Slashfood
October 28, 2008
13:34
In Season: Roasted cauliflower
Filed under: Vegetables, Recipes, Roasting, Fall
Growing up, the only form in which I saw cauliflower (or maybe just the only way my mom could get me to eat it!) was steamed and covered in nice thick, white sauce. Now, while I can admit that I still think it's delicious, I'd much rather prefer eating roasted cauliflower.
According to Gourmet Magazine, "Blasting cauliflower florets in a hot over concentrates their natural sweetness, turning them into something akin to vegetable candy."Continue reading In Season: Roasted cauliflower
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Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
13:01
What makes you feel like a real cook?
Filed under: Farming, Soups/Salads, Local Eating
I think it's safe to say that Slashfood readers like food, and for the most part, like making it. But do you consider yourself a cook? And, more specifically, if that answer is yes -- what made you decide that you were one?
When I went to one of my local farmers' markets over the weekend (where I found the shaker pitcher), I was there for something specific -- elk bones. See, I'd made a brown stock eons ago, but it didn't turn out so well, so I wanted to try again. When one of my elk guys, John Rietkerk of Second Wind Elk, gave me a recipe for elk stew over the summer, I wanted to try it from scratch. There was no way I'd buy some local elk and then destroy it with boxed stock, so I asked him about elk bones.
Fast-forward a couple months, and I found myself walking through the market with a HUGE box of elk bones. Free. It was a revelation for two reasons. One: It taught me the benefit of talking to your food producers. I have enough bones to make a number of quarts of stock, and it'll only cost me the vegetables I have to use. Second: I felt like a real cook. I wasn't only toiling with a recipe or buying better equipment -- I was getting a huge box of bones from my supplier, so to speak. My food passion suddenly seemed all the more real.
Those bones above are my turning point, but what about you? What marks your changes in culinary efforts?Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
12:00
A base has been stolen: Free tacos for everyone!
Filed under: Fast Food
Living in Philadelphia, it is impossible to avoid the fact that the World Series is currently going on (and continuing to go painfully on, due to inclement weather in Philly last night). While my city continues to fret and suffer, waiting with bated breath for the second half of game five, the rest of the country can relax a little and enjoy a free Taco Bell Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco today between the hours of 2 pm and 6 pm.
We have Tampa Bay Ray Jason Bartlett to thank for the free taco. Bartlett, a Ray shortstop, stole second base in the bottom of the fifth inning of game one.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
11:30
The most sexist food commercial of the year?
Filed under: Business, Baking, Fast Food
It's old news that sexist stereotypes have long been used to sell everything from cigarettes to cars to chicken wings. But this new Hardee's (the fast-food chain also called Carl's Jr.) commercial, which I saw on prime time last night, is particularly sick-making.
Fort those of you who can't watch YouTube at work, I'll summarize: A bunch of 20-something dudes are sitting on a couch in a Generic Bachelor Pad (dart board on wall, football posters), watching NASCAR. Another guy, clad in flannel shirt and baseball cap, ambles up from the kitchen, looking pleased with himself and holding a tray of excellent-looking, golden biscuits. "Hey guys, who wants some fresh biscuits?" he asks.
Utter silence ensues as the dudes stare at each other in confusion tinged with disgust. They clearly don't know what to say. No one reaches for a biscuit. A deep-voiced off-screen announcer says, in a slow, this-should-be-obvious tone, "Guys don't bake."
Then a Hardee's chicken biscuit flashes on the screen, with the words "We bake, so you don't have to."
Gagging noises follow (that'd be me).
What the commercial is saying seems pretty obvious: Baking is an unmasculine activity and guys who bake are somehow not normal (hence the freaked-out stares). The homophobic implications are pretty close to the surface.
Watching Paris Hilton writhe around in a swimsuit eating a burger in the old Carl's Jr. ad was irritating, but this is much worse: Hardee's is taking something great (who wouldn't like a guy that makes awesome snacks?) and turns it into something shameful and snicker-worthy.
And honestly, in this Food Network-loving, celebrity chef-worshiping world, aren't we pretty much past thinking that baking is for girls (or that any activity is just for girls/boys, for that matter). I recently saw Bobby Flay baking biscuits and making jam on a biscuit-themed Throwdown With Bobby Flay. Say what you will about Bobby Flay, a pugilistic high school drop-out with tough-kid New Yorkah accent, but he's not, to quote Ahnold, a "girlie man." Who, I ask you, really believes that a man baking is gross/wrong? The guys from Mad Men? The Taliban? So why is Hardee's trying to bring back such a regressive stereotype?
To sell biscuits, obviously. Thanks, but I'll stay home and let my boyfriend bake - his biscuits are pretty good, but his cinnamon rolls are really to die for. And I've never seen his friends pass up one of his chocolate chip cookies. That would be weird.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
11:01
Tuck an edible note into your kids' lunches
Filed under: Culinary Kids
When I was in elementary school, I was always jealous of those kids who always had notes from their parents in their lunches. I had one friend in particular who's dad packed her lunch each morning. Without fail, he would jot a quick little note on her paper napkin, telling her to enjoy her lunch or that he hoped she was having a good day.
For those parents who still include little notes in their kids' lunches, there's now a slightly more nifty way to go about it. Get a set of these FoodWriter food coloring pens and scrawl a note or a smiley face on your child's turkey sandwich. I do believe that had my classmates had sandwiches doodled with designs, I would have been green with jealousy.
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Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
10:00
Feast Your Eyes: Pumpkin pecan chocolate chunk cookies
Filed under: Feast Your Eyes, Fall
It is pumpkin time! I've got a couple of edible beauties positioned around my apartment at the moment, looking pretty until I find the time to chop them up, roast them and whirl them down into some versatile puree. If you've got a similar "problem," consider making these Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk cookies. While they often say that less is more, I think when it comes to these cookies, more is just more.
Thanks Bakerella, for adding these yummy treats to the Slashfood Flickr pool.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
October 27, 2008
22:04
Forget new shakers -- try an antique cocktail pitcher
Filed under: Cocktails
On Saturday morning, I headed to my favorite farmers' market to pick up some groceries. Before I got inside, I was distracted by a small antique store nestled alongside the bustle of farmers and foodies. It was overflowing with textiles, books, and kitchen things, which included two gorgeous, tall pitchers -- one made out of silver, and one steel.
I'd never seen anything like it, and my friend and I began to discuss its possible uses when the owner informed us that it was an old cocktail shaker. That's right -- throw in your martini ingredients, shake, and pour out a number of glasses with the easy spout.
Seeing something like this, I don't know why the cocktail world is flooded only with the small shakers. Sure, they're good for making different cocktails, but it takes a lot of time to make a lot with a small shaker, it wastes a lot of those all-too-rare party ice cubes, and it sucks up a lot of time. But a pitcher like this -- it's handy, classy, and idea for small groups of people.
If this is up your alley, just search "shaker pitcher" and see all of the options!Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
21:01
Sweet!, Cookbook of the Day
Filed under: Cookbook of the Day
While I think you could make argument that baking is an activity good for every time of the year, I find that this season we're heading into now - the chilly, cozy, pre-holiday days - makes for the best baking. There's something about the shorter days and thinner sunlight that cries out for pies (sweet potato or pumpkin), quick breads (carrot or apple) and lots of soul-warming, fragrant spices.
For those of you wanting to dig into fall-time baking, but also want to experiment with other sweeteners than just your standard granulated sugar, you must check out the new cookbook by Mani Niall, called Sweet! Niall understands the important of a good treat at any time of day, but also recognizes that lots of folks want to reduce the amount of sugar they consume while upping their whole grains. This book walks that line with ease and a great deal of delicious grace.
The book opens with a short history of sugar and then introduces the wide variety of sweeteners out there that you can turn to in place of the standard, white stuff. Then he moves into the recipes, offering up ways to do Breakfast Treats, Cakes, Pies/Tarts/Cobblers, Cookies, Spoon Desserts, Candy and Frozen Desserts. The final chapter is devoted to Main Courses that have both savory and sweet flavors. My only complaint with this book is that it doesn't offer much in the way of pictures. I understand that fewer pictures saves money, but the four pages of images are so lovely that I would have enjoyed seeing how more of recipes looked in the hands of the photographer/food stylist.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
19:54
Hitler brings controversy to Belgian cooking show
Filed under: Television/Film, Celebrities
The man has been gone for a long time, but he's still stirring up controversy.
The AFP reports that a Belgian cooking show, one that details the favorite foods of famous people, is pulling an episode of their program that covers Adolph Hitler's favorite meal, after news of the episode incited backlash and controversy. Flemish chef Jeroen Meus went to Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" hideaway in Southern Germany to cook the "meal of an atrocious man" -- a trout dish served with a butter sauce.
The use of "atrocious" doesn't seem to have been enough for the community, and the show has been condemned for "presenting Hitler as a simple man of the people," and also presenting him "without any historical context." Meanwhile, the network says that it "meant to put him 'in the right context,' adding that the chef also addressed Hitler's anti-Semitic policies."
Speaking as someone who almost didn't exist because of Hitler, I don't see an issue with television show discussing his favorite meal, unless the delivery of this information was callous or inappropriate. It's not like we're talking about people who hoped to "tell people we are different in the way he [Hitler] was different."
But what do you think?Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
19:30
Meat art: The perfect advertisement for vegetarianism!
Last night, caught in a fit of nostalgia, I re-watched David Cronenberg's Videodrome. Basically the tale of a man's psychotic attachment to his television, the movie features some of the most disturbingly meaty special effects I've ever seen, including a VCR built into a character's abdomen, a gun made out of raw meat, and other grotesqueries that halve the distance between flesh and manufactured items. After the movie was over, I turned off the computer and went to bed, comfortable in the knowledge that the line between meat and machine is pretty clearly drawn and David Cronenberg is more or less insane.
Today, unfortunately, I happened to discover Meat After Meat Joy, a show that is currently on display at Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York City. Featuring art that is inspired by and often constructed from meat, the show is designed to "investigate the paradoxical relationship meat has to the body." In the service of this goal, it has exhibits including meat-based sneakers, a cup and saucer constructed from bacon, and a Betty Hirst piece titled "American Flag" that is made from rotting, maggot-ridden animal products.
While encouraging vegetarianism may not be the actual purpose of this exhibit, it is a very likely side-product, as the array of bulging, blood-laden muscle is sure to make many visitors question their eating preferences. With that in mind, it's interesting that PETA has, once again, totally missed the point. Stating that "Unless you're Hannibal Lecter, there's nothing 'artistic' or 'joyful' about meat," the animal-rights organization called upon the director of a gallery to "commit to displaying only exhibits that don't support gratuitous animal suffering."Continue reading Meat art: The perfect advertisement for vegetarianism!
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19:00
The Globe and Mail in 60 seconds: New wines, apples, farm houses, and dried peppers
Filed under: in sixty seconds
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- Wine snobbery isn't just for the elite any more -- the changing look and democratization of the snob form.
- David Lee talks apples and shares a recipe for Apple Pie with Prince Edward Island Clothbound Cheddar.
- Farm House Camembert -- a BC cheese using a mixture of milk and imported cultures from France.
- Finally, the benefits of home-drying peppers to add spice all year round, and a recipe for Fried Espelette-Saint-Rémi Peppers.
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
18:00
Cocktail Hour: The Hot Flash
Filed under: Cocktail Hour
After a week spent wandering the halls of Tales of the Cocktail in July 2008, sipping many finely stirred and shaken libations; I said to myself, "These special cocktails need to be shared with the world." So I bring you Cocktail Hour, a finer way to celebrate the end of the day; with these recipes. They have either been created specifically for Tales of the Cocktail, or re-designed for a new approach on the traditional version by some of the top Mixologists in the world. Many are being presented to the public here for the first time. Enjoy!
The Hot Flash cocktail recipe after the jumpContinue reading Cocktail Hour: The Hot Flash
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17:32
The Toronto Star in 60 seconds: From Halloween treats to yellow peppers
Filed under: in sixty seconds
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- Halloween treats: This Star rundown even includes bloody eyeballs -- the perfect match to the Bleeding Vampires.
- For love of toaster ovens -- the small and super-handy kitchen instrument -- plus a few recipes.
- If you're looking to stretch your beer-loving taste buds, or immerse yourself in rare beer, get into the Cask ale celebrations.
- Wines for many taste buds.
- DT Bistro -- no admittance of guilt and disappointing meals, but a good experience at Mississauga's Shish Mahal.
- A discussion with Eduardo Chadwick, president of Errázuriz wines.
- Toronto just might see the long yellow pepper hit local stands soon enough, as efforts continue to eat everything locally.
- Recipes: Butter Chicken, Pasta with Creamed Prosciutto Sauce, Truffle Potato and Mushroom Gratin, Pan-Seared Steaks with Mushrooms, Onions, and Thyme Gravy, and Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon.
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
17:02
MealBaby lets you coordinate those new baby meals easily
Filed under: On the Blogs
Back at the end of August, my cousin and his wife had their second child. In the face of this happy news, I did what any loving relative would do. I pulled down a casserole pan and started cooking. I put together a baked pasta dish with browned organic sausage, lots of wilted spinach, ricotta cheese, homemade marinara sauce and whole wheat elbows.
However, when I turned up with it at their door, instead of looking relieved to have a meal ready to pop in the oven, my aunt (who was there taking care of the two-year-old) looked harried. I wasn't the first to bring a dish by that day, nor was I the even the third. Their refrigerator was bursting at the seams with deli containers of pasta salad, roasted chickens from the local gourmet market and a pot of turkey chili. If only MealBaby had been around just a few short months ago, we could have avoided that traffic jam of food.
MealBaby, you ask? It's a new (free) online service that allows you to organize and schedule meals for new parents, people recovering from illness or surgery and anyone else who just needs a few homecooked meals. Once you have an account (and signing up is easy), you just set up a meal calendar for a friend, family member or yourself. You can invite as many people as you'd like to participate, and once they sign up for mealtime slot, the system blocks out the date and sends them a reminder email a day in advance. People can even participate from far away, as there's also an option to buy a gift certificate to a grocery store or restaurant built into the system.
It's a brilliant way to coordinate meals and ensure that your lasagna is greeted with an appreciative smile instead of an overwhelmed grimace.
[via The Kitchn]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
16:00
Wine of the Week: Sauvignon Blanc
Filed under: Wine, South America, Fall, Wine of the Week
While grape growers in the northern hemisphere are just winding down harvest, the southern hemisphere is six months ahead of us. It seems we should still be drinking our 2005's, 06's, and 07,s, but I've just opened a bottle of the 2008 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva, a gorgeously fresh and lively wine from Chile's Casablanca Valley.
Ordinarily I think of Sauvignon Blanc as a summer wine because its bone-dry acidity and grapefruit flavors zing through your palate and refresh a thirsty mouth like no other wine can. But dry, unoaked varietal Sauv Blancs are mostly meant to be drunk young in order to stay fresh--so the younger, the better, and when the southern hemisphere 2008s roll out in the fall, it's best to catch them while you can.
Many producers in New Zealand and Chile use a new harvesting method of picking grapes over a longer period of time at different levels of ripeness, which gives the wine a heady combination of raciness and curves. Pick too soon, and Sauvignon Blanc, already a vegetal varietal, is too green, too grassy. Pick to late, and the wine is flabby and flat instead of full and round. The combination picking results in a multi-dimensional wine that has the best of both worlds: flinty minerality and ripe body.Continue reading Wine of the Week: Sauvignon Blanc
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Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
15:00
Just the thing for your BLT: Baconnaise!
Filed under: New Products
Last summer, I spent several days up in New York City, attending the Fancy Food Show. As I wandered around the showroom floor, I got the opportunity to talk to one of the founders of BaconSalt. During our conversation, he hinted that they were working on a new product and it would be one that would knock the socks off of every bacon lover out there.
Well, hold onto your socks, because this week, you'll now be able to buy bacon mayonnaise, or, as they're calling is Baconnaise! The BaconSalt team will be launching their new product in Seattle this Thursday night with a "a no-holds barred wrestling match between a giant slice of bacon and a giant jar of mayonnaise." Admission is $5 for the event and the early attendees will have the opportunity to trade in a boring old jar of mayonnaise for a jar of souped up Baconnaise.
The world is now changed forever.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
14:00
Box Lunch: Bats and the moon
Filed under: Lunch, Food Oddities, Halloween, Fall
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Today we've got another grand grrrl halloween bento: Broccoli and carrot salad with soy cheese bats, butternut squash soup with a pumpernickel crescent moon crouton, and a colorful salad of mandarin oranges and blackberries.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
12:03
Foodie Flicks: Vampire-themed cupcakes for Halloween
Filed under: Baking, Halloween, Fall, Foodie Flicks
Halloween is almost here, and the last-minute countdown for costumes and holiday-themed goodies is at a fever pitch. But just in case you're one of those super-prepared 'ween fiends and have some extra time on your hands, here's a cute food craft for the 31st.
In the video above, Alicia and Tracy of Sweet Tooth of the Tiger detail how to make Bleeding Vampire Cupcakes. It's a pretty simple technique to make your Halloween sweets bleed, and it just begs for expansion and spin-offs. Maybe a cake that bleeds when you cut into it? Or cupcake pools of blood? Or faux vamp teeth stuck in the cupcake with the trails of blood? Or ... basically any blood-themed scenario that you can imagine.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
11:01
Slashfood Ate (8): Food in a food
Filed under: Trends, Slashfood Ate
At every major meal event, I have to limit my mother to one "food in a food" -- meaning one dish where the plate/bowl is also edible. It's true that serving food this way can make for a killer presentation, but there's a fine line between killer and overkill, so I try to limit her to one dish. That said, here are some fabulous for serving food inside of food this fall...
1. Fall yams served in orange cups, from Epicurious.
2. Pumpkin souffles inside pumpkins, from Martha Stewart
3. Roasted butternut squash pastina served inside a pumpkin (or inside winter squash, perhaps?) from Food Network
4. Clam chowder in a bread bowl from yumsugar
5. Cappuccino Mousse in chocolate cups from All Recipes
6. Stuffed bell peppers from Simply Recipes (this counts because the recipe just looks so good!)
7. Lemon sorbet in frozen lemon shells from Homemade Ice Cream Desserts
8. Fruit salad served in melon from Fine Living
Have a beautiful serving idea of your own? Please share!Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
10:00
Feast Your Eyes: Little bacon sandwich
Filed under: Feast Your Eyes
The no-knead bread recipe has gone around and around the internet. People have taken it and made it their own in numerous ways. James Starmer has taken the no-knead bread and turned it into a batch of rolls (using a steam baking technique to get that nice, glossy crust). He smeared some with honey and turned on into that adorable bacon bun you see above. Delicious!
Thanks James, for adding this tasty little nibble to the Slashfood Flickr pool.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Categories: Food & Related News, Food Blogs in English
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