Happy Thanksgiving

We would like to thank everyone who chooses to spend time with us at Z&H. We have a lot to be thankful for this year, and the many new friends and great people we have met makes each day terrific. We hope that everyone has a great day and we will see everyone on Friday. We call it 'sandwich Friday', you need fuel to shop.

Brining the Bird

We have an excellent brine for your holiday birds, and a question we get everyday is, Why Brine? Simply put, it makes the bird more succulent. But there is science as well. Delicious science. Roasted turkey breast suffers a sad fate when cooked even a few minutes longer than necessary: dryness. And because turkey is so lean it is a pronounced dryness. The solution is simple. Soaking your turkey in a brine—a solution of salt and water—will ensure a moister and juicier bird.

Moisture loss is inevitable when you roast a bird. Heat causes proteins in the fibers to denature, resulting in some shrinkage and moisture loss. Normally, meat loses about 30 percent of its weight during cooking. But if you soak the bird in a brine first, you can reduce this moisture loss during cooking to as little as 15 percent.

Brining enhances juiciness in several ways. For one, muscle fibers simply absorb liquid during the brining period. Some liquid gets lost during cooking, but as the bird is more juicy at the start of cooking, it ends up juicier. Brined birds typically weigh six to eight percent more than they did before brining, proof of moisture uptake. Another way that brining increases juiciness is by dissolving some proteins. A mild salt solution can dissolve some of the proteins in muscle fibers, turning them from solid to liquid.

Of all the processes at work during brining, the most significant is salt's ability to denature protein. The dissolved salt causes some of the proteins in muscle fibers to unwind and swell. Water from the brine binds directly to these proteins, but even more important, water gets trapped between these proteins when the bird cooks and the proteins bind together. Some of this would happen anyway just during cooking, but the brine unwinds more proteins and exposes more bonding sites. As long as you don't overcook the meat, which would cause protein bonds to tighten and squeeze out a lot of the trapped liquid, these natural juices will be retained.

How long to brine depends on the size and type of bird you've have. A whole turkey will require much more time for the brine to do its thing. In fact, any bird that's brined for too long will dry out and start to taste salty as the salt ends up pulling liquid out of the muscle fibers. Turkey is the ideal candidate for brining; Keep your bird refrigerated during brining, rinse it well afterwards, and don't overcook your holiday friend. If you need more liquid to completely submerge the bird, measure more and add it, along with the proportionate quantity of salt.

In addition to kosher salt, Z&H brine has a treasure trove of herbs and spices as well as turbinado sugar. All this adds flavor as well as moisture to your bird without masking the taste. Try the Z&H brine this year. It will become a new tradition.

Breaking news later today...and now it is later...

interesting news later today......so by now the news (small case) that we will be adding a second location on 57th Street has been announced. We will keep the 'info desk' updated as new developments arise and yo can join us on the adventure.

Book Review: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

An interesting new book, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham.

"Contrary to the dogmas of raw-foods enthusiasts, cooked cuisine was central to the biological and social evolution of humanity, argues this interesting new book. Harvard biological anthropologist Wrangham dates the breakthrough in human evolution to a moment 1.8 million years ago, when, he conjectures, our forebears tamed fire and began cooking.

Starting with Homo erectus these innovations drove anatomical and physiological changes that make us adapted to eating cooked food the way cows are adapted to eating grass. By making food more digestible and easier to extract energy from, cooking enabled hominids' jaws, teeth and guts to shrink, freeing up calories to fuel their expanding brains. It also gave rise to pair bonding and table manners, and liberated mankind from the drudgery of chewing.

This accessible book ranges across nutritional science, paleontology and studies of ape behavior and hunter-gatherer societies; the result is a compelling analysis of natural history and of cooking's role in daily life. Wrangham offers an interesting take on evolution—suggesting that, rather than humans creating civilized technology, civilized technology created us."

Pssssssssssst. Cheese tasting today.

Cheese tasting today at 1PM with Alex. Pass it on.

Catering? We've got you covered!

Take a look at this beautiful fruit tray we recently completed for a catering order.

We here at Zaleski & Horvath MarketCafe are ready and able to help you with all of your catering needs! From colorful fruit trays, like the one shown here, to passed appetizers for your black-tie event; we can cater to your needs. Our coffee catering will bring some zing to your next meeting and our sandwich trays are great for parties and get-togethers. These are just a few examples of the many catering options we can do for you.

We offer catering for all types of events and for events of all sizes. The catering section of our menu is only a sample of what we can do for you! Stop in today to discuss your catering needs.

**Please note: Since we are committed to using the freshest ingredients, we request 48 hours notice for any catering order to ensure product availability and quality.

One of our favorite cheeses...

Covadonga

Milder, but with just the same creamy texture as La Peral, Cabrales or Valdeon. Covadonga is a delicious blue cheese from Spain. Made from a blend of pasteurized cow and sheep’s milk, it is fresh, mildly spicy and delicately salty. Blue veined with medium flecks of Penicilium Roqueforti and no rind, it is perfect for salads, on grilled meats, with fresh mushrooms, on pasta and rice dishes.

DETAILS:

• Region: El Escorial
• Cheese Type: Soft Blue
• Milk Type: Blend of pasteurized Cow & Sheep's Milk
• Aged: 2-3 Months

Come in and try it.