Whether a package arrives in a brown-paper wrapper sealed with duct tape or adorned with flowery paper and French-curled ribbon, curiosity concerning the contents surfaces.
Never mind that the delivery came via the Postal Service, UPS, the boy-next-door or even Santa Claus, you can't resist tearing into the box.
Some self-disciplined souls may momentarily delay the unwrapping with an indepth analysis of weight, size, shape and sound, but most go for the scissors immediately.
Regardless of the uncovered inventory, a package evokes feelings of anticipation and excitement.
Surprise also prevails when you bite into a tidy, wrapped morsel of food. Food wraps disguise package contents in much the same way as wrapping paper hides a gift.
An ordinary won ton skin, for example, combines with a spicy mixture of vegetables and seafood, then adopts a new identity as a potsticker.
A bland and boring flour tortilla means nothing until it meets a filling of pork, beans, chilies and cheese to become a burrito.
Stuffed-pasta bites like tortellinis or raviolis yield cheese and herb combinations inside.
Phyllo, or filo, dough serves as an all-purpose wrap for seafood, poultry, beef, vegetables or fruits.
And sometimes vegetables and fruits provide their own wrapper, like cabbage, banana or grape leaves.
Total masquerade occurs when a puff pastry layer completely conceals the edible interior of its package. A beef tenderloin disappears under an envelope of pastry when it becomes a Beef Wellington. Baked brie cheese oozes from beneath a pastry covering when baked "en croute."
Edible coverings extend basic foodstuffs, making more of less. Instead of getting a single bite, the surprise inside the wrap seemingly doubles the portion.
"Cooks from the Old World took a small portion of meat and made it into a full meal with a wrapper," explains Gary Pankos, executive chef at Helen's Garden Restaurant, Murray. "They were poor people from poor countries and they made do with what they had."
In Mexico, for example, a tablespoon of meat couples with three tablespoons masa to create a tamale.
But a tamale is only one in a group of Mexican-wrapped food packages. Tortillas wrap around taco fixings, enchilada insides or conceal a chimichanga.
Almost every ethnic-influenced cuisine claims its own tidy parcel of food.
The French tie a crepe around any kind of stuffing, while the Greeks fill phyllo packs with spinach and ricotta cheese or grape leaves with seasoned beef and pine nuts.
More economical packages come from the Slavic lands, where a stuffed crescent called a pierogi contains mashed potato and onions.
"At Helen's, our pierogis are boiled then fried," Pankos explains, "but a piroshki can be made of yeast dough and baked. That's if the Russians make it. What Polish call pierogi is called piroshki in Russia, but a piroshki in Poland is a large pierogi. Is that confusing enough?"
If not, move south to the Mediterranean region and explore the pasta packages.
Crinkle-edge ravioli squares of pasta hold cheese, herb and meat mixtures while filled tortellinis look like miniature Chinese won tons.
In the Orient, rice-paper wrappers or won ton skins bind vegetable fillings into egg rolls, spring rolls, won ton dumplings or potstickers.
Each culture creates a food package indigenous to the native environment, but a peek inside the package reveals surprising similarities, according to Pankos.
"Tell me the difference between an egg roll and a chimichanga," the chef asks. "The truth is, there is virtually no difference."
The same packaging can be applied to a multitude of fillings to create similar, yet different products.
Consider the sausage, for example.
Sausages are covered with a thin-skin casing, but seasoned contents differ from border to border.
French sausage purists make an exotic-flavored Andouille, while the Germans revel in a collection of wursts: bratwurst, knockwurst, weisswurst and leberwurst. Poles create a smoked-garlic sausage called kielbasa; chorizo is a dried paprika and pork sausage from Spain and Portugal. Swedes mix a potato sausage while duck blends with rice to qualify as an Oriental sausage.
Applied coverings enhance food flavor as well as prove economical in most cultures, but a few foods make a culinary statement in their own natural covering.
A coconut boasts a double layer of protection before its rich, white meat is uncovered, while an egg has only a single, fragile shell.
Creatures from the mollusk family carry a variety of shell-like coverings that must be cracked, peeled, scouped and pryed before their succulent contents are sampled.
Regardless of the covering, the food package contents generate curiosity and an energetic effort to part with the wrapping and unveil the surprise inside.
RECIPES
RAVIOLI WITH FIVE CHEESES
12 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/2 pound ricotta
3/4 cup Emmenthal cheese, freshly grated
3/4 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
3/4 cup Romano cheese, grated
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons onion, grated
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Freshly ground pepper
Pasta Fresca:
2 cups flour
11/2 cups semolina
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-4 tablespoons warm water or Fresh pasta sheets
For pasta, sift flour and semolina on a board or marble slab; sprinkle with salt. Make a well in center; add eggs and oil. Using fingers, gradually knead in flour, adding water as necessary to soften. When flour is mixed in, knead 5-10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Cover with bowl and let rest 30 minutes.
To shape, cut dough into 4 pieces. Flour board. Roll one piece as thin as possible. Cover with damp towel to prevent drying. Roll second piece into similar size and shape; repeat with remaining dough.
For filling, combine first 13 ingredients; blend well. Place a teaspoon of filling every 2-2 1/2 inches on one sheet of prepared pasta. Brush all sides of cheese mounds with water; cover with second sheet and seal packages. Use a ravioli cutter, pastry wheel or sharp knife to cut squares. Place squares on lightly floured cotton towel; let rest 1 hour.
Cook 8-10 minutes in boiling water. Remove with slotted spoon; toss with butter and additional Parmesan. Makes 6 servings.
- From "The Best of Bon Appetit"
- Each serving contains 1026 calories; 66 gm fat; 1548 mg sodium; 401 mg cholesterol.
STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS
1 large head cabbage, cored
3 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup white or brown rice, cooked
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 can (28 oz.) tomatoes
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon thyme
Sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Steam cabbage in a large pot for 10 minutes or until the leaves are softened enough to peel away. Cool, separate leaves and set aside. Saute onions in skillet; remove half the onions in order to ground beef. Mix in rice and allspice.
Add tomatoes and juice, tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt and seasonings. Simmer for 15 minutes. Place a small amount of meat mixture on each cabbage leaf. Fold leaf over to enclose meat and, starting at the stem end, roll up. Place rolls, seam side down, in a buttered baking dish. Cover with tomato mixture and bake, uncovered for 1 hour. Serve with sour cream. Makes 8 servings.
- From "San Francisco A La Carte"
- Each serving contains 374 calories; 18 gm fat; 815 mg sodium; 56 mg cholesterol.
CHICKEN WELLINGTON
2 1/2 cup chicken stock
4 split chicken breasts, boned and skinned
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
4 slices ham
4 slices Gruyere cheese
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
4 thin slices truffle or other pate'
Heat stock to boiling; add chicken and simmer until tender. Remove chicken from stock and cool.
Divide sheet of puff pastry into 4 pieces. Roll out on a floured board until large enough to wrap each chicken breast. In the center of each pastry, place ham and a half slice of cheese. Place chicken breast on top of ham and cheese; cover with second half of cheese then pate'. Brush the edges of the dough with water; fold each side over and wrap like an envelope. Place seam side down on baking tray; chill for at least 15 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes of until browned and puffed. Makes 4 servings.
- From "San Francisco Encore"
- Each serving contains 713 calories; 40 gm fat; 1670 mg sodium; 135 mg cholesterol.
APPLE PIE EN PAPILLOTE
Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cold milk
Filling:
4 cups apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
11/2 teaspoons nutmeg
Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
Mix flour, sugar, salt, oil and cold milk together with pastry blender or food processor until crumbly. Press into a 9-inch pie plate; set aside.
To make filling, combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg together and pour into pie shell.
Mix topping of flour, sugar and cold butter together with blender or food processor, sprinkle on top of pie. Place pie in large paper bag, seal with staples or pins and bake 90 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired. Makes 6-8 servings.
- From "A Pinch of Salt Lake"
- Each serving contains 458 calories; 27 gm fat; 277 mg sodium; 32 mg cholesterol.
SALMON EN PAPILLOTE
2 large leeks, about 1 pound
3 tablespoons butter
1 small zucchini, cut in diagonal slices
1 pound salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 pound tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Szechuan peppercorns, toasted in a dry skillet
4 teaspoons fish sauce, stock or lemon juice
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut green tops off the leeks; discard. Cut the white parts into long, thin strips. Saute leeks in melted butter until soft but not browned.
A Lightly butter 4 sheets of parchment paper about 18 inches long. Place 1/4 of leeks on each sheet, arranging them about 5 inches up from the bottom of the shorter side. Overlap zucchini slices on top of each pile of leeks. Place a piece of salmon over each vegetable pile, then sprinkle with tomatoes and cilantro. Grind peppercorns on top; sprinkle with fish sauce, stock or lemon juice. Fold parchment over and roll edges to form a tight seal. Place packages on baking sheet; bake for about 10 minutes, but total time depends on the thickness of the fillets.
Serve an unopened package, or slit package open in the kitchen and slide the contents of each onto a dinner plate. Makes 4 servings.
- From "Accents of the Orient"
- Each serving contains 331 calories; 19 gm fat; 74 mg sodium; 94 mg cholesterol.
FILLED CRESCENTS
Crust:
1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-2 drops Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup flour
Filling:
1 cup ham, turkey or crab, finely chopped
1/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Beat together cream cheese, butter, Tabasco sauce, salt and sesame seeds until well blended. Add Parmesan cheese and flour; mix well. Chill dough while preparing filling. Mix together ham or other meat, sour cream and mustard. On floured surface, roll chilled dough very thin; cut into 31/2-inch diameter circles. Place 1/2 teaspoon filling on one side of each circle. Moisten edges and fold over to make half circles. Press edges firmly together and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes. Serve warm. Makes 50 servings.
- From "Purple Sage"
- Each serving contains 49 calories; 4 gm fat; 104 mg sodium; 11 mg cholesterol.