From Snowballs to Mulled Wine, no Christmas party would be complete without a festive cocktail or two. This year, Prosecco DOC has chosen their favourite Christmas cocktails to suit any kind of occasion and every kind of guest. With such a variety of styles and flavours available, the versatility of Prosecco DOC wines will take you through the entire festive period. At this time of year, in the lead up to Christmas, the month of December officially transforms into party season. Whether it’s a casual family get-together or a glamorous office party, there’s a Prosecco cocktail to suit every mood. The Office Christmas Party The office party is all about having fun, but not too much fun. You want a cocktail that’s delicious and festive, but perhaps with a little less alcohol than your New Year’s Eve tipple of choice. Why not try the Uva D’Oro, made with fresh tomato juice, peach puree, fresh rosemary and basil, perfect with Millage Prosecco DOC Extra Dry or Prosecco DOC Santero … [Read more...]
10 lessons we learned from Kasper Kurdhal (Le Chalet de la Forêt)
Kasper Kurdhal, executive chef of Le Chalet de la Forêt in Brussels, Belgium loves intellectual stimulation, discussion and reading. It is what guides him in his interactions with chef patron Pascal Devalkeneer and it is also what he cherishes in his friendships. Here are 10 lessons I've learned from my long conversation with this talented Danish chef. Learn to say no: At the age of 27, Kasper Kurdhal could have gone to Seville to open a restaurant for Ferran Adria. Most people would have jumped at such an opportunity but Kasper thought this offer was too good to be true. The reason was not for lack of experience or self-confidence or even age but rather because he did not want to become a 'product' of the el Bulli method for the rest of his life. Ferran Adria not only understood the decision but also told him he was right at that stage. Sometimes, it is best to take a step back and say no. Even when others might tell you otherwise. Identify what can hold you back and take … [Read more...]
In my blood: The book, the cook and the reviewer
The Oxford Dictionary defines a cookbook as “a book containing recipes and other information about the preparation and cooking of food. Danish Chef Bo Bech’s latest cookbook In my Blood - itself a curious and suggestive title - surpasses this definition, posing an inquiry into what a cookbook and its role in contemporary culture has become. The Book With this beautifully designed artist's art book Bech has created a new genre, one which slips between traditional and contemporary cookbook presentations. This is not simply a cookbook with clever plating, sharp photographs, recipes, chef-loud comments and a wealth of creative inspiration. It is more. It is an original collaboration of images and ideas that go beyond the kitchen shelf and bypasses a world saturated with coffee table cookbooks. It's innate style assures it a place in any Art Book collection. The book is a memory project, a contemporary autobiography, (lest Bech forget and we too) and compared to his “first … [Read more...]
Retro Bottega: Modern Italian cuisine in the heart of Rome
The dessert spoon has already been placed on the table at Retro Bottega in Rome. I've been chatting to one of the two chefs Giuseppe Lo Iudice who owns this place in the centre of Rome together with another chef Alessandro Miocchi. He leaves and soon after returns to replace the spoon with a fork and knife. "We've changed plans he tells me. We want you to try another dish before dessert," he tells me. The dish that follows is pigeon cooked in a Peking Duck style. "My business partner and chef Alessandro Miocchi was in China and he got inspired by this dish which you can find everywhere. We love to work with pigeon and thought we could use the method to prepare pigeon this way," he said. It is cooked to perfection. The pigeon is perfectly seasoned, crisp on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside and is served with spinach and savory. In the space of a year I’ve eaten the best pigeon dishes I've ever eaten at Reale in Castel di Sangro and Le Chalet de La Forêt in … [Read more...]
The wine battle: biodynamic vs natural wines
Around 10 years ago, I sat for a five session course on wine tasting. The sommelier who was organising the wine course presented us with a range of natural wines, a few excellent, most foul. The scope was not to convince us about the merits or not of natural wine but rather to allow us to spot the defects in a wine whether it was natural or not. Move 10 years and in 2018, most restaurants and wine bars worth their salt are offering many natural wines and biodynamic wines on their wine lists. But have we reached peak natural wine? What’s the difference when it comes to taste with biodynamic wines? Can they be both? And has there been improvement in natural wines. These were the questions we tried to explore at a wine tasting club I am a member of. Together with a friend, we selected 10 wines from philosophical European winemakers who in one way or another have a vision and who translate their vision into their wines. This was an atypical wine tasting moving where we compared … [Read more...]
Perfecting the Hierbas de las Dunas, a liqueur created by chef Syrco Bakker
When Syrco Bakker created Hierbas de las Dunas he did not give it much thought. He combined 18 different types of herbs, flowers and plants from Cadzand’s dunes to create what would turn out to be a versatile drink that had a pure salty-sweet flavour that made it perfect for an aperitif, after-dinner drink or even a cocktail ingredient. The chef of Michelin star restaurant Pure C in Cadzand-Bad who works closely with Dutch celebrity chef Sergio Herman created the liqueur in his kitchen taking inspiration from a drink he had tried in Ibiza but he had no idea how to distribute it or the difficulty to compete with the marketing budgets of the giants in the industry. That naivety may however be the success of this product which is sought after by some of the leading cocktail bartenders. “I spoke with my father and with Charlotte how he would distribute it and we decided to form a company. The beauty of it is that all of us do this in our own free time,” he said. Today, two years … [Read more...]
The chicken piri piri in Algarve
Renowned author Malcolm Gladwell came up with the concept that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to become world-class in any field. That principle seems to hold true for Restaurante Algarve in the sleepy village of Guia. Since the 1960s, the same family (through different generations) have been serving chicken piri piri using the same recipe. There were four generations of the family when we visited, the great-grandmother still supervising the cooking in the kitchen. You will not find much information about the restaurant online. It has been run pretty much in the same way since it opened. If you walk past the restaurant, you may even think twice before entering. It’s like time stood still. The decor is still very 1960s and 1970s, the tables give you the impression that they've remained the same from that time, but the family have been cooking the same chicken piri piri for many years and they have clearly perfected it. The restaurant serves chicken piri piri, a tomato salad, … [Read more...]
‘We are here to preserve what we have’ – Jorge Raiado of Sal Marim
Idyllic location for the Sal Marim salt pans in Castro Marim Jorge Filipe Raiado of Sal Marim knows his salt. Since taking over the salt business in 2007 he has been perfecting the art of flor de sal or (sea salt) in the idyllic surrounding of Castro Marim, a nature reserve in the Algarve. “We are here to preserve what we have,” he tells us on a visit to harvest salt together with Hans Neuner chef of the two Michelin star restaurant Ocean at the Vila Vita Parc in the Algarve. The salt pans have been there since the Romans with canals which bring in the sea water on a daily basis especially during the hot summer months. The sea salt is drawn into the salt pans and the water is allowed to evaporate. Most of the water goes to the bottom of the salt pans and becomes ordinary sea salt but some salt crystals float on the surface of the water forming a delicate crust of crystals which is collected by hand. This type of salt called flower of salt can only be collected when it … [Read more...]
It is time to rethink Italy again: Why Italians hope Bottura’s rise to the top can put the country in the culinary spotlight
Italy is not just heritage. Under the surface, there is a lot going when it comes to food. It is time to think of Italy again When Ferran Adria placed at the top of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list successively he not only helped to make a name for himself and his restaurant el Bulli but he also lifted the fortunes of Spain and its gastronomy for good. Italians are now hoping that Massimo Bottura’s second top position in the space of three years will have a similar effect. Look at the world’s leading chefs today and most of them will have one thing in common. They have nearly all trained at the Adrias’ iconic restaurant el Bulli. No one has had an impact like the Spanish chef over the past years and one can say he has given chefs like Massimo Bottura and René Redzepi and many others the license to reinvent restaurants. There is maybe no one today who has the aura that Ferran Adria had though in a few years we may look at a number of today’s stars in the same … [Read more...]
Ana Ros: ‘Every ingredient is a challenge for a chef. The less valuable it is the bigger the challenge’
When Ana Ros, the Slovenian chef of Hisa Franko cooked at Christophe Hardiquest’s Bon Bon earlier this month she brought dishes with very bold flavours to reflect her style of cooking. “This is my character. I am very explosive. I cannot say that 100 per cent of my dishes are like this but 70 per cent of our dishes are very intense. They call me thunderstorm and I can be very emotional but this is how my kitchen is,” she told Food and Wine Gazette after the fourth Bon Bon dinner at the Brussels restaurants. “I don’t think the cooking is extreme because it is not extreme but it is strong. There is of course a risk that people don’t like it. For me, I prefer that 80 per cent love it and 20 per cent say never gain rather than staying in the middle.” That is understandable given that she has made it to the top of the game having been awarded best female chef last year and also featuring in Netflix’s popular food series Chef’s Table. Last month, for the first ever time, she made it … [Read more...]