Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Wednesday Round-up
NYT: Just in time for a hot, stupidly humid day: make veg stock at home! Put a huge pot of liquid on the stove for a while to make things even more unbearable!
A tasting of wines that sell for less than 10 buck is interesting though I think that in this price range individual tastes come into strong play. The pairings column puts those wines up against tomatoes. It will be a battle worth remembering.
Elsewhere: lamenting the excessive open-ness of some restaurant kitchens, preparing a warm weather dinner, the return of authentic szechuan peppercorns to the market, figs! and teflon controversy. I have a question, if accusations are made regarding the safety of using teflon coated cookware, will they stick?
SF Chronicle: I can't find fault with a paper that features meat on a stick, sword or skewer as the top article. Below are the usual columns: travel in barcelona food market, making mayo, cooking quick brown rice, and easy eggplant. In addition, mozzarella bufala is discussed and chocolate syrups are tasted.
The wine section is separate in this paper but there is always an inset window in the food section with the highlights. Today for some reason this window is the same as last week, click on the wine section for this weeks articles. The top feature is on Richard Peterson, a pioneering winemaker whose daughters' fame exceeds his. The tasting is of west coast reislings. The cheese is a goat gouda. The liquor is cognac over ice.
Times of London: For an international perspective and in solidarity with Londoners, this week we cross the big pond for the guest spot.
They do things a little differently over there. The writing is more personality based as the columns are headed as much by author as topic. For instance, this is the first time I've recognized a writers name; Gordon Ramsay makes his home here. The food section is in coordination with the Sunday Times Wine Club so everything appears on one page, at least in the online version. The wine section includes giveaway and sales deals which is cool. Let's get to the content.
The top articles are on making salads better and taking advantage of the short season for apricots. The regular columns on eating out appear to be: Giles Coren, "Winners Dinners," and "Table Talk." Each seems interesting and today cover basic restaurant news, being seated near the toilet to eating whale. The Eating In section covers recipes and wine pairings. There are plenty of other small bits that are tied into compos, celebrity tastes (Spice Girl Mel C) and free offers.
Then there was this which had me confused for a while; mention of GI diets. No, not eating MREs and c-rations but eating foods that have a low-glycaemic-index (GI). Maybe a more scientific person could better explain it but the emphasis is on keeping blood glucose levels low to control appetite. From the articles here, it seems that it has a fairly substantial following. In Austria for example, foods are clearly labelled in shops that way we have our low carb labels. Nurtitionists/dieters may find it interesting. I think it is interesting that the approach is to controlling intake through certain foods, not eating only certain types of foods to control weight. I have issues with diets that will come out later but this is an interesting method that I hadn't heard of before. Anyone else?
Overall, I really like the section. It may lack the diverse cuisines and products that we expect here but excels in quality of writing and organization. The personalities of the writers shine through making them more distinct than the bland and somewhat typical style and topics of the average American food writer.
A tasting of wines that sell for less than 10 buck is interesting though I think that in this price range individual tastes come into strong play. The pairings column puts those wines up against tomatoes. It will be a battle worth remembering.
Elsewhere: lamenting the excessive open-ness of some restaurant kitchens, preparing a warm weather dinner, the return of authentic szechuan peppercorns to the market, figs! and teflon controversy. I have a question, if accusations are made regarding the safety of using teflon coated cookware, will they stick?
SF Chronicle: I can't find fault with a paper that features meat on a stick, sword or skewer as the top article. Below are the usual columns: travel in barcelona food market, making mayo, cooking quick brown rice, and easy eggplant. In addition, mozzarella bufala is discussed and chocolate syrups are tasted.
The wine section is separate in this paper but there is always an inset window in the food section with the highlights. Today for some reason this window is the same as last week, click on the wine section for this weeks articles. The top feature is on Richard Peterson, a pioneering winemaker whose daughters' fame exceeds his. The tasting is of west coast reislings. The cheese is a goat gouda. The liquor is cognac over ice.
Times of London: For an international perspective and in solidarity with Londoners, this week we cross the big pond for the guest spot.
They do things a little differently over there. The writing is more personality based as the columns are headed as much by author as topic. For instance, this is the first time I've recognized a writers name; Gordon Ramsay makes his home here. The food section is in coordination with the Sunday Times Wine Club so everything appears on one page, at least in the online version. The wine section includes giveaway and sales deals which is cool. Let's get to the content.
The top articles are on making salads better and taking advantage of the short season for apricots. The regular columns on eating out appear to be: Giles Coren, "Winners Dinners," and "Table Talk." Each seems interesting and today cover basic restaurant news, being seated near the toilet to eating whale. The Eating In section covers recipes and wine pairings. There are plenty of other small bits that are tied into compos, celebrity tastes (Spice Girl Mel C) and free offers.
Then there was this which had me confused for a while; mention of GI diets. No, not eating MREs and c-rations but eating foods that have a low-glycaemic-index (GI). Maybe a more scientific person could better explain it but the emphasis is on keeping blood glucose levels low to control appetite. From the articles here, it seems that it has a fairly substantial following. In Austria for example, foods are clearly labelled in shops that way we have our low carb labels. Nurtitionists/dieters may find it interesting. I think it is interesting that the approach is to controlling intake through certain foods, not eating only certain types of foods to control weight. I have issues with diets that will come out later but this is an interesting method that I hadn't heard of before. Anyone else?
Overall, I really like the section. It may lack the diverse cuisines and products that we expect here but excels in quality of writing and organization. The personalities of the writers shine through making them more distinct than the bland and somewhat typical style and topics of the average American food writer.
# posted by Yossie @ 8:51 AM 
