Good Eating

Content today by an old friend of the family Chef Louis Zathmary of the Bakery Restaurant. I have taken a few liberties with the story.

Perhaps one of the finest gourmet delicacies ever created is smoked salmon. However it can turn into a disaster if not properly prepared and consumed. The first  issue is the way you cut the salmon.

There was a story about a Parisian Captain who could slice the salmon to perfection. It would be a thickness so thin that it would allow you to read the morning newspaper through it. To prove his point the owner of this small Paris restaurant had special plates made with newspaper print embodied in them. However once the captain was gone , nobody could master the art as he did and the plates went into storage. How do I know this to be true, I saw one of the plates hanging in Chef Louis's office in his famous Bakery Restaurant in Chicago. A few glassed of Brandy later he had told me the story.

So intrigued by the proper service of smoked salmon that he argued the point of knowing how to eat the salmon was just as critical. This is his story.

In the event you purchase salmon already machine cut and packed in oil, place each slice in a sheet of plastic after wiping the oil off the fish with a paper towel. Now gently pound the salmon until it is about three times the original size being careful not to destroy the texture of the salmon. Remove the slices from the plastic with a metal spatula being ever so gentle.

Always serve the salmon at room temperature. Serve the salmon with fresh chopped sweet onions that have been soaked in cold water for 5 minutes with a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon and then gently pressed out in a towel. Serve with rinsed capers, juicy ripe lemons cut and wrapped in cheesecloth to keep the seeds from joining the salmon and an excellent rye bread and sweet butter.

Have plenty of good chilled beer or a dry white on hand. Just say in!

Eating the salmon is a heavenly experience, especially if you follow the rules for eating salmon as closely as those for preparing it. To eat Nova Scotia salmon you must train your palate as you do your ears for chamber music. The first bite you take should be nothing but salmon about the size of two postage stamps. Place in the middle of your tongue...without touching your lips or tongue with the fork. Close your mouth and let your tongue and upper palate engulf the salmon and warm it to your body temperature. The volatile oils that preserve the frail scent of the smoked fish will start to evaporate, filling your mouth with a very pleasant warm, sweet sensation. The milt saltiness will awaken all of your taste buds.

Now start to chew the salmon slowly turning it from molar to molar in the back of your mouth. Without opening your mouth, swallow. Now have a deep breath and have four or five short but powerful sips of beer or two sips of wine. This will rinse the fish taste from your mouth and you will enjoy the fragrance and cooling effect of the beer or wine.

Next, take a small piece of the bread with a touch of butter. Chew and swallow it. Take a second piece of bread, placing on it a slice of salmon. On top of the salmon put two or three small bits of sweet onion, one or two capers and few drops of lemon juice. Don't use a fork! Lift to your mouth and bite into the middle.  Placing both bites into your mouth. Close your mouth and chew slowly, playing sensuously with the food, turning it back and forth with your tongue. Enjoy the crunchy sensation of the onion, the mellow fragrance of the caper, the unique texture of the salmon, the bland coarseness of the bread and the sweetness of the butter.

Close your eyes if you wish as if you were listening to music. Keep repeating the procedure and you will decide I'm sure, the salmon was well worth the price you paid for it.

Good Eating

 

Mrs. Tom

Brought to you by the kind folks at Proctor Gas " the propane people"
 

www.proctorgas.com

Stayin’ Alive

Reposted for you enjoyment from Proctor Gas The Propane People. Providing service and products to the surrounding communities for over 40 years.

I enjoyed this so much I have reposted it. I hope my friend Cindy ( who wrote it) and the Mountain Times do not object. It is longer than most of my stories but takes me back to a simpler time that we all shared together. Follow Cindy's Boomer Column in the Mountain Times they are always a great look back.

Hope you had a great Father's Day to all the dads. Remember Proctor Gas for all of your outdoor grilling needs.

Stayin’ Alive

By Cindy Phillips posted Jun 13, 2012

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Robin Gibb couldn't do it. Neither could his brother Maurice. And when it comes to Andy, well, we all know that story. Three of the four infamous Gibb brothers have crossed over to the other side- sad for us, but what incredible additions to the band in Rock and Roll Heaven.

Seems like just a few weeks ago I wrote a column with this same theme. It was right after the passing of Levon Helm and Dick Clark. We also lost Donna Summer since then. And I was actually writing a column about the beach, but within minutes after the death of Robin Gibb was broadcast, I received a text from my daughter. It simply said, "Robin Gibb died. Write a column. Go." After I laughed out loud, I realized she was right.

Ask any Boomer to name their favorite Bee Gees song and they will ponder the question for just a minute before admitting there is no way to narrow it to one. The ultimate boy band produced a string of hits from thought-provoking love songs to plucky dance numbers . Whether it was a slow ballad or a jolting disco number, they all shared the trade falsetto voices of the brothers Gibb.

Though the brothers had been singing and trying to launch a career from a very early age, it was in the early 70's that their career took flight. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart hit number one in 1971. That song tugged at the heart strings of many a teen-aged girl, including this eleventh grader. I was hooked.

One of my fave Bee Gees songs has always been Fanny (Be Tender With My Love). It is one of the ultimate love songs. Of course, it was also a perfect candidate for mis-sung lyrics like so many songs of our Boomer generation. What did you think some of the lyrics really said? I remember being surprised to learn it was "be tender with my love."

Songs like Holiday, Massachusetts and New York Mining Disaster 1941 were certainly not the typical love ballads we often expected from the Gibb boys. But let's face it, with those voices the subject matter could have been Port-a-Potties and halitosis and it still would have sounded like angels singing. And we would have sung along no matter how bizarre the lyrics.

The first time I heard Jive Talkin', I couldn't believe it was my Bee Gees. I actually got a little ticked off and wondered who they thought they were trying to pull a fast one like this. I admit, it was a wild year of music with genres all over the place. David Bowie was crooning Fame, we were bopping to Captain and Tenille singing Love Will Keep Us Together, Barry Manilow hit the charts with Mandy and Glen Campbell paraded Rhinestone Cowboy. Talk about a mish-mosh. But it still didn't give the Bee Gees the license to leave behind the ballads and step into dance music. Or did it?

The boys were simply prepping me for the big show - a movie and a soundtrack that would change everything. I can remember it like it was yesterday, going to see Saturday Night Fever on the big screen. John Travolta strutting his stuff on the streets of Brooklyn, chowing down on a slice and swinging a paint can. I grew up outside of New York City, so I was very familiar with the likes of Tony Manero, Stephanie, Annette, Double J and the rest of the gang. I was completely drawn in by the characters, the scenery and the plot lines. But it was the Bee Gees music that rounded out the experience.

Stayin' Alive was the perfect beat for John Travolta's bee-bop strut. It was as if his steps were totally in sync with the music. You Should Be Dancin' was the perfect backdrop for Tony's gyrations and floor slides, while Night Fever did the same for the synchronized group dance. But what girl's heart didn't melt when Tony twirled, swirled and swooned Stephanie to More Than a Woman.

Though not a member of the Bee Gees, let's not forget brother Andy. He led a troubled life, but certainly held heart throb status for teen girls worldwide. Of course we all shook our heads at the relationship with Victoria Principal. We simply could not wrap our heads around sweet, young Andy hooked up with Dallas's Pam Ewing, aka the Jhirmack Girl. How dare she rob the cradle when so many of us younger ones were waiting in the wings.

Though Barry is the sole survivor of the Gibb brothers, their songs and legacy will live on for generations. I have heard my daughters singing along with lyrics that were written before they were born. It only takes a few notes to recognize a Bee Gees song, and like so many more of our generation, it quickly invokes a cherished memory. Go ahead, try it. Put on an old Bee Gees and album and see just How Deep is Your Love.

Great Grilling

Mrs.Tom

I was knee high to a whippersnapper

I was knee high to a whippersnapper, or about the size of a footstool for those of you too young to remember what a whippersnapper is, when my mother opened a small Italian Restaurant in the living room of our home. Of course everything took place above my head in those days but the unmistakable intoxicating aromas and tastes were commonplace in our home for the next 40 years.

It was there throughout my childhood that I would develop a passion and yearning for great food, and the camaraderie we thought only attainable around a table of Mom's cooking. My mother Eleanora (Lee) and Aunt Ester toiled daily at their labor of love. It was the late fifties when they started and only at my mother's passing did it end some 40 years later. During that time she would become a local legend and mother to all who passed through her doors.

Growing up we were different, oh yes, we were Italian! We thought different, spoke different, and most of all our food was different... it was part of our culture. Most of my friends in those days arrived home after school to a meal of fish sticks or spagettio's. While My mother had been toiling in the kitchen all day. Once dinner was over my friends retired to the Living room to watch Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best while my brother and I were inundated with New York and Boston's cultural and characters in the living room of our home every night .

We didn't get to choose who arrived, they just came...from everywhere and from all walks of life; Catholic Priests, Business Men, Politicians and yes, Wiseguys. They were all there for the same reason...in search of the camaraderie of the Italian table and but mostly for my mother's food. There just was no other food like it. Yes we were different even though we didn't get it at the time.

The Restaurant (Casa Bianca) is gone now, the food will never be quite the same, but the joy, love and family seated around the table holds the same euphoric place in my heart as when my mother gathered us around our Italian Table and would inevitably say "eat this you'll feel better". As Italians we thought great food could cure anything, even cancer!

 Enjoy the Mrs Tom Grills stories and recipes that will be a part of my blogs and visit our show room at Proctor Gas ..."we'll keep the flame burning for ya!".