TastesSightsSounds

WILL YOU PLEDGE TO MAKE KITCHENS FAIR? PHOTO © STOCKFOOD A new initiative launched by writer Kat Kinsman in partnership with some of the world’s best chefs and Unilever Food Solutions aims to make kitchens the world over fairer, healthier and happier places to work, and put an end to the damaging kitchen culture that has in some cases led to chefs losing their lives. #FairKitchens is described on its website as “A movement of chefs supporting chefs to inspire a new kitchen culture.” The initiative is being promoted via social media and kicked off on 29 May with kitchen teams being asked to take “An Hour for Us” – to stop what they were doing and discuss a proposed code of conduct that would encourage kitchens to be more open and unified. Kinsman of runs the ChefsWithIssues website, a resource for chefs struggling with the physical and mental toll of the job, and has spoken previously about how kitchen culture needs to change or more chefs will die – watch below. Kat Kinsman at MAD

10 CREATIVE WAYS TO COOK WITH SAGE Culinary sage adds texture and flavor to dishes while infusing them with an earthiness that is hard to replicate with another herb. That's why we are big fans of cooking with sage whether it be in sauces, pastas, risottos, hearty meat dishes, and even dessert! BENEFITS OF CULINARY SAGE Sage is an herb that fights inflammation in the body and has been linked to a healthier brain. It is rich in minerals and vitamins A, K, C and E. FRESH SAGE VS. DRIED SAGE When using fresh sage opt for smaller, tender leaves, as they will be more flavorful. The flavor of sage intensifies when it is dried so use it judiciously. As a rule of thumb, when a recipe calls for fresh sage reduce the quantity by a third when substituting with dried sage. 10 DELICIOUS RECIPES WITH CULINARY SAGE WATERMELON AND DAIKON SALAD Pairing watermelon and daikon is simply genius and this salad proves it. A simple lemon-thyme dressing adds flavor while sage leaves make for a del

CITY TASTING TOUR: TOP RESTAURANTS IN PHILADELPHIA Here's a selection of some of the top restaurants in Philadelphia, from classic Philly food to modern Israeli, cheesesteaks to breakfasts and brunches. Philadelphia: it’s not a destination that normally comes top of food lists but the city is quickly becoming a delicious gem for those who know where to dine. In 2018, for example, Philadelphia had 15 semi-finalists up for James Beard awards and four of those made it to the finals. In 2017, they romped home with medals in four categories, including Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Restauranter for Michael Solomonov and Stephen Starr respectively. It's a delicious city that, like a good sour-dough starter, is constantly evolving. On top of some truly delicious places to eat, from fine dining to the local cheesesteaks, it’s also home to a number of great museums, including The Barnes Foundation : one of the most impressive and highly valued private collections of art ever curated

9 GOURMET SUMMER HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS 2018 PHOTO STOCKFOOD Every year it's always the same story: from Easter onwards (although let's face it, most us have already begun looking since January) we start to fantasize about our summer holiday destination. However, in between absorbing tips from relatives and friends, pouring over stories on Instagram and travel blogs, time passes and flight prices inveitabley begin to rise. Thinking outside of the long established and far flung destinations, what's the answer to that fateful question: where shall we go on holiday? For the eternally undecided, those who like to book at the last minute, those who don't want to give up the beach holiday or those who prefer a breath of cosmopolitan Europe to digging their toes in the sand, here are 9 lesser known summer destinations (although perhaps not for long). From the more folkloristic Spain to the student Coimbra, from Germany you do not expect, to surfing France, here are our summer

SINGLETHREAD IS WORLD'S 50 BEST RESTAURANTS ONE TO WATCH 2018 SingleThread , the farm restaurant in Sonoma County, Northern California from husband and wife team Kyle and Katina Connaughton has been announced as the winner of the Miele One to Watch Award ahead of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2018 sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. The award is given to a restaurant entering the 51-100 list that has the potential to break the top 50 in the near future. Previous winners have included Disfrutar in Barcelona, Den in Tokyo and Saison in San Francisco. Open since 2016 and with sustainability very much at its core, the two-Michelin-star SingleThread restaurant and inn in Healdsburg serves an 11-course tasting menu using over 70% products from its nearby five-acre farm, including honey, olive oil, vegetables and eggs. Menus are devised based on 72 micro seasons that direct which products are used and when to ensure ultra-seasonality. A Japanese influence runs through the

100 BEST RESTAURANTS IN THE UK OUTSIDE LONDON PHOTO DOMINIKA SCHEIBINGER Restaurant reviews site Squaremeal has released its list of the 100 best restaurants in the UK outside London for 2018, with Bristol's much lauded Casamia from chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesiasrising 11 places from last year's list to claim the top spot. The Michelin star restaurant, which serves one serves a 14-course, pre-paid tasting menu, has recently relocated to the city's waterfront, where "The seasonally inspired dishes are served, often by the chefs, in an elegant room that blurs the boundaries between kitchen and customers, and where stunning attention to detail is apparent at every stage of a deeply impressive dining experience," says Squaremeal of its top UK restaurant. In second place is Simon Rogan's L'enclume in Cumbria, while Kent's much loved The Sportsman, named Best Restaurant in the UK by Restaurant Magazine in 2017, sits in third. Raymond Blanc 's Belmond Le

CAJUN DIRTY RICE IS THE ONE RECIPE YOU HAVE TO MASTER PHOTO STOCKFOOD Cajun dirty rice is always a crowd pleasure. It is colorful, flavorful and the perfect blend of vegetables, meat and rice with just a little hint of spice. Are you curious about making this Louisiana favorite at home? Here are the recipes that will make that happen! WHAT IS CAJUN COOKING? The term Cajun refers to a regional style of cooking popular in Louisiana . It blends French and Southern culinary traditions and commonly features roux and the 'holy trinity' of bell peppers, onions and celery. CAJUN DIRTY RICE INGREDIENTS What makes Cajun dirty rice special is its unique blend of ingredients: rice, chicken broth, ground chicken livers or gizzards (which give the rice its 'dirty' appearance), pork, peppers and garlic. Some of the more elaborate Cajun rice recipes contain a dark roux (a blend of butter/lard and flour cooked until it is dark brown), sausage or even ground beef. They are even vega

JAMES CLOSE: FROM HITTING BIRDIES TO COOKING THEM Meet James Close, the former pro golfer turned chef who makes ‘World Food’ at his two-Michelin-star restaurant The Raby Hunt in the North East of England. “To be honest, when I decided to be a chef, I didn’t even know what Michelin stars were.” This may sound like an astonishing confession from a chef, a two-Michelin-star one at that, but then, James Close hasn’t exactly followed a conventional career path. A pro-golfer until his late 20s, he took up cooking after realising he wasn’t quite good enough with a club for it to be a career for life. His parents bought a run down pub, The Raby Hunt , close to Darlington, in the North East of England, and seven years later, Michelin were so impressed they decided to award the restaurant a second star , making it the only two-star in the region. He is completely self-taught. “I’d had a failed golf career and I’d failed at university ... I was struggling to find anything in the world that I re

SMARTERWARE COULD HELP YOU REDUCE DOMESTIC FOOD WASTE We all have good intentions when it comes to using up leftovers. But perhaps, like us, you can admit to coming unstuck when it comes to remembering to eat up that carefully stored curry at the back of the fridge! Sound familiar? Then Ovie Smarterware might just be the solution to the problem. Infact this is the new high tech food storage system that the company inventors boast will do the memory prompting for you, allowing you to keep tabs on whatever's lurking in the fridge. 16 CLEVER WAYS TO COOK WITH LEFTOVERS Billed as the first connected food storage system it's an all bells and whistles storage system that uses a clever system of digital smart tags, or "brains" that can track how long food has been kept. The tags simply attach to the containers or clip to packets and have LED lights that change over time - red signalling time's up. The phone app reminds you when the various contents in the fridge are

HOW TO CUT IBERICO HAM Iberico ham, or Jamón Ibérico, the meat from specially reared, acorn-fed pigs, is a great Spanish delicacy, and the way the meat – which has deliciously rich and nutty qualities – is sliced can really enhance the texture, flavour and aroma. That’s why Cortadoras, the ‘ham slicers,’ can be paid thousands of dollars for their work . HOW TO CUT IBERICO HAM So what’s the best way to slice Iberico ham to get the most out of this extraordinary product? Oscar Gaitan, a professional ham slicer, has a few tips for how to cut Iberico ham in the video below from Munchies , from precise technique to the necessary equipment. As Gaitan demonstrates, the ham pieces have got to be just the right size so that they melt in the mouth, one of the most enjoyable characteristics of good Iberico ham, and the knives must be kept razor sharp, so they do all the work and you don’t end up hacking at the meat. Cutting Iberico ham is a skill that requires plenty of practice of course, bu

ALAIN PASSARD COOKS: 5 GREAT VIDEO RECIPES PHOTO PAULINE LE GOFF/MIND OF A CHEF/YOUTUBE Chef Alain Passard is a titan of French cuisine and watching him cook, with the joy he still has for ingredients and the reverence and delicacy with which he treats them, is a beautiful thing. Though the Alain Passard recipes below aren’t purely plant-based, in recent years Passard has become known as the ' Maestro of vegetable cuisine ,' after switching to a largely vegetal menu at his three-Michelin-star Arpège restaurant in Paris, long before it was fashionable to do so. The best thing about watching the world’s best chefs at work is finding out the little tips and tricksthey use to elevate their dishes to the next level, like the way Alain Passard smokes the lobster carcas before returning it to the stock in the first video below for maximum flavour, or dressing fruits and vegetables with their sugars, like you would meat with its juices. Enjoy these Alain Passard recipes. WATCH NEXT

ST.PETERSBURG GOURMET DAYS 2018 ARRIVES WITH A SPECTACULAR CHEF LINE-UP St.Petersburg Gourmet Days , in partnership with Acqua Panna and S.Pellegrino, is back for a second year with an illustrious line-up of world class chefs and dinners from 5 to 9 June. Tickets are now available on the website . The international gastronomic extravaganza will light up the city for three days as chefs from Asia, Europe, and America join forces in exploration of the contemporary dining scene in St. Petersburg, as well as sharing their countries flavors with guests at city's finest restaurants. Discover the rise of regional cuisine in Moscow This year's festival ambassador, Chef Dmitriy Blinov of Tartarbar and Duo Gastrobar commented: “I’m very excited to welcome chefs of such a high caliber to my city from all across the world. There is a huge amount we can learn from each other and I think the festival will catapult chefs out of their comfort zone and encourage them to embrace their new surr

HOW TO PIT CHERRIES WITH OR WITHOUT A PITTER What's the easiest way to pit cherries? That would depend on how many cherries you have on hand and how much money, if any, you are willing to spend on equipment. This deliciously juicy fruit packs a lot of flavor and you'll want to make the most of cherry season. With that in mind, Fine Dining Lovers offers you advice on how to pit cherries without any fancy equipment but also provides suggestions on where to find the right tools for the job. CHERRY PIT REMOVER Using a cherry pit remover is by far the easiest and neatest way to pit cherries. Cherry pitters come in different sizes - some are handheld while others are meant to process large patches of cherries. OXO produces a small handheld cherry pitter that is perfect for small tasks and traps cherry juices in a compartment. Here is a quick demonstration of how this product works: Buy the OXO cherry pitter here . If you'd like to pit a few cherries at a time you may opt for

THE SCIENCE OF KNIFE SHARPENING EXPLAINED Do you know how to sharpen a knife blade correctly? Here are some invaluable science-led tips and secrets to keeping your kitchen knives on point. Sharpening a knife blade is seemingly a simple task. When we try to do so ourselves, we obtain mediocre results, at best. In the worst-case scenario, we could irreparably damage the blade. Today we are going to discover that sharpening is a scientific process that leaves little room for improvisation: here are some tips on how to sharpen a knife blade in the best way. WHY DO WE SHARPEN KNIVES? First, it is good to remember that a blade is sharp because its thin edge has numerous serrations at a microscopic level. With use, these notches are smoothed until they disappear, and sharpening is compromised: the blade then starts to become 'flat.' A little at a time, the serrations completely disappear and the blade is no longer able to cut the material. After all, a blade is a type of micro-s

WORLD GASTRONOMY FORUM 2018 LANDS IN BANGKOK PHOTO HARSHIL SHAH/FLICKR In an exciting first, Bangkok will host this year's forthcoming fourth edition of 4th UNWTO World Gastronomy Forum , from 30 May to 1 June. The annual food forum, organised by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the Basque Culinary Centre, will this year also be supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports with over 500 delegates expected to attend the events in the Thai capital. In the burgeoning food city that obtained it's ingugural Michelin Guide in 2017 and boasts three of the top 10 restaurants in Asia's 50 Best Restaurant List , including Gaggan at no.1, it's a valuable opportunity to explore and maximise it's potential as a food destination with the support of international experts. Infact, this year's first foray into Asia will allow Thailand to promote its gastronomic credentials with a focus on the future and harnessing t

10 BEST FOOD MOVIES PHOTO GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL US restaurant critic Jonathan Gold has revealed his top 10 favourite food films in the LA Times . It's an eclectic selection of world cinema, from short to feature films, from old to new and covering a staggering variety of food driven topics, from ambitious restaurateurs to more tenuous links like love and canned pineapples. Here's the rundown on each, take a look and see which ones get your creative juices flowing. 10 BEST FOOD MOVIES Udon 2006 Katsuyuki Motohiro This 2006 Japanese features a failed comedian who finds happiness reviewing noodle shops back in his home prefecture in Japan. Gold does concede however, that after  Tampopo , Udon is probably the  second best ever food film made . Jiro Dreams of Sushi 2013 David Gelb via  Fine Dining Lovers This captivating film captures the life and work of of one of the world's best sushi chefs, octogenarian  Jiro Ono. The Gleaners and I 2000 Agnès Varda

FERRAN ADRIA'S NEW FOOD LAB TO OPEN IN 2019 Ferran Adrià will finally open his long awaited food lab, elBulli 1846, on the site of the famous elBulli restaurant in Roses, Spain sometime between July and October 2019. The project, named after the number of dishes Adrià estimates were created at the restaurant, had been stalled by enviromental concerns, given the site's location within the Cap de Creus Natural Park. The Spanish chef had wanted, initially, to open the research and exhibition space within three years of closing the three-Michelin-star elBulli in 2011, but it had been on ice for some time until work started again on the scaled down project in 2017, following the granting of full planning permission. Adrià has previously told Eater that the project would involve the creation of a 43,000 square foot musuem dedicated to "the spirit of innovation at elBulli," which would welcome a maximum of 200 visitors per day, alongside space dedicated to professional c

VIRGILIO MARTINEZ TO OPEN IN HONG KONG Virgilio Martínez , the chef behind the acclaimed Central restaurant in Lima, Peru is to open a new restaurant in Hong Kong in July 2018, his first foray into Asia. Ichu Peru will be a relaxed bistro-style eatery, serving Peruvian comfort food. "We want guests to feel as though they have been to Peru and experienced local comfort food," says Martinez. "Ichu will celebrate Peru’s no-fuss dining culture with a menu that showcases traditional local ingredients and cooking techniques." The Joyce Wang-designed restaurant will have 80 covers inside, as well as a further 85 on an outdoor terrace, plus there will be a bar area for casual dining. Martinez has relocated three of his trusted team to Hong Kong, including chef Sang Jeong. The entrance at Ichu Central, which will close in June before being relocated to a new site in Lima, currently sits at number five on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and has topped the Lati

JULIA CHILD'S CRÉME BRÛLÉE RECIPE WILL SURPRISE YOU Créme brûlée is without a doubt one of the most exquisite French desserts. Who can resist the thrill of cracking its thin caramelized crust only to be greeted by a creamy vanilla custard? Eating créme brûlée shouldn't just be relegated to restaurants. To help you with that endeavor we are sharing an exquisite créme brûlée recipe from the late Julia Child , who pioneered French cuisine in the United States. Child uses an unconventional technique to prepare her créme brûlée, which will save you time in the kitchen. Curious? Let's get started! CRÉME BRÛLÉE: FUN FACT In her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking , Child shares an interesting tidbit about créme brûlée. Apparently, this beloved dessert originated in England at Christ's College in Cambridge. How's that for an interesting plot twist? JULIA CHILD'S CRÉME BRÛLÉE RECIPE The beauty of créme brûlée is that it can be prepared with just a handful of