Browsing: Food

A Brief History On June 23, 2023, Americans celebrate National Detroit Style Pizza Day, a day to honor perhaps America’s favorite food in a unique style. Digging Deeper While most are familiar with “New York Style” and “Chicago Style” pizza, the variety invented by Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit, Michigan back in 1946 is a major player in gustatory wars that define pizza. Detroit Style is different, starting with its square shape, baked with a thick, airy crust in a square pan, spread with plenty of Wisconsin Brick Cheese all the way to the ends, covered with “racing stripes” of pizza…

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A Brief History On June 18, 2023, we celebrate National Turkey Lovers’ Day, and yes, we too love Turkey!  Americans are accustomed to having Turkey on Thanksgiving, and often on other holidays when a feast is the order of the day, but Turkey is great any time, whether it is deep fried, roasted, baked, fricasseed, made into lunch meat, breakfast sausage, hot dogs, ground meat or whatever! Digging Deeper A native bird of North America, the Turkey has gone from a wily and tough wild customer dating back 20 million years, to our more familiar domesticated variety that the President…

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A Brief History On June 1, 1495, a Dominican Friar of the Stirling house in Scotland named John Cor is the first person named in a written reference to Scotch Whisky, while the first known written reference to Scotch dates from 1494. Digging Deeper Although originally written in Latin, a translated version of the entry in the Exchequer Rolls is: “To Brother John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt.” Note that the description of the whisky, aqua vitae, means “water of life,” an indication of the importance of the wonderful liquid refreshment…

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A Brief History On May 16, 2023, Americans celebrate National Barbecue Day, something that means different things in different parts of the country. Digging Deeper In Kansas City, barbecue is beef or pork, or even chicken, that is slow roasted with a sauce of tomato and molasses base. Memphis barbecue is normally a dry rub that is cooked long and low, with a smoky finish. Texas barbecue is usually beef slow cooked in a smoker, with a dry rub for seasoning leaving a smoky taste. Carolina barbecue uses pork basted with a vinegar and ketchup type sauce, and slow cooked…

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A Brief History On March 5, 2023, Americans celebrate yet another of those strange “National Days” that you may not be aware of, this time, honoring that fabled alcoholic beverage, Absinthe, known as “The Green Fairey.” Digging Deeper Created by French doctor Pierre Ordinaire in the late 18th Century and made with wormwood, anise, fennel, other herbs, and of course, plenty of alcohol, the libation was first intended as a medicinal elixir.  Containing a trace amount of a chemical called thujone, Absinthe was reputed to be hallucinogenic, and was banned in the US and most of Europe by 1915. Not…

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