….it served as a destination for the elites of social, political, arts, and entertainment/theatre circles.  The surviving guest book includes entries from the following guests:  George Gershwin; Ephram and Alma Gluck Zimbalist, Sr.; Elsie de Wolfe; George and Dorothy Draper; Cole and Linda Lee Porter; Dwight Davis; Walter Lippmann; Gary and Corrine Melchers; Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover; H. L. Mencken; Frank Lloyd Wright; Charles Evans Hughes; Leon Bakst; John Sloan; Nancy Astor; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; Miguel Covarrubias; Frank Crowninshield; Arturo Toscanini; Alice Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth; etc.

Beginning in 1921, Ambassador and Mrs. Garrett sought to define Evergreen as the American incarnation of the great English country houses…weekends were planned around entertainments and dinners – some of which were themed, such as an ‘Arabian Nights’ dinner given in the gardens in the 1930s.

Where did most of the food come from)/how was it sourced? Did they have items shipped from abroad? Did they tend to be extravagant in their meal selections or frugal?

Food would have been delivered from local markets – meats from a separate butcher and produce from a now unidentified local market.

Ambassador and Mrs. John Work Garrett were not known for a sophisticated cuisine – and food, as described by Billy Baldwin, was not memorable.  Of Ambassador Garrett’s parents – Thomas Harrison Garrett (1848-1888) and Alice Whitridge Garrett (1851-1920), it is presumed that the Evergreen kitchen produced multi-course meals (eight, or so courses based on the surviving sets of silver flatware, as well as the trends for the Aesthetic Movement).  French cuisine trends (elaborate presentations, accompanied by rich sauces) would have been the fashion for the 1880s. 

Trends from the Summer Fancy Food Show

• Cocktail  mixers. With the craft cocktail craze in full swing, there were a lot of companies showcasing mixers and flavored teas to add to your     cocktail. One of our favorites was Bittermilk – with     their products, simply add your favorite alcohol and you’re all set.
     
     
• Or add botanicals to your cocktail with Special Touch. Enhance the     flavors of gin and tonic, vodka and tonic, cuba libre with all     natural herbs, including juniper berries, cassia cinnamon, hibiscus     flower and more.
     
     
• Vegan caviar alternative. The company Caviaroli has reinvented     caviar by creating tiny spheres of extra-virgin olive oil encased in thin     membranes of sodium alginate.
     
     
• Infused  honey. Arbol pepper, pumpkin spice and bourbon are all offered by Cloisters Honey. These different flavors add an extra kick to drinks, baked goods or even just your morning toast.

Tj Tate, Director of Sustainability at the the National Aquarium, came to Baltimore in late 2014 with a mission: to educate the public about seafood sustainability.   We spoke with her to find out more:

Can you explain your role as the Director of Sustainability at the National Aquarium? How does the Aquarium encourage food sustainability?

The National Aquarium has a mission of protecting the world’s aquatic treasures.  In keeping with that mission, I am implementing a Sustainable Seafood program.  The concept is to look at food sustainability (in particular, seafood) through a more holistic lens.  This literally means looking at the things that are required for sustainable seafood:

1. Healthy, well-managed fisheries or farms
2. A strong community of watermen
3. Community engagement
4. Increase in seafood consumption of responsibly harvested or grown seafood
5. Strong business viability that leads to economic strength in our food systems
   
   

How do you plan on educating the wider community about sustainability? 

We are going to start very simple.  As visitors come to the National Aquarium, they will notice some questions posed throughout the building.  These questions will also be found one our website and posted throughout social media. We want to get people thinking about their seafood choices and what is located right in their own backyard.   It is just the start to a growing platform and exciting program that will kick-off during National Seafood Month this October.


Why does seafood sustainability matter?
Our food systems work much like our ecosystems; if one portion is over utilized it throws the whole system out of balance.  Our oceans are comprised of complex ecosystems that literally feed upon one another.  We have to take great care of not just our Bay but the surrounding region that comprises our Chesapeake Bay Watershed which ties directly to the Atlantic Ocean.  People take great care as to what they put in their bodies but if they aren’t educating themselves on  how something is caught, harvested or grown they are missing half of the healthy equation.

What can we do in our own lives to help encourage sustainability?

ASK! Is your seafood sustainable? Where is your seafood from? Seafood from the U.S. cannot always be guaranteed to be 100% sustainable. Eat local…Support a farmer…an oyster farmer. It’s exactly this kind of farming that we should be doing along our coasts: a kind of ocean farming that supports clean water, gives us nutritious food and creates habitat for other fish.

When you walk into a cafe, experience a terrific meal, or walk on a beach, 

The Art of Perfection

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary that uncovers the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3-star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar.

For most of his life, Jiro has been mastering the art of making sushi, but even at his age he sees himself still striving for perfection, working from sunrise to well beyond sunset. He uses this philosophy to meticulously train his employees, many of whom spend years under his peerage before touching a single ingredient. At the heart of this story is Jiro’s relationship with his eldest son and heir, Yoshikazu, who has been patiently waiting for 50 years to take over the family business.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a thoughtful and elegant meditation on work, family, and the art of perfection, chronicling Jiro’s life as both an unparalleled success in the culinary world, and a loving yet complicated teacher.

Ready… Set… Cook!

Our summer cooking camp will inspire apron-clad kids to create dishes that will be fun for the whole family to prepare. Your junior chef has the opportunity to get his or her hands into the ingredients and bring home a dinner for four to share with family and friends. Classes take place at the commissary of The Classic Catering People, 99 Painters Mill Road, Owings Mills, MD, 21117.

Cooking Camp Classic - $90 per class (2 hours)

1.5 hours of instruction, dinner buffet, T-shirt, recipes and dishes prepared by the kids to take home.

Please click the name of the class (or classes) you would like your child to attend to enroll.

Tuesdays, 6-8pm | Classes for Ages 5-8, with accompanying adult

June 23, 2015: Roman Holiday

June 30, 2015: Sweet + Savory Bakery

July 7, 2015: Picnic in the Park

July 14, 2015: Asian Street Food

Wednesdays, 6-8pm | Classes for Ages 9-13

June 24, 2015: Roman Holiday

July 1, 2015: Sweet + Savory Bakery

July 8, 2015: Picnic in the Park

July 15, 2015: Asian Street Food

July 22, 2015: Culinary Improv

Thursday and Tuesday, 6-8pm | Classes for Ages 14-16

June 25, 2015: Roman Holiday

July 21, 2015:Culinary Improv

For additional information or questions, please contact Jackie Shugarman at JShugarman@ClassicCatering.com

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Aging Beauty

Only two consortia produce truly traditional balsamic vinegar: Italy’s town of Modena and neighboring Reggio Emilia. Using locally harvested
Lambrusco or Trebbiano grapes, each batch of balasmic is created by
cooking whole grapes over a direct flame until the grape mix is
concentrated by roughly half. The product is then transferred into a
cast and kept with previous years’ product for a minimum aging period of
12 years.  Each cask is made with different woods, including chestnut,
cherry, oak, mulberry, ash and juniper. At the end of the aging period
(12, 18, or 25 years, traditionally), a small portion of the balsamic is
drawn from the smallest cask and each cask is then topped up with the
contents of the preceding (next larger) cask. This process where the
product is distributed from the oldest cask and then refilled from the
next oldest vintage cask is called solera or in perpetuum.
It results in balsamic vinegar that is rich, glossy, deep brown in
color and has a complex flavor that balances the natural sweet and sour
elements of the cooked grape juice with hints of wood from each cask.

In families that produce balsamic vinegar, a cask is the birthright of
every child. Created upon the birth of a child, the balsamic cask ages
as the child does. By the time it is given to a girl for her wedding or
to celebrate a boy’s passage into manhood, the vinegar is valuable
enough to use as a dowry.  As Paul Bertolli writes in his book, Cooking by Hand,“[balsamic] is a living symbol rather than a static reminder, a gift
given further, growing ever more valuable as it grows, that binds
generations.”

Are you ready for some football?! Check out Classic’s Chef Therese Harding make Chipotle BBQ Short Rib Quesadilla and try out the recipe at home.

Ugly Fruit

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, flavor must live exclusively in our mouths - at least according to Portuguese-based cooperative, “Ugly Fruit.”  The group is dedicated to preventing fruits and vegetables from being tossed out by the millions as a result of superficial blemishes or deformities that don’t affect the food’s actual taste.

Intermarché, the third largest supermarket chain in France, joined the co-op to spearhead the movement earlier this year. By rebranding unattractive produce with a generous discount and a socially conscious mission, the goal is to make shoppers see the inner beauty in scarred, disfigured, or otherwise odd-shaped fruits and vegetables.  Why throw away perfectly good produce just because it doesn’t meet arbitrary cosmetic criteria; especially when so many families can’t afford to eat the recommended five daily portions of fruits and vegetables? With recipes attached to the newly branded product, the market provided suggestions on how to give unsightly produce its renaissance in everything from juices and jams to steaming and as chopped up additions to stews or soups.

After launching  the campaign featuring “the hideous orange”, “the unfortunate clementine”, “the grotesque apple”, and more cleverly reimagined selections, Intermarché  sold out of its ugly fruits and vegetables within the first two days and saw a 24% increase in traffic in participating stores. Due to its success, the market plans on expanding the program to more stores across the country.

It’s an important lesson that left over food doesn’t always mean less tasty or less useful – and a reminder that in the end, the ugly duckling proved just as beautiful as the rest.

Grand Rum Toddy

From Bobby Pressman

The liqueur plays an important role here which is why we recommend either Gran Gala or Grand Marnier, both orange liqueurs with a brandy base. That thicker base is essential for the sugar-element of this toddy. If rum is your choice in the original Hot Toddy, try this one for something a little different.

1 ½ ounces rum
¾ ounce Gran Gala or Grand Marnier orange liqueur
¼ ounce lime juice
1 lime wedge for garnish
Hot water to fill

 METHOD

1. In an Irish coffee glass, pour the liquors and lime juice
2. Top with hot water
3. Stir
4. Garnish with a lime wedge