restaurant reviews button at the top of our pages. We are starting to index reviews and in time we hope to provide enough material for people to find a critic's review of places they have already been to. That should help our readers make up their own mind about whether the new place being raved about by an "expert" is going to appeal to them or not.
Consider these two conflicting comments below that have appeared in major newspapers this month. Now I have not been to Temporada myself but I am mightily confused about whether I should. Who to take notice of? The Australian's John Lethlean or Natasha Rudra of the Canberra Times?
How appropriate for the American Chemical Society to choose New Year's eve to tackle some of the more important scientific questions. Questions like: what is it exactly that sends that cork flying? And what's the best way to pour your bubbly?
The finest culinary minds in the city have attempted to raise the burger, fried chicken, corn dogs, and even the lowly tater tot to the level of gourmet cuisine. So it was only a matter of time before New York’s elite chefs turned their considerable energies to that most tired of all big-city-dining rituals: the weekend brunch. Take the trio of dainty ham-and-cheese “éclairs,” served three to a plate, on the new Sunday menu at Wylie Dufresne’s high-minded East Village gastropub, Alder. These ethereal little creations taste like gougères and are decked with brittle, candylike ribbons of ham. You can complement them with a whole variety of other cutting-edge Sunday specials (the dreaded B-word appears nowhere on the menu), like small helpings of headcheese arranged with rolls of the eggy Japanese tamago; bacon tarts capped with crisped, buttery wheels of pommes Anna; and an inspired new creation called “frog leg wontons,” which Dufresne and his henchmen construct with little ravioli-size dumplings stuffed with frogs’ legs, spoonfuls of steamy ginger-and-carrot soup, and a decorative topping of brightly colored nasturtium petals, which float on top of the broth like lily pads in a Japanese scroll painting.
By Liz Thach, Sonoma State University
What beverage has grown continuously in consumption for the past 20 years in America? Wine.
According to the Wine Institute, in 1993 Americans only drank 1.74 gallons of wine per capita. In 2013 that figure had risen to 2.82 gallons. This makes the US the largest wine consuming nation in the world at over 329 million cases of wine sold in 2013, according to Impact Databank.
Wine is now becoming part and parcel of America’s culture with over 7700 wineries across the country, in all of the fifty states. The increase in popularity is attributed to several factors, including the fact that Americans dine out more and enjoy matching wine to cuisine. The Millennial population has been embracing wine at record numbers. Television and movies regularly feature wine and wine drinking - just think of The Good Wife’s Alicia Florrick and Scandal’s Olivia Pope and their oversized glasses of red wine.
What wines do Americans drink and where do they buy them?
According 2014 Nielsen scan data,(as cited in winebusiness.com) Americans prefer red wine at 51% of the dollar volume sold, then white at 46% and rose at 6%. The five most popular varietals are, in rank order: 1) Chardonnay, 2) Cabernet Sauvignon, 3) Pinot Grigio, 4) Merlot and 5) Pinot Noir.
varietalsAuthor provided
A new study by Sonoma State University shows that Americans buy wine most frequently at wine/liquor stores, followed by grocery stores such as Safeway, and then at discount or warehouse stores, such as Costco, Target, or Walmart. The most common price point is $10 - $15 per bottle to drink at home and $20 – 30 per bottle when dining out. However, when it comes to restaurants, 21% of the sample said they prefer to buy wine by the glass for $5 – 10 per glass. Only 16% reported buying organic wine.
When going to the store to buy a bottle of wine, our research showed that most Americans consider first the variety of grape, then the price and only then the brand. A full 38% will make a decision based on how attractive the label is – not a surprising fact given there are over 60,000 labels on the market. Many rely on the recommendation of friends or store employees in making a choice. Social media also assists in making decisions with 76% of American wine drinkers owning a smart phone and 24% currently using wine apps like hello vino and delectable.
A short history of wine in America
When Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida in 1513, he was followed by Spanish and French Huguenot settlers who began making wine with the native American grape, Muscadine, as early as 1565.
Author provided
It’s New Mexico, however, that receives recognition for establishing the first vitus vinifera vineyards (classic wine grapes from Europe) in 1629 when Spanish missionaries planted cuttings of the “Mission grape.” Wine came to California in 1769 when the Spanish built the San Diego mission, and then continued to move north with the establishment of 20 other missions until concluding with the Sonoma mission in 1823. Today, due to its dry and sunny climate, California produces more than 90% of US wine.
It should not be forgotten that Thomas Jefferson attempted to establish a winery and plant vitus vinifera vineyards in Virginia in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. He was, however, not successful due to attacks of black rot and the pest phylloxera. Because of this many of the East Coast and Midwest American wineries still use native American or hybrid grapes, such as the Concord, Niagara, Norton and Catawba: they are more tolerant of those climates. Brotherhood Winery in New York, for example, established in 1839 and the oldest continually operated winery in America, continues to use some native American grapes as well as the classic vitus vinfera, especially Riesling.
The geographical range of those early American wineries is wide. The Wollersheim Winery in Wisconsin was originally established in 1842 by Count Harazathy from Hungary, before he headed west to start California’s oldest premium winery Buena Vista in 1857. Stone Hill Winery in Missouri dates from 1847, Meiers Winery in Ohio from 1856, and the Renault Winery of New Jersey 1864. Further south, Wiederkehr Wine Cellars and Post Famile Vineyards of Arkansas both started in 1880, and the Val Verde Winery of Texas began in 1883. The oldest continually operated sparkling winery in California is Korbel Champagne Cellars founded in 1882.
Wine Tourism Growing Across the US
Today it seems clear that wine tourism is growing across America. The most visited winery is the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, boasting nearly 1 million tourists annually. Both Napa Valley and Sonoma County rely on wine tourism as one of their major economic drivers. In 2012 both counties earned over $1.4 billion in tourism revenues, attracting more than 7 million tourists.
The upward trend for wine consumption in America is positive, and expected to keep growing at a small but steady rate of around 2 to 3 % per year. The only stumbling block to this could be changes in regulatory requirements, negative sentiments around alcohol consumption, and/or competition from other beverages such as craft beer.
At this point, many Americans seem to have embraced wine as a beverage to complement food, and to help create a relaxed and fun social atmosphere with friends and family. This article is part of The Conversation’s holiday series on wine. Click here to read more articles in the series.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Read the original article.
"Recreational marijuana is both illegal and controversial in most of the country, and its relationship to food does not rise much above a joke about brownies or a stoner chef’s late-night pork belly poutine. But cooking with cannabis is emerging as a legitimate and very lucrative culinary pursuit. In Colorado, which has issued more than 160 edible marijuana licenses, skilled line cooks are leaving respected restaurants to take more lucrative jobs infusing cannabis into food and drinks. In Washington, one of four states that allow recreational marijuana sales, a large cannabis bakery dedicated to affluent customers with good palates will soon open in Seattle."
"With alcopops falling out of favour, honey flavouring is being adopted to attract younger drinkers with "a distinct preference for all things sweet" says a Mintel report. But "unlike some fruit flavours, honey has a fairly old-fashioned and nostalgic profile".
The craft beer industry "has been the most likely to incorporate honey flavours during the past year" according to the report. This "clearly fits the millennial preference for sweet flavours".
Honey is also a big trend in whiskey liqueurs, says drinks columnist Alice Lascelles, a drinks columnist. "The spirit world's upper crust is very sniffy about them but proponents argue that they are in the whisky industry's interests, as they serve as a stepping stone to 'proper' whiskey", says Lascelles.
Honey "really taps into that nostalgia, that yearning for homespun authenticity that American whiskey brands like Jack Daniels have exploited with such phenomenal success", Lascelles says. The combination appears to be increasingly to consumers' taste."
"Ah, nutmeg! Whether it's sprinkled on eggnog, baked into spice cake or blended into a latte, this pungent spice can evoke memories of holidays past. But a lot of blood has been shed over this little brown seed. "Nutmeg has been one of the saddest stories of history," says culinary historian Michael Krondl.
If you listen to my story, you'll hear the gruesome, grisly tale of how the Dutch tortured and massacred the people of the nutmeg-producing Banda Islands in Indonesia in an attempt to monopolize the nutmeg trade.
So, why was nutmeg so valuable? Well, Krondl likens it to the iPhone of the 1600s. It was fashionable among the wealthy. It was exotic and potent enough to induce hallucinations — or at least a nutmeg bender, as detailed in this account from The Atlantic.
Nutmeg was considered medicinal, according this 16th-century description: "Nutmegs be good for them the which have cold in their head, and doth comfort the sight and brain, & the mouth of the stomach & is good for the spleen."
Karen Castillo Farfán/NPR
"Nutmeg really does have chemical constituents that make you feel good," explains culinary historian Kathleen Wall of the Plimoth Plantation. And traditionally, we turn to nutmeg (along with cloves and cinnamon) this time of year because these spices — as the settlers to the colonies believed — can help warm us up and even help us fight off head colds and stomachaches.
And for foodies, nutmeg is an ideal spice for layering flavor."
What do Lady Gaga and Rihanna have in common with Founding Father George Washington? Whiskey.
Yes, our first commander in chief distilled the popular spirit. And these pop icons are helping to fuel a new female-driven whiskey renaissance.
Lady Gaga, according to the Irish Mirror, has described Jameson whiskey as a love interest. Rihanna sings about the spirit. Actress Christina Hendricks is featured in an ad for Johnnie Walker Black Label. And check out the bravado of the gun-toting, whiskey-drinking female bot in the posters for Samuel L. Jackson's forthcoming spy thriller Kingsman: The Secret Service.
"When it comes to whiskey, it seems like nobody can quite get enough of it," says Becky Paskin, editor of The Spirits Business magazine in London."
"If you could make a lot of bourbon whiskey these days, you could be distilling real profits. Bourbon sales in this country are up 36 percent in the past five years.
But you'd need new wooden barrels for aging your new pristine product. Simple white oak barrels, charred on the inside to increase flavor and add color, are becoming more precious than the bourbon."
[Boston Wine School's,Jonathon]Alsop came up with this latest idea after reading the Gospels.
"This picture of Jesus as a foodie and a wine lover, slowly but surely, starts to emerge. I mean, his first miracle was turning water into wine," he says."
... The details of wine and winemaking practices from the Holy Land are debated among experts. There isn't a lot of archaeological evidence or written records.
But we do know that in Jesus' day, wine was being produced in Galilee and modern-day Jordan, says archaeologist Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. And vino of that era came laced with additives like tree resins, peppers and capers, says McGovern, who is known as the "Indiana Jones" of ancient fermented beverages for his scholarship on the topic....McGovern says the antioxidants found in the additives and alcohol killed harmful microorganisms, so wine was much safer than raw, unfiltered water. And it certainly had a boozy kick: Fermentation is a process that occurs naturally when yeasts residing on the skin of the grapes consume the sugar in the fruit and create alcohol.
"There is a reason Speyside has become synonymous with Scotch whisky. To produce deliciously smooth drams of single malt, the region has refined the ancient art of distillation. For one Speyside distillery in particular, The Macallan, that process has come to be defined by some curiously small stills. The distillation of any sumptuous single malt takes place in two stages and with two distinct stills, both of which are usually made out of copper. ... Why stills made out of copper? The distinctive qualities of copper make it perfect for whisky stills—and thus for developing the full-bodied flavor of fine single malts. This is partly due to the metal’s malleable nature and ability to cope with wear—not to mention its exceptional capacity to conduct heat. But the copper performs another important function: working as a catalyst in the distillation process. In this way, it assists with the formation of “esters”: sweet, naturally forming chemical compounds which, when combined with water, react to create alcohol. What’s more, this process keeps impurities to a minimum"
Chinese vintners are winning renown as wine industry soars
By Pierre Ly, Puget Sound University and Cynthia Howson, University of Washington
China’s wine industry has exploded in recent years, with the number of wineries more than doubling over the past decade, propelling the country past Australia to become the world’s 7th-largest producer. What is driving this fast-paced growth and is the quality of Chinese wine improving?
“They make wine in China?!” is the most common reaction we get outside of the region, even from people in the trade. People who have been to China and tried local wine are not impressed with the most common brands. Indeed, the first time a Chinese wine took home Decanter magazine’s international trophy in 2011, the news was met with shock and skepticism.
But, as Beijing-based wine blogger Jim Boyce points out, Chinese wines have performed well in international competitions and in the tasting notes of prominent critics for years. Regular tasting reports by Jancis Robinson, a leading British wine critic, tell a story of vast improvements in quality, and in 2014, China was mapped for the first time in the World Atlas of Wine.
Overcoming hurdles of the vine
The excellent wine is especially impressive given the serious obstacles to growing top-quality grapes in China. Each of the major wine-growing regions comes with its own challenges and opportunities. In Northern provinces like Ningxia, Shanxi or Xinjiang, summers are conveniently warm and dry, but in the fall, growers have to race against the arrival of temperatures so cold that they have to bury the vines.
This is very costly in terms of labor and puts pressure on growers to harvest earlier than they might wish, so that the vines can be buried in time. Meanwhile, in the East Coast province of Shandong, vines are safe throughout the mild winter, but face rot and infection as soon as the rain picks up in the summer and early fall.
The authors take a tour of the DBR (Lafite)-CITIC winery near Penglai, Shandong Province, which was under construction as of 2013.Cynthia Howson, Author provided
Less immutable than climate, political institutions also shape the progress of wine. The collective ownership of rural land makes it difficult for wineries to establish control over vineyards. Many producers have to source grapes from hundreds of small holders, so that securing a consistent supply of high-quality grapes is a challenge. Moreover, contracts with farmers can be hard to enforce. The longer a winemaker waits for optimal ripeness to call the harvest, the higher the risk that some growers will prefer to sell to a competitor who agrees to pick earlier.
Yet recent successes show that it is possible to produce good wine even with this complex supply chain. Grace Vineyard, from Shanxi, overcame institutional constraints by establishing relationships with growers, providing assistance with inputs and paying bonuses for quality. In Ningxia, the young Kanaan winery, headed by talented self-taught winemaker Wang Fang, still has to buy in a large portion of the grapes for its Cabernet Sauvignon, but achieves excellent results in part thanks to good on-going relationships with a handful of trusted growers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping samples a glass of wine from local producers during a tour of France.Reuters
While these successes are encouraging, working with hundreds of growers on contract remains very costly and uncertain. In Ningxia province, the local government has been eager to lease large tracts of land to wineries to promote the industry. This is a major advantage of the region, as the authorities have used wine growing as an economic development tool. Wine is even the focus of a project bringing together Ningxia’s government, the Asian Development Bank and the private sector to improve water conservation in agriculture.
Growth luring top foreign winemakers
Ningxia’s policies have attracted investors, including multinational corporations. In Ningxia, Pernod Ricard makes well received, competitively priced wines under the Helan Mountain label, and LVMH has just released its first local Chandon sparkling wines. By becoming producers of Chinese wine, they not only promote their brand, but they also promote learning and innovation among producers.
Above, a selection of Chinese wines that have received praise from critics and made it into the authors' shopping basket. They include wines from 1421 Winery, Kanaan, Grace Vineyard, Leirenshou and Chateau Nine Peaks.Pierre Ly, Author provided
Another driver of progress is the growing nexus of global and local expertise. There is a growing supply of Chinese winemakers trained in prominent local universities. They are following the footsteps of their prominent elders, like Professors Li Hua and Li Demei, both trained in Bordeaux, who inspire and train the new generation. In addition, with so many local wineries seeking to improve quickly, the market for foreign winemaking and viticulture consultants is huge.
Many are flying winemakers who come to China for regular short visits, but some foreigners have established themselves as locals. Perhaps the most prominent is Bordeaux winemaker Gérard Colin, who has been in China since 1997. He helped start acclaimed Grace Vineyard, and more recently, was the first director of DBR Lafite’s new winery in Shandong before moving on to make organic wines at Puchang winery in Xinjiang. In Southern Xinjiang, Frenchman Gregory Michel has well over a decade of experience as winemaker at Loulan winery. Collaboration between innovative local entrepreneurs and foreigners helps move Chinese wine forward.
The problem of fake wine is a growing problem as China’s industry expands. Here, police in Nanning destroy confiscated bottles of fake wine.Reuters
Chinese consumers opening up to wine
Many eyes in the global wine industry are on China’s growing consumer market, but several observers have cautioned against untempered optimism. A recent OIV report notes that although wine consumption grew very quickly from 2000 to 2012, there was a 3.8% decrease in 2013.
While President Xi’s crackdown on lavish spending by government officials has hurt the high-end market, there may be a promising shift to the middle market, where more savvy consumers want good value for the money, rather than prestige. Neither extravagant spending on first growth Bordeaux, nor attempts by some local producers to appear exclusive with prices over a hundred US dollars a bottle, help build a base of local wine consumers. Many Chinese wineries are well placed to compete with mid-priced imports, by making affordable wines that a growing base of consumers can enjoy more regularly.
Li Na celebrates by opening a bottle of sparkling wine after winning the Australian Open earlier this year.Reuters
So it is clear that China can make excellent wines and there are local consumers to buy them. What remains to be seen is whether Chinese wines will find a spot on the crowded shelves abroad. Interestingly, you can already find a few if you look hard enough.
The Dragon’s Hollow Chardonnay, made in Ningxia specifically for export to the US, is available at Total Wine and More in Reno. London fine wine merchant Berry and Rudd has four Chinese wines, including two Ice Wines from Liaoning Province. And if you dine at the Shangri La’s Ting restaurant in London, Grace Vineyard’s Tasya’s Reserve is actually the most affordable bottle of Chardonnay on the wine list.
For now, Chinese wine outside of China remains a rare curiosity. But let’s remember that some of today’s firmly established New World wine countries were once largely unknown as well. This article is part of The Conversation’s holiday series on wine. Click here to read more articles in the series.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Read the original article.
"Sales of “Made in Italy” €1,000 handbags and €700 shoes may be slowing amid falling demand from Chinese buyers and austerity-minded US and European consumers. But premium Italian foods — from raisin-filled Christmas sponge cakes to Parmesan cheese and gianduja hazelnut chocolate — have become a feeding ground for investors looking to jump into the global trend for eating well."
If you watched that Heston Blumenthal television show on Christmas cooking recently you will understand what Tim Stanley is writing about in this morning's London Daily Telegraph.
Blumenthal is to food what Damien Hirst is to art. Original, yes. Thrilling, from time to time. But also way overpriced, overhyped and with a disregard for tradition that has driven his metier to the brink of absurdity. Where Hirst was happy merely for us to observe a shark in formaldehyde, Blumenthal would probably expect us to eat it. The Fat Duck tasting menu includes snail porridge, a fungus called botrytis cinerea and the promise of verjus in egg. The dish entitled Sound of the Sea apparently consists of seafood mixed with edible sand, backed by an iPod hidden in a conch shell relaying the sound of breaking waves. Total price of the menu: £220 per person, excluding a 12.5 per cent service charge. This is bourgeois decadence.
The Tim Stanley criticism was by way of bidding the showman-television-chef farewell from his Fat Duck restaurant in England for a six month stint in Australia.
Soon it will be Melbourne's turn to experience "something innately offensive about fine ingredients reduced to a microdot on a plate that costs as much as the annual personal income in Zimbabwe."
It’s a sign that a society has taken a turn for the worst – like the cocaine craze of the Eighties.
"Ah, haggis. Before I’d gone to Scotland this year, I wondered what exactly made the dish — sheep’s innards packed into sheep’s stomach — qualify as a delicacy. But as an adventurous cook and eater, I pride myself in trying everything at least once, so I eagerly spooned a first taste of it into my mouth at a castle in Edinburgh. It was a revelation — intensely rich and meaty, with the earthy flavor of what my mother calls “spare parts” combined with the comforting muskiness of oatmeal. It instantly won me over."
There were quite a few changes in the best restaurant list published by The Canberra Times earlier this month. Temporada, judged as the city's best, was one of seven newcomers. To me that suggests the paper's reviewers have a fascination for the new over the tried and true.
Those that made it: (with newcomers in red, the ups in green and the downs in purple) 1 - Temporada - No.1 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 2 - Aubergine - No. 2 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 1 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 3 - Italian & Sons - No. 3 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 2 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 4 - Monster Kitchen and Bar - No. 4 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 5 - eightysix - No. 5 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 3 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 6 - Malamay - No. 6 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 9 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 7 - Courgette - No. 7 In Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 8 - Ottoman Cuisine - No. 8 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 5 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 9 - Mocan & Green Grout - No. 9 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 6 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 10 - Lanterne Rooms - No.10 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 7 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 11 - Les Bistronomes - No. 11 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 12 - Silo Bakery + Cafe - No. 12 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 4 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 13 - Pulp Kitchen - No.13 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 8 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 14 - Morks - No. 14 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 15 - Grazing - No. 15 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 16 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 16 - Sage - No. 16 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 10 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 17 - Black Fire - No. 17 Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 18 - Pomegranate - No. 18 Canberra Times 2014 Top 20 19 - A.Baker - No. 19 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 19 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20 20 - Le Tres Bon - No. 20 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20; No. 20 in Canberra Times 2014 Top 20
Those that disappeared:
Ox Eatery - No. 11 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
Water’s Edge - No. 13 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
Rubicon - No. 14 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
The Artisan - No. 15 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
Jamie's Italian - No. 17 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
Jewel of India - No. 18 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
Red Chilli Sichuan - No. 20 in Canberra Times 2013 Top 20
How other "experts" rated Canberra Restaurants see -
Jars of foie gras are flying off supermarket shelves as they usually do in the festive season, but could it be that the French, the principal producers and consumers of the delicacy, are becoming squeamish about the controversial gourmet dish?
According to an OpinionWay poll carried out for a French animal protection group, 47% of those questioned said they would support a ban on the force feeding of geese and ducks, the process by which foie gras, or fatty liver, is made.
Known as gavage in French, the process involves pumping corn mash into the gullets of geese and ducks to enlarge their livers. Animal rights groups denounce it as gruesome and cruel and have called the dish “torture in a tin”. California banned foie gras in a 2004 ruling that was upheld by the supreme court in October after appeals by restaurant owners and producers.
It is, so the saying goes, a difference of opinion that makes a horse race. And so it is with choosing a city's best restaurants. Judgments vary depending on the tastes and prejudices of the reviewer as you will see in the table below.
We have included in it the rankings of the leading newspaper of the city, The Canberra Times, the NSW edition of Fairfax's Good Food Guide and those that made the national listings by Gourmet magazine and The Australian. The annual awards of the industry body Restaurant & Catering Australia give a broader guide by category and there is an indication of the eating public's opinion by the rankings of Urban Spoon and Tripadvisor.
