What's New?

Blueberry Summers: Growing Up at the Lake, by Curtiss Anderson ( $19.95, Borealis Books, an imprint of the Minnesota Historical Society Press). First of all, let me say that Curt and I are not related – except by profession. He was my editor-in-chief on three national magazines: The Ladies’ Home Journal . . . then Venture: The Traveler’s World . . . then Diversion. Now comes Curt’s affecting memoir of boyhood summers spent beside a Minnesota lake with his extended Norwegian family. He writes of coming-of-age joys and agonies (among them puppy love), he introduces us to characters both comic and crotchety (every family has its share). I’ve always known that Curt was a gifted writer, but in Blueberry Summers much of his prose is poetry:

“ . . . those simmering days on a northern Minnesota lake, one among thousands that seemed strewn like blue confetti by the hand of God “

“ Even as these isolated lakes had been patient for a glacial eternity, it seemed to me our blueberry summers would never end. No one would really age.”

“The blueberry patches, as onerous and glorious as life itself, would continue to stroll along our trails, climb our hills, and saunter down our valleys.”

Food was an important part of Curt’s Blueberry Summers , particularly the cooking of lake neighbor Clara Johnson, who could fry “small sunfish with their delicate bones so perfectly that the skeleton lifted away like a widow’s veil.” Northern pike and walleye further demonstrated Clara’s prowess with an old cast-iron skillet. Once dredged in seasoned flour and nicely browned in her vintage frying pan, she would allow these fish to linger there “with the timing of a Barrymore.”

Clara’s particular specialty, however, were doughnuts, “never donuts,” Curt noted, adding that they “could have made her famous had she been willing to share her recipe with the world.” Luckily for us, it appears on page 27.

Neal’s Deli, 100-C East Main St., Carrboro, NC, is barely open but already winning raves. The duo behind what’s billed as a “mom ‘n’ pop urban- and European-style deli” are Matt Neal and his wife, Sheila (who until recently managed the Carrboro Farmer’s Market). Matt’s the son of food writer Moreton Neal and the late Bill Neal, who made Chapel Hill’s Crook’s Corner mecca for southern foodies. Neal’s Deli may have only a few tables and counter stools but its menu is impressive: home-cured pastrami with Swiss cheese, slaw, and Russian dressing on rye and, I’m told,a killer liverwurst whenever Cliff’s Meat Market around the corner has exactly what their recipe requires. There are muffulettas, too, subs, pan bagna (oil-and-vinegar-dressed albacore tuna with anchovies, capers, onions, and roasted peppers on a baguette), even a porchetta sandwich (pork shoulder stuffed with garlic, fennel seeds, sage, and rosemary on rustic white). All breads, by the way, come from Guglhupf, an artisanal bakery a few miles away in Durham. Sides include soups-of-the-day, salads, sauerkraut, and creamy slaw, all of them homemade. Ditto the deluxe chocolate pudding, New York-style cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookies. Hours:11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day except Sunday.

What is it? Cutting-edge chefs are the first to experiment with novel ingredients and drop them into their menus. Here are half a dozen I spotted recently.

• Aged Black Garlic: White garlic fermented a month or so until dark, earthily sweet, and the consistency of jelly. Luscious with roast chicken, awesome in aioli sauce, especially when paired with grilled calamari.
• Cardamom Shoots: The bamboo-like shoots of cardamom. Lemony/spicy like the more familiar cardamom pods, but more delicate. Prominent in the cuisine of Singapore.
• Crosnes: Tiny, faun-skinned, corkscrew-shaped tubers popular in Japan and China. Though a member of the mint family, they have the nutty-sweet crunch of Jerusalem artichokes. Good creamed into soup, good shaved into salad.
• Gianduja: A sweet Italian chocolate containing about 50 percent hazelnut or almond paste. Heaven in gelato, pudding, and cake.
• Guanciale: Bacon-y, salt-and-pepper-cured pork jowl. Richer than pancetta, spicier, too, it’s integral to such Italian classics as pasta all’amatriciana. But I had it the other night in a sensational mac ‘n’ cheese.
• Gyoza: The Japanese word for dumplings or pot stickers.