Mustard has
a history of its own. The Egyptians
entombed their kings with bags of mustard seed. The Greeks thought mustard
improved memory. As early as the 14th
century, local ordinances in Dijon laid out rules for its manufacture; one
specified the use of only "good mustard seed soaked in good vinegar".
By 1634, an official alliance had been
formed in Dijon to regulate the profession of the moutardier. There
are two basic types of French mustard: old-style,
a coarse-grain, mild mustard often referred to in French as à l'ancienne; and Dijon-style, a creamy, spicier
product. The former is made by mixing
cracked, unhulled seeds to a rough paste. All
mustard was "à l'ancienne" until the beginning of the 18th century,
when an Englishwoman named Mrs. Clements began milling mustard seeds the way
one milled wheat—grinding them and sieving the powder through coarse cloth to
remove the husks. The technique produced
a pungent mustard that married well with hearty foods. Dijon's moutardiers discovered the new process
and adopted it as their own—lending it their city's name. Mustard was made in Dijon with hand-operated
grinding mills until the middle of the 19th century, when one of the city's
most famous sons, moutardier Maurice Grey, invented a steam-driven machine that
could crush the seeds, remove the husks, and grind the remains to a fine powder
in one operation. Today, husks are
removed from cracked seeds by centrifuge before they're ground into a paste. Though techniques and recipes can vary, laws
strictly regulate the manufacture of Dijon mustard, and—like the wines of
Burgundy—the product is protected by an appellation contrôlée, granted in 1937.
The law states that only black and/or
brown mustard seeds may be used in dijon mustard (the product of milder white
seeds may be labeled "condiment" but never "moutarde"), and
that the seeds must be mixed with either wine, wine vinegar, or verjus, which
is the juice of unripe grapes. Wine
vinegar, which produces a mustard which is slightly more pungent than the other
liquids, is most widely used in Dijon. Salt and herbs are added—generally
summer savory, tarragon, and lavender, or a combination thereof—and, with a
touch of golden turmeric to heighten color (and sometimes sulfur dioxide to
preserve it), the mustard is complete. Flavored
mustards, with such added ingredients as green peppercorns, honey, horseradish,
shallots, or, in earlier times, anchovies or truffles, have never been allowed
to bear the Dijon label. But the Dijon
mustard law says nothing about the provenance of the mustard seeds. When the rules were written in 1937, the idea
of importing seeds from another part of France, much less another country, was
probably unthinkable, so abundant were the mustard fields around the city. Now, though, Burgundian farmers have given
over most of the fields around Dijon to more profitable crops, like colza, used
to make canola oil—and most of the seed used in Dijon mustards today is
imported from Canada. The authors of the
law apparently didn't think they had to specify where Dijon mustard would be
made, either. Though the vast majority
of Dijon-style mustard is still made in the city itself, it can be legally
produced anywhere in France as long as the rules about mustard seeds and
manufacturing techniques are followed. And
what about Grey-Poupon? This famous
brand has now all but vanished in France—though the name lives on just about
everywhere else. Grey-Poupon was formed
in 1870, when the aforementioned Maurice Grey made his associate, Auguste
Poupon, a partner in what had hitherto been the Maison de Grey. A century later, in 1970, the directors of
Grey-Poupon and of another Dijon mustard firm, André Ricard, having earlier
bought the popular Maille label, formed a conglomerate called S.E.G.M.A.
Maille. Soon afterwards, the new company decided to phase out the Grey-Poupon
label in France. It is still, however,
manufactured for export, and a small amount continues to be produced for sale
at the historic Maille-Grey-Poupon boutique on the rue de la Liberté in Dijon
itself. The Grey-Poupon sold in the U.S.
is another story: Heublein purchased the American rights to the name from the
original company in 1946—and though it is prominently labeled as
"dijon" mustard, our own Grey-Poupon is now made by Kraft. William Sertl
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
potentate
(POH-ten-tayt) noun One
having great power, especially an autocratic person.
Via French, from Latin posse (to be able).
iliad (IL-ee-uhd) noun 1.
A long narrative, especially an epic
poem describing martial exploits. 2. A long
series of miseries or disasters. After
Iliad, a Greek epic poem traditionally attributed to Homer. From Ilion, ancient Greek name of the city of
Troy, an area now in modern Turkey.
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Lawrence
N Crumb Subject: potentate In Gilbert and Sullivan's opera, The
Gondoliers, the two gondoliers who are ruling Barataria as joint monarchs
sing a song to describe their various duties. It includes the lines "Or receive with
ceremonial and state/ An interesting Eastern potentate." In one of the books by Robert L.
("Believe It or Not") Ripley, there is a story that caricatures the
German way of compounding words. A Hottentot potentate is Der
Hottentotenpotentaten. When his mother
enters the story, she is Die Hottentotenpotentatenmutter -- and so on; the
words get longer as the story progresses.
From: Richard
S. Russell Subject: iliad
Some good friends of mine
have a Honda Odyssey minivan. For their
personalized license plate they chose ILIAD. Despite having a minivan, they don't travel
much. T hey're kind of what you might call homers.
From: Andrew
Pressburger Subject:
illiad
An Iliad of troubles
arising from the siege of Troy prompts Ulysses's Jeremiad about Crime and
Punishment during his twenty-year Odyssey, in which the mingling of War and
Peace provides the backdrop for a Divine Comedy and a nostalgic Remembrance of
Things Past.
Origin of the term "Green Room" This is something of a mystery — no one knows for sure
where the term originated from. It is
known to be centuries old with the first recorded reference in a 1678 play by
Thomas Shadwell called The True Widow. The reference was: “No, Madam: Selfish, this
Evening, in a green Room, behind the Scenes, was before-hand with me”. Another, more explicit reference was made in
the 1701 book Love Makes Man by Colley Cibber: “I do know London pretty well, and the
Side-box, Sir, and behind the Scenes; ay, and the Green-Room, and all the Girls
and Women Actresses there”. A few
possibilities have been suggested for the origin, including: The colour green has long been associated
with the theatre; in fact "the green" is a term sometimes used to
describe the stage. The green
room could be an extension of this.
Green is a good choice because it is a relaxing colour. http://www.mediacollege.com/glossary/g/green-room.html
“The Monuments Men,” which opens in theaters Feb. 7, is based on the true story of eight
Allied soldiers whose unwritten mission was to go into Germany and rescue
masterpieces pilfered by the Nazis and secreted away in castles, churches and
salt mines all over the country. Working
behind enemy lines and under pressure, this group of art curators, museum
directors and art historians — known as the Monuments Men — was in a race
against the German army, which had been ordered by Hitler to destroy everything
as the Third Reich fell. Stout led many
of the operations that sought to avoid the destruction of 1,000 years of
culture and save some of the world’s greatest treasures. Lincoln Kirstein, a member of the Monuments
Men and founding director of the New York City ballet, who died in 1996, said
in his account of events, Stout “was the greatest war hero of all. He actually saved all the art that everybody
else talked about.”
So, who was this champion for the world’s celebrated
artwork? Stout grew up in Winterset, Iowa. At Winterset High School, Stout’s nickname
was “Stouty,” and his interests included literature, acting and journalism,
said Nancy Trask, director of the Winterset Public Library, and Stout’s biggest
hometown fan. Trask has been singing
Stout’s praises since 2009, when she discovered Robert Edsel’s book, “The
Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi
Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.” It’s the same book that inspired George Clooney. Stout’s legacy didn’t gain traction until
news spread that Clooney was making a movie and playing a character named Frank
Stokes, who is based on Stout. Since
then, Trask has been busy making presentations about this newly discovered
hometown hero. Sara Agnew
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140125/NEWS/301250092/0/LIFE02/?odyssey=nav%7Chead DID YOU
KNOW? Shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941,
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were moved by
heavily-guarded train to the Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. An examination in 1942 found that the
Declaration had become detached from its mount and that the upper right corner
had been stuck down with copious amounts of glue. The corner also was covered with discolored
strips of cellulose tape. Under great
secrecy, Stout and Evelyn Erlich — both of the Fogg Museum at Harvard
University — were called in to restore the document. Over two days, they mended small tears,
removed excess adhesive and tape and rejoined the detached upper right
corner. MORE ON THE MONUMENTS MEN at
http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/
Starting Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 you pay 49 cents for a first-class postage
stamp. The planned 3-cent hike is the
largest increase in consumer postage prices in more than a decade for the U.S.
Postal Service. The price hike will
affect millions, even though fewer Americans these days use snail mail to pay
bills and keep in touch. One way around
it is buying Forever Stamps now and using them any time for first-class mail,
the kind used by most consumers. Launched
in 2007, Forever Stamps are always valid, no matter what people paid for them
and even if prices go up in the future. On
Jan. 26, the cost of mailing a post card will also go up to 34 cents, a 1-cent
increase. The price hike comes after the
agency's regulator gave the green light back in December to
keep up with inflation and recoup losses incurred during the Great Recession,
when people drastically pulled back on mail.
The Postal Regulatory Commission also said the Postal Service can't
allow the hike to last more than two years, or raise more than $2.8 billion. The price hike includes a one-cent increase to
keep pace with inflation, which won't change. Also, the postal agency
plans to appeal the decision limiting the price hike to two years and will
argue for the increase to be permanent, said agency spokeswoman Katina Fields.
Issue 1102
January 27, 2014 On this day in 1756,
composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.
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