Corduroy Orange

Classic look plus classic taste equals winning combination.

Everybody who visits New Orleans hears the same thing from their friends before they go: “Go to Bourbon St., man! You’ve gotta go to Bourbon!” Anyone who says that is dead wrong, of course: Bourbon Street is a malodorous melange of mediocre grog shops, and as such is not worth wasting the time on.

Sophie’s Gelato, on the other hand, ought to be a must-visit for everyone who goes to New Orleans. Located on Magazine Street in the Garden District, Sophie’s has something for every ice cream lover. Whether you’re looking for the nostalgia of their 1950’s-era soda shop decor, the magnificent flavor of their house-made gelatos, or the most courteous customer service imaginable, you won’t be disappointed. Because their gelatos are hand-made in house, there is a rotating cast of varieties that may be available. I visited twice on consecutive days and though many of my choices were the same both times, there were new flavors available on day two, and every type I tried was fabulous.

In the end, both times I settled on flavors featuring the local delicacy Creole cream cheese: one day on its own and the other as part of Strawberry Creole Cream Cheesecake. My choices were mainly inspired by the knowledge that once I returned to Pittsburgh, I wouldn’t see Creole cream cheese anything; but, if your tastes run more standard, there are many flavors from which to make your selection.

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Dear Corduroy Orange:

I really enjoy fresh applesauce but I hate the effort of peeling and coring all of those apples. Is there any way I can avoid that?

Peter Rambo

Dear Mr. Rambo—

There sure is, though unfortunately, you didn’t ask me early enough in the season for you to take advantage of the technique with your namesake apple, which is tart enough to make a tasty sauce.

The secret to making effortless applesauce lies in having a food mill for your kitchen. It’s a handy device that allows you to press the cooked down apples through a sturdy stainless steel sieve. The “saucy” part makes it through the holes; the seeds, skin, and pulp stay behind. The result: smooth and tasty homemade applesauce without having had to peel a thing.

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A Tale of Two Logos

Look closely; compare the two signs. The one painted on the building has been painted to reflect the restaurant chain’s new logo, whereas the free-standing sign still has the subliminally papist design. I had a friend in college whose purely speculative theory was that Al Copeland (Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits founder, New Orleans Entrepreneur, and known Catholic) intentionally disjoined the word contrary to its syllabic divisions for the purpose of promoting his religion; and that after he sold the chain, the new owner changed it to reflect proper scansion. I can neither confirm nor deny that rumour, but I wouldn’t put it past Al to think in those sorts of terms: even after he sold the chain, he maintained rights to the secret blend of spices, and all franchises everywhere still have to buy their seasonings from him. You don’t get much more wily than that. Love that chicken from Pope-Yes.

Fifteen months later, it’s worse than you think
I’ve been putting this post off long enough. It’s been a couple of weeks now since I got back from New Orleans and I haven’t written one word about it. I would have long ago, except for one thing: it’s hard to think about.

The city was my home for seven years. Admittedly, for the first four I was a college student, but I was a fairly active student, at least in Tulanian terms: I engaged the city outside of campus as a tutor in the public schools. During the last three, I got to know the city even better, especially while I was coordinating a program that provided minor home repairs to the elderly. As part of that job, I visited people in almost every neighborhood of the city, many on a regular basis.

As I prepared to return for my first visit, I had a vague idea that the city was in rough shape and that it wouldn’t be the same place I had known from 1996-2003; but I had no idea the extent to which that would be true. Even as I arrived, I was making plans in my head to write about the food and the restaurants and how they had changed as a result of the storm. Now, I can’t even think in terms of food about the city without first explaining the city itself: she ain’t what she used to be.
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A darned tasty sandwich makes everything okay

Most of the time, at work, the only way I’m able to get all of my prep work ready in time to cook everything that I need by the time customers start arriving is that I’ve got some prep left over to start with: basic ingredients that keep for a few days that carry over from one shift to the next. It’s a big help, because otherwise, there’s just too much to be done for one person to handle. I showed up at work this morning and there was practically nothing for me to start with: few enough roasted tomatoes and olives that I could count them individually; no spinach cooked, and none picked from the stem; no meats or cheeses for sandwiches; barely any onions; hardly any salmon portioned, ditto on the steaks; … and to top it all off, the inserts that fit into our refrigerated drawers were left so filthy, I had to pull them all out and wash them by hand before I could put any food in them. I have never entered a day so utterly underprepped. I’m the main guy on a two-man lunch line, and I didn’t expect anyone who could help me to get there before 10:45 — at the earliest (45 minutes before we open). It was so terrible that I very briefly considered throwing my hands up in the air and walking out the door.

Instead, I called the chef and the sous chef on their cell phones and told both that I was left in such piss poor shape that the only way the restaurant would be ready to open was if they got in there and helped me because I had so much to do it wasn’t even within the realm of possibility that I’d be able to get it all done by myself. Fortunately, both tend to be reasonable fellows and both came in a fair bit earlier than they otherwise would have and got me to where I needed to be. When people started lining up at 11:00 waiting for a table and the first four tables all ordered exclusively from me, I was glad I hit the panic button when I did.

Once we got that initial rush taken care of, I found the silver lining to my day in the form of a sandwich the likes of which I have not had in quite some time: chicken and bacon on toasted bread with applesauce. For some reason, it had never previously occurred to me that applesauce could be used as a spread for a sandwich. I don’t know why, because it was so darn good. The only thing that would have made it better would have been some cheddar cheese to finish the flavor sensation. I strongly encourage you to try this sandwich today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after that. But don’t wait any longer than that because by that time, the idea will have faded into the back of your mind and gotten lost among other concerns and you’ll never know the wonder of this amazing sandwich.

Learning everything Scott Baio knows about bread making.

I think we all realize that extruded loaves of supermarket bread aren’t very good, but a day of baking bread with Larry Lagattuta teaches you (among other things) what utter crap they actually are. “Our bodies can’t digest unincorporated flour,” explains Larry while describing why you want to be frugal with the flour you put down on the table while you shape your loaves, “but the only way they can get the dough soft enough to plop into the pans in the bread factory is by adding lots of water. Water makes it sticky, so they coat the insides of their tubes with flour so the dough will go through. The result of that is, lots of undigestable flour winds up in that bread,” the end result being that our bodies rebel against the onslaught and develop allergies to wheat. (more…)

Use your knife wisely to cull the pepper from the seeds

I’ve seen lots of people cut peppers lots of ways, some more effective than others. This method is my favorite; if your knife is sharp and your aim is true, your pepper simply unrolls from the seed core under the gentle influence of your blade.

Begin by slicing down through the pepper outside of the dimple around the stem. As you cut, look at the structure of the pepper: the “meat” of the pepper is held to the seeds by only a few arches of soft, white pith. What you want to do is to sever these arches without disturbing the seeds.

As you reach the bottom of the pepper, turn your knife as you simultaneously roll the pepper. Carefully slice through the pith arches while keeping your knife parallel to the cutting board.

Ideally, the pepper should come apart in one continuous strip with very few seeds accompanying it.

Next, you should remove any tag-along pith from the pepper. The pith is bitter or, in the case of hot peppers, spicy, and is generally considered undesireable for most purposes.

Again with your knife parallel to the cutting board, and again extremely carefully, slide your knife blade between the pith and the pepper. This step is actually a bit easier than it may look because the pith is of a much softer texture than the pepper and therefore slices away from the harder vegetable without much resistance. The main thing you want to be careful of during this step is not to accidentally nick your fingertips with the blade—move them out of the way as it approaches!

Cut the end of the pepper from the seed core for maximum product utilization (in other words, so as not to be wasteful)

Then, slice and dice your pepper according to standard procedure.

Photo credits: Aurora Sharrard

For a basic primer on cooking delicious roasted winter squash dishes, check out my article in today’s edition of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Here are a couple more tips to make your cooking experience easier: (more…)