The CIA

     The sleepy little town of Hyde Park overlooks the Hudson River as it makes its way south to New York City.  It is known for its storied mansions where American royalty resided with names like Roosevelt, Vanderbilt and Astor.  But it is also the home of the "Harvard of Haute Cuisine" to borrow a quote from LIFE magazine.

     The Culinary Institute of America is an independent, not-for-profit college dedicated to provide the world's best professional education.  And that's exactly what it does for 2800 students and exturns.  The school dates back to 1946 when Frances Roth and Katherine Angell decided to found the New Haven Restaurant Institute to train WWII vets in the culinary arts.  That first year they enrolled 50 students and had a faculty of exactly 3: a chef, a baker, and a dietitian.   But by 1950 600 veterans from 38 states had graduated from the school.

     Two name changes later it became the Culinary Institute of America to reflect the broader influence of the school that offers both an associates and bachelors degree in the culinary arts, baking & pastry arts, and culinary science.  Enrollment grew to the point that they could no longer fit into the New Haven, CT location and in 1972 the Jesuit novitiate, St. Andrews-on-Hudson was purchased to accommodate all the students seeking admission.  Residence halls were added, along with a career planning center and a learning resources center.  The campus also is home to a 86,000 volume culinary library, second in size only to the Library of Congress.

 

      I had the opportunity to tour the beautiful and functional campus and marveled at the modern facilities for teaching and learning.  There are 41 kitchens where students participate in hands on education in courses as varied as High Volume Production, Mushroom Foraging, Modern Banquet Cooking, and Baking.  The bread class is taught beginning at 11:30pm to bake all the breads consumed in the restaurants and dining areas for the next day.  Special focus is made on precision, accuracy and speed.  The flowers created for specialty cakes must be botanically correct.  One of the mottos of the CIA is, "We eat with our eyes first."

     More tomorrow about their public restaurants...

Fish & Game

     Upstream from the Big Apple lies the little town of Hudson, a retreat of sorts, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.  It is so laid back there that the premier restaurant in town, Fish & Game, is only open from Thursday to Sunday for dinner.  Located on South Third Street just off the main thoroughfare, Warren Street, it is housed in what was the blacksmith shop in a former life.

     Saturday and Sunday they also serve a fixed 5 course lunch menu from noon until 2pm.  So our group decided to see what they had to offer from their hidden open kitchen.  We were greeted at the door and given a table of prominence in the center of the dining room where the wild boar's head was hung by the fireplace.  We were served 3 kinds of homemade bread to begin our meal.  They were all very good and still warm from the oven.  Our first course was a salad of watermelon, kohlrabi and cherry tomatoes pooled in something they called tomato water, the run-off from poached tomatoes that were hung and drained overnight. As strange as that might seem, it was nothing in comparison to the second course of smoked sea urchin, 3 beans and a nasturtium for color.



     The third course was a freshly hatched and fried chicken egg, sunnyside up, served over corn and poblano peppers and garnished with parsley from the chef's personal garden.  An additional fee intermezzo was offered and I enjoyed an oyster on the half shell topped with a hollandaise foam that had been heated and caramelized in a 600 degree oven for a few seconds and served with a rhubarb kimchee.

     Grilled swordfish with pork rind and jus arrived next at our table, decorated with cooked okra and tangerine blossoms.  And for dessert we concluded our meal with a scoop of thyme ice cream served with crushed hazelnuts and husked ground cherries and a slice of toasted brioche.



     Each course was uniquely plated and each time a new set of silverware was provided.  It was all elegantly presented and served.  The food was intriguing and appealing all at the same time.  But as we discussed our experience afterward we all decided that there was something critical that was lacking.  There was no warmth to the staff who served us.  They were as cold as the unlit fireplace.  And that is too bad.  For that could have made a good meal truly memorable.

Hudson on the Hudson

     



     The little hamlet of Hudson, NY lies on the eastern bank of the Hudson River.  It is 130 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, an unlikely location for an ocean going enterprise.  But that is where the Nantucket Navigators relocated their whaling company in the late 18th Century when the British shut down all the eastern seaports in a dispute with the newly formed United States.  By the early 1800's Hudson, once known as Claverack Landing, was one of the largest cities in the state thanks to the whaling industry and all the other businesses that whaling supported.  The Hudson Whaling Company was only one of four similar operations that found a safe harbor far from the British up river from New York.

     But it wasn't long before whale oil was replaced by other compounds and the industry floundered.  Hudson then turned to manufacturing with mills and foundries crowding the town and employing the citizenry.  But eventually that also fell on hard times and Hudson grew increasingly forlorn and tired looking.

   Once again Hudson is experiencing a renaissance.  Shop worn store fronts are being revitalized and entrepreneurs are moving in to vacant buildings with antiques and fancy fare.  And on Saturdays there is a wonderful farmers' market just off the town square.  Local farmers are selling everything from duck eggs to artisan cheese and breads.  Freshly picked apples and pears, kohlrabi and carrots are on display beside green leafy produce like chard, mustard greens and kale.  Baked goods abound, too!  I purchased a gingered pear pie that was amazing!

 

     Hudson today is still in transition.  It is a work in progress and clearly some buildings look better than others.  But there is a spirit of renewal at work.  Where else could you step into a historic firehouse that is currently a bar, bookstore and art supply center?

Antiquing along the Hudson

     Fall is a magnificent time to visit the scenic Hudson River Valley.  The air is delightfully crisp and dry with cool mornings and sunny afternoons.  Life is good in the little towns that hug the river, towns like Rhinebeck, Hyde Park, and Kingston.

     And while many people enjoy strolling along the streets and peeking in the antique shops for rare finds, I was doing some antiquing of another sort.  Fall is also the best time to savor the many varieties of apples that are grown there by generations of farm families.  The state of New York produces 28 million bushels of apples annually.  And of that amount 22 million are grown in the Hudson River Valley.  There are the familiar varieties like McIntosh, Empire, Gala and Honeycrisp that do well in the warmest growing region in the state.  But there are also some antique varieties that are lovingly nurtured in the acres of orchards:  heirloom apples like the Chenango Strawberry, Ashmead's Kernel, Cox's Orange Pippin and the Calville Blanc d'Hiver.  But by far the most famous heirloom apple is the Esopus Spitzenburg first cultivated by Dutch settlers back in the 1700s.  It's red and yellow skin is delicately striped and dotted with a golden flesh beneath.



     The uses of the Esopus apple are many.  It is an excellent baking apple, and is used for making cider but is also enjoyed right from the tree and can be eaten out of hand.  It's flavor actually improves with a few weeks of cold storage.

     The Hudson River Valley can claim apples as their contribution to Autumn.  But it is so much more! The story of my visit there continues.....

Going Up The River

     It's time again to conduct more culinary research!  This time I will be heading upstream along the Hudson River in The Empire State.  Lots to see and taste!  I will report on my discoveries when I return later next week.

 



Really Have It Your Way!

     If you have a hankering for a hamburger there is no shortage of franchise places to go out and purchase one.  Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's and White Castle are just a few of the burger joints around that will sell you an all beef burger.  But what if your taste buds are craving something a little different from the usual, "two all beef patties....."?



     Well now there's a restaurant chain that can serve you a burger made from elk that has more protein and less fat than traditional beef.  Oh, not interested in something made from Bambi's cousin?  At Bareburger you can also get an organic, all-natural, free-range burger made from turkey, wild boar, bison, ostrich, emu or goat.  They have veggie burgers, too.



     It all began in a small space in Astoria, Queens in 2009.  Three guys with an idea whose time had come.  Custom made burgers with quality ingredients and high class condiments.  Consider the options for cheese...artisan cheese, that is.  Colby, pepper jack, manchego, queso fresco, Gouda, pimento and Amish blue in addition to cheddar are all available.  And you can adorn your burger with veggies like alfalfa, wild mushrooms, jalapenos and 4 different kinds of onions.  And what's a burger without a "secret sauce?"  It's no secret that Bareburger offers 5: habanero mayo, buttermilk ranch, mint yogurt, smoke sauce and guacamole besides the standard mayo, ketchup and stone mustard.  And 2 different kinds of relishes: piquante, and pineapple and also a tomato and fig jam.  Finally you get to decide what kind of bun will hold all that: multi grain, tapioca rice, brioche, sprout, or hemp milk.

     Want a salad? There are 6 to choose from.  Other sides include fries, onion rings, pickles (dill, sweet, or spicy), wasabi carrot slaw, and chicken tenders.  All fried foods are prepared in 100% non-GMO canola oil.  Or maybe you just want a sandwich.  They have a Duck Duck Gouda sandwich on the menu that includes duck bacon and a fried egg.  You can wash it all down with a root beer float or a milk shake and then take a look at the dessert menu at one of their 18 restaurants located in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio or Pennsylvania.  

     But really having it your way does come at a cost considering that a mere milk shake will set you back around $5 and most of the desserts are nearly $7.

A Southern Sweetie

     "The revival of small scale sorghum production in the southern Appalachians is a symbol of cultural continuity..." so writes Kevin West in the most recent issue of Saveur magazine.  Sweet sorghum, sometimes referred to as sorghum molasses, has for many in the South been a traditional topping for biscuits, pancakes, cornmeal mush and grits.  It is also used as a molasses substitute in ginger snap cookies and baked bean recipes.  The National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association says, "There is hardly a food served today that sorghum will not improve."



     The sorghum plant is native to Africa, a heat tolerant and drought resistant member of the grass family that was imported to the New World in the 17th Century.  Resembling corn stalks but without the ears of corn it thrives under dry and warm conditions where insufficient rainfall makes it unprofitable to raise corn.  Fields of sorghum can be seen throughout the southeastern United States and into the southern Great Plains.  While the majority of sorghum is raised primarily for forage and silage, there are some who prefer to extract the natural juice from the cane and concentrate it by evaporation.  Boiled down it becomes a thick syrup redolent of caramel and wood smoke.  Producers claim it to be cleaner and sweeter than the popular sugar-based molasses.  Sweet sorghum can be substituted for maple syrup,  molasses, honey, or corn syrup.  It contains iron, calcium and potassium and was at one time recommended as a home remedy daily supplement.

     I wonder how it would taste poured on my morning scrapple?