Bread is Gold, by Italian chef Massimo Bottura, is the first book to take a holistic look at the subject of food waste, presenting recipes of three-course meals from 45 of the world's leading chefs. It is Massimo Bottura's second book that will be launched worldwide on 6 November. Massimo Bottura, considered by many to be one of the world's best chefs, prepares extraordinary meals from ordinary and sometimes 'wasted' ingredients inspiring home chefs to eat well while living well. 'These dishes could change the way we feed the world, because they can be cooked by anyone, anywhere, on any budget. To feed the planet, first you have to fight the waste', Massimo Bottura said. The recipes, which number more than 150, turn everyday ingredients into inspiring dishes that are delicious, economical, and easy to make. In reviewing the book being published by Phaidon, Pope Francis says "Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry." On the other … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2017
A leap in the dark for Mélanie Englebin but plans to take Cecila to next level
Restaurant Cecila in central Brussels may be closing its doors on 26 August but will return in a new location, the Brussels Gault & Millau young chef of the year 2017 Mélanie Englebin told Food and Wine Gazette. She may have become famous for sending out a Brussels politician from her restaurant when the pedestrian zone threatened to kill many businesses in central Brussels but this is not the sole reason why she has decided to move on. “The kitchen I have is small and therefore places certain constraints on me. I would like to have a bigger kitchen to be able to develop my cooking and also add staff in the kitchen. I want to also increase the amount of covers to around 30 to 35,” she said. Known for her love of seasonal ingredients and in particular fish she showcased some of her favourite all time creations during a press lunch recently (see our Instagram feed for more). These dishes are the ones that will be served over the coming weeks. “I might change a few dishes in … [Read more...]
San Degeimbre and perma-management: Learning to manage people by finding inspiration from nature
“It is essential to understand nature before you can start to understand your kitchen,” says San Degeimbre, chef of Belgian restaurant L' Air du Temps. “A plant will give you lots of hints about what you can do in the kitchen. Observing plants and nature not only inspires you but also communicates with you. Through observation you can notice that a plant or vegetable needs water. But when we speak with humans, observation is all the more essential because communication alone is not sufficient. Someone can tell you that they are very well when it might mean exactly the opposite. Understanding and observing are therefore essential," he said. Drawing inspiration from perma-culture he spoke about what he called perma management or taking inspiration from nature to find ways to solve problems and find ways to manage people. He was speaking at the first W Food Festival event organised the Generation W, the collective of chefs from the French speaking Belgian region of Wallonia which he … [Read more...]
noma 2.0 still on track to open in December. Pop-up restaurant to open in the meantime
Noma 2.0 is still on track to open in December. In an email sent to their subscribers, the team at noma led by René Redzepi said that the creative team was currently traveling through the Nordic region to meet their friends and collaborators, and to seek out new ones. But the rest of the team, about 30 of them, will be opening their own popup restaurant in Copenhagen. The sous chefs and restaurant managers have joined forces to create an outdoor, family style, open fire restaurant. noma said their team was from all parts of the world; will this influence our menu? It certainly will. "The noma team will be serving the the freshest food of the day cooked how they want to, not necessarily how it would be at noma. The essence of it is that while we are waiting for the new noma to open, the noma staff will be collaborating on a menu of simple delicious food that they would eat themselves on a summer night," said the noma team. The pop-up restaurant will be a collaboration … [Read more...]
More details emerge of GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA
Tickets for GELINAZ! DOES UPPER AUSTRIA will be out for sale on Thursday 13 July at 10am. After the acclaimed 'restaurant swap' in 2016, the Grand Gelinaz! Shuffle (2) and Brussels Headquarters involving 60 of the world's most pioneering and cutting edge chefs, Gelinaz will be back with an even more daredevil project that takes place on 20 August. GELINAZ! DOES UPPER-AUSTRIA is an itinerant and experimental culinary performance, articulated through seven varying spaces within the restaurant of legendary Austrian father & son Helmut and Philip Rachinger, of restaurant Mühltalhof at Neufelden (Mühlviertel). The spirit of the event is collective. Philip and Helmut will choose 3 core ‘Matrix’ dishes. Working in small teams of three and four, these dishes will be deconstructed, dismantled, cut into pieces and remixed by the 24 participating international and Austrian chefs. Chefs will be asked to freely reinterpret every dish, but will be allowed to change some of the original … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #119
'A dream job': chef Gabriel Gaté on eating his way through the Tour de France: French chef extraordinaire Gabriel Gaté may have the best job in the world. For more than half of the year he travels the spectacularly scenic route of the 21-stage Tour de France bicycle race, sampling produce from artisan cheese-makers, pastry chefs and winemakers. How Daniel Humm became the world's best chef: It had been snowing all night. The road down the mountain snaked through an icing of whiteness. Daniel Humm, the young chef whose cooking had brought a Michelin star to this patch of the Swiss Alps, had crawled into bed around three in the morning. Now he was up again, two or three hours later, his bones aching and his eyes bloodshot. Humm had to make it from his kitchen at Gasthaus zum Gupf in Rehetobel, Switzerland, to the market in Zurich, about 90 minutes away. He needed to buy the best lettuces and herbs from the countryside, the best lemons and oranges trucked in from Italy. His dishes … [Read more...]
Zaiyu Hasegawa: “Doing things differently makes me happy”
Zaiyu Hasegawa, the 37-year-old chef of Jimbocho Den in Tokyo took an interest in food and cooking at early age. The son of a geisha, he recalls his mother bringing delicious leftover food from the traditional restaurant she worked in home and he would eat it in the morning and be marvelled at how good it was. That is where he attributes his interest in food. But there was another reason why he took to cooking. "I did not speak English very well but I thought that with my food I could communicate. And cooking is something that you can do anywhere in the world." That is something that Zaiyu has been doing a lot recently. He is frequently on the road and able to adapt to the location he find himself in. Travelling is something the Japanese chef attaches a lot of importance to. At the end of June, he was in Alba to cook a four hands dinner with Italian three Michelin star chef Enrico Crippa. Cooking with Mr Crippa or Crippa San as he calls him is a dream come true for Zaiyu. He … [Read more...]
First cookbook for Nadine Levy Redzepi
Nadine Levy Redzepi, an enthusiastic home cook, a mother of three and wife of one of the world's leading chefs René Redzepi is launching her first cookbook 'Downtime - Deliciousness at Home'. The book is being published on 24 October. According to the blurb on Amazon the recipes blur the line between everyday and special occasion cooking and Nadine elevates simple comfort food flavours to elegant new heights in this recipe book. When you’re married to Noma’s Rene Redzepi you never know who might drop by for dinner…So Nadine Redzepi has developed a stripped-down repertoire of starters, mains, and desserts that can always accommodate a few more at the table, presenting them in a stylish yet relaxed way that makes guests feel like family--and makes family feel special every single day. Gone are the days when the cook is expected to labor alone in the kitchen while family or guests wait for their meal. In the Redzepi home everyone gravitates toward the kitchen to socialize, help, or … [Read more...]
Bo Bech: On opening Geist and learning the art of delegating
It is not often that people let go when they are the leader at the top or they own a business. But for Danish chef Bo Bech, who is renowned in Copenhagen for his cooking, his bread-baking and his charisma, that seemed to be the only option. Having decided to close his Michelin star restaurant because he did not like the direction that the fine dining scene was taking, he decided to open the restaurant Geist in Copenhagen in 2011 to replace Paustian. Last year, he again made a drastic change, this time walking away from the restaurant and deciding to manage it from a distance. Here is someone who is not afraid of change. Today Bo lives in New York and travels frequently and has delegated the management of the restaurant to his team though he is of course still very much informed of what is going on in the restaurant. When he decided to let go he realised that he had become the bottleneck. "People would call to ask me if I was going to be at the restaurant. They wanted me to be … [Read more...]
Michelin and Robert Parker join forces but it is still unclear how collaboration will work
The Michelin guide and Robert Parker, one of the most influential wine guides if not the most influential over the past years have announced that they have joined forces. It is still unclear what the collaboration will mean though Michelin and Robert Parker have been collaborating since 2016 in Singapore and Hong Kong Macau to offer unique dining experiences based on pairing fine cuisine and wine. Michelin has announced that initially they will be focusing on markets in Asia and North America before pursuing their deployment in Europe and others regions of the world. "We are very excited to inform our readers that Michelin, the globally renowned tire company and name behind the world’s leading guide to quality restaurants, MICHELIN guide, announced today its acquisition of a 40% stake in Robert Parker Wine Advocate and RobertParker.com, the world’s most widely read independent consumers’ guide to fine wine," said Lisa Perrotti-Brown, editor in Chief of Robert Parker's wine … [Read more...]