1. MIND
YOUR MANNERS: Did you ever wonder how “good manners” came about? Not that
it is much of a worry these days as they become extinct. But it appears to have
to do with separation from animals. For so long, we shared the same roof,
common folk didn’t have stables or cow sheds or chicken coops. We shared some
similar habits. Both man and beast ate with the equipment God gave them. But
along came knives and forks, and with them etiquette. Don’t lick your lips like
a horse, don’t eat with your mouth open like a pig, and don’t guzzle like a
swan. Only a cat would lick the bowl. You probably wouldn’t have had a wolf in
the house unless you were Red Ridinghood’s grandma, but there’s another: Don’t
wolf your food.
2. FEDS
TO CATCH MORE CATFISH: I’ve presented several notes on Vietnamese catfish (which
under our protectionist federal law cannot be called catfish) and how tons of
that fish get into our country without inspection, often mislabeled as a higher
priced fish such as flounder, grouper, pollock, shark, sole etc. In addition to
mislabeling, problems have also involved health violations. Until recently the
feds have done a bang-up job of avoiding serious inspection of the imports. But
over the past year federal inspectors did catch a fairly astonishing 273
tons of “adulterated or ineligible” catfish. That figure apparently shocked
Congress and in the forthcoming budget for USDA’s
Food Safety and Inspection Service, far stricter inspections are ordered. Consumers
should feel well protected because inspection by the feds is over and above
required self-inspection by suppliers. Though previously known as “swai” these
catfish will be labeled “basa” or “tra,” basa being the best fish.
3. YOU
NEED THESE KNIVES: Elizabeth David may be our best food writer of all time,
and her biographer (Artemis Cooper: Writing
at the Kitchen Table) considers “Batterie de Cuisine,” an essay in David’s French Country Cooking, “one of the most
useful that Elizabeth was ever to write, and holds as good today as it did in
1951.” The essay covers utensils needed for a proper kitchen. Regarding knives,
I was pleased to find that I have instinctively collected those David
recommends. That would include a “small vegetable knife, razor sharp, a medium
one for trimming meat and fish (known as filleting knife), a large one for
cutting up meat and poultry, and a long-thin-bladed ham knife for cold meat,
and anything which has to be thinly sliced.” Add to that a good bread knife,
and keep them all in a special place, tipped with corks. “Let it be understood
by all members of the household that there will be serious trouble if your
knives are borrowed for screw-driving, prising open packing-cases, cutting fuse
wire or any other purpose for which they were not intended.”
