+++SCOFF! - The free email newsletter on good food and drink. - ISSUE TWO, SEPTEMBER 2004. For a printable colour version of this newsletter (in a ‘pdf’ file), see: http://www.gastronomail.com/archive.htm . Please forward to all your friends and colleagues so they can register to receive their own copy each month by email, at: http://www.gastronomail.com . We never pass on email addresses. Further information at the end of this issue. ++Issue Two Contents: 01: An A-Z of Scoff - ‘B’ is for ‘Butter’. +02: September offer - Virtual wine vouchers from Virgin Wines. 03: When the boat comes in . . . - Claire Warner reviews The End of the Line; How Overfishing is Changing the World and What we Eat, by Charles Clover. 04: Recipe: Cantucci/biscotti by Rosemary Perkins. 05: Autumn leaves a taste for Alsace by Peter Grogan. 06: Titbits and crumbs: British Food Fortnight 2004; Bloodlines and Grapevines – Jonathan Ray book offer; NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com – the simple life. - Useful snippets and links, plus an incentive to send in your own. 07: Catching honey in the Net - by Hattie Ellis. 08: How to: Collect wild mushrooms - by Dan Jellinek. [Contents ends]. +01: An A-Z of Scoff - ‘B’ is for ‘Butter’. Ever since the backlash against 1970s French recipes oozing butter and cream, it has been accepted folklore that butter is bad, margarine is better and olive oil is downright medicinal. More recently, however, a new backlash against processed foods has led people to question whether nice creamy, natural butter might not in fact be better than margarine with its incomprehensible ingredients packed in a plastic tub. The chemistry of all this, unfortunately, is not simple to understand. Butter is a saturated fat, solid at room temperature, which means its fatty acid building blocks are saturated with hydrogen. Your liver tends to produce more cholesterol when you consume fats like this. Liquid vegetable oils are unsaturated or polyunsaturated, with less hydrogen, and produces less cholesterol. But they can then be artificially “hydrogenated” to make them more saturated but not as much as butter, giving them their ‘spreadability’ from the fridge, and in the process producing what are known as “trans-fatty acids” which are somewhere between the two in terms of cholesterol risk. Margarines tend to be a mix of many fats, including unsaturated fats and trans-fats, so one needs to be a scientist to work out exactly what one is getting in each tub, but it is generally accepted that margarine is better for you. On the other hand, the body builds its own saturated fats from healthy foods such as grains and vegetables; and it seems clear that most forms of food processing remove some of the natural goodness of most foodstuffs. So, until the next scare story, enjoy good butter in moderation. +02: September offer: Virtual wine vouchers. Scoff! has negotiated a deal with Virgin Wines allowing all our readers to use a special virtual ‘voucher’ entitling the holder to receive £20 off a first case of wine from Virgin Wines. You can use your voucher to mix yourself a case of wine (minimum 12 bottles) worth £50 or more, or buy one of the great value ready-mixed cases. Virgin Wines deliver to anywhere in the UK, excluding Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. So, from now on, whenever anyone subscribes to Scoff! at our website, we will email the voucher at around the same time as their first issue. Existing readers do not need to resubscribe – your voucher will arrive shortly. Simply go to the Virgin Wines web site at www.virginwines.com/slurp, click on ‘claim a voucher’ and enter the code and password which you will receive. Please note: for full terms and conditions, see voucher. +03: When the boat comes in . . . - Claire Warner reviews The End of the Line; How Overfishing is Changing the World and What we Eat, by Charles Clover. A senior British civil servant was asked in 1997 what it was like balancing the demands of the fishing industry against the collapse of North Sea cod stocks. “Like backing towards the edge of a cliff in the fog”, came the reply. The helplessness of the comment helped spark Charles Clover’s seven-year exploration of the over-fishing of the world’s seas. His important book sharpens our awareness of the ‘edge’, while exploring the ‘fog’ and trying to see a way through it. One of the foggy problems is that the number of fish left in the sea is hard to pin down – but that should not be a reason for inaction. A seminal article in Nature published in 2003 estimated that stocks of fish such as tuna, cod, halibut and swordfish have declined by 90% since 1950. Clover intersperses such shocking discoveries with fresh perspectives (the North Sea may have got its present turbid colour due to the destruction of filtering shellfish beds) and interesting facts (the bluefin tuna accelerates faster than a Porsche, reaching a top speed of 50mph). The environment correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, Clover is a journalist refreshingly unafraid of political correctness. He concludes, for example, that a McDonald’s Filet-O-FishTM is a better option – at least in terms of marine conservation – than many a chic restaurant plateful. Such puckish comments are just one aspect of the searching nature of the book. It is written by a witness who has interviewed the players all over the world and his arguments are illustrated by conversations and direct observations. This human perspective makes the book highly readable and helps to explain how the seas have fallen into such a sorry state. Anyone who has read this book cannot help but be motivated to seek out sustainably-fished species and to follow the arguments between vested interests – politicians, fishermen, scientists – with a keener eye. NOTE: Scoff! has five copies of The End of the Line to give away for people who send in their favourite foodie web sites, if these are published in a future issue. Send your suggestions to dan@gastronomail.com +04: Recipe: Cantucci/biscotti by Rosemary Perkins. Editor’s note: After my sorry tale last month of searching in vain for the perfect recipe for biscotti, Rosemary Perkins, who is often consulted on dessert recipes by top chefs, took pity and sent in her master formula: Ingredients 5 oz whole raw hazelnuts 5 oz whole skinned almonds 9 oz plain flour 8 oz caster sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder Quarter of a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 pinch salt 1 and a half oz unsalted butter, not from fridge 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Half a teaspoon ground anise 2 teaspoons grated orange zest A little strained beaten egg, to glaze (optional) NOTE: If you cannot buy powdered anise or anise extract, you could omit the salt and add a pinch of Chinese 5-spice powder Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Spread the hazelnuts on a flat baking tin and toast in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until the skins loosen and the nuts start to brown. Tip the hazelnuts into a clean tea towel and rub them until some of the skins rub off (they will not come off completely). At the same time, brown the skinned almonds for a few minutes in the oven. Leave all the nuts to cool. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb, salt and soft butter. In another bowl, add together the whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, anise and orange zest. Combine the egg mixture with the flour mixture into a rough dough, then turn onto a floured board and knead by hand, then knead in the toasted nuts. Or use a mixer until the point where you add in the nuts. Divide the dough into four equal parts, and roll each into a log about 12 x 1 inch. Arrange these well apart on a large baking sheet or two smaller ones lined with non-stick parchment or buttered and floured. Flatten the tops of the logs with your hand. Brush lightly with glaze, if you are using it. Bake the logs for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on the tin for about 10 minutes, leaving the oven on at the same setting. Using a palette knife or fish slice, transfer logs to a board, and cut with a sharp knife on the diagonal into slices about half an inch wide. Prepare a second baking sheet in the same way, and arrange all the biscotti cut side down on the two baking sheets. Return to the oven, bake until lightly browned, and edges are golden brown: about 10 minutes. Leave to cool. They will keep well in a covered container at room temperature. +05: Autumn leaves a taste for Alsace by Peter Grogan. I’m not quite sure why it is that Alsace wines put me in mind of autumn – and vice versa – but it must be something to do with their golden qualities of ripeness and richness and fullness. If that sounds good to you then you’re in for some treats as the region has, in my view, the highest quality-to-price ratio of any wine-producing region in the world. Wines from this north-eastern corner of France can be quite literally autumnal as the growers tend to leave the grapes on the vines later than in other regions – the extra ripening gives the high sugar levels that are important to get the right balance between the sweetness of the fruit and the acidity that stops it from cloying. Indeed, for the finest Vendange Tardive (late-harvest) and noble-rot affected Selection de Grains Nobles wines, the poor blighters can shiver out on the slopes until November or even December. It’s no surprise that these wines sometimes seem to have more in common with German wines as the region has been part of Germany more than a few times over the past five centuries. The best advice for selecting a wine from this region, and indeed for all wines, is to go for a producer with a good reputation and then to stick to the four “noble” grapes – spicy Gewurztraminer, racy Riesling, elegant Pinot Gris and the luscious, grapey Muscat. Tesco’s Alsace Gewurztraminer 2002 (£7.03) is an excellent introduction to this most distinctive of grapes. It’s rich and golden with long, exotic flavours of lychees and a hint of Turkish Delight thrown in. At Marks & Spencer, the Alsace co-operative Cave de Turckheim provide an excellent – and modestly priced – range of wines from the region including a Riesling 2002 (£5.99) which is a good entry-level example of this grape. It has a crisp, appley acidity to round up the cinnamon spiciness of the fruit and just a whiff of the petrol – don’t be put off – that often characterises Riesling in this part of the world. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad Alsace wine (don’t call them Alsatian, by the way, because that’s a dog) and, in the £8-£12 range, examples from leading producers such as Hugel and Trimbach are still terrific value. Hugel’s Tokay Pinot Gris “Tradition” 2001 (£10.99, Adnam’s: 01502 727222) has nothing to do with the famous Hungarian dessert wine called Tokay, which is made from the Furmint grape: the old- fashioned name for Pinot Gris around these parts is Tokay d’Alsace. It does, however, have everything to do with concentrated, creamy layers of white fruit flavours kept in check by a lick of clean acidity. If you like it as much as I do, you’ll probably have to try its big brother Tokay Pinot Gris “Jubilee” 2000 (£17.95 at Berry Brothers & Rudd: 0870 900 4300) which adds a smoky intensity and lush, peachy flavours of great depth and length. And what of those essences of autumn, the late-harvest lovelies? At £33.95 (Berry Brothers), I’m not going to be drinking Trimbach Tokay Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive 1997 every day, but when I did try it I thought it was worth every penny: rich and long, with beautifully balanced acidity. +06: Titbits and crumbs. - British Food Fortnight 2004 Putting the ‘Ooo’ back into food . . . from 18 September to 3 October, organisations across the country are taking part in the third British Food Fortnight. This year, there is an emphasis on educational activities for young people: www.britishfoodfortnight.com - Bloodlines and Grapevines Scoff! wine editor Jonathan Ray has a new book out: Bloodlines and Grapevines, a fascinating look at 19 of the world’s top wine-making families. Scoff! subscribers can order at a 20% discount (£24 rather than £30), with free postage and packing - for details of how, see: www.gastronomail.com/offers.htm - NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com Site dedicated to the simple pleasures of a decidedly quiet life. Typical quote: “It was off to the glamourous east end of London to the first Emap Fanzine awards. We had a nice cup of tea on the 17:45 to Kings Cross and a HobNob flapjack, so we hit the event all guns blazing.” Lots of tea and biscuit info: www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com NOTE: Scoff! is giving away books on food and wine to readers who send in their favourite link, if published. Email to: dan@gastronomail.com. This month Phil Cain receives Not on the Label by Felicity Lawrence (reviewed last issue). +07: Catching honey in the Net - by Hattie Ellis. Honey and computers are not, at first sight, perfect partners. When the publishers of my book on the honey bee sent promotional potfuls around their hi-tech office, I kept waiting to hear that a sticky finger had permanently elided HJ or destroyed the digit 7. But it seems instead that honey is a magical substance. You think it is going to spread itself everywhere, yet somehow it diffuses into a sweet smell. The internet also proved to mix well with honey explorations. My subject went around the world and throughout history so I needed to cast my net far and wide. I found riches. Beekeepers associate like their insects. Hours of Googling turned up contacts with apiarist groups around the world, all with websites charting the latest research. How could we combat the deadly varroa mite that has devastated hives? A specialist fungus site (www.mold- help.org) had some novel suggestions. The International Bee Research Association (www.ibra.org.uk) took me to their specialist library (alas, not online) of 60,000 papers, 4,000 books and 130 journals: these extraordinary insects are the most studied creatures on the planet after man. From news websites I learnt how al-Qaeda had been smuggling arms through the honey trade in the Middle East. From arcane sites, I discovered bee-beards (or bee-bonnets, if you were a lady), and how propolis, the bee-glue in the hive, was being championed by a homeopathic dentist in Manchester (“It takes the sting out of dentistry”, he said). There was another fascinating link between honey and computers. Bees manage to perfectly co-ordinate colonies of around 60,000 insects and computer experts are researching how they communicate to help design better programmes. Honey is heavy and this makes it expensive to order online. It is cheaper to stock up from a good supplier once in a while. You never need to worry about it going off: archeologists have happily eaten ancient honey from Egyptian tombs. Honey granulates naturally, at varying rates, and you just need to heat it gently to make it liquid again. If you want to browse through some honeys online, try London’s specialist shop The Hive (www.thehivehoneyshop.co.uk); La Maison du Miel in Paris (www.maisondumiel.com), with an English translation and a fascinating list of the claimed health benefits for different kinds of honey; and Savoria (www.savoria.co.uk) the excellent importers of artisanal Italian foods. Most of all, the internet was a tool that helped me towards travels and experiences I shall never forget. A Paris website, with photographs of hives on elegant balconies, led me to some of the city’s many park apiaries and the annual honey day in the Jardin du Luxembourg. American sites informed me on urban honey, including the illicit New York rooftop honey: keeping bees is illegal there. After looking at sunlit flowers on my computer during cold, dark November nights, I got to New Zealand and tasted the exquisite butterscotchy flavours of honey from their native flora, now increasingly available in the UK. This, ultimately, was the way the internet most revolutionised my research. I always wanted to write a book that smelled of places, not the page or the screen; and in turn to send people off from my own words to stick a spoon in a honeypot and to seek out local honeys wherever they were. The web, like the hive, is a home for the industriously curious. Sweetness & Light: the Mysterious History of the Honey Bee by Hattie Ellis is published by Sceptre, £16.99. 08: How to: Collect wild mushrooms - by Dan Jellinek. It is around this time of year that most species of wild mushrooms begin to appear. Foraging for mushrooms is a wonderful way to have a nice walk in the countryside and come home with the ingredients for a special starter – just fry them in butter with garlic, a few chives and serve on thick crustless toast with lemon juice. Add a few ordinary mushrooms to bulk out and reduce richness. My tips for rich pickings are: 1: Safety first, always. Start off by going out with someone who knows what they are doing, and use two receptacles, one for species about which you are certain, and the other for anything to identify later. Memorise deadly kinds – such as the death cap – and if anything looks similar don’t touch it. 2: Use wicker baskets or paper bags to collect them in: impromptu cones or parcels of newspaper work fine too. 3: Buy several fungus-hunting guides – I find that each is slightly different, and some are better than others at different species. The best guides have photographs of several examples of each fungus at all sizes and stages of maturity. To identify a species, it helps to find a group at different stages of maturity. 4: At first, go for species which you are easy to identify and which taste the best – most payback for least risk – such as boletes, shaggy ink caps, oyster mushrooms, parasols, giant puffballs and wood blewits. Firm younger specimens are generally best. Be wary of really large caps, which are often maggot-ridden: remove stem or cut into the cap to check. 5: Don’t go with children until you are more experienced, and even then teach them to find mushrooms and call you over before they touch them. Most kids will happily do this, so put them to good use – who needs a truffle hound? ++End notes. +HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR REGULAR ‘SCOFF!’ To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, Send a blank email to scoff-subscribe@gastronomail.com Please encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe! To unsubscribe at any time, email: scoff-unsubscribe@gastronomail.com For further information on subscription see: http://www.gastronomail.com . +ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This newsletter conforms to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard, which makes email publications easier to access for people with impaired vision using text-to-speech devices. For details see: http://www.headstar.com/ten . +COPYRIGHT 2004 Gastronomail Ltd. If you would like to reproduce stories from this newsletter, we generally allow this as long as a full credit is included, with our web address and a description of our newsletter. For permission please email jo@gastronomail.com . +PERSONNEL: Food Editor - Dan Jellinek dan@gastronomail.com Drinks editor – Johnny Ray johnny@gastronomail.com Consultant Editor – Hattie Ellis hattie@gastronomail.com Marketing Director – Jo Weatherall jo@gastronomail.com [Issue ends.]