When you sang “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve, did you recall that it was first a poem by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland (1759-1796)?

His birthday, January 25th, is celebrated in Scotland as Burns Night.

Family and friends gather for an evening of good food and company. It’s a warm and happy event much like our Thanksgiving. A traditional Burns’ Supper is served.

Here’s a Burns Night dinner menu.

But dinner or not, we never pass up this once-a-year opportunity to have a box of whisky-infused chocolates from the prominent artisan chocolatier Larry Burdick.

Why do the Scottish spell it “whisky” and the Irish spell it “whiskey?”

Here’s the scoop.
 
 
WHISKY-INFUSED CHOCOLATES

Call them chocolates, bonbons or truffles, this Scotch-infused assortment (photo #1) is available for just a few weeks each January.

This year, the dates are from January 4th through January 29th.

The eagerly-awaited, limited-edition collection of handcrafted bonbons is filled with whisky-infused chocolate ganache.

Some of the finest single-malt Scotch whiskies are used: Glenfarclas, Highland Park, Lagavulin, Macallan, Springbank and Talisker.

The chocolates are available in both half-pound and one-pound boxes.
 
 
SCOTCH WHISKY CHOCOLATE CIGAR ASSORTMENT

Burdick’s signature dark chocolate is infused with fine single-malt Scotch whisky and rolled into gourmet chocolate cigars.

A box of six (photo #2) has three each of cigars made with 10-year-old Laphroaig and 12-year-old Old Pulteney.

You can buy the box, or individual Laphroaig cigars (photo #3).
 
 
MORE WAYS TO CELEBRATE BURNS NIGHT

 
You don’t have to be Scottish to celebrate Burns Night.

All lovers of food adventures are welcome!

[1] A half-pound box of Scotch Whisky Chocolate Assortment. A one-pound box is also available (all photos © Burdick Chocolate).

[2] Cigars for the chocolate connoisseur are made in two varieties: Laphroaig and Old Pulteney

[3] Individual chocolate whisky cigars in cigar-type tubes are made with Laphroaig single malt whisky.

You may purchase lots of grapefruits, lemons, limes and oranges—the same ones you’ve been buying for years. But if you cast a wider net, you can find some real citrus excitement—like these Sumo Citrus® mandarins.

Like Sumo wrestlers, Sumo Citrus is super-sized, and it has a topknot.

It looks like a big orange, but it’s in the mandarin family (the difference between mandarins and oranges).

Mandarins are easy to peel and segment, and Sumo Citrus is:

 
Look for it, buy it; just don’t call it an orange.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF SUMO CITRUS

Sumo Citrus was bred from the pomelo, navel orange and mandarin.

In addition to size, it’s also one of the world’s sweetest mandarins.

In Japan, it is known as shiranui and nicknamed the “dekopon,” a reference to its distinctive top knot.

Not every dekopon is a Sumo Citrus however. It’s a brand distinction available only those fruits meeting size and taste standards.
 
 
Not All Topknot Mandarins Are Sumo Citrus

Originally, the different prefectures in Japan that grew the citrus gave them different names.

However, an agreement was reached whereby any grower can use the name “dekopon” if they pay a licensing fee and meet certain quality standards.

So the name “dekopon” now can refer to the fruits grown anywhere in Japan.

In the U.S., something snazzier was needed to market the fruit. The brand name Sumo Citrus® was created.

Think of the generic clementine mandarin, branded by different growers as Cuties and Halos, for marketing appeal.
 
 
GROWING SUMO CITRUS

While it’s sometimes hard to tell some mandarin varieties from others, you can’t miss Sumo Citrus and its topknot.

This rare seedless variety was originally cultivated in Japan in the 1970s by a grower who set out to develop “the ultimate citrus experience.” This variety was dubbed the “dekopon” [source].

In Japan, the fruits are usually grown in large greenhouses to keep them at a constant temperature, and are harvested from December to February.

In the case of orchard farming, the dekopon is harvested from March to April.

Harvesting trivia: After harvesting, the dekopon is usually left to sit for a period of 20–40 days so that the levels of citric acid in the fruit decrease, while the sugar levels increase.

This creates a more appealing taste. Only dekopons with sugar levels above 13°Bx† and citric acid below 1.0% can be sold with the name dekopon.
 
Outside Of Japan

Sumo Citrus is only grown in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and with partner growers in Australia, all of whom have licensed the ability to grow it.

Sumo seedlings were first imported into the U.S. in 1998, but because the Sumo is one of the most challenging varieties to grow, it wasn’t until 2011 that they became available to the public.

The dekopon was released as a commercial product in the U.S. under the name Sumo Citrus® in early 2011.

After many years, there is now enough Sumo Citrus available in the U.S. for most of us to try it—with thanks to family farms in California whose incredibly high growing standards made the crop possible.

Sumo season in the U.S. is just four months: January through April.
 
 
GET YOUR SUMO CITRUS

Check the store locator on SumoCitrus.com for the retailer nearest you.

You can also send a Sumo Citrus gift box.

[1] Why they’re called “Sumo”: the wide girth and the topknot (photos #1, #2, #3 and #4 © Sumo Citrus).

[2] They may look small in a photo, but Sumo citrus is double or triple the size of other mandarins.

[3] A benefit of mandarins versus oranges is that they’re so easy to peel. Some people pride themselves on being able to peel a mandarin in a single long swirl.

[4] Add Sumo Citrus segments to green salads and grain bowls,

[5] These are not mandarins, but they are food fun: Can you name these citrus varieties? The answer is in the footnote.<

*The citrus varieties from top to bottom: yuzu, variegated lemon, kaffir/kieffer lime, calamondin. Calamondin is a cross between a mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata, tangerine or Satsuma) and a kumquat (Fortunella margarita).

†Bx, an abbreviation for brix, measures the sugar content of an agricultural product.

[1] The original Oysters Rockefeller from Antoine’s Restaurant in New Orleans (photo © Antoine’s).

[2] Chefs who adapted the secret recipe often use spinach and diced bacon. Here’s the preparation at Monahan’s Seafood Market in Ann Arbor, Michigan (photo © Monahan’s Seafood Market).

[3] Some “builds” include Mornay sauce, a classic French cheese sauce made with Gruyère. Some American chefs substitute Cheddar but—please don’t (photo © Arch Rock Fish in Santa Barbara [alas, closed]).

January 10th is National Oysters Rockefeller Day. It was first celebrated in 2017 at Antoine’s restaurant in New Orleans.

If you live anywhere near New Orleans, you be rewarded with a special treat.

That’s because this weekend, Antoine’s will celebrate National Oysters Rockefeller Day with by offering orders of Oysters Rockefeller for just $5.

The legendary dish was invented in Antoine’s kitchen in 1899 by Jules Alciatore, the son of the restaurant’s namesake founder, Antoine Alciatore.

The recipe was an innovation in the art of cooked oysters, an unanticipated mother of invention.

At the end of the 19th century, there was a shortage of European snails—then a gourmet treat—arriving from Europe to New Orleans.

Jules identified a locally sourced replacement: oysters.

In creating the dish, Jules combined a buttery sauce with green vegetables, producing such a richness of flavor that he named it after one of the wealthiest men in the United States: John D. Rockefeller.

While Mr. Rockefeller reportedly despised the affiliation, grilled Oysters Rockefeller became an iconic dish.

It has approximated by chefs around the world. The original recipes a closely-guarded family secret.
 
 
OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER VARIATIONS

Here’s one big difference:

While just about every tribute recipe tops the oysters with spinach, Antoine’s original recipe does not contain spinach. Is it watercress?

Maybe: You’ll could head to New Orleans to find out.

But even then, you’d need to be a super-taster to have any success.

To safeguard the recipe, Antoine’s has subsequently puréed the topping ingredients and piped them on top of the grilled oysters (photo #1).

When we first had them at Antoine’s decades ago, the ingredients were still recognizable—and if we had known that food writing lay in our future, we would have taken closer notice.

Most imitators top the oysters with sautéed or blanched spinach, others cream the spinach or substitute a whole blanched spinach leaf.

Some add a garnish of bread crumbs, diced bacon and/or parmesan cheese (photo #2).

We’ve even had the oysters with topped with a Mornay sauce—a béchamel sauce turned into cheese sauce with Gruyère—before adding the spinach and bacon (photo #3).

Some modern interpretations even fry the oysters and serve them with conventional “imitator” garnishes: spinach, bread crumbs, bacon.

Since you’ll never know the original recipe, you can add the ingredients that please your palate most.

It may not be “Oysters Rockefeller” as Jules Alciatore created it; but it will be your Oysters Rockefeller.

Here’s a recipe to start you off, along with more garnish ideas.
 
 
ABOUT ANTOINE’S RESTAURANT

Antoine’s, an iconic New Orleans institution, is managed by fifth-generation CEO and Proprietor Rick Blount, whos estimates that the restaurant has prepared Oysters Rockefeller more than five million times since its introduction.

Beyond being known as the birthplace of Oysters Rockefeller, the legendary New Orleans restaurant is the oldest continuously-operating restaurant in the U.S. It remains owned by the same family that founded it in 1840.

The restaurant celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2015. It’s now 180, and we bet they’ll still be serving Oysters Rockefeller at age 200 and beyond.

For more information, visit Antoine’s website.

[1] The classic, a Margherita pizza is a cheese pizza topped with fresh basil (photo © Nadezhda Filatova | Unsplash).

[2] Slices topped with fresh arugula (photo © Sahand Hoseini | Unsplash).

[3] Pile it on! This pepperoni pizza has veggie companions: black olives, fresh basil and tomatoes (photo © Like Meat | Unsplash).

[4] Eat your veggies! This pizza sports Brussels sprouts and broccolini, with pesto. Here’s the recipe from DeLallo (photo © DeLallo).

[5] America’s favorite topping: pepperoni (photo © Tablespoon | TBSP).

[6] Breakfast pizza, with eggs and pancetta. Here’s the recipe from DeLallo (photo © DeLallo)

National Pizza Week kicks off on the second Sunday in January. That’s tomorrow. Plus, we have a year of pizza holidays.

National Pizza Week is just one of 11 “pizza holidays” in the U.S. alone. We’ve listed them all, below.

You have an entire week to celebrate one of America’s all-time favorite foods: comforting, affordable, ubiquitous…and delicious!

Head to the pizza holidays.
 
 
AMERICA’S PIZZA PASSION

How much do Americans like pizza?

We Americans love our pizza. Depending on the survey, it’s America’s favorite food (vying with the burger).

Global data specialist BoldData determined that the number of pizza restaurants in the U.S. increased by a whopping 39.2% over the last five years.

(Note that the definition of “restaurant” can range from a large venue with table service to a take-out counter that delivers.)

Alas, thanks to the pandemic, the growth spurt abruptly stopped in 2020…with bright hopes for the post-pandemic future.

But because so much pizza is takeout and delivery rather than eat-in, the pizza party didn’t end in 2020.

Take a look at the growth curve: In 2016 there were 65,213 pizza places. In 2020, there were 90,817 pizza restaurants or counters.

Based on the trajectory, the beginning of 2021 should have reached the magical number of 100,000 pizza restaurants.

But thanks to COVID-19, the increase in 2020 was just 581 new outlets.
 
 
WHO’S NUMBER ONE?

 
 
THE WORLDWIDE CHAMPION

There are 245,244 pizza restaurants worldwide.

The U.S. takes the biggest slice of the worldwide pie. It’s home to the largest number of pizza restaurants: 90,817 restaurants for a population of 328.2 million population (in 2019).

The U.S. has more pizzerias than the next four countries combined (which total 88,100). That’s 36% of all pizza restaurants worldwide

Italy, where the modern pizza originated, comes in second with 42,288 pizzerias for a population of 60.36 million (2019). That’s 17% of the world’s total.

Brazil takes third place, with 32,283 pizzerias (population 209.5 million in 2018).

The top three countries combined are home to 67% of the world’s total amount of pizza restaurants.

Australia is number 8 on the list. With 5,598 pizza restaurants, they have one of the highest numbers of pizza places per capita.
 
 
DELIVERY FAVORITES

The Huffington Post gathered favorite pizza toppings from a 2018 survey of the online food delivery service, Caviar.

While Caviar doesn’t represent a representative sampling of the entire country (it covers 20 major cities), here are its data on the most popular pizza toppings:

 
Their toppings data doesn’t include a slot for people who just ordered a plain cheese pizza (the Margherita*).

> Check out the 50 largest pizza chains worldwide.

Canada’s Panago Pizza beat out America’s Domino’s Pizza for first place.
 

THE YEAR IN PIZZA HOLIDAYS

Whether you get takeout pizza or make your own, mark your calendars for:

 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PIZZA
 
 
________________

*The Margherita is the original modern pizza. It was named after Queen Margherita, consort to Umberto I, King of Italy from 1878 to 1900. As the story goes, during a visit to Naples, she asked the best pizza maker in town, Don Raffaele, to make her a pie. He made it in the colors of the Italian flag (red, white, and green). The result: a simple but delicious pie of basil, mozzarella, and tomatoes.

Some “food art” can only be achieved by professional food stylists.

We’re always delighted to come across something simple, that we can make ourselves.

Serve the tomato flowers with a round of Boursin as an appetizer, or use individual “flowers” as an individual plate garnish.

Thanks to Boursin for the idea.
 
 
RECIPE: BOURSIN CHEESE FLOWERS

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. SOFTEN the cheese for stuffing the flowers. Leave at room temperature until it is soft enough to pipe into the tomatoes.

2. TRIM the chive stems to the desired length.

3. USE an ice pick or other sharp implement to create a hole on the bottom of the tomatoes for the chives.

4. SLICE into the top of the tomatoes with a small paring knife and hollow out a small place to pipe the cheese. The opening can go just halfway down the tomato. You can refrigerate this until ready to serve. Then…

5. UNWRAP and place the second wheel of Boursin on the serving plate. Insert the chive “stems” into the base of the tomatoes (we used the end of a skewer to push them in.

6. PLACE the tomato flowers on the serving plate as desired. Most of our guests picked up the tomatoes, leaving the chives on the plate; so we put the rest of the tomatoes that hadn’t been “flowerized” in a ramekin with another ramekin of sea salt.
 
 
BOURSIN CHEESES

The Boursin line of soft, spreadable French cheeses includes:

 
 
BOURSIN CHEESE HISTORY

Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs, sold in a little foil cup, was created in 1957 by François Boursin, a cheesemaker in the commune of Croisy-sur-Eure commune in Normandy, northern France.

The cheese was inspired by a traditional Normandy party dish of garnished fromage frais (French for “fresh cheese”); a fresh, unaged cheese intended to be eaten within days of its production.

In the case of Boursin, guests would take their portion of cheese and top it with herbs to add herbs for flavor.

Boursin thought: Why not sell the cheese with the herbs already blended in?

Voilà: Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs, the first flavored cheese product to be sold nationally in France.

In 1990, the brand was acquired by Unilever, who sold it to Groupe Bel 2007 [source].

The original cheese, fromage frais, is simply drained, lactic set curd, lightly salted, that does not undergo a ripening period. It has a creamy, soft texture and fresh and a fresh, milky flavor.

Fromage frais differs from fromage blanc, another fresh, white French cheese, in that by law, fromage frais must contain live cultures when sold, whereas with fromage blanc, the fermentation has been halted [source].

It is often eaten for breakfast (we love it with toast), with fruit for dessert, or in cooking.
 
________________

*Since we needed a separate package to stuff the tomatoes, for variety we used two different flavors of Boursin. You could also use a different cheese for the tomatoes, e.g., cream cheese, mascarpone, quark or ricotta. You can add herbs or spices to any of these cheeses.
 
 
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHEESE
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF CHEESE

[1] Boursin with grape tomato flowers (all photos © Bel Brands USA).

[2] Boursin is available in four flavors, plus seasonal specialties.

[3] One of our favorite appetizers, mango, spinach and Boursin prosciutto wraps.

[4] Keep a box of Boursin in the fridge, and you’ll always have something delicious to serve with wine, beer, or a cup of tea.

[5] Go fancy with an appetizer of baby potatoes stuffed with Boursin and caviar or shrimp.

[6] Is the new cheeseburger a burger topped with Boursin?