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05/01/2005 Archived Entry: "Japanese TV and Notes on Passover Recipes"

It was a hectic last week. As you know, “Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food” was named Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals, as well as best American cookbook. Many of you sent me wonderful congratulatory notes. Thank you, thank you. And I have gotten other attention. Right now, a Japanese TV crew is following me around. Last Tuesday, they were in my apartment all day, shooting me (and Lou DiPalo) while we were on the radio, interviewing Lou, interviewing me, taking shots around my house – my books, my cooking equipment. I felt slightly invaded. What won’t I do to become the next big thing in Japan?

Hideo Nakimura, the producer of this weekly Japanese program, called Streets of New York, is also going to follow me to lunch at ‘21’ tomorrow, to celebrate my award with a friend. They’ll then follow me at the James Beard Awards, where I am nominated in the best American cookbook category. I hate sitting through these awards, but it will be fun, I have to admit, showing up with a Japanese TV crew. It’s even better than showing up with a beautiful woman on your arm.

Then, on Wednesday, we are shooting again, but this time the focus isn’t entirely me, it is me talking about New York and hot dogs at various hot dog Meccas. For instance, the longest and fattest hot dog in New York is at the Brooklyn Diner on 57th Street near Seventh Ave. Then, the best, most typical New York dog – all beef, spicy and with a skin -- is Nathan’s. A tropical drink – coconut, papaya -- as an accompaniment to a hot dog is a uniquely New York phenomenon, so we’ll stop at either Papaya King or Gray’s Papaya. Of course, I will have to explain why although I never (well, hardly ever) eat hot dogs from carts on the street, I would hate to see them disappear. And I’ll talk about how I cannot pass up a Jewish delicatessen with hot dogs in the window. Fortunately, there aren’t too many of them left. But there’s always Katz’s.

To totally change the subject, I haven’t had to cook for Passover in probably 25 years. I mean, I haven’t had to make the whole seder meal. But I did this year. I even used a few of the recipes on my website – www.arthurschwartz.com , in case you forgot – and that is always nerve-wracking. In fact, I caught a couple of changes I would like to make:

My family’s walnut sponge cake, for instance, has a direction to dust the pan with matzoh cake meal. It’s a waste of time. And the pan size is 10 inches. How I came up with that I have no idea. I used my grandmother’s very pan and measured it – it’s nine inches across the bottom, which is where a pan is measured.

I also made the butter crunch matzoh candy from my friend Marcy Goldman in Montreal. This time around I felt 1 cup of chocolate bits, not just 2/3, was in order.

Finally, there is a simple apple cake recipe on the site that calls for flour. Actually, originally, that recipe was made with matzoh meal, and I think it is even better with the meal, rather than flour. However, one direction is slightly off – there will not be enough batter to cover a layer of apples completely. Don’t worry. It comes out fine anyway. I love this cake, actually, and although it is excellent fresh from the oven, I find I like it better the day after it is baked.

A couple of nights ago, I made matzoh brie flavored with fried red onion, with roasted asparagus on the side.. It’s a great combination that I always look forward to during Passover. While I still have plenty of matzoh meal in the house, I will probably make the cottage cheese chremslach on my website. Check it out in the Maven’s Diary.
Oh, and Happy Easter to my Greek and Orthodox friends.