Kate's Global Kitchen: Salivatin' Summer

the appetizer:

Kate celebrates an All-American summer with cookbook picks (American Food and Drink, The Stubb's Bar-B-Q Cookbook, and Grilling with Beer) and a nod to a famous July holiday (think global). Plus summer recipe suggestions, from haute hot dogs to crispy cool salads.

Salivatin' Summer

by Kate Heyhoe

Fly Your Flag, with a 700 Page Salute
to All-American Gastronomy

The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, edited by Andrew F. Smith, celebrates the edible world from our national perspective. But that's not to say the entries in this hefty reference book omit foreign foods. Anything we as Americans eat, or have eaten, is fair game.

American Food and Drink

Chickpeas, for instance, are fully detailed and noted as a favorite among health-conscious Americans. On the book's same page, our patron-saint of cooking, Julia Child, beams with mixing bowl and wire whisk in hand. Preceding the Chickpeas notation, the editor explores the history of Chicken Fried Steak, complete with cream gravy, and Chicken McNuggets, which pushed Americans' chicken consumption past beef for the first time. Smith has compiled nearly a thousand entries on every aspect of our national gastronomy, from social movements to traditions, technology, history, brands, and ingredients. Did you know that "cole slaw" hails from koolsla, or Dutch shredded cabbage salad, introduced by settlers who founded New Netherland, later known as New York State, and which they made from cabbage grown along the Hudson River?

Speaking of cole slaw: Stubb's Cole Slaw, from my latest book The Stubb's Bar-B-Q Cookbook, is getting rave reviews. You can buy The Stubb's Bar-B-Q Cookbook here, while the summer's still hot.

Les grandes baguettes

Ooh-La-La! Celebrate Bastille Day
on July 14th...But How?

A few years back (during the peak of the no-fat craze) our intrepid reporters Monte and Claire Montgomery wondered what the French, who enjoy the simple pleasures of foie gras on a daily basis, eat to celebrate Bastille Day. Their results may leave you with a big fat grin on your face, and make you grateful that those fat-phobic days have blossomed into a more balanced diet. Read their story, along with French recipes, and comments by Jacques Pepin and the late Jean-Louis Palladin: Bastille Day.

Diggety Dog!

Haute Hounds & Hot Dogs

The All-American summer: beaches, baseball, outdoor living, and hot dogs. Unlike the other parents in the neighborhood, my mother never fed me or my brother hot dogs. Perhaps that explains my love for them today.

Beer + Grilling = Fabulous Food

Grilling with Beer

The woman that brought us Cooking with Beer goes outdoors this summer with Grilling with Beer: Bastes, BBQ Sauces, Mops, Marinades & More, Made with Craft Beer. Lucy Saunders has a personal passion for beer, especially the wave of specialty and artisanal brews that, in her hands, are as much fun to eat as they are to drink. Try her Lemon Weiss Marinade for chicken, Hazelnut Maibock Marinade for pork, and paint your duck with an Apple Ale Glaze. Just as you don't find specialty ales in regular supermarkets, you won't find this specialty cookbook in most bookstores, but can order it from beercook.com and from grillingwithbeer.com (which also has sample recipes). The recipes will put a spicy new spin on your tailgating parties, back-to-school barbecues, and Oktoberfest celebrations, too.

Chilled Southern Spiced Shrimp