[2] Some people like their meringue slightly browned (photo #1); some like the full-on treatment here (photo courtesy McCormick).

[3] Deconstructed lemon meringue tart, a work of art. Here’s the recipe (photo courtesy @Chef_Lymalaya.

August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day.

While meringue was perfected sometime in the 17th century, it took for the 19th century for the modern lemon meringue pie to appear, in Switzerland.

Americans are happy about that: It’s always on the list of the Top 10 Favorite Pies.

We’ll start today with the recipe for classic lemon meringue pie (photo #1).

But here are creative variations:

 
DRINK LEMON MERINGUE!

 
THE HISTORY OF LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Lemon-flavored custards, puddings and pies date to Middle Ages, a time period of more than 1,000 years, from 476 C.E. to 1492 C.E. It was followed by the Renaissance, 1300 to 1600. Meringue was perfected sometime in the 1600s (the 17th century).

The modern lemon meringue pie is a 19th-century recipe, attributed to Alexander Frehse, a Swiss baker from Romandy, the French-speaking part(s) of Switzerland.

It combines a lemon custard single crust pie with meringue, the fluffy topping made from egg whites and sugar, baked on top. Here’s the classic lemon meringue pie recipe from McCormick.

Thanks, Chef!

PIE HISTORY

The ancient Egyptians, who were great bread bakers, worked out the details of early pastry. Theirs was a savory pastry: a dough of flour and water paste to wrap around meat and soak up the juices as it cooked.

Before the creation of baking pans in the 19th century, the coffin, as it was called (the word for a basket or box), was used to bake all food.

Pastry was further developed in the Middle East and brought to Mediterranean Europe by the Muslims in the 7th century. Another leap 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 as far as it could have 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 developed, and the stiff pie pastry was used to provide a casing for the various fillings. By the 17th century, flaky and puff pastries were in use, developed by French and Italian Renaissance chefs. These pastry chefs began to make highly decorated pastry, working intricate patterns on the crusts.
  

August 14th is National Creamsicle Day. Creamsicle is a flavor combination that people either love or not. We love it, and have even created our own variation, The Nibblesicle, with raspberry sorbet instead of orange.

The Creamsicle was created by the Popsicle Corporation, established during the Depression by Frank Epperson, who had invented the Popsicle®. The vanilla ice cream pop, coated with orange sherbet, became a sensation.

Today Creamsicle® and Popsicle® are registered trademarks of the Unilever Corporation. Here’s more Creamsicle history.

On each National Creamsicle Day we try a different variation of the vanilla and orange combination.

This year, it’s shortcake. Links to previous years’ recipes are below.

This year’s recipe was inspired by a shortcake photo (photo #1) from Cindy’s Rooftop in Chicago. The restaurant calls it Dreamsicle Cake.

You can bake individual angel food cakes in muffin tins, as shown in the photo, or bake or buy a cake and serve conventional slices.

Cindy’s Rooftop uses a white chocolate sauce. We made crème anglaise (recipe below), a thin custard sauce. Raspberry purée would have pleased our palate, but it doesn’t fit with the vanilla-orange profile.

 
RECIPE: “CREAMSICLE” SHORTCAKE

Ingredients

 
For The Creme Anglaise (Makes 1 Cup)

 
Preparation

1. SUPREME the orange segments (here’s a video) and set aside with the juice. This can be done a day in advance. If garnishing with orange peel curls, peel the curls before segmenting the orange.

[2] Prefer a cheesecake? Here’s the recipe (photo courtesy Sweet Street Desserts).

[3] Try a Creamsicle milkshake (photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma)

3. WHISK the egg yolks and sugar together in medium bowl; then gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Return the custard to the pot and stir over low heat until it thickens, about 5 minutes. DO NOT BOIL. The sauce is thickened when it coats the back of a wooden spoon.

4. STRAIN the sauce into a bowl, cover and chill until ready to use.

5. ASSEMBLE: Place the cake on a plate, topped with a scoop of sorbet. Garnish the plate with orange supremes, and add the sauce. Top with an orange peel curl and serve.
 
 
FAVORITE CREAMSICLE VARIATIONS

The easiest, and a favorite of ours, is a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream and orange sorbet (mango sorbet is a great substitute).

You can also make vanilla cupcakes with orange frosting or top vanilla ice cream with orange liqueur.

Here are more celebratory recipes:

 
Also check out fior di Sicilia, an Italian essence used to flavor baked goods and beverages. Its flavor and aroma are reminiscent of a Creamsicle.

[2] Carrot tartare. Make it with this recipe from Aliya Leekong in Food Republic.

[3] Beef tartare (photo courtesy Gordon Ramsay Group).

Language evolves, of course. The meaning of words change over time, or grow to encompass additional meanings (although we hope that won’t happen with “woke”).

It’s no different in culinary language, especially given the march of creativity and innovation.

Take the classic Steak Tartare, known for more than 100 years as ground raw beef mixed with onions, capers, Worcestershire sauce and a raw egg.

While 20 years ago, a dish called “tartare” was finely-diced meat (photo #3), or subsequently fish (see the history of steak tartare, below), today anything mounded in a small dice is being called “tartare.”

Eleven Madison Park restaurant in New York City pioneered an exciting Carrot Tartare; whole carrots go through a meat grinder at the table (check it out).

You can even make tartare for dessert, as in today’s recipe for Strawberry & Beet Tartare (photo #1).

Or, make a vegetable tartare like Carrot Tartare (photo #2).

In today’s fashion, if you can dice it, season it and mound it, you’ve got tartare!

 
Note: Check with your purveyor and your healthcare provider about the safety of eating any raw fish or meat.
 
 
RECIPE: STRAWBERRY-BEET TARTARE

Ingredients

This recipe is adapted from one on French Women Don’t Get Fat.

1. PLACE the beets at bottom of a salad bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Add the strawberries and sprinkle with sugar.

2. ADD the basil and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

3. MOUND on a plate; use a ring mold if you have one. Garnish as desired.
 
 
BEEF TARTARE / STEAK TARTARE HISTORY

Steak tartare, or tartar steak*, is ground raw beef mixed with onions, capers, Worcestershire sauce and a raw egg. It is generally served with toast points.

In Belgium, where the dish is popular and served with frites (French fries), it is known as filet américain.

The ancestor of this raw meat dish was first described in print in 1660, in a book by a French engineer, a visitor to the Ukraine. Ukrainian Cossacks, he wrote, put finger-thick slices of salted raw horse meat under their saddles and rode their horses until the salted meat was drained of its blood. They then thinly sliced and ate it (source).

The modern version of what became known as Steak Tartare, with raw egg, was first served in French restaurants early in the 20th century. It was then called Steack à l’Americaine.

The 1921 edition of Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire defines Steack à l’Americaine as made without egg yolk, and served with tartar sauce on the side.

Modern steak tartare is an evolution of that dish. The 1938 edition of Larousse Gastronomique describes steak tartare as raw ground beef served with a raw egg yolk, with no mention of tartar sauce (source).

In the U.S., the dish is often called Steak Tartare, “steak” having more appeal than the more generic “beef.” We’ve had lamb tartare more than a few times, at high-end restaurants.

The name “tartare” is now applied to other meats or fish, such as tuna tartare, which introduced in 1975 by the Parisian restaurant Le Duc in Paris.

“À la tartare” or simply “tartare” still means “served with tartar sauce” for some dishes, particularly fried fish.

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*The dish is often attributed to Genghis Khan and the Tatars, who may have originated the horseback recipe. The explanation is that the Tatars, on the rampage, did not have time to cook their meat.
  

What’s at the end of the rainbow? A rainbow veggie pizza!

This pizza is also a clever way to get the I-don’t-want-vegetables contingent to eat more of them. Thanks to Pampered Chef for the recipe.
 
RECIPE: RAINBOW VEGGIE PIZZA

Ingredients

Turn summer vegetables into a colorful pizza (photo courtesy Pampered Chef).

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F (218°C).

2. BRUSH a pizza stone with oil. Place the dough in the center of the stone and roll to the edges, pressing with fingers as needed. Pierce the entire base. Bake the crust for 14–18 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown. Meanwhile…

3. PREPARE the vegetables. Slice the broccoli, dice the bell peppers and onion, halve the grape tomatoes, etc.

4. REMOVE the crust from the oven and lightly brush the edges with oil. Top with ½ cup (125 mL) of prepared pesto sauce and 1 cup (250 mL) of shredded mozzarella cheese. Arrange the vegetables as shown and bake for 18–21 minutes.

5. GARNISH with basil and serve.
  

[2] Heirloom carrots grow in several colors. In fact, orange was one of the later developments; check out the history of carrots (photo courtesy The Wayfarer | NYC).

[3] These are different types of heirloom radishes. Check out your farmers market or plan ahead to grow your own (photo courtesy Little Park | NYC.

[4] Cepa Vieja is a top sherry vinegar (photo courtesy DiBruno Bros.).

“Vegetable-forward presentation is huge on menus,” says Flavor & The Menu, a magazine and website that high-end chefs follow to see what’s trending nationwide.

“It’s moved beyond innovation and into its own movement called veg-centricity,” where vegetables have moved beyond their traditional role: a supporting role to the protein “star” of the plate.

Now, instead of filling out the plate or rounding out a healthy meal, says Flavor & The Menu, vegetables now “co-starring, rather than serving as extras.”
 
RECIPE: VEGETABLE CRUDO WITH FRUIT

Some think that eye appeal is the excitement-generator for a dish of food.

But it starts before then, with anticipation: a menu description, or a host announcing the course.

The dish in the photo could have been described as “raw vegetable plate,” which might be enough to entice anyone who wants a vegetarian/vegan dish.

But call it “vegetable crudo” (CROO-doe), and ears perk up.

Crudo is the word for raw in Italian; crude is one word for raw in French (hence, crudités for raw vegetables).

The photo shows an artistic arrangement of sliced raw vegetables, accompanied by orange segments.
 
RECIPE: VEGETABLE CRUDO WITH FRUIT

Ingredients

 
The dressing need only be a squeeze of lime juice and a drizzle of olive oil.

Or, you can serve a ramekin of vinaigrette—Dijon vinaigrette would be lovely—on the side for dipping or pouring.

Also consider a sherry vinaigrette*: sherry vinegar has a distinct and delightful flavor. You can use it in the same Dijon vinaigrette.

See more about sherry vinegar below.
 
Preparation

1. MAKE the vinaigrette. Set aside until ready to use (or refrigerate overnight).

2. SLICE the vegetables thinly. The slices should be delicate; not chunky, but not paper-thin. They need to be picked up with a fork.

3. SEGMENT the fruit.

3. PLATE the vegetables and fruit. You can use the photo #1 as a guide, or create your own design.
 
ABOUT SHERRY VINEGAR

Sherry vinegar is not broadly used in the U.S. Fortunately, it is available; and you can treat yourself to a bottle. A premium bottle is also a nice gift for anyone who cooks (or anyone named Sherry).

Authentic sherry vinegar is made in Spain using the solera style of aging. The wine is fermented for years in a series of increasingly smaller oak barrels. This long aging process and artisan technique mean that sherry vinegar commands a higher price tag than most other vinegars.

A dark, intensely-flavored vinegar with a sweet finish, sherry vinegar is used like fine balsamic to add a gourmet touch to dishes. Like sherry wine, the vinegar appeals to connoisseurs. The attributes “fat” and “rich” are often given to vinegars made from sherry, and a fine product’s complexity can be considered “mellow.”

If you don’t have sherry vinegar when a recipe calls for it, you can substitute red wine vinegar.

One of the charms of a quality sherry vinegar it that you can drink it from a shot glass or liqueur glass, as a digestif after dinner (if you find it too strong, add a splash of sparkling water).

 
Buying Sherry Vinegar

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain. The wines are D.O.P. protected.

Authentic sherry vinegar will be made from local sherry and labeled Vinagre de Jerez.

As with authentic balsamic vinegar, prices are in a wide range, depending on aging, which creates complexity, and brand reputation.

 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF VINEGAR
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*Dijon Vinaigrette or Sherry Vinaigrette Recipe: Whisk together 1 cup quality olive oil, 1/3 sherry vinegar or other fine vinegar; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

Denomination of Origin, which assures customers that they are buying an authentic product from a designated region, made with traditional artisan techniques.