July « 2010 « Smart Kitchen

July, 2010

White Mana, Jersey City vs. White Manna, Hackensack

I have been criticized, (by Mrs. P Chef primarily) in my initial posts of being very positive about my subject matter. The implication was that, perhaps, I might lack objectivity. I am not partisan, and am not compensated by any of the places I review so that prospect did not worry me. And today, I am vindicated. Read on for my first review of a stinker.

The Exterior of White Mana, Jersey City, New Jersey

For those of you aware of the North Jersey burger rivalry between White Mana in Jersey City, and White Manna in Hackensack, you might wonder, as I did, why White Manna gets all the press. I ruminated that it might be that White Mana, the original, is further, by standard transport, from Manhattan and its Foodies, or that one building is cuter than the other. Now that I have visited both, I believe that the answer is simpler. White Manna, the more northerly contestant, has more going for it, than an extra “N.” Put another way, my visit to White Mana in Jersey City was a dud, flatter than their dry pancake of a burger.

The Dry Pucks from White Mana, Jersey City, New Jersey

Having left the packed White Manna ten minutes prior, I grew concerned as I arrived. To my eye, the neighborhood wasn’t great but I decided location wouldn’t keep this chef from the food. As I stepped in, I became worried. White Mana was empty, with nothing staged & sizzling on the grill and the glass showcase window was caked with grime. Grime on surfaces is often a bad sign. If they aren’t cleaning what you can see, what about what you can’t see?

Dirty Display at White Mana, Jersey City, New Jersey

If the Showcase is Dirty, What else is Dirty?

Quite a bit bigger than White Manna and with similar parking, the Sardine Factor should have favored the Jersey City Mana. I ordered the default comparison item, “cheese burger” and watched in horror as a pre-packaged grey patty was flopped down. As compared to White Manna in Hackensack, I was served quickly and without a memory test for who was where in line. That was a plus. A negative was how bland the burger tasted. I admit that I considered only eating half of the little burger, but remembered that I would not be eating again until Washington D.C. Putting all the pickles on the cheese burger, salvaged the remaining bites by raising the slider to a semi-palatable taste, something like a McDonald’s burger, but without mega processed tastes.

In exploring the rivalry, I learned what the locals, who pack one and avoid the other, already know. White Mana is a dud and White Manna is a stud. I give White Mana with one “n” a grade of “N” for “No Good”.

Two Post-Scripts: As I was leaving I discovered the only reason to visit White Mana besides weighing in on the debate: the Men’s Room*. It’s low and dingy, and reminds me of a Halloween funhouse bathroom with its off kilter floor and single low watt bulb. I closed the door and braced reflexively for a Boogey Man to jump out and literally scare the you know what out of me. After a morning traveling for the Smart Kitchen, I didn’t need the help. Since I couldn’t wait, I ignored the warning voice in my head and ventured from the light into the darkest recesses where I imagined the commode might be. All I could think about was that in the movies, the dummy gets it when he/she pokes around in the dark corner. In the shadows, I found the sneaky seat-less, naked commode. To another visitor, with other business, it could have been a pants wetting monster. Good thing my visit was a coffee break.

Missing seat on toilet at White Mana Jersey City NJ

That First Sit is a "Doo-zy"

A second post-script. To the owners of White Mana in Jersey City, a suggestion, if you don’t have the passion or interest to make great sliders, sell out to the Hackensack folks, make better burgers for everyone and end the “N”-sanity of which place is which.

Finally, look for our write up of White Manna, our choice in the battle, nearby on the blog.

*Sorry ladies that the restroom is not a gender neutral observation. If you happen to visit after the bad reviews and have to see the horror of the commode, have a male companion knock and hold the door for you and peak.

White Manna, Hackensack, NJ

This won’t be a long post. White Manna is very good. The classic diner façade is beautiful, Lou, his face a mask of concentration, is a site to see when working the grill and its fun to rub elbows with the locals.

White Manna Art Deco Diner Hackensack New Jersey

A Beautiful Diner from Another Age

White Manna is busy because it’s popular and it’s popular for the right reasons. It was my favorite slider burger so far this summer, especially at the $1.30 price.

Cheeseburger Sliders from White Manna, Hackensack, NJ

Some of the nuts and bolts to keep in mind: all the orders are taken and fulfilled by memory, as Lou, performing like a hibachi chef in front of his audience, tends the meat, clangs spatulas, and feeds us all. If you are going to visit, bring a sharp memory because though it looks like mob-service in the non-line line, it isn’t. By observation, I deduced that everyone had a pretty good idea of who was up next to give Lou their order. The sneaks were playing it cool but everyone was keeping tabs on the non-line, line’s progress and on whose order was being packed into the paper sacks.

If I were to be very critical, I might nickname the place “White Mini” for the cramped structure and miniature dining room but in the end, the size is part of the charm. Everyone can enjoy the show and the size encourages the patrons to interact. If you are considering visiting White Manna from nearby, I’d go and experience it for yourself.

BBQ / Burgers / Chefs / Culinary Travel / Dessert / Pie / Restaurants — 1 Comment
30
Jul 10

Summer Food Drive E-W 2010

Where is that $%^& Turn Off!?

The return of the Summer Food Drive is fast approaching. Starting tomorrow P Chef will be on the road for a few days and thousands of miles of food touring. The drive is shaping up to be about burgers, BBQ & Pie, with a few sightseeing, sleep and gym stops along the way. As usual, to further help guard my “A-Bit-Past-Svelt” figure, the only food consumption will occur at designated food stops. So they better be good, or I’m on a “poor-planning” diet.

The main food stops are :

1. Ted’s Steamed Burgers: 1046 Broad St Meriden, CT 06450 Burgers

2. White Manna: 358 River St Hackensack, NJ 07601 Burgers

3. GYM

4. White Mana: 470 Tonnele Ave Jersey City, NJ 07307 Burgers

5. Ray’s Hellburger: 1725 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA 22201 Burgers

6. Seasonal Cook: 416 W Main St Charlottesville, VA 22903 Cookware

7. Rosewood Dairy Bar: 3003 Rosewood Dr Columbia, SC 29205 Pimento Burgers

8. Birmingham Bake & Cook Co Inc 5291 Valleydale Road Birmingham, AL 35242- 7707 (205) 980-3661 Cookware

9. Oxford, MS Just a Cool Town (maybe I can research some Southern Purveyors and find a gym)

10. Craig Bros Cafe 15 Walnut De Valls Bluff, AR 72041 (870) 998-2616 BBQ

11. Family Pie Shop: Across the street in De Valls Bluff, AR 72041 PIE

12. Hot Springs, AR Curious About the Place

13. Hope, AR Curious About the Place

14. Texarkana, Tx Curious About the Place

15. Zion’s Church/Wards BBQ: 2601 Montgomery Rd, Huntsville, TX 77340 BBQ

16. Monument Café: 500 S Austin Ave Georgetown, TX 78626 PIE

17. GYM

18. Texas Pie Company: 202 W Center St, Kyle, TX 78640 PIE

19. Blanco Bowling Club: 310 4th St Blanco, TX 78606 PIE

20. Perini’s Ranch: Hwy 89 Buffalo Gap, TX 79508 Best Steak in US?

21. B&E Burrito: 303 Franklin Street Hatch, NM 87937 (575) 267-5191 @ Green Chili Season – B&E is a 500 mile favorite of mine. If I’m within 500 miles, I’m going. And I’m going even though Mrs. P Chef would disapprove of the B&E, a place that looks like it was built to just to prevent a Breaking & Entering. And it still looks that way, even once you’re inside. I’m never sure that they were’nt just robbed. And then there is the Giant Fly Wrestling. It is a challenge to keep the winged varments at bay. Who thought they’d be partial to both your red and your green chile. But despite the negatives, the flavor is a greater draw and outweighs the negatives 3 to 1. Green chili so hot it makes you cry, okay it makes me cry. But it is also so good that I can’t help taking another painful bite. And then another, and another until the whole nuclear burrito dissappears bite, by painfully good bite, from the tear stained plate.

Resembling a Bunker, Doesn't Protect you From the Heat of their Food.

22. Smart Kitche & Home. ‘Nuff Said.

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P Chef’s Hammer Down

Bakery / BBQ / Burgers / New Mexican / Restaurants — No Comments
30
Jul 10

Why a Summer Food Drive?

A Great Treasure of Americana: Holly Springs, MS

The return of the Summer Food Drive is fast approaching. Starting tomorrow your P Chef will be hitting the road solo for a few days and thousands of miles of food touring. The drive is shaping up to be about burgers, BBQ & Pie, with a few sightseeing, sleep and gym stops along the way. I love finding an unspoilt gem like Holly Springs, MS above, being overcome with it, like you never want to leave. But then the road (or Mrs. P Chef) calls and 10 minutes later, you’re lost in a new and exciting and infuriating place. See below for that obscure, GPS defing road to the Phillips’ Grocery burger place outside of Holly Springs.

The road to Phillips Grocery in Holly Springs, MS

The Joy of Searching for the Right Road to that Little Place!

In this instance, after exhausting all possibilities and making a few circuits, the correct road ended up being the little driveway looking thing in the middle. And then once on the right road, another gracious tableau discovered at Phillips’ Grocery, which was built across from a former train station, now abandoned.

It was a Beautiful Find

I was waiting for the Ghost of Casey Jone's to Fly on By

The Front Window of Phillips Grocery est. 1848

You Could Tell it was Est. Before the War 'tween the States

So you drive all this out of the way and you love the look and the feel. The whole abandoned, pre-civil war, ambience thing is like stumbling on a “Faulkneric” mythical Brigadoon. And then you face the real burning question. You haven’t eaten in 350 miles. What will the food be like? That is the curiousity that kills this cat. And the curiousity that fuels my search, mile after mile and year after year, for another perfect, often unobtainable meal.

I was Expecting a Ghost Burger but Got Much Better

In this case the food was good, but not great, not in line with the expectations driven by the distance, or the ambience. In fact the burger was probably decent but got an ambience bump up to “Good” by the whole “Finding Lost Dixie” thing. There should be a 2009 blog post about the actual visit to Phillips’ Grocery, but my point in writing today is to get my psych on for the upcoming miles.

Healthy Eating / Historical Foods / Recipes / Salads — 1 Comment
29
Jul 10

Vene, Vine-gar, We See

Tart Potted Salad - Just Like in Ancient Rome

Vene, Vidi, Vici. “I came, I saw, I conquered” spoke Caesar. If I spoke latin, the writer in me could only hope that our word play title above means, I came, I added Vinegar and we’ll see if it is good. For that is the approach we took when attempting to drag the Roman epicure, Apicius’ recipe for Tart Potted Salad into the modern age.

Being aware of the general consumer sentiment towards chicken liver and its availability, SK Chef and I adapted Apicius’ recipe one night and shopped for ingredients the following day. In adapting the recipe, we wanted to preserve the “potted look” of an ancient meal, but appeal to main-stream, modern tastes while creating a salute to things Roman. We made some substitutions, including the addition of Romaine Lettuce and grated Pecorino Romano. Both were obvious Roman Choices. We also upped the egg yolks, for visual appeal and swapped out the white bread, for a sliced sourdough. We thought that the robust and flavorful sourdough bread would stand up to the vinegar soaking and also lend some taste and mouth feel. The chicken livers went, in favor of chicken tenderloin sautèed with some olive oil and paprika, a period appropriate spice. We would have preferred thin sliced poblano chilies, but chilies, a product of the new world, were unknown in Rome. Finally, we used actual clay pots (well cleaned and with no drain holes) to capture the spirit of Roman earthenware cookery.

Having low expectations of the recipe from a dead empire, we were pleasantly surprised at the re-creation. While going back in time mentally, eating our Tart Potted Salad was also like doing a culinary archeological dig, spawning new thoughts on history with each layer of ingredients we dug down through. We can certainly say that the experience was interesting, in the best sense of the word and I for one, intend to attempt to recreate the past more often. Our adaptation for Tart Potted Salad which makes 2-3 good sized servings follows.

Smart Kitchen’s Tart Potted Salad

Ingredients for Smart Kitchen’s Tart Potted Salad:

1/4 lb. sourdough bread
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano

1 package of good water packed goat Feta Cheese

1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup pickled capers
1/2 lb. sautèed chicken tenderloin, chopped
1/4 teaspoon of Paprika for flavor and color.
1 poblano pepper, sliced if not attempting Roman Purity

4 Hardboiled egg yolks

To Make The Smart Kitchen Tart Potted Salad
The idea here is to build the salad in layers. Begin by giving the sourdough bread a quick dunk in a mixture of vinegar and water. Remove the bread and let it rest while getting the chicken chopped, sprinkled with paprika and into the sautèe pan. While the chicken is cooking, mold the softened bread into the bottom of the salad bowls (or clay pots) by pressing it down into the dish.

Get the softened sourdough "soil" down in there.

Drizzle a bit of red wine vinegar on the bread layer. Then sprinkle with some of the chopped nuts and arrange the cucumber slices in a layer. Cover the strata with some crumbled feta cheese.

Layer the Ingredients into the Pot

Cover the salad layers built so far with some more nuts. Make another layer with cucumber slices and a bit of cheese, then a fourth layer with pickled capers. About now, we’d be checking the sautèe pan and the chicken. As the tenderloin nears completion, add some more paprika to taste. If you are going to add the poblano chile this is the time to add them too. Give the chicken, paprika and maybe the chilies a bit more alone time and focus again on the salad plates.

Fan a handful of romaine lettuce in the center of your plate as a bed for the soon to be finished chicken. Spoon a portion of chicken tenderloin onto the romaine bed in each plate. Drizzle the chicken with some red wine vinegar and Pecorino Romano. Chill the salads and serve with the following ancient dressing borrowed directly from Apicius:

Drizzle with Apicius' Dressing Just Before Serving Chilled

Ingredients for Smart Kitchen Tart Potted Salad Dressing:
1/2 t. chopped fresh mint
dash of ground pepper
1 t. honey
1 T almonds, finely chopped
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
2 hardboiled egg yolks
1 cup mild cheese, shredded

To Make The Smart Kitchen Tart Potted Salad Dressing:
Combine chopped mint, pepper, and honey with chopped nuts, vinegar, and olive oil. Blend with mashed egg yolks. Pour the dressing over the previously chilled salad, top with shredded cheese and serve. And enjoy the step back in time.

"Potted" or "Plated" Tart Potted Salad

Healthy Eating / Historical Foods / Recipes / Salads — 2 Comments
29
Jul 10

Tart Potted Salad from “On Cookery” by Apicius

Tart Potted Salad

We had some good response to Silence Dogood’s blog post on Roman cuisine and wanted to try out the dish most asked for: Tart Potted Salad. After a bit of work in the scroll vault, Silence was able to forward the recipe as written in (and translated from) Apicius in On Cookery:

Ingredients for Tart Potted Salad:

1/4 lb. white bread
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup pickled capers
1/2 lb. cooked chicken livers, chopped

Ingredients For Tart Potted Salad Dressing:

1/2 t. chopped fresh mint
dash of ground pepper
1 t. honey
1 T almonds, finely chopped
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
2 hardboiled egg yolks
1 cup mild cheese, shredded

To Make The Ancient Tart Potted Salad

Soak the bread in the vinegar and water, press it, and use it to cover the bottom of a salad bowl. Sprinkle with some of the chopped nuts. Cover this with the grated cheese and sprinkle with more nuts. Make a third layer with cucumber slices, a fourth with pickled capers, and a fifth with cooked chicken livers, adding a sprinkling of nuts to each layer. Chill, and serve with the following dressing:

To Make the Ancient Tart Potted Salad Dressing:

Combine chopped mint, pepper, and honey with chopped nuts, vinegar, and olive oil. Blend with mashed egg yolks. Pour the dressing over the chilled salad, and top with shredded cheese. Serve.

The directions are somewhat sparce, owing to the old Roman’s spartan writing. In a blog post coming shortly we will post our modern homage to Tart Potted Salad and cover the preparation process in more detal.

P Chef

Farming / Ingredients / Produce — No Comments
28
Jul 10

RIP Paolo Urbani

We Will Miss You Paolo

Paolo Urbani (1931 – 2010) who brought Italian truffles to the world died in Umbria on June 17 at 78.

He was nick named ”Re del Tartufo” in Italian or in English “The King of Truffles”. His family firm is Urbani Tartufi, which his ancestors founded in the 19th Century. The firm, which Paolo ran with his brother Bruno, was one of the first major truffle merchants and today claims 70% of the world market for both black and white truffles.

The coveted fungi grow on the roots of oaks and other trees have a history stretching back to classical times. In the modern era, air travel made it easier to expand sales of the highly perishable truffles to the world. In the beginning of distribution to America, Vespa riding boys, picked up the truffles from Kennedy airport and rushed them to New York City restaurants. Today truffles flow through the regular network of distributors where their popularity is straining the supply side.

In the common imagination, pigs still hunt for truffles, but in actuality, dogs have replaced pigs as the hunters’ animal sleuths. Pigs like to eat truffles almost as much as people do and the high priced shrinkage and other losses were becoming unacceptable. Old Truffle hunters known as “cavatori” or extractors used to be recognized by their missing fingers, lost wrestling product from the truffle pigs. Dogs are better team players.

Sourcing more wild truffles directly was difficult because the locations of the actual productive trees are a closely guarded secret. To promote further growth, Urbani had to get creative. Urbani first organized the purchasing process by building a network of buyers throughout Italy to supply them with truffles. But even with prices for prime white truffles topping $3,000 an ounce, demand continued to grow.

Technology has helped some too. The bidding process among the small army of extractors, is managed online now and by 9 AM Paolo knew how many truffles had been found in France, Italy & Spain and what the asking prices were. But still demand grew, out-stripping the wild sources. To improve availability, Mr. Urbani pioneered truffle cultivation. Before his death he was optimistic about its prospects. Today over half of Italy’s production of Black Truffles are cultivated. The more pricey white truffles are still hunted and harvested the old fashioned way.

I was fortunate enough to run across some Urbani Truffle Butter in New York state and had an impromptu wake. You too may want to celebrate the life of this culinary pioneer.

P Chef

Pizza / Restaurants — No Comments
23
Jul 10

Worldy Summer Pleasure

A Tall Order to be the World's Pie

World Pie has it all.

Working the Pizza Station

We visited this summer and sat outside on the porch/patio. Great Pizza for all, including the kids (all under 5) and something for Moms & Dad’s too.

All NY Pizza Shines, World Pie's Was a Bit Shinier.

I would not normally suggest ordering Clams Casino at a pizza joint, but since World Pie is a classy, upscale pizza joint in the Hamptons, I thought I’d give it a try.

Clams at a Pizza Joint? OK!

They were terrific, as was the chicken, the salmon, just about everything.

We Don't Usually Cover Up The Entree

The Salmon was Wild Caught

This Was the Hot One for the Night.

Even the cocktails courtesy of the full bar, were, on a summer evening with yelling kids, surprisingly good.

P Chef

Healthy Eating — No Comments
18
Jul 10

Live to Eat and be Hedonic

MRI Image of a Hedonic Brain exhibiting "Food Pleasure"

How the Hedonic Bran exhibits "Food Pleasure"

WHAT’S THE QUESTION?

For most it’s a question as old as Socrates, but in the culinary world it’s stale because the answer is a given: Live to Eat.

Melinda Block of The Wall Street Journal Health Journal on July 13,2010 added some insight in her interesting article on obesity research. The article was entitled “Eating to Live or Living to Eat” . Melinda does an admirable job of describing cutting edge obesity research conducted with test subjects and MRI imaging. If you are interested in the specifics of the research but are not an MD, or leaning that direction, she puts the medical jargon and concepts into chunks even a layman (or a cook) can understand. Just follow the link above to read her work.

For the synopis continue here. In general, MRI studies confirm what most of us inherently feel; that eating past our bodies full signal is frequently co-incident with obesity and that obese people have a brain chemistry which exhibit stronger “reward” reactions to sweet laden or fatty foods than do those of the healthy weight population.

Those who live to eat for pleasure, like myself, are classified as Hedonic Eaters. Those who eat to survive are labeled Homeostatic Eaters. According to Susan Carnell, a research psychiatrist at the New York Obesity Research Center at Columbia University, when hedonic eaters, “see high-calorie foods, a wide-spread network of brain areas involved in reward, attention, emotion, memory and motor planning is activated and all the areas talk to each other, making it hard to resist.” The reaction does not occur when the hedonic subject hears or sees lower calorie foods like Zucchini. The hedonic eaters also had the strong reward reactions whether they were hungry or not. On the MRI images, the homeostatic eaters had much less forceful reactions to the high calorie foods, and then only if they were hungry.

The findings suggest that obesity in hedonic eaters may be linked to dysfunction in the homeostatic systems that signal fullness and thoughts of pleasure at further consumption. Because of this, the obese are likely more susceptible to external eating cues. Personlly, I am fghting a touch and go battle that involves, will power, lean times and fat times, and the gym.

At Smart Kitchen, we promote a healthy enjoyment of good foods and encourage our members and the public at large (no pun intended) to eat reasonably in content, frequency and portion sizes. But we also encourage you to enjoy your nutrition needs to the fullest and see them as an opportunity to enjoy eating the freshest and tastiest meals possible. We celebrate good food and good nutrition by teaching students to have both. It is what we call smart cooking.

Bakery / Baking / Chefs / Dessert / Interview / Marie Jackson / Restaurants — 7 Comments
16
Jul 10

Interview with Marie Jackson of The Flaky Tart

James Beard nominated outstanding pastry chef Marie Jackson of The Flaky Tart

Always Running, Marie Jackson stops to speak with a Customer

*Note the children’s beach buckets in Marie’s hands. The Flaky Tart makes a great kids’ cake that looks like it just came from the beach with a full load of sand, but is really carrying a sweet surprise.

- Interview -

Marie Jackson of The Flaky Tart in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, an outstanding pastry chef, offered to answer a few questions for our members about baking and baking as a career.

Smart Kitchen: What is the biggest lesson you have learned about baking since starting The Flaky Tart?

Marie Jackson: The biggest lesson is that as much as baking is a science it is also an art that requires mastery. So even though you should read cookbooks or watch baking on TV, or take as many classes as you can, nothing beats experience. Having said that though, in order to master the skills you need to have them in the first place. So what I’ve also learned is to find great teachers and learn from them, whether it is a favorite cookbook author (Rose Berenbaum, Carol Walters, Nancy Silverton) or a favorite teacher (Ciril Hitz). You have to find someone you trust and then do the work over and over and over and over, you get the point, to get there.

Smart Kitchen: What is the biggest lesson you have learned about going from an enthusiast baker to an acclaimed commercial baker?

Marie Jackson: The biggest lesson is that they are two completely different animals. Baking at home is fun, relaxing and rewarding. You need to be precise and skillful but you also can relax and play. Mistakes are sometimes just as yummy.

What you need to be a commercial baker, beside skill and stamina, is bells of steel (a slight edit). In a business, things are constantly going wrong, walk-in refrigerators die overnight when you have special orders inside, though the fans keep running when the compressor dies, so your walk-in may hit a steamy 80 degrees while you are sleeping; dishwashers don’t show up on holiday weekends when every bowl it the place is dirty by 5 am; huge, expensive batches of product get miss-scaled by interns, customers show up for orders you’ve never heard of because somebody screwed up the order; and the baby shower for 85 is in 2 hours and on and on. But you have to “stay calm and carry on” because you have to fix it. Being a commercial baker is for the few and the brave.

Smart Kitchen: Do you have any tips for bakers just starting out?

Marie Jackson: Go to the most fabulous place you know where they are doing work you love and beg (on your hands and knees if necessary) to intern with them. Wash dishes, hull strawberries, clean the gunk off their chef clogs if they want you to- whatever- but get into a great kitchen and learn from the best.

Smart Kitchen: Where did you get your initial baking interest and initial baking skills?

Marie Jackson: According to my Mom I used to make “cakes” in my sandbox and try to sell them to her. She was not surprised at all that I eventually opened a bakery. [Smart Kitchen: the sand box theme recurs]

My initial interest was not in making baked goods but in eating them. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up (and any that we did have went to Catholic school education) so we never had store bought snacks in the house. Fruit was as good as it got. I can remember having that scary dinner of cut up hot dogs mixed with baked beans more often than I care to admit. But mom did make awesome cookies and homemade bread. And my grandfather, a retired army officer (he was a paratrooper in WWII) was always perfecting his bread recipe. He sent all his grandkids homemade bread when we were away at college. He gave me my first and most personally valuable cookbook: Beard on Bread.

Also, I was obsessed in high school (RBC) with the crumb cake from the German bakery on Monmouth Street. We used to sneak off campus before school to get it while it was still hot. It is still my favorite pastry memory of all time (including trips to patisseries in Paris!). I also used to eat a chocolate cupcake from Freedman’s bakery (it used to be on the corner of Broad and Peter’s Place) every day after school. And the Bagel Oven on Monmouth Street opened around then too. Those were the days when bagels were considered ethnic food- and I was also obsessed. I’m pretty sure all my babysitting money went towards baked goods. I baked birthday cakes and Christmas cookies growing up, and later got interested in bread baking but honestly never thought of it as anything more than a way to get really great stuff to eat.

Smart Kitchen: When you look back, what do you think now of your own baking skills when you were just starting the shop?

Marie Jackson: When I look back at my skills when I started the shop, I think that I’ve certainly come a long way but I still feel I haven’t even gotten past the tip of the iceberg as far as the learning process goes. I didn’t know at the time how little I actually knew. My skills were OK but I was a fanatic perfectionist so I did whatever I had to do, as many times as I had to, to put out a good product. Now, I’m still a crazy perfectionist but at least I don’t have to kill myself on a daily basis to get the results I want. I have more experience and a better handle on why things go wrong and how to adjust factors so they don’t go wrong quite so much.

Smart Kitchen: We spoke a few years ago about your career change. But I don’t think I asked about your thought process or decision process in changing to a baking career. What was your thought process in changing careers? A lot of people have the fantasy. Do you remember the moment that gave you the confidence to believe you could switch from accounting, I believe, to pastry chef?

Marie Jackson: It went like this – I studied accounting because I had no idea whatsoever what to do with my life, although I did have a sneaking suspicion I would end up a business owner. It was the early eighties and everyone was going to business school so I did too. I liked the predictability and precision of accounting, as opposed to marketing or something, and I was good at math and everyone seemed to think accountants were smart (if nothing else) so that was it- accounting. So when I graduated I had no desire to actually BE and accountant but I had a lot of student loans and not a lot of ideas or money so I got a job in NYC with a Public Accounting firm. It was my first desk job ever and a year in hell. My butt was huge, my skin was green, my hair was falling out and I was about one Absolut Martini away from becoming a full blown alcoholic, not really, but you know what I mean. So, I quit and decided that I would rather live in a cardboard box and do work I loved then ever take another job just for money. And every job I ever loved was in the food business and of all the foods I love, it’s those pastries that steal my heart. And also, pastry and accounting, as strange as it seems, are similar disciplines, demanding precision, accuracy, and math. So, I went to school for pastry.

Smart Kitchen: Thanks so much Marie.

July, 2010

White Mana, Jersey City vs. White Manna, Hackensack

White Manna, Hackensack, NJ

Summer Food Drive E-W 2010

Why a Summer Food Drive?

Vene, Vine-gar, We See

Tart Potted Salad from “On Cookery” by Apicius

RIP Paolo Urbani

Worldy Summer Pleasure

Live to Eat and be Hedonic

Interview with Marie Jackson of The Flaky Tart

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