28 Jan 2013, Posted by admin in MEET, 1 Comments
When we read about something we eat, it often comes with a warning — unhealthy, inhumanely raised, antibiotic-filed, (un)fairly traded. The Magnificent Chicken, a follow-up to Tamara Staples’ out-of-print book The Fairest Fowl (2001), accomplishes so much more by focusing on the (truly) magnificent side of poultry. Flip through the photos, and you’ll have too much respect for farm foul to buy anything but those raised in happy coops.
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09 Jan 2013, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
What’s in your olive oil bottle these days? It’s a trickier question to answer than back in the days when pantry ingredients came from the grove down the street. In December, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) held a public hearing to launch an investigation into the olive oil industry. At issue: Whether many of the imported olive oils on our supermarket shelves are truly first-press extra virgin olive oils or blends that are being falsely advertised as such.
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18 Dec 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
How do you, how does anyone, define the term artisan today? The answer, less than five years ago, was an independent food crafter of various genres, ages, types and vastly different production yields.
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12 Nov 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
“A lot of Americans have a misconception of what Mexico is all about,” says Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo. “Not just in a negative way, with the [violence] that’s happening in some areas. But misconceptions also come from the press side, with magazines and all the pretty photos and stories. That’s not what the ‘real’ Mexico is. Mexico is even better than that, more real.”
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25 Aug 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
“Grandmom would pickle whatever was on hand. You couldn’t just go to Ralph’s and get strawberries,” says Rondo Mieczkowski. He reworked many of his grandmother’s recipes for the evolving Coldwater Canyon line, including her pickled watermelon rinds.
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23 Aug 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
“Before Charles N. Huggins began working at See’s Candies in 1951 as a manager in the company’s packing department in San Francisco, his favorite candies were black licorice and, thanks to his World War II service as a paratrooper, Hershey’s chocolate….
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14 Aug 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
“Julia’s hunger was a well-known symptom. She was a woman with boundless appetites — for food, absolutely, but also for the tides of change. Nothing sustained her like a ripe idea, a fresh experience, a saucy challenge, the impossible. In that respect, her timing was impeccable, because Julia came into her own during the early 1960s, when not only the role of women but also other cultural paradigms were undergoing upheaval…”
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08 Aug 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 1 Comments
A candy maker stopped by today, the sort of (quite talented) chocolate artist who makes petite nut butter cups decorated with minimalist single nut touches or art nouveau floral designs. The conversation soon turned to Turkish delight, a lightly gummy candy (a cross between Jello and gummy bears, actually) that she loves. As good excuse as any to revisit a candy maker who makes traditional Turkish delight…
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06 Aug 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments
Like so many good stories, it all started with a curious kid. A bucket. And a pile of gold (in the form of award-winning wine). A Jack and the Beanstalk sort of tale, if you will. Sans the missing bags of gold and whole giant-killing side of things, of course.
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27 Jul 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 2 Comments
Colette Christian, a pastry instructor at the Art Institute of Hollywood (AIH) and formerly of the CSCA/Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, has spent years teaching aspiring pastry chefs how to make a buttery-perfect brioche. But now, even this professional instructor is taking her croissant classes online. [Disclosure: I was once her baking student.]
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