The 1-ingredient icecream redux

I decided to revisit the intriguing 1-ingredient "ice-cream" that was blogged about a few years ago and actually try it. Bananas with that magic window of time between perfection and soggy ripeness are the basis for this terrific idea. Originally seen on the Kitchn,  this is an extremely easy way to get a rich and healthy dessert, without the use of an icecream maker, any diary products or additional sweetening agents.

A simple enough process: slice bananas and freeze for a couple of hours. Add frozen pieces to a food processor and blend. Lots and lots of blending & spatula work later, you end up with a nice creamy consistency....Voila !!

Simple and Delicious! Add toppings to taste - chopped almonds, cherries, chocolate sauce....so many variations abound but the simple 1 ingredient banana seems best and true to spirit..

In trying to understand why this works (why do bananas work and other fruit not?) - some theories (including one from the great Nathan Myrhvold) postulate  that its due to the pectin content. Pectin is essentially a complex sugar found in cell walls, which is used as a gelling agent. When bananas ripen, the enzyme pectinase breaks down the pectin resulting in the characteristic softening. A quick check shows that on average, bananas have around 1% pectin. In comparison, an orange has around 2.3% and an apple ~0.8%. So I am tempted to think that this not the only component. Is it the fat? Bananas have only ~ 0.3g of fat. It does have sugar ~ 28 g. I think that the combination of the sugar, pectin and the fat together with low fiber content undergo shear in the food processor such that the emulsions formed during freezing are broken. This then appears to result in coalescence of the fat with the resulting creamy texture.  

One note is that this ice-cream needs to be eaten soon. If you try refreezing, it becomes hard again and needs to be reprocessed back to its original creamy consistency. Luckily a reversible process !

3 is a odd number

Pete Wells has an interesting discussion on the concept of "small plates" over at the NYT (The Big Problem with Small Plates). Over the last year or so, we've noticed quite an increase in the number of places in Richmond that have hopped on to this trend.
Some places around do small plates better than others, but typically it does appear that the amounts served, coupled with the prices charged dont often make this a workable concept for the diner(s).
So is this an issue of supply-side economics or does "plate sharing" indeed drive traffic positively?

I like the solution in many parts of Spain -not only are the tapas/pintxos of reasonable size but they also can come with an option of a raciones which is larger and meant to be shared by larger groups.

Blog title comes from the pedantic mathematical conundrum of having to share 3 items on a small plate - 3 scallops, 3 slices of bread etc! I love 3s (trifectas, triumvirates, trinities and all) but does this help any but groups of 3x ?

Huevos con chorizo y tomate !

1111!!11! for farmer's market produce.

Edit: Riches abound. There is a new Farmer's Market in town. This one is in Carytown:
The Carytown Farmers Market is now open ! Now serving RVA on Sundays.

Life cycles

It was with some sadness that I read of more restaurants closing in Richmond. Even considering the fickle nature of this business with its high turnover rate, this is of course, unfortunate at many levels. From a purely statistical perspective, a well-cited study of restaurant closings estimated that in the first year, 26% close. Another 19% close in the second year, and 14% in the third. Roughly, 6 out 10 restaurants close in 3 years! So I was curious about the restaurant landscape in RVA over the last 3 years.

I remembered analyzing restaurants way back in 2009; Style Weekly at the time had listed 55 restaurants among the city’s favorites - a fair sampling. So going back to the data from 3 years ago, it was somewhat heartening to note that many of these have stood the test of time. 43 of these 55 are still around (~80% if you’re counting!). Of course, we must remember that several of these were open for years prior as well.

Importantly, most of these still rate highly. In the interim, a few meteors have flashed us by, some brighter than others and a few new stars are burning brightly now. No jinxes but we’ll revisit today's list in 2015 !! Apologies for the quasi-morbidity and Good Luck to all and those yet to come...
Cook from life !!

The Red Devils

Wine sponsorships of sports teams seem relatively rare in comparison to the ubiquity of say, beer ... So the union of two devils (logo coincidence?) was certainly interesting when Concha y Toro, the huge Chilean wine conglomerate joined up with the big bad boy of the Premier League a few years ago. To mark the IPO of Manchester United on the NYSE this past week, we raised a toast with a glass of their widely available Casillero del Diablo... EPL begins in 1 week !

Sally Bell's kitchen

Boxed lunch from Sally Bell's kitchen @ 708 W Grace Street.
Sandwich + potato salad + 1/2 deviled egg + cookie + cupcake ~ $9