LoveTheJourney

More American, really, for a food just doesn’t get anymore New World/American than popcorn. You probably already know that corn is a New World food. It follows that popping corn is as well, though it’s distinct from more conventional varieties in that its kernels are smaller and harder. Popcorn is a variety of so-called “flint” [...]

Reader Jim C. asks:
OK, uncle Joe, how about a nod towards us bread history buffs? I’m guessing that in earlier centuries [wheat bran, germ and endosperm] WAS crushed together and that separating them out was a relatively recent development? For people who want to make bread “just like” those of earlier eras (“bread reenactors”, I [...]

No, the whole wheat berry isn’t just ground up and put into a sack, if that’s what you were thinking. OK, sure, it can be like that at some boutique low-production mills, but commercially speaking, whole wheat flour is made in exactly the same way regular white flour is made. The difference is that after [...]

Good question, reader Bob! A soaker is pretty much what it sounds like: whole grains, flour, or a combination thereof that’s mixed with water or milk and left to steep for as little as a few hours, or as much as a few days. I suppose the real question is: what’s the purpose of a [...]

So, what can you do with a whole wheat berry? Well, you can eat it as it is, though that’s a chewing-intensive experience that frequently results in indigestion. You can cook it then eat it, which can be a very nice experience indeed. Or, if you want to greatly expand the possible culinary uses of [...]

No, not The Colonel. Though we may well get around to that particular homonym one of these days. He’s literally an institution here in Lousiville, and is in fact buried not a mile from where I’m sitting at this very moment. They say he was a very genial man who also cussed like a sailor. [...]

A good question from reader Mack. A roux (pronounced “roo”) is a thickener. More specifically, it is a thickener made from a 50-50 combination — by weight — of white wheat flour and fat (butter, oil, chicken fat, beef tallow, any fat will do). Roux-making is usually associated with French cooking, though the earliest reference [...]

Now me, I don’t think you have to be a re-enactor to be fascinated by the American Civil War. I may not relish the thought of spooning with a bunch of unwashed men in a cold tent, but there are other ways to indulge an interest in history. Like, say, digging up answers to questions [...]