Build More (Densly)

A string of interesting newspaper articles today.  First this from the Morning Call reporting that Whitehall was not able to build a new loft-style apartment complex because of restrictive parking zoning regulations.  Once again, the thing that stops development, the thing that limits an increase in density is some primal obsession with accommodating the automobile.  This has got to end.  Municipalities need to change their mind set to understand that in the 21st century, population groups are going to demand workable cities which means density.  Cars (and policies meant to accomodate cars) are going to have to play second fiddle or not at all.

Then, a second article from the Call reporting that the Valley real estate market is heating up again.  Good!  But instead of doing more farmland conversions, lets think about redeveloping our core cities and changing zoning ordinances to permit greater urban density.  This is the message both from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.  The NIZ is doing amazing things for commerical real estate in downtown Allentown, but, the itself does not provide an incentive for residential development.  For the downtown to be a true success, residential developers are going to have to start moving middle class folks downtown to both live and work.

Think that is a pipe dream, not so fast.  The New York Times just had a front page article today indicating that for most people, the economics are now such that it is cheaper to rent than to buy.  The Valley's core cities should double down on this good news and encourage the development of mid-rise and high-rise apartments.

Central Location

Sometimes even the most intrepid need a break from the Lehigh Valley for a weekend.  When that happens, the valley's central location makes any number of different adventures possible all within one hundred miles.  Just North there is skiing; further North, the Poconos.  Directly East is New York City; to the South-East the Jersey Shore.  To the South, Philadelphia.  To the South-West Amish County.  To the West gorgeous Farmlands and the Allegheny Plateau.  Something along all the rays of the compass rose.

Historically, it was this central location which made Allentown important as a commercial and industrial hub in the 19th century.  Coal produced in the anthracite regions had to pass down the Lehigh & Delaware Canal (through Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton) and later the Lehigh Valley RR before reaching ports in Philadelphia.  Even today, the Lehigh Valley sits at the population center of the Atlantic Metropolis which makes it an ideal location for shipping and distribution (as evidenced by the trucking centers at the Western edge of Lehigh County).  Since its first moments, the Lehigh Valley's identity has been tied together with its proximity to both a rural hinterland and the great metropolitan markets of the Mid-Atlantic seaboard.

While these commercial concerns may not have much to do with an exciting quality of life, the physical proximity that creates the Valley's distribution success means varied activities and landscapes are quickly in reach.  This weekend, I ventured Northward to the county seat of Pike County--Milford, Pa.

There is not too much to say about visiting a small town like Milford.  The place speaks for itself.  The old brick courthouse bespeaks a time when civic pride rose high enough to finance grand public buildings.

And where people may still genuinely have pride in their sense of political community.  The cynic in me does sometimes ask how much this "pride aesthetic" is done for the tourists--though probably not that much as it was the middle of winter and about 10 degrees F (-12C) when I visited--not peak season.  And, even if the town's aesthetic and way of life is maintained by outside money, what is the harm in that.  What greater truth suffers violence by letting others see a particularly pretty way to live one's communal life.

Inside the Milford Dinner was an actual picture of life in the town.  Because It was so cold and so off season, there did not appear to be many tourists in the place.  People sat and had eggs and coffee in the warmth.  There is a particular yellow hue to the place that made it very inviting compared to the cold, biting, blue sun outside.

Before leaving Pike County, I made one last stop, to Raymondskill Falls, just outside of Milford.  The Waterfall is the highest in the Commonwealth and even though I had once worked as a counselor in a camp about two miles away and had jogged by it nearly every day, I had never taken the time to stop and admire it.  I was afraid that the falls would lack contrast without the verdant warmth of spring or summer.  Luckily, the freezing-cold played wonderful visual tricks with the water.

Instead of the still and clear rush of warm water, the creek that fed the falls was interspersed with flows of ice.  The ice swam like dye in the water, circling and eddying in the complex hydrodynamics of the natural pool.  The gentle spirals it formed contrasted by the crystal clear water and washed marbles of the upper pool bed was hypnotizing even in the bitter cold.  Then, out of the gentle circles, a piece of ice would gently slip into the main current channel and be swept away and down a plunging white torrent framed by draped ice.  The complexity of the ice choreography was profoundly more difficult and more elegant than what the human imagination could imagine.

 

As the water and ice passed the mouth of the falls, it plunged downward across sheer rocks into a second pool.  And there with the force of its fall crystallized into a mist of ice in the cold.  This micronic ice then billowed up out of the churning pool into the sky.  Back as high as the first pool and higher still until you were enveloped in ice and it coated your body and clothes.  The sides of the falls, exposed as they were and in shadow built up up thick deposits of brilliantly pure ice.

Trying to describe in words or in a picture the tremendous beauty of great natural monuments is an insane folly.  They must be experienced.  Thankfully, the Lehigh Valley is so near that its possible to venture out and experience all of this on little more than a quarter tank of gas.  Another reason for to appreciate living here in Allentown.

 

Traditional New Years Foods

Today is New Years Eve Day which means another turn of the cycle.  I personally don't have too many superstitions associated with the New Year, but, there are certain food traditions in our family associated with the holiday.  Not surprisingly, these traditions are informed by the local food culture of the Lehigh Valley.

The traditional New Years good luck dish around here is pork and sauerkraut "Schweinefleish und Sauerkraut."  I am told by my brother (a former Wegmans employee) that the year Wegmans opened, there were huge shortages of both pork and sauerkraut leading up to the holiday.  This suggests that the German heritage of the valley is still alive and well among the old-guard and newcomers alike.  My butcher at the farmers market also made sure that I reserved a pork shoulder (Boston butt) well in advance of the holiday because he also has massive runs on the prime cuts.

A little more on the tradition itself . . . .  Many of the original inhabitants of the Lehigh Valley were of German origin.  They were not "Dutch" as the term Pennsylvania Dutch might imply.  Instead the term "dutch" is a bastardization of the German word for German "Deutsch" which early English settlers mispronounced.  The Germans who settled in the Lehigh Valley were mostly from the Electorate of Palatine on the Rhine (around present day Cologne).  Those settlers brought with them many traditional German foods such a sauerkraut (which was used to preserve cabbage for the winter months) and hogs which were the predominant meat in early Pennsylvania.  Both cabbage and hogs grow well in the Lehigh Valley which has a climate similar to the Palatine.

Why pork and sauerkraut came to symbolize good luck I do not know.  However, it probably had its roots in the practicality and sensuality of the meal.  Hogs were not typically butchered until November when the weather was cold enough to prevent quick spoilage of the meat.  Meats that would go bad quickly like offal were eaten first and formed the basis for foods like scrapple or preserved through charcuterie techniques.  Hams were cured and then placed to smoke in the hearth of the home in the tradition of Westphalia.  Other fresh cuts could be preserved for a month or so in brine or made into country sausages--both of which figure in traditional pork and sauerkraut dishes.

Sauerkraut, too, would have been plentiful and much of it would be finishing fermentation around the new year.  Cabbage can be grown most of the year in Pennsylvania and a June/July planting will yield cabbages ready by late October.  These cabbages can usually be left in the ground for another month or so in the November cold and processed into sauerkraut in early December.  (It was important to extend out the cabbage season as long as possible to keep sauerkraut fresh until spring vegetables started to arrive in early May).  Fermentation takes about month and, thus, would have been ready toward the middle to end of December.

And so, come late December, the Pa. Dutch farmer would have had a "second harvest" of pork products and preserved cabbage ready to keep the family going through the winter until the spring thaw.  Certainly, a farm family would have felt blessed to have this new food on hand to bring in another year of the agricultural cycle.  And, the sensuality and savor of sauerkraut properly braised in pork fat followed up with a tankard of beer is enough to sate almost any fear of the unknown and welcome a new and hopeful year.

Having said that, lets review what pork and sauerkraut was not:  it was not a healthy dish.  In fact, it's pretty terrible for you.  The traditional dish was meant to be a thanksgiving for the bounty of land and that land provided foods that were unctuous and sating.  This isn't a bad thing.  Its all right to eat poorly once and a while to remind ourselves of what things used to be like and how the people who lived before us eat and celebrated the lives they lived.  And, lets face it, cabbage braised in pork fat is simply, irrefutably, delcious.  Life is worth the indulgence.

So, that generally, is what what pork and sauerkraut is not.  As a more specific point, pork and sauerkraut is not a pork loin boiled in a can of industrial sauerkraut.  If you ever had pork and sauerkraut and thought it was insipid, raw, and disgusting, this is probably how it was prepared.  Instead, I want to make the following recipe available.  If you make this and savor it you will know why those early German farmers thought this meal meant good luck in the new year.

The following recipe is adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.  The recipe is for a French peasant dish known in the French as choucroute garnie.  Roughly translated this means garnished sauerkraut.  Although this dish is French, it comes from the territory known as Alsace, which history buffs know was an area of France contested for hundreds of years between the German peoples and the French peoples.  Alsace is, geographically, close to the Palatine, and several wars in the mid-seventeanth century fought in Alsace actually helped spur immigrations to America from the Palatine.  The refinement of this dish marked by removing much of the brined flavor of the cabbage and creating a braising liquid with wine and stock would have been much closer to the Palatine palate compared to the brute flavors of raw sauerkraut preferred in other parts of Germany.

Choucroute Garnie

1 Boston Butt (available from farmers market)
1 Tbs. Lard (or vegtable oil)

2 lbs fresh sauerkraut (available from Farmers Market)

1/2 lb slab bacon (available from the Farmers Market)
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 cup sliced onions

4 sprigs parsely
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
10 juniper berries
1 cup dry white wine (or dry Apple Wine)
2 to 3 cups chicken stock

1.  Forty-eight hours before making the dish, liberally sprinkle Boston butt with salt and white sugar.  Cover and place in a non-reactive pan.

2.  Drain sauerkraut from its container and then place in a non-reactive bowl and fill with cold water.  Swish the sauerkraut around once or twice and after 8 minutes, pour off the water and collect the kraut in a colander.  Return the kraut to the bowl and again fill the bowl with cold water.  After an additional 8 minutes, strain the kraut.

3.  After straining the kraut a second time take small handfuls of the wet kraut out of the colander, squeeze all the water out of it with your hands, and reserve the dry kraut in a non-reactive bowl.  Once all the kraut has been squeezed dry, work to separate the kraut back out into individual strands of cabbage.

4.  Cut the slab of bacon into individual 1/4 inch lardons.  Once cut, add these lardons to a pan of boiling water for ten minutes.  Strain and reserve the lardons.

Homemade Slab Bacon

Bacon Cut into Lardons

5.  Add the lard to a dutch oven over medium-low heat.  The dutch oven should be capable of holding the Boston butt without the butt touching the side of the pan.  When the fat shimmers, add the pork fat side down until lightly browned.  This will render out several tablespoons of lard.  Flip the butt to the other side and brown over medium-low heat.  If possible, try to prevent a fond from forming as it will later discolor the sauerkraut. Once the butt is browned remove it from the dutch oven but do NOT pour off the rendered fat.

Boston Butt Fat Side Down

 Browned Boston Butt

6.  After removing the butt, add the carrot, onion, and blanched lardons.  Sautee over low heat for ten minutes.  Do not allow to brown.

7.  To the onions, carrots, and lardons, add the reserved sauerkraut.  Cover and saute slowly for ten minutes.

8.  While the sauerkraut is slowly sauteing, tie the parsley, black pepper, and juniper berries in a small piece of cheese cloth.  Add this to the pan with the wine.  Add enough stock to just cover the top of the sauerkraut.

9.  Place in a 300 degree over for 2.5 hours.  Check regularly to ensure there is a slow simmer and that the liquid has not been absorbed completely.

After 2.5 Hours with Sauerkraut Pushed to the Side

10.  After 2.5 hours, place the pork, fat side down, back in the pan.  The browned side should remain up over the top of the cabbage to prevent discoloration of the braising liquid.

11.  Return the Pork and Sauerkraut back to the oven and braise for an additional 2.5 hours (5 hours total).  After 5 hours, the liquid should have been completely absorbed.  Serve the pork and sauerkraut with some buttered potatoes and maybe a salad with a sharp vinaigrette. Enjoy and praise the new year!

I'd also like to share a link to another blog on Pork and Sauerkraut written by a pair of Lehigh Valley transplants living in Idaho who shared my blog!  Thanks to them and Happy New Year!

http://boisefoodieguild.blogspot.com/

Getting Started

What is it like to be young in an American mid-size city?  More specifically, what is it like to be young in a mid-size city situated in the heart of the northeastern rust belt?  Is community possible?  Are there young-people with vision and commitment to bring the place back to life?  Is there anything to do?

I grew up in Allentown.  I went to Parkland for High School, but then, like many of my friends, went away for school.  My studies took me to some of the greatest cities around the world.  Then, I did something unusual for people my age--I came back to live here.

In the abstract, the Lehigh Valley always had its pluses and minuses:  Urban sprawl versus Appalachian vistas and fertile farms; food deserts versus the bustle of the farmer's market; the death of manufacturing industry versus a superb hospital system and two new medical school.
 

There is genuine hope in the counter-examples.  It is too easy to fall into despair; to blame others for the cancers of the city; to retreat into the isolation of suburbia.  All too often, the negativity of the Morning Call comment section makes this place seem like a wasteland--like nothing can be done.  This, at least to me, seems short-sighted and self-interested.

In fact, there might be a renaissance afoot if only we could change our perspective--to see the good in things instead of the bad.  This is not an intellectual project.  It is a project of action.  It is a project of actually going out in the community and interacting day in and day out with its institutions and people.

And that, ultimately, is what this blog is about.  What it is like to live in the Lehigh Valley and to appreciate and comment on what is happening.  I'll start later today with a trip to the most Allentown of Allentown institutions--the Fairground's Farmer Market.