Category Archives: Culinary Arts

New Food Books: ‘Petite Patisserie: 180 Easy Recipes – Elegant French Treats’

Christophe Felder, along with his longtime collaborator, Camille Lesecq, are back with a new volume that focuses upon the delightful small pastries that are one of the highlights of the art of French baking. Both children and adults adore these often bite-size indulgences. Included here are all the fundamental recipes–the classics and the traditional favorites–along with original, inventive creations. 

A delightful volume devoted to the delicate, charming treats that are the soul of France’s neighborhood patisseries. With Felder’s expert guidance, any home cook can now re-create the sweet enchantments and small indulgences that are the hallmark of many a holiday in France.

Recipes include amandines, babas, biscuits, bostocks, creams, croquantes, croustillons, financiers, flans, madeleines, Alsatian manderlis, Napoleans, petits fours, sablés, tartlets, and much more.

The book opens with a section on twenty-seven base recipes from which all others can be made, including pâte brisée, pâte sucrée, sablé breton, dacquoise, pâte á choux, feuilletée rapide, and crème pâtissière. It is then divided into chapters of increasing complexity, with a final chapter on “funny” cakes–playfully decorated small cakes designed to delight children or for parties.

Each recipe comes with precise preparation and cooking times, step-by-step decorating tips, and suggestions for vegan and gluten-free alternatives–this seemingly petite package contains a wide range of sweet and simple pleasures to delight big and small gourmets alike.

About The Author

Christophe Felder is one of the most respected pastry masters in the world, having achieved fame during his fifteen-year tenure as the pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. In 2009, he founded Studio Christophe Felder, a pastry school open to the public and located in Strasbourg in his native Alsace. Together with Camille Lesecq, former pastry chef at Le Meurice, they operate a patisserie, Les Pâtissiers, in Mutzig, Alsace.

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Culinary Books: “Fäviken – 4015 Days, Beginning to End” By Magnus Nilsson

Fäviken: 4015 Days, Beginning to End is a vital commentary on food culture today and includes illuminating essays on subjects as wide ranging as creativity; balancing familial responsibilities while running a restaurant; the hypocrisy of sustainability in restaurants; the search for lagom; social media; imitation vs. plagiarism; haute cuisine; the art of hospitality; and the importance of craft over innovation.

In 2019, Magnus Nilsson closed Fäviken, his one-of-a-kind restaurant in remote Sweden – a difficult decision, as it was close to his heart and at the height of its success. Here is the Fäviken story: how it became a world-class destination, how the industry it was a part of has changed, and why Magnus eventually elected to pursue new projects.

The book also includes a chronological list of every dish ever served at the restaurant and highlights 100 memorable recipes. The book’s stunning photography includes a mixture of archival photographs and newly shot images of the food, the restaurant, the staff, and the surrounding setting of Northern Sweden.

A textural cover made of blue cloth and red paper with a wood-grain effect references the shape and color of the Fäviken building.

Magnus Nilsson is the author of Fäviken (2012), The Nordic Cookbook (2015), Nordic: A Photographic Essay of Landscapes (2016), and The Nordic Baking Book (2018), all published with Phaidon.

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Top Culinary Arts Videos: “Japanese Fried Rice” From Teppanyaki Hoen In Kyoto

Fried rice in Kyoto as part of a lunch menu, including Wagyu beef, vegetables, herbs and an egg.

Teppanyaki Hoen(鉄板焼 豊園) is a restaurant located on the 2nd floor of the Hotel Nikko Princess Kyoto.

This Teppanyaki restaurant commits on using the best ingredients when cooking your meal. High-quality Japanese Wagyu and seafood, fresh vegetables from the Kyoto area, and salt from France. Their theme is to provide the best fusion of Eastern and Western cuisine. There is also a sommelier present at the restaurant who can recommend you the best wine for your preference.

The restaurant is spacious and even has a private room, so you can come with children without any problems.

Travel & Cuisine: “Salina – Italy’s Island Of Wine, Capers & Pane Cunzatu”

ITALY MAGAZINE (Aug 25, 2020): Here, Michelin-star restaurants are hidden behind the secluded gates of family inns and the best wines are served by winemakers on a panoramic terrace using a vine leaf as a coaster while crystal clear waters are just a step away from the hydrofoils. And, though nothing lands in your lap since you have to climb through ferns and craters and puff along steep slopes to reach the most beautiful places and enjoy a magic sunset in the Pollara bay – it remains totally worth it. 

Pane cunzatu – literally, seasoned bread, is the most famous Aeolian specialty. It is different from the namesake recipe you can find all over the island, which is more similar to a sandwich. Here a huge, round flat loaf’s base is topped with a generous amount of local delicacies, resembling more a pizza.

Once upon a time Salina was considered the “lesser” of the Aeolian islands despite being the second biggest after Lipari with three different comuni of Santa Marina, Malfa and Leni and six volcanoes scattered around its 10-square mile surface. However, it was a place that silently carved out a very special place in the heart of island lovers. It smartly matched its wild nature and untamed spirit with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere offering a dashing bit of otherworldly hospitality.

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Top New Culinary Books: “Sushi Shokunin” – Andrea Fazzari -“Stunning Images”

In this stunning monograph, James Beard Award-winning photographer and author Andrea Fazzari profiles twenty of the most celebrated sushi masters on the Japanese food scene. Through a combination of striking photography and intimate essays, each chapter introduces readers to a new master and restaurant, capturing the aesthetics, philosophy, and level of dedication that illustrates their status as the world’s finest culinary shokunin.

In Japan, cooking often bears aesthetic value, and the making of sushi is exalted as one of the finest culinary crafts. In line with this ideal of food as art, the Japanese often employ the word shokunin, loosely defined as “artisan”, to refer to highly skilled sushi masters. Connoting excellence and devotion to one’s craft, this title is reserved for those who approach their work with an artistic eye and seemingly spiritual sense of purpose, or ikigai.

A must-have for sushi enthusiasts—and for anyone interested in fine food culture—Sushi Shokunin is the first book of its kind to the most revered sushi masters and restaurants. Fazzari invites readers to explore the rarefied world of top shokunin who view sushi making not only as a career, but also as a way of life.

Andrea Fazzari is a Tokyo-based James Beard Award-winning photographer and author specializing in travel and the culinary world. Her previous book was Tokyo New WaveShe was chosen as one of “30 Photographers to Watch” by Photo District News in 2004. Her editorial and advertising clients include Travel + LeisureDeparturesSaveurCathay Pacific Airlines, and Four Seasons Hotels

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Food & Nature: “The Wild Harvest – Mid Summer” With Chef Alan Bergo

 

Filmed and Directed by: Jesse Roesler

Produced by: Credo Nonfiction
Featuring: Alan Bergo, Forager Chef

Edited by: Sam Kaiser

From James Beard Award-winning filmmaker Jesse Roesler and renowned Forager Chef Alan Bergo, The Wild Harvest is a new foraging & cooking series that celebrates the beauty and bounty of nature and explores what’s culinarily possible with easily foraged wild foods. This series is being created safely during quarantine using social distancing measures.

Episode 3 features the bounty of mid summer in the northern hemisphere including a wild greens salad, walleye wrapped in squash leaves with chanterelles and a blueberry desert that captures the spirit of the pine barrens. Featured foraged ingredients include Lamb’s Quarters, Chickweed, Purslane, Bee Balm, Chanterelles, Wild Blueberries, Sweet Fern, Hazelnuts.

We hope to release a new episode every 3-4 weeks for free, but are currently seeking sponsors.

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Food Trends: American “Fresh Seaweed” Products Are Expanding (Podcast)

NPR PodcastAtlantic Sea Farms is the largest commercial seaweed farm in the U.S. They line-grow their seaweed in clear, icy cold Maine waters. The seaweed — which is sold frozen in pureed cubes and in ready to eat cut strands and fermented products — is never dyed or dehydrated.

Beyond sushi restaurants and roasted snacks, seaweed is increasingly accepted, appreciated, even adored, in American kitchens — and for good reason.

Seaweed is really good for you. It’s loaded with potassium, magnesium, Vitamin B12, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and tons of calcium. And then there’s the umami bomb of taste: briny, sweet, meaty, and vegetal are just some of the ways cooks describe the flavor of various seaweeds.

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Dining: Interview With Private Chef Platform “APT” – Richard Lee Massey

The EntrepreneursRichard Lee Massey is the founder of Apt, a new hospitality platform in London. The reopening of London’s restaurants earlier this month was a welcome relief for many. But with physical-distancing restrictions still in place, Apt will allow groups of friends to dine in a more intimate setting.

They can choose from a host of top chefs and rent one of 98 private apartments at east London’s Town Hall Hotel for their meal.

Travel, Food & Wine: Top Australian Restaurants And Vineyards (Podcast)

Monocle 24 Only In Australia PodcastUnrestrained by culinary tradition, Australia’s fine drinking and dining scene applauds creativity and food fusion. The country’s outdoor eating culture is enlivened by some of the world’s best fresh produce, breathtaking landscapes and ideal growing conditions. 

Get your tummy ready to rumble as Georgina Godwin takes a tour through some of Australia’s finest dining rooms, vineyards and cellar doors, with star wine-makers, foragers of fine food and industry-leading artisans as her guides.

Food & Dining: “How A Michelin Star Restaurant Will Cope Post Covid-19”

After months in lockdown, restaurants are back. But they’re coming out of hibernation into a strange new world shaped by the coronavirus pandemic. In the first in a new series of films, food writer Tim Hayward and the FT’s Daniel Garrahan visit Lyle’s in east London to see how a Michelin star restaurant has pivoted from fine dining to pizza.