Hot new culinary ingredient; matcha

Fast Lane Definition-
matcha  [MAH-tchah]
A brilliant green powdered tea served in the Japanese tea ceremony. Matcha, also called 
hiki-cha , is made from very high quality tea, which is too bitter for most western plates.In modern times, matcha has also come to be used to flavour and dye foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream and a variety of wagashi (Japanese confectionery). Matcha is a fine ground, powdered, high quality green tea and not the same as tea powder or green tea powder.

Blends of matcha are given poetic names called chamei ("tea names") either by the producing plantation, shop or creator of the blend, or by the grand master of a particular tea tradition. When a blend is named by the grand master of some tea ceremony lineage, it becomes known as the master's konomi, or favoured blend.

Culinary Quote Du Jour-


“If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.”
– Japanese Proverb


More expensive than other teas, matcha, must be laboriously cultivated, brick dried and then hand ground to for a jade green powder.   Developed by the Tang dynasty (618-907); matcha, was developed by the Chinese, were it eventually went out of favor.  Japanese Zen Buddhists were the ones whom developed matcha into an art form, a true tea ritual.  A small amount of matcha is placed into the bowl, traditionally using a bamboo scoop called achashaku, then a modicum of hot (not boiling, about 80 °C or 176 °F) water is added. The mixture is then whisked to a uniform consistency, using a bamboo whisk known as a chasen. There must be no lumps left in the liquid, and no ground tea should remain on the sides of the bowl. Because matcha can be bitter, it is traditionally served with a small wagashi sweet (intended to be consumed before drinking), and without added milk or sugar.  By American tastes it would be way too bitter.


Matcha is a new culinary darling, traditionally used as an additive to sweet dish, puddings mousse and pastries it has taken on a new culinary life in the hands of creative chefs.  Matcha ice cream is probably the most popular way to consume this Japanese green tea powder but, one of the easiest and simple ways to use matcha is as a salt blend.  As a salt blend the matcha can be used as a seasoning for eggs, fish and poultry; departing an interesting color contrast, gives new meaning to Dr. Suesses' "Green eggs and Ham".  Using a matcha salt now that makes perfect sense.  Whether used as a seasoning for Pistachio and Matcha Halibut or to flavor a seafood broth this green tea powder adds a very herbaceous quality to any savory dish.  Be sure when using matcha to be light handed as it has a natural tendency to be bitter.  So I wonder if eating matcha actually makes you appreciate truth and beauty? If so make mine a double! 

The comeback of real food, the artisanal movement is alive

Fast Lane Definition-   Artisanal food is handcrafted, high quality, often gourmet food. It can be found in farmers markets, part of the Slow Food movement and in co-ops. It is natural, unprocessed and fresh, often made by local farmers.  Craftsmen like precision used in the production of cheese, bread and bakeries, meat, produce and home canning to name a few. 


Culinary Quote Du Jour-   “a food artisan is someone who is completely and wholly integrated into the creation of their product. It follows, she says, that artisanal products can only be made on a small scale". 
June Taylor of June Taylor Company, jam, jelly and preserve artisan 
Once upon a time in America all food was produced in an artisan manner, there was pride, quality and craftsmanship in all food product.  The technological advancements and fast food was responsible for quicker, cheaper more readily available product; obesity and diabetes now run rampant in our society.  


But there is hope, as more people eat locally, they have to buy that homegrown food somewhere. Farmer's markets are growing and people are coming out in force to support the Slow Food Movement.  An outgrowth of the farmers market is the artisanal food shop selling the wares of local farmers, dairymen, bakers, jam makers, honey purveyors and herb/flower growers. And the butcher shop is making a resurgence, there was a time when every small town and neighborhood had their own butcher.  Try to get someone to bone, roll and tie a roast for you in one of those large food markets.  There is another inherent plus for artisanal food and that is the health aspect.  No need to gas the tomatoes or apply chemicals to boost productivity or give growth hormones to the meat, poultry and seafood.  I attended a seminar on wild salmon, the presenter showed us a 6 month old wild salmon, it was all of 12 inches and 3 or 4 pounds.  When he showed us the farm raised salmon it was easily 3 times the size. But the real kicker was the taste they was a more robust and full bodied taste to the wild salmon as opposed to the "watered down" taste of the farm raised.  In the case of farm raised salmon, the wild is actually a more sustainable product due to its impact on the natural fisheries and environment.  


The comeback of artisanal food is good for the soul. it allows us to be in touch with our food and food product.  When we go to Maine we get Maine lobster, Steaks in Kansas City and cioppino in San Francisco.  Surprises are every where, herloom varieties of tomatoes, a goat cheese just made yesterday, creativity that is only available on a limited basis.  Real food is bake and its exciting, fresh and is fueling  passionate consumers to be adventurous.  Go out to your local farmer's market support the local farmer's and see what's new a that farm to plate restaurant, live!

Are you a local food patriot or locavore?

Fast Lane Definition-

Local food (also regional food or food patriotism) or the local food movement is a "collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption as integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place. It is considered to be a part of the broader sustainability movement.

It is part of the concept of local purchasing and local economies, a preference to buy locally produced goods and services. A USDA publication called it "a geographical concept related to the distance between food producers and consumers. In addition to geographic proximity of producer and consumer, however, local food can also be defined in terms of social and supply chain characteristics."

Culinary Quote Du Jour-

When I buy food at the farmers' market, I know that it has not been shipped back and forth across the country. It has not been grown by multinational corporations, but by families. Most importantly, when I buy food at the farmers' market, I meet the grower. I have a connection, an interaction, and a place to express my gratitude. 

Author Jenny Kursweil, "Fields that Dream"

Farmers markets are the hot new culinary trend for 2011, the ability to get to know your food is a large part of the attraction.  Man and women have been shopping at bazzaars and markets since the beginning of time.  Usually done on a daily basis you utilized that which was in season, fresh and inexpensive.  There is definite joy in selecting the perfect squash, the ripes heirloom tomato or a beautiful watermelon.  Preparation is also easier, I go back to the times with my family at u-pick farms in Miami, Florida;  we would pick tomatoes to can and freeze Mom said they made the best sauce and she was right.  A salt shaker or two were always furnished and we would eat a lunch of fresh raw, just picked produce.  We would pick tomatoes in different stages of ripeness, green to fry, half ripe to store in brown paper bags for later.  
I didn't know it then but what a treat, healthy and cheap you were never charged for what was in your stomach.   Picking fresh strawberries was my favorite, one for the picker and one for the basket, boy was there a few stomach aches!  


As a professional chef an appreciation for fresh local produce came from some experience working with chefs whom had experience in the Caribbean, when you are on an island and your next shipment doesn't arrive for two weeks you adapt and utilize what is available.  As I gained more experience I came to realize that fresh is best, the compliments that your received could be directly connected to the quality of the food product.  Drawing on my past experience with the family marinara, I produced a fresh sauce for the award winning Italian Pavilion at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, it was the best bar none. In Europe there has always been a local movement, chefs were raised and trained to use what they had this served them well.  Chefs were giving the consumer the freshest best tasting product available as a way of life.  Here in America we suffer from the globalization of the world market and super farms.  our food supply suffers in taste, quality and freshness;  Through genetic, chemicals and we get the best food science can supply not the best Mother Nature has to offer.

India; the spice road stopped here

Fast Lane Definition-
Indian cuisine-consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterized by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society. Each family of Indian cuisine includes a wide assortment of dishes and cooking techniques. As a consequence, it varies from region to region, reflecting the varied demographics of the ethnically-diverse subcontinent.


Culinary Quote Du Jour


"This curry was like a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that I'd once heard.....especially the last movement, with everything screaming and banging 'Joy.' It stunned, it made one fear great art. My father could say nothing after the meal."
Anthony Burgess, author "Clockwork Orange"






Authentic Indian food today ranks among the famous cuisines of the world from places like France, Italy, Japan, China and others. Tradition of Indian cooking is counted among the great culinary traditions in the world. The cuisines reflect the many different cultures of the place with tremendous diversity. Yet the style of cooking shows some unique bond which every region shares. The cuisine is popular not only among the large Indian Diaspora but also among the mainstream population of North America and Europe. In 2003, there were as many as 10,000 restaurants serving Indian cuisine in England alone. A survey held in 2007 revealed that more than 1,200 Indian food products have been introduced in the United States since 2000.  


Indian cuisine is broken down in two categories, the north with a richer milder spice profile and the south which is usually very spicy utilizing some of the hottest chilies known to man.  the cuisine is further divided by two more categories, vegetarian and meat based dishes.  Hinduism  has greatly influenced the vegetarianism of India because of the religious belief that no meat products are to be consumed, beans, lentils and paneer make up the majority of their protein intake.  Muslims also make up a large part of the culinary influence on India in that beef, chicken and seafood were allowed but no pork.  Climate varies across the country and as a result, different regions are characterized by distinct food habits based on what was locally available. These differences have been erased somewhat by modern transportation, but much of Indian food (especially vegetables) is grown and consumed locally.  In the north they are able to grow wheat so a major part of their starch are fabulos breads like naan, parathas, dosa and puri; in the south the main starch is rice.  Due to a lack of substantial amounts of protein everything is cut in small pieces and served in the form of curry or stew with lots of vegetables.  


Spices are varied and different throughout the country but some of the most common spices are cardamon, whole cumin seed, mustard seed, fenugreek, cinnamon and curry leaves.   Indians use a dizzying array of spices to from masalas which we know as curry powder for specific cooking applications, the common Madras curry gets its brilliant yellow color from turmeric.  Coconut milk is a common base for stew and there is often flavoring with other exotic tropical fruit such as tamarind, mango and plantains. Fresh cilantro, ginger, garlic, saffron and rose petals along with a laundry list of aromatic vegetable allows the Indian chef to assemble the complex recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.  


Due to Indians most complex culinary palette, this has made Indian cuisine very popular abroad. When the British occupied India, they where so smitten with the cuisine is is as if a sub culinary heritage was brought back to England.  Chicken Tikka Masala, while not a traditional dish in India is so widely spread that it is featured in pubs and restaurants alike, and is consider a national dish.  In America the influx of Indian immagrants has caused a demand fro the food stuff and cuisine of the homeland, creating some of the most tasty and interesting dining available.  This hot new cuisine lends itself as a natural for the fusion of cuisines whether it be French, Italian, Puerto Rican or Asian?  Did you say Puerto Rican, that's right a friend  of mine, Ramesh Pillai is executive chef and owner of Tantra in San Juan.    One of the establishment's bestsellers is an absolutely brilliant version of tandoori chicken that combines the traditional Indian recipe with manchego and mozzarella cheese, guyaba fruit, guava-flavored dip, and nan.   My first real Indian food was at Ramesh's apartment overlooking Biscayne Bay.  He prepared approximately 10 different dishes from his region of origin Madras, I have been a fan ever since, this is the type of cuisine I chose most often when dining out.  Thanks Ramesh and I wish you well!

Pies are the new cupcakes

Fast Lane Definition-
Pie-A sweet or savory dish made with a crust and filling (such as fruit, pudding, meat or vegetable). Pies can have bottom crusts only, or top and bottom crusts or, as with deep-dish pies, only a top crust. Sweet pies are generally served as dessert and savory pies as the main course or appetizer. Crusts can be made of a variety of mixtures including short crust pastry, puff pastry, cookie crumbs, meringue and even, as with Shepard's pie, mashed potatoes. 


Culinary Quote Du Jour-
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe".  ~Carl Sagan


The Greeks were thought to have invented the first pie; pastry, flour, water and fat.  In the first century A.D. Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 B.C.) was a Roman politican. His treatise on agriculture, De Agricultura or De Re Rustica, is the only work by him that has been preserved. He wrote about farming, wine making, and cooking among other things. This is his recipe for libum, the small sweet cheese pie often given as a temple offering, the first ever:

Libum to be made as follows: 2 pounds cheese well crushed in a mortar; when it is well crushed, add in 1 pound bread-wheat flour or, if you want it to be lighter, just 1/2 a pound, to be mixed with the cheese. Add one egg and mix all together well. Make a loaf of this, with the leaves under it, and cook slowly in a hot fire under a brick.

Small cheese pies were served to victorious athletes during the first Olympic games held in 776 B.C. on the Isle of Delos.  The Greeks in 1000 A.D.  taught the Romans of this invention and this was a great way to preserve and prepare meat for travel, and conquering I presume?

The Romans spread the concept of pies through out Great Britain and Western Europe. 

There are many favorite pies from around the world, Cornish pies that are the working meal of Welsh miners,  empanadas are Latin America's contribution, the French tarte tatin an upside down fruit pie as well as Dutch apple pie the mother of all american apple pies. 

No place on earth has embraced the pie like American, apple specifically.  Although apple pies have been eaten since long before the European colonisation of the Americas, "as American as apple pie" is a saying in the United States, meaning "typically American".  In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, apple pie became a symbol of American prosperity and national pride. A newspaper article published in 1902 declared that “No pie-eating people can be permanently vanquished.”  The dish was also commemorated in the phrase "for Mom and apple pie" - supposedly the stock answer of American soldiers in World War II, whenever journalists asked why they were going to war.  An idea and way of life worth fighting for.  

Pie has come to define certain regions of the United States as well;  Key Lime pie in Florida, Pecan and sweet potato in the southern states,  mud pie from Mississippi and Pumpkin for the north east.  Alton Brown once said,  “Pie is the culinary currency of the Midwest. You know you've moved into the Midwest when you start getting really good pie.”.  I think if Marie Antoinette had said let them eat pie she would have fared better!

Bistro, Bistronomy or Bistronomique is all about quick and uncomplicated

Fast Lane Definition-

 Bistro Is a term which dates back only to the late 19th century in French and to the early 20th century in English, is elastic in its meaning but always refers to an establishment where one can have something to eat, as well as drinks. Such an establishment would normally be small, and its menu would be likely to include simple dishes, perhaps of rustic character and not expensive.However, the concept of simple inexpensive food served in a French atmosphere has wide appeal, and as a result the use of the term, whether as a description of eating places or of food, had, towards the end of the 20th century, begun to be annexed by more pretentious premises.

Culinary Quote Du Jour-

"Bistro cooking is good, traditional food, earnestly made and honestly displayed. It is earthy, provincial, or bourgeois; as befits that kind of food, it is served in ample portions."

David Liederman (New York restaurateur)

Bistros started in the 18th century when landlords opened their basement kitchens for tenants that paid room and board, much like the bed and breakfast concept. Out of economic necessity the landlord open to the public to augment their income.  These places where small and cramped but popular with the everyday Parisian because of good food and drink at a fair price.  Legend has it that the conquering Russian Cossacks would scream "bystro" for quick service.  Do you have the same problems with slow inattentive service when your a mercenary with a sword?  Makes one wonder, I have a few restaurants I would like to try that at.  A more French version is that bistros are named after a common coffee liqueur called bistrouille, as coffee and wine service was prevalent in bistros.  Common dishes of the day were; cassoulet-a stew of white beans, meat and sausage, steak frites-steak and french fries as well as chouxcrote- sausage and sauerkraut.  In the early 90's Christian Constant a Michelin starred chef decides to open his own restaurant.  The term Bistronomique was born, a combination of bistro and gastronomique, using the unpretentious service and atmosphere along with upscale product.   Chef's were now opening their own small bistros using the techniques and training they gained in the Michelin culinary world.  Bistros in 2010 are surging to the forefront of culinary trends due to some of the same necessities that bistros were born of, economic survival.  Comfort food cooked in a new and interesting manner, use of local seasonal product and the ability to offer good food at an inexpensive price.  This will ensure the longevity of this culinary style, keep the chef's creative and the public vitalized.  A friend once told me the sure way to tell if you are in a bistro is there are no flowers on the table.  

Culinary Globalization or Fusion?

Fast Lane Definition-
Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not being categorized per any one particular cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s.  Another incarnation of fusion cuisine is a more eclectic approach, featuring original dishes using varieties of ingredients from various cuisines and regions and combining them. Such a restaurant might feature a wide variety of dishes inspired by a combination of various regional cuisines with new ideas.


Culinary Quote Du Jour-
"It can jump off the plate at you but it doesn't have to chase you out of the restaurant." 
Marshall Rosenthal
'The Art of the Plated Dessert' (1997)
 
All fusion cuisine as we know it finds its roots in French nouvelle cuisine of the 70's, the combination of French and Japanese.  Fusion has move well beyond its early beginning, from a reactive to a proactive means, of cooking combining of different cuisines and influences.  Where fusion was a product of necessity through immigration, local availability and tradition.  Chef's all over the world are proactively pursuing the combinations of flavors, cooking styles and techniques that define the major cuisines of the world.  If a restaurant has a menu the is a combination of cultural cuisine, pasta bar and noodle bar this is not fusion cuisine. To be considered fusion cuisine the combination must be on the same plate in the same dish.  When combining cuisine one cannot just put together a "train wreck", an abomination to all things good, it must be well thought out and harmonious.  


Many social and cultural conditions have contributed to the increasing popularity of fusion, the multiculturalism movement will continue this trend.  Food distribution systems have increased the availability of products, I have an Indian, Italian, Latino and Asian grocery store in my town, there are more in larger cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The immense popularity of food media has elevated consumer awareness through T.V., cookbooks and educational marketing.  Chef's are now superstars; Chef's Gordon Ramsey, Charlie Trotter, Anthony Bourdain and Daniel Boulud to name a very few.  I do believe that the general desire for a healthier lifestyle has also contributed to this phenomena; grilled not fried, steamed not sauteed and lots of fresh locally available produce.  With the world getting smaller it seems that soon all cuisine will be influenced by the creativity of the chef's, cultures and availability of product, please no "train wrecks"!