Discuss news related to food, food magazines, food blogs, TV, radio, newspapers, etc.
Start New ThreadNovember 23 (out this week) is the annual Food Issue. Some of it is accessible free online at www.newyorker.com
By greygarious
on Nov 16, 2009 02:52 PM
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The Dark Side of Backyard Chickens
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Jack in the Box Bacon Shake Is Bogus!
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How to Quickly Cook Pasta in a Frying Pan
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Slow Cooker Recipes
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Does Capital Grille Discriminate?
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Why Are We Eating Up Downton Abbey?
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Thank you so much for the heads-up, greygarious. Looking forward to picking it up.
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The article about the flavorist who invented Red Bull is fascinating. I'd read about this stuff before but forgot just how far from nature many "natural" flavorings are.
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Has anyone tried Todd English Flavor Perfections? Apparently these are lab-generated chemical flavors that "approximate the sum flavor" of some of his recipes. I guess they're a Home Shopping Network exclusive? Bizarre.
http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/to...
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Robert, any time I see multiple reviews from consumers using the word, "magical", the red flag goes up; you know what I mean?
I can't even figure out from the product descriptions or reviews exactly what they are. It looks like they are basically seasoning powder blends, except that you say they're lab-manufactured? Ew. I don't know. I see one of the glazes is "Mediterranean style". Essentially, I'm a Pilgrim who first married a Greek and, subsequently, a Sicilian. If either of them were ever going to have any of the foods *they* liked, I was going to have to learn how to put (real) garlic and (real) thyme and (real) Oregano and (real) lemon and (real) pepper and (real) rosemary together in the same pot sometimes. What I found out is that that part of cooking really isn't that hard. At least it's not difficult enough to justify synthetic-dependence. JMO.
I remember a couple of years ago *somebody*...I think a chef...was developing--can't remembert the exact name of the product, but something like "flavor sprays". If you were in the mood for lima beans, you gave yourself a couple of spritzes right in the mouth of the essence-of-lima-bean spray. The genius (allegedly) of the products was that one could carry them around in the purse or pocket. Call me cynical, but I don't think it's only Scharffen Berger's flavor that has sucked me right into its evil web.
How much are people paying Todd English for these magical glazes, anyway?
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There's a chapter in Fast Food Nation on the flavorings industry. Spooky.
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The Michelin inspector piece is available online to nonsubscribers.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/23/091123fa_fact_colapinto
So is Adam Gopnik's piece on cookbooks, which to me seemed uncharacteristically scattered and pointless:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics...
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