[1] Beijing street food from Mr. Bing—soon to open a retail location at 152 West 28th Street (photo courtesy Mr. Big). We loved our Peking Duck-inspired rice crêpe. [2] A red velvet ice cream sandwich with cream cheese ice cream from Melt.

It’s one of our favorite times of the year in Manhattan: The semi-annual culinary pop-up market, Madison Square Eats, is in Worth Square through October 7th. It’s hosted by Hosted by Urban Space, a foodie vision of wonderful.

The triangular island between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, 24th and 25th Streets, is filled with wonderful things to eat.

The almost-fall air and the leafy view of Madison Square Park across Fifth Avenue create an alfresco dining event that is a choice way to nibble. It’s the same with the spring version.

Regrettably, we were stuffed to the gills after only four kiosks. The solution: Go back tomorrow.

This edition of the market, now in its ninth year, brings global favorites to outdoor dining, with tables and chairs dotting the center of the island. Some vendors have restaurants; others are only available for catering and pop-ups.

 
Don’t eat beforehand, bring cash, and have a great time!

[1] Reposado tequila is the preferred type for celebrations [2] Distrito Federal is Manhattan cocktail that replaces the bourbon with tequila (all photos courtesy Blue Nectar Tequila).

Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day.

That honor goes September 16th, known as Grito de Dolores (The Cry of Dolores, the town where the battle began). It’s the most popular holiday in Mexico.

Here’s the scoop on Mexican Independence Day, commemorating the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence from Spanish colonial rule in 1810.

As with America’s Independence Day, the Mexican National Day of Independence is a patriotic holiday, with celebratory drinks, food and fireworks.

Today’s tip: Wherever you live, celebrate Mexican Independence Day on the 16th.

The folks at Blue Nectar Tequila tell us that the most popular type of tequila consumed in Mexico on national holidays is the more aged (and more expensive) Reposado, not the clear Blanco (a.k.a. silver or white tequila—here are the different types of tequila).

Blanco is aged not at all or up to two months, while Reposado and Añejo tequilas are aged longer: Reposado for six months to a year, Añejo for one to three years. Aging gives layers of complexity to the spirit.

While tequila was first produced in the 16th century by Spanish immigrants to Mexico, aged tequila styles such as Reposado and Añejo did not appear until the early 1900s.

Some producers began to age their tequila in oak casks left over from red wine, brandy and rum that had been imported for consumption by the Spanish aristocracy.

This stroke of genius changed the overall quality and taste of basic tequila, which at the time was raw-edged and without complexity.

So today’s tip is: Celebrate September 16th by sipping a glass of Reposado or Añejo tequila, neat or on the rocks, enjoying the flavors with each sip.

Or try one of the cocktails below, or this wonderful menu of tequila cocktail recipes.

Reposado tequila has a woodsy quality that pairs well with beef-based, poultry and pork-type main dishes. (complementary flavors in recipes include orange, cinnamon and honey).

Instead of America’s go-to grilled food for Independence Day, a favorite dish in Mexico is pozole, a classic soup made of hominy and pork.

In modern times it’s also made with beef, chicken, seafood, or vegetables and beans. Here’s a selection of pozole recipes.

For dessert, have churros or dark chocolate with Añejo tequila.

And sure: Bring on the guacamole, salsa, chips and esquites—Mexican corn on the cob.
 
COCKTAIL RECIPE #1: DISTRITO FEDERAL

The classic bourbon-based Manhattan cocktail is the inspiration for this Mexican version, which is named after historic Mexico City, an area known as Distrito Federal.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the spirits and bitters in a cocktail glass. Add ice and stir until cold, about one to two minutes.

2. STRAIN into a coupe glass, garnish with the cherry and serve.

Ingredients Per Drink

The vodka-based Cosmo is remade with Reposado teqila.

 
Preparation

1. MUDDLE the lime quarters with the simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add the tequila, orange liqueur and cranberry juice.

2. TOP with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lime wheel.

FIND MORE DELICIOUS TEQUILA COCKTAIL RECIPES AT BLUENECTARTEQUILA.COM.
 
ABOUT BLUE NECTAR TEQUILA

Blue Nectar Tequila, is a hand-crafted, super-premium tequila that focuses on agave-forward flavor profiles.

While by Mexican law Reposado must be aged a minimum of 2 months, Blue Nectar Reposado Extra Blend is aged 6-8 months and then blended with three-year-old Extra Añejo, to deliver hints of vanilla and smoke.

For more information on the different expressions of Blue Nectar tequila, visit BlueNectarTequila.com.

Yesterday, Meatless Monday, we went one step beyond the meaty cauliflower steaks and cabbage steaks we’ve become so fond of. We remembered a recipe from Frieda’s Specialty Produce that we had tucked away in anticipation of the glorious fall cauliflower harvest.

We love farmers market cauliflower. Not only is it fresher, but you can find the splendid colors of purple, orange, and pale green, as well as the exotic-looking, lime green romanesco (bottom photo). Whatever you choose, look for a dense head with a thick center stem.

Roasting a whole cauliflower is simple; you just have to allow 90 minutes for it to roast. To see just how easy it is, check out this video from Frieda’s.

“The crispy, nutty crust and sweet, tender core are the stuff dreams are made of,” they aver (and we agree).
 
 
RECIPE: WHOLE ROASTED CAULIFLOWER

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Place the cauliflower on a plate and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, using your hands to coat the cauliflower all over.

2. SEASON all over with salt and transfer the cauliflower to a small roasting pan or cast-iron skillet, floret-side up. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.

3. BAKE for 30 minutes; remove the foil and roast for 1 hour until the florets are golden (larger heads can take longer). Transfer to a serving platter and serve immediately.

4. SLICE as desired: in wedges (our preference) or vertical, in 3/4- to 1-inch slices. You can also cut the cauliflower into individual florets, but why spend the time?
 
FLAVOR VARIATIONS

Use your favorite international flavors as seasonings and sauces. Here are some simple replacements:

 
 
LOVE YOUR BRASSICAS

The plant genus of cruciferous vegetables, Brassica, contains nutritional powerhouses that are packed with potent, cancer-fighting phytonutrients (antioxidants). It’s easy to eat a cup or more daily from the long list below.

[2] Roast cauliflower Indian style, with a rich Mughlai sauce of tomato, cashew nuts, milk, cream and butter. Here’s the recipe (photo © Vegan Richa).

[3] This cauliflower is garnished with a mint-parsley sauce. Here’s the recipe (photo © Sprouted Roots).

[4] You can do the same with an exotic romanesco, often called romanesco cauliflower but it’s actually its own cultivar. Don’t confuse romanesco, the vegetable, with romesco, the sauce (photo © Good Eggs).

 
Eat up!
 
________________
*A cultivar is a plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding.
  

[1] From top clockwise: French Lavender, Washington Cherry and Philippine Coconut. [2] Close-up on coconut. Note the haiku under the top foil. [3] Lemon and strawberry; note the triangular containers (all photos courtesy Liberté).

We have long been enamored with Liberté yogurt, from the moment some 10 years ago that we plucked a few flavors off the shelf of our Whole Foods.

Since then we’ve come to know other artisan brands, from FAGE and Siggi’s to small local brands like Culture and White Moustache.

But in terms of accessibility, year after year we eat more Liberté than anything else.

Liberté USA plans to transition all products to USDA organic-certified. A line of new whole milk yogurt flavors is debuting now at retailers nationwide, for a suggested retail price of $1.89. The eight delicious flavors, sundae-style (fruit on the bottom) include:

 
The elgant triangular containers are new to us, and we enjoyed the haiku under each lid.

The line is rBST/rBGH-free and certified kosher by OK.

 
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE? HAVE A TASTING!

Have a yogurt tasting. Compare four or more brands to see which one(s) you truly like best.

One 6-ounce container allows four people to have a heaping spoonful, plus enough left over to re-taste and compare.

The ideal way to do this is in a blind taste test, trying the same flavor of each brand. Strawberry is a best bet, but survey the options for flavors-in-common.

With wine, you simply put a brown bag around the bottle. Yogurt requires a bit more work. You can cut and cover the containers with brown paper, or mark the names on the bottom of bowls and scoop the appropriate brand into each bowl.

We did the latter, spring for two containers of each of five brands and making it part of a small brunch party.

Did Liberté come out on top?

We’ll only say this: Different tasters prefer different tastes. Do your own test!

Check out these and other good-to-know yogurt terms in our Yogurt Glossary.

 
________________
*We to wonder why Lemon is left without a modifier.

†The Sweet Cream flavor is not flavored with vanilla, but has a slight sweetness that reminds us of some quarks and fromage blancs. We liked it very much, although it is quite different from the fruit flavors.
  

Why do so many American households make macaroni and cheese?

It’s easy, cheap, fast (9 minutes!) comfort food—at least in modern packaged form. But in the many centuries before boxed mac & cheese, it was as laborious as most other cooking.

THE HISTORY OF MACARONI & CHEESE

The first written known record of pasta and cheese casseroles dates to medieval cookbooks of the 14th century.

The first modern recipe for the dish was published in Britain, in Elizabeth Raffald’s 1769 book, The Experienced English Housekeeper.

Raffald’s recipe calls for a mornay sauce—a secondary mother sauce that’s a béchamel sauce with cheese—in this case, cheddar cheese. The sauce is mixed with cooked macaroni, sprinkled with parmesan, and baked until golden.

The recipe from scratch requires cooked macaroni (now referred to by its Italian name, pasta); plus milk, butter and flour and cheese to make the cheddar or parmesan sauce.

Almost a century later, in 1861, the popular Victorian cookbook Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management offered two recipes for the dish, one topped with the bread crumbs still used today. Both books are available in reprints: Just click the links.

Thomas Jefferson encountered pasta in Paris while Minister to France (1885 to 1889), and in his travels to Italy. Back in the U.S., he imported both macaroni and parmesan cheese in order to enjoy cheesy macaroni.
 
Mac & Cheese Gets Its Name

The first recipe called “macaroni and cheese” was published in the U.S. in 1824, in Mary Randolph’s influential cookbook, The Virginia Housewife. More American “macaroni and cheese” recipes followed, in the 1852 Hand-book of Useful Arts, and the 1861 Godey’s Lady’s Book.

By the mid-1880s, midwestern cookbooks included recipes for macaroni and cheese casseroles. Labor-intensive, the dish was enjoyed by the more affluent [source].
 
Mac & Cheese Gets A Box

Once it became available in dry packaged form in the first half of the 20th century, mac and cheese became affordable to the masses—and thus less interesting to the affluent. Launched in 1937 in the midst of the Great Depression, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese advertised that a family of four could eat for 19¢, the price of a box. Consumers bought eight million boxes in the first year [source].

A whopping 50 million boxes were sold during World War II, when meat and dairy were in short supply, and one food ration stamp could be exchanged for two boxes of macaroni and cheese.

Today, the original packaged form is joined by frozen heat-and-eat versions and cheddar cheese sauce is sold in jars. The dish can be cooked on the stovetop, in the oven or in a microwave.

In the United States, July 14th is National Macaroni and Cheese Day. Now that we’re up to date…
 
 
WELCOME, CRACKER BARREL MACARONI & CHEESE

Up-front disclosure: We’re really picky about our food, and have never enjoyed powdered cheese sauce. Our mom made mac and cheese from scratch, grating cheddar, gruyère or parmesan into her béchamel.

She used bricks Cracker Barrel cheddar, her brand of choice. Back then, specialty cheese stores were few and far between; and even today, it’s not easy for many people to find the finest farmhouse (artisan) cheddars (and if you found them, the best use would not be grated into a cheese sauce).

So we were more than interested to see what Cracker Barrel would present as a packaged mac and cheese.

It’s the cheese that makes the biggest difference in preparations, and Cracker Barrel does not disappoint. Its cheese sauce is not mixed from powder, but is ready to eat, squeezed from a package onto the cooked elbow macaroni.

Smooth, creamy and full of flavor, it has a distinctively superior taste, creating what you’d expect from a casual restaurant instead of a boxed product.

[1] A bread crumb topping was suggested in Mrs. Beeton’s 1861 cookbook. [2] Sneaking in broccoli and riced cauliflower. [3] Go upscale with added shellfish; here, lobster (photo courtesy Blake’s). [4] BLT mac & cheese (photo courtesy WMMB). [5] The best boxed mac and cheese, new from Cracker Barrel.

People with sophisticated palates will notice the quality. Yet, the price is not much more than other boxed meals.

There are four varieties of Cracker Barrel Macaroni and Cheese, featuring different cheese options:

 
You can dress up the dish with anything you like. We enjoy it plain with fresh-cracked pepper and some grated parmesan, but also loved:

 
DOES MAC & CHEESE REQUIRE ELBOW MACARONI?

No: You can use any pasta. Elbow macaroni most likely became the standard because it was easy for children to eat with a spoon.

We heard one of our favorite chefs—Gordon Ramsay—chew out a chef on TV for making mac and cheese with penne, insisting that it must be made with elbows.

Not so, chef!