[2] If you don’t like to dip, you can buy these pretty grahams from Chocolat in Savannah.

[3] You can also use graham flour for breads and pie crusts (photo courtesy Bob’s Red Mill).

[4] If you don’t want to smash graham crackers for a pie crust, use graham flour; here’s a recipe. Here’s the recipe for the lovely pie crust in the photo, from Boston Girl Bakes.

July 5th is National Graham Cracker Day.

The history of graham crackers is ironic. They started out as a savory cracker to curb lust. They turned into a food we lust after, whether plain, dipped in chocolate, or made into S’mores and pie crusts.

The history of the graham cracker is below.

The recipe for the sweet graham cracker was edited by Marion Cunningham, who updated the classic Fannie Farmer cookbooks starting in the 1980s.

These crackers are snappy and so much more flavorful than the perfectly-shaped factory graham crackers. The thinner you roll the dough, the crisper they will be.
 
RECIPE: CINNAMON GRAHAM CRACKERS

Ingredients For About 2 Dozen Crackers

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a large rimmed baking sheet.

2. BEAT the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer until creamy; beat in the egg, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours and baking soda. Lower the mixer speed and add half the flour mixture. Pour in the milk and stir for a few seconds to incorporate before adding the rest of the flour on slow speed, mixing until the dough just comes together.

3. GENEROUSLY FLOUR a large piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap on a work surface. Scrape the dough onto the paper and sprinkle the top with a little more flour. Cover the dough with a second piece of parchment or plastic and roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Check if you need to sprinkle the dough with a bit more flour while rolling (you should be able to peel back the paper without any sticking).

4. REMOVE the top sheet of parchment and transfer the dough by gently peeling it off the bottom piece of parchment, wrapping it around a rolling pin and unrolling it onto the baking sheet. Trim off the edges of the dough with a sharp knife to make a neat rectangle, and without cutting all the way through, lightly score the dough into approximately 2½-inch squares.

5. PRICK each square with the tines of a fork to make a pattern of holes. Sprinkle the top of the dough with sugar. Bake 15 minutes, or until the dough is slightly firm to the touch and the edges are beginning to turn golden. Cool the pan on a rack until completely cool, then break or cut the crackers on the scored lines.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF GRAHAM CRACKERS
 
Graham crackers were actually invented to control lust. The creation of the flour was inspired by The Reverend Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), who focused his ministry on health.
 
One of 17 children, this eccentric Presbyterian minister from Connecticut (we would replace that adjective with “repressed”), Graham believed that physical lust was the cause of maladies, from major illnesses like consumption, spinal disease, epilepsy and insanity, to everyday indispositions such as headaches and indigestion.

Graham flour is a special type of whole wheat flour in which finely milled white flour is mixed with coarsely milled bran and wheat germ, reuniting the three parts of the wheat kernel (the parts of a kernel).

The result was a coarse, brown flour with a nutty and slightly sweet flavor that baked and kept well (Grape Nuts cereal is made from graham flour).

The original graham crackers were not like contemporary ones. They were made without sugar or spice (ingredients prohibited by Graham’s diet). But over time, someone added sugar and cinnamon and created a tasty cookie that appeared in Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook.

Unfortunately, today’s large commercial graham cracker brands are a bland derivative, with little graham flavor. A good comparison is Wonder Bread and the best artisan loaf you can find.

Seek artisan brands from bakers and confectioners, or make your own.

Fun and beauty combine in this blueberry-blackberry pie, from Kindred Restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina.

Just looking at the cuisine at Kindred makes us want to head to the charming lakeside college town for a week’s vacation of dining and enjoying the view.

For now, we’ll have to content ourself with copying the pie, which is pretty easy to follow:

 
You don’t need piping skills: The whole idea is different sizes of meringues.

We’ll try a light garnish, too: a bit of lemon zest or a chiffonade of basil.
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MERINGUE

There are three basic types of meringue: French, Italian and Swiss. A sub-tip of the day is to try them all, and decide which you prefer.

Here are meringue details.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF MERINGUE TOPPING & COOKIES

Some sources say that that meringue (muh-RANG) was invented in the Swiss village of Meiringen in the 18th century, and subsequently improved by an Italian chef named Gasparini.

Not all experts agree: The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, states that the French word is of unknown* origin. Meringue wasn’t invented in France.

Even Larousse Gastronomique, The New American Edition of the World’s Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, acknowledges the Swiss possibility along with:

[2] One of the benefits of dots of meringue (photo #1) is that you don’t need the skill to pipe evenly (photo by Hannah Kaminsky, Bittersweet Blog).

[3] Meringues can be baked into hard cookies or pavlovas, or cooked or torched briefly as a soft topping (here’s the recipe from Raw Spice Bar).

No one can find a historical derivation of the word “meringue*,” but the latest suggestion is that it comes from Middle Dutch meringue, meaning light evening meal—possibly from the Latin merenda, “light evening meal.”

Our personal favorite is the Middle Low German “meringe,” from mern, “to dip bread in wine.” Who wouldn’t like to dip a meringue in a glass of wine?
 
________________
*Contenders from include 1700 on include, from the Walloon dialect, maringue, shepherd’s loaf; marinde, food for the town of Meiringen (Bern canton, Switzerland). While they have a few letters in common with meringue, evidence for both is completely lacking. A source that makes more sense is the Latin merenda, the feminine gerund of merere, to merit. Who doesn’t merit a delicious confection? But as our mother often said: “Who cares; let’s eat!”
 
  

[2] Make matching cones. Here’s the recipe from Sweet Estelle.

You can create special ice cream for any special occasion, using store-bought vanilla ice cream and mix-ins in holiday colors.

The easiest way is to buy sprinkles, confetti and confetti shapes (hearts, pumpkins, stars, etc.—photo #2).

For example:

 
Preparation

1. SET the container on the counter until the ice cream is soft enough to mix in the decorations.

2. RETURN to the freezer until ready to serve.

TIPS: It’s easier to mix two separate pints than a quart or larger container. And it’s even easier than that to dip the edges of ice cream sandwiches into the sprinkles.
 
 
JULY 4TH TRIVIA

[1] The basic—hot dog, mustard, sauerkraut—at Murray’s Cheese.

[2] Bacon hot dogs from Vermont Cure. Bacon is mixed with the beef.

[3] Chili-cheese on turkey dogs from Jennie O.

[4] Chicago-style hot dog from Kindred Restaurant. Here are the signature hot dog recipes from 12 more cities.

July is National Hot Dog Month, a comfort food served in 95% of homes in the U.S. (June 23rd is National Hot Dog Day.)

According to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, Americans purchase 350 million pounds of hot dogs at retail stores—9 billion hot dogs!

The actual number of hot dogs consumed by Americans is much larger, incorporating those purchased from street vendors, at sporting events, state fairs, carnivals, etc. The Council estimates Americans consume 20 billion hot dogs a year, more than twice the retail sales figures.

That computes to about 70 hot dogs per person each year; which sounds like a lot but is just 6 hot dogs a month.

 
HOT DOG BACKGROUND

 
HOT DOG BASICS

 
FUN HOT DOG RECIPES

 
HOT DOG VS. FRANKFURTER VS. WEINER

The hot dog traces its lineage to the 15th-century Viennese sausage, or wienerwurst in German; hence, wiener.

In the 17th century, Johann Georghehner, a butcher from the German city of Coburg in Bavaria, is credited with inventing the “dachshund” or “little dog” sausage—a slimmer version of wienerwurst. He brought it to Frankfurt, hence, frankfurter. Yet, it was still a sausage eaten German-style, with a knife and fork—no roll.

The hot dog, a slender sausage in a roll, was undeniably an American invention. The attribution is accorded to a German immigrant named Charles Feltman, who began selling sausages in rolls at a stand in Coney Island in 1871.

The 1893 World Exposition in Chicago marked the debut of the hot dog vendor. According to National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, around this time that the hot dog first made its first appearance at a ballpark, at a St. Louis Browns game. The first published mention of the term “hot dog” as a food appeared in print in a September 1893 issue of The Knoxville Journal. However, it was well established prior to then.

As the legend goes, frankfurters were dubbed the “hot dog” by a cartoonist who observed a vendor selling the “hot dascshund sausages” during a baseball game at New York City’s Polo Grounds. Concessionaires walked through the stands shouting, “Get your red-hot dachshund sausages.”

In 1906, Tad Dorgan, a cartoonist for a Hearst newspaper, was inspired by the scene and sketched a cartoon with a real dachshund dog, smeared with mustard, in a roll. Supposedly, Dorgan could not spell the name of the dog and instead wrote, “Get your hot dogs” for a caption.

However, Dorgan’s cartoon has never been located. and some hot dog historians suggest the “dachshund” sausages were being called hot dogs on college campuses in the 1890s.

“Little dog” sausages became standard fare at ballparks in 1893 when St. Louis bar owner and German immigrant Chris Von de Ahe, who owned the St. Louis Browns baseball team, began to serve them there…and started a tradition.

We present three recipes with photos, plus another 18 links below. Recipes #2 and #3 can be pulled together in just 10 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE #1: JELL-O FIRECRACKERS OR SHOTS

To celebrate July 4th, Kraft Recipes has developed this fun snack and dessert.

You can make it for any special occasion (Chanukah, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving…) by varying the colors.

And…you can turn the recipe into Jell-O shots by adding vodka or tequila.

Ingredients For 20 Pieces

 
Preparation

To make the alcoholic shots, see Variation, below.

[1] and [2] Make fun Jell-O “firecrackers” for kids, or add vodka for Jell-O shots. Photos courtesy Kraft.

2. SPRINKLE the unflavored gelatin over 1/4 cup milk in a medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Bring the remaining milk to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar and vanilla, and add to plain gelatin mixture. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Cool for 10 minutes.

3. SPOON the berry gelatin into 20 (1-ounce) plastic shot glasses sprayed lightly with cooking spray, adding 2 teaspoons to each. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until set but not firm.

4. TOP with the unflavored gelatin mixture, adding 2 teaspoons to each cup. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Insert a cherry, stem end up, into the white gelatin layer. Refrigerate for 2 minutes.

5. COVER with the cherry gelatin, adding 2 teaspoons to each cup. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Remove from the cups before serving on a platter or individual plates.

Variation With Alcohol: Prepare as directed, reducing the boiling water to 1 cup and dissolving the berry and cherry gelatin mixes in 1/2 cup boiling water each. Stir 1/4 cup vodka into each flavor of gelatin, then continue as directed.

Infuse the maraschino cherries in a glass jar. Add 1/2 cup vodka and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Then drain, pat dry and use as directed. (Yes, you can drink the alcohol you’ve drained.)

Variation Without Maraschino Cherries: Substitute small strawberries or blackberries for the cherries.
 
 
GELATIN VS. GELATINE: THE DIFFERENCE

It’s the same product. Gelatine is the British spelling and pronunciation (jell-a-TEEN in the U.K. versus jell-a-TIN in the U.S.).
 
 
EASY FRUIT DESSERTS
If you’d like to celebrate with fruit, bring home some a watermelon, some blueberries and your choice of creamy topping: Cool Whip, vanilla yogurt, yogurt or sour cream (the latter two sweetened as desired).

Both recipes are super-quick and easy and low in calories.

Two super-easy, red-white-and-blue fruit desserts: [3] fruit cup and [4] star “cake” (photos courtesy National Watermelon Promotion Board).

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. SCOOP watermelon balls into a glass serving bowl. Add the berries and sliced starfruit and toss with your hands to disperse. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until ready to use. To serve…

2. ADD the topping(s) or serve them on the side.
 
 
RECIPE #3: WATERMELON STAR “CAKE”

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CUT a circle from the center of the melon, five inches thick or as desired.

2. REMOVE the rind and cut the fruit into a star shape. Cover in plastic and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. ASSEMBLE: Frost the top and garnish with berries. As desired, pipe additional cream around the base, as shown in the photo.