Minced Words is Emily Brewster’s bi-weekly column about the words and phrases we use to talk about food. Emily is a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster.

Last week at the bar-with-food I co-own, we offered an Asian pear carpaccio special (made with pears from Laughing Dog Farm a farm up the road in Gill). The pear was served with roasted pattypan squash and fresh goat cheese, and lightly dressed with rice wine vinegar.

It was a hit with customers, but at least one of them balked at the name: “Pear carpaccio? Carpaccio’s meat, isn’t it?”

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On my way back from a quick run around the neighborhood this afternoon, I stopped in Whole Foods to pick up something to snack on before dinner.

I saw a pile of Zespri Gold Organic Kiwis in the produce section, and couldn’t resist grabbing a couple of them — I love their smooth bronze skin and silky sweet, tropical gold flesh.

I took them home, peeled and sliced them, laid them over a few dollops of plain yogurt, drizzled over some wildflower honey and went to town.

We spend a lot of time thinking about how our mood affects our cravings. Every Monday, we share some of what goes on inside Cookthink as we’re analyzing recipes for the Cookthink database. The subject of this week’s Root Source is honey, which inspired us to think about the perfumy taste we define as “floral.”

The word “floral” is ubiquitous in winespeak, and it’s true that certain white wines — Viogniers and Alsatian wines among them — come to mind when the suggestion is made. Since we stick our noses into a glass of wine before it hits our lips, it’s hard to know how much of a floral flavor comes through our sense of smell and how much happens on the tongue.

We definitely smell the perfume of an overripe tropical fruit — that loopy, swooning nectar-ish smell that can be intoxicating or simply overpowering — before we taste its floral sweetness. The same goes for the floral mustiness of orange blossom and lavender honeys, which often have that same heady quality.

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Angus turns 1 year old today. At his party on Saturday, he took one taste of cake and proved, once and for all, that he’s inherited his dad’s salty tooth.

(And you know, you can search for birthday recipes at Cookthink.com)

A member of the Cookthinktank, Seattle-based Lara Ferroni is the writer/photographer behind Cook & Eat. Find some of Lara’s recipes here.

Sweet or salty?

Both, especially at the same time.

Which ingredient(s) do you use most?

Salt, butter and cream.

What’s the cooking sound you most love?

The “tss” of anything going in a hot pan.

What are the qualities you most admire in a dish?

Balance and simplicity.

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Hair of the Dog is Cookthink’s Monday morning cocktail column by Rob Chirico, the author of the Field Guide to Cocktails. Read more about Rob here. 

Now that the last game has been played at Yankee Stadium — that hall of heroes, that House That Ruth Built, that haven where you could purchase a hot dog and beer for the same price as a time share in a Pensacola condo — it’s time to revive the Bronx.

The drink, that is.

The Bronx is an OJ-and-gin-based version of the Manhattan. As a favored cocktail in the 1930s, the Bronx was in such high demand at the Brass Rail in the Waldorf-Astoria that the bar would go through cases of oranges a day. Or so it is said.

According to cocktail lore, the drink wasn’t named for the much-too-maligned borough, but for the Bronx Zoo. The story goes that the owner Johnny Solon had recently visited the zoo, where he saw “many strange beasts.” Thinking that a number of his customers saw bizarre beasties after too many drinks, Johnny christened this cocktail the Bronx.

Old-time barkeeps who take pride in their mixology have tried to keep the Bronx alive, but it is mostly foreign to the new generation of bartenders, shaker jugglers, and, well, you’ve seen them. The Bronx is a keeper, but make it at home. Since so many bars today are indistinguishable from zoos, you will have about as much luck finding the Bronx in those venues as you will a cab on a rainy day in Manhattan.

Recipe: The Bronx (Hair of the Dog)

The Sunday Dinners project is a collaboration between Andrew Schloss and Cookthink. It’s designed for those of us who love to cook but can’t seem to find enough time to do it as much as we’d like. To get started, read Andy’s introduction to the project.

On Friday, Kristin mentioned her hands-off approach to prepping chiles. This week, I’ve also been thinking about the tricky art of cooking with chiles.

The sensation of chiles on the tongue, usually described as “hot,” isn’t really temperature hot. It’s titillation hot. Chiles hurt, and the art of using them amounts to delivering just enough of a tingle to excite but not so much that the flush morphs into misery. When it comes to chiles, our job in the kitchen is to find the balance the pleasure and the pain.

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Once worth its weight in gold, saffron is a spice of mythic measure. Made from the dried stigma of crocuses, tiny saffron strands infuse a dish with a distinctive, earthy flavor and a lovely rustic color.

Tell us your favorite way to use saffron. Our favorite will be featured in the Root Source and published on Cookthink.com. The author will receive a copy of The Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Cookbook.

Submissions are due by 12pm EST, Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

Send us an email to rootsourcechallenge [AT] cookthink [DOT] com with your name, email address, blog URL and a permalink to the recipe. Please put “Root Source Challenge #35: Saffron” in the subject line of your email. Click here for the complete rules and to see past winners. Good luck

You can also get updates about Root Source Challenges by becoming our fan on Facebook!

We’re about to inherit a fair load of tomatillos. All I’ve ever done with them is make salsa. Andy’s got some good uses for them coming up in tomorrow’s Sunday Dinners post. In the meantime, what should we do with them?

Reference: What is a tomatillo? (Cookthink)

The food sensation I find myself craving more than any other is crunch, that wonderful, teeth-shattering crack of fried tortillas and potato chips.

So I was particularly excited to try this month’s Daring Bakers challenge — lavash, using a recipe from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread.

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