The Mother of All Cheese Steaks

When Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf revealed that his favorite meal is filet mignon stuffed with Roquefort, he sparked a boomlet for the Stormster’s special. The New York steakhouse Gallagher’s reports a 3,000% increase in sales of what it now calls the “General Schwarzkopf Steak.”

The State of All-Cheese Media

The Cabot Farmers’ Cooperative Creamery of Vermont is marketing Cheddar packaged like videocassettes--your choice of “Chedablanca,” “Masterpiece Cheddar” or “As the Cheddar Turns.”

Warning: Contains Turtle Eggs

A. J. McClane’s “A Taste of the Wild: A Compendium of Modern American Game Cookery,” to be published next month, warns that only the meat of young bears is worth eating, because adult bear meat has extremely rank- flavored fat, every speck of which must be removed before cooking--even before freezing. Bears used to be an abundant food in Florida, incidentally. They lived in the pine woods and were caught when they came down to the beach to poach turtle eggs.

Put That Caffeine Back Where You Found It

Scientists have been trying to produce a naturally decaffeinated strain of coffee. Hold on, though: Caffeine is probably part of the coffee seed’s defense mechanism--it’s an antifungal agent and sterilizes insects. So in order to produce a non-chemically decaffeinated coffee, more pesticides might have to be used.

Details, Details

Gourmet Magazine recently wrote to all its subscribers advising them not to use wintergreen oil in the recipe for Aunt Vertie’s Sugar Cookies in the July issue. Wintergreen extract , that’s what they meant, not wintergreen oil , which is not intended for internal consumption.

Next Year It’ll Be Cherry Coke Classic

Coca-Cola Co. is changing the formula of Cherry Coke. The New Cherry Coke, it says here, will include more cherry flavor.

P.S. Do Not Distill at 80 Proof or Higher

Eden Foods sells certified organic barley malt as a natural sweetener that can be substituted for honey or molasses. However, do not add water, yeast and hops and store in a warm place for several weeks before pouring into sterilized beer bottles if you mean to use it on your morning oatmeal.