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F&B EAME Quarterly Magazine
taste of the metro
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A I S A r u ods o F o t v e Sa 5 Best Stre a
s Asi s o r c A
Flavors of the World: Cayenne Pepper of the New World.
About US
Take your taste buds on a journey across the world with Savour magazine. We’re a fast-growing brand that food lovers can’t wait to get their hands on every quarter. We’re here to celebrate food and drink – and we want you to help us do so. Don’t forget to share your food photos with us and tag us in your tweets, Facebook and Insta posts with #savourmag Some of the best will even be published in the magazine! We pack each edition with tasty chef features; inspirational recipes; restaurant reviews and kitchen essentials to help you cook up a storm at home.
“You lose access to livelihood for people, and you undermine what I call
‘liveliness’ of the streets.”
From the best places to eat and drink, discovering hidden gems, saying cheers to concoctions from the distilleries and breweries, to chef interviews, recipes and kitchen essentials, Savour magazine is your go-to guide.
Lesan Ramos Editor in Chief
CONTENTS 06
Cumin Substitute Ideas: That will make you a spice wizard.
08
5 Best Street Foods Across Asia
10
Flavors of the World: Cayenne Pepper of the New World
12
The Flavor of Wine Where do all the flavors and tactile sensations come from?
14
Healthy Reasons to EAT MORE Berries
Here are 5 good reasons to stock up.
16
Cook from the Heart The Real Joy of Cooking
Savour taste of the metro
238 Tomas Morato Ave, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines // +636541989 • +63.926 048 6475
Cumin Substitute Ideas:
Black Pepper
That Will Make You
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A Eurasian plant with small white flowers yielding caraway seed.
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A mild powdered seasoning made from dried pimientos
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Paprika
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Old World herb with aromatic leaves and seed resembling parsley.
Old World herb with aromatic leaves and seed resembling parsley.
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Cardamom
Coriander ...............................
A Spice Wizard
Climber having dark red berries (peppercorns) when fully ripe.
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Cumin—does that sound familiar to you? If you love Mexican, Indian, Malaysian, or African dishes, then we bet you are well familiar with this well-loved spice! Anyone who loves these international cuisines, then you most probably know how to distinguish its earthy and nutty flavor with a touch of citrus taste. However, not all of us notice because for some cumin is just bitter tasting.
Liquorice-flavored seeds, used medicinally and in cooking and liquors .... .... ...... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .
“ India is known as the
home of spices.
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Anise Seed
Because of this, it can be quite difficult for you to cook for your families and friends if the bitter taste of cumin prevents them from enjoying your wellbeloved cuisines. Well, lucky for you, there are a few cumin substitute options that will allow you to achieve the cumin flavors you want minus its slightly bitter taste. Oh, these cumin substitute options will also come handy during those times when you do not have this treasured spice on hand. So, are you ready to know what these possible substitutes are? Well, read on below!
5
Best Street Foods Across Asia
In Asia, street food reigns supreme. The best food is found not in fancy restaurants, but in the carts and stalls lining busy streets and quiet alleys. Of course, paring down all of Asia’s offerings to only 10 will inevitably omit some great food. But these 10 snacks are not only iconically local to their city or country, but also exhibit the delicious range of texture and flavour you can find across the continent.
1.
Xiaolongbao
– Shanghai, China
A staple of China’s dim sum tradition is the steamed bun, an innocuous little ball of dough that contains a burst of flavourful filling. Shanghai’s xiaolongbao, which translates roughly as “little buns in a steaming basket”, are probably the pinnacle of this snack. They are found throughout the city, enjoyed standing up at street stalls and restaurant-fronts by Shanghai’s business set and the city’s working class in equal measure.
2.
Num Pang
– Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The French colonists left behind many aspects of their culture after they abandoned Indochina. Probably the only relic that is an inarguably positive addition is their cuisine. The combination of French food and local ingredients created some astounding fusion fare.
3.
Pho
– Hanoi, Vietnam
Pho is now a famous Vietnamese export around the world so one might expect this noodle soup has a long and strong tradition in its country of origin. In fact it only came to prominence in Vietnam about a century ago. Ingredients in the soup are simple: noodles, meat (chicken or beef), and garnishes (green onion, thai basil, lime and chilis).
4.
Tonkotsu Ramen – Fukuoka, Japan
To the Japanese, ramen, the instant noodle dish best known for keeping North American college students alive, is a lot more than dried noodles in a cardboard cup. Almost every region in Japan has a distinctive form of ramen. None, though, is as rich as tonkotsu ramen, a hearty and heavy variety that hails from the streets of Fukuoka. To achieve its creamy texture, pork bones and fat are boiled together for several hours and the broth is served with pickled ginger, garlic, pork belly and straight, thin wheat-flour noodles. Fukuoka, being Japan’s premier street food city and the home of the tonkotsu, is undoubtedly the best place to sample this famous Japanese dish.
5.
Stinky Tofu – Taipei, Taiwan
The pungent aroma of chou doufu is apparent long before you can see the street cart where it is being cooked. Yes, it smells terrible, but it tastes terrific. Chou doufu is popular throughout China, where regional variations see the dish served spicy or spicier and accompanied by sauces or pickled veggies. In Taipei, where it is massively popular, deep-fried stinky tofu is the favourite variety. And for a newbie, this method of preparation takes away some of the shock of the very strong odour. Once you’ve gotten over the smell, though, it’s easy to get addicted to this night market snack.
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I think [street food] as the antidote to fast food; it’s the clear alternative to the king, the clown and the colonel.
-Anthony Bourdain
Flavors of the world: Cayenne Pepper of the New World
My first memory of cayenne pepper was in my mother’s kitchen; we were preparing a picnic lunch of fried chicken, homemade pie, and potato salad. My job was to sprinkle paprika on top of the potato salad to make it look “festive”. (Hey, I was only 5 years old!). I still remember to this day my mom saying “Make sure you use the paprika-DON’T use the cayenne pepper.” Yes, they look the same--dried red peppers ground to a fine powder. But that is where the similarity ends. Both are the fruit of the capsicum. Paprika is more hue than heat; cayenne, on the other hand, is undeniably a powerhouse on the Skoville Scale. However, as I think back on my childhood I wonder -- “When did Mom ever use that cayenne?” It seems that it was always lurking in the back of the spice rack, but using it was forbidden. potato salad potato salad A Twist of History Most history lessons of herbs and spices begin in the Old World— lush plants carefully tended by monks in monasteries of medieval Europe, fragrant trade-route commodities passing through oases in the cradle of civilization, abundant supplies of spice pods and berries in idyllic tropical islands of the Far East.
If you must master only one herb in your life, master cayenne pepper. It is more powerful than any other.
The reverse is true of peppers. Columbus found them in the Americas and the rest, as they say, is history. Eventually these little heat capsules made their way into the cuisines of Africa, India, Asia, and even England.
-Dr. Schulze
John Dryden, England’s first Poet Laureate, was moved to mention them in his writings:
How is cayenne pepper used in cooking in the 21st century? Serranos, jalapeños, poblanos-these are what come to mind when one is looking for a bit of heat in their cooking. Why is cayenne to little appreciated, so rarely recognized, so misunderstood? (Clearly, cayenne needs a public relations firm to help it with marketing). If you eat at a neighborhood pizzeria, next to the ubiquitous shaker of ground Parmesan will be another shaker. That, my friends, is cayenne. If you don’t recognize the name “cayenne”, you might be familiar with its other form--crushed red pepper or red pepper flakes.
I Wonder Why? Paprika is more hue than heat; Cayenne, on the other hand, is undeniably a powerhouse on the Skoville Scale.
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Across the country, tasty, versatile and good-for-you berries are ripe for the picking. Here are 5 good reasons to stock up.
v
by: Jillian Bantong
Healthy Reasons to
1. Eat more berries to fight disease Berries are some of nature’s best sources of antioxidants, which guard against heart disease, cancer and age-related blindness. Of the berries commonly seen on produce shelves, blueberries contain the most. For even more antioxidant power, seek out elderberries, black currants and chokeberries. 2. Boost vitamins
Berries
One cup of strawberries contains an entire day’s worth of heart-healthy vitamin C. Studiesv also show that people who eat one serving of strawberries per day tend to have higher blood levels of the B vitamin folate, which helps keep arteries clear. 3. Reduce cancer risk A U.S. study found that pterostilbene, abundant in blueberries, may help protect against colon cancer, the second most common cancer in women. Both blackberries and raspberries contain ellagic acid, a phytochemical that helps prevent cancer. Cooking doesn’t seem to destroy it, so even jams, pies and crisps may confer this health benefit.
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All berries are great sources of fiber, a nutrient important for a healthy digestive system.
4. Provide fibre A half-cup of blueberries contains almost two grams of fibre about the same amount as a slice of whole-wheat bread. Also high in soluble fibres that help lower cholesterol are blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. 5. Add potassium Black, red and white currants are all excellent sources of potassium, a mineral that helps lower blood pressure. Gooseberries are also a good source. Look for new varieties that are more palatable for eating raw.
The Flavor of
Wine Between helping candidates who are studying for Sommelier exams become better tasters and simply helping newbies better understand their own personal tastes, I put wine into a lot of people’s mouths. Whether novice or experienced the most difficult thing to comprehend when tasting is, where do all the flavors and tactile sensations come from? To understand where the aroma and flavors in wine develop you need to begin with fermentation. When grapes ferment, yeast eats the natural sugars found in the grapes and multiplies. The byproduct of this is carbon dioxide, alcohol and over 200 aromatic esters. Think of an ester as specific aromatic aroma. If you wake up and smell eggs and bacon cooking, do you need to see the eggs and bacon? If you were blindfolded and someone walked you through a barn, into an open field, through the woods and over a dry riverbed, would you be able to identify these areas without seeing them? Sure you could. The aromatic esters of each of these items would conjure an image in your minds eye. When we taste wine we smell the aromas that were created during fermentation combined with the taste and tactile elements of the grape. This is why many times people smell a wine and think they will like it, but when they put the wine in their mouth they say yuk! It is not because they don’t like the wine, rather it is because the brain was expecting different stimuli in the mouth based on the aromatics and when the brain didn’t get what it was expecting, it tells the body to reject it.
The connoisseur does not drink wine but tastes of its secrets. - Salvador Dali
What is wine? It is the grape present in another form; its essence is there, though the fruit which produced it grew thousands of miles away, and perished years ago. So the object of many a tender thought may be spiritually present, in defiance of space - and fond recollections cherished in defiance of time. When we taste wine we smell the aromas that were created during fermentation combined with the taste and tactile elements of the grape. This is why many times people smell a wine and think they will like it, but when they put the wine in their mouth they say yuk! It is not because they don’t like the wine, rather it is because the brain was expecting different stimuli in the mouth based on the aromatics and when the brain didn’t get what it was expecting, it tells the body to reject it.
M
ost people I know don’t really love to cook. For them, time spent in the kitchen is all about getting a meal on the table after a long day at the office and before — or between — soccer practices, swimming lessons, or any of an expanding variety of family obligations. That does not stop many of them from dreaming, however. I hear a lot of true confessions about failed attempts at healthy home cooking.
Cook from the
Heart
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To find true pleasure in the kitchen, focus first on the dishes that make you happy.
These are sad tales that usually begin with grand ambitions inspired by cooking shows and a delusional belief. The next day, Ambie experiences a fresh and unexpected crisis at work and spends the next two evenings eating takeout burritos at her desk. By midweek she is home for dinner, exhausted, and still depressed about the leftover chili. She opens her refrigerator to find that the only produce that hasn’t wilted is a chunk of cabbage, and she wonders what she did in a previous life to deserve raw cabbage for dinner in this one.
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FEATURE
Savour Taste of the metro
238 Tomas Morato Ave, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines +636541989 • +63.926 048 6475