+++SCOFF! - The free email newsletter on good food and drink. - ISSUE NINE, NOVEMBER 2005. 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 by visiting our web site: http://www.gastronomail.com . We never pass on email addresses. Further information at the end of this issue. ++Issue Nine Contents: 01: An A-Z of Scoff: the alphabet of food wisdom - ‘I’ is for ‘International trade’: What is its true cost? 02: November offer - A simple question for some free beer. 03: A Regrettable Lack of Taste. - Review: Taste, Sky TV’s new weekday cookery programme. Reviewed by Nick Kirby. 04: Recipe: Pheasant with chestnuts - by Elizabeth Ray. 05: The drink spot: Raki - Turkish delights, by Dave Broom. 06: Titbits and crumbs: Food on the beeb – seminal site; Annie’s dishwasher salmon – a steaming curiosity; Food law pages – useful resource. 07: The food spot: Roll up, roll up, it’s the El Bulli show. Nigel Foster marvels at the theatre of what is considered by many to be the world’s best restaurant. 08: How to: Cook with Indian spices - Tips on their correct purchase, storage and use, by Mehernosh Mody. [Contents ends]. +01: An A-Z of Scoff: the alphabet of food wisdom - ‘I’ is for ‘International Trade’. A huge amount of food is traded and transported internationally these days, but at what cost? The concept of food miles has been around for over a decade now, as part of a debate pioneered among others by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. The alliance urges consumers to try to minimise the distance ‘from the plough to the plate’. The consequences of the unchecked growth of our modern supermarket system are stark. The charity warns that: “The large-scale retailers – with lower prices that are partially the product of hidden transport subsidies – will draw customers from ever further away and dependence on the car will grow.” For further information, see: www.sustainweb.org/ . The BBC’s food ethics website Food Matters also carries a piece on food miles, written by our very own Hattie Ellis (www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/foodmiles.shtml ). Hattie notes that another reason for mounting food miles is comparative labour costs – some British fish is now sent to China for processing, before being sent back to the UK to be sold! And the UK government’s Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published its own report acknowledging a steady rise in food miles: http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/reports/foodmiles/execsumm.pdf . Surely the answer is clear – to walk to your local shop and buy local produce in season? But that would mean laying off a huge range of popular everyday foodstuffs such as coffee and bananas. And what of the adverse effect on trade with poorer countries? The way forward may be to supplement a diet of locally produced food with Fairtrade goods. See: www.fairtrade.org.uk/ +02: November Offer: A question of beer. The Beer Academy (www.beeracademy.org) holds its one day Foundation Course at various locations around Britain – the ultimate Christmas present for the beer-lover in your life. The Academy is also offering two lucky Scoff! readers the chance to win a mixed case of 12 bottles of beer to include Grolsch lager, Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer, Hobgoblin's Dark Ale, Duchy Original Organic Ale and Liefman's Kriek cherry beer from Belgium. Simply email the answer to the following two questions by 31 December to answers@gastronomail.com: 1. In 1881, the Oxford Union Debating Society passed a motion that which of the following had done more for humanity than the printing press: a) Tomato ketchup; b) False teeth; c) Bass bottled beer. 2. Which of these contains zero fat? a) Orange juice; b) Tuna; c) Beer. +03: A Regrettable Lack of Taste - Taste, Sky One, weekdays at 1pm and Sky Three, weekdays at 7pm - Reviewed by Nick Kirby. Food programmes on TV are like restaurants – if you have a bad experience on your first visit, you’re unlikely to return to them. I’m afraid for me, this was the case for ‘Taste’, which airs from Monday to Friday on Sky One. Sticking to the tried-and-tested format of a chef in the studio producing a starter, main course and dessert – with some additional dishes thrown in – it should work. Sadly, the edition that I saw missed the mark. If tomatoes wrapped in bacon and covered in mornay sauce are your thing, then this programme is for you. But this was hardly an auspicious start, particularly when chef Ed Baines said that you could use shop-bought sauce if you were short of time. The next two dishes were smoked salmon and Japanese fish cakes – each of which had an excessive number of ingredients. At least there was a website I could visit later, if I wanted to retrieve the recipes. The show’s host, Beverley Turner, battled gamely on, sampling each dish as it was served up – although she looked like she hadn’t had a good square meal in a long time. She made all the right “ooh that’s gorgeous!” noises, but was somewhat hamstrung by the leaden format (running for a whole hour) and the distracting Changing Rooms style set. To her credit, when sampling some particularly posh teas, she had the guts to say they were “something of an acquired taste”. Guest chef for the day (on videotape, not in the studio) was Raymond Blanc, who presented his roast cod signature dish and a pistachio soufflé. At last, now I had something to go to the website for. However, it was only when logging on to the site (www.skyone.co.uk/taste) that the archived recipes were very limited, with only a handful from the most recent shows and definitely no Raymond Blanc. On ithe site, ‘Taste’ describes itself as a ‘designer food programme’, but sadly it was a case of not much style over too little substance. - Nick Kirby is a freelance writer. +04:Recipe: Pheasant with Chestnuts - by Elizabeth Ray. I have used this recipe many times as a delicious alternative to the dreaded Christmas turkey! You will need: 15 ml oil 25g butter 1 pheasant, jointed 2 onions, sliced 225g peeled chestnuts (vacuum packed are fine) 2-3 level tbsp plain flour 400 ml stock 1 glass red wine Juice and grated rind of half an orange 10 ml redcurrant jelly Preheat the oven to 180C, gas mark 4. Heat the oil and butter together and sauté the pheasant joints for a few minutes until browned, then remove from the pan and put into a casserole. Fry the onions and chestnuts in the remaining butter mixture until softened then add to the pheasant. Stir the flour into the fat and cook for two to three minutes, before adding the stock and the wine gradually, stirring until smooth. Bring to the boil, stirring until the mixture thickens. Season and pour the sauce over the pheasant in its casserole. Add the orange juice and rind, the redcurrant jelly and any herbs you like. Cover the casserole and cook in the oven for about an hour, or until the bird is tender. Quince jelly makes a good alternative to the redcurrant. +05: The Drink Spot: Turkish delights - by Dave Broom My wife, bless her, works as a caterer. The upside of this is that I am as plump and well fed as a hog. The downside is the occasional olfactory confusion. I’ll be sniffing at a glass and think, “Hmm – I’ve never spotted cumin or saffron in Glenmorangie before”, and then I realise these are merely some of the exotic aromas emanating from the kitchen. Her most recent discovery is the food of Turkey. I’m ashamed to admit it has taken us so long to discover this remarkable cuisine. The even better news is that this unveiling of Anatolian delicacies hasn’t just added another couple of inches to the waistline but also brought with it a new appreciation of raki. For example, I now know that one calls it rah-kuh. Hang on a minute, you’re thinking. Raki? That’s just firewater, isn’t it? Think again. At its best – and there are some lovely examples – Turkish raki is one of the finest of the anise-based spirits which are drunk throughout the Mediterranean. How is it made? In Turkey, raisins (or grapes) are first distilled to a high strength, and then this alcohol is redistilled with aniseed. No essences are permitted. This gives a lifted, liquorice/basil aroma. The spirit is slightly sweet but has a dry finish which leaves you stretching for another glass. For me, it is finer than its Lebanese equivalent, and more complex and slightly sweeter than ouzo. Pastis may be more aromatically interesting but is best drunk as an aperitif. Raki, you see, is made to be drunk with food. You can’t have Turkish meze without raki . . . and vice versa. The food can be simple as olives or nuts, or the stakes can be upped to include grilled fish, stuffed mussels or Circassian chicken. The dishes are small, varied. This is good for the brain. Food for the brain in fact. An interesting thing happens neurologically when you eat or drink. As soon as your mind has registered a smell or flavour, it’s looking for something new. After a period of eating the same dish your brain stops registering aroma and flavour, which is why eating a massive steak eventually becomes a dull, monotonous experience. But this is not the case with Mediterranean food, be it tapas or meze. Here you are being given little bites which keep the mind alive, accompanied by little sips of raki to clean the palate. In addition, aniseed has the ability to clear the head and sharpen perception. Whatever the case, the result is conversation and laughter. Neither are you getting hammered. Raki should be drunk dilute with either two or three parts of chilled water. This gives you a drink which is about the same strength as a glass of wine. Can you buy it? Turkish restaurants have always stocked it, and some specialist offies are selling the best-known brand, Yeni, while the very fine Efe is available in duty free. Since the Turkish spirits industry has been privatised recently, expect to see more brands appearing. Do try them. - Dave Broom is a journalist and author who has twice won the coveted Glenfiddich award for drinks book of the year, most recently for Rum, published by Mitchell-Beazley 2004. +06: Titbits and Crumbs. - Food on the beeb Among the best of the web’s food sites – if you don’t visit this site regularly already for articles and recipes, you should! www.bbc.co.uk/food - Annie’s Dishwasher Salmon Want to know how to steam salmon to perfection in your dishwasher? Just remember not to add any soap . . . www.epicurious.com/members/member_recipes/recipe_views/views/1 201503 - Food Law Pages Finally, for the legally-minded among our readers, here is a useful site from Reading University’s School of Food Biosciences. It collects together a wide range of internet links and resources relating to all aspects of food regulation: www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/main.htm 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. +07: The food spot: Roll up, roll up, it’s the El Bulli show - by Nigel Foster. After months of anticipation and a two-hour drive from France, there I was in the kitchens of El Bulli, shaking the hand of the world- renowned Ferran Adrià for the second time in five years. The Catalan chef has been developing his own style of innovative cuisine here since 1986 and this is ranked by many to be the world’s best restaurant. The El Bulli show – the evening is as much theatre as sustenance – begins with a visit to the kitchens, where the great man is directing his chemists. The hors d’oeuvres come disguised as petit fours – parmesan marshmallows and macaroons, a crispy ribbon of beetroot sprinkled with powdered vinegar. These are the first of many “jeux de cuisine” that tamper with the expectations of eye and palate. A “chemical olive” with skin the texture of a grape and the centre filled with oil, bursts in an explosion of essence of olive more intense than I have ever experienced. It’s unexpected, it’s challenging and it has us all talking. Trying to deconstruct the methodology becomes the theme of the evening as more than 30 individual sensory experiences are impeccably delivered to the table and explained by a bevy of waiters. A melon caviar with passion fruit seeds appears in a mock Iranian caviar tin. There is humour in this performance and nothing is quite as it first appears. It is no coincidence that this is Dali country. Adrià is developing this surrealist theme in his own work and using increasingly elaborate chemistry in the process. There is an emphasis on oils, reductions, mousses and foams with textures mostly soft and flavours rich. The “chemical olive” process re- appears in an oil-filled pouch accompanied by white asparagus and later in a liqueur-like cherry dessert. Soft sea urchin features in a number of dishes including the only meat dish – poached lambs’ brains with sea urchin and seaweed. Not one course required the use of a knife. A surreal egg fashioned with an aureole of mango supported to a peak by coconut ice cream is accompanied by a delicious Priorat pudding wine, and we find ourselves back to Dali: food as erotica. It’s been a long evening and the wines are beginning to take their toll. We begin to crave something we can actually sink our teeth into – preferably fried or grilled. When I walked out of El Bulli five years ago, I was in no doubt that I had just eaten at the best restaurant in the world. On this occasion, the experience has been that of a clever, superbly performed piece of experimental theatre that – dare I say it – suffered from some weaknesses of script. Should I ever return, I might be tempted to leave a doggy bag of spare ribs in the car to gnaw on the long drive home. - Nigel Foster is a director of the bar and restaurant group Cantaloupe and The Big Chill festival 08: How to: Cook with Indian spices - by Mehernosh Mody. Indian cooking requires an extensive use of spices. Shopping for spices can be daunting unless you know exactly what to look for, and their correct storage is also of the utmost importance. Here are a few tips: 1: Freshness is imperative and, for this, your nose is the best guide. Always crush and rub the spices between your fingers before smelling for strength of smell – the stronger the fresher. Remember dried spices have less scent. 2: Always keep your dried spices in airtight containers out of the sunlight. Fresh ones can be kept in perforated containers in the refrigerator for up to five days. 3: The grinding process is very important so try to do this by hand with a pestle and mortar. Always grind slowly as this allows the essential oils to be released which helps develop the flavour. 4: Garam masala is the most frequently used blend of spices in Indian cooking yet there is no definitive recipe. The core spices remain the same: cardamom, cloves, coriander, pepper, cumin, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon, in varying proportions and individually dry roasted then combined and ground into a fine powder – as called by the particular recipe. To dry roast whole spices, always use a thick-bottomed wide pan on a medium flame; this prevents the spices from burning. 5: It is always best to try and buy spices in small quantities so that they are fresh. However, this cannot be easily done. So, if you need to use them quickly, try making larger quantities of pastes and any excess that you have can be kept in the freezer in smaller packets. These will keep for up to three months. NOTE: Mehernosh Mody is executive chef of La Porte des Indes at Marble Arch, one of London’s finest Indian restaurants (www.blueelephant.com/pi/london/). Scoff! readers can claim 15 per cent off their food bill (not drinks), valid from Sunday to Thursday until the end of November. ++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 2005 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.]