September. This is a special time of year, just right for the Queen of the Garden, the tomato.

So enraptured have we become over this cousin to deadly nightshade that we have cultivated no fewer than 2,700 varieties of tomato, in a rainbow of colors and a seemingly endless assortment of sizes and shapes. Volumes of history have been written about it, Louis Armstrong sang about mispronouncing it, and everyone seems to know that people used to think it was poisonous (some actually are, and the leaves and stalks of most are toxic).

The tomato has been prized for its versatility, cherished for its supposed aphrodisiac qualities, and utilized as a projectile in Vaudeville. Those aerodynamic qualities are still exploited in Buol, Spain, where the last Wednesday in August becomes an orgy of tomato wallowing, ostensibly in honor of the town’s patron saint, San Luis Bertran. Since the fight is usually a “boys vs. girls” affair, it rapidly becomes something of a wet T-shirt contest.

In this country we have come to be a bit more respectful of the tomato, but we do have our moments of degradation. Chief among these is the curious American obsession with eating out of season. This has resulted in those flavorless, mealy pink baseballs that are shipped green from Mexico, force-ripened with ethylene gas in train cars en route to Chicago, then passed off as tomatoes at your local grocery store in February. The tomato is one of those vegetables that, like asparagus, are best eaten during a particular season, and the season is upon us.

Read the whole story at Huffington Post.

Tags: Articles, Huffington Post, Iowa, cooking, food, food history, recipe by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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Editor’s note: This is the first in a three part series on the wines of Austria.

One side of my family is Scots, and although they do make some truly fine libations, they know next to nothing about wine. The other side though, my father’s side, emigrated from in and around what now is Austria, not unlike a large percentage of Iowans’; ancestors, and there, they know wine.

Now most Americans, if they know of Austrian wine at all, they know Eiswein. Eiswein is a delightful concoction, screechingly sweet, that is the result of allowing the grapes to first dry up (“raisinate”), and then to freeze on the vine. This concentrates the sugars, resulting in a strong but very sweet wine. Tasty as a cordial, but not well suited to accompany Austria’s hearty fare.

The winegrowing regions of Austria all are on the eastern slopes, where the Alps recede into Slovakia and Hungary (fine winemakers in their own rights). They are Lower Austria, called this despite being north of the other regions; Vienna, where some vineyards overlook the skyline of this ancient yet cosmopolitan city; and Burgenland, home of the massive yet shallow Lake Neusiedl.

Read the whole story at the Iowa City Press-Citizen

Tags: Articles, Iowa, Table Wine, conviviality, food, press-citizen, recipe, wine by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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When I was growing up in central Ohio, school began right after Labor Day.  This was advantageous compared to today’s August starts not just because of the longer summer break, but because we would have scads of black walnuts to hurl at each other as we walked to school that first morning.

They littered the ground all along Stanwood, Denver, and Remington streets on my route to Maryland Elementary School.  It was customary to announce your approach behind fellow students by pelting them with the large green orbs.  The nuts seemed to have been created especially to be launched by nine-year-old boys.  Two inches across, perfectly round, and with a slightly rough texture that we imagined made it possible to throw curveballs with them.  The ripest ones were best because if they could be made to explode on impact they left an indelible stain and a smell that followed the target around school all day. I have been both victim and perpetrator numerous times.

Today I use the sweetmeats for far more peaceful purposes such as cakes, breads and salads, though when no one is looking I occasionally test my aim out on the flood plain behind my house.  Still haven’t mastered that curveball. [Read more →]

Tags: A Cook's Journey, Book, cooking, food, foraging, recipe, wild food by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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With autumn on the horizon, I always begin daydreaming about big, luscious, weighty reds that are emblematic of the cool, misty evenings of October with all the leaves on the ground. I yearn for the crackling fireplace, sweetie by my side, dog at my feet, as we ponder the intricacies of a carefully crafted California Cabernet.

This year, a dear friend has turned my attention to the wines of Ladera. They specialize in just the sort of libation I want to pour beside the fire, focusing almost exclusively on Cabernet from just two proprietary vineyards: Howell Mountain and Lone Canyon. Vineyard manager Gabriel Reyes and winemaker Karen Culler are busy there right now, as harvest and crush approaches at the end of a troublesome growing season. Still I have no doubt that the end product, which we won’t see for a few years and probably will want to age for a few more, will be stellar. As evidence, I offer the 2006 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

via One winery from two vineyards | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

Tags: Articles, Table Wine, food, press-citizen, recipe, wine by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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What annoys me about the coverage of the current egg recall is that it almost always says, “traced to an Iowa farm.” But, proud as I am of my home state, it’s not misguided regionalism that makes me take offense at this statement. It’s the use of the word “farm.”

Wright County Egg and the rest of serial offender Austin “Jack” DeCoster’s operations are not farms, but factories. They’re the textbook example of everything that’s unhealthy and unsustainable about the industrial model that has hijacked American agriculture.

via Nourish Network Eggs Got You Scared? Here’s the Scoop.

Tags: Animal Cruelty, Iowa, Nourish Network, capitalism, cooking, food, food politics, food security, health by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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Summer in Iowa always brings the same delightful dilemma – what to do with all that basil.

Few herbs are as surrounded by mythology and folklore as basil. Its origins are debated, but most seem to think it came from India where besides its innumerable culinary uses, a devout Hindu has a leaf of basil placed on his breast when he dies, as a passport to paradise. It is famous in Christian history as well as the herb Salome used to cover the smell of decay from John the Baptists head. In Haitian Voodoo practice the herb is a powerful protector, and a Romanian man is engaged when he accepts a sprig of basil from a woman.

All this trivia is of little use though, when faced with bushels of the stuff that we all pull out of our gardens the afternoon before we expect the first heavy frost of autumn. Get a jump on that by beginning your “puttin' up” now. You can blanch and freeze it all with a quick dip in boiling, salted water followed by an instantaneous plunge into ice water – then drain, pat dry and freeze in Ziplocs, but that only postpones the inevitable pesto, and pesto is best with fresh leaves. A voluptuous pesto is of course a good way to reduce the volume quickly and have something everyone loves to show for your efforts.

Read the rest at Huffington Post.

Tags: Huffington Post, Iowa, cooking, food, food history, gardening, recipe by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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A while ago, I regaled you with the true story of John Chapman, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed, and his actual motives as more of a land speculator and hard cider maker than the happy-go-lucky wandering environmentalist we watched in filmstrips and Disney-animated cartoons in elementary school. He was a success because for many years in pre- and post-colonial times, the drink of choice in the U.S. was hard cider (more so than beer, wine or whiskey).

Its popularity in the U.S. waned, especially after the increase in German immigration, bringing with them their expertise in brewing beer from the abundant grains of the Great Plains. In northern Spain, however, the passion for Sidra, as the Spanish call hard cider, never went out of style. This despite the inexplicable decades-long banning of its production by Generalisimo Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War. It was especially true in the north, in the Basque and Galician regions, where the best Sidra is still made today.

The best Sidra is made from one ingredient: Apples. Today many large-scale producers add things such as residual sugar, artificial carbonation, grape juice or preservatives. The finest is still nothing more than fermented apple juice, served fresh and slightly chilled.

via See what real hard cider is all about | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

Tags: Articles, Table Wine, cooking, food, food history, wine by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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If you are looking for an easy way to impress your guests at you backyard grill, here’s a simple trick that’s sure to make your favorite salmon fans drool: wrap it in banana leaves.

A classic method in tropical climes for centuries, this method is still relatively unknown in the States, but we are familiar with some methods that operate on the same principle, which uses a grill’s high heat on an enveloped piece of meat, fish or poultry to steam it in its own juices.  Many use foil, or multiple sheets of wet newspaper, or cook sweet corn while it’s still in the husk (popular here in Iowa).

The advantage of the banana leaves is that you get the best of both worlds: the healthy, juicy speed of steam with the rich aroma and flavor of smoke from the grill.  Plus there’s no sticking to the grill, despite the lack of added fat.

Banana leaves are easy to find in just about any Asian grocery, and many Mexican bodegas carry them as well.  They usually come frozen, but they thaw very quickly just sitting on your counter, or overnight in the refrigerator, and I have re-frozen leftovers two or three times with no noticeable loss of quality. [Read more →]

Tags: Articles, Grilling, Iowa, Saveur, cooking, food, recipe by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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Tags: Articles, conviviality, cooking, food, food history, recipe by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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We shake our heads in astonishment at the level of the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. We want to help, but don’t know how. Seems no one has the answers, least of all BP, who continues to whitewash the beaches in advance of the arrival of Anderson Cooper or President Obama.

Ironically the New Orleans Oyster Festival, postponed from its original 2006 premier by Katrina and Rita, had its inaugural – and likely final – run last week. No one has anything optimistic to tell us about the future of the Louisiana oyster beds. More bad news comes when you talk to shrimpers, longline fishers, trawlers, and on and on.

Soon-to-be-outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward is saying that it will “pay all legitimate claims” made by the people whose lives their carelessness ruined, but looking at the Exxon Valdez spill for precedent, Exxon tied them up in court for 2 decades and eventually paid a mere 10% of the total claims. So no, I don’t think anyone believes Mr. Hayward.

And so it comes down, as it always does, to the strength, goodwill and generosity of the American people to try and help the victims of still more corporate carelessness.

The first of what I am sure will be many opportunities arrives this week. Jimmy Galle, owner of bay Area seafood supplier Gulfish, has organized Dineout for the Gulf Coast, a 3-day benefit at many of the best restaurants around the country. The short-term goal of The Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, administered by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, is to make emergency grants to nonprofit organizations helping the victims of the oil spill. The long-term goal of the fund is to address the long-term economic, environmental, cultural effects of the disaster, and strengthen coastal communities against future environmental catastrophes by investing in solutions.

Maybe you can’t afford to send thousands of dollars. Maybe you can’t afford the time it would take to go down there and lend a hand. Most of us want to help in those ways, and most of us simply cannot. This is a small way you can help – go to dinner, eat some good food for a good cause.

Let the profiteers and politicians haggle over the blame game. We’ll keep taking small steps toward recovery. Only a fool fights in a burning house – it’s time to help the people.

via Kurt Friese: Dine Out for the Gulf Coast.

Tags: Animal Cruelty, Gulf Coast, Huffington Post, Oil Spill, Slow Food, capitalism, food, food cost, food history, food politics, food security, wild food by Chef Kurt Michael Friese
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