St. Joseph's Bread

Last year at this time I was working on a feature article on seasonal breads and couldn’t find any St. Joseph’s bread anywhere. All I had were my memories of Savoia Pastry Shoppe in my old neighborhood bringing hot loaves out first thing in the morning and people waiting in line for them. But this year, I’m back in Rochester and am seizing the opportunity to introduce it to those who don’t know about this bread.

St. Joseph is, indeed, Mary’s husband and the man who raised Jesus Christ. March 19 was designated St. Joseph Day by Rome in 1479, but it had already been observed for 500 years at that point.

Many churches and communities hold a feast in his honor. This partially stems from the Middle Ages when St. Joseph is credited for saving Sicily from famine. There was a severe drought, and Sicilians promised to honor St. Joseph with a feast if he sent rain. The fava bean became a symbol of the feast as the crop saved the island from famine. At St. Joseph’s feast—held during Lent--there are only meatless and cheese-less dishes of vegetables, breads, soups, cakes and pasta. Everyone is welcome to bring food and eat food, and sometimes food is given to shelters.

While there are a couple of versions of St. Joseph’s bread, this one is an egg bread, as in adding eggs to the batter, and the crust is egg-washed, hard and golden brown, sprinkled with sesame seeds. It’s said that the seeds represent sawdust, since St. Joseph was a carpenter.  

There are also many shapes to the bread, the symbols being as follows (per goldencroissantbakery.com):

• Monstrance (holds the Sacred Host)
• Chalice (consecration of the bread and wine at the Last Supper)
• Cross (crucifixion of Christ)
• Dove (Holy Spirit)
• Lamb (Jesus, the Lamb of God)
• Fish (symbol of Jesus)
• Heart (Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Heart of Mary)
• Palms (palms cast at the feet of Jesus)

Here is a recipe for St. Joseph's Bread from Saveur.com.

"The Smell of Good Bread Baking..."

“... like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight...”

— MFK Fisher

In America’s Sweethearts, Julia Roberts tells John Cusack that she’s thinking of something that she shouldn’t be thinking about and that she even dreams about it: bread. Her carb-conscious diet had her longing for this glorious mixture of flour, water, salt and/or yeast.

And really, that is how simple this pleasure is still: two or three of the most fundamental ingredients baked into luscious loaves. Or sticks. Or rolls. (Who doesn’t smell hot, fresh bread right now?)

This month we’ll look at some different types of bread and their histories and recipes. First, a bit of background and trivia about one of our most ancient foods. 

• The word “bread” may come from the Latin crustum meaning “broken bits, pieces,” thus “break” to “bread.” But prior to the year 1100, “loaf” was the more recognized word in many cultures.
• Flatbreads came first, around 20,000 years ago. When grains became cultivated and more refined in the diet during the Neolithic age, unleavened dough gathered airborne yeasts and changed the texture and process.
• Early cultures began isolating yeast from beer and wine to make bread.
• Wheat is native to the area around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, today’s Iraq.
• One acre of wheat can produce enough bread to feed a family of four for 10 years, or 9000 people for one day.
• The first wheat in the United States was planted in 1777, and today it’s grown in 42 states. Half of the wheat produced is used here.
• Ancient Egyptians started the practice of using moldy bread as a topical cure for cuts.
• In the 16th century bread consumption was related to class. Workers/servants got the bottoms of the loaves (often burned,) families ate the middle portion, and the wealthy took the upper crusts.
• While Julia Roberts’ character was more afraid of gaining weight than of the bread itself, there is a real background to a movement in the 1920s and its “fear of starch,” amylophobia, which was thought to originate from a controversial food and health activist in the mid-1800s, Sylvester Graham.  

(More information on bread at Wikipedia and the Wheat Foods Council)

Comfort Food: Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese. Blue boxes, skinny little tubes swimming in creamy orange sauce, or thick elbow macaroni in bubbling, yellow goo, steaming from the oven in a casserole dish. Everyone agrees that this classic is pure comfort. Calories don’t even enter the picture--there are just too many.   

In America, most sources credit Thomas Jefferson with bringing the dish to this side of the pond after having been enchanted by it in Europe. He bought a pasta maker and cheese from Italy, and his daughter made the dish at the White House. Jefferson even served it at a State dinner in 1802. The Italians were the first to record a recipe for pasta and Parmesan, though, in the 1300s. The English were writing their own cookbook about the same time which included a dish called “makerouns,” a lasagna-type casserole layering fresh pasta with cheese and butter.

In 1937, as the US reeled from the Great Depression, Kraft Foods introduced the iconic Kraft Cheese and Macaroni when a salesman came up with it as a way to sell more cheese. Eight million boxes at 19 cents each were sold that year, and even today, Kraft sells one million boxes per day. It retained its popularity during World War II when meat was in short supply and became a household staple after that.

Of course there are many, many variations on the mac and cheese theme. Cheddar is the number one cheese used, but combining two or more cheeses is common. Choose cheeses with some bite, like sharp Cheddar, Fontina, or Gruyere to increase the cheesy flavors, so they aren’t lost in the milky sauce.

Some people add bacon, ham, tuna, ground beef, vegetables, mushrooms or any number of spices and herbs to bump it up, as long as it’s gooey and hot and sticks to the ribs.

I’m a purist and like the regular cheesy sauce on macaroni, baked in the oven casserole. For these photos, I used a super easy, basic recipe from the New York Times (click here) that can be added to or adjusted with little or no effort.

Others go for the low-fat versions. Boo on that—this is comfort food for snow-shoveling, snow-shoeing, “feed a cold,” and coming-home-from-a-tough-day days. And if you’ve had a REALLY tough day, this link to an article by The Huffington Post will give you a recipe combining TWO comfort foods: the Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich. There are also recipes for mac and cheese pizza, mac and cheese stuffed peppers and mac and cheese stuffed meatball sandwiches.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the comfort food series. Check out the wine pairing for macaroni and cheese in this week’s “Wine Pick” on the Wine page. For the next two weeks, come back for a tribute to amore, foods and wines of love.  

Comfort Food: Grilled Cheese

It’s another comfort food classic, and I have memories of eating grilled cheese sandwiches (and tomato soup) after sledding on Cherry Hill. I still fix it for a quick dinner, but chefs have updated today’s grilled cheeses with gourmet ingredients, and some are even—dare I say it?—healthy.

As with meatloaf, cheese on bread has been around since at least Roman civilization, where it appeared in early cookbooks. Fast forward more than 1500 years, and the French were eating their classic comfort sandwich, Croque-monsieur, grilled (or baked) ham and cheese by 1910.

Two events in the early years of the 20th century shaped America’s version of bread and cheese. First, James L. Kraft launched his version of processed American cheese, which enabled mass production of a dairy product that stayed fresh longer. Second, Otto Frederick Rohwedder, of Iowa, invented and marketed the commercial bread slicer machine, stepping up production of mass produced white bread.

The Great Depression boosted the popularity of “toasted cheese” sandwiches, which, at the time, used only one slice of bread. Ration-conscious moms in World War II fed their children plenty of these, too. In the 1960s, the top slice of bread was added and became the sandwich familiar to us today. 

Nostalgic as it is, if the Kraft singles/Wonder Bread version isn’t your thing, you can revisit your culinary past without guilt using a couple of variations:

• Start with a whole grain or multi-grain bread for better nutrition and fiber. And butter the bread, not the pan.
• Truth be told, American cheese slices have little flavor. If you want flavor and orange color, use grated sharp Cheddar. Grown-up cheeses like Gruyere and Asiago will give your sandwich a tang, as will goat cheese. Bonus: more flavor means you can use less. In addition, goat cheese is naturally homogenized, has less fat and is often tolerated by the lactose-intolerant.
• Creamy cheeses like brie and soft cheeses like mozzarella or farm cheese melt easily to a gooey consistency. Brie usually has less sodium; part-skim mozzarella has less fat. But don’t use “fat free” cheese. It doesn’t melt, and it isn’t “real” cheese.
• Cover the sandwich while it’s cooking to melt the cheese faster, so the bread doesn’t burn; let the finished sandwich rest for a couple of minutes to cool and bring out the flavors.  
• Aside from cheese, the most popular toppings added to the sandwich in the United States are bacon, ham and tomato. The sky is the limit, though, with recipes listing everything from spinach to chocolate. Click here for a look at Martha Stewart's takes on this classic, but Google “grilled cheese + (a ingredient,) and you’ll probably find something to love. 

Speaking of love, the record for competitive scarfing of grilled cheese, was achieved in 2012 in Texas by a Japanese competitive eater—13 sandwiches in 60 seconds.

The most expensive grilled cheese was purchased on eBay in 2004. A Florida woman claimed she kept her sandwich on her nightstand for 10 years because she believed the face of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God was on the bread. An online casino, GoldenPalace.com bought her sandwich for $28,000. For everyday fare, though, the most expensive grilled cheese is at a NYC restaurant, Serendipity 3. Chefs use the rare Caciocavallo Podolico cheese, bread made with Dom Perignon Champagne, truffle oil with gold flecks, and truffle butter on the grill, for $214.

Searching for the perfect grilled cheese? Here’s a link to help you match your soul with the sandwich.

Check the wine page to find out why a Bordeaux blend would be an excellent partner to grilled cheese. 

Comfort Food: Meatloaf

Can anyone not picture meatloaf? In America, grandmas, moms, greasy spoon diners and all-you-can-eat buffets have their own favorite recipes for this classic comfort food, usually served with mashed potatoes. Meatloaf is ground meat, but recipes dart off into all different tangents after that. North Americans generally use equal parts of ground beef, ground pork and ground veal, but some cultures use only beef or only turkey or add ham, venison, lamb, chicken, types of sausage—even seafood.

Some recipes add an egg to bind the meat (my mother’s did;) others say no eggs or add hard boiled eggs (chopped or inserted whole.) Spices vary, too: parsley, salt, pepper, curry, oregano, rosemary—or no spices. Chopped onions, celery, carrots, or not. Gravy or tomato sauce? My mother topped ours with tomato paste.

Most modern cultures should be familiar with meatloaf because it’s been around for two millenniums. Its first recorded recipe appeared in a Roman cookbook from the fifth century. Researchers think today’s meatloaf in the United States is based on recipes brought by German settlers, and those, in turn, may have come from the Dutch meatball. The dish became even more popular during the Great Depression and World War II, when families were stretching their foods and budgets. Meatloaf became an economical way to serve meat, adding vegetables or eggs, and stretching it even farther with breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs.

Calorie counts and nutrition will vary based on the ingredients, but, according to Fatsecret.com, one “large” slice of meatloaf, similar to what is in this article’s photos, without gravy or sauce, averages 294 calories (17.44 g of fat and 23.27 g of protein.) As always, beware of restaurant comfort foods. The “low calorie” version of Bob Evans’ Meatloaf and Gravy entree is 1,470 calories, which comes with two pieces (total fat 78 g and 71 g of protein.)  

Here are some of the variations of this Blue Plate Special from other cultures:

• Puerto Rico: ground beef, pork and turkey, breadcrumbs, parsley, red beans, potatoes, adobo sauce, Worcestershire sauce, milk and ketchup, and a hard-boiled egg is in the center.
• Denmark: a loaf of ground pork and beef, topped with bacon strips or cubes, and on the side, potatoes with a red currant-sweetened brown sauce.
• Philippines: ground pork, minced carrots and seasoning wrapped around sausages and boiled eggs; it’s steamed in banana leaves (or aluminum foil,) then sliced and fried for breakfast.
• South Africa:  originally from the East Indies hundreds of years ago, their version is meatloaf sweetened with curry, dried apricots and almonds, then covered with a whipped egg and milk mixture and baked.  

From Scandinavia to South Africa, Mexico to the Middle East, meatloaf is a staple in comfort food culture. What should you drink with meatloaf? See the “Wine Pick of the Week” for a review on Zinfandel and why it’s a great meatloaf partner. 

January: Burrow in with Some Comfort Food

It looks like Winter finally came back from the Bahamas, so hearty fare like stews and pastas will probably begin showing up on dinner tables. Stop back on this page weekly as I feature different comfort foods each week all month. In addition, I'll pair wines to go with them in this site's "Wine Pick of the Week," posted on Thursdays on the "Wine" page. 

First, a background on comfort foods and how they became part of us. Here's a feature I wrote, originally published in The Times Leader. Enjoy!

It isn’t possible to know exactly when sustenance became a substitute. Cavemen most likely ate to survive and hunt another day. Were gorging Romans trying to assuage guilt about throwing people to the lions, or were they alleviating worry about the fall of the empire? By that point food was considered pleasurable and was far more complicated than nuts, berries and wild boar, but a source of comfort? No one can say.

By end of the 1970’s, however, comfort food was a genre listed in Webster’s Dictionary and recognized by anyone holding eating utensils. People used food to feel better. There is a physiological reason for the body to seek food for comfort that in fact dates back to the cavemen: stress. When a person is threatened, be it a saber-toothed tiger or job loss, the brain tells the body to produce cortisol, which signals systems throughout the body to gear up for life-saving (increase the heart rate, become alert, send blood to muscles for quick action.) In the short-term, once the danger has passed, the body will shut the responses down. For chronic or long-term stress, cortisol production is prolonged, and the body’s internal response is to keep energy reserves (fat, particularly in the abdomen) on hand to maintain a higher level of internal activity. This means a natural craving for high fat, high sugar foods easily stored for energy. Once fat is stored, the body finally begins to shut the responses down, letting the brain know that there is a reserve of energy available.

The psychological and emotional connections to comfort food are a bit more complex and individual, but generally go back to the body’s hormone production. One university study had students categorize foods into nostalgic, physical, indulgence and convenience comfort foods, in effect showing that people make conscious choices about what foods make them feel better and why. When the body takes in sugar and starch, it produces a neurotransmitter called serotonin. The brain translates this chemical into “contentment, well-being.” Oxytocin is produced when the body eats salty food. This chemical is a warm and fuzzy “love hormone” related to trust, bonding and human sexual responses. Foods themselves can determine the resulting chemical and, to a certain extent, emotional reaction.   

Sight, sound, touch and smell link memories with responses as well. The scent of a perfume, good or bad, can take one back to a fourth grade teacher or great aunt. So it is with food. In an informal survey for this article, a group from various backgrounds in the east, Midwest and west coast were asked about their comfort foods. In answers to “what makes this a comfort food for you,” 50 percent of the respondents specifically mentioned associating the dish with their mothers or grandparents. Another 22 percent noted childhood memories (without mention of mothers or grandparents.) The difference may seem subtle, but the “moms” group associates the food with a person, love and connection to that person in general over time. The “childhood memories” group and, in fact, the remaining 28 percent seem to identify with the dish itself and its association with a time of illness, a reward or past good times.  

Comfort food is also not an American phenomenon. Cultures on every continent have dishes that incorporate the same characteristics and are eaten for the same reasons as classic American versions. Most are served warm, though some of the sweeter foods are not (candy, ice cream;) most are soft (noodles, melted cheese, meatballs;) many are starchy (potatoes, homemade bread.) One person’s eggnog is another’s pad thai.

In the above-mentioned survey one Ohio Valley chef (port braised lamb shanks with creamy polenta and arugula) and one owner of a computer service company in New York (beef stew) both cited the change of season for their comfort food choices. The chef associated his dish with the change in menu and good times with his restaurant crew. The man with the computer company noted the fall colors of his dish and mentioned the first snow of the season. 

Lists for the top named (American) comfort foods include what one might expect: macaroni and cheese, chicken soup, pot roast, beef stew, chocolate, apple and pumpkin pies, spaghetti, meatloaf, mashed potatoes. Aside from a couple of the favorites, though, the survey really showed the diversity of population while still staying true to comfort food characteristics: mashed potatoes with noodles in the center; peanut butter; ginger ale; eggnog; French fries with gravy; creamed peas and bacon made by mom. One woman describes her favorite: “Whole grain bread, toasted, with huge amounts of melted cheese on top. Tastes good while being not especially good for me, a prerequisite of comfort food. It probably reminds me of childhood when the cheese would have been generic Velveeta. Now the cheese is actually real cheese.”

She does bring up a point about comfort food: it isn’t healthy for everyday fare. This is also part of today’s stress issues relating to the upswing in obesity. As previously mentioned, stress increases serotonin in the body, therefore increasing cravings for easily converted energy foods. High carb/low protein foods keep the production of serotonin going, also stimulating insulin production, which over the long-term can result in obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Cookbooks and websites are full of updated recipes to make comfort-style foods healthier, but part of the idea is the indulgence. 

Though each has different experiences and preferences, humans are all designed the same, and using food to feel better is universal. The word “comfort” is derived from the Latin “confortare,” to strengthen. Chances are just reading this article has triggered some favorite food memory.

In the words of renowned food writer and author M.F.K. Fisher, “It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it ... and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied ... and it is all one.”