Sun-Times Food: Sausage and Watermelons

• How can we be critical of any article extolling the virtues of sausage? Despite a fairly disorganized structure, Leah A. Zeldes waxes poetic on kielbasa — which, it turns out, is a general word used to identify any polish sausage, the multitudinous varieties of which span the decision tree of pork, veal, lamb, and chicken, and then go off to a finish: they can be cured, smoked, air-dried, roasted, poached, steamed, or just used as-is. Additionally, rumor has it that in 1964 the Polish government “issued a 760-page manual that detailed recipes for 119 “official” sausages.” And if anyone out there gets us a copy of that manual, we will love you forever.

• Local eating bedamned, we love us some watermelon. The perennially interesting Lisa Donovan takes us inside the world of the PureHeart seedless watermelon, a tiny spherical miracle of botany developed by the California-based Dulcinea Farms. It will be in grocery stores until November, it has plans to soon be available year-round, and it does not care one whit how unnatural you think that is.

• Roy Yamaguchi, chef of the eponymous Roy’s, discusses the various elements that contribute to a successful dish. It’s all, ultimately, a matter of balance: flavor, texture, and presentation; salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Master the interplay there, and you’re good as gold.

[The PureHeart watermelon, courtesy Dulcinea]

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Sun-Times Food: Sausage and Watermelons