Dungeness crab (1909); Marvin Lender write to me

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O.T. MISC.

BUY AOL BROADBAND OR DIE!--The past two days I've received calls from AOL, telling me to buy broadband.  I know about AOL broadband.  The ads are here every time I sign on.  If AOL holds a gun up to my head, well, I guess I'll pay the extra $30 a month.  A loaded gun and I buy.

LETTER FROM LENDER--I got this letter in the mail today from Marvin Lender:
Dear Friend,
   In 1927, when my father came to America and started a bagel bakery, just about all of America's bagels were produced and consumed by Jews.
   But that did not last.
   Thanks in large part to the effort of the Lender family, the bagel is today an all-American food--right up there with pizza and tacos and General Tso's chicken. (...)  We have in Joe Lieberman a man of wise leadership and strong integrity who can win the Presidential Campaign. (...)
   (If Lieberman has any earlier food citations for bagels or pizza or tacos or General Tso's chicken, he's got my vote--ed.)

"PEANUTS" BY ANDREW F. SMITH--Just outside Tom's Restaurant on Broadway and West 114th Street are some booksellers on the street.  One of the books being sold is PEANUTS.  I don't know how much they're asking for it, but it can't be cashews.

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DUNGENESS CRAB

   I had posted a little later in 1909.  This article is interesting for the American cuisine.



   COUNTRY JEALOUS OF "BRER POSSUM."
DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Jan 18, 1909. p. I2 (1 page)

      _YUM!  YUM!
_COUNTRY JEALOUS_
   _OF "BRER POSSUM."_
_From Seattle to New Orleans Arises_
_Cry of Indignation at Place Assigned_
_Marsupial by Mr. Taft_--Many Gas-_
_tronomic Gems Named to Beat it._
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.)
SEATTLE (Wash.) Jan. 17.--(Excluive Dispatch.)  Seattle would like nothing better than to have the opportunity to cater to the gastronomic tendencies of President Taft.  If he should come here a list of delicacies distinctive of the city will be placed before him that will make Georgia possum look like the proverbial 30 cents.
   First, they will give him the original Olympia oyster cocktail with copper flavor, then they will follow with an entree of deviled dungeness crab, and finally send him to a bed of nightmare with salmon bellies cooked in cream, a dish that is more delicate than the name indicates.  For an eye opener in the morning they will give him a baked apple such as took the first prize in London, and Portland, Or., would give him the world-famous crawfish.
      "GO' WAY POSSUM!"
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.)
LOUISVILLE (Ky.) Jan. 17.--(Exclusive Dispatch.)  "Possum and sweet 'taters may taste good to President-elect Taft in Georgia, but wait until we get him down in old Kentucky along about Derby Day in May, and he will stick his teeth into some meat that will make him forget Goergia possum," said A. T. McDonald, president of the Commercial Club, today.
   "We are making preparations for an old-fashioned Kentucky barbecue.  Gus Jaubert will prepare some blue grass Southdown mutton in his own style, accompanied with jowl and greens and Kentucky hoecake as a side dish.  For a starter, though, we will have plenty of Ohio River falls salmon, to say nothing of some real old bourbon as an appetizer.
   "I will venture that the genial President will remark like the good old southern darky said when he was introduced to a piece of real Kentucky barbecued lamb: "Go way possum, you done lost your taste."
      OSHKOSH FROGS.
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES)
OSHKOSH (Wis.) Jan. 17.--(Exclusive DIspatch.)  Oshkosh people are determined that when President-elect Taft visits this city, of which there is now a fair likelihood, he will be dined in a manner which will forever banish the "possum and 'taters" of the South.  Frog's legs from the celebrated Oshkosh frog farm, delicious squabs from the preserves, and lastly, tasty black bass from Winnebago Lake, which is reputed to be the most toothsome as well as the gamiest fresh-water fish in the country, will form but a part of the feast.
      BEAVER'S TAIL.
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.)
DENVER (Colo.) Jan. 17.--(Exclusive Dispatch.)  Perhaps the rarest delicacy of the Rockies will be served to Judge Taft if he visits Colorado this summer as has been planned.  The tail of a beaver, caught in the highest altitudes and cooked under  the direction of one of the half-dozen old-timers who know how to prepare the odd viand, will be offered as Colorado's tribute to the Presidential palate.
   Many persons suppose beaver flesh inedible, but old-timers say that there is nothing so toothsome as the peculiar paddle used by the little animal in building its submerged home, if prepared properly.  The secret of cooking the tail is closely guarded, as are the beavers under the State law, but both will be waived if the President visits the State.
      HAM AND CORN PONE.
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.)
RICHMOND (Va.) Jan. 17.--(Exclusive Dispatch.)  A big mess of "chitlin's," corn pone and Smithfield ham will be the honely but altogether satisfying meal which Richmond would give the President-elect should he visit this historic city.  There is a great art in the preparation of chitlings, and there is also a greater art in consuming the delicacy, but from reports of the bon vivant who will occupy the White House, Richmond believed he will be just as able to enjoy the "chitlin's" as Virginia cooks are to prepare them.
      CORN!  CORN!  CORN!
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.)
OMAHA (Neb.) Jan. 17.--(Exclusive Dispatch.)  President Taft will be invited to attend the National Corn Exposition to be held in Omaha next December and the gastronomic repertoire to be spread for him in event he accepts the invitation will be dishes made from corn by Miss Jessica Bassack, head of the domestic science and woman's department of the exposition, who "cooks corn in three hundred and one different ways."
   "Cream of corn, Philadelphia scrapple, corn on the cob, journey corn, corn salad, corn muffins and cornstarch pudding," said Miss Bassack, "will all be on the list of delicacies offered the President.  But Philadelphia scrapple is our specialty."
      CRAB GUMBO.
   (BY DIRECT WIRE TO THE TIMES.)
NEW ORLEANS  Jan. 17.--(Exclusive Dispatch.)  President-elect Taft having already signified his intention of visiting New Orleans either on his way to Panama or on the return trip, accompanied by Philip Werlein, banker and manufacturer, the cooks of the Crescent City, casting about for some dish that will supplant possum in the estimation of the head of the nation.
   New Orleans is famed for crab gumbo, spaghetti and Creole coffee.  The man on his first visit here is always introduced to the quaint cafes in the French market district as something characteristic of the old regime that is fast passing out.
   There is much ceremny in dining on spaghetti, according to the custom prevalent in the foreign section of the city.  One must provide for reservation ahead of time, andcome in personal contact with the "creator" of the dish to be enjoyed to the full.  A floor covered with snow white sand is a very necessary adjunct, as is the marble-topped table.


(Anybody ever see a picture of Taft?  Did he miss many meals?--ed.)