January 23rd is National Pie Day (see all the American food holidays). Which pie should you choose for your celebration? The pie-sibilities are endless.

The most popular pies, according to a survey* sponsored by the makers of Mrs. Smith’s and Edwards desserts:

America’s favorite pie. Photo courtesy USApple.org.

Surveys give participants a finite number of choices. Internet searches searches tell a different “favorite pie” story. The top searched pies on Yahoo! over the past 30 days:

1. Pecan pie
2. Apple pie
3. Sweet potato pie
4. Lemon meringue pie
5. Pumpkin pie
6. Peanut butter pie
7. Key lime pie
8. Cherry pie
9. Chocolate pie
10. Buttermilk pie

The next 10 most-searched pies: banana cream, chocolate pecan, Dutch apple (with a crumb topping of flour, brown sugar, oats and butter), blueberry, coconut cream pie, mud pie, egg custard pie, lemon pie, French silk pie (a variation of chocolate pie) and custard pie.

The original pies were savory, not sweet:
meat pies were the rule for the first thousand
years or more. They were rectangular, not
round; and the crust was often made just to
hold the contents (it wasn’t eaten). Photo of
chicken pot pie courtesy MackenzieLtd.com.

THE HISTORY OF PIE

While the French have the reputation as the great pastry makers, the ancient Egyptians, who were great bread bakers, worked out the details of early pastry. Theirs were savory pies: a dough of flour and water paste was made to wrap around meat and soak up the juices as it cooked. The dough was used as a vessel to cook the contents—in lieu of an expensive baking pan—and was typically not eaten.

Pastry was further developed in the Middle East; it was brought to Mediterranean Europe by the Muslims in the 7th century. Another leap forward occurred in the 11th century, when Crusaders brought phyllo dough back to Northern Europe (the First Crusade was 1096 to 1099).

Greek and Roman pastry did not progress further because both cultures used oil, which can’t create a stiff pastry. In medieval Northern Europe, the traditional use of lard and butter instead of oil for cooking hastened the development of other pastry types. Pies crusts developed, and the stiff pie pastry was used to provide a casing for various fillings.

Pyes (pies), still predominantly meat, originally appeared in England as early as the 12th century. The crust of the pie was referred to as the “coffyn” because of its rectangular coffin shape. There was actually more crust than filling.

Fruit pies or tarts (pasties) were probably first made in the 1500s. English tradition credits making the first cherry pie to Queen Elizabeth I (credit actually goes to anonymous chefs who toiled in her kitchens).

By the 17th century, flaky and puff pastries were in use, developed by French and Italian Renaissance chefs. Pastry began to become highly decorated, with pastry chefs working intricate patterns on the crusts.

Pie came to America with the first English settlers. The early colonists cooked their pies in long narrow pans called coffins. As with the Romans, those early American pie crusts often were not eaten, but simply created to hold the filling during baking.

It was during the American Revolution that the term crust was used instead of coffyn, and the tradition of tasty crusts was on its way.

FIND ALL THE TYPES OF PIES IN OUR PIE GLOSSARY.

*The survey was conducted among 1,000 adults the week of January 2, 2013.

Pair a medium-strength cheese with a
medium-roast coffee. Photo © Natalia
Lisovskaya | Dreamstime.

Often there is more than one food holiday on a particular day. Rarely do we see a trio of food holidays; and January 20th is the only day we know of with four food holidays: National Buttercrunch Day, National Cheese Lover’s Day, National Granola Bar Day and National Coffee Break Day.

In theory, you could celebrate them all at once: A bagel and cream cheese with the morning coffee break and a granola bar and some buttercrunch at the afternoon coffee break.

But we’ve decided to focus today’s tip on something more enlightening: pairing coffee and cheese.

The coffee-cheese pairing is more common than it might seem. The Swiss, Scandinavians and other Europeans enjoy cheese with their morning coffee. Americans regularly breakfast on coffee plus cream cheese on the aforementioned bagels, cheese omelets, cheese danish, grilled cheese sandwiches and Egg McMuffins (grilled cheese, ham and a fried egg on a toasted English muffin).

But let’s take a look at deliberate coffee and cheese pairings.

PAIRING CHEESE WITH COFFEE

As with wine and beer pairings, mild cheeses should typically be paired with a mild roast coffee, medium-strength cheeses with a medium roast and strong cheeses with a strong roast.

COFFEE AND “CARAMEL” CHEESES

Some cheeses beg to be paired with coffee. Two that are known for caramel notes:

Barely Buzzed, one of our favorite cheeses, is a Cheddar rubbed with ground Turkish coffee. It’s equally delicious with coffee or beer. Photo courtesy Beehive Cheese..

COFFEE-RUBBED CHEESE

How about a cheese made with coffee? Utah-based Beehive Cheese Company coats some of their artisan Cheddar cheese in roasted Turkish coffee and lavender buds: an inspired combination that creates an edible rind and adds nutty flavor to the mild Cheddar. We like this unique cheese so much, it was a Top Pick Of The Week. Read our review of Barely Buzzed.
 
As with anything, your own palate and desire to experiment will lead to favorite pairings. Let us know what you come up with.

Hot apple toddy. Photo and recipe courtesy
U.S. Apple Association.

January 11th is National Hot Toddy Day; January 17th is National Hot Buttered Rum Day.

The two drinks are pretty much the same thing. A toddy can be made with any spirit (brandy, rum, whiskey) while hot buttered rum is specifically a rum toddy (and these days, no butter is included).

While this toddy recipe from the U.S. Apple Association does not use rum, it’s a truly delicious—and related—way to celebrate the day. The Association calls it “apple pie in a glass.”

Ideally you should serve it in glass mugs or Irish coffee glasses, but any mug will do.

APPLE TODDY RECIPE

Ingredients For 2 Servings

Preparation

1. COMBINE cider, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and brown sugar in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.

2. REMOVE from heat and divide between two Irish coffee glasses or mugs. Transfer a cinnamon stick to each.

3. TOP each glass with half the sherry and brandy. Serve hot.

SEE ALL THE AMERICAN FOOD HOLIDAYS & SIGN UP TO GET THEM BY RSS.

 
*Calvados is apple brandy made specifically in the apple-growing Calvados region of lower Normandy, France. It is distilled from cider made from specially grown and selected apples. According to Wikipedia, “It is not uncommon for a Calvados producer to use over 100 specific varieties of apples, which are either sweet (such as the Rouge Duret variety), tart (such as the Rambault variety), or bitter (such as the Mettais, Saint Martin, Frequin, and Binet Rouge varieties), the latter being inedible.

December 19th is National Hard Candy Day.

We’ve all had hard candy of some type: butterscotch, horehound drops, lemon drops, lollipops, mints, root beer barrels, sour balls and fruit flavors galore.

Hard candy begins by boiling sugar and water, then adding flavors and colors. As the syrup boils, water evaporates and the sugar concentration increases.

Who invented hard candy?

HARD CANDY HISTORY

Cave men ate honey from bee hives. Ancient Arabs, Chinese and Egyptians rolled fruits and nuts in honey. That was it for many centuries.

Head to the supermarket or candy store and pick up some hard candies. Photo courtesy QCandy.com.

In the Middle Ages, merchants brought sugar back from the Indian subcontinent, where sugar cane originated. But it was very costly. Whether for tea, baked goods or confections, sugar was a treat for the wealthy. Honey was the sweetener available to those of lesser means.

By the 17th century there were many more sugar mills, and sugar became more affordable to the middle class. Confectioners began to express their creativity, resulting in the large selection of hard candy we have today.

With the Industrial Revolution (1750 to 1850), candy-making developed into an industry and hard candies became accessible to everyone. Hard candy on a stick followed: The word “lollipop” (originally spelled lollypop) first appeared in print in 1784.

Here’s more about the manufacture of hard candy. Read it as you enjoy a piece.

Pick up a bag or two at the supermarket, or head to the candy store to customize a nostalgic selection.
 
Find our favorite candies in THE NIBBLE’s Gourmet Candy Section.

Bavarian cream. Photo by Massimiliano
Pieraccini | IST.

November 27th is National Bavarian Cream Pie Day.

Bavarian cream is a 19th century creation that seems to have gone with the wind that closed out the 20th. We rarely see it on a menu or in a bake shop.

Invention of the cold molded, gelatin-based dessert—a custard, not a pie—is credited to the great chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784-1833) in the first part of the 1800s. One of the first recipes in the U.S. appeared in the Boston Cooking School of 1884.

The connection with Bavaria is obscure; although Carême cooked for the rich and famous and it is conceivable that he may have created this dish for a guest of honor from Bavaria.

The original Bavarian cream, or crème bavarois, was created in a fluted mold, chilled, umolded and sliced. In these more informal days, the dessert can be scooped from the bowl like mousse.

Sometimes the mold is first coated with a fruit gelatin, which “glazed” the Bavarian cream. Sometimes it is flavored with chocolate, coffee, fruit or liqueur.

The mold can be first lined with ladyfingers first, creating a charlotte.

Individual servings can be garnished with whipped cream (Chantilly) or fruit purée. Here’s a recipe for Bavarian cream from Chef Michael Symon.

Bavarian cream is similar to pastry cream but lightened with whipped cream and thickened with gelatin instead of flour or cornstarch. Check out the different types of custard.

Now for the holiday:

For Bavarian Cream Pie, get a pie crust: Bavarian cream in a pie crust is simply a different type of custard pie.

So to celebrate, grab the nearest piece of custard pie, top it with whipped cream as an homage to the whipped cream that helps to distinguish a Bavarian cream, and enjoy the holiday.

See the different types of pies in our Pie Glossary.

We keep these stackable espresso cups right
next to our espresso machine. Photo
courtesy Harold Imports | AMZ.

The flavors of espresso are very concentrated, intense and dark. Espresso is drunk black; sugar is permissible but milk is not. If you want milk in your coffee, choose another dark roast bean: Italian Roast and French roast.

There are key differences between espresso, Italian Roast and French roast coffees.

1. Beans: Special. Espresso is not a type of bean, but a level of roasting. In fact, espresso is typically a blend of beans roasted anywhere from very light to very dark; you know it’s espresso if there’s a lot of surface oil evident. Different coffee roasters use different blends of beans and different degrees of roasting. Ask which roaster roasted the beans you are purchasing. If they’re not your ideal, keep trying different roasters.

2. Caffeine: Less. Because a cup of espresso takes no more than 30 seconds to brew (28 seconds is the ideal brewing time), less caffeine is extracted from the ground beans than in drip coffee, which takes anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes to brew.

3. Crema: Thick. The pressure exerted by the espresso machine forms a thick cap of brown crema (pronounced CRAY-mah, Italian for cream; but it’s “espresso bean cream,” not milk-related cream). Some single serve coffee machines also produce a crema; but true espresso crema carries the aroma and lasts to the bottom of the cup.

4. Portion: Small. Although modern designs veer from the classic style, espresso cups were intentionally made small and thick. They serve a different purpose from the delicate porcelain demitasse cups used for regular coffee in a fine dinner service. Thick, small espresso cups hold the heat; large cups dissipate the heat and the crema. The proper portion of espresso is one ounce for these reasons. If you want a larger serving of espresso, don’t fill a full-size cup: Have another espresso-size and drink it in its peak form.

5. Garnish: Lemon Peel. You may see espresso served with a piece of lemon peel, to be rubbed around the rim of the cup to leave a slick of lemon oil. The original purpose was to counteract the taste of over-roasted, overly bitter espresso: The oil in the peel blocks the bitterness. Italians traditionally serve top quality espresso without lemon peel, bowing to the quality of the beans. However, if you like the added flavor of the lemon peel (we do), feel free to serve it.

6. Freshness: Imperative. Advice continues to circulate that coffee beans should be kept in the freezer for freshness. False! Freezing the coffee coagulates the natural oils contained in the bean. In an espresso, those oils need to emulsify to produce the body and mouthful of the coffee. Coffee can be stored in the refrigerator, but airtight containers are crucial. An airtight container keeps out odors and protects the internal moisture of the coffee bean. No matter what kind of coffee you buy, the best rule of thumb is to buy only what you need for a week, or two weeks at best. Ground coffee will begin to go stale in 24 hours. Keep coffee away from direct light and heat. Direct light and heat begin to cook the coffee oils, and will affect the flavor and aroma properties.

Discover more about coffee in our Gourmet Coffee Section.

Distinctive red wines made from the
Sagrantino grape are unique to Umbria.
Photo courtesy i-Italy.com.

Needing a quick trip to Italy, we headed to Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street in New York City, home of Eataly, a high-end Italian food market/mall. The first store opened in Turin, Italy, in 2007; the New York branch opened to much fanfare in August 2011.

It’s Umbria Month in New York City, proclaimed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and celebrated at wine stores, restaurants, Italian food markets and Eataly, which is a combination of all three.

There are restaurant menus with Umbria’s signature fare, cooking classes led by Eataly’s chefs and tastings of Umbrian foods and wines at shops including Di Palo’s Fine Foods and Enoteca (wine store) in Little Italy.

Can you pick out Umbria on a map? The region of Umbria is in central Italy, less than two hours from Rome and Florence. The capital is Perugia.

Neighboring Tuscany gets much of the food and wine coverage in America, but the region of Umbria, east of Tuscany, is equally deserving of your attention.

And there’s much atmosphere as you eat and drink. Known as “il cuor verde d’Italia”, the green heart of Italy, Umbria home to stupendous mountains, valleys and medieval villages and of course.

We sampled some of the local specialties at Eataly—fine wines, black truffles, olive oil and a perfect porchetta, roast pig with the crispest skin we’ve ever had. Good news: It’s available every Thursday in the Rosticceria, one of the 12 eating areas at Eataly.

Along with the full-bodied, spicy Sagrantino-based red wines (the grape is unique to Umbria), it was a delicious lunch. Fully refreshed, we left “Umbria” and returned to the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

See all the Umbria Month In NYC activities at UmbriaMonthNYC.com.

November 2nd is National Deviled Egg Day, a cause for celebration at The American Egg Board, the folks behind IncredibleEgg.org.

They’ve developed this tasty recipe for deviled eggs with bacon and Cheddar cheese—delicious at breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Servings: 24 servings (1 serving = one stuffed egg half)

RECIPE: DEVILED EGGS WITH BACON & CHEDDAR

Ingredients

A new way to enjoy bacon and eggs. Photo courtesy American Egg Board.

How to make the perfect hard cooked eggs, and why they’re hard cooked rather than hard boiled.
 
Preparation

Deviled eggs can be made up to 12 hours in advance.

1. CUT cooked eggs lengthwise in half. Remove yolks to medium bowl. Reserve 24 white halves. Finely chop remaining 4 white halves. Save remaining 2 yolks for other use: crumbled into salads, on cooked vegetables, in baked potatoes, etc.

2. MASH yolks with fork. Add mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, lemon juice and pepper; mix well. Add chopped egg whites, bacon, cheese and chives; mix well.

3. SPOON 1 heaping tablespoon of yolk mixture into each reserved egg white half. Refrigerate, covered, to blend flavors.

4. GARNISH with a dusting of paprika prior to serving.
 
COOKING TIPS

Egg Freshness. Very fresh eggs can be difficult to peel. To ensure easily peeled eggs, buy and refrigerate them a week to 10 days in advance of cooking. This “breather” allows the eggs time to take in air, which helps separate the membranes from the shell.

Peeling Tip #1. Hard-cooked eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling. Cooling causes the egg to contract slightly in the shell.

Peeling Tip #2. To peel a hard-boiled egg, gently tap egg on countertop until shell is finely crackled all over. Roll the egg between your hands to loosen the shell. Start peeling at large end, holding egg under cold running water to help ease the shell off.

Storage In the shell, hard-cooked eggs can be refrigerated safely up to one week. Refrigerate in their original carton to prevent odor absorption. Once peeled, eggs should be eaten that day.

Easy Filling Technique. Here’s the no-mess method: Put the filling in a 1-quart plastic food-storage bag. Push filling toward bottom corner of bag. Snip off about 1/2-inch of corner. Squeeze filling from bag into egg whites.

Picnic Or Tailgate Food Safety Tip. Place filling in plastic bag; carry cooked white halves and filling mixture separately in cooler. Fill eggs on the spot, pressing filling out of snipped corner of bag.
 
MORE DEVILED EGG RECIPES

It could be a 1930s movie set. Photo courtesy Empire Room | NYC.

Soaring more than a quarter of a mile above the heart of Manhattan, the Empire State Building is an Art Deco masterpiece and perhaps the world’s most famous office building.

On May 1, 1931, President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C., which turned on the Empire State Building’s lights and officially opened the now-iconic building.

Observatories on the 86th and 102nd floors offer unmatched views of New York City to some four million visitors each year. On a clear day, they can see to New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

But what about lunch, before or after the observation decks? The Empire State Building is surrounded by fast food outlets and Irish bars—not exactly the type of ambiance one craves after the high of spectacular views.

Thank goodness for the Empire Room. On the ground floor of the West 33rd Street side of the building, the space, which opened two years ago designed as a 1930s-era swanky cocktail lounge, is now serving lunch.

The menu comprises classic American luncheon favorites: popular sandwiches, flat breads and panini; salads; and a chicken breast with sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese, bacon and honey Dijon. For a bargain $3.00, you can add a glass of wine or a beer; or a more pricey but delicious house-designed cocktail.

We lunched there recently and wanted to try everything on the menu. We ended up with an excellent starter (chili, a special house recipe with flavors deepened by 100% cacao chocolate and a pinch of cinnamon), the chopped salad main course (top-quality feta cheese, garbanzo beans, roasted peppers, tomato, onion and grilled shrimp) and a delightful miniature cheesecake.

The highest compliment we can pay is that we would gladly have returned to eat the same meal for dinner. At our earliest opportunity, we’ll be back for more.

The 3,500 square feet of brushed stainless steel, curved marble bar, tufted banquettes, glass-topped tables and Art Deco chandeliers looks like a movie set. It accommodates up to 150 guests and is often rented for private parties.

HOW TO GET THERE

A popular cocktail lounge, the Empire Room now serves lunch. Photo courtesy Empire Room.

 
For more information about the Empire Room, visit HospitalityHoldings.com.

Bake big, soft pretzels and invite friends to
bring the beer.

Whether or not it’s actually National Champagne Day (see previous post), we know that it’s National Soft Pretzel Day.

Hard pretzels are ubiquitous, but soft pretzels have become so popular that they’re no longer a ballpark or theme park snack. You can now find them in your grocer’s freezer case (look for SuperPretzel and other brands).

Or, bake this soft pretzel recipe from scratch.

Here are some garnishing tips from SuperPretzel. Be sure the pretzels are cool enough to eat; then garnish:

 
Do you have a favorite way to eat soft pretzels? Let us know.
 
Check out the history of pretzels.

Take our pretzel trivia quiz.