A Big Beard Birthday

The great chefs of California turned out to celebrate the great man.

Even in his lifetime James Beard was a towering figure. I got to know him because my friend Marion Cunningham was his long-time assistant. Marion was kind of the den mother for young northern California cooks and food writers, and whenever Beard was in town she did her best to make him pay attention to us.

But even for the great James Beard, this birthday meal/fundraiser was over the top.

Wine glasses, as everyone knows, have a regrettable tendency to break. We seem to break more glasses than most, and I’m always on the lookout for great glasses at a reasonable price.

The thing is, I like wine better when I’m drinking it out of beautiful thin glasses. If I had a lot of money, I might actually spring for something like these Jancis Robinson glasses, which are exquisite, cost $55 a piece — and break every time you breathe on them.

These Made In White Wine Glasses cost a lot less and are an excellent substitute. They’re light, a lovely shape, and they fit easily into your hand (and also the top rack of a dishwasher). And at $15 a glass, they’re an affordable luxury.

A note about Made In. I have an absurd number of their products. I love their knives, their baking dishes, their grill pans. Designed by chefs, I’ve yet to purchase a clunker. So if wine glasses aren’t your thing, I’m sure you can find something in their catalog to covet.

A Simple Cocktail Canape: James Beard’s Onion Rings

I’ve been making these onion sandwiches for as long as I can remember. There is something so satisfyingly simple about them, and so wonderfully American.

You begin with a loaf of sturdy white bread. If you want to be fancy you can use a richer loaf like brioche or challah; personally I use Pepperidge Farm sandwich white. Using a 2½-inch cookie cutter, cut circles out of the bread. Slather them with good commercial mayonnaise and sprinkle them with salt.

Choose onions that are the same diameter as your bread round, and slice them very thinly.

Chop a good amount of parsley as finely as you like.

Put a slice of onion on a circle of bread and sandwich it with another circle of bread.

Spread mayonnaise on the edge of each sandwich and roll it in chopped parsley. Put in the refrigerator until serving time. They’re best used within 6 hours, but I’ve happily eaten 2 day leftovers.

Click HERE for a printable recipe