How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun Read Online Free PDF

that the meat was too dry. An exasperated Asham had a can of Campbell’s tomato soup he’d kept on hand to deal with his stomach malady. He opened it up, added some spices (some say he had already added the spices for his benefit), and sent the chicken out again, but this time with his new sauce. Years after the incident, Asham told a variation on the story minus the drama: “[O]ne day a customer said, ‘I’d take some sauce with that, this is a bit dry’ so we cooked Chicken Tikka with the sauce, which contains [yogurt], cream, and spices.”
    Either way, it was a flavorful combo—and one that probably each of the nine thousand curry houses across the United Kingdom serves regularly. To recognize the momentous discovery, Glaswegian member of Parliament Mohammad Sarwar sprung into action in 2009. He made a motion in the British House of Commons regarding “the culinary masterpiece that is Chicken Tikka Masala.” Noting that it was “Britain’s most popular curry” he asked that his fellow representatives rally around Asham and push the European Union to designate Glasgow as an “EU Protected Designation of Origin” for the dish.
    Needless to say Indians didn’t like the idea of tomato soup getting acclaim for such a cornerstone option on curry menus.
    Zaeemuddin Ahmad, a chef from Delhi’s Karim Hotel, maintained that the dish was his family’s recipe. “Chicken Tikka Masala is an authentic Mughlai recipe prepared by our forefathers who were royal chefs in the Mughal period,” he told Britain’s Daily Telegraph . “Mughals were avid trekkers and used to spend months altogether in jungles and far off places. They liked roasted form of chicken with spices.”
    Rahul Verma, an expert on Delhi street food, offered a different opinion, saying the dish was introduced in the Indian region of Punjab in the 1970s. Though he didn’t buy Asham’s claim, he believed that the dish wasn’t by design. “It’s basically a Punjabi dish not more than 40 to 50 years old [as of 2009] and must be an accidental discovery which has had periodical improvisation,” he said.
    While one of those Indian antecedents may very well be true, it’s still very possible that the meal Asham produced for his persnickety customer was the one that spawned the Chicken Tikka Masala revolution in Great Britain. As for Britain’s leadership, they weren’t ready to get behind the cause. Sarwar’s effort didn’t sit well enough with his colleagues to lead to a formal request to the European Union. In the end only nineteen members of Parliament signed on to his motion.
     
     
    Chimichanga: Fryer slip-up
    The fryer has brought joy to so many cultures around the globe (think french fries or, if you’re more adventurous, Scotland’s deep-fried haggis). Of course Mexican food has its fair share of deep-fried delicacies with one of its most popular being the chimichanga. Yet despite the cuisine’s penchant for greasy fare, this entry into the bubbling goodness was pure happenstance.
    For those of you with a weak stomach or limited exposure to the chimichanga, it’s effectively a deep-fried burrito—and it’s the pride and joy of Tucson, Arizona. A pioneering woman named Monica Flin is widely regarded as the inventor of the dish. Flin, the daughter of a French émigré, opened Tucson’s El Charro Café in 1922. Not only was Flin one of the only female restaurant owners in the southern Arizona town, she also practically did it all at the establishment—cooking, serving as hostess, and waiting tables. Throw in the fact that she often had a handful of nieces and nephews hanging around the café, and it’s clear that Flin was one busy woman.
    One day Flin was in the midst of frying ground beef for tacos. With so much going on, she mistakenly knocked a burrito into the fryer. Her initial reaction was anger and the trilingual woman (she spoke French, Spanish, and English) was on the verge of dishing a popular Spanish “Ch” swear word to