Horseradish

The recent flap over apples and apple juice may well be the purest piece of nonsense on the subject since Adam tried to blame Eve and her apple for all the woes of the world. Every false alarm makes it more difficult for firefighters to protect the public, and no matter how pure the motives of the Natural Resources Defense Council may have been when it issued that alarming report about apples, the net result was a blow to the health and mental composure of the nation. Many people have been frightened away from apples, which were and still are one of the most healthful of all foods, and the jobs of governmental protection agencies have been made more difficult.

I'm telling you, it happens every year. After the four questions are asked at the Passover Seder meal and answered, after we have dipped, washed, drunk, leaned, reclined, pointed and sung, someone is always going to start it. With fork poised over a plate of gefilte fish sitting regally on a bed of lettuce and adorned by the manadatory carrot slice, someone will ask the fifth Seder question: "Which is hotter, the red or the white horseradish?"...

For Norman Hill, the township zoning officer, freshly ground horseradish induces a pungent memory. As a holiday tradition while growing up, says Hill, he grated the root with his dad. They would wear face masks while electric fans blew the reek out of the room. Tasty root, that horseradish. But maybe not particularly pleasant if you have to live next door to a plant that's processing the stuff. Residents living near the proposed site of such an operation succeeded last night in getting the Township Committee to reverse a local Zoning Board decision that would have allowed horseradish grating on a massive scale.

Horseradish gives special texture and tang to many dishes. To salute this ancient root, I've created a simple glazed tuna steak with horseradish. Sauteed new potatoes with spinach complete the meal.   Hot Glazed Tuna Steak Makes 2 servings 21/2 tablespoons orange marmalade 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons olive oil 3/4 pound fresh tuna steak Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1. Mix marmalade, horseradish and mustard together.

The manufacture of horseradish products has come a short way since the day - 50, 60, 70 years ago - when housewives in Kensington left empty bottles out for the local grinder, and, far beyond the city, the original Kelchner, a Mennonite minister, scoured the raw root in rotating barrels he'd filled with the shards of oyster shells. You can see just how short here in small-town Dublin along Route 313 between Quakertown and Doylestown, the world headquarters, you might say, of Kelchner's, the mightiest little horseradish (and cocktail sauce, and hot mustard)

Passover poses quite a challenge to its sandwich-loving observers. The holiday prohibits the consumption of leavened bread for more than a week. This chametz-free rule (chametz is Hebrew for leavened bread) honors the legend of Moses and the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, when in their haste, the hurried travelers didn't have time to allow bread dough to rise before baking. Unleavened cracker bread called matzoh usually substitutes for bread at this time of year. But another delicious stand-in is the latke, a light potato pancake.

Wasabi, the fiery pea-green horseradish from Japan, is not just for sushi anymore. As with many Asian ingredients, contemporary restaurants are finding creative ways to blend this distinctive flavor into Western recipes to lend familiar favorites an exotic twist. At Buddakan, chef Scott Swiderski finds several uses for the piquant paste, folding it into buttery mashed potatoes, or tempering its heat in a sweetened Bavarian cream, a surprisingly addictive spread for ginger-cured salmon, although traditional smoked salmon will also work fine.

These are the heydays of exotic, outlandish eats, when the neighborhood lunch counter is run by Afghans, and Indonesian specialties are sold in supermarkets. Some pundits have decreed that Mexican and Chinese foods are old hat, while saying that the cuisines of Thailand and Jamaica are moving up. Simultaneously, a fantasized "American" cuisine (in which no dish seems to have fewer than 40 or 50 ingredients) also is getting a lot of yardage in the culinary press. Conspicuous by their absence from this dazzling lineup are the cuisines of Central Europe.

About 90 people turned out at an Ascension of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church, F and Westmoreland Streets, yesterday for a model Seder, the traditional Passover meal. Led by Rabbi Daniel P. Parker of Temple Zion in Huntingdon Valley, the meal was designed to familiarize Christians with the custom. Among the items central to the Seder are, right, (clockwise from the wine) the eggs; charoset, a sweet mixture of nuts, fruit and wine; horseradish; greens and, in the center, saltwater. Above the Seder plate is the matzo, or unleavened bread; below it is the Haggada, which tells the story of the ancient Hebrews' escape from slavery in Egypt.

A break from the bird If you're starting to feel turkeyed-out this Thanksgiving week, head over for lunch to the swanky new Palomar hotel, where the restaurant, Square 1682, is serving a uniquely tasty short rib sandwich. The beef, a half-inch-thick bar of rib meat braised to tenderness with lemongrass and ginger, gets crisped in the oven with a tangy Asian gravy before it hits the baguette roll. Topped with a peppery tangle of watercress salad, sweet caramelized onions, and a dab of horseradish cream, it captures the ideal balance of worldly style and comfort that chef Guillermo Tellez's globe-trotting menu is aiming for.

Horseradish gives special texture and tang to many dishes. To salute this ancient root, I've created a simple glazed tuna steak with horseradish. Sauteed new potatoes with spinach complete the meal.   Hot Glazed Tuna Steak Makes 2 servings 21/2 tablespoons orange marmalade 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons olive oil 3/4 pound fresh tuna steak Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1. Mix marmalade, horseradish and mustard together.

Owners Rob and Maggie Wasserman and Chef Michael Yeamans have reunited at Rouge (205 S. 18th St., 215-732-6622). Throughout December, the restaurant will offer such celebratory fare as House-Made Fettuccine with shaved white truffles, butter and Parmesan fondue, White Truffle Risotto and a Truffled Rouge Burger. Truffle plates will range in price from $18 to $40. Come January, Tim Spinner and Brian Sirhal are looking to open Cantina Feliz, a contemporary Mexican restaurant, in the former Alison 2 space (424 S. Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington)

Yes, there's no way I'm getting to the Carversville Inn before year's end. I can feel it the way you can feel snow in the air before it snows. The vintage inn (circa 1813) is in the village of Carversville, as one reviewer put it, "10 minutes and 100 years from New Hope. " I've stuck my head in on occasion, noting the cozy bar and fireplace. But a dinner just hasn't happened, despite my repeated best intentions. It is a small regret, one that I replay year after year - one more example of the predictable consequence of irresolute resolution.

At his 6-foot-long stand (the shortest frontage permitted in Lancaster's old Central Market), Michael Long contemplates the future for his extraordinary horseradish - 48 hours old at the oldest if you buy it here, and potently pure. He wishes, in fact, that phobics who've had shelf-stable mockeries, or stale product, or adulterated examples could try his precious little jars. His grated horseradish has the aspect of fresh snow, fixed in distilled vinegar and a little water, no salt, even, or sugar, or flavoring of any sort, $2.75 for 6 1/2 ounces; at its nasal-clearing finest for up to eight weeks.

R2L - Daniel Stern's contemporary American on the 37th floor of Two Liberty Place (50 S. 16th St., 215-564-5337) - doesn't open till Jan. 21. Its coming out will be New Year's Eve for a $150-a-head cocktail party. A few highlights of a tour last week: Fourteen sumptuous banquettes have true window seats for spectacular but not vertigo-inducing south and west views. A hanging sculpture of cutlery catches the setting sun. Walls of wine storage, plus private wine lockers, for sommelier Ryan Davis.

A break from the bird If you're starting to feel turkeyed-out this Thanksgiving week, head over for lunch to the swanky new Palomar hotel, where the restaurant, Square 1682, is serving a uniquely tasty short rib sandwich. The beef, a half-inch-thick bar of rib meat braised to tenderness with lemongrass and ginger, gets crisped in the oven with a tangy Asian gravy before it hits the baguette roll. Topped with a peppery tangle of watercress salad, sweet caramelized onions, and a dab of horseradish cream, it captures the ideal balance of worldly style and comfort that chef Guillermo Tellez's globe-trotting menu is aiming for.

The manufacture of horseradish products has come a short way since the day - 50, 60, 70 years ago - when housewives in Kensington left empty bottles out for the local grinder, and, far beyond the city, the original Kelchner, a Mennonite minister, scoured the raw root in rotating barrels he'd filled with the shards of oyster shells. You can see just how short here in small-town Dublin along Route 313 between Quakertown and Doylestown, the world headquarters, you might say, of Kelchner's, the mightiest little horseradish (and cocktail sauce, and hot mustard)

Passover poses quite a challenge to its sandwich-loving observers. The holiday prohibits the consumption of leavened bread for more than a week. This chametz-free rule (chametz is Hebrew for leavened bread) honors the legend of Moses and the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, when in their haste, the hurried travelers didn't have time to allow bread dough to rise before baking. Unleavened cracker bread called matzoh usually substitutes for bread at this time of year. But another delicious stand-in is the latke, a light potato pancake.

Suddenly kids were jumping out of their seats and running to the sink, where, as fast as they could, they grabbed paper towels to spit into. Ah, the magic of Harry Potter. It's powerful enough to get a class of fifth graders to try Two of the Nastiest Jelly Bean Flavors in Candy History. Sardine and horseradish. "Booger was good, though," said Courtney Gilfillian, 10, one of the students in Lauretta Blackson's class at Wedgwood Elementary School in Williamstown. They were taste-testing a sweet spin-off from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the first of J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels about a lad learning to be a wizard.

Because both restaurants are owned by Joseph A. Garvey, an exceptionally talented chef, it's not surprising that the cuisine at Joseph's Garden Grille in Langhorne is nearly identical to the superb dishes at the Garden Grille at the Brick Hotel in Newtown. Garvey bought the old Brick Hotel in 1976 and made it one of our finest suburban restaurants. Seeking new challenges, he took over the old Casmirri's restaurant next to the Langhorne train station and has performed the same culinary magic since its opening last November.