Comfort Food for Thought

Cold whispers its annual taunt that winter is coming. Leaves coaxed loose from summer moorings find themselves adrift amidst the teeming remains of a colorful cohort swept far from their roots. Many people this year have found themselves cut adrift from what they once knew, yet anchored to their homes, to electronic devices, to a smaller version of their lives. Do any of them, as I do, envy the leaves their freedom to waltz down the street, carefree, while the wind plays in the trees? We see the world outside growing colder in other ways. We turn inward, longing for comfort.

This is a season when appetites turn from the lighter fare of a crisp garden salad accompanying something simple off the grill, dining alfresco in the backyard. We crave something more substantial as the days grow shorter, as the nights arrive earlier and stay longer. And always there is the cold. Chili or pot roast, chicken pot pie or scalloped potatoes with ham, comfort food is the name we give to these dishes for which we yearn. Why is it that certain foods make us feel that everything will be alright?

The health conscious warn that it is unwise to use food for emotional support, even as reliance on alcohol or drugs offers a poor coping strategy. Understood. Sustenance, however, is necessary for life whereas attributing such essential status to libation and its alternatives is debatable. Entwined in food’s ability to nourish is its capacity to conjure feelings of safety, belonging, and even love.

Of course, my aforesaid examples pertain largely to a middle-American palate. Comfort food varies regionally and ethnically. For many immigrants traditional cuisine provides a way to stay connected to heritage as they establish foundations in a new homeland. Generations cling to their culinary roots even as they become woven into the national fabric of the adopted country. 

Comfort food embodies a sense of home, a place of security and refuge. A child returns from a run-in with a bully on the playground to warm oatmeal cookies and milk. A spouse arrives after a hard day at work to the aroma of roast chicken and apple pie. The returning soldier dreams about mom’s baked “mac ’n’ cheese” or dad’s “secret” ribs. 

Most comfort foods are simple, common dishes, rather than gastronomic artwork crafted from exotic ingredients. A favorite of mine is quite ordinary. During grade school years I did not make friends easily, so the playground could be lonely. My mother’s cooking always meant security and warmth, even if Margaret Ann could be a tough cookie as a parent. Many a cold morning she would make cinnamon toast and hot chocolate. She would spread lots of butter on the bread so that the toppings would stick. Under the broiler the bread toasted to perfection, the speckled top, a crispy melding of sweetness and spice. The ideal pairing was a warmed cup of whole milk flavored with Hershey’s syrup. To this day anything chocolate or cinnamon can fill me with a sense of well-being.

My own children ask for beignets whenever they come home for a visit, having been introduced to the airy fritters dusted in powdered sugar when they were little. Both tell me they have ordered this specialty in the various places they have lived or visited yet found nothing that compares to a clementine and a plate of momma’s warm beignets, while they are curled up in their jammies under a quilt watching Lord of the Rings or Star Wars on a snowy winter morning.

For some families the recent shutdowns have made existing problems at home worse with no place to turn to get a break. The children from these homes, some of whom populate the lingering vestiges of my practice, often could not name a favorite dish that meant home. Still other families, despite the uncertainty of the times, have rediscovered during 2020 the simple pleasure of cooking a meal together. 

The children of the Great Depression also lived through an unprecedented period in history. Their testimonies are precious for they are disappearing, especially in the throes of this new affliction. Many share heartrending recollections of abandonment, abuse, deprivation, and loss. Still others share memories of making do with less, retaining the wonder and joy of childhood, lives uncluttered by things, filled rather with relationships, experiences that do not wear out with the passing years, timeless life lessons. 

One wonders if the children who have lived through 2020 will have memories worth more than the missed soccer games. Will they have stories of overcoming the obstacles of a lost graduation year, the death of a beloved grandparent they never saw again, a difficult home life due to economic uncertainty? Will some children have discovered fun that does not come from a device, the sheer joy of running in the park just because they finally can again? Maybe with more focus on time as a family, these children will discover the children living inside their own parents.

I remember going out for a long walk when this pandemic was first upon us. Written on the sidewalk in colorful chalk, and hanging amidst paper hearts in the windows of houses and apartments, were the words “We will get through this.” The sentiment echoes down the decades from that earlier time of global crisis, the perennial optimism that better days are on the horizon. Life’s trials embraced produce wisdom and tenacity. The children of that earlier age grew to be considered the greatest generation my country has known. The children of Covid will likely memorialize what they see, feel, and think about their experience in their own way via the virtual world of the internet. What will be the comfort foods the 2020 children come to cherish, passing them on with their memories? What lessons learned will be their bequest to those that come after?

---

M. M. KIEHN’S BEIGNETS

Ingredients

1 cup of flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup of milk

1/3 cup of butter (about 5.3 TB)

4-5 eggs (must be at room temperature; this is critical)

Frying Oil of Choice: Canola, Vegetable, Peanut, Sunflower, or Corn

Directions

1. Start by getting the oil in your deep fryer heated to about 375 degrees.

2. Combine sugar, milk, salt, and butter in a deep sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the flour all at once stirring quickly and continuously. It looks rough at first but then suddenly gets smooth at which point you continue to stir faster. The dough quickly stops sticking to the sides of the pan or the spoon, and when pressed with the spoon, it leaves a slight imprint. Remove immediately from the heat. Do Not Return To Heat.

3. Allow batter to rest for about two minutes.

4. Quickly, briskly stir in the room temperature eggs one at a time, beating vigorously, until each is fully incorporated (no longer looks slippery). The correct consistency after the last egg is fully incorporated should be that the dough will stand erect if a bit is scooped at the end of the spoon. Use the dough right away. 

5. Drop by spoonful, no more than 3 or 4 at a time depending on the size of your fryer into the oil. Too many and the temp decreases, risking greasy result that is not properly cooked. The beignets will flip themselves as the first side cooks.

6. Scoop out, and drain on paper toweling. Then serve warm, dusted with powdered sugar

Great for breakfast with a clementine and cocoa or café au lait. These also make a nice dessert with fresh fruit and crème anglais or your favorite chocolate sauce.