I guess I would call myself a budding part-time student of gastronomic/culinary history – as I often find myself wondering about the origins of certain food(s) and food-related ideas, the development of cooking vessels, methodologies, meal design and evolution, and budding, because I haven’t had a whole lot of time to ponder these things in the past and so, my knowledge-base is rather limited. If I weren’t so old, I would now be enrolled in a degree program, one such as the NYU Masters in Food Culture. Until I decide I am really up for such an endeavor, I guess I will just continue to study on my own – looking into issues that pop into my mind as I peruse the landscape of culinary ideas. I have such a long list of historical gastronomic/culinary areas to “dig into” – and, this list grows every day.
This morning I got to wondering about the origins of eating dessert – that is, something sweet after the main meal, and further, the origins of frozen desserts. I am also interested in the concepts of aperitif and digestif – but that is a topic for another day…….. In a nutshell, eating non-frozen sweets appears in medieval times, as honey and a combination of honey and nuts emerges in food offerings – and the Romans really perfected the art of the indulgence at mealtime, or maybe mealtime was “anytime”, I don’t know. I suppose you could consider Adam and Eve, if you will, eating an apple, or the practice of eating any fruit, depending on the timing, as qualifying as a “dessert”, no? Well, we won’t get into that debate, now will we? Exactly what time of day and in relation to the “meal” these sweets were ingested are areas for more research for me. As is the variation by culture and timeline. As I mentioned, it would appear that the Romans were apt to indulge in just about anything, anytime for awhile there. The word, dessert appears in about 1600 and derives from the middle French, desservir or to clear the table, and the Latin, servire.
The concept of a frozen dessert does emerge about 4000 years ago as there is evidence that the Chinese were freezing a syrup, combining milk, overcooked rice and spices and packing them in the snow to harden. Frozen desserts were introduced to the Persians about 2500 years ago via the trade routes (time to read Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat’s History of Food!). In the 8th century, with the Arab invasions of Sicily, we see the emergence of granita, flavored with citrus, fruits and herbs. I find this all fascinating. So anyway, what brought all this up?
Last night, George and I had an impromptu dinner at Trattoria Mediterranea in Bedminster. He got off the train late and we ran down to eat as the sky was clear and the air finally drying out – so welcome after the incredible tropical air mass and heavy rain of the morning. Trattoria Mediterranea has become a go-to place for us – satisfying and dependably delicious Italian food in a casual and friendly atmosphere. Don’t let the absence of street appeal deter you, these people are serious about what they do and entrees, well except the lasagna, is cooked to order! You should visit. I enjoyed their Chicken Sabatini once again – now my favorite entree there. George had Veal Saltimbocca. Last night we got to chatting with Jenna, a member of the waitstaff there, a young woman who is clearly in the throes of developing her passion around food. The discussion turned to Gelato and she mentioned she had made some that day. Ok, that was just enough to get me to thinking of giving it a try while I finished my dinner. I must admit that I love to sample iterations of Pistachio gelato (the favorite flavor of my Father), even though fruit flavors are really my favorite – so once that was mentioned, I was “all in”. Having just visited L’Arte del Gelato in the West Village over the weekend, I guess I’m just still in that “place”. At the latter, I had a “small” scoop of Strawberry and a “small” scoop of Passion Fruit. Suffice it to say, delicious and refreshing.
This Summer I went off on the wonders of mascarpone and its additon into ice creams – this got me on the trail of looking at a lot of ice cream recipes – David Lebovitz’s, The Perfect Scoop, among the volumes to peruse and so on and so on. Anyway, the picture, shown above, is from last night’s dessert at Trattoria and, well, let’s just say, there isn’t any left. Thank you Jenna for a delicious selection of gelatos – chocolate hazelnut, pistachio, and cherry vanilla!
So, today, as I wander off into the throes of culinary mischief ( I will try not to bake a whole batch of scones and have them stare me in the face all day, nor will I bake the Jamie Deen one-bowl chocolate cake, the recipe for which has been on my mind since the weekend) I will try to focus on the intellectual pursuits of my passions, rather than the practical indulgences of said passion. This is probably a pretty good idea since the jeans I had on last night were a little bit too tight. Ugh…………