Two chutneys, one called Mogul, the other a pineapple-ginger, have been added to the long list of delectables on the shelves of the Connoisseur's Corner of Hammacher Schlemmer, 145 East 57th Street. Both of these chutneys are the type called Indian—but Mogul is the more exotic. It has the most tang—a man's condiment. The combination is of apples, raisins, garlic, ginger, onion, lemons, celery seed, brown sugar, and spices innumerable. The other chutney is a sweet, spicy type, favored by women, and featuring pineapple and ginger, with raisins and apples and the usual spice array.
Grandma missed a bet when the didn't freeze the pumpkin pies along with the mince. Cooked pumpkin pie filling, needing only the addition of eggs plus milk, is a new quick-frozen item. The mix consists of cooked sieved pumpkin sweetened with molasses and sugar, and delicately spiced. R. H. Macy and Company have the filling, but buy it from any grocery carrying Bird's Eye foods.
Nova Scotia sends the cloudberry to appease the appetite of Scandinavians who miss this golden fruit of the Arctic. The Nova Scotia packer labels the can “Bake-Apples,” heaven knows why. But open a tin, it's cloudberry all right, a round, yellow fruit built on the style of the red raspberry, and soft to the tongue. Nyborg and Nelson, the Swedish delicatessen at 841 Third Avenue, handle the delicacy, the 8-ounce tin 50 cents.
Believing that little Davids still have their chance against the mighty Goliaths, Ellen Grey, twenty-two, has opened a shop. She has invested her own money, her own ideas—and there is just her own nimble self to run the whole works.
“Deviled Crabs,” you read in black lettering a foot-and-a-half high across the red awning that trims her match-box store at 800 Madison Avenue. In the refrigerated window are deviled crabs on view, stuffed high and mighty with sweet lumps of the crab meat from Chrisfield, M.d., the nation's crab capital. The crabs get their deviling in Ellen's little kitchen back of the shop. “Want to see the kitchen?” Customers are welcome. Everything is gleaming, stove, sink, work table, the caviar ice box—"Taste the caviar, it's fresh out of Russia. Big eggs, see? Scarcely any salt, ＄18 a pound.
“Look into the refrigerator. Here's the stuff for crab deviling.” Creamery butter, fresh eggs, fresh cream, parsley, green peppers. Nearby are two barrels of California dry Sherry. Therein rests the secret goodness of the deviled crab mixture. Or order deviled lobster—but place orders for these one day in advance. Three tender chicken lobsters are used for two servings. The shop doesn't open until 10:30 in the morning. But Miss Twenty-two is there before eight to get the crabs ready.
Green turtle soup and onion soup are other Ellen specialties, made for her by a young Italian who learned the art from his father, a well-known chef of the town. Four-inch long strips of turtle meat are packed into the broth, and the whole is blended with Sherry. The onion soup has a marrow bone base, with turtle meat in this, too, and Sherry singing soprano over onion's deep bass. The kettle-made soups wear the shop's proud label, a glowing scarlet crab being pitch-forked by the Devil.
Since August this young grocer has been searching for fine foods. The result is a remarkable array for food-short times.
Pastry and candy makers who have been searching the shops for a genuine almond paste can find it again at Gimbel's, Broadway and 33rd Street, vacuum-packed, in 5-pound tins, the price ＄5.74. This is a fresh, soft paste made of blanched sweet almonds ground after the extraction of the oil, and easily workable. If kept stored in a refrigerator, it keeps indefinitely for use as it is needed in candies, cookies, and petits fours, but best of all, in macaroons.
A herring is one thing. Sour creamed herring is quite another matter, and sour creamed herring with wine in its sauce is something else again. The addition of wine is a small difference—but oh my! This herring, which is creamed and wine scented by the kitchen of Vendôme Table Delicacies, 415 Madison Avenue, is brought down from Iceland; the wine is a California Chablis; the onions mild and sweet, the spicing delicate. Great crocks of herring are creamed and let stand for a week to give the fish and sauce time to exchange flavors and savors. Herring in sour cream is a main dish for dinner when served with a dry and mealy boiled potato. Hot buttered beets are a good tag-along, with dark bread. In the words of Dr. Samuel Johnson, complimenting his host, “Sir, we could not have had a better dinner had there been a synod of cooks.”
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