Category Archives: Food 101
Christmastime Favorite: How To Make Wassail Pt. 2 – Recipe
We covered some of the history of spiced Christmas cider, known as wassail, in Part 1 of this article. Read up if you missed it, or read on for our recipe!
As some of you may know, PCFG will be providing free wassail at the Patchogue Village Wassailing Crawl this Saturday! If you live on Long Island and will be in the area, stop by and partake in some merriment as Long Island History and Pub continues a Christmas tradition that’s all but lost in the U.S. in modern times. You may learn a thing or two, and at very least it’ll help get into the Christmas spirit despite the surprisingly mild (and pleasant) season we’ve been having so far!
If you can’t make it, well there’s always the option of making it at home. Bear in mind, we will update this post at a later date with photos from the wassailing walk we’re attending on Saturday!
Spices 101: What is Cardamom?
Recently a ton of supermarkets closed down in the northeast, especially here on Long Island, resulting from their blanket corporation of A&P going out of business. It was really sad, considering how many people lost their jobs, and to see some old standbys like Waldbaums and Path-Mark close up shop, never to be seen again. Well, sometimes the best way to move past a tragedy is by finding any good you can in it. In this case, legendary clearance prices on all items. I hate to sound like classic consumerist American, but we were able to find some insane deals on food in the last few days when items were being discounted 70%, 80%, and even 95% off.
We took that opportunity to splurge on some cardamom pods, a staple curry ingredient which normally runs for, ohhhh, $15 a bottle. So yeah. Shit’s expensive.
Cardamom
Origin: India
Appearance: Small, green pods
Scent: Fruity, flowery, zesty
Taste: Sweet, zesty, fresh
Foods: Indian, Nordic European
Rareness: Rare
…son of a bitch I just realized these are 3 months out of date. Oh well. We got them for three bucks, as opposed to like $15.
Food 101: How To Make Basic Fried Rice
Let’s talk fried rice.
If you’ve had Chinese food before, you’ve had fried rice. Hell, if you’ve eaten at any Asian restaurants you’ve probably had it. Each culture seems to have its own little version of it. And for good reason too; fried rice is one of the easiest and fastest ways to convert old rice and leftovers into a tasty, nutritious meal.
Spices 101: What is Coriander? What is Cilantro?
I like to use the word coriander a lot when joking about high-class foods. Though coriander is yet another spice that sounds really complicated and fancy, but in reality isn’t as big a deal as one would think. It’s all in the name. It just sounds ritzy as hell. Four syllables, a bunch of vowels, doesn’t look like any other words… It has to be a big deal right? Weirdly enough, coriander is actually just the seeds of cilantro plants…
Coriander
Origin: Asia
Appearance: Tan, spherical seeds / coarse, beige powder
Scent: Sweet, citric
Taste: Nutty, fresh, Spice-spicy
Foods: Indian, Asian, and Middle Eastern cuisine
Rareness: Uncommon
Food 101: Simple Syrup
You may not need to use simple syrup super often, but it’s handy to have in your cooking arsenal. While the “simple” in simple syrup presumably refers to the fact that it’s pretty much the most basic syrup you can make, it is also incredibly simple to make. As I commented to Erik after making it for the pictures, this was probably the fastest thing I’ve ever made for a post.
Simple syrup is useful to keep on hand if you have cold beverages to sweeten. Because the sugar is already dissolved you don’t have to worry about it not doing so in your drink. Pretty much anything you want to sweeten that’s too cold for sugar to dissolve in is where simple syrup shines. Lemonade, iced tea, flavor infused water – all of these can get a kick of sweet from simply syrup. It’s also used a lot in the making of cocktails.
The Poor Couple's Food Guide 
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