i cook i eat

World's Best Chocolate

Iceland is not exactly known for its culinary heritage. For some reason rotten shark, cured ram testicles and singed sheep heads have not earned the popularity they really deserve. No, instead we all eat silly French things, such as French Fries and French Onion Soup! I believe a large part of the blame lies with Anthony Bourdain, who described the above mentioned þorramatur as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten. I can’t say I disagree with him, but seriously; how can we conquor the French with such descriptions. We need more people with flair for PR to describe our cuisine. Someone who can see singed sheep head confit for what it really is, and not just focus on the temporary discomfort while eating it.

Not all Icelandic food is that bad, really. One of my favorite, Icelandic Chocolate, is finally available in the US. It is, in my opinion, the best chocolate out there; even better than Valhrona. It is made by Nói Síríus and thankfully they have not changed their packaging since 1933, which is beautifully retro looking by now.

The chocolate is available at Whole Foods with 33%, 45%, 56% and 70% cocoa content. My favorites are the 33% for eating and 56% for all my baking and hot chocolate. Yes, I said it: I like milk chocolate. None of that dark stuff for me.

Now all I’m waiting for is the Icelandic Skyr.

Chocolat Chaud - (That's French for Hot Chocolate)

Now is the perfect time! It's starting to get cold, finally. Just the excuse I've been waiting for to enjoy a daily cup of hot chocolate. No, this is not the powdery stuff! This is thick, shiny, real. This is French. This is from Angelina. This is probably the world's most famous hot chocolate.

Angelina was opened in 1903 by Antoine Rumpelmayer who named the café after his daughter-in-law. It is across the street from the Louvre, close to the Ritz and within sight of the Eiffel Tower. You can expect to wait a good while for a table. But it is worth it - even when the service can be, well, French.

Angelina's hot chocolate is so thick you almost have to cut it. It is served with sugar cubes, whipped cream and a glass of cold water, which can be helpful as a chaser to cut the richness. Do not count calories while drinking this!

Angelina's Hot Chocolate
Adapted from Jeremiah Tower Cooks : 250 Recipes from an American Master
Serves 1-4

1 cup heavy cream
115 grams best quality bittersweet or semisweet hot chocolate
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
pinch salt
1 cup milk

Finely chop the chocolate and melt in a double boiler with the cream, sugar and salt. Whisk together when the chocolate has melted and keep whisking for about 2 minutes.

The mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Heat the milk over low to medium heat, being careful for it not to boil. Whisk the mixture into the milk and continue heating until hot. Again, be careful that it does not reach boil. Pour in a blender and blend for 30 seconds. Serve immediately in demitasse cups.

Drink slowly, preferably in front of the fireplace.

(This is not quite as rich as the hot chocolate I remember getting at Angelina's last time, but according to Jeremiah Tower, this is their recipe. I do think this is equally as good, if not better)

Angelina, 226 rue de Rivoli, 1st arrondissement, Métro: Tuilleries, +33 0142 608200

Smithfield Pork

Have you had Smithfield pork recently?

There is a rather scary article in the December issue of Rolling Stone about Smithfields pork production.

It is somewhat long, so if you're in a hurry here are a few quotes:

"Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year."

"The 500,000 pigs at a single Smithfield subsidiary in Utah generate more fecal matter each year than the 1.5 million inhabitants of Manhattan."

"Sows are artificially inseminated and fed and delivered of their piglets in cages so small they cannot turn around."

"Accordingly, factory pigs are infused with a huge range of antibiotics and vaccines, and are doused with insecticides."

"According to the EPA, Smithfield's largest farm-slaughterhouse operation -- in Tar Heel, North Carolina -- dumps more toxic waste into the nation's water each year than all but three other industrial facilities in America."

"Millions of factory-farm hogs -- one study puts it at ten percent -- die before they make it to the killing floor. Some are taken to rendering plants, where they are propelled through meat grinders and then fed cannibalistically back to other living hogs. Others are dumped into big open pits called "dead holes," or left in the dumpsters for so long that they swell and explode."

"Smithfield is not just a virtuosic polluter; it is also a theatrical one. Its lagoons are historically prone to failure. In North Carolina alone they have spilled, in a span of four years, 2 million gallons of shit into the Cape Fear River, 1.5 million gallons into its Persimmon Branch, one million gallons into the Trent River and 200,000 gallons into Turkey Creek. In Virginia, Smithfield was fined $12.6 million in 1997 for 6,900 violations of the Clean Water Act -- the third-largest civil penalty ever levied under the act by the EPA. It amounted to .035 percent of Smithfield's annual sales."

"The chairman of Smithfield Foods, Joseph Luter III, is a funny, jowly, canny, barbarous guy who lives in a multimillion-dollar condo on Park Avenue in Manhattan and conveys himself about the planet in a corporate jet and a private yacht."

"Joe Luter, like his pig shit, has an innate aversion to being contained in any way. Ever since American regulators and lawmakers started forcing Smithfield to spend more money on waste treatment and attempting to limit the company's expansion, Luter has been looking to do business elsewhere. In recent years, his gaze has fallen on the lucrative and unregulated markets of Poland."

"A recent report to the Helsinki Commission found that Smithfield's pollution throughout Poland was damaging the country's ecosystems."

I think we owe it to ourselves never to buy Smithfield products again.

Smári

Why am I here?

Another blog.

Exactly what this world needs.

Why am I doing this? Good question – I’m not entirely sure myself. I have been getting increasingly more interested in food as of lately. First I started to enjoy cooking. Little by little I noticed how much the ingredients mattered. A chicken was not just a chicken, a steak not just a steak. Sometimes there was incredible difference between 2 of the same ingredient. I started to read about food and it's current production. It’s scary stuff!

Today’s food is loaded with antibiotics, preservatives and additives. This is not the food our grandparents ate! It has significantly less nutrients than it used to. Did you know that a lot of “natural” chickens you get in the supermarket are injected with a saline solution? The purpose of that is to increase the weight of the chicken so that you in turn pay more. You’re paying good money for saltwater!

I started looking closer to home for my food. Now I am getting my greens at the farmers market (Which are unfortunately only open in summer here in Boston). I also started growing tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. I am even going to farmers here in New England and getting meat and chicken directly from them. I usually try to seek out heritage breeds, when possible.

There is nothing like roasting a chicken and knowing exactly where it lived. I’ve been on the pasture. I’ve seen where it was slaughtered and I’ve spent time with the farmer that raised it. I know that chicken lived a good life. I also love the story that comes with that meal.

Invariably the food I buy directly from the farmer results in the best tasting meals.

So, back to this blog. I don’t really have an agenda here – just to write about food related things that interest me. That will probably include recipes both for cooking and baking, notes on Boston restaurants and the small New England family farms. I am certain I’ll also be expressing my feelings about the current state of US industrial agriculture.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings.

Cheers, Smári

PS: A must read about US food production is Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma