2017年5月26日金曜日 - 
Charles Bebber：Tri-State cuisine
There's no nice way to put
this. I'm an awful cook. My wife sometimes scolds me for failing to prepare the simplest of
foods. On the bright side,
it's possible that my culinary
incompetence has made me
more appreciative of unique and creative dishes made by other
people. Japan has no shortage of interesting local cuisine. Here in Osaka the
most famous is obviously takoyaki, but each
prefecture seems to have its
own treasure. I've tried a number of them and besides the notorious natto, I've thoroughly enjoyed
most of them. I thought, rather than lecturing about Japanese foods everyone is
likely familiar with, I would introduce some local foods from the New York
Tri-State area.
The Tri-State area is the metropolitan
territory surrounding New
York City. This includes New York, Connecticut
and New Jersey. Since New York City is a cosmopolitan hub it has just about every imaginable food tucked-away somewhere. While it has a lot of
food from around the world, 'around the world' doesn't seem to have a lot of the
cuisine available in the Big
Apple. New York is famous abroad for cheesecake, hot dogs, bagels, as
well as pizza. This always surprised me because the cheesecake seems a lot more
popular with people outside the city than the people inside it. It was never
something we thought much about at all. Similarly, bagels were never something I
was all that excited about. They were just something mom would pick up early in
the morning after church. Hot dogs and pretzels were common at baseball games
and at the park because they were easy enough to cook that you could do it
anywhere.
What was exciting were the wraps and rolls you could get at any small
Italian joint. For example, stromboli1. Stromboli is
essentially a heavy pizza roll with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and sometimes green
peppers. Restaurants sometimes offer a similar food called a pinwheel2 which is a kind of pepperoni pizza roll
sliced into small cylinders. If you prefer chicken, there's a very common
sandwich available in those same shops called “chicken parm
sub3.” Chicken parmigiana is a simple chicken cutlet baked in cheese and tomato sauce. Throw it
between two slices of bread and it's a perfect blend of sweet, salty and umami flavors.
Another
favorite is the garlic knot. garlic
knots4 are like the
Japanese version of garlic toast, but the dough is tied up and sprinkled with garlic, parmigiana cheese, and olive
oil. They're smaller than a fist and come by the dozen.
Next up were the deserts. Italian ices, B&W cookies,
and rainbow cookies. Italian
ices5 were small cups of
syrup flavored ice. They're much denser than ice cream and lack the dairy element.
Each cup usually comes with a small wooden spoon to carve away at the ice. The
most common flavors are lemon and cherry though others exist. You can find these
in any of the pizza shops that had the previously mentioned
meals.
While I really do enjoy Japanese food quite
a lot. I do find myself missing some of these gems from home. I advise anyone planning to, or
interested in, visiting New York to make a checklist and try each of
these.
The Tri-State area is the metropolitan
territory surrounding New
York City. This includes New York, Connecticut
and New Jersey. Since New York City is a cosmopolitan hub it has just about every imaginable food tucked-away somewhere. While it has a lot of
food from around the world, 'around the world' doesn't seem to have a lot of the
cuisine available in the Big
Apple. New York is famous abroad for cheesecake, hot dogs, bagels, as
well as pizza. This always surprised me because the cheesecake seems a lot more
popular with people outside the city than the people inside it. It was never
something we thought much about at all. Similarly, bagels were never something I
was all that excited about. They were just something mom would pick up early in
the morning after church. Hot dogs and pretzels were common at baseball games
and at the park because they were easy enough to cook that you could do it
anywhere.
What was exciting were the wraps and rolls you could get at any small
Italian joint. For example, stromboli1. Stromboli is
essentially a heavy pizza roll with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and sometimes green
peppers. Restaurants sometimes offer a similar food called a pinwheel2 which is a kind of pepperoni pizza roll
sliced into small cylinders. If you prefer chicken, there's a very common
sandwich available in those same shops called “chicken parm
sub3.” Chicken parmigiana is a simple chicken cutlet baked in cheese and tomato sauce. Throw it
between two slices of bread and it's a perfect blend of sweet, salty and umami flavors. 
Another
favorite is the garlic knot. garlic
knots4 are like the
Japanese version of garlic toast, but the dough is tied up and sprinkled with garlic, parmigiana cheese, and olive
oil. They're smaller than a fist and come by the dozen.
Next, rainbow cookies6 are actually more of a spongecake. They're
dense with three short layers of colored almond cake, separated by a cranberry
jelly and coated with chocolate. These can be found in bakeries and supermarkets
aplenty. “B&W cookies7” is a shorthand spelling for “black and white cookies.”
Despite being called cookies, they too are more like thin sponge cakes. They
have a sugary layer of vanilla on one side of the cookie and a slightly thicker
layer of chocolate on the other. The available sizes can vary dramatically
whereas rainbow cookies always come in small rectangle pieces.
While I really do enjoy Japanese food quite
a lot. I do find myself missing some of these gems from home. I advise anyone planning to, or
interested in, visiting New York to make a checklist and try each of
these.
scold – express disapproval for a
behavior
“On the bright side” – An expression of something positive
existing despite things generally being bad
culinary – relating to food and food
production
incompetence – lack of skill, inability
appreciative – able to identify quality
metropolitan – a place connected to a major railroad
system (has many trains)
territory – land
cosmopolitan – global, worldly
hub – connecting place, the center of many
paths
tucked-away – hidden, placed out of sight
Big Apple – slang for New York (no one really knows
the origin and people often argue about it)
joint – small shop, store, or
restaurant
assortment – a mix of something
cutlet – a slice of meat usually coated in flour
and bread crumbs (the Japanese word katsu indirectly comes from
this)
sprinkled – small pieces spread
slightly
denser – more closely packed together,
harder
shorthand – simple language
gems – small but valuable
objects