In My Kitchen in October, 2024

Happy Halloween! We’ve viewed a remarkable number of Halloween decorations this month, and will look forward to the Trick-or-Treaters tonight. The weather has been wonderful, prolonging the season for farmers’ market produce and for the herbs in our garden — though the last few nights have been a bit hard on some of the more delicate ones.

The basil went to seed a few weeks ago, but we’ve used all the herbs this month in delicious ways.

First, a Few things that we cooked this month

Roast chicken — served with a bat spatula.

Late Summer Fruit Crumble

The crumble in my favorite baking dish, purchased in Paris long ago.

Last plum cake of 2024?

Little Lettuce Salads with Thousand-Island Dressing

Cottage cheese and veggies for lunch.

What’s New in Our Kitchen?

Maybe for the Trick-or-Treaters. Maybe for me.

Yes, this device really works. Len installed it on the underside of a shelf in the pantry.
The photo shows the box it came in.

Kitchens in Distant Places

Art Exhibit: “Food Culture in the Islamic World”

Last weekend we viewed a wonderful exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts titled “Food Culture in the Islamic World.” This exposition: “brings together 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond to explore art and cuisine.” It’s open from September 22, 2024 - January 5, 2025. (Museum Website)

Here are two miniature paintings depicting kitchen scenes. I’ll be writing more about this very rich exposition.

A Kitchen in 16th-Century Persia

This is a kitchen scene from Shiraz, Persia in around 1570.

This scene is from a book called The story of rice and dumplings: “The person in yellow and red at left is the sufrachi, the hospitality manager of an elite household. Servants with trays line up behind him. The cook, wearing a white apron and wielding a red stick, has attracted the group's attention. Another servant peeks in from the doorway, perhaps a bit concerned about the holdup.” (Source: documentation in the exhibit)

Automated Wine Dispenser from Iraq, Syria, or Egypt, 1315

This is an ingenious device for serving wine: “This design for a wine-serving automaton combines mechanical engineering and entertainment. Devised by the scholar and inventor al-Jazari (1136-1206), a figure on a rolling plank emerges from a cabinet to offer a cup of wine and a napkin. After the drinker consumes the wine and wipes their mouth, they replace the cup and raise the figures arm. Wine from the reservoir at top drips into the cup to repeat the process.”

Antarctica: Two VERY Remote Kitchens

This compact kitchen is in a specially equipped tractor that will traverse Antarctica and go to the South Pole.
The researchers will live in the tractors as they spend months exploring this little-known continent.
From my friend Carla, who works at the research station in Antarctica. (source)

A view of lunch prep in the kitchen at McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica.
If you are intrigued by the life of researchers in this very remote place, see Carla’s blog:
Traversing the Space Between.

Happy Halloween!

This year’s Giant Pumpkins a few blocks from our house.
For pictures of this neighbor’s pumpkins from the past see this blog post.

What’s New in My Kitchen

New Recipes

New Recipe: Using Frozen Dumplings

Grilled chicken skewers. Very nice.

From New York Times Cooking.

Another NYT recipe. I like it because it’s flavored with lemon, no garlic or onions.

Classic Meals in September

Most of our cooking in September involved old favorites. Here are a few photos:

Smoked salmon and traditional potato salad with hardboiled eggs and mayo.

An old favorite using frozen Alaska salmon.

Len’s Breads

Recipe from the Poilâne Baking Book

Just out of the oven: Len’s sourdough bread and sandwich rolls.

More Favorites

Smacks are a life-long favorite of mine.
Don’t mention ultra-processing. I’ll love them forever.

Even our beverage choices are classics!

Food Safety: What’s NOT in my Kitchen

One September Saturday in Kroger’s we were standing in front of a double refrigerator case stacked with egg cartons. More choices than one can imagine: free-range, organic, cage-free, pasture-raised, cheap, expensive, Large, Extra-Large, Jumbo, brown, white… and each carton has the name of a “farm” (actually some mass handler of eggs).

What do we do? We look on our phones for the names of the two “farms” which have recently shipped eggs poisoned with salmonella. We didn’t see any cartons from Milo's Poultry Farms and Tony's Fresh Market. That’s reassuring because those are the recalled brands. (For a list of these and other recent recalls, look here.)

Earlier in our big Kroger shopping trip we noticed the huge sign above the deli: “Boar’s Head.” We shuddered because the Boar’s Head company has been responsible for one of the largest episodes of food poisoning in recent years. The implicated factory has been indefinitely shut down after horrendous discoveries of filthy, unethical procedures. Ten deaths so far, plus many illnesses and hospitalizations are known, and even more of them unreported. I’ve already been (mostly) avoiding deli meat for a number of reasons — now this brand is on my “never” list.

The website Food Safety News lists recalls and warnings about the food supply. Recent alerts for the US and Canada include several pet food recalls for listeria and salmonella, which endanger both pets and human caretakers. There’s a warning about spoiled milk in Canada, and a warning about serious problems at a producer of mung bean and soybean sprouts. Salmonella in eggs triggered a recall in Maine, and salmonella poisoning affected diners at a Mexican restaurant in California. A serious situation, including over 160 cases of mushroom poisoning and two deaths resulted from dangerous chemicals in “edibles.” And that’s just in the last half of September! Note: for more info, the FDA maintains a list of recalls including foods, drugs, and medical devices. The government website FoodSafety.gov also offers advice.

I’m not alone in having a “never” list of products that are (with any luck) banned from my kitchen. I think that everyone has a personally developed list of unacceptably risky choices. In my kitchen, one such item is any kind of sprouts — look at just about any list of recalls, and there will be a problem with sprouts like mung-bean sprouts or alfalfa sprouts. Problems have even occurred with harmful bacteria harbored in seeds from which you can sprout your own sprouts!

Bagged salads have been another frequent source of food-borne illness and recalls: I mostly avoid them. Another obvious example of repeated bacterial contamination is from unpasteurized milk: I’ll never buy or drink it! I also watch expiration dates, and discard food that’s unreasonably past its sell-by or use-by date, but that’s a little complicated and needs much more to be said about it.

Finally, I feel I should mention that a frequent source of contamination in home kitchens is carelessly handled poultry. A number of disease-causing microbes are frequently present in raw chicken, specifically: Salmonella Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria. I follow the recommendations for cooking chicken. Specifically: I do not wash raw chicken before preparing it; I clean all surfaces and utensils after preparing chicken; and I make sure that chicken is fully cooked (165 ° F or 74° C) before serving.

A Gallup Poll recently found widespread unease about the frequency of food contamination scandals:

“Polling conducted by Gallup between July 1 and July 21 found that 37 percent of Americans reported discarding or returning food in the past year due to a product recall or food safety advisory. Just over half the 1,010 respondents—53 percent—said they have avoided buying specific brands or types of food because of a recall or advisory, while 26 percent expressed concern that they may have consumed contaminated food.” (link)

No Sprouts!

Well, I’m afraid this isn’t a very cheery way to tell you about my kitchen. Next time I’ll try to be more upbeat! Have a good month in your kitchen, and thanks to Sherry who hosts “In My Kitchen” on her blog each month.

Thursday, October 31, 2024

October Kitchen Post