Five Friday Favorites- 04/30/2010

Five Friday Favorites posts feature news articles from the food world, recipes which look amazing, or anything I find interesting, want to share, or think readers might like too.
Leave a comment and tell me what you think!   

1. Japanese Food:  Almost like a food glossary for Tokyo, this cnngo article, “40 Tokyo Foods We Can’t Live Without” really intrigued me. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been obsessively looking at summer airfare to Tokyo (not gonna happen this year I’m afraid), but this article seemed really useful in describing all the different dishes available ranging from the recognizable (sushi and tempura) to the obscure (raw horsemeat anyone?) to the downright odd versions of “foreign” food (Naporitan spaghetti). There are also photos and descriptions of things I’d really like to try such as oden, okonomiyaki, and kabayaki. This is definitely something I’d print out and take with me if going to Japan. 

2 & 3. Farmer’s Markets; Two articles caught my eye this week about what to look for when shopping in Farmer’s markets; this one from the LA Times- Farmers markets: Getting the goods and this one Top 10 Mistakes Made by Farmers Market Noobz

Both give good, practical advice on what to look for (fresh and in season), what to avoid, how to find the best stuff (get to know the vendors), and what not to do (don’t arrive late, don’t haggle with vendors)..

4. Warning: Measure Your Salt. Who knew? Apparently there are large variances in the weights of salt (as measured in volume vs. weight) between different types of salt (sea salt vs. Kosher salt, vs table salt- this I knew) but also between different brands of Kosher salt (this I did not know).
The information struck a chord with me because I’ve always cooked with Morton’s Kosher salt and I recently ran out. I bought some “coarse sea salt” at Trader Joe’s and found that the bread I’d been baking was suddenly bland. The author of this article had much the same experience (though in the reverse) when switching brands of Kosher salt. There are some good calculations included in the article to keep in mind when using different types (and brands) of salt.

5. Milk issues: Got milk? Only if it comes from a cow…– ” The National Milk Producers Federation says you don’t, not if what you grab from the dairy case today is soy, rice or almond milk.” 
To me, this is just the milk producers getting their panties in a bunch over semantics. As if anyone is really going to be confused. They don’t want anyone using the term “milk” unless it is from a mammal.
“The FDA is ‘letting the bastardization of dairy terms proliferate,’ says federation spokesman Christopher Galen. The group has even launched a Facebook page: “They Don’t Got Milk.” “We had to do something,” Galen says.”
Seriously? Doesn’t this sound like an article from The Onion?