Question:
Fusion -- what does this term mean when used in reference to menus, cooking or restaurants? Is it a new phenomenon or just a new name for something that's been around a long time?
Sylvia Walsh, Victoria
Eric's Answer:
When the term "fusion" is used in cooking, it's referring to the combination of ingredients and techniques from different cuisines. Fusion cooking is often considered a fairly modern idea that's been around just a few decades, but the truth is people have been fusing cuisines together for centuries.
There are many examples of this, and many simmered to life when folks migrated from one part of the world to another, not always of their own choosing.
In the 17th century, slaves brought from Jakarta to South Africa, during that country's Dutch occupation, created a dish called bobotie (boh-BOH-tee). It looks not unlike shepherd's pie, but with a golden egg topping, not a mashed potato one.
The Dutch East India Company traded spices in Cape Town and those slaves, who eventually became a Muslim ethnic group called Cape Malay, used them to create a version of a dish they made at home called bobotok. Of course, being in South Africa, they had to use ingredients available to them there, such as lamb, dried fruit and, of course, those spices.
When French-speaking Acadians from Canada's Maritime provinces were forced by the British to flee the region in the 1700s, many settled in southern Louisiana, where the Acadians became known as Cajuns. They brought their rural, one-pot style of cooking with them and adapted it to local ingredients, such as game birds, frogs, alligators, sweet potatoes and okra. Over the years, other migrants to the area -- people of African, German, Spanish and Native American descent -- also influenced the Cajun cuisine, which includes the now-famous dish jambalaya.
According to foodtimeline.org, food historians tell us Tex-Mex cuisine originated hundreds of years ago when Spanish/Mexican recipes combined with Anglo fare, although today it's often considered a 20th- century phenomenon.
According to an article in the Houston Post, in the good old days, Texans went to Mexican restaurants and ate Mexican food. In 1972, influential Mexican food authority Diana Kennedy wrote a book called The Cuisines of Mexico. In it she clearly drew the line between authentic interior Mexican food and the "mixed plates" Texans were eating in those so-called Mexican restaurants. She began referring to that food as Tex-Mex, a term the article says was previously used to describe anything that was half-Texan and half-Mexican.
Mexican restaurant owners in the United States were initially insulted by this, but that changed when they realized the term Tex-Mex and the food served appealed to customers, not only south of the border, but also around the world. Indeed, there are now restaurants serving up Tex-Mex fare, such as fajitas, chimichangas and nachos, from Victoria to Buenos Aires.
On the West Coast, something called Pan Asian cuisine has been popular for some time, where chefs use French cooking techniques and local ingredients to prepare dishes influenced by the cuisines of countries such as Japan, India, China and Thailand.
For example, on the website for the Fairmont Empress Hotel's Bengal Lounge, they have on their menu the very tasty sounding cashew crusted dungeness crab cakes with tamarind aioli, and vindaloo Salt Spring Island mussels. Camille's restaurant in Victoria offers a breast of duck with shiitake ginger glaze, five-spice duck broth, and fennel and Asian pear salad.
There are many other examples of cuisines being fused together successfully, but in some cases it just doesn't work.
That most often occurs when a cook tries to combine too many tastes, from too many places, in one pot. Some refer to this as "confusion cuisine," because the resulting dish leaves the diner wondering what the heck they are eating.
After dining on today's recipe, I didn't have that feeling. My Tex-Mex-inspired enchiladas with Vancouver Island ingredients -- chicken, squash and cheese -- beautifully fused together two cuisines.
Eric Akis is the author of the recently published Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations: Seasonal Recipes for Festive Occasions. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
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Vancouver Island ingredients mix with Tex-Mex culinary style
Chicken and Squash Enchiladas With
Local Cheese
Chicken from Island Farmhouse Poultry and squash combine in this Tex-Mex dish topped with local cheese. The chicken I used in the enchiladas was left over from a bird I roasted the night before.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 to 30 minutes
Makes: 4 servings
1 1/2 cups squash, such as butternut, cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch cubes
1 (680-ml) can tomato sauce
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and Tabasco sauce to taste
2 cups cooked cubed chicken
2 to 3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or sliced green onion
175 grams local cheese, such as Natural Pastures Verdelait or Qualicum Cheese Works Caerphilly, grated (see note)
4 (10-inch) tortilla shells
1 large, fresh jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
Place the squash in a pot and cover with cold water. Boil until just tender; drain well and cool to room temperature. Place the tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt and Tabasco in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Transfer half the sauce to a smaller bowl. Add the chicken, squash, cilantro or sliced green onion and half the cheese to the large bowl of tomato sauce and toss to combine.
Preheat the oven to 375*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place an equal amount of the chicken mixture in a row down the centre of each tortilla. Roll each tortilla into a cylinder and set, seam-side-down, on the baking sheet, spacing each enchilada about two inches apart.
Top the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and cheese. Top each enchilada with a few slices of the jalapeño pepper. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and filling heated through.
Note: You could use just about any gratable cheese in this dish, such as Monterey jack.
If there is a cooking issue that has you scratching your head, send your question to Eric by e-mail at [email protected], by fax to Ask Eric at 250-380-5353 or by regular mail to Ask Eric, Times Colonist, 2621 Douglas St., V8T 4M2.
