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Deconstructing cream of tartar

A weekly serving of food news and views

You never hear this spice-cabinet staple being touted as a Napa Valley gem, yet cream of tartar is a byproduct of winemaking. Potassium bitartrate is the powdery white substance derived from the sediment in wine barrels.

Let's drink to that, and the kitchen alchemy of cream of tartar.

Cream of tartar helps keep beaten egg whites stiff, and it even can remove stains from aluminum pans. (Fill pan with water and 2 tablespoons cream of tartar per quart. Boil gently for 15 minutes. Let cool in pan. Scour, then wash.)

In baked goods, it's the trigger that activates baking powder. Without it, the dough or batter won't rise. Baking powder needs an acid to activate it, unlike baking soda, which includes cream of tartar and fizzes solo.

Not surprisingly, the French, with their huge and revolutionary wine industry, discovered cream of tartar.

this web site cooks

www.pbm.com/lindahl/food.html

You can be inspired or merely amused by browsing these pages of Renaissance research. One article, "How to Pig Out With 130 of Your Closest Friends," includes a lengthy description about how to cook a pig, old school: "When the eyes drop out, the pig is half done." It doesn't say what drops off when the pig is fully cooked. Side dish suggestions include caboches in potage (or cabbages in soup) with lekes (leeks), safroun (saffron) and salt. You might find yourself completely enchanted. Or not.

"An army marches on its stomach." - Napoleon, who never tasted a Meal, Ready to Eat (1769-1821)

cooking class

To make fresh bread crumbs, start with day-old bread, because fresh bread can be gummy. Remove the crust when using a hearty peasant or European-style loaf; don't worry about crust on lighter sandwich bread. Rip the bread into large chunks and grind it in a food processor until unevenly chopped. Store crumbs in a tightly sealed container and freeze for several weeks.

Woodland Publishing, a producer of health and nutrition books, is seeking healthful, economical and quick recipes for a health cookbook. Special consideration will be given to recipes that use fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, whole grains and fish. For details, look at Woodland's Web site, www.woodlandpublishing.com Recipes can be e-mailed to recipes@woodlandpublishing.com or mailed to Woodland cookbook editor, 448 E 800 North, Orem, UT 84097. Deadline is May 1.

how to buy lamb

When buying lamb, the first thing you should look for is meat that is moist but not sticky, with opaque fat. The color of the meat can vary from light to deep pink, depending on the lamb's age, darker being older. Baby lamb is the youngest, 6 to 8 weeks old. Spring lamb is 3 to 5 months old; regular lamb is under 12 months. Lamb between 1 and 2 years is yearling, and over 2 years is the stronger-tasting mutton. Unless the meat is marked otherwise, what you buy at the grocery store is usually regular lamb.

www.jollytime.com/whatspoppin/KettlePhoto.jpg for pic

Jolly Time has introduced microwave Healthy Pop Kettle Corn, 94 percent fat free, a version of kettle corn sweetened with Splenda. Each cup of the popped corn contains less than 1/2 gram of fat and 25 calories, compared with about 3.6 grams of fat and 56 calories per cup in its higher-fat counterpart. A 9-ounce box containing three 3-ounce bags retails for around $1.99.

the (heart) big macs

Don Gorske of Fond du Lac, Wis., last month downed his 19,000th Big Mac, and he's not part of any lawsuit claiming McDonald's is making him fat. In fact, the fast food giant used him in court as an example of someone who frequently eats at McDonald's but stays slim. Gorske, 49, eats two Big Macs per day and drinks little else but Coke. He weighs 180 pounds and is 6 feet tall. No word about his cholesterol level.