WhatsCookingDec2006

Turducken continued:

Turducken is believed to be Cajun in origin, although it may also have originated in eastern Texas or northern Louisiana. While such elaborate layering of whole animals, also known as a farce, from the French word for "stuffing", can be documented well back into the Middle Ages of Europe, some people credit Cajun-Creole fusion chef Paul Prudhomme with creating the chimerical dish. However, no one has ever verified his claim.

The November 2005 issue of National Geographic magazine traced the American origins of the dish to Maurice, Louisiana, and "Hebert's Specialty Meats", which has been making turduckens since 1985 when a local farmer, whose name is lost to history, brought in his own birds and asked Hebert's to prepare them in the now-familiar style. The company now sells around 3,300 turduckens a year and shares a friendly rivalry with Paul Prudhomme.

Turducken is generally associated with the "do-it-yourself" outdoor food culture also associated with barbecuing and crawfish boils, although some people now serve them in place of the traditional roasted turkey at the holiday meal. Turduckens can be prepared at home in the span of 12-16 hours by anybody willing to learn how to remove the bones from poultry, instructions for which can be found on the Internet or in various cookbooks. As their popularity has spread from Louisiana to the rest of the Deep South and beyond, they are also available through some specialty stores in urban areas, or even by mail or internet order.

In addition to the aforementioned chucky, some enthusiasts have taken it a step further, and come up with the turduckencorpheail. This is a standard turducken, which is then stuffed with a Cornish game hen, which is then stuffed with a pheasant, and finally stuffed with a quail. The turduckencorpheail is not for the faint of heart; it is an extremely time consuming endeavor, as birds of the proper size must first be obtained, and then prepared. Chef Paul Prudhomme brought renewed popularity to the Osturduckencorpheail with his own recipe. There is a similar dish in South Africa called the Osturducken, an ostrich stuffed with turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken. A further variant is the gurducken, where the external bird is a goose, rather than a turkey.

In the UK the Turducken is commonly known as a three-bird roast. English chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall expanded this into a ten-bird roast (a turgoduckmaguikenantidgeonck - turkey, goose, duck, mallard, guineafowl, chicken, pheasant, partridge, pigeon, woodcock). The largest recorded nested bird roast is 17 birds, attributed to a royal feast in France in the 19th Century: a bustergophechideckneaealckidgeverwingailusharkolanine - bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan and a passerine. Since passerine is a generic term, it is not known exactly what kind of bird was used as the smallest in the actual roast, although a pied flycatcher has been suggested. The recipe notes that the final bird is small enough that it can be stuffed with a single olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds.

Because turducken contains relatively high levels of fat and cholesterol and it is complicated and expensive to prepare, turducken is seldom eaten outside special holiday dinners, most commonly the American Thanksgiving or Christmas. As such, a serving of turducken contributes a negligible amount of excess fat and cholesterol to the average person's annual diet. Back to top.

Port Continued:

From the December Edition of Wine X Magazine

The history of Port can be traced back to a story similar to that of Dom Perignon. Records dating back to 1678 tell the tale of a monastic Douro resident, Abbott of Lamego, who shared brandy-fortified red wine with a group of British merchants. His intentions were not to spike the substance with the taste of brandy, but rather to stop the grape juice from fermenting from beyond that point. The finished product was a sweet wine high in alcohol. Today, the fortifying process is still done in this unique fashion, though it's not always easy.

The Douro region begins 40 miles east of the second largest city in Portugal - Porto. The Douro River flows through the hillsides until it reaches an area that's hot and humid in the summer and freezing in the winter. If it weren't for the quintas (estates) and 85,000 vineyards terraced on the mountainous slopes, you'd wonder how anything other than olive trees could possibly survive in such conditions. This is a Pre-Cambrian area primarily composed of granite schist. The soil's shallow and stony, meaning the vines must work to find nutrients.

Port starts as a warm, quickly fermenting mass of grapes that's vigorously and continuously agitated by either hand or machine. When the wine reaches about six or seven percent alcohol, 154 proof (77 percent alcohol) neutral grape spirits is added. The sudden shock of high alcohol concentration essentially kills the yeast and completely arrests fermentation. What's left is a sweet or off-dry fortified wine that weighs in at about 18 to 20 percent alcohol by volume. The syrupy liquid is then put into oak casks to age before being blended, bottled and shipped to consumers.

Of all the styles, Vintage Port is the most challenging to consumers. Patience is a virtue -- but patience is hard when you have the opportunity to taste a fine wine before its time! Basically, Vintage Ports aren't filtered, and sediment needs time to settle to the bottom of the bottle. The 1994 and 1997 vintages are true gems of the past decade, with rich and lovely aromas. Unfortunately they're still not ready. LBVs are usually ready four to six years after bottling, Tawnys are released when they're ready to drink, and Rubys (and inexpensive Tawnys) are definitely ready to drink upon release.

So no matter what route you choose to take when experiencing the sensations of Port wines, just remember the stories of toil and stress that go in to each and every bottle. Cheers! Back to top.

Fruitcakes Continued:

Fruitcakes are holiday cakes which have a very heavy fruit content. They require special handling and baking to obtain successful results. The name "fruitcake" can be traced back only as far as the Middle Ages. It is formed from a combination of the Latin fructus, and French frui or frug.

The oldest reference that can be found regarding a fruitcake dates back to Roman times. This recipe included pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. Honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added during the Middle Ages. Crusaders and hunters were reported to have carried this type of cake to sustain themselves over long periods of time away from home, thus the British began their love affair with fruitcake when dried fruits from the Mediterranean first arrived.

During the 1700's in Europe a ceremonial type of fruitcake was baked at the end of the nut harvest. These cakes were saved and eaten the next year to celebrate the beginning of the next harvest, in hopes that they would bring farmers another successful harvest. In the mid 18th century, fruitcakes, also called "plum cakes" were outlawed completely throughout Continental Europe because they were considered "sinfully rich." By the end of the 1700's, however, this ban lightened up into laws merely restricting the use of plum cake.

Between 1837 and 1901, fruitcake was extremely popular. A Victorian "Tea" would not have been complete without the addition of the fruitcake to the sweet and savory spread. Queen Victoria is said to have waited a year to eat a fruitcake she received for her birthday because she felt it showed restraint, moderation and good taste. At that time, also, it was the custom in England for unmarried wedding guests to put a slice of the cake, traditionally a dark fruitcake, under their pillow at night so they will dream of the person they will marry. Back to top.

Wireless Continued:

From the NRN Weekly Newsletter

December 11, 2006

Cafe Enterprises Inc., based in Taylors, S.C. and parent of the 34-unit Fatz Cafe, is one of three casual-dining chains that is using a customer service software and hardware program developed by ESP Systems Inc. to improve service by making front-of-the-house employees more efficient and productive. The operators say their more productive employees turn tables faster, increase check averages and are able to handle more duties, which can reduce labor costs. "It encourages your staff to perform at a higher level," said Steve Bruce, chief executive of Cafe Enterprises. After getting positive reactions from servers in the Rock Hill unit for a couple of months, Fatz Cafe planned to put the devices in another restaurant in December, and slowly roll it out to more stores next year, Bruce said.

Applebee's franchisee Casual Restaurant Concepts, a 28-unit company based in Tampa, Fla., also plans to install the device in six of its units in the first quarter of 2007, although chief executive Franklin Carson admits he was skeptical about the devices at first. "I was opposed to putting technology between the guests and our servers," Carson said. "I thought it should be avoided at all costs. Applebee's is very service-oriented. I was proven wrong." Instead, the two units that tested the device had faster table turns and higher check averages, he said. "They can handle, potentially, more tables, although we haven't tested that," Carson said. "But they have more free time, more ticket times, and their turnovers are faster." Customers also were hooked by the novelty of the hub device, he added. T.G.I. Friday's franchisee Metz & Associates Ltd., in Dallas, Pa., also tested the program in a couple of units and plans to use it in more stores.

Charlotte, S.C.-based ESP, which tested its patented software and hardware in restaurants of all three companies last year, now has 74 restaurants under contract to use the system, chief executive David Green said. The restaurants pay a monthly fee for the technology. The operators said they are finding that ESP is improving customer service by improving communication among the staff, from hosts to bussers, servers to expeditors. The software also provides managers with detailed information on employee performance. "It's the first piece of technology we've seen that comprehensively deals with all things, not just pager systems at the front door or kitchen systems," Bruce said. "We've never seen anything that ties it all together like this."

ESP creates a wireless "bubble" over a restaurant, Green said. A hub device at the table allows customers to page their servers. Servers can page one another if they need assistance. A busser can page the hostess to let her know a table is ready. A hostess can page a server when a new customer has been seated. A bartender can page a server when a drink order is ready, or a chef can page a server for a question about an order. Alerts also can be sent to a manager if there is a problem, such as if a server had two tables seated at the same time and can't get to one, but no other server can greet the table either.

The system gave Applebee's managers useful information in supervising their staffs, Carson said. "It gave them a greater sense of what's going on in the restaurant," he said. "To be a manager and to know instantly if a ticket has gone wrong, or if there is a problem at a table, is huge. In our restaurants, the managers are on the floor all the time. To know at the time that there is an issue going on is a powerful tool for a manager." Managers also were able to get unbiased reports on employees' performances — how quickly they bussed tables, greeted customers and delivered drinks or the check. Managers can use the information to provide additional training to employees if they notice problems in particular areas, Bruce said.

However, some industry insiders caution that such technology could be vulnerable to misuse. "The abuse potential is such that the system could actually interfere with the staff's ability to organize and execute seamless and appropriate service," said Paul Paz, an Oregon server who also is a consultant and founder of Waiters World, a website for servers. Possible abuses could come from employees who lose the equipment or forget to bring the wrist device to the shift, or from staff playing practical jokes on each other at customers' expense, Paz noted. Or customers might let their children play with the table device or make repeated unnecessary prompts just for "waiter-tricks" entertainment, he said. The operators who tested ESP, however, said they had not experienced any abuses of the system by customers or employees and one server at Fatz Cafe stated that customers did not excessively page her. Back to top.