Letters Remain

Tag: food

  • Essential Pantry Items

    Mark Bittmanā€”writer of The New York Times‘ cooking Column, The Minimalist, and food blogger at Bittenā€”has compiledĀ a list of lacklustre pantry items and their antipodes: the ‘essential’ provisions we should stock in their stead. These things take up more space than they’re worth, while others are so much better in their real forms that the…

  • The Carbon Footprint of Various Meats

    From an article discussingĀ the effect farm emissions have on the environment:Ā a graph depicting the different amounts of carbon dioxide produced from rearing various animals for consumption. It’s interesting to see how various foodstuffs compare, but I’d really like to see another comparing pounds of CO2 to pounds of protein (rather than just raw product). via…

  • The Future of Food Policy

    Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s DilemmaĀ and In Defense of Food, discusses the future of U.S. food policy. Michael Pollan:Ā AĀ lot of people talk about the elitism of the food movement. And they think about Whole Foods and people shopping at upscale farmers markets. But there is another face to this food movement. There is a…

  • Menu Consultants (or: Tips to Hack Restaurants)

    A short piece in Time profiling Gregg Rapp: a “menu engineer” who optimises restaurant menus to maximise profits. The first step is the design. Rapp recommends that menus be laid out in neat columns with unfussy fonts. The way prices are listed is very important. “This is the No. 1 thing that most restaurants get…

  • Storing Fruit and Vegetables Correctly

    Unsure what fruit and vegetables emit ethylene when they ripen? Wondering whether or not broccoli should be stored in the refrigerator or in a cool, dry place? You need Divine Caroline’s food storage cheatsheet. Never again will you store onions and potatoes together or be bewildered when it comes to correct fresh food storage. Storing…

  • Kitchen Essentials

    The LA Times‘ food writers list what kitchen items really are necessary, and which you can safely skip. Essentials: Pestle and mortar. A quality cork screw. Instant-read thermometer. Quality dried pasta. Heavy-duty roasting pan. Dutch oven. Whole vanilla beans (not extract). Micro-plane. Larousse Gastronomique. Unnecessary utensils: Mini food processors. Most non-stick pans. An expansive selection…

  • Losing Your Sense of Smell

    Three years ago Elizabeth Zierah caught a cold; a few weeks later she was back to normalā€¦ except that she had lost her sense of smell. In Slate, she writes about the miseries of losing the sense of smell (and in the process, taste). I lost normal function on the left side of my body…

  • Umami: The Fifth Taste

    Sweet, bitter, sour, saltā€¦ and umami. The fifth taste. Psychophysicists have long suggested the existence of four taste ‘primaries’, referred to as the basic tastes. Umami is now accepted as the fifth basic taste, exemplified by the non-salty sensations evoked by some free amino acids such as monosodium glutamate. Umami is a Japanese word meaning…