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Jocelyn Wise Caters To Her Armenian Roots

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  • Jocelyn Wise Caters To Her Armenian Roots

    JOCELYN WISE CATERS TO HER ARMENIAN ROOTS

    Boston Globe, MA
    July 17 2013

    By Lisa Zwirn / Globe Correspondent / July 16, 2013

    Jocelyn Wise remembers when her grandmother's native Armenian foods
    were considered strange and unfamiliar. "There was also a different
    language associated with them," says Wise, chef and owner of Miss
    Fork caterer in Stoneham.

    One of her grandmother's stews was a green bean and lamb dish called
    fassoulya, slow-cooked with cheap, bony cuts, and plenty of garlic,
    mint, and lemon. "Armenian food was peasant food," says Wise, 50,
    who grew up in Andover. Stews are thick enough to sop up with bread,
    but thin with meat, which was an expensive ingredient.

    Wise's maternal grandparents emigrated from Armenia in the early
    1900s. They met in the United States, married, and settled in Belmont.

    Her grandfather, Badrig Zulalian, went to Tufts University and became
    an architect. Wise's mother, Sybil, loved to entertain and was an
    adventurous cook, but it was Wise's grandmother Elmon Zulalian who
    cooked the traditional dishes the caterer became so fond of.

    Those specialties include stuffed and rolled vegetables, lamb, bulgur,
    and "lots of olive oil, lemon, fresh mint, and oregano," says Wise.

    Bulgur, which is wheat kernels that are steamed, dried, and ground
    into different size grains, is a popular ingredient, considered
    both nutritious and filling. Wise makes a dish called metch (tomato
    tabbouli), in which the bulgur is steeped in tomato sauce and turns
    richly flavored and very moist with a red tint. This particular recipe
    comes from her good friend's mother, Ann Melikian.

    Paper-thin phyllo dough is used to wrap or layer both sweet and savory
    ingredients. "I work with phyllo dough all the time," she says. In
    one pastry, called paklava, layers of phyllo and ground nuts are
    soaked in a lemony simple syrup.

    One of Wise's favorite foods is lamb. Before grilling butterflied
    leg of lamb, she marinates it in red wine vinegar, allspice, mint,
    oregano, garlic, and olive oil. "There's always garlic - and mint,"
    she says. Allspice is also frequently used. She remembers her
    grandmother rubbing cubes of lamb with allspice, paprika, garlic,
    salt, and pepper. Then the men would thread the meat onto long skewers
    and cook them over an open flame. "It's the only thing I remember my
    grandfather and his pals cooking," says Wise.

    Wise trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and also cooked in Italy. When
    she started her catering company in 1998, she says, "I didn't want
    one of those pretentious French names. I wanted something playful."

    Tempted by a Man Ray piece called Mr. Knife and Miss Fork, she took
    the name Miss Fork.

    Today, her cooking mostly comprises Armenian, Mediterranean, and
    Middle Eastern dishes. "I can do high-end [French] foods, but I lean
    more to rustic, family-style cooking," she says.

    Like grandmother, like granddaughter.

    MISS FORK 1 Church St., Stoneham, 617-838-4274,
    www.missforkcatering.com

    http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2013/07/16/her-grandmother-armenian-peasant-food-graces-her-table-today/UhyIUXb5SNqLyj7JL3wphK/story.html

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