Yesterday was National Deviled Eggs Day in the US, and as a devotee of canapes of any sort, I can think of no finer finger food to be nationally commemorated. I’ve already posted my recipe for deviled eggs so won’t repeat it here, but I would like to take a moment or two to speak of my love for the satanic ova.

I am of a generation (perhaps the last) that was raised on deviled eggs. Not as a regular meal you understand, but as a delicacy that was present at the buffet or passed around the room at any party my parents ever threw. One of my earliest culinary memories is of helping my mother peel egg after hard-boiled egg, and eventually learning the trick of rolling the egg gently but firmly before peeling, so as to crackle the shell and help release that clingfilm-y layer that kept the shell stuck to the white. As a child without a significant sweet tooth, I considered licking out the bowl with the deviling mixture far more of a treat than any bowl with cookie dough or frosting. I would even go so far as to say that the spicy taste of the deviling mix was possibly  my first childish acceptance of more complex, grown up flavours.

By the way, the term “deviled” basically refers to adding spice and heat to otherwise fairly bland food, or to breakfast meats. Deviled kidneys were long a traditional staple of the British breakfast table, and are now (as is much offal) making rather a comeback on the UK culinary scene. And indeed the traditional ingredients of mustard, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire Sauce are usually present and correct in your average deviled egg.

Sadly, the deviled egg has by and large gone the way of the Black Forest gateau and the key party in that it seems to have disappeared from the social scene sometime around the mid- eighties.  This may well have had something to do with the rise of nouvelle cuisine and a trend toward ever-lighter food. Indeed in this day and age most canapes seem to consist of a small puddle of something in a white ceramic spoon, or a single lonely scallop on a rosemary spear. The downright spuriously bad press that eggs have received over the last couple of decades no doubt also played a part, particularly the absolutely fallacious reports that eggs contained hideously high levels of cholesterol and should therefore be rationed like chocolate during the war years. Whilst eggs do contain a high level of cholesterol, they do not cause you to create cholesterol whilst digesting them, so the cholesterol they contain goes harmlessly through you. Also, eggs are high in protein and very low in saturated fats, so are an extremely healthy food group. Hard-boiled, however, they do have much more deserved reputation for their binding properties, so hostesses over the years may well have eventually shied away from deliberately constipating their party guests.

Never so in my parents house, or in mine. Given our tendency to serve cheap wine, we always figured that- digestively speaking- things would work out in the end. And of late I have discovered that any eggs left over from a party keep very well for a few days in the fridge, and are even a standby for long train journeys, picnics, and the like. Regardless, I served them for my mother’s last birthday.  My family’s love of them aside, it seemed only appropriate to make for her what she had first taught me to make. I also now, when making egg salad, make deviled egg salad instead. Same ingredients as a deviled egg, only you add in the roughly chopped egg whites, and go a little more easy on the mayo.  This makes for fabulous egg salad sandwiches, and so I served them at my mother’s wake, in loving commemoration.

But I don’t see them making a comeback any time soon. That is unless some particularly sadistic chef decides to start making his staff prepare those devilishly tiny quails eggs in this time-honoured manner as some sort of amuse bouche or retro-joke canape.  That would be fine by me, and really, given their title, only appropriate.

I have just read an article about the menu used by McDonalds in India (no beef since almost no one in the country eats it). And I was all like, “why would you go into a McDonalds in India anyway?” And then I saw it. “mashed-potato sandwich”

And now I simply MUST have one.

60-70 years?  Not a bad run.  Lauded and loathed in turns, Gourmet was at the center of food writing for a very long time. It was aspirational stuff – most of us were never going to experience culinary travel like that or be in a position to compare and contrast the top ten truffle oils. But it was beautifully written aspirational stuff. Well, mostly. And maybe not quite recently. It was still good – but in my opinion, the writing had peaked and in chasing the last possibly dollar, they were trying to “play down” a bit.

On some level, Gourmet was “your mom’s cooking magazine.”  It was there if you needed it but it was slightly out of step with what seemed to be going on in the real world, on the ground. I don’t mean the “real world” of food tv – Gourmet couldn’t have cared less about that and I bless them for it. But real world as in what real people were doing food wise. Back to that aspirational thing. Maybe it was not achieving that balance of real life and aspirational. Don’t know. If I did, I would be the highest paid person in magazine publishing. I will say they did some find stuff on food and the environment – stuff I really wasn’t finding anywhere else with such a broad base.

But it was there. It was central. It was the magazine all the chefs wanted to be in, talking about the places we all wanted to go and making it all sound and look gorgeous. People ate it up. You can see how people loved it by looking at how people are reacting to the announcement that it’s going away.

So with all these people are singing Gourmet’s praises and mourning its passing – you might wonder why it was losing money with so many dedicated fans. Because dedicated fans do not translate necessarily into dedicated subscribers and – here at least – the subscriber base it not the money maker. It’s the advertising.

And I understand what’s happening in the magazine publishing arena. I do. I recognize the bottom line when I see it. Is it fair to cut Gourmet and keep Teen Vogue? Not to many Gourmet readers but if Gourmet’s advertising was down 50% and Teen Vogue’s wasn’t – well, Conde Nast isn’t running a charity so it makes business sense.

Doesn’t make the loss of Gourmet suck any less. In the same way that knowing why doesn’t make the decision to close down Domino (for which I still haven’t forgiven them) suck any less. But at least traces of Gourmet will remain through the material online at Epicurious and in their book publishing – unlike the utter and complete disappearance of Domino.

It doesn’t surprise me that they stuck with Bon Appétit – after all, they just underwent a massive print and online redesign last year (which readers may recall I wasn’t overwhelmed by). And strictly speaking they weren’t aimed at the same target so while they were both about food, their readers were different, responded to different advertising, etc.  If Gourmet was covering things only just slightly out of reach, Bon Appétit was taking what was within reach and showing you how to make it sing. It also has an aspirational slant to it – especially any of the gift round ups – but they temper it with accessible, attractive options and alternatives. You don’t feel like you are stuck looking in through the window. You’ve found a side door.

Now you’re confused, right? Don’t be. Don’t get me wrong – I may not like the redesign of Bon Appétit (I don’t. It never grew on me and I can’t see it doing so in the future) but I do get quite a lot out of reading it. The content is good and I can ignore the appalling font, color and photographic choices if the content holds up.

I liked Gourmet. Maybe it was a bit stuffy at time. Maybe I felt it didn’t speak to me directly about how, what and why I eat what I eat . But it was interesting, well-presented, clearly thought out stuff. It was reliable without being flashy. Unfortunately, reliable doesn’t seem to be enough these days.

Ah, October. The air goes crisper. The leaves are changing and I realize I forgot to fix all those buttons on the coast before storing them away last year. But that’s not all October is about.

No, it is also the beginning of holiday season. No, I don’t mean Halloween. And despite the catalogs that have begun arriving and what I am already seeing in department stores, I don’t mean Christmas either.  I mean the Fall culinary holiday season.

• October starts us off as not only National Apple Month but National Caramel Month as well. I think we all know how to make those two work together. Oh sure – it’s bad for the teeth, the weight and can play havoc with your favorite pots and pans but done right? Yum.
• October is also National Cookbook Month and by god, I intend to finally DO something serious about Mom’s massive cookbook collection. There must be a better way to organize it. I envision a giant master index but I also envision someone else actually – you know – doing the hard graft for it.
• We also find ourselves standing at the start of National Cookie Month – and conveniently enough – National Dessert Month. What is your favorite kind of cookie? Do you dress them up when using them as desserts vs. snacks? Or do you use them merely to garnish a more robust dessert? Do you see them as two separate issues all together?
• National Pasta Month might as well be every month for me but if they want me to be especially focused on it in October, I can’t say I object too much.
• October may also be National Pickled Peppers Month but as far as I am concerned these are not food. They are tongue twisters and nothing you can say (even if you say it 5 times fast) will convince me otherwise.
• National Pizza Month is like National Pasta Month. Something I am more than happy to ring in any time of year. The same might be said for National Popcorn Poppin’ Month but only if the “poppin’ ” is followed by “eatin’ “
• National Pork Month is fine and dandy. I know it is not for everyone for a variety of personal preference or religious reasons. I respect and embrace that. Besides, it means more pork for the rest of us.
• I can’t say I am overly excited about National Pretzel Month. I mean – I like pretzels. But I don’t love them. I won’t go out of my way to get them.  I used to love the big twisted ones that came in the canister (the name of which escapes me at the moment) but most of the ones I encounter today are basically salty filler. They’ll do if there’s nothing else at the bar.
• Now, National Seafood Month is something I can get wholeheartedly behind. Done right, nothing better.

So – there we have the month-long themes. We have a few days to really digest all that before the daily holidays begin – and what a slew of them we have headed our way. The first couple of weeks alone are enough to keep us busy celebrating through New Years.

• October 4 is National Taco Day and I don’t think it will be hard to convince the family to join me in a taco dinner for the occasion.
• October 5 is National Apple Betty Day – For some reason, I’ve never been much of an apple betty fan but I could be convinced.
• October 6 is National Noodle Day and rarely do culinary holidays offer so many options for marking the day. Noodles might be used in anything — breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. Savory or sweet and found in any ethnic cuisine you could want.
• October 9 is National Dessert Day, quickly followed by National Angel Food Cake Day on the 10th. Surely in the interest of time, celebrations can be combined.
• October 11 is National Sausage Pizza Day – either I will have pizza on this day AND Oct 15 or I shall throw mushrooms on this pizza and get a jump on National Mushroom Day
• October 13 is the date for National Peanut and National Pumpkin Festivals
• October 15 is National Mushroom Day – which will not be to everyone’s taste, I know but it is most certainly to mine. And as it is National Pizza Month, I may kill two sliced in one go by celebrating with mushroom pizza, despite having likely having just had pizza on Oct 11.

I hope to – and plan to – highlight these topics over the next couple of weeks. I invite your thoughts, ideas and contributions on ways to do that. In the mean time, happy October!

Just some links I’ve found as I make a leisurely Sunday “stroll” through the usual foodie sites.  Settle down with some coffee and check them out.

Sure, we’ve heard many stories of odd, non-food items getting into fast food. Our reaction ranges from “meh” to “Oh dude that is GROSS!” depending on the item in question.  My only reaction to hearing the latest – that a man is suing McDonald’s because he swallowed a gold earring embedded in his sandwich – was “If you’d chewed your food properly, you might have noticed it before you swallowed it.” I’m sure I will be told I am being unkind, that it was a tiny earring or something. But if it was that tiny, you’d have thought they wouldn’t have had so much trouble getting it out of his throat.

No, there should not have been an earring in his sandwich. Yes, McDonalds should pay for all reasonable medical costs and lost wages incurred. Note I said REASONABLE. If this is one of those millions for pain and suffering situations, I call “shenanigans.”

And now, an amusing interlude from the New York Times. The Mayor in Snack Mode. Oh mini-Mayor, how very “do as I say, not as I do” of you!  Still, I know how you feel. We all struggle with cravings. But I must object to your statement that “I like a Big Mac like everybody else.” Mr. Mayor, I am a member of “everybody else” and I do not like Big Macs. I have never liked Big Macs and if presented with the opportunity to eat one in the normal course of events, I would shun it as I shun a sharp stick in the eye. Blech!

I’ve been street food obsessed lately but that obsession has been focused largely on New York (with a glance or two at London – more on that later) but things in Los Angeles street food are heating up as temps come down. I have a friend who is ALL over this topic and became my food truck eyes and ears when she was here in NY. Now that she’s in LA, she’s at the center of the action again. Maybe I can get her to chime in here!