By piled by JANET K. KEELER from staff and wire reports.,
Published August 20, 2003
Devil’s food cake
Angel food cake
devil's food cake vs. angel food cake
One is heavenly airy, light enough to be carried away by winged cherubs. The other is deliciously dark and sinister, a temptation that feels sinful because it tastes so good.
Angel food cake, according to food historian and Esquire columnist John Mariani, came to the American table in the 1870s. It is sometimes called a sponge cake because it springs back into form under slight pressure. Adorn slices with fresh fruit and spoonfuls of whipped cream for a lovely summer dessert.
What makes angel food cake lighter than others is the addition of a dozen egg whites beaten until they are foamy. The egg whites add air, and thus volume, to the cake, which is baked in a tube pan.
Angel food's alter ego, devil's food cake, is not plain at all but comes fully dressed with dense chocolate icing over and between two round layers of chocolate cake. The cake's genealogy is also American; the first printed recipe dates to 1905.
The cake received its name "because it is supposedly so rich and delicious, that it must, to a moralist, be somewhat sinful, although the association is clearly made with humor," Mariani says in The Penguin Companion to Food (Penguin, 1999).
Make one of each and say the devil made you do it.
the cold truth
Even if the Tampa Bay area dodges a hurricane this season, a severe thunderstorm can knock out power. It's good to remember some rules about frozen meat if you lose power long enough for it to start to thaw. Food-safety experts say that meat or any food may be refrozen if it retains some ice crystals. Otherwise, they recommend you cook the food, then either eat it or freeze it. Bacteria can grow when the temperature of any part of the meat rises about 40 degrees.
Click on this site and link to a dozen sites about Italian food, some of them even in Italian. You'll find more than the usual pasta recipes on sites that specialize in regional cooking and even chocolate. Who knew? There are retail opportunities and plenty of photos to make you want to manga Italian tonight.
takeaway tip
To create a disposable sleeve for a knife to take on a picnic or hike, flatten the cardboard tube from inside a roll of paper towels or toilet tissue and insert the blade into the tube.
suitable snacks
It's all about the calories, says New York dietitian Susan McQuillan, who devised the diet for the Family Circle Eat What You Love and Lose book. Her menus keep each meal to about 400 calories, with two 150-calorie snacks allowed per day. Here are some suggestions for snacks that won't derail the diet:
37 jelly beans
18 Quaker caramel corn mini rice cakes
Triscuits
1/4 cup raisins or chopped dried fruits
4 cups unbuttered air-popped popcorn
1/2 cup Haagen-Dazs frozen yogurt
5 graham cracker squares
65 small, thin pretzel sticks
omega 3 sources
Because farm-raised salmon might not have the levels of Omega 3 fatty acids previously thought, it's a good time to note other sources. Cold-water, oily fish such as mackerel, albacore tuna, sardines, cod, herring and halibut contain Omega 3s, which fight heart disease, reduce hypertension and help guard against certain cancers.
constant comment
"Sounds like a poultry menage a trois"
- Tampa writer Karen McKinney commenting on the Cajun-inspired turducken, a semiboneless turkey stuffed with a whole duck stuffed with a chicken.
