Audible gasps caused by morphogenetic fields
November 15, 2005
I was perusing my daily share of food writing, food photography and food porn, when what should I spy with my little eye? An aged eGullet entry about Grant Achatz’ tasting menu at his much praised restaurant, Alinea. I know, I know, everyone’s been eating honeycomb since time immemorial, but honey is apparently extra hot right now and Grant Achatz uses Ohio honeycomb at his restaurant, whereas I use Turkish and Dutch honeycomb… at home.
Images from top to bottom: honeycomb dessert image attributed to eGullet contributor ‘yellow truffle’ in his October 14, 2005 entry on Grant Achatz’ buzzy restaurant, Alinea (hopefully used with permission), a prototype of my honeycomb cocoa nib bonbon photographed by the author herself
debra at 12:50 | Comments (6) | post to del.icio.us
Everything but the squeal
Sometimes in a recipe, you want to instruct the cook to go outside her normal boundaries of food preparation. I used the term ‘everything but the squeal’ to describe the use of every single living part of a beet and a radish in an entry titled Yurt and Garden and in an entry on Indian Leafenware earlier this year.
“Everything but the squeal” is a quote attributed to the meat-packing industry and it was first signalled in Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel, the Jungle which described the vile and unhygenic working conditions under which meat was reaching American consumers 100 years ago. If we can believe PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation (and I do), not a whole heq of a lot has changed. I do not recommend visiting this site if you plan on eating any part of any animal, wearing fur, leather and even wool, or even drinking the fruits of an animal’s existence, any time soon. The PETA organisation is all about the squeal, and I have to say, the practices that they document are abhorrent.
But one needn’t result to scare tactics to make me reduce my intake of animal protein and feel guilty for wearing a fur hat during winters up here in the polar circle. Mark Kurlansky’s Cod doesn’t mention once the issue of animal suffering. In Cod, it’s all about extinction dot dot dot.
(Please read more… )
debra at 10:41 | Comments (2) | post to del.icio.us
And now for something completely simple, honeycomb cocoa nib bonbon
November 14, 2005
Images r to l: bonbon prototyping, the box it came in
Recipe for Honeycomb Cocoa Nib bonbon
Cut a piece of honeycomb into desired shape.
Place the dripping honeycomb on some raw cocoa nibs.
Alternately, place some raw cocoa nibs on the dripping honeycomb.
Serve.
debra at 14:02 | Comments (10) | post to del.icio.us
