HUNGRY GERALD

Prince Edward Island is often called, with affection, “Spud Isle” because of its abundance of potato fields. Potatoes have been grown on PEI since 1760. It is now a billion dollar industry with some 330 potato growers cultivating 88,000 of mainly family owned acres which makes PEI the largest potato growing province in Canada. PEI’s soil is red, sandy with a high iron content giving the PEI potato a unique mineral tang. HG has never seen PEI potatoes in American supermarkets; instead we Americans consume spuds (which often have been stored for up to a year) from Idaho and Maine. PEI potatoes are better, attests HG. A favorite companion of roast chicken is BSK’s “smashed potatoes.” BSK roughly crushes boiled potatoes and mixes them with warmed chicken broth and sliced scallions. HG likes this better (and it’s healthier) than butter/cream potato puree. HG often slices PEI potatoes on a Japanese mandoline slicer and pan fries them with an abundance of chopped garlic (influenced by Paris bistro L’Ami Louis). Great with steak. A local favorite dish here on PEI is a “PEI Galette”: a casserole of thinly sliced potatoes, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, herbs, garlic, olive oil, pureed onions baked in the oven and browned under the broiler. Sounds good. Have to try it.

Salmon with sorrel sauce (sauce oseille) is on the menus of many French bistros. Popularized by the chef Pierre Troisgros, the sauce is a lush mix of butter, cream and fish stock flavored with a chiffonade of sorrel leaves. HG/BSK have always enjoyed this bistro classic in Paris; however, when cooking farm raised salmon (alas, the only kind available on Prince Edward Island), BSK have modified this lush sauce to create a healthier, easier-to-prepare taste treat that still manages to elevate salmon to culinary heights. BSK grows sorrel in the BSK herb garden and it is grows like a weed — fast and furious. With this abundance, BSK makes sorrel soup (sauteed sorrel, butter lettuce, onion, butter and chicken broth pureed altogther). It is a great soup whether served hot or cold. To make a sauce for salmon, BSK reduces some soup and simmers it with additional butter and beaten egg yolks. Draped over a poached salmon, it is summer heaven.

HG/BSK were at the lovely St. Peters Harbor Beach (A.K.A. The Bad Boy Beach according to grandson Haru) yesterday. Powdery white sand. Towering sand dunes and beach grass tossed by the breezes. Would have been perfect except for broiling heat. Hottest day HG/BSK ever encountered on Prince Edward Island. Even a plunge in the cold surf couldn’t cool HG sufficiently. HG/BSK’s home on the Island’s northeast shore proved to be an oasis. Shade, insulation and architecture that places windows to strategically pick up breezes and ventilation from every direction. After showering, HG listened to Scarlatti concertos and sipped Pernod (Pernod with lots of ice, cold water and a dash of Angostura Bitters) while watching gulls and herons skim over the sea. HG/BSK then proceed to a leisurely, deeply satisfying hot weather meal. Savage Harbor oysters on the half shell with shallot/vinegar condiment; grilled oysters with a dab of butter and lemon; grilled local asparagus dressed with garlic, olive oil and sea salt. Main dish was a platter of simply dressed garden lettuce topped with gently browned sea scallops. Drank some cold Pinot Grigio and finished with glasses of Argentine Trapiche and slivers of Oka cheese. Delightful dining on a rare scorcher in PEI.

Pernod, the French anise based distilled spirit, is symbolic of summer for HG. Emulating the sun bronzed habitués of the Marseilles waterfront, HG likes to celebrate the glorious few hours before dinner (or supper, as the evening meal is called on Prince Edward Island) watching the sun go down with a soothing but stimulating glass of a Pernod beverage in hand. Simplest way to enjoy Pernod is on the rocks with water. The green spirit changes color in a happy way. HG sometimes gets sightly more elaborate by adding a dash of sugar syrup and Angostura Bitters to the drink. This is a more sober approach to supper than HG’s usual vodka on the rocks. HG often adds a small spoonful of Pernod to fish stews. Brings a touch of Provencal flavor. When added to olive oil, vinegar and fennel seeds, Pernod makes a pleasing marinade for salmon and other broiled fish.

Some like it hot. Count HG among that number. HG likes food prepared with spicy ingredients or accompanied and enhanced by condiments packing much heat. HG/BSK have a kitchen arsenal that attests to love of culinary fire. There are the peppers: White pepper (ground); black pepper (in the form of peppercorns); smoked black pepper (ground); Aleppo pepper (red and vibrant from Turkey); Berbere (very hot); Italian red pepper flakes; Szechuan peppercorns; whole dried red chiles used in Chinese and Mexican cooking. Powders: Red chile (medium and hot); Chipotle (dark and smoky); Coleman’s English Mustard Powder. Condiments (in bottles, cans and tubes): Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce; Frank’s Red Hot Ketchup; Frank’s Red Hot Sweet Chile; Chinese Sweet Chile Sauce; Fire Oil (Roasted sesame oil mixed with very hot chile. This is used in flavoring Dan Dan noodles); Sriracha; Matouk’s West Indian Hot Sauce (An HG favorite, it’s from Trinidad); Tabasco (for Bloody Marys); Queen Majesty Scotch Bonnet & Ginger Hot Sauce (fiery stuff from Jamaica by way of Brooklyn); Wasabi (for Japanese food); Sambal Oelek (Indonesian); Chinese Chile Garlic Sauce; Harissa (for Middle Eastern food); Chipotle peppers in sauce (also various bottled “picante” salsas as well as pickled Jalapeño peppers and Italian cherry peppers and horseradish). HG’s secret heat weapon (served only to masochists or heat veterans) is skhug. This is bottled hot sauce originated by Yemenite Jews. Just a tiny dab will give food a delicious blast of smoke and fire. (HG’s thoughtful brother-in-law, Yossi M., brings this back from Israel for HG). A wonderful hot sauce is chile de arbol. This is served (upon request) at New Mexico’s Sopaipilla Factory restaurant. HG adds some to a bowl of menudo to banish chill, gloom and hangover. It works. Viva la vida picante!!

HG’s invaluable correspondent, Charles Curran, noted that his favorite sandwich is Braunschweiger on Jewish rye with French mustard and sweet onion. HG thought of this yesterday as HG munched on a liverwurst-ciabatta-Maille mustard-Vidalia onion open sandwich. HG was introduced to this hearty treat by noted news photographer Sammy Schulman. (This was 1954 when HG was an editor/ TV writer at International News Photos). Sammy had covered scores of important news events and was familiar to many world leaders. He was FDR’s favorite photographer. When Sammy was absent from a Roosevelt news conference, FDR queried: “Where’s Sammy?” (“Where’s Sammy?” is the title of a book about Schulman by journalist Bob Considine). Sammy was a chubby little fellow. But, tough. During his stay in France he had learned the French art of kickboxing (Savate) and used it to good effect when being pushed around by bigger photographers in pursuit of a picture. Sammy gave stern orders when he was composing a photo. Andy Rooney (of TV fame) was a journalist in London during World War Two, and reports this incident: Sammy had been directed to get a photo of Queen Elizabeth opening an American Red Cross center. She was leaving when Sammy grabbed her arm gently: “Hold it right there for a minute, will you please, Queen.” Rooney reported: “This wasn’t a question. Sammy wasn’t asking her. He was telling her.” Her Majesty obeyed. Sammy got his picture. There is one Schulman photo that is iconic, reproduced thousands of times and part of MOMA’s permanent collection. It was taken in Havana during a 1933 Cuban uprising. A young soldier had just shot and killed a hated security officer. An adoring crowd put the soldier on a pedestal and the soldier posed, happily lifting his rife. For decades, this photo symbolized revolution.

As HG followers know, HG is a passionate devotee of those highly concentrated, pungently flavorful alcoholic beverage enhancers known as “bitters”. (Check the archive for Bitters Make It Better). HG uses Peychaud’s to give indifferent French brandy a boost and mixes pre-dinner vodka on the rocks with either Stirrings Blood Orange Bitters or Regan’s Orange Bitters (an SJ discovery and recommendation). Angostura Bitters is used by HG to flavor a non-alcolholic midday glass of Pellegrino sparkling water. Recently, HG made a happy discovery: Dr. Adam Emelgirab’s Boker’s Bitters. Boker’s was created by John G.Boker in New York in 1828. It was much used in fashionable bars. Disappeared during Prohibition. Dr. Emelgirab has brought it back, utilizing an 1853 recipe he discovered. He now manufactures Boker’s (and some other unusual bitters) in Scotland. Last night, HG poured vodka on ice. Gave the glass a squeeze of lemon. Added two drops of Boker’s…Swirled the glass. Gazed at the incipient sunset over the Bay of St. Lawrence. Raised the glass. Sipped. The HG palate exploded with flavor. Indescribable. The flavor was something like the Martini favorite of Parisian hipsters where St. Germain liqueur (sweet with an elderflower flavor) replaces the usual dash of dry vermouth. Boker’s, however, creates a much more powerful drink. Boker’s is so good, HG is going to try with other combinations. Maybe with gin and sweet vermouth. Sobriety, get thee behind me!!

July 2, 1963. Fifty two years ago in New York. HG/BSK wed in the Foley Square chambers of Judge George Postel. Wedding brunch at Longchamps on lower Broadway. Sweltering heat wave, but BSK glowed with chic loveliness at HG/BSK’s afternoon reception in the St. Regis Hotel’s elegant Library Room (Bucky Pizzarelli supplied sublime guitar melodies). Dinner that night (with BSK’s family) at Fleur de Lys, little French restaurant near HG/BSK’s 27 W. 67th Street apartment. HG indulged in a platter of heavily garlicked escargots. This caused BSK discomfort as HG secreted pungent waves of garlic in the non-air conditioned apartment. BSK pondered (and not for the last time) whether the marriage was an error. HG/BSK and the marriage survived the evening. Today, on blissful Prince Edward Island, the duo raised breakfast coffee cups and agreed that their long journey together has been very rewarding. Tonight’s anniversary dinner will be a platter of shucked oysters (with BSK’s invigorating shallot vinaigrette), linguine con vongole (loads of little neck clams). Lessons have been learned. Garlic will be handled judiciously. Pecan butter tarts with ice cream for dessert. HG’s wish: Many more years with the love of HG’s life, the lovely, generous, talented, compassionate, sensitive BSK, the best wife, lover, mother, grandmother and companion. And, happily, BSK can cook.

HG first tasted an appetizer of Chinese sesame noodles at Shun Lee, a good Chinese restaurant near New York’s Lincoln Center. A pleasantly suave dish, it made a nice accompaniment to pork dumplings and spring rolls. HG would make the noodles more lively by judicious applications of hot chili oil. These were timid noodles compared to the Tan Tan noodles served at Chongquing Szechuan Restaurant on Vancouver, B.C.’s gritty Commercial Drive. When HG/BSK were part time residents of Vancouver, HG always had the noodles as part of an exemplary dim sum brunch. The noodles were bowls of fire, the ingredients swimming in a sea of chile enriched sesame oil, properly named “fire oil.” HG’s palate was cooled by numerous cups of tea. HG encountered similar fiery noodles at Talin, an international foods supermarket in Santa Fe. The market has a ramen bar. A Monday pop up offers dumplings, soup, pork belly wraps and Dan Dan noodles. (On Fridays and Saturdays Vietnamese spring rolls are served at the ramen bar.) HG, a dedicated consumer of Asiatic (as well as Italian) noodles, often varies his consumption of Saigon Cafe’s pho with Talin’s Dan Dan variety. The other week, HG got a surprise. Expecting a mouthful of flames, HG ordered Talin’s Dan Dan noodles. Though described as Dan Dan noodles, the dish was really noodles in a variant of Mo Po Tofu sauce. The sauce contained ground pork, tiny cubes of tofu and shavings of scallion. Topped with slices of cucumber. No complaints from HG.Managed to knock off a generous bowl. Of the many variants of Dan Dan noodles, HG prefers the version HG/BSK learned years ago at the Upper West Side cooking classes conducted by Karen Lee. There’s a full account of the dish on a previous HG post: KAREN LEE COOKING CLASSES.

As HG noted in a recent post, Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery, Maine has been a traditional dining stop for fried clams and other casual New England treats when HG/BSK would motor through the state on the way to Prince Edward Island. Bob’s is famous and possibly the busiest (and most efficient) clam shack in New England. Well, this recent roadside meal was disappointing. HG ordered the seafood basket (fried clams, scallops, haddock, cole slaw, tartar sauce and fried onion rings). At a price of $34.95, HG/BSK expected an abundant amount of food. Wrong. Skimpy for the price. Anticipated clam bellies but got leathery strips. The haddock was ordinary. Scallops were very good. The scant portion of onion rings was just okay. The modest Blount Clam Hut in Riverside, R.I., is much better. HG/BSK will give Bob’s another chance when they drive back to the United States in the fall. Will order scallop rolls. HG thought HG/BSK would stop in Bangor and try the Zen Asian Cafe. Timing was wrong. Continued to drive and stopped in Pocologan, New Brunswick for the night. Destination was Clipper Shipp Beach Motel. The motel is in a time warp. Very 1950’s. Spotlessly clean. Comfortable big beds. A shower with plenty of hot water and good pressure. Clipper Shipp’s motto is: “A Room With A View.” The motel fronts on the Bay of Fundy and the sea view is lyrical. Very hungry HG/BSK went to nearby BayBreeze Motel and Cafe (also sporting a great view of the Bay of Fundy). Thought it might be too late for food. Were delighted to find the cafe owners seated in the empty, plainspoken dining room. The husband and wife team looked as if we had interrupted an argument but, happily, they agreed to feed HG/BSK. Two platters of mixed fried seafood–clams, cod, scallops with French fries and cole slaw. Much better than Bob’s at half the price. Delicious clam bellies. BSK had a glass of white wine and HG had a few shots of vodka washed down with a Moosehead Ale. Happy, surprising meal. Breakfasted there next morning. Dishwater coffee and terrible griddle cakes with synthetic tasting Aunt Jemima Syrup. Win some. Lose some.