no exception:

"[The (apple) pie should be eaten] while it is yet florescent, white or creamy yellow, with the merest drip of candied juice along the edges (as if the flavor were so good to itself that its own lips watered!), of a mild and modest warmth, the sugar suggesting jelly, yet not jellied, the morsels of apple neither dissolved nor yet in original substance, but hanging as it were in a trance between the spirit and the flesh of applehood... then, O blessed man, favored by all the divinities! Eat, give thanks, and go forth, 'in apple-pie order!'" Henry Ward Beecher

"As the days grow short, some faces grow long. But not mine. Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. It's time to start making soup again." Leslie Newman

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Carl Sagan

"The first zucchini I ever saw I killed it with a hoe." John Gould

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50 Best Cookbooks of All Time, The
(a briefly annotated list from London's Guardian; from Bartolomeo Scappi 's Opera dell'Arte del Cucinare to David Chang's Momofuku, 'though not in chronological order; the top ten are here)

100 Top Restaurant Review Sites For Restaurateurs
(diners, today, increasingly rely upon electronic reviews in choosing a restaurant; Chef Mark Garcia provides links to some of the best review sites)

Anise Liqueurs
(the family of drinks found all around the Mediterranean: absinthe, arak, chinchon, ouzo, pastis, raki and sambuca)

Australian Culinary Lingo
(how to tell your lilly-pilly from your yabby, mate)

Born Round
(site promoting Frank Bruni's book of the same name, but filled with his musings on all things gastronomic)

Brief History of the Birthday Cake, A
(blogger Kathryn McGowan traces the classic dessert to two technological developments, and tests the oldest birthday cake recipe in print)

Bush Tucker
(Australian for wild foods: birds, fish, fruits, flowers, herbs, insects, mammals, mushrooms, reptiles, spices and vegetables)

Chile-Head
(hot stuff: chile botany, chemistry, recipes, growing tips, reviews of sauces, methods of preparation and storage, and more)

Favorite Wine and Drinking Quotes
(compiled by Natalie Maclean; there are more here)

Flavors of Rome
(Carol Coviello-Malzone's guide to visiting, and eating in, the Eternal City; with recipes, of course)

Food for Thought
(Ann Landi's article, in Art News, on the way "portion sizes in depictions of the Last Supper have grown" over time)

Great Recipes from Famous Movies
(Saveur article featuring 21 dishes, from Eat Pray Love's cacio e pepe to Mostly Martha's gnocchi)

I Need Coffee
(articles on all aspects of the subject, an obsession bordering on the jitters)

Is Food the New Sex?
(Mary Eberstadt's essay, in Stanford University's Policy Review, on the changing face of morality in an environment where people can have as much as they want of either)

Let Us Now Praise the Great Men of Junk Food
(if we are what we eat, this brief chronology of certain iconic foods tells us more than we want to know about ourselves)

Pleasures of Truly Wild Wild Rice, The
(reprint, at Salon, of Ed Behr's article that originally appeared in The Art of Eating; additional Behr articles are posted at the same site)

Primary Sources for "The First Thanksgiving" at Plymouth
(the only first-hand accounts of the original Thanksgiving, from Pilgrim Hall Museum)

Swineweb
(news, research and trade articles on everything about the pork industry)

Tricks of the Trade
(article in The Age on how menu design steers customers to higher-profit items)

Turkish Coffee: Rich in Flavour and Tradition
(history of, and traditions associated with, the tiny intense cups of sweetened coffee)



Origins and Ancient History of Wine, The



Blogs about blogging -- and about the writing process in general -- can help us become better, and possibly more successful, writers. Here are this month's favorites:

Just Exactly What is Worthwhile About Food Writing?

You blog too much. Here’s one big idea that can help.



Comestibles

Field to Feast

Food and Drink

Food Blogga

Memorie di Angelina

Playing with Fire and Water

RasaMalaysia

Sausage Debauchery

Stuffed Nation

Tea and Cookies




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