Here are two words that come together in an unpleasant way to describe a food that I want nothing to do with:
Butter braid
Anyone else experience queasiness at this phrase? What about it is so awful? I mean, I like pastries as much as the next blogger, but for some reason, butter braid threatens to let loose the contents of my stomach.
While I really hope your child raises enough money to go on his soccer trip, I will not be buying anything called a “butter braid.”
From today’s Times: U.S. cyclist Christian Vande Velde’s recipe for sushi rice bars:
- 3 cups medium-grain Calrose or sushi rice, cooked
- 6 eggs
- Soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos (a soybean-based liquid protein concentrate)
- A handful of prosciutto or cooked bacon
- Salt
- Balsamic vinegar
Scramble the eggs with the soy sauce or the Braggs Aminos. (“The guys like the flavor of the Braggs better than the soy,” Mr. Lim said.) Add the prosciutto or bacon. Pile the rice, eggs and pork into a 6-by-9-inch pan. Pour a small amount of balsamic vinegar and soy on top. Salt to taste. Mix and mash into the pan. Let sit for 20 minutes, then, using a silicon spatula (“anything else and the rice will stick,” Mr. Lim said) cut it into 1 1/2-inch squares. Wrap in foil. Yields about 24.
As someone who quickly tires of sugary energy bars, I’m excited to try out this recipe. [Photo and caption from the Times.]
According to Schott’s 2008 Desk Almanac:
Retronyms are terms that has been created to clarify an exiting word rendered ambiguous by evolutions in technology or social practice.
I’m currently reading Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” which is a beautifully written and thoroughly researched lament about our evolution (or degeneration) from eaters of food to consumers of “food-like products.”
With that book in the forefront of my consciousness, the following retronyms, listed in the Feb. 1 entry of my Schott’s page-a-day calendar, took on a timely significance:
These terms came into being with the advent of the industrial food supply. Before chemical fertizers and factory farms and free trade agreements and cheap oil, all food was organic, free range and/or seasonal.
And it was cooked in a conventional oven.
Now we must specify.
[UPDATE]
In the near future, we may have to add a modifier to ‘cheeseburger.’ As in, “This conventional cheeseburger is much better than the canned cheeseburger I had yesterday.”