The Economy of Food
The latest issue of The Economist has two very good stories about the history of two of our favorite items: Cured Meat and Sugar. "Feet in the Trough" presents a historic overview of the oldest method of preservation (and the best). The article discusses regional approaches to curing throughout Europe dating back to the days of the Romans. We recently did some curing ourselves and were curious to read about the history of the Scandinavian tradition of preparing gravlax. While the article briefly touches on the history of smoking and salting salmon for lox, there was no mention of the surprisingly easy-to-prepare gravlax. So we did a little research.
See below to learn how to prepare gravlax and to learn more about its history.
The second article, "Sick with Excess of Sweetness" is about the political boycotts that were organized during the 17th Century to protest the barbarity of the sugar production in the West Indies. While scholars are doubtful that the actions of young British radicals made much of an impact, it's a reminder that boycotts are nothing new. Click here to see what food products today's radicals are protesting.
Gravlax, a Scandinavian preparation of Salmon differs greatly according to whether it is made in the traditional way dating back to medieval times, or by modern methods. Astri Riddervold has described both and pointed out the earliest mentions of the former:
The word gravlaks can be tracked back in Scandinavian history to 1348, when a man from Jamtland, called Olafuer Gravlax, is mentioned. In 1509, another man, called Martin Surlax is mentioned in the annals of Stockholm. The word gravlax and surlax (buried fish and sour fish) are used as synonyms, buried fish describing the technique, sour fish the result - the fermented stinking fish. According to the old custom of giving people surnames in Scandinavia, both were probably professional producers of buried Salmon.
[From The Oxford Companion to Food]
Making gravlax in modern times does not involve burial. Here is a very easy gravlax recipe:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 Tbs. light brown sugar
2 tsp. crushed coriander
1 tsp. crushed white pepper
1 large bunch chopped dill including tender stems
2 Tbs. aquavit or vodka
Directions:
Combine 1/4 cup kosher salt, 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons crushed coriander, 1 teaspoon crushed white pepper, 1 large bunch chopped dill including tender stems, and 2 tablespoons aquavit or vodka.
Spread this seasoning mixture over both sides of 1 skin-on fillet of salmon, about 3 pounds. Wrap in plastic, weight with a board and a heavy can, and place inside a pan to contain the drippings.
Cure the salmon in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, turning over and reweighing every day. Continue curing in the refrigerator. The salmon is ready when firm to the touch.
Comments
Wow! We at Duda Farm Fresh Foods are really excited to see how much interest our DANDY celery straws are generating in cyberspace. Over the past week we have seen a lot of information generated about our product and we think we should weigh in on the discussion in order to answer some of the questions we’ve seen and correct some of the information that has been posted.
First of all, our DANDY celery straw is not engineered in any way. It is a naturally-grown celery stalk with a hollow core. Using traditional plant breeding methods, we cross pollinated one of our own celery varieties with a hollow-stemmed wild celery – found on one of our farms in Texas. The results of this cross were selected again and again and re-crossed with traditional celery until a larger, more mild-tasting, hollow-stemmed celery was produced. It has taken a number of years to develop the celery straw we have today.
While we are very proud of our celery straw, it is by no means as sleek as the photos we have seen floating around on various blogs. Our celery straw still resembles a stalk of celery – just a hollow stalk. Photos are available if you would like to post them on your site.
For those of you who are interested in knowing how to get your hands on our straws, we are still test marketing this product to find the right channels for distribution. We have seen definite interest from both the foodservice and retail areas and we are actively pursuing both markets. Our main push will be through foodservice outlets and we will continue educating buyers for hotels, restaurants, and other high-end, premium market places about the benefits of this specialty item: it is unique; environmentally sound; a healthy alternative to a straw; adds taste to any drink it is paired with; and is versatile - piped with any filling, it can be served as an appetizer.
Foodservice and retail buyers can contact us at celerystraws@duda.com. And, we encourage all you consumers out there to ask your retail and foodservice suppliers to start offering DANDY celery straws. Have a DANDY day!
Posted by: Comm | January 15, 2007 05:41 PM