Chocolate Time Machine

Rachel Wallace  

Theobroma Cacao is the Latin word for chocolate. It also quite accurately translates to ‘food of the gods’ - Carl Linnaeus, the scientist who came up with the name, sure knew what he was talking about! In case you didn’t gather from my last column, I love chocolate and believe that it absolutely makes everything tastes better. In addition to being a chocolate lover, I am also a total nerd. Therefore, I have always been fascinated with the events that eventually lead to the creation of the fabulous chocolate we eat today Do you know the history of chocolate??

It all starts with a brownish-purple, foot-long pod filled with seeds that on their own taste a lot like raw potatoes. Somehow, despite the unappetizing appearance and inedibility of the beans, there is evidence showing that the Olmec people of South America were growing cocoa beans as early as 1500 BC. Archeological evidence also indicates that people in Honduras would ferment the pulp into an alcoholic beverage. These early chocoholics knew a thing or two because today, the cocoa bean has to be fermented in order for the beans to taste remotely like the chocolate we all know and love. Later, the cocoa bean eventually reached the Aztecs and Mayans who believed this odd little bean contained magical powers. Cocoa beans were used as currency (100 beans=1 turkey hen or 100 tamales) and made into a bitter drink for festivals. Chocolate was also given to human sacrifices to cheer them up before their death. Eventually with the arrival of Spaniards in South America, the cocoa bean made its way to Europe where it was a drink exclusively for the rich. It was during this time, in the 16th century, when people began to mix in sugar or honey to sweeten the otherwise bitter cocoa. This hot cocoa, however, was quite different than modern chocolate. All the oily cocoa butter in the bean did not mix with the water so instead of being creamy, the first hot cocoa was gritty and had an oily residue on the surface. As delicious as that sounds, I don’t see Starbuck’s adding this to their menu anytime soon!

The next big development for chocolate came in 1828 when a Dutch chemist named Conrad Van Houten figured out a way to squeeze the oily cocoa butter out of chocolate liquor. The powder that he created is the same as modern cocoa powder. He also realized that if he added alkali substances, like baking soda, to this powder, it would more easily dissolve in water and smooth – creamy hot cocoa was born.

Once cocoa powder was created, the modern chocolate bar was not far behind. In 1847 the chocolate bar was created when Joseph Fry (a true genius) added some of the cocoa butter back into the cocoa powder to create a moldable paste and voila! Milk chocolate soon followed when Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle of Switzerland added milk powder to the chocolate bars. Now, there was no stopping the spread of these delicious new treats. Companies such as Cadbury, Nestle and Lindt formed and spread throughout Europe and America, paving the way for other chocolate companies that allow us to enjoy this food of the gods whenever we want!

Want to better understand the original chocolate treat? Here is a recipe for a form of the original Aztec hot chocolate or Xocolatl!

Hello, is it Tea You’re Looking For?

Haley Fox  

Coffee or tea?

As historical as the fight between cats and mice, this internal debate is fought daily by drowsy commuters and students alike. This question often results in a more-or-less permanent siding with one of the two teams.

Those who love tea are fiercely protective of their morning brew. Yet given the prevalence of commercialized caffeine consumption (looking at you, Starbucks) and our nation’s own somewhat… watery history with the beverage (anyone in Boston up for a tea party?), it’s easy to see why a “cup of joe” has become the norm. Even my roommate, with whom I am cohabitable in every other aspect, brought her own mini coffee pot to make sure she starts each day off with a caffeine kick. It sits very prettily alongside my electric teakettle. I often ask if she wants me to steep her a cup, to no avail; she in turn offers me coffee, to which I politely decline.

It’s pretty clear that coffee drinkers like their coffee and tea drinkers like their tea. However, the benefits of tea go far beyond just the taste. Tea has been touted as “liquid wisdom” since its discovery, and extensive research has figured out why.

For all you coffee acolytes, here are a few key reasons to reconsider tea:

• Green tea is loaded with catechins, which are powerful antioxidants that could help prevent cancer.
• Tea may help prevent you from developing type 1 diabetes.
• Drinking three to four cups of tea a day can reduce the risk of a heart attack.
• The caffeine in tea takes longer to affect the body, so you can feel awake without getting jittery or worrying about a crash later on.
• Black tea drinkers were found to have lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
• Tea contains fluoride, which is good for your teeth.
• Tea is a zero calorie drink.
• Although tea does contain caffeine, this drink is actually hydrating.
• Tea is high in oxygen radical absorbance capacity, meaning it helps destroy free radicals that can damage your body’s DNA and cause wrinkles.
• Drinking green tea daily could lead to about an inch off your waistline in 12 weeks, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Polyphenols in green tea may help prevent degenerative brain disease.

Although it won’t make you invincible, tea’s benefits far outweigh the nonexistent drawbacks. Be careful, though; bottled or pre-made tea drinks often contain an excess of sugar and very little real tea. Remember, I’m not asking you to cut coffee from your diet completely--coffee has its own health benefits, as well! But the next time you have to make your momentous morning decision, keep these facts in mind. You just might opt to skip the java.

Cheers!

Sources:

• Coffee vs Tea
• 13 Reasons to Love Tea
• The Face-Off: Coffee Vs. Tea
• The Health Benefits of Coffee vs. Tea

Fall into Chocolate

Rachel Wallace  

Ah Fall. Definitely the best season in my opinion. The crisp air, the multicolored leaves, Halloween, pumpkins, and who could forget the fall food! Pumpkin muffins, caramel apples, apple pie, cider, donuts, cinnamon spice goodness, does it get any better?! One thing I have noticed, however, is the unfortunate lack of chocolate as a starring role in any of these fall delicacies, except of course in the Twix and Snickers bars that result from trick-or-treating. Now, I love Swix bars as much as the next person, but I, as a self-proclaimed chocoholic, believe there must be a way to blend chocolate with the fall flavors we know and love, because everything is better with chocolate! While home on fall break with access to an oven (the lack of which is definitely the hardest part of dorm living!) I decided to make a festive fall dessert but still have chocolate as the main ingredient. The result: chocolate pumpkin cupcakes!! I googled around a little and found a recipe that looked very promising from countryliving.com. The only problem was that the chocolate component of the cupcake came from cocoa powder. Now that’s ok but, in my opinion, cocoa powder never really gives a cake as much richness as good old melted bakers chocolate. To solve this problem, I enhanced the cocoa powder’s flavor with three melted bittersweet baking squares. I added it to the wet pumpkin mixture and stirred it in. Voila! They were perfect! Next, I decided to make my cupcakes mini. Mini cupcakes are the best because they have a better cake to frosting ratio, you can give them to more people (and let them all tell you how great of a cook you are), and you can eat just one… or four in a row, if you want to! When the cupcakes were done I frosted them with a classic cream cheese frosting (with a little orange food coloring just to be festive) and sprinkled crushed chocolate chips over the top. These little cupcakes were sweet, moist and both the earthy pumpkin and rich chocolate flavors blended together perfectly! Want to make them yourself? You can find the recipe here.

FYI:

• You can add ¾ tablespoon of vinegar to your milk to create buttermilk
• Add 2 squares of melted bittersweet chocolate to make them even more delicious
• I baked my mini cupcakes for 11 minutes- the batter is very wet so they take longer than usual

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cup(s) All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tablespoon(s) All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup(s) Good-Quality Cocoa (PLUS 3 squares of melted bittersweet chocolate!!!)
• 1 tablespoon(s) Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) Baking Soda
• 2 1/4 teaspoon(s) Ground Cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon(s) Fresh-Grated Nutmeg
• 3/4 cup(s) Buttermilk (just add ¾ of a tablespoon of vinegar to your milk!)
• 1 1/2 cup(s) Pumpkin Purée
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/4 stick(s) Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup(s) (firmly packed) Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 1/2 cup(s) Granulated Sugar
• 5 large Eggs

Directions

1. Prepare cake pans: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter three 8-inch cake pans and fit each bottom with an 8-inch circle of parchment paper. Lightly butter the parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Make the batter: Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the buttermilk, pumpkin, and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl, with an electric mixer set on medium speed, until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and light. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, blending well after each addition.
3. Bake the cake: Divide the batter among the pans and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean -- about 35 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove cakes and cool. (For cupcakes: Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Place cupcake liners in standard cupcake tins and fill each with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 22 minutes.
   (I baked my mini cupcakes for 11 minutes)

Let’s Talk about Pizza!

Justin Hayworth  

If you are like me – or most of civilized world – you enjoy eating a juicy slice of warm pizza. Sophomore year, I ate pizza everyday for almost eight straight months. I may not be an expert on how to cook pizza like a master chef, but I know a good pizza the instant it hits my taste buds.

Which brings me to pizza in Ann Arbor, the city I have called home for the last five years. To the newbie Ann Arborite, the pizza options may at first seem overwhelming. But fear not, I am here to give you a complete rundown of all the best options for every possible pizza scenario that your daily life may incur. Let’s start on South U.

Three primary options satisfy the inebriated student’s late night pizza needs. The first is Backroom, an extension of the Brown Jug that has always been a personal favorite of mine. The options are limited - cheese or pepperoni – but at $1 per slice and $6 for a pie, the prices are hard to beat. Next comes South U pizza, popular among many of my friends, but I find the pizza overly greasy, which makes it increasingly difficult to eat with each subsequent bite. In contrast, I will happily eat two, three, even four slices of backroom’s thin yumminess before reaching satiation.

Rounding out the trio is Pizza House, an Ann Arbor classic. Pizza House is certainly tasty, but also extremely overpriced. Their best option, a Chicago Stuffed Deep Dish, will set you back nearly $20 for pizza that is just barely above average. Pizza House does offer a wide assortment of good pies, but better options exist for the same price; and, without a by-the-slice option, satisfying any late night munchies at PH will quickly drain your pockets.

Moving west, we land in the other campus haven for pizza: State Street. Late night options include Cottage Inn, Bell’s Pizza, NYPD, and Toppers. Bell’s is working hard to redefine mediocrity and should be avoided, as better options always exist. I find Toppers to be extremely greasy, and a little tasty, but certainly crave-able after a night out. NYPD is a sad imitation of its namesake, the iconic New York slice. Sure, the crust is thin and the slices a traditional 18”, but the sauce is tasteless, the oil excessive, and the toppings scarce. Much like Pizza House, I recommend avoiding NYPD as better choices abound. Cottage Inn, found at State and Packard, is my favorite late night option on this side of campus: serving up every pizza you can dream of, excellent calzones, and affordable specials, Cottage Inn is a frequent post-game addition to my apartment’s celebrations.

My two favorites, however, are The Original Cottage Inn and NeoPapalis. NeoPapalis brings a whole different style to Ann Arbor. The self-dubbed “makers of pizza” serve up artisan 12” pizza with delicious toppings on a thin and toasty crust that will keep you coming back for more. My absolute favorite option on the block, however, sits right next door - the Original Cottage Inn. Not to be confused with the franchise Cottage Inn mentioned earlier, The Original Inn is a full scale Italian restaurant. Their round crust large pizzas will feed several hungry men, and deliver a rare and perfect balance between sauce, cheese, crust, and toppings. They even put the toppings under the cheese, which blends the flavor into one big smile on your face.

My favorite pizza in town is found at Mani Osteria on Liberty. Like NeoPapalis, Mani’s pizza is an artisan sliced made from high quality ingredients. Most of the artisan options run at $15+ for a 12” pie, so save Mani Osteria for a special occasion and prepare to be amazed.

Other local late night, fast food options include Domino’s, Little Caeser’s, and Jet’s. I recommend avoiding all three like the plague: any of the local spots explored in this column are far better options in terms of taste, price, and value.

Overall, pizza is a lot like sex: if it’s good, it’s great, and if it’s bad, it’s still a good time. You cannot go wrong eating pizza unless you buy frozen or get from 7-11, and your tastes may well disagree with my own. I invite you to eat around and find your own favorites, using my guide merely as a starting point into a greater world of pizza!

Behind the Stainless-Steel Curtain

Nate Kristel  

Late one night after finishing a hectic Wednesday service at South Edison in Montauk, New York – my parents’ restaurant – I sat at the bar gripping my shift drink with frustration. It seemed like all night long patrons had something negative to say. Whether it was wait times or portion complaints, there was always someone dissatisfied with something. It seemed as though the customers saw us as enemies rather than servers that night. As I attempted to cool off, my manager drunkenly stumbled into the restaurant to share his last drink of the night with his employees. It was his first day off in two months, which he had clearly taken advantage of. Irritated, I turned to him and asked, “Why do customers complain about problems they know nothing about?” First he said, “Welcome to the service industry, bud.” But then he looked me in the eye and laughed: “Well, you know about the problems; you work in the industry… Tell them for God’s sake.”

I felt stupid. He was right. You can’t blame someone for not knowing something they were never informed of in the first place. It’d be like getting an exam question on a topic you hadn’t reviewed in class. Realizing this fact forced me to consider a new idea: in an age when restaurants and chefs are given so much publicity, and new cuisines and dining experiences are becoming extraordinarily pervasive in everyday life, it seems odd that the “behind the scenes,” technical stuff is continually pushed to the back burner. Never before have so many people known and readily eaten so many diverse foods—from cuttlefish to callaloo—and not fully understood how it has come to arrive at their table. They say that if you like sausage, don’t ask how it’s made, but I think the dining population is ready to see kitchens become more transparent. With the recent farm to table, locavore, and organic dining obsessions, diners should take time to examine how these highly selective ingredients are handled once in the kitchen.

In my five years of working nearly every restaurant position imaginable, from busser to expediter, I’ve learned all the aspects that go into running a smooth kitchen. Yet as I became more involved in the industry and began to broaden my perspective beyond my parents’ place, I saw and learned about the various systems utilized in other kitchens. And while it is true that there is a universal understanding about the general working system of a restaurant, hardly any restaurant operates in the same way as another. There are several reasons for this, such as the physical layout of the kitchen, the style or concept of the restaurant, and of course, the preferences of the managers and chefs. Besides providing an interesting insight into the world of restaurants, knowing these differences is important because it creates a harmony between diner and restaurant that provides an overall better eating experience

• • •

Welcome to the column inspired by my manager’s drunken wisdom. We will step through the swinging double doors – what I like to call the “Stainless Steel Curtain” – and into the shrouded kitchen. I will tour through various Ann Arbor restaurant kitchens in Ann Arbor to demonstrate the diversity of kitchen systems. By following one dish from its conception, through its preparation, pick-up, plating, and finally consumption, we’ll learn about the variety of techniques, strategies and even personnel that all contribute to making it a successful finished piece. Do you want to know what goes into creating a positive dining experience? Well, I’m gonna tell you, for God’s sake.