It's Not Just A Bug, It's A Fine-Dining Feature At This Thailand Restaurant : The Salt : NPR:
"In his tiny kitchen, chef Thitiwat Tantragarn throws a handful of raw bamboo caterpillars into a hot skillet and sautés them with olive oil, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Seconds later, the cream-colored larvae are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Tantragarn adds white wine, then spoons the bugs, brown beady eyes and all, over grilled scallops and Jerusalem artichokes before sending the plate out to the dining room.
This is Insects in the Backyard, a restaurant in Bangkok that is turning bugs into haute cuisine. It opened in the city's trendy Chang Chui market in July.
In Thailand, it's not hard to find ant eggs, crickets and bamboo worms at markets and restaurants if you know where to look. But Insects in the Backyard is the only fine dining establishment in Thailand where the entire menu is devoted to bugs. The worms, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and caterpillars here are paired with less intimidating grains, seafood and vegetables, "so it's not too scary for people who want to try our food," says Tantragarn."
'via Blog this'
Monday, December 11, 2017
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Neapolitan-Style Pizza Making Wins UNESCO Heritage Status
Can't Be Topped: Neapolitan-Style Pizza Making Wins UNESCO Heritage Status : The Two-Way : NPR:
"On Wednesday Pizzaiuolo, the art of Neopolitan pizza-making, was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. ...
The practice of pizzaiuolo consists of a few stages: first the dough (water, flour, salt and yeast) must be kneaded by fist for at least 15 minutes, then allowed to rest and rise for 12 hours. Next balls or panetti are formed and left to rest some more. Then the dough is stretched and beaten into a circle. Finally the toppings are added, and the pizza is placed in the oven and rotated with a pizza shovel to ensure uniform baking. Two minutes is all it takes."
'via Blog this'
"On Wednesday Pizzaiuolo, the art of Neopolitan pizza-making, was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. ...
The practice of pizzaiuolo consists of a few stages: first the dough (water, flour, salt and yeast) must be kneaded by fist for at least 15 minutes, then allowed to rest and rise for 12 hours. Next balls or panetti are formed and left to rest some more. Then the dough is stretched and beaten into a circle. Finally the toppings are added, and the pizza is placed in the oven and rotated with a pizza shovel to ensure uniform baking. Two minutes is all it takes."
'via Blog this'
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Reinventing The Meaning Of 'Whole Grain' Bread
'The Hardest Bakery Possible': Reinventing The Meaning Of 'Whole Grain' : The Salt : NPR: "Jonathan Bethony admits the breads he'll be churning out at Seylou Bakery & Mill, which just opened this month in Washington, D.C., might not appeal to everyone.
The dark crusts of his pain au levain have a charred appearance and complex flavors to match their hue. Inside the loaves, a toothsome chewiness gives way to the tang of sourdough and a taste that can only be described as distinctly wheat-y.
But those characteristics are not an accident. They're the fruit of a baking process that is pushing the envelope of what's possible — and palatable — when working with locally sourced, freshly milled whole grains.
"
'via Blog this'
The dark crusts of his pain au levain have a charred appearance and complex flavors to match their hue. Inside the loaves, a toothsome chewiness gives way to the tang of sourdough and a taste that can only be described as distinctly wheat-y.
But those characteristics are not an accident. They're the fruit of a baking process that is pushing the envelope of what's possible — and palatable — when working with locally sourced, freshly milled whole grains.
"
'via Blog this'
Thursday, November 30, 2017
It's bon. Have a bonedro
Just when you think that after 40 plus years in the wine trade you have tried everything along comes my brother David with a bottle of bonvedro. Barossa grown, red and fruity. From a grape of Portuguese origin Australians used to incorrectly call carignan
Because I'm the unsophisticated brother I'll finish this bottle of 2016 Village Belle Bonvedro after chilling it a bit. And then I'll broach another one.
I'm sure it will pass the two bottle test.
Details at
http://www.glug.com.au/index.php…
Because I'm the unsophisticated brother I'll finish this bottle of 2016 Village Belle Bonvedro after chilling it a bit. And then I'll broach another one.
I'm sure it will pass the two bottle test.
Details at
http://www.glug.com.au/index.php…
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Red wine makes you sleepy, but spirits make you confident
Red wine makes you sleepy, but liquor makes you confident — Quartz:
"Unofficially, everyone knows that different kinds of booze will give them a different kind of night. But now, data from one of the largest surveys on drug and alcohol use finally prove it: hard liquor gives most people that extra ~swag~."
'via Blog this'
"Unofficially, everyone knows that different kinds of booze will give them a different kind of night. But now, data from one of the largest surveys on drug and alcohol use finally prove it: hard liquor gives most people that extra ~swag~."
'via Blog this'
Sunday, November 19, 2017
A return to Russian cooking
Kachka: The Word That Saved A Family During WWII And Inspired A Chef : The Salt : NPR:
"On a sunny weekday afternoon, chef Bonnie Morales leads me past the Q subway line in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. We are going shopping for Russian food.
Morales owns Kachka, a restaurant in Portland, Ore., that serves food from the former Soviet Union. It's one of the most popular places to eat in one of the hottest food cities in the country.
Now, Morales has a new cookbook — also called Kachka. Its publication inspired this jaunt to Little Odessa, the kind of neighborhood where the child of Eastern European immigrants feels at home.
"Because there's such a concentration of people from the former Soviet Union," Morales explains.
People like Morales' own Russian Jewish immigrant parents. (Her husband is part Mexican; her maiden name is Frumkin.) She was born in the Chicago area, and as a child in the early 1990s, her relatives flocked to the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Every week, it seemed, her parents threw another party welcoming new arrivals with a spread of cold appetizers called zakuski.
"
'via Blog this'
"On a sunny weekday afternoon, chef Bonnie Morales leads me past the Q subway line in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. We are going shopping for Russian food.
Morales owns Kachka, a restaurant in Portland, Ore., that serves food from the former Soviet Union. It's one of the most popular places to eat in one of the hottest food cities in the country.
Kachka
A Return to Russian Cooking
by Bonnie Frumkin Morales, Deena Prichep and Leela Cyd
Hardcover, 389 pages
Now, Morales has a new cookbook — also called Kachka. Its publication inspired this jaunt to Little Odessa, the kind of neighborhood where the child of Eastern European immigrants feels at home.
"Because there's such a concentration of people from the former Soviet Union," Morales explains.
People like Morales' own Russian Jewish immigrant parents. (Her husband is part Mexican; her maiden name is Frumkin.) She was born in the Chicago area, and as a child in the early 1990s, her relatives flocked to the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Every week, it seemed, her parents threw another party welcoming new arrivals with a spread of cold appetizers called zakuski.
"
'via Blog this'
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Lost Kitchen Restaurant Made Chef's Small Hometown A Dining Destination : The Salt : NPR
Lost Kitchen Restaurant Made Chef's Small Hometown A Dining Destination : The Salt : NPR:
"One of America's most coveted dining experiences is a 40-seat restaurant in a converted grist-mill in the rural village of Freedom, Maine.
Chef Erin French, who is self-taught, opened the Lost Kitchen in her hometown of Freedom without much of a plan. She loved the space, and at first thought she would make English muffins and offer brunch, not convinced that the village of just over 700 people could become a dinner destination.
"When I first decided that I wanted to do this, everyone thought I was completely crazy," French says. "Why would anyone come all this way to have dinner?""
Well, come they have — in droves. French's food, with its focus on local, fresh, unpretentious cooking, has created a legion of fans. Each year, the restaurant opens reservations on April 1. But this year, things got out of control.
"The phones rang to a point where our security system went down and we had over 10,000 phone calls stream in in the matter of a few hours, French says. "The entire restaurant was booked."
Booked for the whole year. Calls came in from as far away as New Zealand, along with offers to open another restaurant in Las Vegas. But French first learned to cook in her dad's diner and is committed to keeping things simple.
"The food at Lost Kitchen is not Earth-shattering or ground-breaking in any way, and it's not fancy — we don't sous vide anything, we don't make foams or fancy purees, it's just simple food," she says. "I don't want anyone to feel intimidated when they look at this and I never want to plate a dish that you have to look at it and say, 'What is it?' "
'via Blog this'
"One of America's most coveted dining experiences is a 40-seat restaurant in a converted grist-mill in the rural village of Freedom, Maine.
Chef Erin French, who is self-taught, opened the Lost Kitchen in her hometown of Freedom without much of a plan. She loved the space, and at first thought she would make English muffins and offer brunch, not convinced that the village of just over 700 people could become a dinner destination.
"When I first decided that I wanted to do this, everyone thought I was completely crazy," French says. "Why would anyone come all this way to have dinner?""
Well, come they have — in droves. French's food, with its focus on local, fresh, unpretentious cooking, has created a legion of fans. Each year, the restaurant opens reservations on April 1. But this year, things got out of control.
"The phones rang to a point where our security system went down and we had over 10,000 phone calls stream in in the matter of a few hours, French says. "The entire restaurant was booked."
Booked for the whole year. Calls came in from as far away as New Zealand, along with offers to open another restaurant in Las Vegas. But French first learned to cook in her dad's diner and is committed to keeping things simple.
"The food at Lost Kitchen is not Earth-shattering or ground-breaking in any way, and it's not fancy — we don't sous vide anything, we don't make foams or fancy purees, it's just simple food," she says. "I don't want anyone to feel intimidated when they look at this and I never want to plate a dish that you have to look at it and say, 'What is it?' "
'via Blog this'
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