[2] Garlic olive oil with crushed red pepper and tri-color peppercorns (photo courtesy Style Craze).

[3] Use olive oil and herbs as pasta sauce. Here, garlic, crushed red pepper do the trick. See the recipe from Real Simple.

[4] Mashed potatoes with truffle oil and truffle bits. You can use portobello bits or omit entirely (photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma).

If you’re a good cook, you probably own more than one flavored or infused olive oil. We own basil, chile, citrus (blood orange, lemon, lime), garlic, rosemary and truffle oil. We’re either a very good cook or an impulsive shopper.

There’s a difference between flavored and infused, although not many people know it. The front label of the bottle may not tell you, but a look at the ingredients label might.

 
Check out the different types of olive oil in our Olive Oil Glossary.
 
 
USING FLAVORED / INFUSED OILS

We love flavored/infused oils, and tend to buy too many different flavors, that stand shoulder to shoulder in the pantry.

Open* bottles of olive oil have a particular shelf life, depending on olive variety and storage conditions. Flavored oils have an even shorter time before freshness fades. Try to use them within six months, and certainly within a year.

That’s why we look for opportunities to use them on a daily basis.

Note that just as wines pair to specific foods, so do olive oil flavors. Those flavors that are good for meats, such as chile or garlic, may be too strong for delicate fish. For the latter, use oils with citrus or green herbs.

Note that quality olive oils are not meant to be cooked at higher temperatures or for longer times.

 
And now, 20 ways to use flavored/infused oils:

 
Experiment with your favorite foods. We’re partial to a bit of basil or rosemary oil on vanilla or chocolate ice cream, and some chile oil lemon sorbet.

*Over time, even oil an unopened bottle begins to degrade. Again, it depends on variety and storage conditions (in the warehouse, at the store, in your kitchen).

September 18th is National Cheeseburger Day. That typically means a slice of supermarket American, cheddar or Swiss cheese: The same old, same old.

How about some better cheese, for a change?

Murray’s, a New York City cheese and specialty food store, has a separate restaurant that has fine cheeses in every course. If this is your idea of paradise, be sure to visit Murray’s Cheese Bar on Bleecker Street.

Of course there are cheeseburgers on the menu, using the great cheeses from the store. While the options change, the recipes from one recent menu are below.

You’ll note that some of these cheeses are not “melters.” Who says that the cheese on a burger has to melt?

The reason melty American cheese is the most widely used is tradition: The cheeseburger started at a sandwich shop where American cheese was the a popular ingredient.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE CHEESEBURGER

Adding cheese to hamburgers first became popular in the late-1920s. While there are several claims as to who created the first cheeseburger, Lionel Sternberger of Pasadena, California is largely given credit.

In 1926 at the age of 16, he was working as a fry cook at his father’s sandwich shop, The Rite Spot. The creative lad placed a slice of American cheese to a burger sizzling on the grill, to see what the combination might taste like. We all know the answer.

The next step: A 1928 menu for O’Dell’s restaurant in Los Angeles shows a cheeseburger “smothered” with chili.

Other claimants to cheeseburger history:

 
Since local news didn’t travel in those days, we might credit the claims to the concept of multiple discovery, a.k.a. simultaneous invention. The hypothesis is that scientific discoveries and inventions can be made independently and more or less simultaneously by different scientists and inventors.

Have you ever heard of a steamed cheeseburger? It’s the cooking technique used at Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden, Connecticut. They developed the steam box and trays used to cook the “World Famous Steamed Burgers.”

While Ted’s didn’t open until 1959, Wikipedia credits a restaurant called Jack’s Lunch in Middletown, Connecticut, with the creation, in the 1930s.

TRIVIA: McDonald’s opened both kosher and non-kosher restaurants in Israel. A kosher cheeseburger can be created with vegan cheese (made from soy or nut milk).
 
 
“GOURMET” CHEESEBURGER TOPPINGS

The way to make the best cheeseburger is to use the best ingredients: not just the meat and the roll, but the cheese.

Some of the cheeses used at Murray’s Cheese Bar follow. You may not be able to get these specific brands, but go to the best cheese shop in town and ask for something similar.

You don’t even have to follow these recipes. Our goal is simply to expand your cheeseburger horizons.

BACON BURGER

 
GOAT GOUDA BURGER

 
SPICY BBQ BLUES BURGER

 
FRENCH ONION SOUP BURGER

 
THE HOT MESS

[1] Pimiento cheese cheeseburger (photo courtesy Gardenia Restaurant | NYC).

[2] The blue cheese-bacon cheeseburger, almost a classic, at The Cheesecake Factory.

[3] How about a mac ‘n’ cheese burger, at Glory Days Grill?

[4] A bacon-wrapped jalapeño burger at ViewHouse Eatery | Denver.

[5] Apple, bacon and Brie burger. Here’s the recipe from Olivia’s Cuisine.

[2] Add some ice cream, pan sauce or caramel sauce, and maybe some toasted pecans. Here’s the recipe from Jo Cooks).

[3] Apple dumplings as rugelach. Rugelach was rolled with a filling, but not apple. This version uses refrigerated crescent dough. Here’s the recipe from Cincy Shopper.

But before the rise* of Asian restaurants in the U.S., most Americans thought of a dumpling as a sweet pastry wrapped around sliced apples or other fruit (photos #1 and #2).

September 17th, National Apple Dumpling Day, celebrates that pastry, a different form for the ingredients of apple pie. If you’re in the mood, we have a recipe below.

These delicious filled pastries are made by putting cored and peeled apples on a piece of dough, along with butter, cinnamon, lemon zest and sugar. Sometimes raisins or dried cranberries are added.

 
The dough is then folded over the filling, and dumplings are popped into the oven.

What’s the difference between an apple dumpling and an apple turnover, you may ask? Largely, the shape:

APPLE DUMPLING HISTORY

The word dumpling is first found in England around 1600, in the Norfolk dialect. It possibly derived from the Low German word for lump, dump. It described a small, usually globular, piece of boiled or steamed dough. Initially, dumplings were savory, filled with meat [source].

But the first dumplings—bite-size packets of filling wrapped in dough—are thought to have originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty of China, some 1,800 years ago.

They were a way to serve meat in smaller, cheaper amounts. The first dumplings were thought to be filled with mutton, chilis and herbs, followed by other meats and seafood.

Much later, in Europe, a dumpling was a ball of dough cooked and served in soup or stew.

In Northern Europe, the dough was usually made with suet†, and was boiled, as in today’s Chicken And Dumplings. These pastries were also fried or baked.

Other regions used other ingredients: potatoes (like Italian gnocchi, matzoh meal (Jewish matzoh balls) and flour dumplings that were often filled (Jewish kreplach, Polish pierogis, Russian pelmeni and numerous others).

Dumplings likely emerged as a food of the poor: a cheaper way to satisfy hunger alongside a small piece of meat. The concept evolved into pastries filled with ground meat.

Later, the word was ported to describe larger pastry dumplings filled with fruit, which became popular in Northern Europe. Apples, pears, plums and other fruits found their way into these sweet dumplings.

Fruit dumplings were popularized in the U.S. by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who immigrated from Germany (Dutch is an American mis-spelling of their nationality, Deutsche).

This recipe is adapted from Southern Living and uses refrigerated pie crusts as a hack.
 
Ingredients For The Syrup

 
For The Apple Filling

 
Plus

 
Optional Garnishes

[5] A bit of lemon zest perks up any fruit dessert (photo courtesy Microplane).

1. COMBINE the sugar, water, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. REMOVE from the heat and add the butter. Stir to combine and set the syrup aside.

3. COMBINE the apple filling ingredients in a small mixing bowl Mix with a fork until you have a crumb consistency. Set aside.

4. CUT each pie crust in half. Form each half into a ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll into 8-inch circles.

5. PEEL and core the apples. When you core, leave enough of a well to hold the filling.

6. PLACE each apple onto the center of each circle and fill the empty core with the crumb filling. Fold the dough over the apples, pinching at the top to seal. Place apples in a lightly greased 13″ x 9″ baking dish. Drizzle with the syrup.

7. BAKE at 375°F for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and other garnishes as desired.
________________

*The 1965 Immigration & Nationality Act enabled many more Asians to immigrate to the U.S., where they established restaurants.

† Suet is a special type of fat, the hard white mass of fat surrounding the kidneys and loins of cattle (plus sheep and other animals). It has long been used in European cooking to make puddings, pastry and mincemeat. Suet has the the cleanest and mildest taste of all the animal’s fat. Fat from grass-fed beef fat is the best (although in the suet-loving past, all beef was grassfed!).

September 13th is National Peanut Day. January 24th is National Peanut Butter Day, and PB&J lovers can look forward to April 2nd.

A bit of history about the peanut, also known as a groundnut and goober. First, it isn’t a nut, but a legume.

The difference: A legume is a pod with multiple seeds. A nut has a hard outer shell protecting a single seed, the “nut.” You can drill down here.
 
 
A NEW WORLD CROP

Along with the bean, cacao, cassava, chia, chile, corn, papaya, pineapple, potato and sweet potato, quinoa, squash, sunflower, tomatillo and tomatoes, peanuts originated in Latin America.

According to the National Peanut Board, botanists believe that peanuts originated in Brazil or Peru. While there is no fossil record, we have a pottery record: Pottery in the shape of peanuts or jars decorated with peanut motifs date back as far as 3,500 years.

The archaeological record also shows that as early as 1500 B.C.E., the Incas in Peru used peanuts as a sacrificial offering. They were entombed with mummies for the afterlife. Tribes in central Brazil made a beverage from ground peanuts and maize.

Spanish and Portuguese explorers encountered peanuts in the 16th century; the Spanish in Mexico, the Portuguese in Brazil. They brought peanuts back to their home countries, and from there traders and explorers spread them to Asia and Africa.
 
 
PEANUTS COME TO THE U.S.

Peanuts came to North America in the 1700s via Africa, where they had been introduced by Portuguese traders. But it wasn’t until the early 1800s that peanuts were grown in the U.S. as a commercial crop, first in Virginia, where they were used mainly for oil and as a food for livestock and the poor.

Peanuts were eaten by Civil War soldiers as a protein-rich subsistence food. The Southern folk song “Goober Peas” was sung by Confederate soldiers (here’s a version sung by Burl Ives and Johnny Cash). After the war, Union soldiers brought them north.

[2] Boiled peanuts are a popular Southern food, boiled in salted water that gives them a fresh, legume flavor. Here’s a recipe (photo © Bittersweet Blog).

Around 1900, labor-saving equipment was invented for planting, cultivating, harvesting and picking the peanuts, then shelling and cleaning the kernels. With an abundance of supply, demand grew and their use expanded, especially for oil, roasted and salted nuts, peanut butter and candy (source).

And you get to enjoy them!

What do you do when you have leftover chopped herbs and minced garlic?

Some people place them in a small container, to be used the next day in eggs, on salads, or to garnish other foods.

Some people freeze them, but they become soggy and lose flavor.

Some people toss them.

Here’s another solution: Freeze the chopped herbs in olive oil (or cooking oil of choice).

More specifically, place the herbs in ice cube compartments and fill with olive oil.

Then, just pop a cube to.

You can also let the cube melt at room temperature and use it to flavor a vinaigrette.

It’s a great trick for a big hit of flavor without having to buy fresh herbs.