Professor Lonnie Gamble | ArtisanFoodSlowFood / Donnas Blog

Pure Dessert

Friday, November 30, 2007 Pure Desert

I've said it before, but I'm in awe of Alice Medrich. She was an early chocolate evangelist in the Bay Area, who brought us luscious desserts and truffles, inspired by what she had tasted and learned in France. Over the past few years she has written several terrific and award-winning books on chocolate including Bittersweet, Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, and Chocolate Holidays.

Her latest book is a bit of a departure, it's not just about chocolate, but an exploration into the world of high quality ingredients. The chapters in Pure Dessert are focused on the flavors of Milk, Grain, Nuts and Seeds, Fruit, Chocolate, Honey and Sugar, Herbs and Spices, Flowers and Herbs, and Wine, Beer and Spirits. Intriguing, don't you think?

In each chapter is a discussion of the ingredients, the flavors and where they can take you. Best of all are the recipes, which are very simple, in part to highlight flavors and not confuse your palate. It's a celebration of the nuances that contribute to the flavors we love. Medrich is a true perfectionist with an almost scientific like approach, so you are unlikely to ever have trouble with one of her recipes. In this season of too much frosting, sprinkles and fluff, this book is refreshing. Recipes include, Cardamom Roasted Figs, Corn Tuiles with Salt and Pepper, Blackberry Buttermilk Sherbet, Hazelnut Whole Wheat Sables, White Chocolate Souffle Cakes with Chocolate Orange Sauce, and Guinness Ice Cream.

Today meet Alice Medrich at a book signing and dessert tasting(!) from noon until 2 at Fog City News

http://www.cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/

My comments:

I found this article especially interesting because I used to be a huge fan of sugary sweet milk chocolate, and cakes that were more frosting than cake at all, but have slowly moved away from that and now love dark chocolate. Now, every time I have candy like a twix or a crispy creme doughnut, after the intitial good taste I can feel the substance empty of any nutrition and my body feels uncomfortable, like it wants to get rid of it. I find it much more enjoyable to have a small amount of dessert that has more nuances in flavor, even a bittersweet taste. It is nice to see a growing appreciation for high quality ingredients, including fruit, figs, and seasonings that aren't frosting and sugar. Some of these recipes sound really unique, like they'll leave your taste buds pondering flavors for hours...

Letter to the Editor of �Ode� Magazine

The statistics presented in the �Meat is Methane� article were quite mind boggling. To think that livestock takes up a fourth of the earths land seems ridiculous, illustrating the imbalance we have caused in nature. It is refreshing to read a publication that is not afraid to bring to light information that may not be commonly popular ideas.

The obvious solution is that people stop eating meat, but I would have liked to see the article go into more ideas of how this can be tackled. What about exploring statistics of what would happen if people ate meat only once a week, or twice?

Some people are not willing to cut meat out of their diet because the majority of restaurants do not have appealing vegetarian dishes, others because it takes more planning to get sufficient nutrition from an all vegetarian diet. I for one, hate it when I go to a restaurant and ask for a vegetarian dish, and they think you mean a raw carrot and celery plate with dip.

Gastronomy holds that pleasure is the basis of all eating; that it is human nature to eat what one enjoys. According to this theory, the only way to make people stop eating meat is to make being vegetarian pleasurable and appealing. If restaurants become more innovative with their menus, focusing on how to cook well rounded meals with local and organic produce, people will naturally begin to cut meat out of their diet. If vegetarian food can be delicious, the transition to a plant based diet should be easy. It would have been nice if this article had given plans for solving the livestock problem, giving people realistic goals. Part of the current problem is that livestock are being mass produced, so a focus on only purchasing meat from small locally owned farms who offer free range organic meat could also be a good way to raise awareness in Ode's readers.

Donna Schill,

Fairfield, Iowa, USA

December 12, 07 Icy Fieldtrip

Wilson's Orchard

My favorite part of the fieldtrip yesterday was Wilson's Orchard. That might seem funny since my car was trying to leave before then, since Ben had to get back for work. I ended up being really glad we got to go for a little while (hopefully ben wasn't too late for work) The orchard looked stunning, with every little tree limb covered in ice, glimmering when the sun shone through the thick grey sky. The Wilson's reminded me a lot of my grandparents, who were born and raised in Iowa. I found it very charming that they had made a cozy home at the top of the barn where they run their business. I just thought it was really nice to see how much more charming family owned businesses are.

It was also interesting to see the aerial views of the land before and after they began planting and to see what a profound effect people can have on the land.

One of my friends who goes to University of Iowa works on the orchard in the summer and she has told me how much she enjoys the job. Working at a place like this is a rare opportunity for a college student, who might otherwise work at a desk job, or at the mall. It is nice to know that there are places like this, that can create enriching and fun job opportunities to the community.

Kalona Organics

I liked seeing the guys who worked in the milk station dancing around to cheesy hip hop in there little white outfits and shower caps, while climbing up ladders and peering into vats. It looked like an Umpa lumpa scene out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Egg Packaging

How did that machine not break the eggs?

BOOK REVIEW

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can�t Be Wrong

Authors: Nadeau & Barlow

This book really made me want to visit France, and also showed me the value of a little education before you visit another country! This book was very informative as a French history book, political analysis, or travel guide, and in all of these categories it was very easy to understand and covered general concepts. This book showed that knowing about the French will help avoid silly misunderstandings that could potentially ruin your experience there! This book is great because you can learn what you need to know in an amusing and light manor. The book was written by a couple who grew up in different French Canadian towns and decided to move to France for several years, recalling there firsthand experiences there.

It is an interesting concept to me, that growing up in different cultures can create such large differences in character.

For instance, according to this book, in France it is very rude to ask someone�s name when you meet them, and also very rude to ask about there career and money. These things are considered to be nobody else�s business but there own. Not knowing this when you�re in France could immediately alienate you from people, when you were just trying your best to be polite.

On the other hand, talking about one�s personal life is completely fine. In fact, it is considered good if couples fight in public. It signifies that the two have a strong enough relationship that they can withstand large differences, whereas in America the appearance of harmony is of the utmost importance. Haven�t you ever noticed that if you are at a gathering and a couple starts to fight about something, automatically everyone is uncomfortable and there is an all around feeling that the party �is not going well�?

Harmony and privacy are important in America, whereas wit and personality seem to be important in France. The couple that wrote this book said that whenever they attended dinner parties conversation was always aimed at debate and arguing. There was never any conclusion, it was just a chance for everyone to show that they could make a convincing argument. The best way to make friends in France, they said, was to participate in an argument and make an impression.

One of the most admirable things about the French that I read in this book is their ties to the land. French always want to know where their food has come from. In America the word for the meat we eat is different than the animal it comes from. In France the word for the animal and the meat is the same. They think that cheese from a cow should taste like a cow, and cheese from a goat should taste like a goat. The French relish their diversity. Before the French Revolution France was divided into many different nationalities, all with their own languages and traditions. Now France is one uniform country, but still each citizen takes pride in the pays they came from, pays being a slippery term that denotes the region of France they come from. There are hundreds of pays, and some even are names of old kingdoms or duchies form hundreds of years ago. Frances fight against fast food and globalization can be traced back to their attachment to the land, and strong connection they feel to their pays. The strength of that diversity, they think is worth fighting for. One outstanding example presented in this book is the persistence the French showed in protecting their Roquefort cheese. Roquefort is a pays in France, and their cheese was the first non-wine produce to get government protection for standards of production The cheese can only be made by goats owned by farms in a 100-mile radius of the town Roqufort-sur-Soulzon, three quarters of what they eat must come from the ground within that same radius, and the cheese must be aged in the Roquefort caves. These measures obviously limit production, but also upholds the quality of the cheese, and there is enough for the French to enjoy the cheese they love.