20 Foods Everyone Should Know How to Cook

Once, when cooking with a friend, I asked him to check if the artichokes were done. "Sure!" was the immediate response, followed by a pause, and then, "How do I know if they’re done?"

When first starting to cook, there are many foods and dishes that can be intimidating to prepare or seem overly complicated. But the truth is that when you boil it down to the basics, they are typically quite easy. Remember that good-tasting food doesn’t always take a lot of skill to make — just some basic know-how and good ingredients.



http://www.thedailymeal.com/20-foods-everyone-should-know-how-cook

British drinkers toast stout revival

It was famously enjoyed by Ena Sharples in the snug of the Rovers Return – the Coronation Street battle-axe often shared a glass of milk stout with her friend Minnie Caldwell.

Now bottled British stout is making a comeback as a popular tipple with a new generation of drinkers, thanks to new products from burgeoning craft and regional brewers.

Irish stout – notably Guinness – has dominated the market for well over a century, but in recent years the whole stout market has been in decline.

Now supermarkets are reporting strong sales of specialist bottled stout with eye-catching and quirky names being created by craft and micro-breweries. In March the Office for National Statistics gave stout new credibility by adding it to the "basket" of goods and services it monitors regularly to gauge living costs.

Stout is made using roasted malt or barley, hops, water and yeast. It originated in the early 18th century as porter – a blend of brown ale, mild ale and "well matured ale". It got its name because it was popular with London street market workers: the strongest variety was known as stout porter, which was eventually shortened to just stout.

 Pint of view? Camra does not include Guinness as one of the real stouts, which are becoming more popular with a new generation of drinkers. Photograph: Alamy

How to make perfect pastry

Baking blind, resting, rolling out: top tips from master baker Richard Bertinet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/22/perfect-pastry-richard-bertinet

Did you know...?

•     People unknowingly serve themselves more when they use a larger plate
•     People frequently over-consume foods labelled as low-fat
•     Children who use cash to pay for lunch often make healthier choices 
•    Children prefer plates of food with six colours, while adults prefer just three

Source: Cornell University Food and Brand Lab


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17744446

Will adverts at the Olympics increase fast food consumption?

Health campaigners are calling for restrictions on fast food adverts at large sporting events, but would limiting these adverts make any difference to rising levels of obesity?

It is almost impossible to go a day without seeing some form of advertisement, whether plastered across large billboards, interrupting television programmes or personalised adverts online, which track our shopping habits by monitoring the websites we visit.

Latest research suggests that almost a quarter of adults are obese, and campaigners from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) say obesity is the "single greatest public health threat in the UK."

They are calling for companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald's to restrict advertising at the Olympics as it "completely sends the wrong message, especially to children," said Prof Terence Stephenson, a spokesman from AoMRC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17744446

Asparagus, royalty and the joys of seasonal eating

For some, having all food available at all times of the year reduces the pleasure of seasonal eating, but for others sampling what is freshest and ripest is still a cause for celebration.

It is "Spargelzeit" (asparagus season) in Germany. Just.

In my part of the world, the season opened on Thursday, with a formal tasting in the presence of dignitaries of the state of Brandenburg.

This matters. Just as the sighting - or rather hearing - of the first cuckoo in spring was once a British ritual, marked by a letter to the Times newspaper, so is the cutting of the first crowns of asparagus that peep out of the dark mounds of earth in Germany.

And now that the season is open, everybody in this country will be bombarded with the stuff for the next two months. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17753372

Taste of America 7 Foods You Really Should Eat Before You Die

Stupid things are sometimes far more compelling to me than smart ones. For instance, I seldom think about the themes in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s epic Three Colors trilogy, but to this day I don’t understand why, in The Blues Brothers, the Good Ol’ Boys arrive at Bob’s Country Bunker at 3 a.m., ready to play a show in the middle of the night. Likewise, I can’t stop thinking about the idiocy that is the latest viral food meme, the 100 Foods to Eat Before You Die list that keeps bubbling up on Facebook.

http://ideas.time.com/2012/04/18/7-foods-you-really-should-eat-before-you-die/?iid=op-article-mostpop1

Incredible Miniature Food Sculptures

Tel Aviv-based artist Shay Aaron constructs incredible miniaturized food sculptures at 1:12 scale that look almost completely edible. You can see hundreds more photos on Flickr and he also makes miniature food jewelry which is available over on Etsy. (via flavorwire).
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/04/incredible-miniature-food-sculptures/

Brusselicious

Brusselicious: Tram Experience

The tram is part and parcel of everyday life in Brussels in much the same way as gastronomy is. Good reason then to involve the tram in Brusselicious in every possible sense.

http://visitbrussels.be/bitc/BE_en/brusselicious.do 

2012 Brusselicious Gourmet Year

The superheroes of Brussels gastronomy are coming to town. Ta-dah! Just imagine: giant Brussels sprouts, chocolate tablets, mussels, pints of beers and cones with chips, all creatively decorated, changed around, customised and rethought by artists with a very vivid imagination.

http://visitbrussels.be/bitc/BE_en/brusselicious.do

10 Essential Baking Tools

It’s easy for any home baker to get swept up in a wave of ambition in a well-stocked kitchen supply store. When shelves are stocked with such gadgets as mini pocket pie molds, fondant leaf cutter sets, and cupcake corers, it’s tempting to believe that these highly specialized tools will indeed assist us on the path to culinary greatness. But more often than not, that heart-shaped silicone cake pan or 70-count pastry tip set will end up dusty and forgotten, a hollow vestige of our former good intentions.



http://www.thedailymeal.com/10-essential-baking-tools

Brazil 'cannibals turned women into pastries'

Three suspected cannibals have been arrested by Brazilian police on suspicion of having murdered and eaten as least two women who they may have turned into pastries.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9206441/Brazil-cannibals-turned-women-into-pastries.html

Gourmet Live as Food Blog Of The Week

http://www.rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.de/

Edible packaging: fancy a wrap?

Packaging you can eat is said to be the next big thing. Question is, after storage and handling, would you want to?

Pouring your milk then eating the bottle sounds less than tempting, but edible packaging is being touted as food technology's next Big Thing.

It's not entirely new, of course. Heston Blumenthal's been at it for years, wrapping palatable paper around packets of soup and urging us to eat salted caramels wrapper and all. Anyone who has eaten turron also knows the slightly odd sensation of rice paper melting in their mouth. But two US companies are currently vying to be the first to commercially exploit the "untapped market" for wrappers you can munch.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/16/edible-packaging-fancy-a-wrap?CMP=twt_gu

Clonakilty Black Pudding

CLONAKILTY Blackpudding Salad

See recipe:

http://www.clonakiltyblackpudding.ie/Recipes/BlackpuddingSalad.aspx


CLONAKILTY BLACKPUDDING

Clonakilty Blackpudding is Ireland's premium breakfast pudding. First manufacture in the 1880's, the secret recipe and production methods have remained the same to this day. This recipe is mixed once a week by the Twomey family, the current guardians of the secret and sole owners of the Company. It is this special blend of ingredients that gives Clonakilty its unique taste, crumbly texture and distinctive flavour.

Clonakilty Blackpudding has a wholesome appearance with a toasty aroma. Best cut to 2cm thick and either shallow fried or grilled, Clonakilty has a moist and crumbly texture and a truly unique mild spicy flavour.

Doesn't Take Much To Do It Yourself In The Kitchen

I never thought my 6 1/2-by-9-foot kitchen could double as a cheese making factory, but there I was mixing a vat of whole milk with cream and lemon juice to make ricotta cheese. Cowgirl Creamery it wasn't, but as the curds wrested themselves from the whey, I was astonished anew at how I really don't need a big kitchen to create something from scratch.

There's really no end to what you can accomplish: homemade gnocchi, handmade vegetable potstickers, granola bars, hot sauce, fruit preserves, chocolate syrup, candy. ... If you have interest and scope of the imagination enough, the DIY world is your virtual oyster.

Nor do I need to supply my salt tooth with bags of organic corn chips from my neighborhood market — all that's required is some cornmeal, salt, an oven and a bit of time. The possibilities for do-it-yourself culinary projects are endless, I soon discovered, though I also discovered I had a tendency to go overboard.

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/149036552/doesnt-take-much-kitchen-space-to-do-it-yourself?sc=ipad&f=1008

New Books on Cereals and Bread

In 'The Great American Cereal Book' Topher Ellis and Marty Gitlin go on an encyclopedic nostalgia trip, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain asks how white bread became white trash.

Marty Gitlin and Topher Ellis, The Great American Cereal Book, Abrams 2011.

I love cereal boxes, especially ones with egregious health claims, and I have a small collection dating back 10 years or so. I also, courtesy of Kellogg, have facsimiles of the complete set of Rice Krispies, All-Bran, and Froot Loops, dating back to the first year they were produced. So I'm delighted to find this history of U.S. breakfast cereals, organized alphabetically by era starting in the 1860s, illustrated with pictures of each. A encyclopedic nostalgia trip!

Aaron Bobrow-Strain, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf, Beacon Press, 2012.

Bobrow-Strain organizes this books by dream categories: dreams of purity and contagion, control and abundance, health and discipline, strength and defense, peace and security, resistance and status. White bread does all this? Indeed it does in this story of how "white bread became white trash." He begins by asking, "Is this stuff even food?" He ends with the whole wheat phenomenon and "yuppie bread." This is entertaining history and an example of food studies in action: using food to talk about important issues in history and contemporary society.

 http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/new-books-on-cereals-and-bread/255021/

Cranachan

Sweet summer raspberries folded into cream flavoured with honey, whisky and toasted oatmeal - what could be more delicious?

See recipe:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/648633/cranachan 

Cameras at the table: snapping point?

A large and growing number of people obsessively take and share photos of their food. Are we in danger of losing the ability to simply enjoy a meal?

The world was blessed with yet another food photography app last week, underscoring (or fuelling?) the growing obsession with visually recording everything we eat. From slices of toast to smears of jus, countless millions of us now feel so compelled to snap our dinner it seems that our ability to sit down and just enjoy a meal is in danger of being lost.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/27/cameras-at-the-table-snapping-point?CMP=twt_gu

Why You May Eat Fewer Fresh-Baked Cookies than Store-Bought Ones Read more: http://www.oprah.com/blogs/Why-You-May-Eat-Fewer-Fresh-Baked-Cookies-than-Store-Bought-Ones#ixzz1rvzs6MPW

What's harder to resist than fresh-baked cookies straight out of the oven? Well, nothing, really, but here's some news we never expected: it may be easier to stop eating these types of wonderfully scented treats than it would be to give up something equally delicious but less aromatic. In a new study published in the journal Flavour, people who ate vanilla custard took smaller bites when they smelled a more intense cream aroma. The stronger the smell, the smaller the bite--until the custard had disappeared. Dutch researchers suspect that the aroma made the custard seem more appealing, and also made tasters think that it was thicker and creamier. Perhaps the subjects wanted the custard-eating experience to last, or they wanted to savor every sweet morsel. Regardless, taking smaller bites and chewing more slowly are tactics that have been shown to help people control how much they eat. So when you're overcome with a craving for something sweet, opt for a bakery-fresh treat, or pop a pre-made one in the microwave to activate its portion-controlling aroma.


http://www.oprah.com/blogs/Why-You-May-Eat-Fewer-Fresh-Baked-Cookies-than-Store-Bought-Ones

Take Time To Savor The Borek, A Flaky Turkish Snack

It seems that almost every country knows how to snack better than we do. We grab coffee and a muffin from a drive-through, or mindlessly reach into the chip bag while staring at the screen on our desk. I recently visited a friend in Spain's Basque country who pointed out, with disdain, the lone cafe in his town that would give you coffee in a to-go cup rather than the standard little demitasse. The idea that you wouldn't have a few minutes to sit and fully appreciate a cup of coffee and a little snack, either with a friend or the daily paper, was nearly unfathomable.

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/27/149467233/take-time-to-savor-the-borek-a-flaky-turkish-snack?sc=ipad&f=1008

The changing face of French lunchtimes

On a sunny spring day, a bistro with a well-deserved reputation for first-rate traditional cooking is all but deserted at lunchtime.

"When the weather's good, people tend to grab a sandwich and eat outdoors," laments Otis Lebert, the owner and chef of Le Taxi Jaune in the trendy Marais district of central Paris.

A walk around the local park confirms his assessment. And there's a queue outside a nearby branch of the American sandwich chain, Subway.

The nation long known for three-course bistro lunches washed down with a glass of red wine is apparently turning to sandwiches, fast food and soft drinks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-17561232

Lust, Lies And Empire: The Fishy Tale Behind Eating Fish On Friday

It sounds like the plot of a Dan Brown thriller: A powerful medieval pope makes a secret pact to prop up the fishing industry that ultimately alters global economics. The result: Millions of Catholics around the world end up eating fish on Fridays as part of a religious observance.

This "realpolitik" explanation of why Catholics eat fish on Friday has circulated for so long, many people grew up believing it as fact. Some, myself included, even learned it in Catholic school. It's a humdinger of a tale — the kind conspiracy theorists can really sink their teeth into. But is it true?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/04/05/150061991/lust-lies-and-empire-the-fishy-tale-behind-eating-fish-on-friday

Update to Popular RAMA iPhone App Serves Up Singular Food Experiences

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – April 6, 2011- Crimson Bamboo LLC, a Brooklyn-based new media developer and publisher, announced a major update to their popular RAMA iPhone app today, including a new line of curated food tours and downloadable, “offline” maps.

The update to RAMA complements its award-winning line of historical walking tours with a new series of food tours, written by local experts in 22 locations around the world.

http://pastpreservers.blogspot.de/2012/04/update-to-popular-rama-iphone-app.html

Food's Biggest Scam: The Great Kobe Beef Lie

Think you’ve tasted the famous Japanese Kobe beef?

Think again.

Of course, there are a small number of you out there who have tried it – I did, in Tokyo, and it is delicious. If you ever go to Japan I heartily recommend you splurge, because while it is expensive, it is unique, and you cannot get it in the United States. Not as steaks, not as burgers, certainly not as the ubiquitous “Kobe sliders” at your trendy neighborhood “bistro.”

That’s right. You heard me. I did not misspeak. I am not confused like most of the American food media.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/04/12/foods-biggest-scam-the-great-kobe-beef-lie/

‘Game of Thrones’ Cookbooks: A Feast for All Senses

There is no tuning out Game of Thrones and Mad Men and even True Blood, what with the surrounding media frenzy and incessant chirping on Twitter. Now the shows are even invading America’s kitchens. Anyone who lives and breathes those series can soon have her or his entertainment and eat it too.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/08/game-of-thrones-cookbooks-a-feast-for-all-senses.html