Noma chef Rene Redzepi’s new cookbook explores the healthy fermentation trend
Spare a thought for fermentation. Without it, we wouldn’t have soy sauce, beer, cheese, wine, chocolate, sake, miso, yogurt, fish sauce, kimchi, vinegar and many other foods and drinks we take for...
View ArticleGeorgia’s natural wines making a splash in the industry with traditional...
A natural wine is a subcategory of wines made using specific methods. While there is no legal definition for natural wines yet, Decanter magazine has come up with a broad list of conditions that need...
View ArticleThe good life: why Zimbabwean couple sold lucrative mining consultancy to...
You started out in mining. How did that come about? “When I was a student in Harare, Zimbabwe, I was good at science, physics, chemistry and maths. I met my husband, Phil, in high school and we studied...
View ArticleEveryone loves Thai food, but what about the wines? Central Thailand winery...
The country’s cuisine is popular around the world but mention Thai wine and you will most likely be met with a blank look. Good Thai wine is hard to come by but one producer that has risen to the...
View ArticleHow to make fried chicken and fish burgers to rival restaurant fare – easy,...
As much as I love a hamburger, it’s not something I cook at home because there are so many good ones available in Hong Kong. But I don’t mind cooking chicken or fish versions and these two are hearty,...
View ArticleThe Hurricane cocktail: how a cheap New Orleans tipple became a classy drink,...
Scotch and American whiskies were both in short supply in the United States during the second world war, but rum was plentiful. Suppliers accordingly took to twisting the arms of bar managers, such as...
View ArticleRecipes of the Islamic world, collected in one huge cookbook – worth buying...
When compiling Feast – Food of the Islamic World (2018), a cookbook with more than 500 pages and 300-plus recipes, Anissa Helou had be strict with herself about what she could include, or else it would...
View ArticlePremium rice entrepreneurs in China harness tech, crowdfunding to grow a...
You would expect China to be the best grower of rice in the world. The Chinese have been cultivating the starchy seed for more than 8,000 years and the grain – the country’s most important staple – is...
View ArticleHow Italian chef found his place in Michelin-star Tokyo kitchen, once he’d...
How does Hong Kong differ from Tokyo? “The energy here – it is different from Tokyo, which feels more like a town, very organised, not noisy or crazy busy. In Hong Kong, people are always in a hurry,...
View ArticleHow to host a cookie exchange this Christmas: cookbook gathers easy and homey...
T he Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook (1986) is a good place to start your Christmas baking, if you don’t mind cup and spoon measurements (which, although everyone agrees are less precise than...
View ArticleSix Christmas gifts for wine lovers that you will want to keep for yourself
Often, the best gifts we buy for others are the ones we’d be happy to receive ourselves. So here are a few ideas for the wine lovers on your shopping list – and I hope everyone keeps in mind that...
View ArticleTwo eggnog recipes, a drink and a dessert, to guarantee Christmas cheer –...
If the only eggnog you’ve tasted is the cloyingly sweet stuff that comes in cartons, you’ll be in for a surprise if you make these recipes. The first is eggnog in dessert form, but with a...
View ArticlePersimmons: where they come from and how to eat them – squishy, crunchy or...
Autumn sees piles of luscious golden or tawny, tomato-like fruit fill the aisles, and consumers hotly debating whether they are best eaten crunchy or squishy. There are several varieties and cultivars...
View ArticleThe Italian behind the best pizza in the world on why you can eat his...
As a third-generation pizzaiolo, what did you learn from your family? “My grandfather and father made bread until 1950, and then they started making pizzas, well before I was born, in 1961. They taught...
View ArticleHow greedy landlords are squeezing good Hong Kong restaurants out of business
Hongkongers love to talk about food and the new restaurants they have dined at. The latter aren’t difficult to find in a city where establishments are opening by the week. The reality, though, is that...
View ArticleMake it a white Christmas with five of the best blanc de blancs champagnes
Most champagnes are a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes but blanc de blancs (“white of whites”) is 100 per cent chardonnay. The best sites for this style of champagne are in the...
View ArticleTwo simple pasta recipes, ready in under 15 minutes, with an East-meets-West...
I have a weakness for preserved fish. I have dozens of cans of sardines, plus a few tins of dace and jars of expensive tuna and anchovies, stashed away in the event of, say, a zombie apocalypse. I...
View ArticleAmerican food writer Nancy Singleton Hachisu pays tribute to Japanese cuisine...
Nancy Singleton Hachisu – an American who is married to a Japanese farmer and has lived in rural Japan since 1988 – faced a daunting task when she was asked to write a cookbook about the cuisine of her...
View ArticleHoliday recipe for glazed duck with kumquat, ginger and five-spice – perfect...
Cooking duck for a holiday feast takes a little more work than preparing turkey. Even the smallest turkey is enough for at least eight guests but one duck will feed only two to four, depending on...
View ArticleWhy the search for the perfect pizza is never-ending – it’s more to do with...
This cookbook is just one of several on my shelves that focuses on pizza. Every cook who’s been bitten by the pizza-making bug is in “search for the perfect pizza”. In American Pie (2003), Peter...
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