Category: San Luis Obispo

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the Humble Cracker

so many uses

Food of years gone by has always fascinated me … I have felt that tasting the food of other times is like sampling history…. the next best thing to actually being there. I fondly remember sampling a glass of Armagnac made before my grandfather was born, near a town in which he helped liberate in WWI. Whether it be the various Purees of the Roman’s or the Beer of the ancient Egyptians… it would transport me back to another time.

So it is with the humble cracker. This is an everyday food so commonplace in other centuries, but replaced with more fattening and sweeter alternatives. However, the humble cracker is making a comeback… be it in sometimes a more exotic form.

Chef Noriyuki Sugie has come up with an interesting twist with a cracker featuring nori (dried seaweed) and  various spices. Basically it is a simple yeast dough with the garnish that making the statement.

I have some very old yeast based cracker recipes… but they take 24-36 to let the yeast rise… but it is next on my list…. along with an Armenian Cracker /bread called  Lavash.

Roger Freberg

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Leroy Sievers

Time Passes Things Change

Laura’s family has suffered a bit this year with the passing of both her Mother June Sievers and her younger brother Leroy Sievers.

Above is a picture I have posted before of Laura and Leroy around 1980 and then a picture of Leroy and his wife “Laurie”. The last picture is of June and me… the ‘old me’ before I lost half of me.

Leroy’s Blog “My Cancer”  has clearly touched a lot of folks… and hopefully, someone will maintain it on-line as a resource for others who are facing this end-of-life experience with cancer.

Tomorrow, a service will be broadcast on-line and you are invited to watch. Here’s how NPR describes it:

“Leroy’s Celebration Of Life

Hi Friends,

This Sunday, Sept. 14, a small group of Leroy’s friends and family are gathering for a celebration of his life. Space is very limited and it’s an invitation-only event, so we’re opening up the celebration online. We will have a live audio stream of the event from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST. A chat room will also be open so you can share memories and have a conversation.

All of it will be posted right here Sunday afternoon. We hope to see you then!

UPDATE: Yes, we will also post an archived version of the event for those of you who can’t listen in live.

— Eyder Peralta”

Roger Freberg

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Happy 36th Anniversary

my Laura in San Luis Obispo

Happy 36th Wedding Anniversary! I am not so impressed that we are still married as I am that 36 years have transpired. It can’t be because I’ve gotten older when you still look the same?

We had the most unlikely of weddings. The wedding at Los Angles Superior Court in front of Judge Xenophon P. Lang ( yes, I remember) along with many other young people married during his lunch hour. We had a single ring ceremony… as I admit… left my ring at my folks house being only 20 and a bit excited.

Dad cooking something... what else?

Thank you for everything.

Love,

Roger

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Jaw Breaker Bread for Laura Ann

Grainy Bread for Laura!
When you cook, requests usually are to be expected. It is part of the fun.

I don’t know why people expect that ‘healthy food’ should taste bad and that ‘healthy bread’ should be unpleasant. It’s as if someone has taken a page out of the pharmaceutical recipe book that reminds us that “good medicine tastes awful!” My experience is that good, healthy and wonderful food… tastes… well… delicious.

However, I know the need for so-called ‘health enthusiasts’ to self flagellate themselves, wear bike helmets and eat bread that resembles a Brillo pad. So I set out to come up with a ‘healthy’ bread that offers some of the expected ‘crunch’ of the more nastier versions of choose your descriptor: natural, organic, healthy, or earth mothery.

So, what’s in this bread?

I’ve thrown just about everything you can imagine: whole wheat & bread flour, millet, flaxseed, whole oats, oat bran, soy, rice, corn, barley, wheat germ, sesame seeds, molasses, honey, eggs and gluten. Okay, the purest will have some problems with some of these ingredients… but I wanted it to taste good, too!

Anyway, toasted with cheese and with 2 oz. of meat it is very  Jenny Craig  compliant… and Laura likes it, too… so that’s cool.

Roger Freberg

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Soda Cracker Recipe from the 1800’s

1800 Era Soda Crackers

I know, we ALL think we know what Soda Crackers are! If fact there is possibly no one in America that can’t describe in excruciating detail the proper composition of a soda cracker. Unfortunately, they’d be a little off.

Now, I am not a fan of all old recipes, because many recipes have been improved over the years, decades and centuries… however, there is value in seeing how things were once made because we often can learn from them.

Besides, it became obvious to me that I needed to learn how soda crackers were made in America if I was ever going to be able to put together one of the oldest recipes I have found for Macaroni and Cheese. Soda Crackers are a major ingredient in this recipe.

Here’s the basic ingredients:

4 cups flour + 1 teaspoon of soda (sifted together)
1/2 tablespoon of lard + 1/2 tablespoon of butter (mixed together)

1 egg

salt to taste

1 1/2 – 2 cups buttermilk

Process:

Make a stiff dough with buttermilk

roll out on a greased cookie sheet

prick with holes to allow the steam to vent ( score dough in a grid )

and bake 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes until brown

set out to cool.

My Comments:

Obviously, some of the original directions were very general… such as the addition of buttermilk was a ‘guideline’ left for you to determine the amount… the temperature was a ‘guesstimate’ in those days… but this is approximately correct by today’s standards.

Generally, a nice snack, not much by those who crave sugar, frosting and chocolate… but a remembrance of by-gone days… plus I need it for my yea ol Macaroni and cheese recipe.

Besides, it was fun … and yummy!

Roger Freberg