Food (Section) Fight!: Week 34

Food (Section) Fight! is my weekly look at The Washington Post's Food section and The New York Times' Dining section with my verdict on which section had the better content for the week.

Washington Post

1) "Capitol Cocktail: Gin Rickey." The last in this summer installment of cocktails by Washington-area mixologists highlights the city's official cocktail, the Gin Rickey, a simple blend of gin, lime and sparkling water served over ice. I think I could use one about now.

2) "Curry-Glazed Pork," Dinner in Minutes recipe by Bonnie S. Benwick. For this dish, Benwick took a much longer recipe from a gluten-free cookbook and adapted it into a quick 30-minute meal. The pork cutlets are cooked in a pan and then glazed with a soy, garlic, curry and honey sauce.

3) "Lids, rings and pings, now more than ever," article by Bonnie S. Benwick. Benwick's cookbook column looks at the resurgent canning craze, reviewing six recent volumes on the subject. There are a host of related recipes too, including one for Summer Herb Brown Mayonnaise, which technically doesn't strike me as a preservation recipe (since it only lasts a week in the fridge), but sounds really easy and delicious.

4) "Is this the nudge some Americans need?" Smarter Food column by Jane Black. Black takes a look at Linkwell Health, a company that works with health plans and food companies to encourage certain consumer segments to eat better by providing them targeted coupons. The story discusses how this approach--more so than the often expensive organic/local/whole foods one--may have greater impact in improving many people's diets.

New York Times

"Italy to Brooklyn, Fig by Fig," A Good Appetite column by Melissa Clark. Clark writes lovingly about the fig tree growing on her Brooklyn property, which is a seasonal source of fresh figs (I'm jealous--I don't think I've ever had a fresh fig). She accompanies the stories with recipes for Lamb and Fig Kebabs with Honey and Rosemary and Fig-Hazelnut Financiers, which both sound really good.

"Magic Measured in a Pile of Salt," Letters from Paris essay by Elaine Sciolino. Someone in the Sciolino household must do something far more lucrative than write for a newspaper food section, given that she talks about how her family rents a house on the French west coast every August (how cool is that!). In this interesting piece, she talks about the sea salt harvest, from which come France's famous gray sea salt and fleur de sel.

"Fresh Beans in the Salad Push Cans to the Side," City Kitchen column and recipe by David Tanis. I've seen some interesting beans at the farmers market lately, and Tanis's Fresh Multibean Salad with Charred Red Onion may be the push I need to pick some up. The recipe, which calls for using a mix of shelling, green, Romano and yellow wax beans, sounds tasty.

"At Eataly, the Ovens and the Cash Registers Are Hot," article by Glenn Collins. Last time I was in New York, I made my first visit to Eataly, Mario Batali's large-scale Italian market off of Madison Square Park. It was a really cool place, where I picked up such rarities as trofie pasta and fennel pollen. So I'm glad to hear that the market is doing very well financially, and national expansion is apparently underway (come to DC!).

Verdict

The New York Times. Kind of a quiet week in my opinion for both publications (understandable, since it's the week before Labor Day). I give the edge to the Times for some great recipes and peak at the success of Eataly.

Score

The New York Times: 17
The Washington Post: 16