NYPL Blogs: Food for Thought

Read It, Make It, Write It! "Hunger Games" Chicken Salad

Zena George, Mid-Manhattan Library — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:20:32 -0400

If you are a huge fan of The Hunger Games Trilogy like I am, then The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook should be your next read. This book is filled with some of the most amazing dishes described within each novel. (including Catching Fire and Mockingjay.)

I truly had to control my excitement of finding this book and settled on this one recipe that met my guidelines of containing easy to find ingredients, quick to prepare and affordable enough for my wallet.

For those of you who have yet to read the novels, particularly the first book, please do so soon. It makes the movie as well as this awesome cookbook easier to comprehend.

Katniss's Picnic Chicken Salad

Serves 6-8 people

4 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, shredded
3 stalks celery, diced
5 green onions, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 to 1 cup mayonnaise

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, celery, onions, apple, pepper, curry powder, salt and enough mayonnaise to suit your personal preference. Mix until evenly coated.

2. Chill for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight for curry flavors to fully infiltrate the salad.)

This is clearly not your everyday salad, but for those extremely hot summer days, when turning on a stove or oven seems like a committed sin, this dish is your savior! Prepare your taste buds because you will want to savor the taste of each and every ingredient. I truly loved the combination of flavors in this dish.

My overall review: I call this dish "The blend of summer." There's no actual stove cooking involved unless you bought the chicken in its raw form like I did. I purchased my organic, farm raised chicken at Key Food in Park Slope. A packet cost about $5-$9 based on weight, sufficient enough to feed a family of 3.

If you're able to peel an orange with a knife, then you are capable of preparing this dish. Cutting up the other ingredients of celery and the granny smith apple was an ease for me. It took less than 20 minutes to chop, dice and mix all the ingredients in a bowl as directed. I also followed the suggestion of leaving the dish overnight in the refrigerator.

I was worried the curry flavoring would overpower the entire dish, but not at all; rather, all of the ingredients blended prefectly with the mayonnaise, giving you a crunchy, health-filling dish. If you're counting your calorie intake, then feel free to substitute for Lite Mayo and for my pescetarian friends, I suggest grilled salmon in place of the chicken breast. This dish would make an excellent substitute for potato salad at any barbecue.

It absolutely deserves a grade A because: It was quick ✔ It was affordable ✔ It was delicious ✔

My Favorite North African Vegetarian Recipes

Sally Speller, Mid-Manhattan Library — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:26:04 -0400

The cuisine of North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia) was influenced by the many peoples who settled there: African, Islamic, Arab, Berber, Ottoman, French, Italian and Spanish. It has its roots in the beginning of civilization itself.

In addition to use in bread and pastry dough, wheat, an important staple in North African cooking, is made into bulgur and couscous. Bulgur, or cracked wheat, is made by partially cooking the wheat grains in water, drying them, then breaking them into pieces. Couscous is semolina (mostly durum wheat or barley), rolled in flour to produce a cross between grain and pasta.

The vegetarian tradition of North Africa makes use of a multitude of whole food ingredients: Honey, sesame paste (tahini), almonds, pistachios, and pine nuts are used in both sweet and savory recipes. Butter and clarified butter (called ghee in India) are traditionally the preferred medium of cooking for those who can afford them. Olive oil is prevalent in Mediterranean coastal areas. For better or worse, vegetable oils have lately replaced traditional oils because they are cheaper and considered healthier. Common spice mixtures include cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, tumeric, salt, black pepper, bay leaves, caraway seeds, fenugreek leaves, paprika, thyme, saffron, nutmeg, and ginger. Chili peppers are used in a paste called harissa.

Green leaf vegetables such as mint, parsley, many varieties of cabbage, spinach, and chard are used in abundance. Common root and bulb vegetables include potatoes, onions and garlic, as well as carrots, turnips, and beets. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant are the most common ingredients in vegetable stews and salads. Common fruits include lemons, oranges, apricots, figs, dates, and pomegranates. Green and black olives, and capers arrived in the area before the Romans. Commonly used legumes include fava beans, chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils, and split peas.

Milk, fresh or soured, is another important staple in North Africa. Yogurt, a Turkish contribution, is commonly consumed plain, used in cooking and in salad dressings, or diluted as a drink. White cheese, like the Greek feta, is made from sheep's or goat's milk. Eggs are also very important ingredients in savory cooking. Under the Ottoman Empire, dense, sweet coffee was brought to the area, and is now widely consumed throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

Tabouli

adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

The name for this bulgur wheat and parsley salad, tabouli, translates as "little seasoning," and is derived from the Arabic word tabil.

Ingredients:

1 cup bulgur wheat
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 scallions, chopped
1 cup chopped parsley, packed
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 can pitted black olives, chopped

Preparation:

Pour boiling water over wheat, cover with plastic wrap, and soak for 30 minutes. Stir in salt, lemon juice, oil, garlic, pepper, and scallions, and chill for 30 minutes. Before serving, mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Falafel

These chickpea fritters are traditionally deep fried. For a lighter, more delicate version, pan fry in almond oil. The word falafel comes from the Arabic falāfil, the plural of filfil which means "pepper," from the Sanskrit word pippalī, or "long pepper."

Ingredients:

2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 cup parsley, packed
salt and black pepper to taste
vegetable or almond oil, for frying

Preparation:

Drain, then pulse chickpeas in food processor to coarsely grind. Add baking powder, onion, garlic, spices, and herbs; process until mixture is pureed. Heat oil in frying pan or in deep fryer to 375 degrees. Roll falafel mixture into 1 inch diameter balls. Fry in deep fryer for 5 minutes. If pan frying, saute until brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve in pita pockets with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, hummus, baba ganoush, and tahini sauce and/or harissa.

Tahini Sauce

The English word tahini comes from the Arabic ṭaḥīnīa, and is derived from the verb "to grind." This extremely popular sauce is used in most North African sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup low fat yogurt or water
juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, chopped
salt to taste
pinch hot paprika or cayenne

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until creamy.

Harissa

adapted from The North African Kitchen by Fiona Dunlop

The word for the fiery Tunesian chili paste harissa is derived from the Arabic verb harasa, "to pound."

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
9 oz. fresh red chilis, roughly chopped
cloves from 1 head of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon dried mint
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon salt
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Toast seeds in pan without oil for about 2 minutes. Grind to powder in spice grinder. Add this blend to rest of ingredients in a food processor, adding enough olive oil to make a stiff paste. Put in sterilized jar with a thin layer of olive oil over top; store in refrigerator.

Restaurant Style Hummus

adapted from Cook's Illustrated

The English word hummus comes from the Arabic ḥimmaṣ, meaning "chickpeas."

Ingredients:

1/4 cup water
juice of 1 lemon
6 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 15 oz. can drained and rinsed chickpeas
3 cloves garlic
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
hot paprika

Preparation:

Combine water and lemon juice in one bowl, tahini and oil in another. Put chickpeas, garlic, salt, and spices in food processor and blend for 15 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl, then add lemon/water mix and process for 1 minute. Scrape bowl down again, add oil and tahini with processor running and blend until hummus is fluffy. Transfer to plate orbowl, and spinkle top with paprika. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Ras el Hanout

from Classic Vegetarian Cooking From the Middle East and North Africa by Habeeb Salloum

Ras el Hanout means "top of the shop." For North African souks, or spice merchants, it is a point of honor to have the most sought after version of this blend.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients. Store in an airtight container at cool room temperature.

Baba Ganoush

adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Small Plates by Joanne Weir

According to food legend, baba ganoush (which means "spoiled old daddy" in Arabic) was created by a doting daughter who delighted in pampering her toothless father. This dish tastes best when the eggplant is grilled to char the skin, then baked until soft in the oven. I have adapted this recipe for city kitchens. (If you like, you can char the eggplant's skin on a gas burner on your stove top, then finish it off in the oven. Be sure to use caution around an open flame!)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant
1/4 cup tahini
juice of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
1 tablespoon olive oil
hot paprika

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Score eggplant with a knife down its length at about 1 inch intervals. Wrap eggplant in aluminum foil and roast for one hour, rotating every 15 minutes, until eggplant is soft. Remove from oven and peel. Place cooled eggplant in food processor, add tahini, lemon, garlic, salt and spices and blend until smooth.Transfer to plate or bowl, and sprinkle top with paprika. Serve at room temperature.

Although not strictly vegetarian, these cookbooks are full of of delicious, healthy North African and Middle Eastern recipes.

The Arabian Nights Cookbook: From Lamb Kebabs to Baba Ghanouj, Delicious Homestyle Arabian Cooking by Habeeb Salloum
From the Land of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes From the Middle East and North Africa by Habeeb Salloum and James Peters
The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon by Claudia Roden
The North African Kitchen: Regional Recipes and Stories by Fiona Dunlop

Read it, Make It, Write It! Asian Beef and Noodles with a Twist

Zena George, Mid-Manhattan Library — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:00:46 -0400

I stumbled upon this amazing recipe combo of beef and ramen noodles from the book:

Taste of Home: Busy Family Favorites

Serves Four

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
2 packages (3 ounces each) Oriental ramen noodles, crumbled
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups frozen broccoli; stir-fry blend
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

At first, I thought, they couldn't possibility mean the ramen noodles I use to eat back in college? But indeed it was, and may I say how impressed I was with the end result of this meal. I picked up all of the ingredients at my local supermarket in Brooklyn, New York. The total cost was around $15.

Directions

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat for four to five minutes or until no longer pink; drain.
Add contents of one ramen noodles flavoring packet; stir until dissolved. Remove beef and keep warm.
In the same skillet, combine the water, vegetables, ginger, noodles, and contents of remaining flavoring packet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for three to four minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.
Return beef to the pan; cook for two to three minutes or until heated through. Stir in onion.

As you can see from the picture, the noodles are a little darker in color. This is due to my tweaking of the recipe by adding a spoonful of browning sauce. I also skipped on the lean ground beef and instead used ground turkey, which I personally believe to be a healthier choice of meat. The meal took about 25 minutes to simmer down to a hearty, lo mein look-a-like.

My overall review:

A tad bit salty for my taste buds, but that's because I tend to cook most of my meals without salt. The vegetables are a great addition to this meal; they were cooked just enough to still enjoy some crunchiness. I am glad I substituted the ground beef for the turkey. The taste was superb!

I think this is a great meal for cooking beginners. You really can't do much damage with this meal if you follow the directions. If I had to name this dish, I would call it, "The College Student Fantasy."

I think a B grade is in order for this meal.

It took less that 30 minutes to cook. The cost for ingredients was under $20, and if you can't live without salt in your meal, then this is the recipe for you!

Read It, Make It, Write It! Curry Shrimp with Peas

Zena George, Mid-Manhattan Library — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:57:16 -0400

Welcome to Read it, Make it, Write it, a Mid-Manhattan Library cooking blog showing some of the most amazing cookbooks available at The New York Public Library and the endless variety of healthy and delicious recipes right at your fingertips, for free!

The goal is simple: I pick a cookbook of my interest from the Library's collections, research the recipe and its ingredients, make the dish, eat it (which is my absolute favorite part), and finally — write about it.

My first dish is the recipe for Curry Shrimp with Peas

Serves: two people

Ingredients

3/4 teaspoon red curry paste
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (7 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 pound large shrimp, peeled
1/2 cup packed basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup packed cilantro, chopped
1 (5-ounce) package thawed frozen peas

Jasmine rice, cooked according to package direction

I am not a vegetarian, but from time to time I do look for recipe dishes that requires no meat. I am a huge lover of seafood, so when I stumbled upon this amazing recipe for curried shrimp with green peas and jasmine rice from the book The $5 Takeout Cookbook: Good, Cheap Food for When You Want to Eat in...

I knew it was meant for me!

The recipe was simple to follow, as you will see below, and the ingredients were all available in Trader Joe's grocery section.

Directions

In a large pot, combine the curry paste, vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup of the coconut milk; cook over medium heat for one to two minutes.
Stir in the remaining coconut milk and cook for another five minutes.
Add the fish sauce and sugar and cook for one minute more.
Add the shrimp, basil, and cilantro; reduce heat slightly and cook for four to five minutes, or until the shrimp is almost done.
Add the peas and cook two minutes more.
Serve over jasmine rice.

My Overall Review

A heavenly taste of seafood sweetness, which goes well with the jasmine rice!

I absolutely enjoyed making this dish. It took me less than 15 minutes to completely cook the meal. (That's shorter than food delivery, might I add!)

Finding the ingredients was very easy. I purchased everything at Trader Joe's, located in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. The total cost was around $20, which is actually not bad since I could get about three sets of meals from this purchase.

The only item I did not add from the recipe was the fish sauce, because I didn't see the need to. I was already using a seafood ingredient (shrimp), so why mess with the flavor? I did, however; add chopped onions, which I am a sucker for in all my curried dishes. It did no harm to the meal at all.

As you can see from the picture, the green peas gave this meal a pop of color. Add that with the aroma of the basil and cilantro seasoning, and it will surely make the non-meat eater crave a taste.

Jasmine rice is one of the very few types of rice I enjoy. Knowing how to boil it to the point where it's not too soft or too hard, the finished product can pretty much make a meal all by itself. I did that with my leftovers.

Personally, I think this dish deserves a full grade A

It was quick ✔
It was affordable ✔
It was delicious ✔

Definitely an A plus!

The Jefferson Market Library Free Classroom: Spring 2012

Frank Collerius, Jefferson Market Library — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:54:29 -0500

Jefferson Market Library, in an effort to offer substantive courses that teach the subjects you want to learn, is thrilled to offer its Spring Semester! Each course offers multiple sessions so students can build their knowledge as the course advances, class by class, guided by an experienced professor! And it's all free! Take a look:

Remember (just like in college) — for all courses requiring pre-registration — students are expected to attend all sessions to achieve the maximum learning experience!

March Classes Intro to Screenwriting: The Short Film

Instructor and filmmaker Helen Kaplan leads this immersive workshop that will demystify the art of screenwriting and give you the tools you need to write a great short script in a month. Emphasis will be placed on visual storytelling, the classic three-act structure, plot, character development, conflict, and dialogue. Registration closed - class is FULL. Thank you!

Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
March 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31

April/May Classes French for Beginners

Instructor Muriel Placet-Kouassi will guide first time learners in the basics of the French language — for beginners only! Textbook provided. Registration is closed - class is FULL. Thank you!

Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
April 7, 14, 21 & 28; May 5, 12 & 19

Italian for Beginners

Instructor Caterina Bertolotto leads students through the basics of the Italian language — for beginners! Textbook provided. Registration is closed - class is FULL. Thank you!

Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 12 noon
April 5, 12, 19 & 26; May 3, 10, 17 & 24

Food, Flavors, and Farming

Instructor Ann Yonetani: "This course aspires to be a fun introduction to the science underlying many different aspects of food in our culture. We will examine many current topics and trends in food and gastronomy with a critical eye and will build scientific background knowledge to help sort through today’s dizzying array of food choices. My hope is that this class will aid students in navigating these options, becoming better-informed consumers, and enjoying the daily act of eating." No pre-registration required.

Fridays, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

April 6: The Omnivore's Dilemma: Food Choices and Nutritional Science

April 13: The Wonders of Taste

April 20: The Science of Cooking

April 27: Farming and the Future of Food

History of Italian Cinema

Instructor Monica London introduces the world of Italian Cinema. Films will be screened in full followed by a conversation relating to the film topic and story, starting with masterpieces of postwar neorealism and continuing to the modern era. Films include Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso and Vittoria De Sica's The Bicycle Thief. No pre-registration required.

Wednesdays, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. April 18 & 25; May 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30; June 6

April 18: The Bicylcle Thief (Vittorio DeSica, 1948)

April 25: Divorce, Italian Style (Pietro Germi, 1961)

May 2: Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)

May 9: A Special Day (Ettore Scola, 1977)

May 16: Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)

May 23: Caro Diario (Nanni Moretti, 1993)

May 30: The Hundred Steps (Marco Tullio Giordana, 2003))

June 6: We Have a Pope (Nanni Moretti, 2011)

Books for the Slow Cook

Emily Nichols, Library Manager, New Amsterdam Library — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:21:25 -0500

An orange Crock Pot™ was a familiar presence in my kitchen in the 70s and 80s, a parental wedding present displaced by the microwave as the decade progressed. I had no idea the slow cooker was back until my youngest sister handed me a lightweight modern version on my last visit home. "You'll use it all the time, trust me," she said, already on her way out the door to her next engagement.

The slow cooker is back, buoyed by the real food movement and busy working people who want a home-cooked meal after a long day. Food made from scratch can be healthier because it doesn't contain the extra fat and salt and/or chemical additives added to most restaurant and processed meals. The Library has kept up with this trend admirably, and I've been trying out the available slow cooker books.

There are a lot. And they all start with a primer on slow cooker safety. Although today's slow cookers get much hotter than your mother's did, you still must beware of the ominous "danger zone," the lower temperatures where bacteria can breed, especially if you try to thaw a whole chicken in there. These scared me so much that I started with The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester, as plant based foods seemed safer for a beginner. This book also appealed to me as I am trying to eat more plants. My favorite recipe was a simple garlicky squash soup that, along with a loaf of crusty bread, empowered me to have my girlfriends over for dinner on a Thursday night without taking the day off from work. Hester also has a recipe for tea smoked tofu using the device and some tinfoil that I haven't attempted yet. A quirky ingredient that several of the recipes called for was liquid smoke.

The classic slow cooker source is the Fix-it and Forget-it series. These books are compiled with recipes sent in by readers, and they vary wildly in quality and content. Many rely heavily on canned or processed foods, and ground and otherwise-processed meat — so they didn't fit my health criteria, although reading them brought back many happy memories of potluck dinners in my small hometown. These ladies are convinced they can make anything in the slow cooker. I tried the fudge cake, which is basically a steamed cake on a bed of chocolate sauce. It tasted not unpleasantly like the Boston brown bread my mother would bake in a coffee can, but it was not very flavorful.

Of course, the clever folks over at America's Test Kitchen have chimed in with their own volume on the subject, humbly entitled Slow Cooker Revolution. Their rigorous wall of slow cookers has optimized the flavor and method of many recipes for the slow cooker. Unfortunately, they tell you things that you don't want to know, for instance that the steel cut oatmeal every other cook book has said you can cook over night and eat for a healthy breakfast, is in fact "blown out and flavorless." Instead, you can set your alarm for 3 a.m. to turn on that slow cooker for the optimal four to six hours before you are ready to eat it.

I've compiled a starter list of cookbooks over at BiblioCommons. Please share any recipe advice in the comments. Happy last month of winter, fellow slow cookers!

Fancy a Cuppa? Tea in the Rare Book Division

Jessica Pigza, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Rare Book Division — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:35:35 -0500

"Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea."— A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith*

On the coldest winter days, I must say I agree with Smith. And while reading through a little 1863 recipe book called The Book of One Hundred Beverages in the Rare Book Division recently, I decided to see what it offered in the way of advice about hot tea.

Written by William Bernhard, The Book of One Hundred Beverages is organized into chapters with wonderful titles like Aqueous Beverages, Effervescing Beverages, Artificial Mineral Waters, and more (with some mock lemonades and wheys thrown in for good measure). I found tea right where it should be, in Breakfast Beverages. After describing how tea causes a “watchfulness and sleeplessness, whilst, at the same time, it has a soothing and sedative action on the heart and circulation,” Bernhard then enlists the help of one poet and one chef on the topic of brewing a proper cuppa.

Bernhard first offers Leigh Hunt’s advice on tea (quite similar to the guidance included in the July 9, 1834 issue of Leigh Hunt’s London Journal). Hunt’s instructions, though flirtatious at the start, cover territory that is familiar to tea makers today, with the main point being that the water must be in “a thoroughly and immediately boiling state.” What I like in particular is Hunt’s sensual description of a correctly made cup:

“In tea, properly so called, you should slightly taste the sugar, be sensible of a balmy softness in the milk, and enjoy at once a solidity, a delicacy, a relish, and a fragrance in the tea.”

Hunt’s instructions are followed by those of chef Alexis Soyer, author of A Shilling Cookery for the People (and also, interestingly, a food reformer who sought to relieve famine in Ireland and who also worked with Florence Nightengale to improve nutrition among soldiers in the Crimean War). What intrigues me about Soyer’s advice is his suggestion to “warm both the pot and the tea before the fire” before adding boiling water. This step works in “developing the aromatic principle.” Sounds promising, right?

Do you heat your dry leaves and pot first, à la Soyer? Are you a fan of loose leaves or little bags? What winter food and drink rituals — and what books — get you through the winter?

*Smith was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, a “scabrous wit” as well as a founding editor of Edinburgh Review. And apparently a lover of tea as well.

Thanksgiving Recipe Decisions

Kerri Wallace, Mulberry Street Branch Library — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:52:31 -0500

Cooking is a very stressful situation that I do my best to avoid. I always get really excited and anxious when I decide to cook, but halfway through the process every burner on the stove is on, bowls, plates, and utensils have piled up on the counter, and all I’ve ended up making is a bowl of spaghetti for one. But as Thanksgiving rolls around my mother always asks the dreaded question, "What are you making?" I’m beginning to think that she regrets asking this question because the extent of my culinary assistance on Thanksgiving Day is opening up a can of cranberry sauce and plopping it into the fine china.

This year I have decided to surprise them all. Rather than pick a modern recipe from the Food Network, I’m kicking this Thanksgiving back old school with some classic recipes. The Wallace clan will truly be surprised this year!

Boned Capon, aux Truffes. My family will be so pleased when I bring over the castrated rooster. But this recipe seems a little too complicated and I may accidentally bring seasoned rooster legs as an appetizer.

Terrapin, a la Gastronome. This recipe seemed easy enough, until I learned that Terrapin were turtles. Unfortunately, I don’t think my local grocery store has a turtle section.

Fried Smelts. Thanksgiving is all about comfort food and anything fried is always a big win. These little fishies were served at the White House in 1887.

Many of the historic Thanksgiving menus that I came across all seemed to include a meat pie, particularly mincemeat pie. But my favorite had to be this Chicken Pie featuring meat jelly. Mmmmm!

Since I am waiting till the last minute for my Thanksgiving recipe and I am on a tight budget, the other option is to skip the chicken and try a nice tasty Pigeon Pie. It's very easy to find a nice plump one this time of year in NYC.

This will be a Thanksgiving my family will be sure to remember, but since they are your typical meat and potatoes family I may just have to stick with the standard tradition of pigs in a blanket. Who knows, years from now that may be the weird recipe at the table.

Cheers to successful recipes all around whether they be made from scratch, reheated, or pre-made. Remember to tell us what you're having! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Indian Cooking: My Favorite Resources

Sally Speller, Mid-Manhattan Library — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:30:30 -0400

Are you looking for a healthy, flavorful, whole foods approach to cooking? Wherever you are on the vegan to meat-eating spectrum, Indian food offers a wide variety of tastes, colors, and textures guaranteed to appeal to every palate.

The most popular Indian cuisines — North Indian, South Indian, and Bengali — evolved over thousands of years, and reflect the cultural influences, topography, and climate of the regions.

North Indian cuisine uses lots of dairy, like paneer (cottage cheese), ghee (clarified butter), and yogurt. Also featured are nuts and dried fruits, and a variety of bread, rice, and greens. North Indian curries have thick broths. The predominant spices are coriander, cumin, dry red chillies, turmeric, chilli powder, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, and asafoetida (hing).

South Indian cuisine is rice and lentil based and hotter than North Indian cuisine. It makes extensive use of fish, coconut, peanuts, tamarind, chillies, curry leaves, dal (lentils), fenugreek seeds, cilantro, garlic, onions, and ginger. South Indian broths (Sambars and Rasams) are thinner than North Indian curries.

East Indian (Bengali) cuisine uses fish, dal (lentils), a variety of vegetables, and rice. The predominant spices are mustard seeds, nigella seeds, fennel, turmeric, poppyseeds, ginger, garlic, coriander (seeds and leaves), coconut, and fenugreek. East Indian cuisine is famous for its sweets.[Krishna teasing the Gopis with butter and curds.]
Digital ID 1632767, New York Public Library

My favorite cookbooks:

Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking by Julie Sahni

My first Indian cookbook I came to rely on! It's remained my favorite for over 20 years. These flavorful vegetarian recipes taught me how to temper, using onions, garlic and/or ginger, and spices — a must for almost all types of savory Indian cooking. Timing is essential!

Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni

I've used this cookbook for almost as long as Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. (Both cookbooks are falling apart!) In addition to vegetarian, this cookbook contains some really great fish/seafood, poultry, and meat recipes.

Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi

The second Indian cookbook I came to rely on, this is both inspired and comprehensive. I've been using this book for almost 20 years and am still cooking my way through it!

1,000 Indian Recipes by Neelam Batra

I just discovered this cookbook. The vegetarian curry section has allowed me to expand my repertoire. There is so much information in this fantastic book!

Here's a recipe that I've adapted from Neelam Batra's 1,000 Indian Recipes:

Baingan Bharta (Creamy Mashed Eggplant with Baby Peas)

Ingredients:

2 roasted, mashed eggplants
4 large or 6 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 cups (one bunch) cilantro, stems included, roughly chopped
4 T. ghee
2 large vidalia onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3-6 serrano chillies, chopped
2 T. ground coriander
1 t . hot red chilli powder
1 t. paprika
1 t. garam masala
2 t. ground cumin
3 t. salt (or to taste)
2 cups baby peas, defrosted
1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt

Method:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Score each eggplant with knife along its length at about one inch intervals. Wrap in aluminum foil, and roast for one hour, rotating on the oven rack every 15 minutes, until soft. Remove from oven and peel. Place eggplant in a bowl, and roughly chop until you have a mash with bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

In food processer, blend tomatoes and cilantro until smooth. Set aside.

Heat ghee in large frying pan. Add onions and saute until golden-brown, five to 10 minutes over high heat. Add garlic and chillies. Stir for about one minute. Add spices and salt, and stir for a few seconds to temper.

Lower heat to medium and add tomato-cilantro mixture. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for five to seven minutes, or until the oil separates from mixture (you'll see it around the edges of the pan). Add mashed eggplant, cover, and cook, strirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Then add peas, stir, cover, and cook for five minutes more.

East India tamarind., Tamarindus indica orientalis.
Digital ID 1125940, New York Public LibraryMeanwhile, put yogurt in a small mixing bowl and stir until smooth. Stir a few tablespoons of the eggplant/peas into the yogurt, and then add it all back to the pan (this will prevent the yogurt from curdling). Mix well, remove from heat, and serve over basmati rice, or with a dollop of yogurt on top.

Serves four to five people, generously.

Where to buy spices:

Some great links:

Mahanandi: Cooking with Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Recipe and Photo Weblog
Simple Indian Food — An Easy Cooking Blog
Show Me The Curry — I love the Naan recipe!
Spice Goddess with Bal Arneson

Recipes from the Reluctant Camper

Lauren Lampasone, Reference and Research Services — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:50:25 -0400

Summer is in full swing. Maybe you've taken a cruise, a roadtrip, a European jaunt or a trip to the beach, but summer would not be complete without a night spent with only a thin layer of nylon separating you from the starry sky and the cool night air... am I right?

No?! Well to be honest, I haven't always felt that way. I am a reluctant camper. If you are too, all you need is a patient (and preferably more camping-experienced) friend or family member and maybe a few books from the library to get you started.

Cooking and enjoying food is probably my favorite hobby, so it is exciting for me to have the opportunity to expand my repertoire to the fire pit once in a while. On my last trip I was really happy to have found Campfire Cookery: Adventuresome Recipes & Other Curiosities for the Great Outdoors. While the writing style is a little twee, the suggested meals go way beyond the standard hot dog and marshmallow fare. I ended up making lemon curd (for breakfast with English muffins) and garlic aïoli (for smothering some flame broiled sardines in a baguette) based on recipes in the book.

To be clear, I prepared most of these recipes before I left for the great outdoors. They all keep wonderfully in a cooler for a few days; maybe I will try something more adventurous next time.

Lemon Curd (adapted from Campfire Cookery by Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young)

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 C sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice (from those 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick)

Whisk egg and yolk, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Whisk in the lemon juice and drop in the butter pieces. Put the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon. Keep stirring until it is thick enough to pile up when pushed to the side, 10-15 minutes. Don't let it get hot enough to bubble, if it does take it off the heat and stir vigorously.

When it's nice and thickened, push it through a sieve into a bowl containing the lemon zest. Stir it all together. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming; once it cools transfer it to a jar and chill in the fridge for a few hours.

(Note: This is halved from what is in the book, and there are also tangerine and grapefruit variations available there.)

Bast's Grilled Sardines & Lemon Aïoli Tartine (adapted from Campfire Cookery by Sarah Huck and Jaimee Young)

1 egg yolk at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice at room temp
1/2 cup olive oil at room temp
1 chopped garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon (or 1/2 lemon's worth) lemon zest
pinch of kosher salt

Whisk together the yolk, salt, and lemon juice; drizzle in a steady thread of oil. If you've made mayonnaise before you know not to add the oil too fast and to stir like crazy. Your arm should end up hurting really bad. Or you can use a food processor and drizzle the oil in through the hole in the top. Your call. It's either more dishes to clean or tired arm muscles, as I've discovered. Anyway, continue until all the oil is incorporated and the mixture is thick. Mix in the zest, garlic and salt. Cover and send to the fridge.

You can use fresh sardines (get the book to read the instructions on that) or just use canned (when you're really hungry after a long day of hiking I don't think it matters). Heat them up on a piece of foil on the grill top over the fire. Toast the bread too. Put it all together with the aïoli and enjoy—even your mayonnaise-hating friend will love it. Sardines are brain food!

I don't know why, but browsing the energy bar aisle in the grocery store always makes me tired and depressed. So I decided to make my own granola bars (from How to Cook Everything) for hiking with leftover granola (from Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys: Recipes, Strategies, and Survival Techniques.) They turned out very sweet but also powerful enough to get me up a small mountain and back.

No-Bake Granola Bars (adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe, see below)

1 1/2 cups dried fruit (I used apricots and dates and a few prunes)
1/4 cup neutral oil, like grapeseed
3 cups granola (next time I'll use less, they were a bit crumbly)

Put the dried fruit and oil in a food processor and purée until smooth, stopping the machine to scrape down the sides if necessary. (Add small amounts of water if the fruit is dried out and not processing.) Transfer to a small pot and bring to a boil. Put the granola in a large bowl and combine with the fruit mixture; stir until the granola is well coated. Press into an 8- or 9-inch square pan and let cool in the fridge. Cut into squares or rectangles and separate with that press-and-seal type plastic wrap.

For variations on this, including versions without fruit or with nut butter, see How to Cook Everything or the full recipe on nytimes.com.

Another great recipe to make ahead and bring in the cooler is this pasta salad; it keeps well and is delicious cold. It also goes great with hot dogs.

Other books to check out:

The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook by Christine & Tim Conners

This book was written by and for scouts, as in, girl and boy scouts and their leaders. But even scouting drop-outs like me can use it to learn about cooking techniques and times, and how to best cook for a crowd when you do not have any of the conveniences of an indoor kitchen. "Each recipe includes number of servings, a difficulty rating, a list of required equipment, and a handy icon to let the reader see the cooking method (dutch oven, skillet, etc.) at a glance." Very handy.

Camping in Comfort: A Guide to Roughing It with Ease and Style by Lynn Haney (eBook)

A guide to outdoor gear that actually makes a reluctant camper excited about all the STUFF she can acquire to be more comfy! But the emphasis here is really on making the right decisions based on your needs and camping comfort level. It includes information on tents, sleeping gear, clothing, and cooking supplies. It also offers details on public and private campgrounds, luxury camping resorts, backpacking, bicycle camping, kayak camping, and RV camping, so it is great for experienced campers and newbies alike.

For more inspiration as far as places to head out to, check out Kerri Wallace's posts on hiking spots near NYC and the Finger Lakes, and Sherri Liberman's postcard from Maine. Where do you like to camp? More importantly, what do you like to cook there?

Related subject headings:

See the Recipes from the Reluctant Camper booklist on nypl.bibliocommons.com!

What Flavor is Your Book?

Anne Barreca, Battery Park City — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:39:07 -0400

Do you have a "voracious appetite" for reading? Have you ever “devoured” a book? Have you ever had the depraved desire to slather your first-edition F. Scott Fitzgerald classic with whipped cream and chocolate sauce? Do you look forward to resuming that book you put down on the subway with the same hunger that you anticipate that chocolate cake at your favorite restaurant? Does a good dessert make you feel equally comfortable as a good book, like you would want to curl up in bed with either (aside from the crumbs that a dessert might shed, of course)? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you, like me, are a bibliovore!

Allow me to explain a little. I am a foodie. Food analogies have always appealed to me, and my perception of the world is largely colored by the experience of eating. I have always thought of different foods as corresponding to different categories of literature. In my mind, books that belong on the dessert menu are the finest literature. But there are other categories, of course, and here is where my particular tastes and biases become apparent. Here are some examples. Many books of the "self-help" nature are like fast food: of little nutritional value. A well-written textbook? That would be a veggie platter with hummus for dipping. Historical fiction so well-written it makes you feel as though you’re traveling back in time? Something fun can only be compared to a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich. The latest Harlequin romance novel? One bucket of Häagen-Dazs coming right up. Bill Bryson’s most recent masterpiece on the history of the household, reconstructed in impeccably researched detail room by room? That would be a prix fixe four-course meal at your favorite swanky restaurant. Virtually anything written by Jack London? A veggie stir-fry slathered in healthy dose of peanut sauce. Most YA chick lit? A neon-colored blow-pop—that flavor that turns your tongue dark purple. Books that can be likened to a fine pastries are few and far between, indeed.

This brings me to my favorite category: dessert literature. You know how some books are so riveting they'll make you miss your stop on the train? These are the books you just can't help but compare to... well, dessert! I have always thought that some authors were so good at their craft that it was impossible not to liken them to gourmet pastry chefs adding the finishing touches to their edible creations. You know what I mean when I speak of rich desserts: luxuriously self-indulgent treats like chocolate mousse, fudge, cashew cream profiteroles, fluffy meringues, amaretto-drenched tiramisu, crepes in all their glorious forms... just to name a few. Books consistent with such decadence are so pleasurable to read they don’t even feel like literature or education. They're the types of books where you just submit to the pleasure of getting lost in the plot. A few of my favorite “dessert books” include Jack London's Martin Eden, Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods (or equally impressive and enjoyable Mother Tongue), anything by Suzanne Collins but most recently, the Hunger Games trilogy. Ah yes, I dare say that Francis Bacon just might deem these books "digestible." Even the processes of writing and cooking beg to be compared. A great writer often labors through many drafts and might agonize over every word just as a chef uses the finest ingredients and knows how to add interesting flavors without any of them being overwhelming to the senses. A great writer will use wonderful language but will make sure prose alone doesn't get in the way of enjoyment of the story. Both chef and writer want you to lose yourself in the process of enjoying their product. One of the reasons I feel lucky to be a librarian is because I’ve always thought of my career as an unlimited access pass to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Being a librarian is like being able to sample different desserts and having the option of tasting more or sampling something else from the proverbial Lazy Susan. With so many flavors to sample, it’s virtually impossible to get bored. Which leads me to the question... what flavor is your book? Have you tasted, chewed, or digested anything good lately?

Hold the Applause! Testimonial Menus

Rebecca Federman, Collections Strategy, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:50:19 -0400

Perhaps you’ve noticed a few more people joining the menu party lately. The Buncombe County Medical Association is here. As are our friends from the National Life Insurance Company. We’ve even extended an invite to our canine crew (and their owners) from the Philadelphia Dog Show Association.

Clubs, organizations, companies, and associations often hosted an annual dinner, usually at a hotel or large restaurant, to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and perhaps to recruit new members, but their menus differ widely. Some, like the National Life Insurance Co., treated its members to a wide variety of foods, from sweetbread croquettes to lobster salad. Others, like the dog show, kept the food offerings simple with the ubiquitous Blue Points and Waldorf Salad.

But some of these menus go well beyond the one-pager or folder, and flirt with the size of a pamphlet, managing to fit in addition to the menu, toasts, songs, names of board members, hymns, psalms, and much more into a complete souvenir program. Like this example from dinner by the St. George's Society in New York in 1900. Far more than a menu, this booklet includes not only toasts to the Queen and to the President of the United States, but to the Day, to the Land, to the Colonies, to the Sister Societies, and (finally) to the Ladies. And for those who need a little extra help, lyrics to God Save the Queen and The Star Spangled Banner.

Or this graphically arresting menu from the National Shorthand Reporters Banquet, also in 1900, held at Hotel Victory in Lake Erie, Ohio.

The menu of mock turtle, Philadelphia capon, Roman punch, and Petits Fours is fairly standard. The after-dinner speaking program, on the other hand, is anything but short, featuring such riveting discussions such as “Friendship among stenographers” by Dr. Rudolf Tombo of New York, and "Who are these stenographers?" by W.H. Macfeat of Columbia, South Carolina.

Important note to menu transcribers!

While these menus contain a wealth of information beyond the food (musicians, artists, popular songs of the time, organizations that no longer exist today), our goal (for now!) is to capture the food and dishes served at these events and not to worry about capturing every name, toast, speech, or Shakespearean quote, regardless of how interesting they may be (and they are!).

So as you transcribe pickles, potato croquettes, Delmonico potatoes, and sherbet, feel free to explore the social, literary, and professional worlds inhabited by these groups and organizations ... just don’t, as it were, "make a note" of them.

The Queen B: Miss Buttolph and Her Menus

Rebecca Federman, Collections Strategy, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:05:44 -0400

If you've transcribed even one menu, you've likely seen her stamp. A blue oval bearing her name, "Buttolph Collection", as graceful as a branding iron over asparagus, Russian caviar, or Boston baked beans.

Miss Frank E. Buttolph stamped nearly every menu she collected for the New York Public Library, twenty-three years worth, amounting to roughly 25,000 menus under her tenure alone.

But who was Miss Buttolph and why did she collect menus?

Neither question is easy to answer. We know from records that she was about fifty when she began her menu project, she was educated (she translated Tasso), and she was an avid collector of postcards with lighthouses.

Her most notable collection, her menu collection, began on January 1, 1900, with lunch. In a letter dated February 14, 1900 she writes:

"On New Year's Day I stopped in the Columbia Restaurant for lunch and thought it might be interesting to file a bill of fare at the library. A week later the thought occured, why not preserve others? As a result 930 have passed through my fingers to the Astor Library."

By August, Miss Buttolph was taking out ads in hotel and restaurant trade journals soliciting menus from their readership. This ad from Hotel Monthly (August, 1900) stresses the physical condition of the menus, or cards:

"It is of the highest importance the cards should be well wrapped and then placed between stiff card-board of a larger size, else they are sure to be soiled and broken in the mail, which condition renders them worthless. One beauty of this collection is, nearly all of the 3,600 cards [in the collection] are perfect, but I have had had to fight harder then Gen. Otis did in the Philippines to keep my standard in position. When it has to be lowered I shall discontinue the work."

The full ad is reproduced below:

Miss Buttolph's colorful personality, which is suggested in the ad, was both the reason for her success and the cause of her downfall. Her diligence in hunting down menus (writing to restaurants, putting up advertisements, and speaking to the press), and her commitment to high quality (she did not hesitate to send menus back if they did not meet her standards) insured that the Library's collection was both comprehensive and pristine.

However, even though she was never an employee of the Library, Miss Buttolph's idiosyncricies and negative behavior ("Is this museum maintained by the city to afford whistling space for the cleaners, instead of for students?) upset many on staff and in the Library administration who felt that her behavior was too disruptive ("[Miss Buttolph] is contantly complaining about something and when she gets started, it is almost impossible to get rid of her.")

Miss Buttolph was dismissed from NYPL in 1923. She died of pneumonia at Bellevue Hospital the following year, on February 27, 1924.

* * *

Despite her tumultuous relationship with the Library, her committment to her collection never wavered. In one of her last letters to the administration, she writes:

"For many years my library work has been the only thing I had to live for. It was my heart, my soul, my life. Always before me was the vision of students of history, who would say 'thank you' to my name and memory...."

Thank you, Miss Buttolph. Your incredible stamp continues to be felt, indeed.

Continue transcribing her collection on What's on the Menu?

New Feature! Unlock Menus to Continue Editing

Ben Vershbow, Manager, NYPL Labs — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:43:34 -0400

We've gotten a number of questions over the past week of What's on the Menu? about menus marked as "done." Do we really mean done? As in finished, vetted, archived for posterity? Fear not, we've cleared up this confusion with some new language. What we really meant to say was "under review."

On several occasions, a volunteer e-mailed us saying they'd spotted errors, or missing dishes, on menus marked as complete. I happily re-opened the menus in question (a facility only open to site administrators) and invited them to continue their work. After doing this a few times ad hoc, we decided to just add this as a feature.

Now, for any menu you find that's under review, you can click the little lock icon to its left to re-open it for further editing, correcting or transcribing. So if you are feel like donning your proofreader's glasses, we invite you to dive into the menus formerly known as finished to hunt out typos and problematic transcriptions (as ameliorated by these helpful tips), or to insert decimal points in the price fields to bring the cost of living and dining down to appropriate circa 1900 levels (as required, say, in this menu), or other tidying and correcting tasks not yet anticipated. Don't forget to re-submit the menu for review (via the button below the dishes list, left sidebar) when you're "done"!

And then what?

As is often the case in libraries, and on the always-evolving web, the work is never completely and totally done. For the menus, finishing transcription is in fact just the beginning of a long and only partially mapped out journey of data cleanup and rectification — not to mention subsequent tasks we may open up, such as the identification of sections (appetizers, desserts), categorization (breakfast menu, dinner menu), and other things still TBD.

Our philosophy all along has been to launch the project as openly and simply as possible, build a big data pile, and then to start finding solutions for navigating and improving the data. Any brave souls who want to jump in now to start polishing and tweaking are more than welcome! Please report back any common issues that you find (in the comments field below or via e-mail at menus@nypl.org).

We're also racing to post a detailed Help page, much of it informed by valuable user feedback, and soon, we expect, by the forthcoming insights of menu unlockers as well. The key is in your hands!

Go to What's on the Menu?

Tricky Menu Tips: Ditto Marks, Prices, and More

Rebecca Federman, Collections Strategy, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:42:16 -0400

Wow. We're sitting here with our mouths agape, simply overwhelmed --and thrilled! -- by the response to What's on the Menu? We knew you guys liked food, but holy (broiled) mackerel!

We launched WOTM very quietly, just three days ago, and, as of this typing, we have over 22K dishes transcribed! And it's evident, from the emails and tweets we've been receiving, that we have some very enthusiastic participants out there. Thank you!

But as you may have noticed, each menu is very different. Each has its quirks and idiosyncricies. Some have clear prices, some don't have any. Some have odd language, some are very straightforward. Some use ditto marks to convey the same dish, others repeat, repeat, repeat.

The following are some tips to think about while transcribing that I hope will clear up confusion, but please send us more questions as they come, either in the comments section of this post, to our menus@nypl.org community hotline, or through the Twitterverse @nypl_menus. Your questions and comments help us build a better and more robust site! We may add to this post over time, and all of it will serve as a draft for a more robust Help section on the menus site, coming soon. Meantime, here's some advice on navigating some of the more common snags.

Is a menu totally finished if it reads "done"?

Not quite. Every menu will go through a vetting process, where we will clean up any mixed-up prices, misspellings, etc. If it reads "done" it goes into a queue so that a NYPL staff member can review it. We haven't begun that review in earnest yet, but we're taking careful notes during this experimental first phase. Who knows, we may even re-open some of the menus at a later time for second-pass cleanup. Based on feedback, we're considering adjusting the status language to something like "locked for review." That may clear up the confusion.

Making sense of cents

Believe it or not, a sirloin steak can cost as little as 25 cents. Crazy, I know. But some menus also include pricier items, such as a $2.50 Terrapin, Maryland. Therefore, we've defaulted the currency to dollars (if the menu is from the U.S.) and we're asking everyone to adjust accordingly. If a steak is 25 cents, please mark as .25 Obviously if you mess up (or see someone else mess up) it will be cleaned up later, but it always helps us to add that little decimal point.

What's the deal with the ditto?

Have you transcribed any bills of fare from a coffee shop or oyster bar? If so, you've probably enountered menus with ditto marks (") as in:

Eggs, Fried

", Poached

", Soft-Boiled

When transcribing a menu and coming across the ditto (sometimes the menu will read "do", too), it helps to think of each dish as a discrete item which will be added to a huge database in which one can pull up a specific dish, across all menus. Therefore, it's enormously helpful to have Eggs, Poached reflected instead ", Poached. So, please don't use the ditto. Instead, please retype the original food offering in-full. But again, no sweat, we'll be cleaning up as we go, too.

Halving it all

Like the ditto mark, when coming across a dish that advertises a half chicken, or something prepared two ways, make two discrete entries. So instead of entering "chicken, half chicken", please enter the chicken twice, as in: "chicken" and "half chicken." That also goes for menu options on the same line. So, "oatmeal or hominy" should read "oatmeal" and "hominy."

When in dish doubt, don't leave it out!

Still not sure? Email us! menus@nypl.org

Go to What's on the Menu?

Doin' the Dishes!

Rebecca Federman, Collections Strategy, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:33:26 -0400

Saratoga Chips. Corned Beef Hash. Large Pot of Oolong Tea.

Okay, so they’re not included in the works of Shakespeare (as far as I know), but that doesn’t mean these dishes aren't of value to researchers and scholars and the generally curious who read menus in order to learn more about the food served and consumed in restaurants throughout history.

But until now this kind of information (the food!) was difficult - if not impossible - to search in our digitized menu collection.

Yes, you can search “oyster”, but you’ll get “Oyster Bay” instead of saddlerocks, or “Shanley Bros. Oyster House” instead of blue points. In other words you get the location and restaurant name, but not the very content (the food!) of the menu.

So we’ve built a website where you can tell us “What’s on the Menu?” and help create what we like to call a “database of dishes.” From your transcriptions, I hope we can learn about the foods of the last century to see what these historic menus can teach us about the culinary landscape today. Here are some items I’m excited to track over the next few months:

Tutti-frutti
Rise and fall of oysters
Vichy water
Battle Creek Sanitarium dishes
Moselle wine

And this is just the beginning! We'll be following many more foods and wines from these unique primary sources of our dining history. So help us “do the dishes” and we can all reap the rewards.

Go to What's on the Menu? and jump in!

The Amazing, Wonderful, Incredible World of Beer: A Memoir

Trevor Owen Jones — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:49:17 -0400

When health is bad and your heart feels strange,
And your face is pale and wan,
When doctors say you need a change,
A pint of plain is your only man.

—Flann O'Brien

I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

—Brendan Behan

Beer. Generative of the superlative, lingual lubricant of the laconic, tear collector, the good, the bad and the canned: as Bukowski said, it makes the flowers try harder. Something is happening in the world of beer. And why? And what is it anyhow? Sex, violence, water, hops, malt, yeast and barley. And probably a lot of television. And certainly not corn or rice.

At times it seems foodies will often have us believe cooking and appreciating food began only earlier this decade. Of course as they say, a commodified diet is a qualified diet: slow, local, organic, fresh, vegan, gluten-free, ad infinitum. What does this all have to do with beer?

Let's begin, anecdotally...

The 1990s. A non-school night, to be sure. I am dutifully attempting to log on to AOL via a 26k modem for the fourth time in order to write a report for school on the importance of Dolly the Cloned Sheep and how humanity will never recover from this bold step into modernity. In the living room, the brothers are enjoying up to eighty channels of cable television. The mother is quietly reading The Celestine Prophecy. In the kitchen, the father sits at the dining table, always in the same spot, surrounded by dogs, eating pretzels and drinking beer. Short of hearing, the incessant verbiage of talking heads from a rolling cable news network blares into the room, but there he reads, undoubtedly yet another Robert Jordan novel, trying to escape the workweek with Tolkeinesque scenarios featuring elves and wizards and the like.

Crossing into the pantry to refill my mechanical pencil, I am accosted: "Here boy, take a swig of this." The father hands me a longneck, beaded just so with icy sweat across its paper label. Apprehensively I sip. Absolutely disgusting I think. Swill. What is this nasty, bitter conconction that tastes vaguely of gym socks and the surrounding effluvium of those 12th grade skater kids?

"That's pretty good," I say.

"Its called an India Pale Ale. An IPA. Tasty, right?"

"Yeah."

The father nods a hint of approval, ducks his head down and returns promptly to his elves. Later, I do an AOL keyword search for "IPA" but get no results save for the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Fast forward. College. Not exactly BMOC, more like Medium. Well, intermediate between small and medium. The sizable! I am victorious at clearing The Mighty Beer Horn, a staple between my roommates and I for fighting boredom and worshipping stupidity. The Horn held two-and-a-half (count 'em!) 12oz cans of the most transparent, most yellow, most flavorless lager: where had I gone wrong? Family values, I think. Tradition between boy and son. Had I heeded my father's wisdom? We had not spoken in several years (we communicated only through sign language).

Indeed, I was a prodigal, longing to return home, if only I could recall where home was. Unfortunately, all that came to mind was the many hours I spent maintaining my GeoCities page...

Since college, beer has exploded. The major American brewers are all in decline (and most are not American-owned anymore either). Drinking imported, craft, micro or nano beer is in. Pairing "food" with "beer" is considered fodder for study on the level of sommeliers. All a bit uncanny really: I remember my dad getting excited over finding bottles of Xingu at the liquor wholesaler in the eighties.

But times change, and all for the better it seems (um, specifically only referring only to beer in this case). People, it seems, have discovered, there are other kinds of beer besides lager. The joys (and savings) of homebrewing are in ascendant, and microbreweries and brewpubs continue to experiment with new recipes.

Where to start learning? NYPL can help.

Books:

Great American Craft Beer: A Guide to the Nation's Finest Beer and Breweries by Andy Crouch
Beer by Michael Jackson
Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher
Great American Beer: 50 Brands that Shaped the 20th Century

Websites:

Beer Advocate Beer ratings and reviews.
Brew York, New York Local beer blog.
NYC Beer New York City guide to breweries and restaurants.

Home Brewing Resources:

*Always drink responsibly. Also, keep in mind, a beer's sessionability is correlated to its sociability.

An interview with Sri Walpola, creator of "A Taste of Home: Cooking Sri Lankan in New York"

Robert Gibbs, St. George Library Center — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:11:27 -0500

Currently on display at the St. George Library Center is a photo exhibit by photojournalist Sri Walpola, "A Taste of Home: Cooking Sri Lankan in New York." We sat down with him for a brief interview.

What inspired "A Taste of Home: Cooking Sri Lankan in New York"?

Since my arrival in New York, I started cooking. I started looking for Sri Lankan ingredients first, and then I started cooking with the help of my mother and both my sisters via the telephone because all of them are in Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, I used to be a helper with my mother and both my sisters, especially on Sundays when we’d prepare family meal; family lunch I would call it. I prepared fish and various vegetables, cut them. Putting the ingredients together, and then preparing them. I never cooked anything completely.

When I arrived when New York, I recognized only salt and pepper, which was familiar to me. After that I had to look for all the Sri Lankan ingredients everywhere. Finally I found Sri Lankan spice shops in Staten Island, Queens, and New Jersey.

The greatest cook in our family was my grandmother and she was a very good cook. I used to help her too. I was basically inspired by her cooking. She had a very extremely natural style of cooking, and in Sri Lanka we never used any artificial ingredients. Everything was homegrown, everything natural. My grandmother knew how to cook everything from anything.

Did you know how to cook prior to creating your display?

I knew how to cook good quality, tasty food. That was in my blood, from my childhood days. Therefore, putting the ingredients together, and putting a meal together wasn’t a difficult thing. I did not know the exact quantities, so that was my problem. Other than that I knew what was good, and how to make that kind of quality stuff.

So, I understand that you cooked and photographed all of the dishes featured in "A Taste of Home," what was that like for you? Did you have any help?

No, only me! Most of the American cookbooks, I came to the library and looked at. They had an art director, they had a chef, a food stylist, and then they had a photographer, and under him he had several assistants. So it was a very tedious tough job. I created my own studio, with 5 lights, and a light table, everything! Then my wife and children went for a Thanksgiving holiday for a couple of weeks. So during that period, I did everything. Otherwise when children are around, its very difficult to put the things together. They will come and take a spice and things like that. So I had a greater freedom. I must thank my wife, and both my daughters. They were very, very, very helpful!

I also noticed that you photographed the local Green Market. Some of the women I recognized as patrons who visit the library regularly. Do you know them personally?

I don’t know them actually. I knew some of their friends. I did not know exactly who they were. But later on when I started the project, I introduced myself because many of the people recognized me because they were familiar with my name, and that I’m from Sri Lanka. Later on I started developing a rapport with them, but I did not want to get very close with them because that would have affected my rationale ramble. I wanted to ask things and I wanted to see their cooking, but many of the people did not want me to see the cooking because they felt that American standards are different. “They wear a hat, and they wear rubber gloves and things like that. And we are not doing things like that, so please do not photograph us in the kitchen.” But I was able to see many things and talk to them.

Did you know that the women were going to be there, at the Green Market?

It’s like this, if there is a dry zone, and there is only one hole which has water, you assume that the animals are going to come to that hole to drink water. Where there is greens, and chilies; Sri Lankans have a natural craving for the greens and the chilies, they can’t live with them!

I knew the green market was the best place, especially during the Spring and the Summer time, because they [the women] can get out comfortably without heavy clothes; and then look for the greens and the spices. So I knew this was the exact place that they were going to be!

Did you find yourself facing unique challenges in terms of cooking and photographing the dishes for this exhibit?

Cooking itself is a challenge- Sri Lankan cooking that is; which is one of the reasons why it is not all that popular. See all the other types of cooking are available, very popular, and easily available in New York. Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Cuban, anything. Even Indian. There are plenty of places you can go and have an Indian meal. Sri Lankan food places are very limited. The process itself is very difficult.

My mother always used to tell me, “If you want to cook quality food, you have to prepare quality ingredients.” She buys the spices, washes them, dries them in the hot sun, and selects them, the right ones. That is a preparation. After that you put the spices together. You don’t make the powders and the pastes and store them. All the essences go out, the smell, and all the oils and such from the spices. So when you need to make a curry “right now” you grind and prepare an ingredient “now” in less than 15-20 minutes, which is why whatever you eat here is somewhat different.

Preparation takes at least a couple of hours, and then the marination. You put the spices into the curry, or whatever you are cooking and keep it for marination for a longer period of time, maybe for a couple of hours. And then the cooking process for a fish or meat item is about 30-40 minutes. Cooking is not a big deal, but the preparation and marination are the difficult part. No one is willing to undergo this hard part, even though the end result is ultimately healthier and tastier. Various countries use types of clarified butters and artificial ingredients, but we never, never, ever use any of those. So when you eat Sri Lankan food, even if you have a very big meal, you never feel uncomfortable.

How long does it generally take to cook a good meal?

It’s like three to four hours generally. For example: That lady’s hands I have shot in a sequence. A lot of pictures are missing in that sequence because that took about 30 to 40 minutes for her chicken curry spices and ingredients. It’s a lot.

In one image in particular, I noticed you showcased the Statue of Liberty and both the Sri Lankan and American flags. Can you explain that a little bit?

I wanted to create something symbolic within the United States, New York with a Sri Lankan meal. The brass and silver plate symbolizes Sri Lanka. And all the other small trays are containing the cooked vegetables, greens, etc, and the plate has the red rice. We eat lots of red rice of various varieties, because it has a lot of Vitamin B. Then I added the U.S. Flag, and the Sri Lankan Flag. A lot of people liked it, and that’s quite interesting. Instead of simply made, I was creative with it.

I hear that you are also creating a book featuring the Sri Lankan dishes shot for this exhibit. Can you tell me about that?

It will be coming out before the end of the exhibition. It has recipes, for how to prepare [food]. See, you don’t have to teach cooking, for Sri Lankans. I’m trying to make it popular among other people, and among other nationalities that are living here. So it will be a helpful guidebook for everyone, which you can use as a reference. I’m going to talk about the basics, and the basic ingredients and how to make all the ingredients.

Is it more of a cook book, than an art book?

I don’t think it’s more of a cook book. It’s more like a guide book to Sri Lankan cooking. There are not many cookbooks by Sri Lankans.

What do you hope viewers of your exhibit will come away with?

Whoever comes and sees it should know the difficulty of the process of a Sri Lankan meal. And you don’t have to go through that difficult process of cooking food. All the spices are ground packed and in bottles. Like ready made spice pastes. There are simple and easier ways you can make “D.I.Y.” cooking; Do it yourself! Try it! Go to a Sri Lankan grocery store and pick up some spices. Pick up a couple of chicken curries, and meat or crab or fish. And enjoy your Sri Lankan cooking. Enjoy!

Sri Walpola's "A Taste of Home: Cooking Sri Lankan in New York" will continue to be on display at the St. George Library Center until February 28th 2011.

See also How to Cook Sri Lankan with Cabbage in the Huffington Post.
Search for Sri Lankan cooking in the NYPL catalog.

How to Cook Sri Lankan with Cabbage

Heidi Singer, Director of Digital and Print Publications — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 10:17:47 -0500

Traditional Sri Lankan cuisine is a wondrous mix of tropical produce, freshly pounded spices, and curries cooked slowly in clay pots over an open fire. Flavor comes with spare time and energy — two factors in short supply in the big city. As a result, photojournalist Sri Walpola became interested in how his fellow countrywomen manage to recreate the tastes of home on Staten Island.

Last year, Walpola photographed several women in the Sri Lankan enclave of Tompkinsville, Staten Island, documenting the way they adapt traditional cuisine to their new home. Two dozen of his photographs are now on display through February in The New York Public Library’s St. George Library Center.

"The daily ritual of shopping for fresh vegetables, selecting and mixing spices, and preparing curries is a focus of family life in Sri Lanka," said Walpola. "In New York, replicating the familiar act of finding and making food without the bounty of fresh tropical ingredients has become its own art."

Essential ingredients, many of which can now be found on Staten Island, include curry leaves, lemongrass, rampe, and coconut served up every which way, from creams to powders to vinegar made from the fermented juice of coconut palm leaves.

Then there are the flavors that can never be replicated, such as the goraka.

"It's a beautiful red fruit," recalled Walpola. "Once it falls out of the tree, we open it. After that, you take the skin, which looks like a little pumpkin, and dry it under an extremely hot sun until it becomes pitch black."

That fruit, unique to Sri Lanka, isn't the only thing expats miss. Walpola's subjects have had to substitute cabbage for traditional greens, blenders for grinding stones, and metal pots over gas stoves instead of clay pots and fire. Unable to find the tiny, tropical fish they're accustomed to, the home cooks "have totally given up on fish," he said.

Walpola, a dedicated home cook who has worked for the New York Times and the BBC, intends to publish a book of his photographs along with recipes from his own and his subjects' families. In the recipe below, he has toned down the spices for American taste buds, but kept the distinctive ingredients.

As they say in Sinhalese, Sathutu Wenna (Enjoy)!

Chicken Stew Sri Lankan Style

6 chicken parts or a full chicken (organic chicken tastes better)
2 big onions
2 big tomatoes
2 green peppers
2 red peppers
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut
1 large carrot, peeled and cut
8 black pepper corns
4 cloves
4 cardamom pods
4 garlic cloves
2 inch stick cinnamon
2 branches of curry leaves (available in Indian groceries)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons Sri Lankan coconut vinegar
Salt to taste

Boil the chicken in water, black paper powder, turmeric, Goraka or Sri Lankan coconut vinegar, until the water dries.
Boil the potatoes and carrots separately and cut them into pieces.
Use the same chicken fat or two spoons of vegetable oil in medium saucepan, add mustard seeds, coriander powder, garlic crushed, pepper corns, cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon, and curry leaves.
Add big onion rings and chopped bell peppers.
Add chopped potatoes and carrots.
Season with salt. Fry 15 to 20 seconds, stirring constantly.
Add chicken pieces and fry 30 to 40 seconds.
Turn off heat, turn pieces over, and add tomatoes.
Adjust salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer on moderate heat for 20 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6 people

This piece was originally published in The Huffington Post. View more >>

A Helping Hand from Food Stamps

Ursula Murphy — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:13:56 -0500

The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known more commonly as the Food Stamp Program, provides support to low-income New Yorkers including working families, qualified immigrants, the elderly and the disabled to increase their ability to purchase food. A household must qualify under eligibility rules set by the federal government to enroll in this program. To determine your eligiblity for this or other goverment assistance programs, click here.

You can get an application by calling 311 or 877-472-8411 or at a Food Stamp Center. Select your borough below to find out specific locations, hours and telephone numbers. You can also download an application here.

Brooklyn Food Stamp Centers
Bronx Food Stamp Centers
Manhattan Food Stamp Centers
Queens Food Stamp Centers
Staten Island Food Stamp Center

Once you submit your application, you'll need to set up an interview. The following documentation will be necessary for your interview:

Proof of identity (driver’s license, ID card)
Proof of address (lease, electric, gas, water or phone bill, rent receipt, or mortgage statement)
Social Security numbers of all applicants.
Proof of the amount of all earned and unearned income before taxes or deductions (pay stubs for the past month or two, employer wage statement, benefits letter from Social Security unemployment compensation, Veterans Administration or pensions).
Household composition
Proof of shelter costs.
Proof of immigration status for non-citizens who are applying for Food Stamps.
Proof of child support payments (support order, separation agreement, child support records).
Proof of out-of-pocket medical expenses if you are age 60 or older or receive federal disability benefits (doctor or hospital bills; prescription receipts, receipts for over-the-counter medical expenses if prescribed by a medical practitioner; transportation costs to get to medical care)
Proof of child care expenses if you are working or looking for work or in training.

If you have questions about your documentation, contact your local Food Stamp Center.

To see what you can and can't purchase with food stamps, visit this website from the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service.

Here are some additional resources for more information.