Archive for the ‘Food News’ Category
When you bake a batch of brownies, which piece do you reach for first? A fudgier center piece of a chewier corner? Some people may like both parts of the brownie equally, but others have such a strong preference for specific parts of the food that they eat that they’ve inspired an industry of people who can deliver just those parts. The Wall Street Journal recently took a look at just some of the specialty products that are out there helping people get exactly what they want to eat.
One good example is the Baker’s Edge Brownie Pan, a nonstick pan with a maze-like design that turns every piece of a batch of brownies (or other bar cookie) into a chewy edge piece. This pan caters to edge-lovers and millions of dollars’ worth have been sold since the company started in 2006.
Another is a yet-to-be-released product that is designed to help people scoop out the centers of their bagels easily. The spoon-like product cuts through the dough of the bagel easily, allowing users to make a little trough in their bagel. The demand for this product includes both people who want to cut calories by streamlining their bagels and those who want more room to pile in their sandwich fillings.
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One of the things that make cupcakes so popular is that they are portable, easy to transport from your kitchen to parties and other events. You can even take cupcakes on a plane to share with friends all over the country and across the globe as long as you’ve made relatively traditional cupcakes. You cannot, however, take cupcakes in a jar with you on a plane.
Over the Christmas holidays, a woman had a cupcake confiscated by the TSA at the Las Vegans McCarran Airport. The story spread quickly and people wondered how a cupcake could possible be enough of a “gel-like substance” (similar consistency to toothpaste or other items that are limited to a 3-oz maximum for carry-on air travel) to be confiscated at an airport. The answer is that it wasn’t a cupcake, but a cupcake-in-a-jar. These creations are popular gifts, consisting of layers of cake and frosting stacked inside of a jar and meant to be eaten with a spoon. Typically, these confections are large and – as you might expect – have a whole lot of frosting inside of them. It was all that frosting that got this particular cupcake into trouble because it was an 8-oz cupcake-in-a-jar (pictured above, right) and good portion of that jar was frosting.
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The Girl Scouts of America are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and, to mark the occasion, have introduced a brand new cookieto the Girl Scout cookie lineup: Savannah Smiles. Savannah Smiles are sugar-dusted, lemon flavored cookies that are described as being “cool and crisp, with just the right number of lemon chips to deliver tiny bursts of flavor.” They look and sound very similar to a Lemon Coolers, a cookie that the Girl Scouts featured a few years back but have since discontinued, which were very popular because they were zesty and quite different from the rest of the cookie lineup.
It is worth noting that the Savannah Smiles do not contain any partially hydrogenated oils, as per their ingredient list, and that many of the other Girl Scout cookies have also eliminated partially hydrogenated oils. Thin Mints and Samoas still include them, however.
Most girl scouts will start taking preorders for cookies within the next couple of weeks, and you’ll probably start seeing girls “boothing” outside local markets starting next month. The rest of the cookie lineup includes Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos, Trefoils, Dulce de Leche and Thank You Berry Munch.
If you can’t wait the few weeks that it’ll take to get your Girl Scout cookies this year, start out the season by baking a few batches of Homemade Girl Scout Cookies. You can’t go wrong with all natural Homemade Thin Mints or Homemade Samoas, and Homemade Lemon Coolers will deliver a burst of citrus.
Culinary school isn’t for everyone – no matter how appealing it sounds to be able to work with top chefs, improve your skills and learn to create really top-quality dishes – because most people don’t intend to become professional chefs and the time and cost involved in attending a full time school just isn’t worth it when you cook recreationally. That said, there are many at-home chefs who want their skills to be on-par with those of “real” chefs and one way to learn those techniques, recipes and skills is by signing up for an online cooking school. Online cooking schools have sprung up over the past couple of years, offering anyone with a computer and a good internet connection the chance to watch video lessons on everything from basic knife skills to roasting the perfect chicken. These schools are intended to give you a solid base in these skills, not just to entertain you with stories (like most food tv shows do). They’re less expensive than full time culinary school and can be done on your own schedule.
The Wall Street Journal recently took an in depth look at three online culinary schools to see how their online classes – which are aimed at home cooks looking to get culinary school skills – compared and whether they were worth the investment: Top Chef University, Rouxbe and Culinary Institute of America Prochef Podcasts.
- Top Chef University got a thumbs up for their impressive range of subjects, with more than 235 lessons and over 60 hours of video content. The instructors vary by lesson (former Top Chef cast members), but the skills demonstrated were all detailed and lessons were packed with useful tips. The classes are broken into 12 courses and you’re encouraged to complete them in order. It was $199.95 for one year/$24.95 per month for one course at a time.
- Rouxbe is an online only school with more than 75 classes and over 1,000 videos. They were praised for their polished videos, attention to detail and very thorough lessons that walked you through every detail of the techniqes. A discussion forum with staff and other users provided a classroom-like atmosphere, too. $299.95 for one year/ $4.99 per lesson for 90 day access or $9.99 per lesson for lifetime access.
- Culinary Institute of America Prochef Podcasts were not organized into neat courses to follow like the other schools. Instead, these engaging videos allowed you the freedom to pick and choose what topics you were most interested in without being encouraged to view them in a certain order. All videos were taught by CIA instructors, though there were no quizzes, etc. like the other schools offer and no way to really track your progress. $4.95 per podcast
The WSJ didn’t really rank these schools because with their different styles they will appeal to people looking for different things. They’re all worth checking out, however, to get a little bit of that culinary school skill set without leaving your own home.
The phrase “vegan baked goods” once conjured up thoughts of dense, chalky and not-very-sweet approximations of cakes, cookies and other treats. But vegan baked goods have become much more advanced over the past several years as bakers (and those who like to eat baked goods!) have spent time refining their techniques and recipes to make treats that are just as tasty as conventional baked goods. Vegan baked goods are winning competitions on the Food Network and vegan bakeries, as well as bakeries with a wide variety vegan offerings, are opening all over the county.
But a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reports that with the increased success of vegan baked goods, many bakeries that sell them are distancing themselves from the term vegan. Bakers have found that although buyers are receptive to the products – and that many love the idea that their baked goods are egg free, dairy free and gluten free (although gluten free products don’t have to be vegan, of course) – many buyers are turned off by seeing the word vegan attached to the products. Numerous bakeries have said that they don’t use the word “vegan” in their store’s marketing. Some who initially used the word and later removed it reported a steady increase in business after distancing themselves from the term, even though their recipes didn’t change. There are many strongly pro-vegan eaters who are offended by bakeries distancing themselves from the term, while others feel that as long as the products (and the movement) are gaining acceptance, that is all that counts.
Are you put off by the term “vegan” when it is attached to your baked goods? Or do you know people who are turned off by that, even if you’re not?
I bake and cook vegan things on a fairly regular basis, such as my Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf, Chai Latte Muffins and these Orange Chocolate Cupcakes. There are definitely times when I won’t go out of my way to mention that something is vegan, simply because I feel that a good product will speak for itself regardless of what ingredients were used. Other times, I’ll mention it after a given cupcake has been eaten, since I know that it’ll help dispel the myth of the tasteless vegan pastry. That being said, I will also admit that I’ve had some good vegan baked goods and others that still harken back to the days when a quality “vegan baked good” was little more than a myth and that there are times when even I’ll approach them with skepticism. Vegan baking has come a long way and there are some outstanding products out there – and I’m sure that whatever they’re called, there will be even more good things to come.
