What do you think of when you think about Italian food? Some might think about pizza, spaghetti al pomodoro, cacio e pepe or carbonara. Or even of dishes that have been created outside Italy but which have little to do with what Italians really eat. But that is far from what a new movement of Italian chefs are working on. For those like me who follow the Italian scene rather closely some of the names of this movement may sound familiar. For others, these are chefs that are still under the radar but who are slowly but surely establishing themselves as the new frontier of Italian cuisine. Niko Romito, for example needs no introduction internationally. Paolo Lopriore, on the other hand, has worked under the international radar for a very long time even if for many young chefs in Italy today, he is a guiding light. I’d heard about him in passing but rarely delved into depth about what he has meant for Italy. At Spessore a few years ago, all the young chefs were raving about this … [Read more...]
Food on the Edge founder launches ebook Cooking After COVID
Food on the Edge founder Jp McMahon, a chef, restauranteur and author has launched a new book Lessons from lockdown: Cooking after COVID. In the foreword, JP says that the year 2020 struck many of us as unprecedented. For some it was expected. “Pandemics happen. But for most of us, we believed they would not happen in our time, that they were a thing of the past. Whatever we thought about our contemporary way of life, the way in which we go about our daily lives, how we work, has utterly changed,” the Irish chef of Aniar Restaurant in Galway wrote. He created the book after cancelling the annual gathering in Galway in October 2020. Food on the Edge had become one of the top events in the field of gastronomy with the Irish chef inviting many top names in the world of food. Instead, he has invited many of his friends to write a message in this ebook that is available to people who are subscribed to the Food on the Edge newsletter. The list of contributors is huge and includes … [Read more...]
New book by René Sepul puts Wallonia in the spotlight
BRUSSELS: A new book written by food writer René Sepul and published by Sh-op Editions puts Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium, in the spotlight. La Wallonie, à pleines dents is the follow-up to the book Mange Wallonie published six years ago. "A lot has changed in the past six years in Wallonia. The book is a portrait of some of the positive developments in the region. Chefs have moved forward and are showcasing producers more and more," said René in his introduction to this book. The author said the choice of chefs and restaurants is subjective but offers a view of Wallonia today. The book portrays 30 different chefs from different gastronomic restaurants, brasseries and bistros as well as a café and wine bar. This deliberate mix is aimed to showcase what is on offer in this Belgian region. The book was published in the week when René's previous book La Bonne Addresse written together with chocolatier Pierre Marcolini on their favourite places in Brussels … [Read more...]
Root cause: Can you imagine a world without wine?
Can you imagine a world without wine? This is the story behind Root Cause, a recently published book by Steven Laine. Corvina Guerra is a flying winemaker who dreams of one day settling down in her native Italy on her family’s vineyard. On a visit to a vineyard in Italy, Corvina makes a startling discovery: Phylloxera, a menacing plant that devastated vineyards in Europe more than a hundred years ago, has infested the vines. After reporting her findings to her company, Universal Wines, Corvina is charged with investigating the spread of the bug. Nicknamed Philomena by the media, the aphid is soon discovered in vineyards around the world. To aid in her investigation, Corvina recruits a wine expert in London, Bryan Lawless. In pursuit of its origins, Corvina and Bryan embark on a thrilling globetrot on which they uncover that Philomena is being intentionally spread. The deeper Corvina and Bryan search, the more they become convinced that Universal Wines holds the answer to … [Read more...]
Gert de Mangeleer Unplugged, a collection of recipes to share in English released
Gert de Mangeleer, chef of three Michelin star restaurant Hertog Jan in Zedelgem, Bruges has just released his collection of recipes to share in a book called Unplugged in English. Originally published in Flemish, the book is now also available in English. “This is the first book in which I collected many of my favourite recipes. I never was really into sharing my recipes until now because my style of cooking evolves too much for that. Nor did I want to give people the impression that they could easily recreate the dishes we serve at Hertog Jan at home. Because they can’t. I cannot even do the things I do in my restaurant at home, because I neither have the kitchen equipment nor the team for it,” he says in the introduction to the book. Instead the book is accessible and presents a series of the tastiest dishes the Belgian chef has prepared for his family and friends in recent years. He says he gets inspiration for his dishes everywhere he goes and that is very visible in the … [Read more...]
Book review: Food from the fire by Niklas Ekstedt
It is perhaps not the best time to review a book about cooking food from the fire given that we are experiencing a bitter patch of winter cold and not everyone has the luxury to have wood fired ovens or a fire pit indoors. But for Niklas Ekstedt, the man behind the Stockholm restaurant by the same name and author of a recently released book Food from the Fire, cooking with fire is something he does every day, winter or summer. His restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden, opened in November 2011 with a fire pit, a wood fired oven and a wood stove. Plenty of people had told him that he had made things difficult for himself. Now, he has also installed a stone-age equivalent of a microwave oven, a smoker and extra fires burning as he continues to explore age-old techniques and to learn more about a lost art of cooking. The flavour that comes out of food that has been cooked with fire is different to what you get from normal cooking. But apart from the occasional barbecues we have lost the … [Read more...]
Book review: Grill, Smoke, BBQ by Ben Tish of Ember Yard
Summer and long days are still with us for a few more weeks and therefore the barbecue season remains in full swing even though personally, I love to fire up the barbecue even when it gets colder. There is nothing more satisfying that spending time outdoors, starting the fire and waiting for the charcoal to be ready to start the cooking. While cooking directly with fire is a very old technique that has been with us since many years and is the bedrock of our civilisation, memories of barbecue are not always necessarily optimal. Yes, there was the pleasure of starting the fire, people gathering around the grill but most of the food was far from memorable. There used to be overcooked meat, sausages of dubious quality (which still exist and are still popular with children), hamburgers and overcooked steak. If you might be lucky you could get tuna steaks grilled but these would also be dry as the tendency was to overcook things. But there are some that have taken cooking with fire to … [Read more...]
A review of Francis Mallmann’s book: Seven Fires – Grilling the Argentinian Way
"Fire has its own language, spoken in the realm of heat, hunger and desire. It speaks of alchemy, mystery and, above all, possibility. It is a slumbering voice inside me, the ever present beast within my soul, it is beyond words, beyond memory. It comes from a time long before I can recall." This is how the book Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentinian Way by Francis Mallmann and Peter Kaminsky starts. The Argentinian chef is an inspiring character who uses cooking to send a message of a certain way of living. He is known for telling people to cook by 'getting out of your chair, sofa or office and go outdoors.' The most influential chef in Argentina has been portrayed in a splendid documentary Chef's Table on Netflix which we have reviewed here. Mallmann has mastered fire like few others. He has been trained in French classics so he is a master of the art of intensifying, deepening and developing all the flavours and textures of his ingredients. But rather than rely on … [Read more...]
A selection of books on wine to read this summer
As summer approaches, I normally start to make a list of books I want to read or else re-read. I am constantly on the lookout for new books to read. While reading about food and wine is pleasant throughout the seasons, I love to delve into wine books during the summer season. I'm still trying to decide which wine books to read this summer but here is a list of books on wine which I highly recommend and which I have read over the past few years. 1. Huge Johnson: A Life Uncorked: I never get tired of reading this book. It is a great read from a great knowledgeable author. If you want to learn about different wines and wine regions, this is an excellent place to start. He gives you the inside tips on each of the main wine regions, lists and talks about some of the best winemakers in the world and gives you a written tour of these regions. If there is one book you should read, I recommend this. 2. Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (At Table) is a great book on Sicilian wine. If … [Read more...]
Book Review: Cyprus A culinary journey
There is probably no better day to write this article on a book I really enjoyed reading. As I sit in the terrace in Brussels at 10.20pm in the evening, the temperature it is still light, the temperature is 29⁰C and humid. The only missing thing is a sea-breeze and the sound of the sea hitting the rocks which epitomises a hot Mediterranean summer. I have to admit that I still have to visit Cyprus though after reading Cyprus a Culinary Journey, I feel I know this Mediterranean island considerably better than I did before I started this 'culinary journey'. Our Cypriot friends and avid readers of this site gave me this book a few months ago and I have been wanting to write about it for quite some time. The book is edited by Marianne Salentin-Trager but it is the work of eight foodies from Germany who were in love with the island and who realised that there was no German cookbook on Cypriot cuisine. We went through the English version of the book though it is also published in … [Read more...]