Matters of Taste

Green Ivy

It’s called the “23-pound mug.” But every day, thousands of Harvard University students dash around the campus sipping coffee, tea and soy lattes from it.             

So, what’s the gimmick?

This re-usable plastic mug is the latest gear-shift in Harvard’s drive to become a greener, more sustainable campus. The 23 pounds represents the pounds of paper waste that is saved in one year by one person using the mug instead of paper coffee cups, one cup each day, Monday through Friday.

Twenty-three pounds of garbage saved just by switching to a re-usable mug!

I was doubly horrified when I considered that I could be saving 46 pounds of landfill trash because I ask for a double-cup at Starbucks, etc. (I can’t always count on my surgically-repaired thumb to hold on to flimsy paper cups. However,  I do re-use the clean cups at home.)

The attention-getting 23-pound mug is just one of the strategies developed by Harvard this past year to promote an environment-friendly lifestyle on campus and throughout the community. (Universities across the country are now making an eco-friendly environment their top priority.)

Last week I attended the annual meeting of an Advisory Council that reports directly to Harvard University Dining Services. The Council – a group of chefs, restaurateurs, cookbook authors, journalists, parents and dining service directors from other U.S. universities – toured the school’s dining facilities and retail outlets, sampled all the food offered in various sites, interviewed students, faculty and staff members and prepared a report that combined praise for a job well done with recommendations for future improvements.

I came away with plenty of food for thought.

#1. Plastic water bottles remain one of the biggest pollutants of the earth. At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, student organizers (of seminars, parties, etc.) are not allowed to spend school funds on plastic bottles of water.  At Sebastian’s Café in the Harvard School of Public Health, plans are underway to phase out bottled water completely, providing taps of filtered water for students to fill cups and re-usable bottles. Paul Riccardi, Dean for Administration and Operations for the school admits that bottled water is a “big money maker” for the café.  “But we can’t talk out of both sides of our mouth,” he adds. “We say we’re all about public health…then we’ve got to deal with plastic bottles of water which are one of the biggest pollutants.”  The café is also testing a machine that dispenses sparkling water, both plain and flavored, which will take bottled sparkling water out of the deli cases as well.
(With these initiatives, the school is following the lead of such cities as San Francisco, Santa Barbara and L.A.  which have cut off the flow of city money to buy bottled water.  Others, including Chicago and Salt Lake City are considering a similar course of action.)

  Now, we all know that re-usable bottles such as Nalgene have their detractors. Recent studies have warned that some polycarbonate plastics may leach Bispherol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical. The National Geographic’s “Green Guide” recommends using safer alternatives such as bottles made with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or, better yet, stainless steel bottles that are lightweight, durable and chemical free. (The Nalgene company’s Web site  says it is phasing out production of polycarbonate containers that include BPA.)

No one said it was an easy issue. But, clearly, it’s time for all of us to come up with some personally acceptable alternative to one-use plastic bottles.

2. Substituting compostable plates, utensils and to-go “shells” for regular paper and plastic is NOT a long-term solution. (Harvard joins several other universities in the area in composting food and other waste and delivering it to farms outside the city for use in the fields.)  For starters, the flimsy compostable forks and knives are ineffective against even a tender piece of chicken. Moreover, most compostable items cost 10-12 percent more than regular paper/plastic products (a cost that is passed along to the student/diner); and few homes/restaurants are equipped to maintain a compost heap.  Most importantly, at the end of the day you’re still faced with Mount Trashmore…just one that decomposes somewhat faster than the traditional one.

3. Throw-away latex gloves are said to take 200 years or more to degrade in a landfill. I’ve seen a sandwich maker go through two or three pair just to turn out one crummy little chicken club six-incher. There’s got to be a better way.

4. Other steps being taken by Harvard to “green” up their act include:
    * Using digital displays at cafeteria entrances to communicate information rather than using paper “flyers” and table signage.
    * Buying meats, produce and dairy products from local producers. (The university is in its third year of sponsoring a weekly Farmers Market, for students and Cambridge residents alike, next to the famed Harvard Yard.)
    * Using student volunteers and videos at trash stations to encourage efficient re-cycling.

You don't need a college degree to get the message: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Rethink.

More Brew-haha at the 'buck

While we’re on the subject of coffee…

I gotta hand it to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. When that guy says he’s going to make waves, he’s talking tsunamis.

In addition to shutting down the entire world-wide operation one afternoon for a barista “remedial,” taking smelly breakfast sandwiches off the menu, creating a new “retro” blend, and giving away millions of “talls” between now and May 28th, Schultz recently announced the purchase of the Coffee Equipment Company of Seattle. Connoisseurs know that as the maker of the Clover coffee brewer, an $11,000 contraption that’s considered essential equipment at top cafes.          

Rather than brewing coffee by the pot, the Clover brews one cup at a time using beans that are poured into a small metal cup and weighed on a scale, then ground. Next, hot water (about 202 degrees, I was told) shoots out of a spigot into a well in the top of the machine. The barista dumps the ground coffee into the water and stirs it gently with a paddle. After about a minute the grounds rise dramatically above the top of the well, forming a half-inch “cake” which is scraped into a trash receptacle. The brewed coffee comes out of another spigot near the bottom of the machine. (Photo from New York Times.)

The process is similar to that of French Press coffee, but the French Press operation can take close to 10 minutes. The Clover is ready in about two minutes. Starbucks calls it “fresh pressed” coffee.

The company is testing the Clover at six outlets, three in Seattle and three in the Boston area. Last week I got to watch the show and taste the results at a Starbucks in Harvard Square, Cambridge.

The employees treated the Clover like a shrine, jockeying graciously for the chance to operate it. They were knowledgeable about the process and the beans being used. (Six types of beans are suggested but customers can ask for any type of bean they want.)

The brewing was fun to watch, the aromas were terrific and the end product was impressive.

I found the aged Sumatra wonderfully fragrant with a multi-layered flavor that included some fruit and floral notes. But what I liked best was the freshness of the flavor, the brightness, the clarity. I swear it even looked clearer, shinier and more appealing. I also tried the Guatemalan Antigua which was significantly milder, less interesting, but very elegant. Both coffees showed their stuff a lot more when they had cooled off for about 15 minutes.

There was only occasional traffic at the Clover machine in the store I visited. At that rate, the baristas could fuss over their gig as much as they wanted. But I wouldn’t want to be tenth in the Clover line waiting for my morning cup.

During the “test drive,” Starbucks is selling the Clover coffees for $2.25 a tall and  $2.50 a grande. If the machine goes store-wide, I’m guessing there’ll be a bigger gap between the fresh pressed and the regular Pike Place Roast.

Much Ado About New Brew

Starbucks introduced a new coffee this week. Now, that doesn’t seem like such a big whoop to me, considering that the company offers dozens of different varieties, with new ones like Komodo Dragon Blend and Winter Melange showing up all the time.                

However, this is a special new coffee, they tell us. A coffee to appease the folks who complain that Starbucks coffee tastes bitter and burnt. A coffee to win back the customers who have deserted the brand for, of all things, McDonald’s and Dunkin' Donuts. A coffee to help CEO Howard Schultz (who recently returned to the company) right the ship.

Dubbed Pike Place Roast, in honor of the original Starbucks’ location in Seattle, the new coffee is a lighter, brighter blend of beans, mostly Latin American. The word is that it’s freshly ground and brewed throughout the day, with no pot allowed to sit for more than 30 minutes.

The company has mounted an advertising blitz to sell the stuff. Coupons for a free cup every Wednesday from now until May 28th were sent to households via direct mail. In addition, on Tuesday, the day Pike Place Roast made its debut, USA Today featured an ad incorporating the “Brewed Coffee Card.” Anybody who hasn’t seen the new brown-and-white logo (in fact, the original 1971 logo) must be living in a cave.

So, how does it taste?

Let me say up-front that #1 I’ve never been a fan of Starbucks coffee, frequenting the chain instead for their lattes which are unfailingly consistent. And #2, I happen to like strong, dark-roast coffee.

But a trained critic doesn’t let pesky personal preferences interfere with the job at hand. And I can say that this cup of joe is pretty darn good. Nothing earth-shattering. But the people it’s designed to please don’t want earth-shattering. They want something that tastes good with a donut.

The Pike Place Roast does have a lighter, brighter taste.  Though it's devoid of distinctive coffee beany flavors, it does have an ever-so-slightly nutty aroma. It’s smooth, not sharp or overly acidic. And it does taste freshly made.

I’d call it user-friendly. Homey. All-American. Something to wake you up or warm you up, not to analyze.

Hold the Pepperoni

It seems that the Chicago P.D. has some issues with flab.

According to a story in The New York Times, the department’s new superintendent, ex-FBI agent Jody P. Weis,  is talking mandatory fitness tests and maximum body-fat allowances, “only after a year’s physical education and with exceptions, of course.” This, in a city that has made pizza an art form, and calls four poached eggs slathered with béarnaise sauce “one serving” (you Butch McGuire fans know who you are.)

Weis says he only wants to “promote healthful physical standards.” But some members of the rank and file take issue at the suggestion that Chicago cops are any more out of shape than their counterparts in other cities. “I hope it’s not his opinion that this force is in bad shape as compared to others,” said Mark P. Donahue, president of the Chicago local of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Given the temptations on the beat – hot dogs smothered with pickles and tomatoes,  chicken Vesuvio, and, of course, deep-dish pizza, it just doesn’t seem fair to hold Chicago cops to the traditional fitness standards.

You can find some of Chicago’s Best pizza at these four eateries. (And you just might run into one of Chicago’s Finest, but only if you go before the BMI tests start.)
                                                                      
LOU MALNATI’S. 28 locations in Illinois. Plus you can order a frozen pie to be shipped anywhere in the country. 

GINO’S EAST. I’m partial to the 633 N. Wells Street location, but there are scads of Gino’s pizzerias and you can even buy the stuff frozen in some California supermarkets.

PIECE. 1927 W. North Avenue. Specializing in New Haven-style thin-crust and hand-crafted brews.

BRICKS. 1909 N. Lincoln Avenue. Also in Petaluma, CA.

Belt-tightening (and we don't mean dieting)

We’re still a couple weeks away from Tax Day but headlines are already screaming about supermarket sticker shock and how the restaurant-going public will have to tighten its $50 Vineyard Vines belt in the coming months.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal pointed out that a gallon of milk that cost $3.10 this time last year is now going for $3.87. And that the dozen large eggs that cost $2.17 in February was up a whopping 24% over its February, 2007 price.

Last week The New York Times weighed in on the subject with a look at the feasibility of buying everything for a meal from Jack’s 99-Cent Store in New York City.  The message: If superchef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin restaurant can work wonders with frozen salmon fillets,  so can you.

Though I haven’t visited Manhattan’s 99-Cent Stores yet, I have shopped at Grocery Outlets in Oceanside and Chula Vista and find them great for bargains but not terribly broad (or sophisticated) in their food offerings. Moreover, the franchised 99-cents stores around San Diego are pretty much limited to canned and packaged goods.

If you’re determined to save money on an impressive meal, Costco is the way to go.  For an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune entitled "Big Box Dinner,"  I prepared a dinner party for 14 people using only ingredients, wines, etc. from Costco.  The food was delicious. The final tab was a bargain.  (Article no longer available on-line.)

The New York Times article includes several recipes.  However, if I happened to have the IRS biting at my heels on April 15,  I doubt that I’d be in the mood for the fancy-schmancy Almond Nougat Parfait with Orange Coulis that Eric Ripert suggests for dessert.

Instead, I’d be tucking into a tub of cookies ‘n cream ice cream and one of the cheap, easy, comfort-food dinners that cookbook author Phillis Carey shares in her book “The Casual Gourmet: 50 Easy Entertaining Menus." (Carey's books are available at Amazon.com and, in San Diego, at Great News!)

Here are two Phillis Carey recipes.

ZUCCHINI FETA PANCAKES
Makes about 12 pancakes

1 pound zucchini, coarsely grated                                    
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled         
¼ cup snipped fresh dill weed or 1 teaspoon dried dill
2 tablespoons snipped fresh mint (optional)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
½ teaspoon salt
Dash pepper                
1 cup flour                     
2 eggs, beaten
Vegetable oil
Tomato wedges (garnish)
Fresh mint (garnish)

Combine the grated zucchini, feta cheese, dill, mint, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Using a fork, stir in the eggs and flour.
In a heavy skillet, heat the oil (about ½ inch-deep) to 400 degrees. Drop rounded tablespoons of the zucchini mixture into the hot oil. Fry pancakes until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Garnish with tomatoes and mint.

MUSTARD CHICKEN PICANTE
Serves 6-8

6 to 8 chicken breast halves, skinned and boned
½ cup medium or mild chunky salsa
¼ cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons butter
6 to 8 tablespoons sour cream
1 lime, sliced
Cilantro, for garnish

In a flat dish, stir together the salsa, mustard and lime juice. Lightly pound the chicken breasts (between sheets of plastic wrap) and add to the marinade. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
In a large fry pan, melt the  butter over medium heat. Remove chicken from the marinade and cook breasts in the skillet for 4 minutes per side.
Add the remaining marinade to the skillet, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes or until the chicken is fork tender and the marinade is reduced to a glaze.
Remove chicken to a serving platter and top with sauce. Garnish each breast with 1 tablespoon sour cream, a slice of lime and a sprig of cilantro.

Mozzarella Madness

Italy’s latest scandal could be subtitled “The Godfather Goes Gourmet.”
According to a story in today’s New York Times, some of the prized mozzarella di bufala from the area around Naples has been found to have elevated levels of the carcinogen dioxin. The contamination, it seems, is coming from huge-scale, illegal dumping and burning of toxic trash. And that toxic trash, it seems, is being dumped by the Camorra, an organized crime group that makes tons of money dumping it. Mob activity in Italy being what it is, no one has sought to stop the dumping, even though local officials are alleged to be in on the non-secret.

Moreover, Reuters reports that the Italian government has already sealed off 83 dairy farms in the region, alleging that one of every five dairies sampled was using tainted milk. South Korea and Japan have announced bans on the import of the cheese.

The Italian Foreign Minister calls the alarm “totally exaggerated and unjustified.”

Not all mozzarella is made from the milk of water buffalos. The cheaper stuff that’s piled on pizzas in the U.S. is made with cow's milk.  Cow’s milk mozzarella comes in “regular” which is made in factories and is firm and rather rubbery; and “fresh” which is packaged in water or whey and has a much softer texture and fresher flavor.

Buffalo mozzarella, which can cost up to twice the price of regular, is prized for its soft, supple texture and sweet, delicate flavor. Most aficionados prefer to eat it by itself, topped with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and cracked pepper.  The popular Caprese salad consists of overlapping slivers of ripe tomato and buffalo mozzarella, sprinkled with a chiffonade of fresh basil leaves.

Given that tomato season is just around the corner, this is clearly no time for a mozzarella crisis. While the Italians figure out the extent of their problem, savvy cheese lovers in the U..S. will look to the fresh burrata, a cousin of mozzarella, being made by Gioia Cheese Co. in South El Monte, CA. The deliriously rich and creamy burrata, a native of Italy’s Puglia region, can best be described as “mozzarella stuffed with mozzarella.” The outside is pure curd; the inside is a chunky mix of unfinished curd and heavy cream. It’s divine.

The cheese, which is so delicate it must be eaten within a day or two or purchase, can be found throughout California at upscale supermarkets and some farmers markets. It’s also available on-line at Frogs Breath Cheese Store.

Tipping Point

Anyone who’s ever been a waiter or waitress (the accepted terms before professional servers with six-figure incomes became the norm in upscale restaurants) will get a chuckle over the story in yesterday’s New York Times about the Houston waitress who got a thoroughbred racehorse as a tip. Apparently a regular customer came into Ouisie’s Table just after the lunch crush and 71-year-old A. D. Carrol served him two cups of coffee. “He just looked up at me and said, ‘You’re a good ol’ gal. You want a horse?’ I thought he was kidding,” recounts Carrol.

I still remember vividly the biggest tip I ever got. As a college student in the late ‘60s, I worked the breakfast and lunch shift (white polyester uniform, stockings, hairnet, lace-up shoes, the whole nine yards) at a Holiday Inn on a North Carolina Interstate. I was making thirty-five cents an hour as salary (apparently North Carolina didn’t know from minimum wage back then). One morning a guy ordered half of a grapefruit and a cup of coffee. He left me a $5 bill as tip. I felt like a millionaire. I later learned he was an “owner,” probably a franchisee.

So, okay, it wasn’t a racehorse. Heck, it wasn’t even a “tip” on a racehorse running at the track. But it made a lasting impression and has probably affected the way I tip and the way I encourage others to think about gratuities. 

So what was your most memorable tip…or lack thereof. I’d like to hear.

Grass-fed beef

This week’s massive recall of tainted beef is enough to put you off your feed forever.  One hundred forty three million pounds of the stuff was deemed unfit for human consumption after it came to light that a Chino, CA company was continuing to process cows that were too sick to walk. An undercover video distributed by the Humane Society of the United States showed Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk.  Pretty embarrassing for the Department of Agriculture which has banned such “downer” cows from the food supply…and which is, supposedly, monitoring slaughterhouses for such abuse.

“Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, F.S.I.S. (Food Safety and Inspection Service) has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall,” Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said in a statement.

It’s doubtless that supermarket chains, fast-food giants and, god help us, the U.S. school lunch program will continue to buy from companies like Westland/Hallmark.

But a fast-growing, and increasingly passionate, group of American carnivores are chucking the mega-feedlot meat system in favor of local ranchers who raise their cattle the old-fashioned way, in grassy pastures.

From coast to coast, small, family-operated farms are appealing to consumers who see grass-fed beef as a healthier alternative to corn-fed, and who want a product that’s humanely raised in an environmentally sustainable environment.
Witness the growing popularity of farms like family-owned Chileno Valley Ranch of Petaluma in Northern California, where you can visit the pastures, throw a wedding, take an art class or buy a  ¼ "split" of a grass-raised cow.  See La Cense Ranch in Montana which prides itself on its several different types of grass. Check out Lewis Waite Farm in Greenwich, New York where Alan and Nancy Brown have been raising cattle since the late ‘60s.

We’re talking beef raised exclusively on grass (not fattened up with grains before slaughter), with no antibiotics and no growth-promoting hormones. While it’s not a given that animals on these small, sustainable farms are humanely harvested (another term for slaughtered), the chances are vastly better than at the mass production companies.
“The mega processors in the country do 400 head an hour, 16 hours a day, 365 days a year; when my facility is completed in April we’ll do 50 to 100 head a week,” says Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA and Certification Chairman at the American Grassfed Association.
“I can’t say I know everyone in the (grass-fed) business,” he adds in a folksy drawl, “but everyone I know harvests their cattle at very small processing plants. It’s more of an artisanal thing.”
(To be sure, there are also small, family-owned farms in the U.S. that specialize in grain-fed cattle. humanely raised and harvested. One good example is Fred Manas’ Double-Bar-O Angus Ranch (www.manasranch.com) in Esparto, CA.)

Grass-fed beef is lower in saturated fat, and higher in Omega-3 fatty acids than corn-fed beef. Grass-fed also contains several times the amount of “conjugated linoleic acid” found in cattle fattened in feedlots. (CLA has been found to have anti-oxidant and anti-tumor properties.) However, it's not necessarily for folks looking for the lowest prices or biggest values in the market. A 12-ounce grain-fed New York steak will typically cost about $17 per pound compared to about $21 for grass-fed. Nor is it the best choice for the weekend warrior who wants to toss a slab of meat on a hot grill, then focus on his Michelob or Maker’s Mark. Because of its lower fat content, grass-fed beef needs a bit more attention and a slightly lower heat level.

Fans of frass-fed beef say that it has a more robust, pure “beefy” flavor. Critics claim that it is tougher than the richly marbled corn-fed product. But clearly such culinary icons as Charlie Trotter and Tom Colicchio have no problem turning out superlative dishes (with stratospheric pricetags) using grass-fed beef.
Trotter’s temple of haute cuisine in Chicago offers grass-fed tenderloin with arugula and horseradish crème. The menu at Colicchio’s Craftsteak (see the sizzler on the right) has grass-fed steaks from three different ranches: Painted Hills Farm in Oregon, Parker Ranch in Hawaii and Montana Ranch in Montana. Acme Chophouse in San Francisco tempts with dry aged, Acme Chophouse in San Francisco tempts with dry aged, grass-fed Porterhouse and filet steak tartare.  And when Harry Caray’s, the revered sports bar/restaurant in Chicago added grass-fed steaks to the menu in 2006, the president of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group reported “the single biggest (sales) month in our history.”

Still, grass-fed beef remains pretty much a “boutique” item. Traditional U.S. steakhouses don’t give it a second look.  And it’s not in most mainstream supermarkets. However it is available at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, PCC Natural markets in the Seattle area, Trader Joe’s in California and the Pacific Northwest, and Wegmans (in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia). See eatwild.com for a comprehensive, state-by-state directory of farms, ranches and markets.
Or check out the on-line stores for the grass-fed steaks that scored highest in a New York Times tasting of grass-fed beef steaks:  Tallgrass Beef; American Grass Fed Beef; La Cense; Lasater Grasslands Beef.