Strange Fruit: Krispy Kreme Cheeseburgers

It's exactly what it sounds like.

http://incredimazing.com/page/Mmmm_Krispy_Kreme_Cheeseburgers

Strange Fruit: Food that Eats Itself

Not only is food sometimes anthropomorphic, sometimes it eats itself.

Check out this great collection of photos by Flickr user agmilmoe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/agmilmoe/sets/72157594356771968/

Drink Up: Ginger Beer

Part of my job involves communicating with foreign law firms. One of our associates in Australia sent us a bunch of foodstuffs from the Land Down Under. His cultural exchange package included a ginger beer named Bundaberg. My only experience with ginger beer up until this point was from a few years ago at a Caribbean restaurant. Now that I think about it, it makes sense for Australia to have ginger beer too since ginger beer originated in England in the 1700s.

The name "ginger beer" is a bit of a misnomer. Ginger beer is not an alcoholic beverage...at least, not these days. Traditionally, ginger beer involved fermenting a mixture of ginger, sugar, and water with ginger beer plant, which is not a plant, but a symbiotic union between the yeast Saccharomyces florentinus and the bacteria Lactobacillus hilgardii. The fermentation process produces carbon dioxide and ethanol and qualifies the beverage as a beer. Additional flavorings such as lemon, sassafras, or licorice could be added as well.

These days, ginger beer is brewed from the same basic mixture of ginger, sugar, and water but not fermented. It is carbonated by the addition of pressurized carbon dioxide and contains no alcohol. Sounds a lot like ginger ale, no?

Ginger ale originated in Ireland as a soda drink. How is modern ginger beer different from ginger ale? They aren't much different, except for the fact that ginger beer has a stronger ginger taste to it, which means it probably has more ginger in it.

How did ginger beer lose its punch? In England, an 1855 law that taxed beverages with more than 2% alcohol was issued and hence the transformation to a non-alcoholic beverage. In the United States, ginger beer's decline in popularity was partly due to the Temperance Movement and the Prohibition.

While ginger beer is a rare sight these days, it used to be a lot more popular. According to this article by the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, ginger beer was the most popular beverage in England for 150 years.

For those of us who want to experience authentic ginger beer, there are many recipes on the internet.

Here are three to get you started:

• http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-ginger-beer/
• http://www.homemade-dessert-recipes.com/ginger-beer-recipes.html
• http://wildschwein.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/ye-olde-fashioned-homemade-ginger-beer-theory-and-practice/

The first two are probably a little more practical to make since they do not require ginger beer plant. However, if you want to include ginger beer plant, there is an active Yahoo! group devoted entirely to ginger beer plant where you can find some information about where to get it.

Here is the link to the group:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GingerBeerPlant/

I'd be curious to know if anybody has ever had or made authentic ginger beer before. Please share any stories you might have! I'll follow-up if I come across more ginger beer or make some myself.

Sources:

http://www.fohbc.com/BandE_Article4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_beer
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blginger_al.htm

The 32nd Flavor

I am visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Taipei at the end of August. I was reading my Time Out Guide to Tokyo and came across a brief mention of fried chicken ice cream.

A quick Google search revealed that that's not all I have to look forward to

http://subversivewriter.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/japanese-ice-cream-flavors-squid-eel-goat-not-for-the-faint-of-heart/

I've noticed that I seem to have written a lot about Japanese food...

Review: Japa Dog

The Japanese have taken something foreign to their culture and made it distinctly Japanese -- Again. I love it.

As part of travel planning, the epicurious are sure to make a list of places where they want to eat without any regard to proximity to their hotel. Once in the foreign city, however, practical considerations set in, and the list is pared down to the more easily accessible places. On my recent trip to Vancouver, I lucked out. A place that I wanted to try, the Japa Dog hot dog stand, happened to be right outside my hotel.

Japa Dog sells Japanese-style hot dogs and is a block from the main strip, Robson Street, in downtown Vancouver. The first thing you notice about the cart is that it is surrounded by people eager to place their orders and to pick up their orders. A blue rope is stretched out near the cart with the intended purpose of getting customers to queue up alongside it. However, because the side of the cart from which customers order seems to alternate after every third order, it's never clear whether the rope is there to line up those who have yet to place the orders or those who are waiting to pick up their order.



As you get closer to the cart, the next thing you notice about Japa Dog is that it relishes (no pun intended) its publicity and its celebrity customers.



Like the website, the cart excitedly lists when it has appeared in the media and who has had a Japa Dog, even mentioning what kind of hot dog the celebrity ate.



Japa Dog offers ten types of hot dogs. All the sausages are all freshly or recently grilled and the buns are toasted. Should you choose one of the six more traditional offerings, like the all-beef hot dog, your choice of condiments go beyond the standard ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, and relish. There are several types of mustard, Asian chili sauces, and peppers with which you can top your dog.

The real reason why you would go to Japa Dog, however, is for the Japanese-style hot dogs:

Misomayo - turkey hot dog, kaiware sprouts, miso-sesame sauce, and japanese mayo - This dog was very mild in flavor. As it always is, the turkey sausage was tough. It is probably a good introduction for anyone not completely sold on the idea of a Japanese hot dog.



Terimayo - all beef hot dog, nori, chopped onion, and teriyaki mayo - The teriyaki mayo and the beef worked well together. The nori didn't add too much to the overall flavor other than making it a little more Japanese tasting. Still, it was good.



Oroshi - bratwurst (pork), daikon, scallions, and special soy sauce - This was by far my favorite. The flavors of all the ingredients were balanced and combined well to make a great tasting hot dog. This one is a must try.



The people working the cart are extremely friendly.



Since the cart is on a street corner with no benches nearby, you have no choice but to stand and eat your dog, sit on the steps of the wine shop that the cart is directly in front of, or sit on the edge of one of the concrete enclosures between the steps which hold some grass and trees and hope that the sprinklers aren't on. The wine shop doesn't seem to mind all the people hanging around eating hot dogs. All the better, I don't want to be hassled while enjoying my Japa Dog.

Niboshi (煮干し)

Fishy Memory

One of my earliest memories is of these 3-4 cm long little fish which are used to make dashi, a soup or cooking stock used in Japanese cooking. Growing up in a family of recent immigrants from Taiwan, I remember being fascinated by the plastic packages of small fish. I don't recall ever eating anything made with the fish.

At age 5, it didn't occur to me at the time how bizarre the fish must seem to Americans. Looking back, it is a little strange that this product was available in Columbus, OH in the early 1980s.

When I visited Taiwan last year, I went to a seafood marketplace which sold various types of dried fish and shrimp for use in cooking.



The conical piles of dried seafood did not seem strange to me. In fact, they felt comforting.

When used in making dashi, the heads are pinched off and the innards are removed in order to remove bitterness. The niboshi are then boiled in water and strained.

Some people have found creative ways of using niboshi, such as promoting it as the basis of a new holiday which would replace Valentine's Day. If this trend caught on, I would probably then not be the only one with memories involving these small fish.

Putting Indecision in Context

What kind of indecision will we be having tonight?

At a restaurant, it is the curiosity about the choices that cause indecision. "Red miso soup or white miso soup? Both sound interesting. Which are you having?"

At home, it is ambivalence resulting from the familiarity of choices that leads to indecision. "Red miso or white miso? Didn't we have red miso yesterday?"

At the grocery store, it is the unfamiliarity with the choices that cause indecision. "What's the difference between these misos? Which one am I supposed to buy?"