Don't Eat Soup!

No Zantac chunks?

2006-07-25T21:26:00.000-05:00

Late breaking news - the inspirational Blogjam has produced a recipe for Pepto-Bismol ice cream! Complete with pictures! The man's a genius.

Blogjam's recipe seems to have gathered a bit of momentum, and even made it onto Fark a few days ago. But one of the comments on his original post contains another dark gem: the Peptron. For when you absolutly [sic], positively have to stay off the wagon the next morning:

The Peptron

1 measure Pepto-Bismol
1 measure Absolut citron vodka
Ice
Twist

Mix Pepto-Bismol and vodka in a cocktail shaker with a good amount of crushed ice. Take a long hard look in the mirror. Serve with a twist of lemon in a highball glass.

Courtesy (allegedly) of the ex-owner of Sparky's Ale House
in Brooklyn NY. Sparky's is, apparently, now closed. Or maybe it's just sleeping in this morning. Image of Pepto-Bismol ice cream licensed from Blogjam.

The Blogtrough #1

2006-07-25T15:47:00.000-05:00

For the first in Don't Eat Soup's round-up of the best in online food & drink resources - The Blogtrough - I'm delighted to present Food For Thought. Not the most imaginative name around, but blimey does the content ever make up for it.

Firstly - and shhhhhh! - it's more-or-less veggie. Now there comes a time in everyone's life where we all have to go without meat for a while. Is the gout is acting up again? A cute new vegan in the office? Perhaps you can still hear the lambs (note to self: restock Chianti), or maybe you just ate all the meat in the fridge? Whatever the reason, when that time comes you must be prepared. And that's where Food For Thought comes in, because you won't find a better selection of tasty, elegant, and - sad to report - healthy recipes anywhere on the web.

Secondly, it's chock full of family recipes, and lots of personal and cultural reminiscences that really bring the food to life. Food For Thought is broadly Indian in content, but with lots of variation - as I write this, the front page has recipes for watermelon pancakes (Valentine's breakfast food ahoy!), a family recipe for vegetarian pulao [pilau rice] traditionally eaten at Maharashtrian weddings (I'm googling too) and a recipe for Parmesan & broccoli soup from a Benedictine monk. And you cannot argue with that.

And third: it's flat-out gorgeous. Not just the food, but the photographs too. All taken by Ashwini (the editor), all cookbook quality, and not just pretty but useful for when the gin's beginning to take its toll on the eyesight. Instant lifestyle envy - brilliant!

So there you have it - Food For Thought: healthy, spicy, sexy food served in a lovely package. I'll eat my hat if this isn't a cookbook in a year.

Next week on Don't Eat Soup - killing yourself for gourmet thrills, and grilled tortoises. Stay tuned!

Possum Cookery in a Global Age

2006-07-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

I once met an animal control guy who, in pride of place in the gun rack on his truck, kept what I'm pretty sure was an automatic assault rifle.

"Bears?" I asked.
"Possum," he said, "they don't stop."

A friend from Pennsylvania once told me she was taught how to bake possum by a neighour: "Cook 'im 'til 'im grinnin'! " was the old gentleman's advice. Needing a little more information, I searched, and found a whole possum-eatin' culture just waiting to be explored.

Here then is a nice contrast. Firstly, the best possum recipe I've found in the US (from Horace Kephart's 1910 "Camp Cookery" via Bill Neal's wonderful "Bill Neal's Southern Cooking").

Possum with sweet potatoes

"He [possum] is not good until you have freezing weather; not is he to be served without sweet potatoes, except in desperate extremity. This is how to serve "possum hot"...

Stick him, and hang him up to bleed until morning. A tub is half filled with hot water (not quite scalding) into which drop him by the tail until the hair will strip. Take him out, lay him on a plank, and pull the hair out with your fingers. Draw, clean and hang him up to freeze for two or three nights. Then place him in a 5-gallon kettle of cold water, into which throw two pods of red pepper. Parboil for one hour in this pepper water, which is then thrown out and the kettle refilled with fresh water, wherein he is boiled one hour.

While this is going on, slice and steam some sweet potatoes. Take the possum out, place him in a large Dutch oven, sprinkle him with black pepper, salt and a pinch or two of sage. A dash of lemon will do no harm. Pack sweet potatoes around him. Pour a pint of water into the oven, put the lid on and see that it fits tightly. Bake until brown and crisp. Serve hot, without gravy."

No need to apply the grin test after all that. Incidentally, whilst looking about for more modern versions of the same dish, I found a more detailed description of the cleaning process. In an admirably understated way it cautions the reader not to forget to remove "the small red glands in small of the back and under each foreleg between the shoulder and rib".

It came as a bit of a suprise to find that the Australians and New Zealanders (who have much cuter possums) are also a big fan of their tasty marsupials. A century later, and half a world away, Raewyn Lancaster (chef and proprietor of the Waipoua Lodge Hotel) treats her possums a good bit more carefully. I'm sure they advertise with more class than this, too.

CASSEROLE OF POSSUM

Farmed possums are now available in New Zealand. They are generally Northland possums (TB free) which are farmed-on after capture for a few weeks and then killed in an authorised killing house and MAF inspected before export. They can be purchased direct from the export chain. These possums are received vacuum packed (head, tail and feet on). They have no fur but still have to be skinned

1 possum, smallish female if possible.
1 onion
1 clove garlic
Clarified butter and olive oil (enough to brown meat without becoming dry)
1 cup dry red wine
Flat or field mushrooms sliced (big meaty ones)
2 tbsp fresh herbs - a mix of rosemary, thyme, marjoram, dill and parsley
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 cup dark beer
1 cup brown possum stock
1 tbsp Marsala

Skin and bone the possum (use only the best meat for the casserole, ie: the strip loins and hind quarters, cubed). Reserve the carcass and trimmings for stock. In a heavy pan, heat the clarified butter and oil. Sauté onion and garlic. When onion is clear, remove to casserole. Dust the cubed possum with flour and brown in batches. Add to casserole. Melt a little more clarified butter and sauté bacon and mushrooms. Remove to casserole. De-glaze pan as necessary with red wine - add this to casserole together with herbs, ground pepper, tomato purée, beer and marsala. Stir, cover and cook in slow oven for 2 -3 hours, adding more possum stock if necessary.
Top with pastry or serve with little caper dumplings made with gnocchi mixture. Garnish with lemon zest and chives

That's more like it. If you're in the right part of the world, you can buy possum meat from Arex International exporters, NZ.

[images: frolicking possums from Vaughan, possum sign from Eldan,both via flickr]

Howie-rita and the Margarita Machine

2006-07-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

A gas-powered margarita maker with ape-hangers? Oh hell, yes! [buy one from these people if you want].

If you're not lucky enough to own a Chevy V8 small block blender, then I humbly present Don't Eat Soup!'s first ever post.

I can think of no better way to start than with the divulgence of someone else's old family recipe. Redneck sommelierie at its finest, this lightweight summer cocktail is the perfect accompaniment to any form of outdoor activity apart from driving or the use of power tools.

The Howie-rita

3 12oz (330ml) cans of Natural Light beer*
6 6oz (330ml) cans of Minute Maid frozen limeade
36oz (990ml) Jose Cuervo Especial ("Cuervo Gold") tequila

Half fill a gallon cooler jug with smashed ice. Add tequila, limeade and then beer. Replace jug lid, close spout, invert gently a couple of times to mix. Leave for a few minutes. Pour into long glasses or, for a touch of class, salt-rimmed rinsed beer cans.

*Suitable US replacements are Busch Lite, PBR or Budweiser. Keep some self-respect and do not sink as far as MGD or anything in 40oz bottles. UK replacements - Fosters, Carling, SKOL. Export lager is unnecessary. Rest of the world: Light beer or lager with little or no bitterness/hop taste, at 3.5 - 4.5 %vol. 1/3 to 1/4 the volume of tequila can be replaced with Triple Sec or Cointreau.