Snacking State-by-State: Washington II - See Sea Scallops! See Pink Scallops? Sing, Pink Scallops, Sing!

When I think of seafood in the Pacific Northwest, I think of two things: salmon and Dungeness crab.  I did not realize, however, the importance of the delicate, toothsome scallop.

Official Name: State of Washington
State Nickname: The Evergreen State
Admission to the US: November 11, 1889 (#42)
Capital: Olympia (21st largest)
Other Important Cities: Seattle (largest), Spokane (2nd largest), Tacoma (3rd largest) 
Region: Northwest, Pacific, Pacific Rim; Pacific (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Salmon
Bordered by: Pacific Ocean (west), Oregon (south), Idaho (east), British Columbia (Canada) (north)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: apple (fruit); bluebunch wheatgrass (grass); steelhead trout (fish); Walla Walla sweet onion (vegetable)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Pacific coast seafood, including but not limited to: Dungeness crab, salmon, trout, scallops of many varieties, Geoduck clam, mussels, oysters, halibut, cod; blackberries, apples, huckleberries, cranberries, cherries; hazelnuts; coffee

I love scallops, but they are an occasional treat for me.  I don't get to eat too many of them because they're pricey (try $17 per pound locally).  The lucky people in Washington get to eat these things more often (are they cheaper there?) and more readily when in season.

In his eponymous Seattle Kitchen cookbook [2001], Tom Douglas discusses the different kinds of scallops, especially the much-prized but so rare "singing scallops"

Weathervane or Pacific scallops are the large and meaty scallops that are featured as "sea scallops" on local menus.  They are sold shucked and trimmed and are often grilled or sautéed.  Pink or singing scallops are native to Puget Sound and are hand-harvested by divers. Their season is short and sporadic, so whenever we get singing scallops, we put them right on the menus as specials...  They are very fragile, so we make sure to serve them the day we get them.  [Douglas 2001:61-62]

Douglas has a recipe for singing scallops - you can use sea or even bay scallops instead, since singing scallops are so difficult to come by, especially outside the Northwest.  I interpreted this recipe, on pages 68 and 69 of his Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, with a few small changes: as he suggests for those with no easy access to singing scallops, I went ahead and used sea scallops, shucked fresh at Wegman's, and trying to stay close to his recommendations I swapped out the Muscat wine for a somewhat cheaper Muscatel recommended by the nice people at the Wine Source in Hampden.

The Recipe: Singing Sea Scallops in Muscat Muscatel Sabayon

* sea scallops (I now know why I don't buy many scallops - even these were $17 per lb!!! Ouchie!)
* Muscatel (Botani Moscatel, from the Sierra de Málaga.  This bottle was about $10)
* tarragon (I really need to start growing this, since this puny amount of this delicious herb set me back $2)
* red onion (about 50 to 75 cents)
* lemon (one lemon: about 67 cents)
* orange rind (I forget how much the orange was)
* egg yolks (you need two, and I had the eggs in the fridge)
* kosher salt (had it)
* butter (same)

Peel the orange rind (set this aside), slice the lemon and cut the onion into pieces.

You will cook the lemon and onion with some of the tarragon in the Muscatel

Next, poach the sea scallops in the boiling wine mixture for a few minutes...

...until barely cooked.

Next, spoon out the scallops and set aside.

Get a strainer ready.

Strain the wine mixture into a saucepan, and discard the things that were just boiling in it.

And reduce until syrupy.

Meanwhile, arrange the scallops on a baking sheet.

Pour your reduced wine mixture into a metal bowl, add the egg yolks and whisk for several minutes over a pot of boiling water.  You will add the orange rind and some more tarragon after whisking the egg yolks.  I got impatient and figured I had done something wrong...

...but lo and behold, I did get a lovely sauce!

Spoon a little of the sauce over each scallop.

Place the scallops under the broiler for just a few short minutes.

And this is what you get.

So much work goes into such pricey (for me they're pricey) ingredients, but what a decadent thing to eat in the end!  The firm scallops covered in this delicate, tangy and sweet sauce is wonderful either as an appetizer (per Tom Douglas' suggestion), or as a small main dish.  I had some with white rice, which complements it nicely.

Sources:

Douglas, Tom.  Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen.  William Morrow: New York, 2001.

"kiwisoutback" (Squidoo.com user).  "How to Make a Starbucks Iced Latte."  In "Starbucks Coffee Drink Recipes", Copyright 2008, Squidoo.com.  All rights reserved.

Washington Apple Commission.  "Crop facts."  Copyright 2010 Washington Apple Commission.  All rights reserved. 


Washington Apple Commission.  "Golden Apples and Yams."  Copyright 2010 Washington Apple Commission.  All rights reserved.

Coffee.org.  "History of Starbucks."  Date unknown.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Washington" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Washington".

Snacking State-by-State: North Carolina III - It's the (Pimento) Cheesiest

Pimento cheese is one of those specifically Southern foods you see throughout the "proper South".  While Maryland has its ties to Southern cuisine - in terms of seafood, fried chicken, hams, familiarity with Moon Pies as opposed to whoopies, which are only newly popular here, etc - we are clearly above the culinary Mason-Dixon Line in terms of pimento cheese.  But like the sweet Yankee whoopie pie, the decidedly Southern pimento cheese has started to make itself very much known in Maryland and throughout the nation, busting waistlines all over.

Official Name: State of North Carolina
State Nicknames: The Tar Heel State, The Old North State
Admission to the US: November 21, 1789 (#12)
Capital: Raleigh (2nd largest)
Other Important Cities: Charlotte (largest), Greensboro (3rd largest), Winston-Salem (4th largest)
Region: South, Southeast, Upper South; South Atlantic (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Crabcake; Chestnut
Bordered by: Virginia (north); Tennessee (west); Georgia (southwest); South Carolina (south); Atlantic Ocean (east)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: blueberry & strawberry (berries), milk (beverage), channel bass (fish), Southern Appalachian brook trout (freshwater trout), Scuppernong grape (fruit), honey bee (insect - again, for the honey), gray squirrel (mammal), sweet potato (vegetable)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: two - count 'em: two famous styles of BBQ (Eastern and Western or "Lexington-style"); other standard Southern foods, including (typically eaten with said BBQ's) cole slaw, hush puppies, sweet tea; pimiento cheese (the nation's leading producer); also the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola

Emily Wallace, a native of the Piedmont North Carolina, writes for the Durham-based Independent Weekly about the history of what I might easily assume is a food she enjoyed as a child.  Pimento cheese, as she puts it, is "parading around as the nation's new It Girl" [Wallace 2011].  She points out that the hearty mix of cheddar cheese, pimentos and mayo (among other things) is a food that is both proletarian and bourgeois, appearing in lunch pails and tea rooms since the early 20th century:

Many people in the Piedmont, including my mother, briefly, worked in a textile mill. There, formalized meal breaks were largely disregarded by the 1920s, and workers were encouraged to eat on the job as they found time. To facilitate this process, sandwiches and crackers were sold at worker's stations by way of dope carts—wagons named for the caffeinated "dopes," or sodas they stocked. Of the sandwiches, which included other salad spreads like ham, chicken and egg, pimento cheese became the most iconic. Tasty, affordable and convenient, it nonetheless retained its status as a delicacy in certain circles. [Wallace 2011]

And wouldn't you know it, Charlotte, according to Wallace, is the nation's pimento cheese capital, and North Carolina the nation's leading producer of the stuff.  Also the home of one of my favorite supermarket chains (yes, those words actually came out of my brain) Harris Teeter, you will find a good selection of pimento cheeses there - notably Augusta's Creations, also out of Charlotte (they make regular and jalapeño pimento cheeses).

Pimento cheese is one of those foods for which every family has its own recipe, like crab cakes or chili.  The recipe I used - originally from Nan Davis - comes from the Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook, edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge.  It speaks to the popularity of pimento cheese that the very first recipe in the collection is a pimento cheese recipe.  Forgive me, Charlotte, but this recipe comes to us from Edge's home state of Mississippi - not exactly North Carolina, but a good recipe nonetheless.

The Recipe: Pimento Cheese

For Nan Davis' Blue Ribbon Pimento Cheese (recipe on page 5 of the SFA Community Cookbook) you will need the following:

* cheddar cheese (different recipes I saw also added some Monterey Jack, but every recipe I saw had at the least cheddar cheese, as bright yellow as you can get.  A 16 oz block set me back about $3 on sale at, yes, Harris Teeter)
* pimentos (you absolutely need these - a 4 oz jar is $3)
* mayonnaise (while the recipe calls for a homemade mayo, the recipe for which follows, I stuck with Richmond-based Duke's Mayonnaise)
* Worcestershire sauce (not every recipe will call for this, or any of the other ingredients that follow)
* sugar (just a tad)
* onion powder (I bought a small bottle for about $1.50)
* cayenne pepper (had it)

First, grate your cheddar cheese.  You could also cheat and buy it pre-shredded. Maybe that would've saved me some time, but this recipe isn't a difficult one to begin with.

I thought about adding a little leftover pecorino romano, though I only added a little.

Throw the shredded cheese in your food processor with all your other ingredients.  I had to do this in two batches.

Pulse until it is like a rough paste.  Add more mayonnaise if it's not soft enough.

This is a delicious, luscious and filling - very damn filling - pimento cheese.  I have enough to last me for a while, and that's after sharing half of it with friends.  I just have to face facts: this is going to gain me a pound or two.,  Grilled pimento cheese sandwiches for the next few weeks anyone?  Note though: I made this during Lent.  A grilled pimento cheese sandwich would be the perfect meatless meal, although I would enjoy it too much.


Sources:


Barbecue Joint.  "Eastern North Carolina Barbecue".  Featured on the episode "Durham, NC" of the show $40 a Day (Rachael Ray, host).  Food Network, 2005.

Bowen, Dana.  "East Vs. West: North Carolina Pulled Pork".  Saveur.com, Issue #139: BBQ Nation.  Published June 16, 2011.  Copyright 2011 Saveur.com.  All rights reserved.


Goldwyn, Craig "Meathead". "East Carolina Kiss & Vinegar Barbecue Sauce & Mop". Amazing Ribs website. Last revised September 12, 2011.  All

Graff, Michael, Wendy Perry, and Teresa Williford.  "The Pepsi ‘N’ Peanuts Cake".  Our State: Down Home in North Carolina. Posted February 2012.  Copyright 2012 Our State.  All rights reserved.

North Carolina BBQ Society.  "Eastern Style Slaw".  Copyright The North Carolina Barbecue Society, Inc. 2009.

North Carolina BBQ Society.  "Piedmont Lexington-Style Dip".  Copyright The North Carolina Barbecue Society, Inc. 2009.

North Carolina Travels (NorthCarolinaTravels.com).  "North Carolina Barbecue".  Date unknown.  Matt Barrett's Travel Guides: North Carolina.  All rights reserved.

O'Dea, Stephanie.  "You Can Use Your CrockPot as a Smoker".  A Year of Slow Cooking.  Posted August 7, 2008.

Pepsi Store (PepsiStore.com).  "History of the Birthplace".  Date unknown.  Copyright PepsiStore.com and Pepsi-Cola.  All rights reserved.

Saveur.com.  "Lexington Pulled Pork".  Saveur.com, Issue #139: BBQ Nation.  Published June/July 2011.  Copyright 2011 Saveur.com.  All rights reserved.

Saveur.com.  "Lexington-Style Red Slaw".  Saveur.com, Issue #139: BBQ Nation.  Published June/July 2011.  Copyright 2011 Saveur.com.  All rights reserved.

Southern Foodways Alliance (Sara Roahen and John T. Edge, editors).  The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook.  University of Georgia Press: Athens, GA, 2010.

Wallace, Emily.  "A brief history of pimento cheese".  Independent Weekly (IndyWeek.com).  Posted June 22, 2011.  Copyright 2012 Independent Weekly.  All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "North Carolina" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "North Carolina".

Snacking State-by-State: Mississippi III - The War Between the States, Installment I (or "Oysters! Bacon! Oysters and Bacon!!!")

As most US history buffs know by now, we are in the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  On a very related tangent to this State-by-State project, I will save two recipes in this series to recipes from the Civil War.  The latter, Yankified one will come when we cross back over the Potomac and traverse the Mason-Dixon.  The first is more of the Secesh variety.

Official Name: State of Mississippi
State Nicknames: The Magnolia State; The Hospitality State
Admission to the US: December 10, 1817 (#20)
Capital: Jackson (largest)
Other Important Cities: Gulfport (2nd largest); Biloxi (5th largest), Tupelo (7th largest)
Region: South, Deep South, Gulf Coast; East South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Corn Bread & BBQ; Gumbo
Bordered by: Tennessee (north); Alabama (east); Gulf Coast (south); Louisiana (southwest); Arkansas (northwest); the Mississippi River (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: white-tailed deer (land mammal); wood duck (waterfowl); largemouth/black bass (fish); honeybee (insect - the honey is what you eat, of course); oyster (shell - again, you eat what lives inside it)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: typical Southern foods, with Cajun foods (gumbo, étouffée, etc) in the southern part of the state; seafood along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast (especially crawfish, shrimp, oyster and blue crab)

There are so many websites with Civil War era recipes, from hoe cakes to hard tack and so much more (check out the Civil War Interactive website for more recipes from the War and the era).  In his cookbook A Gracious Plenty, John T. Edge lists among the first recipes an easy dish that works today as a Civil War-era hors d'oeuvre.  Edge quotes Bethany Ewald Bultman, who provided the recipe to the recipe collection Cook with a Natchez Native, who says that she found the recipe in an 1873 Natchez, MS, cookbook:

"...handwritten in the margin [next to the recipe] was 'It got us through the WAR'.  it didn't say which war." [Edge 1999: 13]

The recipe: Confederates on Horseback

* oysters (pre-shucked or not - it's cheaper for me to buy them unshucked.  All of the local oysters at Wegman's were from the Chesapeake - yay!  I got some Chincoteague oysters: briny and strong but still delicious, each for 99¢.  One died on the way home so I had three to shuck.)
* slices of bread (one for each oyster)
* slices of bacon (again, one for each oyster.  I was out of bacon but instead of buying a whole package, I went ahead and had them slice some bacon at the deli counter.  Yes, Wegman's has its very own charcuterie section.  I got a 1/5 pound for about $1.50, which wound up being much cheaper than buying a whole pound)
* butter (unsalted, to spread on the bread)
* horseradish (to spread on the bacon.  The recipe as reprinted by John T Edge calls for anchovy paste, though other, perhaps more modernized versions call for either anchovy paste or horseradish.  I only had one of those on hand.)

Preheat your oven to 400°F and proceed with the recipe below.

Cut each slice of bread into rounds - a cookie cutter or glass will work wonders with this step.

Lightly toast the rounds of bread.

Next, shuck those oysters.  The guy at the fish counter wasn't kidding: these Chincoteagues are strong.  I mean that in two ways: by the briny smell, and by the way they simply refused to let me pry them open.  That last part is strange, considering that it was relatively easy to find an opening into these oysters to shuck them, but once I did, they hung the hell on.

Butter each toasted round of bread and set aside.

Next, take each slice of bacon - raw - and spread it with the horseradish or anchovy paste.  Note: I liked this ready sliced bacon.  It was not stringy or extra slippery like the bacon I usually get from the sealed packages. Since I don't eat a whole lot of bacon all at once, I think I may buy bacon like this more often: a few slices here or there as needed, unless I'm in need for a whole bunch of bacon grease all at once.

Wrap each oyster up in a slice of bacon.

Secure each oyster with a toothpick, unless you're like me and only have multicolored plastic toothpicks, that will melt in the oven and make your oysters taste funny, on hand.

Bake for five to eight minutes in your 400° oven, and then place each oyster-bacon-horseradish thing on its own round of buttered toast.

This is such a ridiculously easy thing to make, and certainly Chesapeake cooks have thought of this at some point (maybe even called it "Confederates on Horseback" for all I know).  It's best to bite enough of the bread so that you get the entire oyster in your mouth, otherwise it will squish all over.  Next time, maybe I will try it with anchovy paste?

- - - - -

Why do so many states along the Mississippi River follow each other in alphabetical order?  Minnesota.  Mississippi.  Missouri.  Hold up!  That's where the next few State posts take us: to the land of Kansas City BBQ, St. Louis' own gooey butter cakes, and more strange sandwiches.

Sources:

Civil War Interactive & Blue Gray Daily.  "Welcome to the Civil War Interactive Cookbook: Articles and Recipes for your 19th Century Cooking", date of publication unknown.  Copyright 2011 Civil War Interactive.

Edge, John T. A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South. An Ellen Rolfes Book. For the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. G. P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 1999.

Jackson, Irvin.  "Biloxi Bay Potato Salad".  Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (recipe card) copyright Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, 2011.  Also published in Mississippi Seafood Recipes by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, copyright Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, 2003.

Wilson, Charles Reagan. "Introduction: The South: Who, Where, and What's for Dinner".  In A Gracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the American South by John T. Edge. An Ellen Rolfes Book. For the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. G. P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 1999.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Mississippi" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Mississippi".

Doctor Who RECIPES?

In gathering links for my previous post about Elisabeth Sladen (still very sad), I discovered a "Recipes" section on BBC America's Doctor Who website. The funniest: the Sonic Screwdriver, named for the Doctor's ubiquitous extra-terrestrial "jackknife" of sorts, but with alcohol. The most disturbing: erm, Dalek mini-cakes? "Exterminate" isn't quite the word I would use to describe it.

Five Minute Brie sans Croute

Here is something I threw together today to take to a chorus rehearsal that even Claire Robinson, that wacky perky person on the Five Ingredient Fix show on the Food Net would appreciate. It parallels many recipes I have found online, almost all of which require pastry. I have no pastry, and I had to get it done fast. My apologies if this is similar to anyone's specific recipe, but a lot of these really are variations on a theme. I just eyeballed it as I went along.

You will need a wedge of brie, about 1/4 cup of honey, a handful of pecans, some kosher or sea salt and a little butter (or ghee - yes, I actually have ghee lying around).

Put the brie wedge into a broiler-safe dish (Corningware, for example). Stir fry the pecans in the butter/ghee and salt for a minute, then dump them and the honey on top of the brie wedge. Place under the broiler for about two minutes, until the pecans are dark but not burned. The brie will be warmed and not melted. Serve with crackers.

I wanted to throw on some craisins but I had run out. Oh well. Next time.