"The Firefighter's Cookbook - Award-Winning Recipes From a Fire-Fighting Chef" by John Sineno - Chicken Marsala - 9/11/2017

Date I made this recipe:  September 11, 2017 – 16^th Anniversary of 9/11

The Firefighter's Cookbook – Award-winning Recipes from a Fire-Fighting Chef by John Sineno (Engine 58, NYC)

Published by Vintage Books

ISBN: 0-394-74429-2; © 1986

Purchased at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC

Recipe:  Chicken Marsala – p. 19 – submitted by Jim Sherwood, Ladder 19 (Bronx, NY)

On 9/11/2001, 343 members of the FDNY (Fire Department New York) died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers.

On 8/1/2017, I purchased this cookbook at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City's West Village with, I have to admit, the intention on cooking from this on 9/11/17, the 16^th observance of the fall of the Twin Towers.  It's uncanny how many times over the years that I've discovered and purchased a cookbook just when I need it.

When I noticed that this book was published in 1986 (5 years before 9/11), I decided that I simply had to know if any of the firefighters and related personnel who submitted recipes for this book perished when the towers fell.  I found two similar sources on the internet and so book in hand, I started my search, always fearful that I would find a "match."

I am relieved to report that not a single name in this book appeared on the list.  That said, we continue to mourn the fallen from that horrible, horrible day.

For the record, my small hometown in Michigan has a volunteer fire department.  Although they were best known for putting on a fantastic water fight every 4^th of July, they continue to do this work because they love it and really, if you are going to be a firefighter, it is essential that you love what you do!

In 1986 when he wrote The Firefighter's Cookbook, author John Sineno, was a twenty-three year veteran with Engine 58, and a two-time first prize winner in annual cooking competitions among NYC firehouses; he retired in 1992.

Sineno's cookbook is filled with recipes from fellow firefighters across NYC (and a few from firefighters in NJ); administrators such as commissioners, assistant commissioners, and even a secretary to an administrator; a medic; a counsel to the FDNY, and a chaplain.  

As you might imagine, some of the recipe yields in this cookbook are huge as they are intended to feed firehouse staff.  Although I often divide recipes in half, breaking down a recipe that serves 8 or more is fraught with peril.  When you end up using "1/16^th teaspoon" of an ingredient, you have to ask yourself "Why bother?"  Sometimes, the taste itself also suffers and I wanted to avoid that which is why I shelved the otherwise delicious-sounding "Tortellini Meatball Soup" that served 16-20 people.  (Apologies to Capt. Pat Buttino, Engine 263.)

Recipe yields aside, I liked this cookbook because it was pretty compact and the recipes all sounded really good.  Your chapter options are:

• Main Courses
• Pastas and Soups (I would expect nothing less than a "pasta" chapter of an NYC cookbook)
• Side Dishes
• Desserts

Recipes up for consideration were:

• "Seafood Newburg" – p. 10
• "New Orleans Jambalaya"- p. 23
• "Pepper Steak" – p. 29 (This calls for six pounds of skirt steak.  Six???)
• "Artichoke Pie" – p. 59
• "Scalloped Potatoes and Onions" – p. 105
• "Pistachio Mousse" – p. 139

 And honestly, aside from a few fishes dishes (I don't like fish), there didn't seem to be a clunker in the bunch.  That has to be a first.

Initially, I was gung-ho on the "Scalloped Potatoes and Onions" but I wasn't sure I would get the rich, creaminess I am used to with this recipe and didn't know what to make about the inclusion of mayonnaise. 

Then I was thinking about the "Seafood Newburg" but it seemed like too heavy of a dish for what I was looking for plus it was topped with Swiss Cheese and that didn't work for me. In fact, I don't think that is a traditional topping.

So hmmm....what to make, what to make....okay, Chicken Marsala, final answer.  In fact, I was quite chuffed that I selected this because I had Marsala wine on hand so I used it and then realized afterwards that it was "dry" Marsala wine, not "sweet."

This explains much.  I mean, the flavor wasn't bad but it definitely did not taste like other Chicken Marsala dishes I have known and loved.  No worries:  The next day, I stopped at the liquor store, bought the "correct" Marsala and then added it to my leftovers!

Before I go, I wanted to note that 57 firefighters and related personnel contributed to this cookbook. I imagine many, maybe even most, are now retired but it should never be taken fore granted that it takes some kind of courage for these firefighters, and those who lost their lives on 9/11/2001, to run willingly into danger when others are fleeing;  for this, I salute you.

N.B.  Right after I published this blog, I realized that I had my own little fire marshal story to share. 

In 1997 or thereabouts, I worked for Wells Fargo in one of the taller office buildings in downtown Minneapolis.  Wells Fargo needed to have volunteer floor fire marshals for each floor that the employees occupied and so I became one for my floor. I even got an official hat! 

The floor fire marshals' job was to make sure employees left via the stairwell (never the elevator) and to check for stragglers.  Floor marshals were always the last ones to leave.

That year, we had several drills, some planned and some not planned, and actually one microwave fire on another floor that caused us all to exit the building, so I was a busy gal. To help me out, I enlisted the aid of a fellow co-worker, whose name I can't recall but let's call her "Sandy."  Sandy helped me do a sweep of the floor before we both left via the stairwell. This gal was really funny but took her job seriously.  After one event, she no sooner saluted me and said "Perimeter clear, sir," when a guy came running around the corner and down the stairs.

"Hey! You!  Where did you come from!"  She was so mad that she had missed him, sneaky bastard!  

Now, the interesting things about fire drills at this time (pre-9/11) was that all floor marshals were told specifically not to force anybody to leave, and in fact, one guy refused to go because he was in the middle of something. Lucky for him, it was a drill and not the real thing.

Post-9/11, the thought that anybody would remain in place, drill or no drill, seems ridiculous if not downright dangerous. I have to wonder too, if companies have changed their informal policy and now require everybody to leave; I hope so.  Remember when employees in the second tower were told all was well and they should return to their desks? (I believe the "all-clear" command though, came from the building management and not each individual company housed in the tower.) I pretty sure I've read that the vast majority of people who defied that command and kept walking down the stairs to safety, lived to tell about it.

If this happened to me today, I believe I too, would skedaddle, but only after ensuring everyone else was okay, of course.  Once a floor fire marshal, always a floor fire marshal!

Chicken Marsala – Servings: 4 (Ann's Note:  Even half the recipe made quite a lot) – recipe submitted by Jim Sherwood, Ladder 19 (Bronx, NY)

2 pounds chicken cutlets, pounded

½ pound butter

¼ cup olive oil

Flour

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 pound mushrooms

1 shallot 1 ½ cups sweet Marsala wine

1 bunch parsley, minced

2 lemons, halved

Clean chicken cutlets, remove excess fat.  Cut into medallion-size pieces.  Melt ¼ pound butter in a skillet and add olive oil.  Dredge chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.  Shake off excess and sauté to golden brown.  Place chicken in an ovenproof pan and set aside.

Separate mushroom caps from stems.  Mince shallot and mushroom stems, quarter or slice mushroom caps.  Melt remaining butter and sauté shallots and mushrooms, and cook until mushrooms release their juice.  Remove from heat and add Marsala and 1 tablespoon minced parsley.  Season to taste and simmer for 5 minutes.

While mixture is simmering, squeeze juice of 2 lemons over chicken.  Pour sauce mixture over chicken, cover, and cook at 350°F for 15- 20 minutes.  Garnish with parsley.  Serve with noodles Alfredo.

"Autograph Celebrity Cookbook" - Jerry Orbach's (Law & Order) Pan-Fried Steak and "Love in the Afternoon" (recipes from ABC Soaps) Heiress Asparagus Soups - 2016 Emmy Awards

Date I made these recipes – Sunday, September 18, 2016 – Emmy Award Night!

Autograph® Celebrity Cookbook – introduced and compiled by Professor Richard Brown, New York University; foreword by Michael Lomonaco, Chef/Director, Windows on the World until it was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks

Published by DuPont, maker of Autograph® non-stick coating

© 1992

Purchased at BCPA Sale (Bloomington Crime Prevention Association), June 2016

Recipe: Pan-Fried Steak with Balsamic Sauce from the late actor, Jerry Orbach, who played Detective Lennie Briscoe on the TV show, Law & Order – p. 88

Love in the Afternoon Cookbook – Recipes from Your Favorite ABC-TV Soap Operas:  Ryan's Hope; All My Children; One Life to Live; General Hospital by Jeanne Jones and Donna Swajeski

Published by M. Evans and Company, Inc.

ISBN: 0-87131-426-6

Purchased at BCPA Sale (Bloomington Crime Prevention Association), June 2012

Recipe:  Heiress Asparagus Soup from One Life to Live's character Dorian Lord Callison, played by Robin Strasser – p. 85

So the Emmy Awards were on last night and this turned out to be a good thing as it distracted me from another competition that aired on another network:  the Packers v. Vikings game.  In Minnesota.  It did not go well for my Packers. 

Things went much better on the Emmy Awards unless, of course, you lost in your category, in which case you might as well have been playing for the Pack who lost the game.

And so it came to pass that I watched much more (like 90% more) of the Emmys than the game which was not at all what I intended.  I taped both shows, but intended to spend more time watching the game than the Emmys but that didn't happen.

Normally, I might have also "split" my Sunday night menu between an "Emmy" meal and a Packers football meal but it just got too hard to fit everything in.  And so it came to pass that a few days before the game, I decided on an Emmy-meal-or-bust approach and to heck with the football stuff for now. 

Focus is a good thing, amirite Packers?

The first book I used is the Autograph® Celebrity Cookbook.  You should know that this book does not contain any celebrity "autographs," as that refers to a non-stick coating created by DuPont, "sponsor" of this cookbook.  But it does contain celebrity photos and recipes, and all proceeds from the sale of this cookbook were given to Citymeals-on-Wheels in NYC, an organization that provides meals to homebound elderly New Yorkers.  That makes me happy.  But here's what makes me sad:  The foreword to this book, published in 1992, was written by chef Michael Lomonaco who was then in charge of the famous restaurant at the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Centers Twin Towers.  Windows on the World operated from 1976 until 9/11/2011.

On 9/11/2001, everyone on Lomonaco's staff was in that restaurant serving patrons, many of them people who had "always wanted to eat there."  My friend, Bob, knew of one such person who was there that day.  Given the spectacular view from the 106^th/107^th floor, it is no wonder it was popular.  I might have eaten there except for my fear of heights.  

On 9/11, American Airlines Flight 11 plowed into that building; you know what happened after that.  Chef Lomonaco was in the lobby at that time and was evacuated.  He was the only survivor of the restaurant staff.

Until I read the foreword, I did not connect the dots.  I knew who he was since he has appeared on numerous cooking shows, and I knew what happened to Windows on the World, and I might have even remembered that he was in the lobby, but I didn't pull it all together until the day I got pulled the book from my shelf to cook from it for my blog.  I think it is somewhat fitting, if not ironic that I had just written all about 9/11 the week before and now there I was with another cosmic connection to that day.

It's also fitting that many of the celebrities featured in this book (along with their recipes) found their fame in New York and not LA, performing on the stage or in movies or on TV.  Back in the early days of television, many productions were filmed in New York and if you go to Queens, you can go to the Museum of the Moving Image and take in memorabilia and see the old lots.  (I have been there and it is awesome!  I have also been to London's Museum of the Moving Image, or MOMI as it's referred to over there. http://www.movingimage.us/

One actor who made his claim to fame on both the New York stage and screen was the late Jerry Orcbach who most of you know as Detective Lennie Briscoe from the long-running TV show, Law & Order.  I loved the show, loved "Lennie" and particularly loved how the show was shot in NYC.  My husband and my favorite thing to do when watching episodes is "neighborhood spotting" where we guess (mostly correctly) where a scene took place.

As between Jerry's recipes for "Chicken with Artichokes, Mushrooms, and White Wine," and "Pan-Fried Steak with Balsamic Sauce," tonight's "Emmy" went (narrowly) to the steak.  It was delicious.  It was also shown paired with fresh asparagus which I did not make, but I did make an asparagus soup from another cookbook which sort of tied the whole thing together.

If Jerry's recipes don't float your boat, here's a sampling of some of the other actors and recipes that might:

• Alan Alda (M*A*S*H) – Sauteed Shrimp with Basil and Cherry Tomatoes
• Adam Arkin (guest-starred recently on How to Get Away with Murder) – French Onion Soup
• Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck; Steel Magnolias) – Greek Meatballs
• Tony Goldwyn (Scandal) – Pork Tenderloin Steaks with Spicy Tomato Sauce
• Ben Stiller (Night at the Museum, Zoolander) – Sweet Ricotta Pancakes

 And lots, lots more!

The second cookbook I used – Love in the Afternoon - is also celebrity-themed but this time around, the celebrities are all soap opera actors.  Daytime TV, of which soaps used to be a huge part, have had their own Emmy Awards for years – Daytime Emmys.  Daytime Emmys were held in May of this year and according to the internet, they were the 43^rd Daytime Emmys.  I did not realize they were on for that long.

In the "old" days, of daytime TV, it was difficult for a soap opera actor to cross over to primetime TV or movies but these days, actors and actresses are free to roam about the cabin.  Now, many of the people we see getting a "nighttime" Emmy got their start on soap operas (or, as Tony Award host James Corden hilariously pointed out, Law & Order!).

Most of the famous soaps I grew up with are now long gone, but I tell you what, in their heyday, we were all glued to the set. I was a fan of CBS' The Young and the Restless (still running) as well as All My Children.  My mother was a fan of The Edge of Night, The Guiding Light and The Secret Storm, which she watched while ironing. (You remember ironing, right?)

So I watched as many soaps as I could in high school and then went off to college where I was amazed to find a whole "underworld" of soap addicts.  And by "addicts," I mean students who planned classes around their favorite soap operas.  At the time, most of us did not have TV sets in our dorm rooms (it was the dinosaur era), but the Wildcat Den, a student lounge and restaurant at my undergrad alma mater, Northern Michigan University, solved that problem by broadcasting the shows on the big screen TV. (And by "big screen" I do not mean the ginormous screens gracing many a home these days, but something sufficient to be seen from far away).

If you went into the Wildcat Den you knew better than to try to have a conversation with someone during soap time.  You also knew better than to point out the men who were watching (but claimed they weren't).  When you're addicted, you're addicted.

This cookbook only focuses on four ABC soaps:  Ryan's Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. Other popular soaps though were:  Days of Our Lives ("like the sand through an hourglass, these are the Days of Our Lives") and the aforementioned The Young and the Restless but it is loaded with great-sounding recipes.  As always, I often hate my own self-imposed rule of choosing just one to use and then write about.

Looking back at these shows, the thing I find most interesting is how many strong women there were and how many [fictional] families were "ruled" by matriarchs, not patriarchs.  Actress Ruth Warrick, who was in the movie, Citizen Kane, played the always stuffy and uptight Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on All My Children.  Actress Jeanne Cooper played tough-as-nails Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless.  These were women who did not spend time in the kitchen, no sir! They had "people."  People who took care of the sundry things in life so they could focus on stirring up the pot.  (Some day though, I want to have "people.")

Although this is very much a woman-centric cookbook, fear not all you Asa Buchanan (actor Philip Carey) fans because Asa (from One Life to Live) has a few recipes up his sleeve as well.  If you watched the show (I confess I did not), then it should not surprise you that Asa's – head of the Texas Buchanan family – focus on Texas barbecue.

This cookbook is broken out into chapters by the featured soaps and then by characters from those shows.  There are plenty of recipes from which to choose and I had flagged several, but when I decided on steak from the other book as the main dish, I felt the need to find a suitable accompaniment from this book.  After a brief consideration of "Continental Celery Root," one of Dorian Lord Callison's (actress Robin Strasser) recipes,  I settled on the soup.  Both dishes complimented each other nicely.

And so there you go folks, everything you need to know about TV shows, soap operas, the Emmys and more.  Enjoy!

N.B. I cannot tell you how much I smiled when I saw a recipe called "Ruby Red Franks" (from All My Children character Opal Gardner), not because I wanted to make it but because it reminded me of one of my law professors.  The late Professor David Cobin taught Civil Procedure (Civ Pro) to first year law students and that class required us to purchase also a supplement containing all the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.  That year, the book cover was a dark red and so he often asked us to pull out our "ruby red supplement."  I still have that book on my shelf, all of 15 years after using it because I cannot throw it out. He was such a sweet man and took such pity on all of us confused law students (Civ Pro is no picnic) RIP, Professor Cobin.

Pan-Fried Steak with Balsamic Sauce from Autograph® Celebrity Cookbook and actor Jerry Orbach – serves 4

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 (1-inch-thick) boneless sirloin steaks (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

In a small bowl, stir together the cumin, coriander, ½ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper.  Rub the mixture over the steaks.

In a 12-inch skillet or sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add steaks and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare.  Transfer the steaks to a large platter.

Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is lightly browned, about 3 minutes.  Add the rosemary; stir to combine.  Add the vinegar, sugar, and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and bring to a boil.  Cook until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and swirl in the butter.  Spoon the sauce over the steaks and serve.

Heiress Asparagus Soup from the Love in the Afternoon Cookbook and (character) Dorian Lord Callison, played by actress Robin Strasser – 6 portions

2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen asparagus, thawed

1 large celery rib without leaves, chopped

¼ teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed, using a mortar and pestle

1/8 teaspoon salt

Pinch of white pepper

3 ¼ cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons butter or corn-oil margarine

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup dairy sour cream

Combine the asparagus, celery and seasonings in a saucepan and cover with 1 ½ cups of the chicken broth.  Simmer until the asparagus is tender.  Ann's Note:  My celery remained a little too crunchy for my taste so if I had to do this over again, I would cook the celery and seasonings until the celery is fairly soft, then add the asparagus.

Melt the butter or margarine in a skillet and sauté the onion until golden.  Ann's Note:  Like the celery, I thought that the onion could have been cooked more but for how long depends on your taste as the recipe does not give cooking time guidelines.

Place the asparagus mixture and the onion in a blender container and blend until smooth.  Ann's Note:  I reserved some of the asparagus so that the soup was half blended, half "whole" asparagus.  We like it that way. 

Add the sour cream and remaining chicken broth and continue to blend then return the mixture to the saucepan and heat to serving temperature, but do not boil.

"New York Cookbook" by Molly O'Neill (chicken soup) & "New York In A Dozen Dishes" by Robert Sietsema (Black-and-White Cookie) - in honor of 9/11

Date I made these recipes:  Sunday, September 11, 2016—15 Year Anniversary of 9/11

New York Cookbook (From Pelham Bay to Park Avenue, Firehouses to 4* Restaurants, Neighborhood Gourmets and the Great Chefs) by Molly O'Neill

Published by Workman Publishing, New York

ISBN: 1-56305-337-3; © 1992

Purchased at Aardvark Books, San Francisco, CA

Recipe:  New York Penicillin (a/k/a Chicken Soup) – p. 47-48.  Recipe from Guardian Angel founder, Curtis Sliwa, whose aunt Marie Stacey created this recipe.

New York in a Dozen Dishes by Robert Sietsema

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

ISBN:  978-0-544-45431-6; © 2015

Purchased at Barnes and Noble – Used Books – Roseville, MN

Recipe:  The Black-and-White Cookie – p. 279

Has it been that long?

Has it really been 15 years since 9/11 happened?

Every year since then, I have tried to observe that day in my blog by cooking from my New York cookbook collection.  I try to find foods that represent New York and provide "comfort" at the same time.  I think I nailed it this year with recipes for New York Penicillin i.e. Chicken Soup and Black-and-White Cookies.

I also try, every year, to articulate something about that horrible, horrible day and this year have just been at a loss. I have written and rewritten and rewritten again and only now have I decided that "it" will do. 

This year's anniversary folks, number 15, is significant because it coincides with my first year in law school.  Fifteen years ago on 9/11, I was three weeks into my 1L (first year law) classes when the planes crashed in NYC and Washington D.C. and then later, Pennsylvania.  I was also only a couple of weeks away from my 43^rd birthday.  It's now been fifteen years since I thought that going to law school was a "good idea."  It has not necessarily been a good idea, partly because the world started to collapse that day when those towers fell and the economy went into a freefall as well.  It wasn't a good time to be in any career, much less the new one of law.

It has been fifteen years since the world, and especially all of us in law school, got a look at how law and order (also the name of one of my favorite TV show), became lawlessness and disorder on the grandest of scale.  Fifteen years since those towers, never architecturally interesting to me, fell in a city that I loved.

I have always loved New York and always will. Our family road trips back east to see my grandmother (my dad was born and raised on the east coast) informed my youth.  My first "road trip" into the city was actually to Queens for the New York World's Fair when I was six.  We frequently took trips into the city to sightsee and to visit my dad's aunts, uncles and cousins in the Burroughs.  I gorged on all the Italian/Sicilian food they made for our visits.

This love affair of mine never wavered, not in the 70's when New York wasn't the safest place, and not in the 80's when I came "this close" to moving there.  9/11 changed nothing for me except that it made me love New York and New Yorkers even more.  People tend to think of New Yorkers as harsh, rude, and disconnected people who care nothing about their neighbors and who have no time for other people's "problems."  I'm here to tell you that image is wrong.  I'm here to remind you that we saw otherwise on that day and every day thereafter.  New York is nothing but resilient, always has been, always will be.  New Yorkers cope, and one of the ways they cope is through food.

New Yorkers love food and they should because there is hardly a world cuisine that goes unnoticed or uncooked in NYC.  Some foods, like Vietnamese (versus Chinese) have been slow to trend in NYC (unlike here in MN where you can find Vietnamese foods all over the place) but once New York latches on to a food item, it never gives up and (almost) never looks back. 

Food trends are like that, too.  Once something catches on, it seems to have a toehold on us, like freshly-made pasta or soup stock made from scratch.

Two foods that are now considered "quintessential" New York foods are today's recipes:  New York Penicillin a/k/a Chicken Soup and the Black-And-White Cookie.  Neither are trendy, neither represent previously unknown cuisines, but they are there and they exist because it must be so.  If you know nothing about New York, you need to know about these items as they are staples.  They are the dishes we can always count on, even when the world turns upside down.

Cookbook author, Molly O'Neill tells us all about New York food in her 500 page tome – New York Cookbook -  a book that took her five years to write.   I jest when I say it took me about that long to read it, but only slightly.  Over the years, I've pulled it off then shelf, flagged some recipes, then put it back, rinse and repeat.  I could just never decide as there were so damned many awesome recipes to be sampled.

This time though, I pulled it off the shelf and stuck with it.  This time though, I noticed a photo on the inside cover that I never paid much attention to before:  The Twin Towers. When this book was published in 1992, nobody on this earth could fathom that nearly 20 years later, those towers would no longer exist.

I took this as a sign that I was meant to cook from this book on this anniversary date.   And I also took as a sign the fact that this time around, the book fell open to the chicken soup recipe.  It's not for nothing that chicken soup, in whatever form it takes, is the world's "feel better" soup.  And today, I wanted to feel slightly better.

But if you're not in the mood or if you want more from NYC than just soup, then fear not, for this book has everything else you might need:  "Nibbles, Noshes, and Appetizing [bites];" "Soups for Sipping, Slurping, Supper;" "To Bake an Honest Loaf," or "The Meat of the Matter" – you name it, it's in there.  In fact, the reason it takes a while to "read" is because the author shares so many stories of famous food stores and restaurants and people – not all celebrities of course, but the people of NYC.  I love it.

But if this 500-page work is too much to handle, then consider getting your hands on Robert Sietsema's New York in a Dozen Dishes.  Like a lot of New Yorkers, Sietsema gets right to the point:  there are 12 dishes of merit in this city, so there, deal with it.

While generally, I agreed with the author on a good half of the recipes included in this book (so much smaller than Molly's.  So much), we are going to have to agree to disagree on his inclusion of Cuy, an Ecuadorian favorite.  I shall not tell you what it is as I want you to read the rest of this blog, but let me just say that if curious, Google it...and then be prepared to look away (and quickly!).  And please keep in mind that many countries enjoy foods that we would never consider.  It is not a stretch for me to say that 99.9% of you will not consider this food item at all and would raise an eyebrow on it being in this book.  Count me in on that 99.9% club!

Happily, Sietsema also discusses some favorites like "Pizza," "Egg Foo Young," and Pastrami.  We shall quibble about "Fried Chicken" and "Barbecued Brisket" as in my opinion these have been slow in coming to New York (Jewish brisket though, is another story), and I will tell you for a fact that Minneapolis and St. Paul have a total lock and load on "Pho," a Vietnamese noodle soup (pronounced "Fuh").  In fact, I have to say that I was surprised to see it included here.  Up until a few years ago, my New York friend Susan, who lived in Minneapolis for five years (which is how I got to know her), bemoaned the fact that she couldn't find any place in Manhattan that served Pho, at least not the pho like we have here, and I totally agreed with her as we were pressed to find Vietnamese food at all.  And now it's included in the "Dozen Dishes" category, say what?

I tell you what folks, if you come to Minneapolis or St. Paul, we are hopping on the Green Line, our light rail system, and are taking the train to a section of St. Paul called Little Mekong.  And that is where you will have pho like it's meant to be made.  St. Paul is especially rife with Vietnamese immigrants who came to the Twin Cities as refugees during the Vietnam War, and with a little help, a good number of them have started their own restaurants.  Restaurants that serve awesome pho.  Awesome.  New York may excel at a number of things, but I refuse to believe that pho is one of them!

Side note:  I'm starving but even though I am surrounded by some great Vietnamese restaurants, we are not NY and most don't deliver and of course it's raining out and so how to fix this sudden pho craving? ;)

Although the Black-and-White cookie is not among the "dozen dishes" (gross oversight, that), the author at least made it a baker's dozen by including a recipe in the back of the book.  (All recipes are accompanied by a narrative of how they came to be popular and also where to "buy" them in NYC) It's the least he could do because this cookie,  this basic cookie, dressed up with white and black frosting, is a New York original.  A New York original that is as essential to New Yorkers as a yellow cab or, be still my heart, a subway train that is actually running, never mind running on schedule!  (We can all dream...)

If you have any doubt, then you should go find the full episode or clip from Jerry Seinfeld's show – Seinfeld - where he and Elaine discuss the Black-And-White Cookie:  "If people would just look to the cookie, all our problems would be solved.  Look to the cookie, Elaine, look to the cookie."

So folks take a minute to "look to the cookie," and look at (and make, of course) the chicken soup and your outlook will change and it will be for the better.

I love New York.  Always have, always will.

New York Penicillin (a/k/a Chicken Soup) – Makes 3 quarts (12 cups) broth – Ann's Note:  set aside 2-4 hours to simmer.

4 quarts cold water

1 chicken (4 to 5 pounds), quartered

2 chicken feet, or 4 chicken wings, or 1 turkey wing

1 clove garlic, peeled and bruised (Ann's Note:  to bruise, smack one side of the garlic with a flat side of your knife.)

1 onion, peeled

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch pieces

½ bunch fresh parsley, tied together with string and rinsed

1 bay leaf

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black peppercorns

Pour the cold water into a large pot.  Add the chicken, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns and slowly bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 4 hours, skimming frequently. (The soup can be strained at this point to use in the recipes that follow, both in this chapter and throughout the book.)

Strain the soup.  Discard the onion, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns but reserve the other vegetables.  Remove the chicken, skin and debone it, and reserve the meat.  Return the chicken stock, chicken meat, carrots, celery, and garlic to the pot and bring back to a simmer; season with additional salt or pepper, to taste.

Serve the soup in big bowls over pastina, rice, or spaghettini.  (Ann's Note:  I used dumpling noodles.)  The soup's curative powers are released only when the vegetables are mashed together in the bowl.  Use a fork for mashing.  Use a big spoon for eating.  You'll feel better soon.

Black-and-White Cookies – makes 8 four-inch cookies

For the cookies:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup cake flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

½ vanilla bean, slit lengthwise, seeds scraped from the pod, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup milk

For the icing:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 to 3 tablespoons water

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Grease a baking sheet with butter.  Sift the flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; whisk to combine.

In a stand mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add in the egg and scraped vanilla seeds or the extract, and mix well to combine.  Reduce the speed to low, add half of the flour mixture, then the milk, then the rest of the flour mixture, mixing to just combine after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl one last time.

Spoon 1/3-cup mounds of dough onto the greased baking sheet, 1 ½ inches apart (8 should fit on a standard baking sheet, but use a second sheet if necessary).  With wet hands press down gently on each mound to flatten slightly.  Bake until the edges of the cookies are set and light golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet slightly before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, stir together the confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons water until smooth, adding more water a teaspoon at a time to make a smooth, spreadable icing.  Transfer half the icing to another bowl and whisk in the cocoa, adding more water, ½ teaspoon at a time, to achieve a similar consistency as the white icing.

To frost, spread the vanilla icing over half of the flat surface of each cookie, letting the excess drip off.  Let the vanilla icing set for 15 minutes, then spread chocolate chip icing onto the other half of the cookie.  Let the icing set for an hour before eating.  Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.