Snack Tray: Breads of Many Sizes and Dueling Porn
Buried Lead Dept.: Way down at the bottom of Lesley's ode to the bounty of peas at the Nashville Farmers' Market—shelled peas, unshelled peas, crowder peas: PEAS!—this little tidbit is tucked away: "Also, be sure to drop by the Schrock Family Bakery stand....We took home a *mumble* as well as a loaf of fresh cracked wheat bread and a loaf of something called salt-rising bread." Boing-g-g! I've been looking for salt rising bread around here for years! The fine, cake-like artisanal bread, far less chewy than sourdough and with a milder yet richer taste, relies on the bacterium Clostridium perfringens instead of yeast as its rising agent. On cold winter mornings before school, I'd wake up and smell the buttered slices toasting in the oven while my mother cooked bacon—the bread makes simply the best BLT on earth. I now know where I'll be Saturday morning.
• "Like sex porn, gastroporn addresses the most basic human needs and functions, idealizing and degrading them at the same time. 'You watch porn saying, Yes, I could do that,' explained [porn still photographer Barbara] Nitke. 'You dream that you’re there, but you know you couldn’t. The guy you’re watching on the screen, his sex life is effortless. He didn’t have to negotiate, entertain her, take her out to dinner. He walked in with the pizza. She was waiting and eager and hot for him.' " From a stimulating 2005 Harper's article by Frederick Kaufman, who explores a comparison many have made but seldom in such detail: food porn vs. real porn. (Terrorist fist bump: Steve H.)
• If I hadn't been cruising Slashfood, I might never have learned of the existence of the flagel. No, not the squagel—the flagel, the bagel's flatter roadkill variation. "After the bagel is boiled, but before it goes into the oven, it gets flattened," sez Slashfood. "This might sound silly, but it offers its own set of rewards. Since it's thinner, it's easier to eat as a sandwich. It also means more outside bits to nibble on and less fluffy insides—much chewier." Now if they could just come up with circular Krystals....
• Of note: two of the worst restaurant write-ups I've read in some time, here and here. At least the latter has a happy ending.
Comments
My brother-in-law needs the flagel. He scoops his bagels out so he just has the crispy skin. It's always awkward when he's in town and springs that on the server at Noshville
Posted 09/26/2008 at 10:42:01 AMSorry to have buried that item. Note: you might want to get to the market before noon to ensure you get a loaf. They come well-stocked, but I wouldn't take chances if I were you.
Does Noshville make a really good bagel? I mean, reeeeeaaaalllly good, as in New York good? Because I am jonesing for a New York bagel now. It's been a week since I had that wonderful wheat yumfest and I need more.
Posted 09/26/2008 at 10:51:23 AMThe Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City makes amazing salt-rising bread so we can always buy it at the Piggly Wiggly in Monteagle. So we always do.
Posted 09/26/2008 at 11:43:46 AMhappy ending
lulz.
Posted 09/26/2008 at 03:52:12 PMIs Dutch Maid back open again? I had their salt-risin' bread several years ago, but thought the bakery had closed since. Good news indeed!
Posted 09/26/2008 at 05:09:06 PMDutch Maid is open under a new manager. It's a chef from somewhere. There's a hot lunch buffet that's looking pretty good. A big offering in the bakery, but some items are not v good. The molasses cookies are the best thing they sell.
Posted 09/27/2008 at 12:34:06 PMLesley,
Noshville's bagels are flown into Nashville from H&H in NYC. Timing is everything as they are hit and miss, and quite obviously not fresh from the bakery.
http://www.hhbagels.net
Posted 09/29/2008 at 11:51:44 AMDoyle--thanks for the tip. The bagels I heated in the toaster oven the next day were almost as good as fresh in the store, so I'll check those out. I've been avoiding Noshville for some time now because I was fed a mushroom barley soup based in beef broth (the second question yielded the correct source after it had been brought to my table with the telltale oil slicks), but I can bury the hatchet.
Posted 09/29/2008 at 03:23:48 PMthe h&h bagels flown in are par baked...
Posted 09/29/2008 at 04:07:39 PMfinished wherever they land.
Bagel, schmagel: what you should really be trying is that salt rising bread. I bought a $4 loaf Saturday from the Schrocks at the Farmers' Market, and just the smell coming from the toaster made me tear up like Anton Ego. All that's left now is the heel.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 08:23:35 AMAlso, I've heard from various sources that between gas prices and general economic skittishness, the vendors at the Farmers' Market have really been hurting. Some aren't even making back the $40 of gas it takes to make the trip to Nashville. If you've been putting off a visit to the market, now's a good time to go—especially considering the purple heirloom tomato I had last weekend in a salad, which tastes like some kind of sultry exotic fruit.
Posted 10/01/2008 at 08:28:43 AMpink - i love it when you say sultry and exotic...
Posted 10/01/2008 at 03:19:34 PMFriends if anyone needs bagels...or anything else that can only be purchased in the shopping mecca that is my home state, I'm in Jersey and happy to take orders and bring things back...
Posted 10/01/2008 at 04:00:06 PMoh amy - you may regret that comment...
Posted 10/01/2008 at 05:06:59 PM