‘FRESH” is the buzzword of foodland, appearing so often, it’s a cliché.
But if you really want to eat well, try sampling a few other terms – “cured,” “preserved,” “picked” and “vintage.” Fresh may be fine, but maturity rocks.
Much of New York’s aged foods stem from techniques developed to keep food edible before the introduction of “best if used by” dates. There are regional tastes, such as Korean kimchi that gains startling pungency the longer it ferments, and the thousand-year-old eggs of Chinatown (more likely to be hundred-day eggs, but still).
The delicate dance with decay has produced some indisputably popular eats. Pull up a chair for are some of the “oldest” foods and drinks in town we could find:
CHATEAU D’YQUEM
Age: 136 years
Where: Daniel (60 E. 65th St.)
One of the oldest bottles of vino in town has to be a Chateau d’Yquem 1870 Sauternes in the cellar at Daniel. But for a cool $7,500, can the buyer expect a still-delicious pour after the cork is carefully popped?
“In Daniel’s cellars, yes, I would expect it to be,” says Chris Adams, executive vice president at Madison Avenue’s SherryLehmann. “Sauternes, especially Chateau d’Yquem, has a reputation as being eminently age-worthy. It is probably the single-greatest dessert wine produced on the planet.” As such wines get older and older, the fruit and sweetness remain, but there’s also a kind of a caramel nuttiness that develops along with a great deal of complexity.
Not only is it probably consumable, it’s “actually probably pretty spectacular,” he says.
BREAD
Age: 90 years
Where: Orwasher’s Bakery (308 E. 78th St.)
Well, not the bread exactly – but the “starter,” a mixture of flour and water that ferments and serves as the base of the bread, is still the original batch at this Upper East Side bakery.
Abram Orwasher says the starter was mixed by his grandfather and has been added to every loaf of rye and pumpernickel hand-formed since 1916.
Starter gives the bread its special tang, its sourness. And because it’s alive, if time allows, it can be used instead of yeast to make the bread rise.
Orwasher calls the bench where it foams and ferments “my wine cask.” And though the bakery also has a San Francisco-style sourdough mix, “That’s the baby, that’s probably only 15 or 20 years old,” he says.
BALSAMIC VINEGAR
Age: 50 years
Where: The ’21’ Club (21 W. 52nd St.)
If the grilled foie gras with honey-poached plums and brioche crouton at this New York legend seems tasteful beyond its years, perhaps it’s the ginger glaze spiked with balsamic vinegar that’s half a century old.
The rich liver needs acidity as a counterbalance, explains chef John Greeley. “Aging concentrates the flavor of the balsamic and mellows the acidity,” he says, which is why “21” always uses aged vinegar.
The foie gras appetizer with aged balsamic costs $25.
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH
Age: 40 years
COGNAC BLEND
Age: Parts are 100 years
Where: Keens Steakhouse (72 W. 36th St.)
From this Midtown classic steakhouse’s 200-some single malts, the senior single is North of Scotland Scott’s selection from 1964. Some people don’t think aging scotch past a point makes sense. Others do.
“It depends on the scotch, but it should make it mellower,” says general manager Bonnie Jenkins. And since Scots reuse casks from sherry, burgundy and Madeira, the cask imparts a flavor, too.
“Oak for example brings vanilla,” she says.
Keens also offers Remy Louis XIII, a blend of eaux de vie, some of which are said to be more than 100 years old, which are aged in centuries-old barrels.
A two-ounce shot costs $29 and $160 respectively.
BITTA CHEESE
Age: 10 years
Where: San Domenico (240 Central Park South)
Age: Seven years
Where: DiPalo Dairy (200 Grand St.)
One Italian cheese meant to be aged – from seven to 10 years – is bitta. The ancient specimen has a history going back 2,000 years, says Louis DiPalo, whose family makes and ages cheese in their legendary Little Italy cheese shop.
Bitta is from a town called Valtellina in Lombardy near the Swiss border. It’s made from 90 percent cow’s milk and 10 percent goat’s milk, only in summer after the cows have marched up the mountains, but before they’re marched down.
Because the cows have to be hand-milked and there are only 5,000 wheels made a year, it’s “a very rare cheese, both here and in Italy,” says DiPalo. When you age cheese, it reaches its peak of flavor, in this case, “very hard, intense, very pungent-flavored,” he says.
The cheese costs $18.99 per pound at DiPalo’s.
STEAK
Age: Six to eight weeks
Where: Lobel’s Prime Meats (1096 Madison Ave.)
“It’s not a long time if you want to bring out the ultimate flavor in a piece of meat,” says Stanley Lobel.
His patience is rewarded with a meaty flavor and tenderness from the breakdown of sinews and enzymes.
But don’t try it at home. Lobel’s aging rooms are nothing like a moist refrigerator that would create mold.
“If the humidity goes up, bells go off, almost like a burglar alarm,” he says. Trimmed porterhouse costs $42.98 per pound, boneless shell or strip $46.98 per pound.
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Steak aged 6 weeks
19th century wine
50-yearold vinegar
