Thursday, June 9, 2011

guest post: jshu

A guest post from my friend jshu. He's the apple, she's the tree.

When I'm on the road looking to do a little cooking for breakfast, I like to find a few simple ingredients and hunker down in the kitchen. Today I started with some butter wrapped in some attractive paper. Then I took a loaf of bread (pre-sliced) and used it as the main ingredient for Toast (put bread in toaster oven, set to medium, wait for ding, remove, put on plate with pattern that matches butter paper for a little extra flair). The trick here is to put the butter on the newly made Toast while it's as hot as it can be (I use a rounded knife that isn't sharp so I don't cut through the decorative butter paper).

11 comments:

  1. bertie the squirmJune 9, 2011 at 8:26 PM

    say, that is some fancy butter-wrapping paper you got there

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  2. You had me at hyphen, Bertie; I love a squirm who understands compound modifiers.

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  3. Wow, where did you get this recipe jshu? Can you teach me to make it as well? I assume you must have adapted it from generations old techniques.

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  4. It's a timeless classic I like to call Twice Oven-roasted Wheat Berries with churned milk and ocean extracts. You can find it in all the gourmet cooking guides.

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  5. But did you use Kate's Organic (All Natchurl, 100% Pure, Vermont-Made) butter? - SueShu (not anon. because I couldn't figure out how to get my credentials "verified")

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  6. Many do not realize that the very name for that well decorated and beloved ingredient "butter" derives from this very dish. Back in the early 1700's "butter" was not as popular as today largely due to it's unappealing name - "cultured bovis paste" and it's penchant to spoil and make gravely ill those who ate it too late. However, due to its ease of use, it remained an underground cult staple among bachelors needing to feed themselves when the womenfolk embarked for their regular suffrage excursions popular in that day. (For those GruelFD history buffs, these excursions resulted in Lydia Chapin Taft becoming the first legal woman voter in the year 1756 Uxbridge, Massachusetts, then part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony). Anyway, The men left behind to cook for themselves often survived by warming a simple piece of bread by the fire for every meal. Those lucky few whose wives or daughters would leave behind some churned cultured bovis paste, would often brag of their good fortune to their brethren over a pint of mead or local ale while reading the recent political pamphlets (the equivalent of catching up on some Sportcenter at Buffalo Wild Wings today). As word spread of this simple delicacy that any bachelor could cook, some women took offense insisting, rightly so, the dish would not be possible without the cultured bovis paste churned by the women of the house. The men, being wise and wanting to give their loved ones the proper respect, started referring to the concoction of warmed bread slathered in cultured bovis paste "Just Bread But For Her". The term spread throughout the colonies as more and more realized the if not for the work of the churning womenfolk, the bread would not be so delicious. Soon, with the advent of garages and lawns, men kept having more to do when their wives left, and in an effort to save time the dishes name was shortened just to "But for Her". By the time of the American Revolution, there was a proclamation from the Patriots that "But For Her" sounded too English, and in their tea-party spirit rejected the formal pronunciation and shortened the name to "But-her". As with all language over time, the name came to only represent the cultured bovis paste element of the dish - many food historians think this was the first example of the culinary trend of "deconstruction" - and the pronunciation came to be what it is today, "Butter". So, when enjoying JShu's simple dish, please take time to reflect on the brave Lydia Chapin Taft standing strong and casting her vote at a chilly New England town meeting, and all of the women who came before her, to help make this nation what it is today.

    God Bless The United States of America.

    Larry Kilroy, BA History. Washington College, Chestertown, MD 1991

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  7. P.S. Jam is great (Pre-smooshed). (I use a rounded knife so I don't through myself).

    Deepathandeepa

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  8. I'm glad we're leaving this post up for so long so people can refer back to it as often as they need as they work out the kinks in their own renditions of one of the finest recipes this blog has seen. And the rich history lesson surrounding it. As we near a month of up time, I feel confident your readers will have blazed trails toward Toast perfection.

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  9. I just wanted everyone to know that this recipe also works overseas. it's true. I flew to England today and tried this recipe, and it seemed to work just fine. I was able to find all the ingredients, which surprised me a little, being a different country and all.

    I wouldn't say I'm anywhere on the road to Toast perfection, Jshu (I'm not an expert cook or anything, just love trying new recipes here and there, especially when on vacation), but one step at a time i guess.

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