Fun food links

[aaronatthedoublef]

Gastro Obscura had some fun links. First there is the of the pirate-chocolatier-botanist who brought chocolate to England.

Here is the story of the master baker at Boudin and how he has been coping with the Covid-19 world.

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[BakerAunt]

Thanks for posting these, Aaron. I read the one on chocolate. I'm saving the other one to read later. While the chocolate history is fascinating, I do not understand the author calling it cultural appropriation. Societies come into contact with other societies and information is passed on. It is we moderns who came up with the idea of owning information, which has its upsides and its downsides.

[Mike Nolan]

Chocolate was one of a number of foods that made their way from the Americas to Europe on the ships of explorers, soldiers, merchants, profiteers, and others. Others include coffee, corn, tomatoes and the potato.

[BakerAunt]

And we cannot imagine life without any of these!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Chocolate was big part of pe-Colombian American culture and was for more than cooking and eating. It was used in religious rituals and as a means of exchange, at least according to the Chocolate Museum in Barcelona. So perhaps that is what they mean.

Coffee was hugely important in the history of Europe because it was safe to drink without being alcoholic. So Europe became sober with the introduction of coffee.

Sad news this morning. Sur La Table is going out of business.

Chapt. 11 means they could reorganize and stay open. I still remember them having one shop in Pike Place Market that was PACKED with cool gear I had never seen before.

[Mike Nolan]

Sur La Table has been going downhill for years, the last time I was in one (in Omaha) half of the things I went there for, most of them that 'cool stuff you couldn't find anywhere else' were things they no longer sell.

Bed Bath & Beyond is planning to close a lot of its stores, too.

I remember the days when I eagerly awaited the next Brookstone catalog, and it is to the point when I often don't bother to open a King Arthur Flour catalog either.

[BakerAunt]

It used to be that a visit to a Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, or the arrival of the Old Chef's Catalog (when they were out of Illinois), were so exciting for me. All three, however, began to focus more on the trendy and the expensive, or so it seems to me, rather than on the practical needs of cooks and home bakers. I've been trying to find replacement wire screens for my French Press. No one seems to sell them anymore; they want you to buy the entire French Press.

Williams-Sonoma does not even send emails anymore but is bundled into "The Key," yet sister brand Pottery Barn inundates my in-box.

Chef's Catalog was once a good practical place for cooks and bakers. Then the mail-order company was bought by Nieman-Marcus, then either someone else, and finally Target, which cannibalized and liquidated it. There was an attempt to bring Chef's back, but the offerings were the same narrow range as the other cooking and baking places.

And this is why I'm still looking for a dough docker without buying on Amazon.

[aaronatthedoublef]

You're both right. I just remember what was and miss it. I still remember the first time I walked into their store when they only had one on Pine St in Seattle. And every inch of space was filled with stuff that was so cool.

Even KAF is not what they were. They seem to focus on selling wholesale or selling mixes. I hear they are going to start featuring Marmite as the new hit ingredient making its way to the US. 😉

[BakerAunt]

I'd settle for King Arthur getting baking powder back in stock!

Facebook trendiness has not done King Arthur any good.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[skeptic7]

I liked BRM baking powder when I could find it in the grocery store. It fills two of the little baking powder cannisters.
I used to go to Sur La Table to sneer at the trendy and unneccessary gadgets, but when I needed a tart pan it was the place that had it in stock.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for the tip about Bob's Red Mill Baking Powder Skeptic. I'll compare prices, some day, when BRM also gets baking powder back in stock.

[Mike Nolan]

I have a dough docker that I got from SFBI, but most of the time I just use a fork.

There are still a few specialized catalog/mail order houses for cooks out there, but their pricing tends to be rather high on items and several of them seem focused on mixes as well. Some of them also serve as Amazon sellers, often with lower prices there.

[cwcdesign]

I remember when all those stores were unique and really fun to go to, like a kid in a candy store.

What bothers me about KAF these days is that they seem to develop their recipes in order to sell new flours or baking pans. I understand that, but they used to give you alternatives in case you didn’t have the specific flour or Emile Henry Long baker or whatever. There have been lots of recipes that have appealed to me but not enough to spend so much on more pans. I’ve become a minimalist- I finally bought a muffin tin a year and a half ago, because a friend had made some incredible salted caramel cupcakes and I just had to make them - first cupcakes since I don’t know when.

[BakerAunt]

OK, I've had time to read and look at the pictures in the second article on shaped sourdough breads. It's a fun read. I also found myself giggling, as most of us struggle to get our sourdough shaped into basic loaves. 🙂

I particularly like that pull-apart turkey. What a show stopper bread that would be for Thanksgiving.

[Mike Nolan]

I've got a book from 1987, 'Special and Decorative Breads', that has all sorts of interesting bread shapes and, in most cases, instructions for making them.

[Author]

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