Here are today’s five thing to know about Tempura:
- Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by Portuguese Jesuits, during the same period that panko and such dishes as tonkatsu were also introduced from Portugal.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, reportedly loved tempura.
- The word “tempura”, or the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them, comes from the word “tempora”, a Latin word meaning “times”, “time period” used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days (ad tempora quadragesimae), Fridays, and other Christian holy days.
- Outside Japan (as well as recently in Japan), there are many nontraditional and fusion uses of tempura. Chefs over the world include tempura dishes on their menus, and a wide variety of different batters and ingredients are used, including the nontraditional broccoli, zucchini, asparagus and chuchu.
- More unusual ingredients may include nori slices, dry fruit such as banana, and ice cream. American restaurants are known to serve tempura in the form of various meats, particularly chicken, and cheeses, usually mozzarella.
Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary
Today’s Food History
- 1618 Francis Bacon became Lord Chancellor of England.
- 1827 Sir Sanford Fleming was born. He devised the present system of time zones while working for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
- 1896 The ‘Fannie Farmer Cookbook’ was published.
1901 Alfred Packer is released from prison. He served 18 years for cannibalism after being stranded in the Rocky Mountains. (Actually he was convicted of murder, since cannibalism was not against the law). - 1958 Ant Farms go on sale. Milton Levine had the idea at a July 4th family picnic. I wonder if he had dreams of fencing them in so they would not bother him at picnics?
1972 “American Pie” by Don McLean is #1 on the charts.
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Here are today’s five thing to know about Shortbread:
- Scottish shortbread evolved from medieval biscuit bread, which was a twice-baked, enriched bread roll dusted with sugar and spices and hardened into a Rusk.
- Eventually butter was substituted for yeast, and shortbread was born.
- Since butter was such an important ingredient, the word “shortbread” derived from shortening.
- Shortbread may have been made as early as the 12th Century, however its invention is often attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th Century.
- Petticoat Tails were a traditional form of shortbread said to be enjoyed by the queen. The round shortbread was flavored with caraway seeds, baked and cut into triangular wedges.
Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary
Today’s Food History
- 1884 Gregor Johann Mendel died. Mendel was an Austrian botanist whose work was the foundation of the science of genetics. Working mainly with garden peas (some 28,000 plants over 7 years), he discovered what was to become known as the laws of heredity.
- 1901 Philip Danforth Armour, died. American industrialist who pioneered the use of refrigeration and meat canning. Armour & Co. became the largest meatpacker in the world and this helped Chicago become the meatpacking capital of the world. (The fact that Chicago is the ‘Windy City’ may have helped also).
- 1910 ‘Kid Chocolate’ (Elgio Saldana) was born. He became Cuba’s first world boxing champion in 1931 after defeating Benny Bass for the Jr. Lightweight Championship.
- 1929 Sheffeld Farms of New York began using wax paper cartons instead of glass bottles for milk delivery.
- 1936 Warner Bros. Loony Tunes character ‘Porky Pig’ makes his debut.
- 1988 The famous Paris restaurant ‘La Coupole’ was sold and eventually replaced by an office building. It was famous for its Welsh rarebit, and had been frequented by James Joyce, Henry Miller and many other notable Americans.
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Here are today’s five thing to know about Whipped Cream:
- Mainly the heavy cream that make whipped cream out of is in reality a milk product.
- Normal creams consist of 30 percent of milk fat but heavy cream on the other hand consist of 36 percent fat.
- The fatty milk product ensures the production of cream, if whipped more than the required time the cream may turn into butter.
- Chilled cream whips better than warm cream, at times if not chilled properly the cream may not whip. Also, it renders a deeper taste.
- Whipping your own cream with an electric beater is a simple process, and it tastes fantastic.
Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary
Today’s Food History
- 1589 Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henry II of France died. She is sometimes called the ‘mother of French haute cuisine’ because the Italian chefs she brought with her from Florence had a strong influence on the development of French cuisine. One of the things they brought with them was ice cream.
- 1786 Thomas Nuttall was born. English naturalist and botanist. He also collected and studied plants in the United States, especially around the Chesapeake Bay area.
- 1794 Edmund Ruffin born. The father of soil chemistry in the U.S.
- 1889 According to the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ the word ‘hamburger’ first appeared in print on this day in a Walla Walla, Washington newspaper.
- 1914 Aaron ‘Bunny’ Lapin was born. Lapin was the inventor of whipped cream in an aerosol can (Reddi-Wip) in 1947. It was first sold by milkmen in St. Louis in 1948.
- 1943 George Washington Carver died. African American agricultural scientist and innovator. He developed hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes. He founded the George Washington Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee, for agricultural research.
- 2007 Momofuku Ando died in Osaka, Japan. Mr. Ando was the founder of Nissin Food Products, and invented ‘Instant Ramen’ noodles.
- 2009 A locally caught bluefin tuna weighing 282 1/2 pounds sold for $104,700 ($371 lb) at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market auction. Prized by sushi lovers, the normal price for bluefin tuna is about $25 – $50 per pound. A dramatic bluefin population decline, lower quotas and bad weather are affecting prices.
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