Friday, December 19, 2014

Black Garlic

A friend of mine generously gave me a package of black garlic from Trader Joes.  The entire garlic bulb is slow-cooked (for at least a month) and produces cloves that are soft like roasted garlic.  The color is a deep dark brown: the color you'd expect from the inside of a vanilla bean or very good dark chocolate.

I finally tried a bit of it yesterday, and the flavor has notes that struck me as similar to balsamic vinegar - particularly the thicker and not quite so acidic Aceto Balsasmico de Modena, not exactly the stuff that was ubiquitous in the '90s.

I ended up putting a clove in with spinach and a bunch of fresh garlic that I'd sliced and browned in olive oil.  Rather tasty.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Missing things from my youth

I'm missing a few foods from my youth that are no longer made, or at least that I can no longer find.

Weaver Chicken Roll.  One of the things Grandma always had in the fridge when I was there for lunch.  Discontinued long ago, I know, I went hunting a while back.  The Thumann's chicken roll is no substitute for this, the flavor and texture is all wrong.  We'd have a few slices of WCR on 2 slices of Wonder bread (which is back in prodction), with Hellman's mayonnaise and a slice of yellow American cheese.  I think that Grandma usually got deli sliced cheese when she got the cold cuts, though I could have a flawed memory and it could have been a Kraft "cheese" single which is what we always had in the fridge at home (though Mom always got the white singles).

Weaver Chicken Croquettes.  I was hoping to stop at the store and pick this up for dinner tonight, but discovered this is also discontinued after Tyson bought the company.  I might try the Goya chicken croquettes, but the shape is all different, and they don't come with the small tubs of light yellow gravy.  I love croquettes SO much, but honestly, I don't feel like going through the hassle of making homemade ones tonight, so I may end up heating up some of the Tyson chicken patties I already have in the freezer, and drown them with some poultry gravy.

Iced Spice Cookies.  Grandma always had these on hand too.  They were brown, about 3" across and about 1/8" thick -  roughly flower-shaped, with a small hole in the middle, and a sheen of white glaze.  Not soft, but not super crispy either.  Very spicy with clove, cinnamon, and ginger flavors.

I guess it's because the holidays are coming up and I miss Grandma that the chicken roll and cookies popped into my brain after I looked up the croquettes...