We'll take cue from a master, and agree with Julia Child that the traditional leek-and-potato vichyssoise "is the mother of the family in all her simplicity." The vegetables combine to a delicate smooth soup, and, wrote Child, "a bit of cream at the end is a nourishing touch, but by no means necessary." But dear Julia, since when were you one to go easy on the fat?
Created by the chef of New York's Ritz, Louis Diat, the soup made an appearance shortly after the restaurant opened in December 1910. Debatably a Franco-American hybrid, the soup was inspired by the cooking of Diat's mother: "One of my earliest food memories is of my mother's good leek and potato soup," he wrote. Although similar French potage recipes predate the chilled Vichyssoise as we know it, the temperature is what differentiates the refreshing dish.
And what better way to celebrate National Vichyssoise Day than with Louis Diat's original recipe from 1941's "Cooking a la Ritz"? Check it out, after the jump.
It's amazing what a base of flour and water is capable of. Though breads often take a back seat, as accompaniments to main courses, cheeses or more, today we celebrate bread worthy of standing on its own, the ultimate mobile comfort food -- not to over-toot the French, but gloriously buttery croissants and crunchy, subtly salty baguettes spring to mind.
So get baking! For holiday inspiration, with the addition of pumpkin and spices, bread becomes the complex Pumpkin Spice Bread or a moist Pumpkin Cheese Bread with cream cheese, or can even serve as a worthy Thanksgiving side dish, in our Savory Bread Pudding recipe.
What are your most cherished baked breads? Share your favorites in the comments!
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Ah, baklava -- the unctuous dessert enveloping honey and nuts in buttery layers of phyllo dough. Happy National Baklava Day!
The European-Middle Eastern delicacy actually has quite an impressive history. Dating back to the 8th Century B.C., the Assyrians used to pile nuts into thin layers of dough and top the whole thing with honey before baking it. The treat was considered a luxury, enjoyed predominantly on special occasions, and affordable only to the wealthy.
It has since come a long way, traveling to the Near East, Turkey and Armenia over time, then finally to Greece with the rise of the Grecian empire -- and the rich, buttery cinnamon-walnut treat has today made it over to the Food Network, with a fabulous classic recipe by Alton Brown. If you're feeling adventurous, try a shot at more Americanized versions of the versatile international dessert with Pear Baklava or even Chocolate Baklava.
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Happy Raisin Bran Day! Most commonly recognized in the dominant Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch these days, the raisin-bran combination has actually been around since 1926, when it started as Skinner's Raisin Bran. The "raisin bran" moniker was once trademarked, but usage limitations fell by the wayside as the term became widespread.
Statistics say that the average raisin-bran box of cereal houses 1,000 raisins -- but we think the cereal is best put to use adding extra texture and flavor in creative baking, like this Apple Raisin Bran Muffin by Proof is in the Pudding.
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Happy National Guacamole Day! The culinary cosmos of guacamole and pickles may infrequently overlap, but at least today's national food holidays both celebrate zesty green condiments.
Though the lusciously creamy avocado mash is most often associated with summertime BBQs and beer, there's no reason you shouldn't be eager to make use of your mortars and pestles year-round. Check out our guacamole primer on Slashfood, or venture to AOL food for Rosa Mexicano's classic Guacamole en Molcajete recipe -- their trick is mashing the onion, jalapeno and cilantro into a paste for evenly distributed flavor -- though some consumers prefer their avocados hefty, and take pleasure in the zesty chunks of jalapeno, tomato, poblano peppers, green onion, etc.
What are your favorite guacamole additions? Share your secret ingredients after the jump.
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Happy National Pickle Day! Though most commonly perceived and popularized as a brined cucumber, the "Food Lover's Companion" defines the pickle as any "food that has been preserved in a seasoned brine or vinegar mixture." According to the guide, the most popular pickling subjects beyond the cucumber typically include pearl onions, cauliflower, watermelon rind, baby corn, herring and pig's feet -- though most any vegetable can be pickled, it need only be firm enough to not dissolve in brine.
Brines range from sweet (Bread-and-Butter Pickles), to sour or hot (Spicy Dill Pickles), or may take on the flavor of whatever additives, from herbs to spices (Rosemary-Garlic Pickles). And the brine itself holds a range of uses too: soup stock, drink base, even hangover remedy! In one of the more surprising uses, a shot of pickle juice follows a shot of Jameson in the "pickle back" drink.
For an unexpected range of recipes, check out ilovepickles.org and get creative!
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Mascha shares his water know-how at the "Cook. Eat. Drink. Live." event. Photo: Alexa Weibel.
In the competitive, volatile market of food trends, one consumable blankets the majority of Earth yet is massively overlooked by epicureans: water. Commonly considered flavorless -- most would scoff to hear there are some 3,000 varieties of bottled water worldwide -- the commodity is getting reexamined as health issues abound and alcohol consumption is on the wane.
At the forefront of the water movement is water sommelier Michael Mascha, who is working to "educate people about premium bottled water" in hopes of "taking bottled water to the next level and making it a luxury item" -- a lofty goal, considering the liquid is most often regarded strictly as a commodity. However, after a private water tasting at New York City's Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. convention last weekend with Mascha -- a retired food anthropology professor at USC and self-proclaimed "authority on the art of water tasting" -- there may be more to water than meets the eye.
More on the art of water tasting and 'fine water etiquette' after the jump.
As Thanksgiving approaches and we're reminded of the initial feast with the Pilgrims and the Indians, one likely dish of the meal has long been overlooked: the traditional Indian pudding. And though the Native American Indian dessert didn't quite stick as a holiday staple, it gets honored today with National Indian Pudding Day.
American Indian puddings are a baked custard, made from cornmeal and eggs, sweetened with molasses and flavored by spices. They also often include local, readily available fruit, like apples. The name is derived from "Indian" for its use of cornmeal, once called "Indian meal." Although the dish may not appear the most refined, it's comfort food at its best -- try it yourself, with this recipe adapted from "An Olde Conchord Christmas."
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Happy National Pizza With Everything (Except Anchovies) Day! Anchovy lovers may be tiffed, but they can celebrate their topping the other 364 days of the year.
Whether you enjoy your pizza artisanal (thin-crusted, with scarce but quality ingredients, typically served in trendy restaurants) or classic (pepperoni, loaded with cheese, delivered by teenage pizza boys), today is the day to savor a slice.
Do you prefer pizzas with low-quantity, high-quality ingredients, or fully loaded ones, with toppings overpowering the crust? What are your favorite pizza-topping combinations? Spill your delectable slice secrets in the comments!
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In the month that houses the nation's premier evening of gluttony -- the average American consumes some 4,500 calories every Thanksgiving Day, not to mention seemingly endless leftovers -- it's no wonder November is a dreaded month for dieters nationwide. But despite its most famous celebration, the month also ironically serves as the healthy host to National Pepper Month, Vegan Month, National Pomegranate Month, and National Peanut Butter Lover's Month.
Excuses for culinary celebrations range from tame (National Sunday Day, Nov. 11), to obvious (National Turkey Day -- you guessed it, Thanksgiving Day), to practical (National Leftovers Day follows Turkey Day), to downright bizarre (Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day, Nov. 9). So get cooking -- if only for the holidays that you can stomach.
Notable national food holidays for the month of November, after the jump...
Community service has gone to the birds. Or, for some critics, at least the Chicago legal system has after a judge told a defendant he could either do 100 hours community service or bring him some jerk chicken.
When Darrius Logan plead guilty to misdemeanor battery and criminal trespass charges in August, he told Associate Judge Robert Livas that he'd already worked 100 unpaid "community service" hours at Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken, a South Side Chicago Jamaican restaurant chain. The judge told him to come back in two months with proof he'd completed the community service elsewhere or to bring back enough chicken to feed the court room, the Chicago Tribune reports.
"If you walk in with enough chicken to feed everybody, I'll accept these community service hours," Livas said, according to court transcripts from Aug. 4 obtained by the Tribune. "If you don't, I'm not taking any of them."
Apparently rap has a bad rep at McDonald's drive-thru windows.
In yet another bizarre fast-food fable-turned-reality, four Utah teens received disorderly conduct citations following their ordering manner at a McDonald's drive-thru in American Fork, a small town south of Salt Lake City.
The teens apparently mimicked the popular YouTube jingle, which features rhymes to the likes of "Don't be frontin', son; no seeds on the bun!" They initially vocalized their order at a musical pace, then repeated it again slowly.
Culprit Spenser Dauwalder, 18, said the employees warned them that they were holding up the line, and they needed to order clearly or depart. Although he claims no one else was lined up behind him and his three 17-year-old friends, after the manager came out, the teens simply left -- but the store's manager took down their license information and contacted the police.
The police caught up with the teenagers at a high school parking lot and issued the citations -- which, according to Dauwalder's mother, are being contested.
In ancient times, food was marketed primarily by "hunger." But in the modern era, it's not enough that we eat our food, we must also emotionally bond with it. This partly explains the enduring appeal of food mascots, those bright, colorful, affable characters who beckon us to consume.
In many cases, we choose a product simply because we have a bizarre attachment to the cartoon that represents it. There is no shame in trusting, say, a paranoid Leprechaun with a powerful marshmallow lust more than one's own family. These 10 icons are the awesomest in the pantheon of cheap food branding.
We've long been fans of Jen Yates' fantastically funny food blog, Cake Wrecks, so we were mighty pleased to find the she's finally assembled enough disastrous misspellings, ill-conceived concept cakes and just downright nasty icing snafus to fill a whole book, "Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong."
Some celebrities are perfect for the food they promote -- Florence Henderson and Wesson Oil seemed made for each other like Popeye and spinach.
But not all stars are a natural match for the products they endorse. (Like that former Soviet premier who went on to do Pizza Hut ads?) Here are Slashfood's picks for the 10 Weirdest Celebrity Food Commercials of All Time.
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