Food Fun in the Merry Merry Month of May

Can you believe it’s nearly May already? Winter never really happened this year, and Spring has just flown by. While for most people the summer “season” doesn’t begin until Memorial Day (from 1868-1970 Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30; since 1971 Congress has decreed it be observed on the last Monday in May), for my family the first Saturday in May has always been special – it’s Kentucky Derby Day. While I have never made the pilgrimage to Churchill Downs, my family has long joined in the festivities by enjoying a special feast, then watching race coverage on television, eagerly awaiting the bell that signals the opening of the starting gate and “they’re off!”

More often than not we prepare a variety of appetizers and hors d’oeurves. It’s a nod to the idea of watching the race from the grandstands with food in hand. My wife has absolutely no idea why Kentucky Derby day is important to me, and yet she & I have carved out our own special traditions for Memorial Day & Labor Day. I guess for her, a horserace isn’t cause for celebration. I watch a sum total of three races each year; the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. I even watch the Belmont when there is no hope for a Triple Crown winner, so I consider myself a loyal viewer!
We do share one horseracing moment, though. Back during our first year as a married couple we lived in a basement apartment. Our landlord lived in the house above us, and sound insulation was apparently never considered during construction. Our landlord was something of a gambler, and often watched the horses on television. He must have had a hot tip and bet a bundle on #7 during one particular race. From our basement abode we heard him as he watched the race, growing ever louder and more excited as the race went on – “come on 7…..faster….come on 7….COME ON 7….COME ON 7…..oh, @#$%!” We assume #7 didn’t win!

I encourage you to create your own special times with your family. Don’t wait for “the season” to begin. Start your own “Ultimate Hamburger” contest during National Hamburger Week (2nd week in May). Take a nurse to dinner on Nurse’s Day (May 6th – my wife is a nurse!). Or enjoy Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo (May 5th).

It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as there’s good food on the table and you enjoy it with family or friends!

My Wife’s Favorite Chicken Nachos (Cinco de Mayo is May 5th)
(For all my culinary training and experience, this is what my wife asks for time and again)
2 tsp olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
White corn tortilla chips
Shredded cheddar cheese
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 Tbsp minced cilantro
2 scallions, minced
favorite salsa, to taste

In a large skillet, heat the oil and add the chicken breasts. Cook about 5 minutes. Add garlic & lime juice, then turn chicken over. With two forks, begin shredding the chicken as it continues to cook. When all the meat is shredded and fully cooked (no longer pink), remove from heat.
On a microwave-safe plate, make a single layer of tortilla chips. Top with shredded chicken. Add a good handful of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. Sprinkle with cilantro & scallions. Finally add a few dollops of your favorite salsa. Microwave on high for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted. Serves 4-6.

March should be Duncan Hines Month

March is a great month for food promotions, from marketing co-ops hyping National Frozen Food Month, to the federal government designating the second week of March as National School Breakfast Week. There are “extremist” groups as well, promoting the evils of caffeine during National Caffeine Awareness Month® (those of you who can’t function without your morning cup are most certainly aware!) to a call for vegetarianism and saving animals on The Great American Meat Out Day (March 20, or the first day of spring).

And you thought there were only St. Patrick’s Day and the obligatory corned beef & cabbage dinner!

However, there is another food-story during March that few Americans know: Duncan Hines was born (March 26, 1880) and died (March 15, 1959) during this month. You didn’t realize Duncan Hines was a real person? Not surprising, considering the attention given Betty Crocker (a purely fictional persona).

The biography Duncan Hines: The Man Behind the Cake Mix by Louis Hatchett provides a fascinating look at the life of arguably the most powerful man on the American food scene during the mid 20th century. Although slightly dry and scholarly (it started as Mr. Hatchett’s thesis for his Master’s degree), the book is definitely worth seeking out. It provides glimpses of American life from 1936-1959 that are in many ways still relevant to us in 2008. We still purchase travel guides to help us find lodgings and restaurants (think Fodor’s and Zagat), and we still purchase convenience foods to make our lives easier (think Duncan Hines cake mixes).

Duncan Hines was a salesman and his hobby was seeking out good, local places to eat during his travels. Other salesmen who knew of Hines’ hobby eagerly sought his advice on where they might a good meal. Demand for this information eventually forced him to publish it in the form of a guide book, and in 1936 he self-published Adventures in Good Eating, a guide to roadside restaurants. The success of his book was predicated on the trust people placed in his recommendations. Duncan Hines did not accept paid endorsements from any restaurant, and went to great lengths to ensure that those establishments he recommended had consistently good food and sanitary kitchens. Why should this have been so important? Back in those days, refrigeration and widespread food safety knowledge were not the norm. Travelers who ate in restaurants literally took a chance with their lives; death from food poisoning was not uncommon. (This may sound almost comical to today’s traveler, who typically partakes of chain restaurant food, regulated by public health departments nationwide.) If a restaurant refused his request to inspect their kitchen he not only would not recommend it, he would not even eat there. So great was his influence on public opinion that both the restaurant industry and the hotel/motel industry were forced to maintain his high standards, or risk losing the patronage of his readers, often representing a significant portion of their business.

A natural companion guide, Lodging for a Night was published in 1938. Both guides experienced tremendous sales at the close of World War II, when returning GI’s and the general public took to the American roads with renewed vigor.

In 1939 he published a cookbook, Adventures in Good Cooking and the Art of Carving in the Home, featuring recipes from the restaurants he recommended in his guide books, a fairly unique format at the time.

The Duncan Hines that most of us know, the name on the box of cake mix, did not come about until he was 68 years old. Hines agreed to lend his endorsement to a variety of food products – over 60 brands ranging from bread to canned pears. However the first Duncan Hines branded product to hit store shelves was ice cream, not cake mix. Imagine, Duncan Hines was the nation’s first super-premium ice cream!

In 1956 Procter & Gamble purchased Duncan Hines (yes it was happening even back then), eventually selling the brand to Aurora Foods in 1998. The brand was sold again in 2004 to Pinnacle Foods and the product line is limited to cake, brownie, muffin & cookie mixes; canned frostings, and the new “oven ready” brownies.

Though “big business” appears to have dealt rather roughly with the brand name Duncan Hines, his native state of Kentucky and Pinnacle Foods (as a financial sponsor) treat the memory of the person rather well. Bowling Green, the town he was born & died in, pays homage to their native son with the “Duncan Hines Festival” (August 14-16, 2008), and since 2007 The Kentucky Library and Museum has featured the exhibit “Recommended by Duncan Hines” where visitors can learn about “the man behind the cake mix”.