Channeling Julia

Many of us who grew up in the 1950's considered lettuce to be one variety - Iceberg. This variety had captured the market because it could be shipped long distances by rail (packed in ice - thus the name) and lasted a long time in the refrigerator. It is still the most used lettuce in the United States and is found in lots of fast food. Today Iceberg is specified in recipes primarily for its crisp crunchy texture.

Baby Romaine

Romaine is historically the most popular lettuce due to its heat tolerance. It's a good choice when grocery shopping only once every few weeks as it stores well and has more flavor than Iceberg.

Other varieties were around, but time to market and a short shelf life limited their use to those who wanted something more and grew their own. Butter, red and green leaf lettuces have become popular as time to market has shortened. A rule of thumb with these lettuces is to use quickly - before the cellulose breaks down (green slime).

Chinese lettuce has a bitter taste, doesn't form a "head" and is primarily used in cooking.

The bitter and pigmented lettuces have more nutritional value and contain antioxidants. Many supermarkets sell "spring mix" and "braising mix" which contain several varieties of lettuce and related greens such as endive, radicchio, chervil, arugula, kale, chard and many others. Spring mix has tender young leaves and is made for salads, whereas braising mix has a much stronger taste that works well in cooking. Responding to consumer demand, pre-packaged lettuces are also pre-washed, which extends shelf life and makes it very easy to prepare a meal at home.

My favorite way to cook asparagus is a little unconventional, but tasty.

Snap off the stems, wash, place on a cookie sheet and drench with olive oil. Pop in a hot (450

Yesterday SF Water had the water shutoff for 4 hours. (Hey, at least they told us so we could bathe, fill some pots, etc. beforehand). We're used to it now, they've been digging up the streets nearby for 2 months now. Every time the water comes back on we have to flush out all the dirt in the lines.

It's amazing how much we take clean, safe water on tap for granted. When it's absent, we suffer - no dishwasher, no flush toilets, all potable water from a bottle. It's different when you go camping - you know water will be scarce, so you have alternate solutions. In recent years bottled water has become the fashion (talk about ecologically unsound & wasteful), yet in most big cities the tap water is just as good (if not better).

Good cooking absolutely depends on good water from preparation to cleanup. As a cook you have a right to demand the best. If your local water supply isn't up to par, demand safe & clean water and support your local water company's efforts to keep the supply uncontaminated.

Originally for cheese making, this loose weave cotton cloth (it looks like gauze) has many uses in the kitchen.

Here we constructed a blanket out of cheesecloth and saturated it with wine to keep the breast cooler than the rest of the bird. The thicker areas centered above each breast ("tittys") give just a bit more insulation from the heat of the oven. (the alternative is to cook with the breast down)

Use cheesecloth to wrap bunches of whole leaf herbs before steeping in the pot. This will make it easier to remove them before serving. (sort of like a teabag) Another use is to strain/filter liquids, such as pouring off the liquid when making stock, or allowing excess liquid to drain off.

If you find cheesecloth too expensive for regular use, muslin (cotton fabric) is probably the most commonly available substitute. You might want to wash it before use to remove any sizing) Unlike cheesecloth, it is durable and can be reused under certain circumstances. Cotton gauze could also be used, but may actually be more expensive than the cheesecloth if you buy the sterile pads. Cheesecloth and gauze are expendable - use once, then throw away.

One ingredient that appears in quite a few recipes is "vanilla extract". How do we make a liquid from vanilla beans?

It's actually very simple - grind up the vanilla bean, cover with alcohol (ethanol if you want to be technical), let it stand for a period of time and the essential oil dissolves in the alcohol. Run the liquid through a filter to remove the solids.

Just a note: growth of the vanilla bean is extremely labor intensive, so the price of real vanilla extract fluctuates as the world market adjusts to shortages caused by weather, disease and political turmoil. Vanillin is the primary compound extracted from the bean and can be synthesized far more cheaply than the beans can be grown. It is very difficult to discern whether "real" or synthetic vanillin has been used in most baking applications, so commercial bakers usually go the less expensive route. French Vanilla ice cream is most common exception, since many of the recipes call for the beans themselves.

It goes without saying that we prefer the real thing.