Pick it up again, my friend, for the love of the P!

I love pineapple.
I love, love, love, love, loooooooove me some pineapple.
Not from a can.
Not from a greenhouse somewhere in South America that is sold under ripened to me via an out-of-season grocer's produce section.
I'm talkin' big golden, naturally ripened, plump, tropical, mean little sweet bastards that lure you in with their intoxicating scent from three feet away.

It is March, and that means it is peak season for one of my favorite foods.

My relationship with this fiber-rich, vitamin-packed flavor bomb dates back to my early childhood, where a love of juice quickly blossomed in to a fruit addiction. It is in this time period that I began requesting fruit salads and pineapple upside-down cake for every occasion. The perfectly caramelized rings that perched atop the sweet and sticky cake was etched on to my tongue forever as a comfort food, and remains so today, even with a far more educated palate and years of tasting experience.

As I grew in to my trade as a chef, I became more aware of the different nutritional and culinary values that pineapple brings to the table(pun, albeit a bad one, intended). The world opened up its coffers of knowledge and inspiration and I soon found myself making fried, candied, baked, grilled and broiled pineapple among others.

Like a Dr.Suess story not involving eggs and ham, I would put it in salsas, picos and breadstuffs, in soups and in pie. In salads, as glazes, on meat-things, dipped in spices or coconut and ready to fry!
I was sauteing with Thai food, dehydrating in sea salt, and pickling with booze,
I was running a golden ringed and cubed circus with my spikey fruit muse!
In can be savory, or sugary, curried or smokey
Spicy or crispy, or in jello molds that are hokey
Any way you core it, it's always the same,
No matter the method, or recipe name...

It's delicious juices dripping down a satisfied grin,
you'll surely know when the pineapple season is in!

OK, I'll stop for now. I think I have made my point.
But, I am going to put up a few recipes here in the next few days that hopefully some of you will give a try. All will utilize this lovely ingredient. They will range in difficulty, but most will follow the Fatman's general rules of maximum flavor and minimal monetary and physical output (where possible). I hope that you learn to enjoy this magnificent fruit as much as I; and if you've never had the taste for it, maybe you learn a new method of preparation that changes your mind.

As always, I welcome your feedback, your recipe ideas, or related stories.
Thank you my thin amigos...

Talk to you soon,
MK

One of the oldest written recipes in the world...

is for beer.

Gotta love mankind for that. I ran across this little guy wen I did a research project on Home Brewing. I wanted to know a little about the history, and methodology behind making beer itself, and this is one thing I found...

This recipe is the oldest surviving recipe for beer made from barley via bread in a poem about the patron brewing goddess Ninkasi, Sumerian circa 3900 b.c.

Ninkasi, you are the one who bakes the bappir in the big oven,
Puts in order the piles of hulled grains,
You are the one who waters the malt set on the ground...

You are the one who holds with both hands the great sweet wort...

Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates

*single tear*
that was beautiful.

And this ancient poem/recipe also reminded me that I need to get on the ball with this home brewing business!!! I haven't brewed since the beginning of the year, and there is no excuse for that. So anyone interested in learning the process can come and join me for some brew and "Q" this coming week(most likely Tuesday evening). We'll cook some grub, make a batch of something even old Ninkasi would be proud of, and put a few back in the process.

More coming up on beer and food relations in the near future my skinny pals,

mk