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Unwind
D1 March 27–April 2, 2015
the revival of
CORN Mexican “landrace” corn, grown natively in Mexico, and imported by Manhattanbased Masienda. Corn grown in Mexico is non-GMO.
COURTESY OF MASIENDA
By Conan Milner | Epoch Times Staff
Chefs like Roberto Santibañez and Enrique Olvera are helping revive Mexican heirloom corn
ou may only have a few fresh ears per year, but chances are you still eat a ton of corn. It’s in almost everything. Corn plays a starring role in chips and cereal, but is more often a supporting player, functioning as a sweetener, oil, or starch. According to ancient Mesoamerican history this should be a good thing. The Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and other pre-Colombian people built great civilizations on a corn-rich diet. So why do so many health experts point to corn consumption as a significant factor in modern American disease? See Corn on D2
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D2 March 27–April 2, 2015
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about it, everyone else is likely to follow suit. He’s off to a promising start. Masienda’s first client was chef Enrique Olvera of Cosme. “I think with any cultural phenomenon this is something that typically starts at the top, and works its way throughout the rest of culture,” he said. “I’m expecting the same thing to happen with heirloom corn as well.”
Ancient Corn Santibañez is serious about corn. At Fonda—his farm-to-table Mexican restaurants in New York City—kitchens crank out about a million handmade tortillas a year. But unlike typical white tortillas made from conventional corn hybrids, Fonda’s may be shades of red or green, depending on the heirloom variety available. “I don’t care what the color of my tortillas are any given day,” Santibañez said. “Even if you have a really, really small producer who only has a few bags, we buy them. We’ve been very successful with it. People are very happy.” Heirloom tortillas cost about five times more than those made with conventional corn, but Santibañez said it’s worth it. “It’s better for you because it’s real corn,” he said. “It’s not corn
The Modern Corn Marketplace Corn is by far America’s biggest and most lucrative legal crop. Because corn enjoys such massive government subsidies, it’s cheap, and therefore a favorite ingredient of U.S. food manufacturers. U.S. farmers grew 84 million acres in 2013 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but we only eat about 12 percent. Most is used to feed livestock. Another chunk is grown for ethanol. Much of U.S. corn is shipped to other countries. Mexico, the birthplace of corn, now gets most of its supply from the United States thanks to NAFTA. This U.S. import is heavily subsidized by the Mexican government. Yet millions of Mexicans still farm corn the old fashioned way. Their plants are smaller. Their ears have funky, irregular kernels that come in a rainbow of colors. Crops are tiny in comparison to U.S. hybrids, but this corn is teeming with vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, amino acids, and flavors you won’t find in modern varieties. Santibañez has long dreamed of serving heirloom corn tortillas at his restaurants, but only recently has it become a reality. Last year, Fonda teamed up with Masienda—a Manhattan-based heirloom corn import company that buys directly from independent Mexican farmers. Masienda provides the miss-
ing link between Mexican corn growers too small for the major markets and restaurants seeking a superior product. “That made everything easier,” said Santibañez. Jorge Gaviria, president and founding partner of Masienda, currently works with over 200 farmers, and growing. “We’d like to be able to support as many farmers as we can that are growing exceptional seeds, not just because of the product
HARMONY Ancient principles of Greek cuisine combined with modern techniques, yield a harmonious balance of flavors in every dish, at Nerai.
55 East 54th Street New York (646)844-2275 www.nerai.nyc
itself but because there is a real economy that can be forged,” Gaviria said. “This is more than a niche. We’re hoping we can develop something significant and hopefully push back time a little bit where corn was a very viable source of nutrition.” Masienda just began selling corn last fall. Demand is high, but the clientele is narrow. Gaviria said nearly all of his business sells directly to professional chefs. But he believes that if chefs get excited SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
I don’t care what the color of my tortillas are any given day. Even if you have a really, really small producer who only has a few bags, we buy them. Roberto Santibañez, chef, Fonda
Making tortillas at Fonda in Park Slope, Brooklyn. SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
STOCK
Corn has been cultivated throughout the Americas for nearly 9,000 years. It began with a wild grass, from which ancient farmers carefully developed many varieties of corn for superior taste and nutrition. Today we call these prized breeds heirlooms. Over the last few decades, however, corn cultivation has taken a very different path. Advanced breeding methods have made hybrids with enormous yields, built-in pest resistance, and a greater concentration of sugars. According to world-renowned chef Roberto Santibañez, these technological innovations have taken away something vital. “Corn is no longer real food,” he said. “It is just a surplus of carbohydrates floating around the world.”
that has been genetically modified to produce sugar and syrups. It’s corn that was meant to feed you as a wholesome cereal just like wheat in Mesopotamia, rice in Asia, and potatoes for Peru. You can’t feed a civilization off of the sweet variety of corn that has been developed here in the United States.”
ISTOCK/ THINK
Corn continued from D1
A farmer holds heirloom corn in Mexico.
SINGK AMC/
Corn the revival of
Why Mexico? Mexico may seem like a long way to go for corn when America is the modern corn king. But unlike the United States, Mexico does not permit farmers to grow corn with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), because it has been shown to contaminate nonGMO varieties. U.S. heirloom and organic corn growers strive to keep a 10- to 50-mile distance from GMO fields to prevent contamination, but this is not always easy. Last year, 93 percent of U.S. grown corn was bioengineered. Hybrids only account for a fraction of a percent. There was evidence showing a trace of transgenic maize in rural Oaxaca in 2001, but Mexican corn is much less likely to suffer contamination than heirlooms grown in the United States, where several traditional varieties now contain lab created genes. Due to pressure from the biotechnology industry, the Mexican government had previously allowed transgenic corn crops on a trial basis. But many feared the experiment would ruin precious heirlooms. In 2013, a judge in Mexico City banned GMO corn farming due to “the risk of imminent harm to the environment.” The other big draw Mexico has in its favor is the ultimate corn climate. Gaviria calls his product “landrace” corn, which means not only an exceptional breed, but grown in its native land. “What we get from Mexico is something that has been open pollinated. It’s acclimated to a very specific place. That’s why we use the term landrace. It’s beyond heirloom in the sense that it’s attached to a very specific regional culture and tradition. This corn has been acclimated for hundreds and thousands of years,” he said. Modern corn is primarily bred to produce maximum product, but Gaviria said it has been at the expense of the good stuff. “There is so much flavor and nutrition to be gleaned from corn. But not
Chef Roberto Santibañez holds tortillas made from heirloom Mexican corn.
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D3 March 27–April 2, 2015
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NIXTAMAL
2. The cooked kernels fall into a funnel. Midtown 551 Fifth Avenue 212-972-3315
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3. The kernels are ground by a stone grinder. SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Taste Santibañez’s tortillas are a unique experience. They are served in a small covered basket. When the lid is lifted, a warm, nutty aroma emanates, revealing tortillas in shades that seem whose subtlety and nuance could only come straight from nature.
Morton’s World Trade Center
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the corn we’re growing currently, and certainly not the way we’re processing it,” he said. Traditionally, corn undergoes the process of nixtamalization, which is at least 3,500 years old. By the way, in addition to improving nutrition, it also destroys a fungus that commonly grows on corn.
and powdered lime.
SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
W
1. Cooking corn kernels in a solution of water
e’re most familiar with fresh corn, which requires little preparation. However, the vast majority of crops (about 99 percent) are dent or field corn. These ears have hard kernels that are made into animal feed or ground into flour to make polenta and a plethora of corn-based foods. To make tortillas, however, field corn requires a special process that turns raw kernels into nixtamal. Nixtamalization comes from the Nahuatl (Aztec) words nextli (Nahuatl or Aztec for “ashes”) and tamalli (“corn dough”). The process involves cooking kernels in a solution of water and powdered limestone (calcium hydroxide). A chemical reaction softens the field corn’s hard shell so it’s easy to remove. Whole, nixtamalized kernels are called hominy, which is used to make the traditional Mexican soup pozole, or ground to make masa dough for tortillas and tamales. Nixtamalization not only turns corn into a pliable product, it makes the grain much more nutritious. The human body can’t absorb many of corn’s important nutrients (such as niacin, tryptophan, and most of its calcium) until it becomes nixtamal. History has shown that a steady diet of corn that has not gone through this process can lead to disastrous consequences. When Spanish conquistadors brought corn back to the new world, they left nixtamalization behind. This wasn’t much of problem when corn was sampled as a new curiosity. But for regions in Europe and Africa that adopted corn as their new main grain, populations suffered from pellagra—a disease of malnutrition characterized by the three D’s: diarrhea, dermatitis, and dementia. Modern corn products are fortified with nutrients to avoid problems, but much of the corn’s own nutrition is wasted with this strategy. The only special ingredient you need to make nixtamal is powdered lime (labeled “cal” in Mexican groceries), but the technique takes time to refine. Santibañez sends his kernels to Tortilleria Nixtamal in Corona, Queens. Unless you make it yourself, this seems to be the only place in New York to buy fresh masa. Today, Tortillería Nixtamal produces about 10,000 fresh tortillas a day and dough for over 100 restaurants and grocery stores across the city. Santibañez said they have to make a few adjustments for the heirloom kernels. “It’s a little bit like the guy roasting coffee. He smells it and touches it and makes sure it has the right scent. The nixtamal maker
4. Shaping the masa dough. does the same thing,” he said. “He touches and squeezes a kernel and makes sure that it’s right.” Tortillería Nixtamal co-owner Shauna Page said that Mexican corn makes a softer masa than U.S. corn. She said it’s because U.S. corn (mostly from Iowa and Illinois) is bred to deal with a much colder climate than Mexico.
On this particular day, the tortillas come in two shades: a dusky rose made from purple corn from Oaxaca, and the other a blue-green-gray color that would not be ill placed in an ocean landscape, from blue corn from Michoacán. Some are nutty, some wheaty. The first round of tortillas at Fonda are free, but it costs $1.50 to get four more. The extra charge compensates for the added price of heirloom corn, but Santibañez said his customers are happy to pay it. “The people that know will certainly appreciate that our tortillas are better than anyone else’s around,” he said.
The higher price of heirlooms may seem like too big a risk for many Mexican restaurants trying to pay New York City rent. But Santibañez is optimistic that his tortillas could set a precedent. But as more people buy into heirloom corn, prices are bound to drop. He recalled when the sight of a traditional mortar and pestle, or molcajete, was a novel sight in the city, introduced back then by Josephine Howard at Rosa Mexicano. Now they are commonplace. “Maybe in 20 years,” he said. “You’ll see.” Channaly Philipp contributed to this report.
West Village Presents ...
Duet Brasserie’s Pre-Fix Easter Dinner Includes an appetizer, entree and dessert, $85 Sunday, April 5 Call (212) 255-5416 to reserve now
37 Barrow Street, New York Follow us on Facebook and Instagram • DuetNy.com
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D4 March 27–April 2, 2015
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LOCAL, SEASONAL, MARKET FRESH FARE
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WE WELCOME YOU TO RESTAURANT You will love our warm atmosphere and our expertly prepared menu. We pay the utmost attention to every detail of your visit. From the hand crafted cocktails and specialty wine list, to our thoughtfully planned, market fresh and in-season dishes. Every dish, every cocktail is prepared from scratch and every detail is carefully thought out. We are always happy to customize any of your dining requests. NEW! Chef ’s Seasonal Tasting Menu
April 2–19. Zeppelin Hall, 88 Liberty View Drive, Jersey City, N.J.
34 East 20th Street (btwn Park and Broadway)
Located in Flatiron New York City
CountyNyc.com
212.677.7771 In-house bacon topped with onion strings.
Spring Bacon Fest
OUR COFFEE IS CRAFTED FROM
SEED-TO-CUP
BRAZILIA CAFE is an authentic seed-to-cup
coffeehouse. Using coffee beans sourced from the company’s own Brazilian plantation in the tropical mountain slopes of the Sul de Minas region, Brazilia offers the highest quality coffee experience in New York City.
Any Roast. Any Brew. Always the way you want it. Our Coffee Concierge can serve up a single cup using your choice of brewing method or a sampling of each Aeropress, Chemex, French Press or Hario Pourover.
Try our amazing Açaí super-food bowls!
BRAZILIA CAFE
Our specialty doesn’t stop with coffee. We have an exciting menu that will enliven your pallet!
Coffeehouse, Café and Marketplace
684 BROADWAY, NY 10012 (646) 852-6348 BRAZILIACAFE.COM
From the juice bar to the salad bar, our foods and desserts are meticulously planned and prepared.
Mastering Pasta
The Cassandras of the food world have been predicting the waning popularity of bacon for some time now. But let’s face it: bacon will never be out. Celebrate its glory at the Spring Bacon Fest at Zeppelin Hall. More than 2,500 pounds has been ordered for the occasion. Indulge in the Bacon-Bacon Terminator Burger, the Double Smokes Bacon
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Marc Vetri, whose third cookbook, “Mastering Pasta,” has just been released, is stopping by 92nd Street Y for a talk. He’ll discuss Italy’s pasta traditions, food science, and the secrets of the very best pastas.
Tickets $30. April 2, 7 p.m., 1395 Lexington Ave. (at 92nd Street). Tickets available at 92Y.org
A Turkish Feast
Marc Vetri will speak at the 92nd St. Y.
You’ll Always Remember
RYAN KELLY
Mac & Cheese, or Bacon Lollipops. More than 50 European and American craft brews are on tap. At the bar everyday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., as well as anytime on Thursdays, guests are also offered bottomless bacon strips. Zeppelin is a short walk away from the PATH train.
Taiwanese Pub Dinner With Cathy Erway Celebrate the delicious cuisine of Taiwan with an intimate family-style meal prepared by blogger Cathy Erway of No Eating Out In NY and author of “The Food of Taiwan.” The menu will feature specialty cocktails with Taiwan Beer and Kavalan Whisk, steamed clams, Taiwan-style wings, popcorn fried king oyster mushrooms, Taiwanese hamburger with pork belly, and pineapple cake à la mode. The cookbook will be available for purchase.
Tickets $45. March 29, 7 p.m., Jimmy’s No. 43, 43 E. Seventh St. TaiwanesePubDinner. BrownPaperTickets.com
Authentic Mediterranean Turkish Cuisine 2 Delicious Specialty Kebabs & Pides 2 Zucchini Pancakes 2 Decadent Homemade Specialties and Desserts 2 Catering Available
NYC Craft Distillers Festival
Seven’s Mediterranean Turkish Grill Rating on Trip Advisor Rating on Open Table MEDITERRANEAN TURKISH GRILL
158 West 72nd St. NY (212) 724-4700
www.SevenTurkishGrillNYC.com
Tickets range from $95 to $150.
Pre-Prohibition comes to town with the second NYC Craft Distillers Festival. Over 20 distillers will offer tasting of more than 60 craft spirits, in a speakeasy atmosphere. A 1920s jazz band will entertain. Modern Gatsbystyle attire is suggested.
March 28, 7 p.m., The Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery. NYCCraftDistillersFest.com
Compiled by Rowena Tsai, Epoch Times Staff
Just Food Culinary Bootcamp Need a refresher before greenmarket season goes into full swing? Or before CSA shares arrive? Just Food’s Culinary Bootcamp offers an opportunity to brush up on cooking skills. Sessions cover basic knife skills, fermentation 101, how to make jam and jellies; the herbal pantry; and cooking improv. Most classes cost $55. Sessions offered through April 25.
Whole Foods Market, Bowery Culinary Center (2nd Floor), 95 E. Houston St.
JustFood.org
Dining
D5 March 27–April 2, 2015
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OPENINGS
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Le District to Open at Brookfield Place on March 30 Brookfield Place debuts its latest culinary addition on March 30: Le District, a French-inspired market and dining destination. Covering about 30,000 square feet, the space will open on March 30, serving products and flavors that exemplify the rich cultural heritage of France and Francophone countries, all while featuring panoramic views of the Hudson River. Highlights include the Café District (for pastries, crepes, waffles, and ice
cream); the Market District (with a boulangerie, fromagerie, charcuterie, and poissonerie); the Garden District (with groceries and prepared foods); and the Restaurant District (with the sit-down Beaubourg Brasserie). “The space will truly be a one-stop shop for local residents and a destination for all food enthusiasts to enjoy, no matter their culinary cravings,” Poulakakos said. Chef Jordi Valles serves as the executive culinary director for Le District.
Le District
At Brookfield Place 225 Liberty St. LeDistrict.com
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Wassail on Orchard Street.
Wassail offers 12 ciders on tap.
COURTESY OF WASSAIL
Wassail Opens on Lower East Side Jennifer Lim and Ben Sandler are passionate about cider—true cider, not the sickly sweet stuff that often passes for it. They feature cider heavily at their popular Astoria restaurant The Queens Kickshaw, but have just opened Wassail, a cider bar and restaurant focused on cider, on the Lower East Side. The cider bar is located on Orchard Street. How's that for a serendipitous touch? There are 12 ciders on tap (including Farnum Hill, Eden, Shacksbury, and Castañon) representing cider traditions from various countries, as well as cocktail ciders. A food menu includes bar bites as well as dishes like cauliflower with black garlic and cashews.
Wassail
162 Orchard St. 646-918-6835 WassailNYC.com
Cauliflower With Black Garlic.
Easter Eats SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES
Nerai.
Party Like the Greeks Nobody does an Easter party quite like the Greeks do. The upscale Nerai does a threecourse prix fixe for $55 (April 5, 2 p.m.–7:30 p.m.) with appetizers like Duck Baklava and Grilled Octopus and entrees including Lamb Shank Yiouvetsi. Or, if you’re a night owl, swing by at 11:59 p.m. for a Midnight Greek Easter celebration, with a traditional Magiritsa Soup, as well as mezzes and cocktails until 2 a.m. NeraiNYC.com PAUL JOHNSON
Oceanside Easter For a more seafood-inspired Easter, head to Oceana, for a three-course prix fixe for $65 (or $32.50 for the under-12 set). For mains, there are grilled lamb chops, sea scallops, or Scottish Salmon a la Plancha. OceanaRestaurant.com
50 Authentic
Spanish Tapas Oceana.
How About Them Yankees? For steak with a Yankee theme, NYY Steak is offering a three-course Legendary Closer menu ($42), which includes: choice of house salad or NYY Steak bacon; 6 oz. filet mignon
Over
with choice of pan-seared scallops or grilled tiger shrimp; and New York-style cheesecake or crème brûlée for dessert. NYYSteak.com
Endless combinations of flavors to share, or indulge on your own.
Come in and Pick Your Favorites Tonight!
Surf and Turf If surf is not enough, and just turf won’t do it, go for surf and turf at Morton’s The Steakhouse, which is offering steak and lobster for
$55. Manhattan locations: 551 Fifth Ave. and 136 Washington St. Mortons.com
A Maccioni Easter The Maccionis are offering a variety of Easter menus at their restaurants. But the most luxurious is their Easter brunch at Le Cirque, with a three-course prix fixe starting at $78. Tuna
Tartare, Blue Crab “Simplissime,” royal Osetra caviar, and Paupiette of Black Bass are among the many choices. Complimentary face painting for children. LeCirque.com
Family Supper Stella 34 Trattoria will be open noon to 7 p.m. on Easter Sunday, offering its à la carte menu as well as a special celebratory family-style prix fixe Sunday Supper ($45 per person). On the
menu? Napoli Salad, Sunday Gravy (tomatobraised beef braciole, veal meatballs, and pork fennel sausage), and a traditional Neapolitan Easter cake. Stella34.com
Meson Sevilla Restaurant
344 WEST 46TH ST. (BET 8TH & 9TH AVE.) • MESONSEVILLA.COM • 212-262-5890
Dining
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Dopo East: A Worthy Destination for Wines MANOS ANGELAKIS
By Manos Angelakis Dopo East is the East Side’s upscale version of the popular Times Square restaurant Dopo Teatro, which is Italian for “after the theater.� The same owners and executive chef Giuseppe Moschiano have created Dopo East as a white-tablecloth northern Italian restaurant set on the ground floor of an East Side brownstone, with an exceptional and extensive wine cellar and small event space in the basement of the building. The restaurant is a long, narrow room with a glass enclosed garden in the rear. The walls are decorated with paintings and lithographs from the Artioli Findlay gallery. A well-stocked bar as one enters, with two Enomatic system dispensers that preserve the quality of opened wine bottles until the contents are finished so that Dopo East can serve premium wines by the glass, completes the layout. The main reason I stopped at Dopo East was its wine cellar and list of exceptional wines. The list has about 700 wines, predominantly Italian, many from small producers that create excellent wines from grapes that are not widely known except to aficionados, but will enhance a dinner’s quality. Yes, there are outstanding Brunellos and Chianti Classicos and barberas and Amarones and pinot grigios and chardonnays from every Italian viticultural region. But there are also exceptional lesser known wines like Falanghina from the hills of Campania (which is what we had with our meal) or Greco di Tufo from Feudi de San
What better way to welcome spring than with these cheery cakes! Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, authors of the bestselling “Hello Cupcake!�, have just published “Cake My Day!� with some fanciful and whimsical cakes that are easy to put together. Tack and Richardson give away some secrets to make the insides of the cakes spectacular, too, with surprises that reveal themselves only with the first slice.
utes of this beautiful wine. Another excellent wine that I saw in the cellar was Ornellaia, a Super Tuscan wine also created in Tuscany in the Bolgheri DOC. Ornellaia is considered one of Italy’s leading Bordeauxstyle red wines. Tenuta Dell’ Ornellaia is located in Northern Maremma on the Tuscan coast, overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The bottle prices are fairly on par compared to other similar high-end New York City restaurants, no matter how rare the wines are. If you are not very familiar with some of the offerings, ask for help from the sommelier. It is well worth it and you might be surprised by how well regional wines accompany particular regional dishes. Buon Appetito! Manos Angelakis is a wellknown wine and food critic based in the New York City area.
Dopo East’s wine cellar. MANOS ANGELAKIS
Dopo East
LITMUS TEST: THE OSSO BUCO Osso Buco is a lovely Milanese specialty of cross-cut veal shank, braised with vegetables and white wine. In Italian, “osso buco� means “bone with a hole� which describes the marrow hole at the center of the shank, and the traditional dish is usually served with a saffron risotto.
345 E. 62nd St. 646-484-6548 DopoEast.com Hours Lunch Tuesday–Saturday noon to 4 p.m. Dinner Tuesday–Thursday & Sunday 5 p.m.–10 p.m. Friday & Saturday 5 p.m.–11 p.m. Brunch Saturday & Sunday noon–4 p.m. Gregorio, Falerio Colli Ascolani from Saladini Pilastri, Vernaccia di San Giminiano, and Morellino di Scansano Campo Maccione from Rocca delle Macie, Gattinara from the Piedmont vineyards of the Travaglini sisters, Sagrantino di Collepiano from Arnaldo Caprai, Tanca Farra from Sardinia’s Tenute
‘Cake My Day’ By Channaly Philipp Epoch Times Sta
lino, the local name for a sangiovese varietal, in an agriculture-based economy that goes back to the early 16th century. Rocca delle Macie is one of the best producers of Morellino di Scansano and the wine has a brilliant ruby red color and an intensely fruity bouquet of wild red berries, licorice, plums, spices and violets, with a wonderful freshness. If you decide to splurge, go for an excellent Brunello di Montalcino. In the cellar I saw a Col d’ Orcia Brunello, created in his historic estate, by my friend Conte Francesco Marone Cinzano. Poggio al Vento Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a pre-eminent Tuscan wine with fabulous aromas of dried cherries, rose petals, truffles, and orange peel with hints of dark fruits. Full body, very fine firm and silky tannins with a mineral and orange peel undertone complete the attrib-
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Sella & Mosca and many many others. The cellar also features wines from other parts of the world; France, Spain, Germany, Chile, California, New York state, Washington state and others are nicely if not abundantly represented. But, in my opinion, if you are going to have a classic Italian dish, stay with classic Italian wines. Recommendations For fish and seafood, there is nothing better than a chilled
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The Sauces Make the Difference
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My primo piatto of Polpo e Patate (Octopus and Potatoes) in a white wine sauce was exceptional. Soft and tangy, the octopus was a delicious introduction to chef Moschiano’s expertise and I ended dunking the house-baked bread in the sauce, so as not to miss any of that enjoyable liquor. Yes, I know ‌ it is not proper to dunk one’s bread ‌ but who cares?
For Some at Easter, It’s Not the Ham ... It’s the Butter Lamb By Caryn Rousseau
(“Cake My Day!� by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $18.99)
glass of Falanghina. Falanghina is a light, refreshing, and bright wine from an ancient grape variety of vitis vinifera used in Italy for white wines since Roman times. It is cultivated mostly in Campania, north of Naples, and is commonly consumed throughout southern Italy. The vines thrive in the warm Mediterranean climate and the volcanic soil around Mount Vesuvius. On the west coast of Tuscany, the Maremma hills are plentifully planted with Morel-
Whenever I visit an Italian restaurant that claims to serve Northern Italian cuisine I ask for Osso Buco, as it is my litmus test in determining how good the food coming out of the kitchen is. The meat has to be cooked for a very long time—usually 4 to 5 hours—at low temperature, to become so soft it literally melts in your mouth, and the vegetables, wine, and spices have to remain aromatic but not acidic—something that can happen with tomato- and wine- based sauces that have been cooking for a long time. In my Dopo East visit, the Osso Buco was exceptional and even though the dish was a bit intimidating in size, I made it disappear in no time.
CHICAGO—Baked ham and brightly colored eggs are standard Easter fare for many families. But for some, it’s the butter that takes center stage. That is, butter shaped like a lamb. Popular in pockets throughout the country, butter lambs— usually about the size of a stick of butter—are an Easter tradition for families of eastern European descent. They originally were made by hand at home, and later by companies using much the same production method. Today, they are mostly produced by machine at creameries like Danish Maid in Chicago, where 155,000 butter lambs were made for this Easter season. Susan Wagner, whose family owns Danish Maid, said that up until the 1970s workers at the creamery would pour the butter into wooden molds, clamp them shut with rubber bands, then submerge them in ice water to set. “They were making just as many by hand as we’re making with a machine,� she said. “I can’t imagine how much time went into it.� The butter lambs are common in Easter baskets and at holiday meals for Christians, particularly Roman Catholics, though food historians largely draw a blank on specifics of their background. Cathy Kaufman, president of the Culinary Historians of
New York and a food studies teacher at The New School, said the butter lamb is a nod to both Easter symbolism—Jesus often is referred to as the “lamb of God�—and to the tradition of Catholics abstaining from butter during Lent, the 40 days of atonement for sins that Christians mark before Easter. “Easter Sunday would be the time to eat all of the foods that had been missing during Lent,� she said. “So the butter lamb sculpture makes its appearance on the table.� While Wagner and her family still have the wooden molds, they have since updated the butter lamb-making process. Now they dump large boxes of bulk butter into a vat and whip it before using machines to form the butter into lamb shapes. The butter lambs are then packaged in plastic forms that come down conveyors before they’re boxed, frozen and shipped to grocers. The Chicago creamery starts work on the butter lambs about two months before Easter and distributes them to grocers in eight states around the Midwest, East Coast, and the West. It takes about 20 tons of butter every Easter season to make about 100,000 Malczewski Easter butter lambs in five different sizes, said Adam Cichocki of Camellia Meats in Buffalo, New York, the company that produces the butter lambs first created by Dorothy Malczewski. She started making and selling
AP PHOTO/M. SPENCER GREEN
A wooden mold in the offices of the Danish Maid Butter creamery in Chicago that was used in the 1940s and ’50s to make Easter butter lambs. AP PHOTO/M. SPENCER GREEN
butter lambs decades ago after she was inspired by a lambshaped butter mold her father brought to the United States from Poland, Cichocki said. The Malczewski butter lambs have a red ribbon around the lamb’s neck, peppercorn eyes and a flag that says “Alleluia.� “The flag signifies alleluia, peace on earth,� Cichocki said. “Red ribbon around the neck is the blood of Christ and the peppercorn eyes are lighting of the world. It’s a religious symbol, a traditional symbol for
Manager Susan Wagner with an Easter butter lamb at the Danish Maid Butter Co. on March 9.
family and bringing everybody together at the table for Easter.� The butter lambs remain popular because they are nostalgic for many people, Wagner said. “Everyone says the same thing, we all argued over who cut the head off the lamb or the butt off the lamb,� she said. “For me, it’s all I’ve ever known. The lambs have always been a huge part of our Easter. All of our family members, that’s what they look forward to every year.� From The Associated Press.
Dining
D7 March 27–April 2, 2015
www.TheEpochTimes.com AP PHOTO/MATTHEW MEAD
EASTER
By Sara Moulton
This Easter, Master Perfectly Creamy Scalloped Potatoes RECIPE
With Easter on its way, my mind has turned to scalloped potatoes, always a big hit at a holiday feast. And really, what’s not to love? We’re talking about sliced potatoes baked in a cream sauce, then topped with cheese or crumbs or both! Still, it takes some care to ensure that the potatoes are properly seasoned, properly tender, and creamy as a dream. I’ve made scalloped potatoes using both russets and Yukon Golds, and each has advantages. The russets pick up more of the flavor of the cream, while the Yukons were firmer and retained more of the flavor of the potato. In this case, I ruled in favor of richness. The russets got the nod. Whichever you pick, all of the potatoes must be sliced to the same thickness or they’ll cook unevenly. For a home cook working with a knife, this task can be a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, there are a couple of tools to streamline the process: a food processor fitted with the slicing blade (in which case the potatoes will need to be trimmed to
Scalloped Potatoes
to the middle position.
Prep and cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes (35 minutes active)
In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then remove from the heat, cover and let steep while you prepare the potatoes.
Makes 8 servings > 1 1/2 cups whole milk
Peel the potatoes, then using a mandoline or the slicing disk of a food processor, slice them crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick rounds. Remove and discard the bay leaf and garlic cloves from the milk mixture, then pour about a quarter of the mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
> 1 1/2 cups heavy cream > 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme > 1 bay leaf > 2 garlic cloves, smashed > 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt > 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper > 3 pounds russet potatoes > 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese Heat the oven to 375 F. Adjust an oven rack
Add the potatoes, then the remaining milk mixture to the baking pan. Stir the potatoes to make sure they are separated, then press them down to distribute them evenly. Bake the potatoes on the middle shelf of the oven
An Easter Meringue-Inspired Coconut Cake By Alison Ladman It’s just not Easter without some sort of coconut dessert, whether it’s a classic Southern coconut cake or a creamy coconut chocolate egg. So this year we decided to take our inspiration from both of those to create a fresh, yet still familiar dessert for rounding out our Easter dinner. We liked the idea of a classic layer cake, but we wanted something a little lighter. So instead of layers of white cake, we baked up airy and crisp meringues. We then stacked the
fit through the feed tube) and a mandoline (a hand-held slicer). Please, if you’re working with a mandoline, use the guard and be careful when you slice the potatoes. When I first learned how to make scalloped potatoes, the routine was to arrange the slices in several layers, seasoning each layer before adding the next, then pour the cream, cream sauce or milk on top. But somehow the final dish never seemed properly seasoned.
The finished product is amazing. A better method is to add an exact amount of salt, garlic and thyme to the milk and cream mixture, then to pour it— deeply seasoned and hot—onto the potatoes. Believe me, those tubers drink it in like they’d been stranded in the desert for a week. And the finished product is amazing. From The Associated Press
until the liquid has thickened and the top is golden, about 40 minutes. Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the tops of the potatoes, return the pan to the oven and bake until the top is browned, about 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Nutrition information per serving: 390 calories; 200 calories from fat (51 percent of total calories); 23 g fat (14 g saturated; 0.5 g trans fats); 80 mg cholesterol; 40 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 5 g sugar; 10 g protein; 680 mg sodium.
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Sara Moulton was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows. She currently stars in public television’s “Sara’s Weeknight Meals� and has written three cookbooks, including “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners.�
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meringues, layering them with a rich coconut cream, fresh berries and toasted shredded coconut. The result is creamy, fresh and the perfect finish to the holiday meal. The recipe does take a little time to assemble, but none of the components is difficult. Feel free to substitute any fruit for the berries. Mango and pineapple would be a delicious tropical choice, while strawberries and banana (tossed with lemon juice to prevent browning) with a bit of finely chopped fresh mint would be sweet and refreshing.
Pairing 3
From The Associated Press
RECIPE
Brown Sugar Coconut Meringue Cake Prep and cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes (40 minutes active) Makes 12 servings > 6 egg whites > 1/4 teaspoon table salt > 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar > 1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar > 1 tablespoon cider vinegar > 1 cup toasted coconut flakes, divided > 5 tablespoons cornstarch, divided > 1/2 cup granulated sugar > 4 whole eggs > 13.5-ounce can coconut milk > 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter > 2 cups fresh berries, such as blueberries, blackberries and raspberries Heat the oven to 300 F. Line 2 baking sheets with kitchen parchment. One at a time, set a
9-inch round cake pan in the center of each sheet of parchment, then trace it. Flip the parchment sheets over so the line is visible but on the underside. Set aside.
until combined. Set the pan over medium heat and, whisking constantly, cook until the cream thickens and comes to a simmer, about 5 minutes.
In a very clean bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating until fully incorporated and firm peaks are held. Fold in the vinegar, then gently fold 1/2 cup of the coconut and 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch into the meringue.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Pour the mixture into a bowl and press plastic wrap down onto the surface of the cream. Refrigerate to cool completely, about 1 hour.
Transfer half of the mixture to the center of each circle traced on the parchment. Spread the meringue so that it is even, but stays within the circle. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until golden and crisp around the edge. It should remain somewhat spongy at the center. Allow to cool completely.
To assemble the cake, place a disc of meringue on a serving platter. Top with half of the cooled coconut cream, half of the berries, and half of the remaining toasted coconut. Set the second layer of meringue over that, then repeat the toppings. Serve immediately. Leftovers can be refrigerated, covered gently with plastic wrap, for up to 24 hours, though the meringue will lose some of its texture.
Meanwhile, make the coconut cream. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the remaining 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with the granulated sugar. Add the whole eggs and whisk again until completely smooth. Add the coconut milk and whisk once more
Nutrition information per serving: 310 calories; 150 calories from fat (48 percent of total calories); 17 g fat (13 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 80 mg cholesterol; 40 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 33 g sugar; 5 g protein; 110 mg sodium.
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Dining
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PASSOVER
MATZO AS PIZZA? No Thanks. but as Lasagna Is Another Story RECIPE
By J.M. Hirsch As a child, my only experience with matzo was my dad’s pizzas. This wasn’t a good association. For a number of years, his go-to late night snack was a sheet of matzo smeared with tomato paste, then topped with slices of bright orange fat-free American “cheese.” He’d then microwave it until the cheese-like substance began to bubble and the matzo softened a bit. Oddly, I never joined him in this indulgence. Taking a gamble that matzo could be put to better use than nuked faux pizza, I recently did a bit of research. Turns out, Dad wasn’t the only one putting matzo to use in classic Italian dishes. They just happened to do it a lot better than he did. My favorite? The many iterations of matzo lasagna, in which sheets of matzo are used in place of the noodles. That prompted me to start playing, and this savory-creamy white lasagna stacked with sautéed mushrooms and onions was the delicious result.
Creamy Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Matzo Lasagna Prep and cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes (45 minutes active) Makes 8 servings > 2 tablespoons butter > 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced > 8 ounces sliced mixed mushrooms > 1 teaspoon dried thyme > 1 1/2 cups heavy cream > Kosher salt and ground black pepper > 1 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese > 2 eggs
From The Associated Press
> 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
> 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese > 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese > 4 sheets matzo Heat the oven to 350 F. Coat a 8-by-8-inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a large skillet over medium-high, melt the butter. Add the onions and saute until they are starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and thyme, then saute until the mushrooms also have begun to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the cream, then simmer, AP PHOTO/MATTHEW MEAD
stirring often, until thickened, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, eggs, Italian seasoning and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. To assemble the lasagna, set 1 sheet of matzo in the prepared baking pan. Spread a third of the ricotta mixture over the matzo, then spread a third of the mushroom-onion mixture over that. Sprinkle with a quarter of the cheese blend, then top with a
By Sara Moulton With Passover looming, I thought it might be nice to suggest a side dish—roasted Brussels sprouts—to complement the feast’s traditional items. Brussels sprouts are the tiniest member of the cabbage family. And I’ll confess that I used to hate them. In the old days they were not only boiled, but boiled to death, which generated a truly unfortunate aroma. Happily, intrepid chefs in recent years have managed to reinvent (not to say redeem) these little stinkers in any number of ways. One of my favorite restaurant preparations is roasted Brussels sprouts. This recipe cuts down the time required to prep them as well as the time they need to spend in the oven. The right tool for the job, prep-wise, is a food processor fitted with the slicing disk. Once you’ve trimmed the bottoms of the sprouts by hand, it takes no time at all to slice them thinly with the processor. Once sliced, the sprouts get tender very quickly in the oven.
How to roast Brussels sprouts? Just as you would any vegetable. But the goal is not simply to cook them, but to brown them, which concentrates their flavor. The oven should be hot, 400 F. The vegetables, well-seasoned, should be spread out in shallow pans. If they are crowded on top of each other, they will steam. Not good. You want them to roast. To ensure the Brussels sprouts have the desired elbow room, I spread the slices over multiple sheet pans. This does mean switching the placement of the pans in the oven several times during roasting—as well as stirring the sprouts occasionally—but the even browning is worth it. If you’d rather not have to juggle the sheet pans in the oven at the last minute, you can cook the sprouts an hour or so ahead of time, transfer them all to one sheet pan, then warm them at 350 F for 5 minutes. Speaking from personal experience, I promise that this recipe will turn Brussels sprouts haters into lovers. From The Associated Press
Prep and cooking time: 1 hour (35 minutes active) Makes 6 servings > 1 sheet matzo bread > 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided > Kosher salt and ground black pepper > 1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts > 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts Heat the oven to 350F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray. Set the matzo on a rimmed baking sheet. Use 1 tablespoon of the olive
Nutrition information per serving: 480 calories; 310 calories from fat (65 percent of total calories); 35 g fat (22 g saturated; 0.5 g trans fats); 170 mg cholesterol; 22 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 20 g protein; 580 mg sodium.
When I was growing up, my family celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays. And one of my favorites was Passover. Perhaps it was the Hebrew singing that made it special for me. Or maybe it was the rich meaning behind the foods that were served. One food I remember more than any other—the horseradish that was traditionally served as the “bitter herb” portion of the meal. My mom would scoop a tiny bit of freshly grated horseradish onto a crispy matzo cracker, then hand me a pickled beet as a chaser. I was only a child, but the memory of that flavor combination has stayed with me, attached to memories of family dinners and my mom. This recipe celebrates horseradish—not the creamy sauce you find next to the roast beef at an all-you-can-eat buffet, but rather the actual root. Technically, horseradish is
a vegetable and has health benefits similar to its root vegetable cousins. But with its strong flavor, we typically eat very small quantities, using horseradish more as a condiment. Condiments that are low in sugar, fat, and calories are an excellent way to infuse a healthy dish with tons of flavor. You can buy horseradish in root form at well-stocked markets, or keep a jar of grated horseradish in the refrigerator like I do. Mix it into salad dressings, meat rubs and into tangy acidic foods, like freshly-pickled veggies. If raw horseradish is too strong for you, toss veggies or potatoes with it, then roast. This softens the flavor considerably. In this recipe, I make a chunky chimichurri sauce (with beet greens instead of herbs, as a wink to mom) to spoon over roasted fish right as it comes out of the oven. The heat will make the flavors in the sauce sing. From The Associated Press
RECIPE
Tilapia With Horseradish and Beet Green Chimichurri
AP PHOTO/MATTHEW MEAD
Prep and cooking time: 25 minutes Makes 4 servings > 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided > 1 1/2 pounds tilapia filets > Kosher salt and ground black pepper > 1 bunch beet greens, washed thoroughly and dried
RECIPE
Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Matzo-Walnut Crumbs
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the cheeses have melted and lightly browned. Let cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares to serve.
Potent, Healthy Condiments Deliver Big Flavor, Few Calories By Melissa d’Arabian
Getting Evenly Roasted Brussels Sprouts Is All About Space
second sheet of matzo, gently pressing it so it lays flat. Repeat the layering two more times, finishing with a final sheet of matzo and sprinkling the remaining cheese over it.
> 3 tablespoons lemon juice oil to brush both sides. Season with salt and pepper. Add the nuts to the sheet pan, then set in the oven. As soon as the matzo is golden brown, remove it from the oven. Continue baking the nuts until toasted, 3 to 4 minutes for pine nuts and 6 to 8 minutes for walnuts. Let the matzo and nuts cool. Set the matzo and nuts in a zip-close plastic bag, then pound gently with a mallet or rolling pin until evenly crushed. Set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 400 F.
1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss well, then roast on the oven upper shelf until golden brown, 15 minutes, turning the pans and stirring the sprouts every 5 minutes. Transfer the roasted sprouts to a bowl. Add the matzo-nut mixture, toss well, then serve right away. Nutrition information per serving: 190 calories; 120 calories from fat (63 percent of total calories); 14 g fat (1.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 15 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 5 g protein; 230 mg sodium.
Trim off and discard the ends of the Brussels sprouts. Using a food processor fitted with its thinnest slicing blade, slice the sprouts. Spread the sliced sprouts evenly between the 2 prepared baking sheets. Drizzle each pan with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and
Sara Moulton was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows. She currently stars in public television’s “Sara’s Weeknight Meals” and has written three cookbooks, including “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners.”
> 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar > 1 shallot, roughly chopped > 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce > 1 to 2 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish Heat the oven to 400F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with kitchen parchment. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to brush over both sides of the fish filets, then season with salt and pepper. Place the tilapia on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the tilapia is no longer translucent, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop the beet greens (you should have a little over 1 cup), and set aside. In a blender, place the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the lemon juice, vinegar, shallot, Worcestershire sauce and horseradish. Blend until the shallot is pureed, about 10 seconds. Add the beet greens to the blender and pulse a couple times, just to
coat the beet greens with vinaigrette. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if the mixture is too dry. Pour the chimichurri into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Once the fish is cooked, place the filets on serving plates, then spoon the chimichurri over the hot fish. Nutrition information per serving: 240 calories; 90 calories from fat (38 percent of total calories); 10 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 85 mg cholesterol; 4 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 2 g sugar; 35 g protein; 420 mg sodium. Food Network star Melissa d’Arabian is an expert on healthy eating on a budget. She is the author of the cookbook “Supermarket Healthy.”
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Boldly Going
Taking a bite of Grasshopper Sugar Cotton from The Black Ant.
Where No Asian Food Has Gone Before
By Channaly Philipp Epoch Times Staff Don’t look for pad Thai. There’s none here. And forget spring rolls. The world of LuckyRice is for fearless food lovers of an adventurous stripe. The culinary food festival, which spotlights Asian cuisine, had a sold-out event at this past Friday’s New York Feast at the Mandarin Oriental. There were pork and cricket flour dumplings, with a moist filling of langoustine, mushroom, and sea cucumber, served with chili oil. These were the creations of chef Doron Wong, of Yunnan Kitchen and the recently opened Northern Tiger. Even the universe of meatballs was far from banal: African spiced meatballs with red curry sauce from Macao Trading Company, and Banh Mi Chicken Meatballs from Seoul Kitchen, with an exquisitely aimed chili-lime spicy kick. Even restaurants that normally don’t serve Asian fare put on a creative show for the attendees, such as The Black Ant’s Grasshopper Sugar Cotton: take a savoryspicy-crunchy grasshopper, skewer it on a stick, and spin a pink cloud of cotton candy around it. As for the real sweets (not the ones concealing an exoskeleton), chef Pichet Ong whipped up a superb contrast of textures and flavors with a Crunchy Milk
Chocolate Mochi Bar with black sesame ice cream. It was the 6th year anniversary for LuckyRice, whose celebrated food festivals have now found their way into four cities besides New York City: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, and Las Vegas. In its early iteration, the focus was on fine dining, and festival organizers worked with celebrity chefs such as Susur Lee and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. “Now finally we’re able to work with emerging stars—emerging chefs who are helping define what Asian food is all about today,” LuckyRice founder Danielle Chang said. Think, she added, of kimchi tacos. “It’s a dish that is really defining the dining vernacular.” Chang is collaborating with food stylist Eugene Jho and photographer Christina Holmes on a cookbook (“Lucky Feasts,” Clarkson Potter), in which Asian food will be elevated stylistically. “We’re shattering stereotypes,” she said. “Asian food has been around for forever obviously,” Jho added, “but I think we’re really getting to the roots of it where we’re not afraid of funk and fish sauce and fermented things.” Chang also sees food as a window into society. “Food is pop culture,” Chang said. Where fashion, music, or the arts have usually been cultural barometers, now food is a lens to “see what’s going on with popular culture.”
Matcha White Chocolate Bark from Chalait.
1 Chef Doron Wong (Yunnan
2 Pla Taco, Cod Tempura, Som
4 Banh Mi Chicken Meatballs with Lime Sweet Chili Sauce from Seoul Chicken.
5 Crunchy Milk Chocolate Mochi Bar With Black Sesame Ice Cream by Pichet Ong.
Kitchen, Northern Tiger) preparing Pork & Cricket Flour Dumplings, filled with langoustine, mushroom, and sea cucumber.
Tum Slaw, Chile Black Bean Salsa from The Black Ant.
3 Food stylist Eugene Jho, LuckyRice founder Danielle Chang, photographer Christina Holmes are collaborating on a cookbook.
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Visitors look at a variety of instant ramen soup packages on display at the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama, Japan.
Chicken ramen souvenirs at the gift shop in the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama, Japan.
AP PHOTO/LINDA LOMBARDI
Visitors at the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum in Yokohama, Japan, sample one of the varieties of ramen noodle soup sold there.
Don’t Just Eat That Ramen: Go to a Museum and Learn About It By Linda Lombardi TOKYO— There are two kinds of ramen in this world. There’s the packaged staple of dorm-room cuisine, one of the most processed, industrialized foods ever invented. And then there’s the trendy, artisanal, handmade soup that fans line up for hours to try. But in Japan, ramen isn’t just for eating: There are entire museums devoted to it. Yokohama, a short train ride from Tokyo, has one museum for instant ramen and another for handmade ramen, and both offer samples to taste or take home. At the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum (the extra u gives the word a retro feel), you’ll find nine shops showcasing different styles of ramen. The English brochure helpfully describes the soup at each, noting whether the noodles are straight, curly or wrinkled, and how thick they are using a five-point scale. The richness of the broth is also rated on a five-point scale. At each shop, you order and pay for
your ramen in an old-fashioned way, via a ticket vending machine in front with photos on the buttons. Some varieties are offered in small portions so you can try more than one type, although for some visitors, one small portion will be enough. If you can’t tell, ask the staff which button is mini-ramen (the term is the same in both languages). A bit overwhelmed, my friend and I chose the nearest shop that didn’t have a line, selling ramen from a replica of a shop in Kyushu (in the south of Japan) founded in 1954. The broth was delicious as were the crumbles of roasted garlic sprinkled on top. Straight noodles the exact thickness of spaghetti made a less exotic impression than I’d hoped for, so pay attention to that helpful brochure. Other choices include what’s claimed to be the most famous miso ramen in the country, from Hokkaido, and a replication of soup from a shop in Tohoku that was swept away in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. I was just a few days too early to try a newly opening shop from the global chain Ippudo, which has 40 branches outside Japan and was
advertising noodles made from baguette crumbs, plus broth combining French consomme and Japanese dashi stock. The ramen shops are located in a twostory recreation of a romantically shabby 1958 city shopping district, eternally bathed in twilight. (The year was chosen for the birthdate of instant ramen.) There are also movie posters and shop facades for a post office and pawn shop, along with a real store selling old-fashioned candy and toys. It’s a period that evokes nostalgia for the Japanese. Some things may also be familiar to Americans of a certain age, like a vintage Coke machine. In the gift shop, you can assemble a customized package of ramen to take home, choosing from different kinds of vacuum-packed fresh noodles, soup flavor, and flavored oil, with a personalized label. The shop also sells prepackaged ramen, bowls, spoons, and other souvenirs. Nearby are exhibits about ramen in Europe, regional ramen around Japan and historic ramen-making implements. Then, if you’re weary of foodie seriousness about what is, after all, simple noo-
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dle soup, the antidote is just a short train or subway ride away: Yokohama also has a branch of the Cup Noodle Museum. Where Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum is a food theme park for adults, Cup Noodle Museum is designed for children. The small print on its brochure notes that it’s formally named the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum after the inventor of instant ramen. Run by an educational foundation that Ando started, the fun here is designed to support some high-minded goals with exhibits about creativity and invention. Non-Japanese speakers get to skip the lessons except for what’s printed in the English brochure. Exhibits include a reproduction of the modest shack where Ando invented Chicken Ramen, a display of the astonishing number of varieties of instant ramen that the Nissan Food Products company has produced since then, and a food court called Noodles Bazaar, said to reproduce an “Asian night market” and “eight varieties of noodles that Ando encountered during his travels in search of ramen’s
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origins.” The food stands include Italian pasta, Vietnamese pho, and dishes from Kazakhstan, China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. And there’s a play area (an extra 300 yen) where kids can experience the Cup Noodle manufacturing process from the point of view of the noodle. The main attraction here, though, is the make-your-own section. For a separate fee for a timed ticket, children (or adults) can make their own personal Cup Noodle, decorating the cup, then putting in the noodles and choosing the soup and toppings. Watch the lid get sealed and the whole cup shrink-wrapped, then your creation is enclosed in a cool protective package that you pump air into to cushion it on the trip home. There’s also the much more involved Chicken Ramen Factory, a 90-minute session where participants make the noodles from scratch. A warning: Cup Noodle Museum, educational as it is, is extremely popular with school groups and was packed with them on the weekday I visited. From The Associated Press
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It's hard to resist pineapple cake, with its buttery crumbly crust and sweet tangy filling
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By Rowena Tsai Epoch Times Staff If you have been the lucky recipient of feng li su, or pineapple cake, from someone who loves you in Taiwan, you know how delicious these bite-sized rectangular prisms are. Pineapple cake has a crumbly and buttery blanket of crust filled with mildly sweet and tangy pineapple jam. Origins In Chinese, “feng li” means pineapple and “su” means shortcake. These pineapple delights date back to China’s Three Kingdoms Dynasty, about 1,700 years ago. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms were made up of the Wei, Shu, and Wu kingdoms. At the time, the Shu and Wu kingdoms wanted to form a union to overthrow the more powerful Wei kingdom, so the emperor of Shu married the younger sister of Wu’s emperor. Because it is customary for the groom to send engagement gifts to the bride’s family, Shu’s emperor sent a giant pineapple cake among other gifts.
The significance? Feng li is a homophone in the local dialect for “ong lai,” which directly translates to “prosperity has come.” Another belief is that the cake would bring good luck to anyone who ate it, making it an appropriate and thoughtful engagement present. A Best-Selling Souvenir Over the years, pineapple cakes got smaller, evolved beyond engagement treats, and became synonymous with Taiwan. According to Taipei City Tourism Bureau, pineapple cakes are one of the country’s best-selling souvenirs. With pineapples as one of Taiwan’s main export goods around the 1970s, locals had to think of ways to use up the abundance of fruit. Pastry chefs discovered that adding winter melon to pineapples yielded the perfect pineapple jam. It
retained the fruit’s slightly acidic appeal, but not in an overly tangy way. As consumers grew more health conscious and concerned about artificial food additives in traditional pineapple cakes, a new prototype of pineapple treats, tu (dirt) feng li su, or authentic pineapple cakes, are being introduced. In this case, authentic means that the pineapple jam is closer to the fruit’s natural raw form without additives, even winter melon. These tu feng li su tend to be zestier and more fibrous, with a lighter, more crumbly crust. The next time your friends’ mention they’re going back to Taiwan, be sure to give them a little elbow nudge for the pineapple cakes. Throw in lots of pleases and thank yous while you’re at it. I recommend Sunny Hill for tu feng li su and Chia Te for traditional feng li su).
Pineapple cake in tea is to the Taiwanese as crumpets and tea are to the British.
Taste Asia
D11 March 27–April 2, 2015
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BANGKOK
STREET FARE
Heaven for Food Lovers
MICHAEL TULIPAN
MIRA OFFERS FRESH TAKE ON JAPANESE
Try Our Affordable Daily Lunch Specials.
Bring Sookk to you! Catering and delivery available.
Bulgogi Taco. MICHAEL TULIPAN
By Nadia Ghattas Epoch Times Staff In Manhattan’s Flatiron district an izakaya (a Japanese pub) has become a neighborhood icon as part of this flourishing restaurant scene. Mira Sushi Izakaya is fun and congenial with friendly service. An izakaya serves the Japanese equivalent of Spanish tapas. It is a place for drinking and eating finger food and small bites. The sushi chef, Owen Wu, formerly of Nobu and Teleplan, puts a serious twist on sushi and has fun with the delicious upscale Asian fusion street food. The hot kitchen is under the helm of the very creative and young executive chef Brian Tsao. The carefully planned menu caters to a range of moods, with cold and hot dishes for the intimate dining area. There is also a smart liquor menu with a wonderful selection of original cocktails like the Yuzu Lychee Sangria ($12) and the Ginger Mojito ($12) and a fabulous selection of saki and single malt in addition to an eclectic selection of beers and wines. All meats are organic and grass-fed, and the chicken is free-range. Chef Tsao crafts simple yet complex dishes inspired by his travels and from his diverse personal heritage. He is the son of a Taiwanese father and Korean
Yaowarat is one of Bangkok’s oldest neighborhoods, founded by East Asian traders in Siam over 200 years ago. It is a heaven for food lovers, blending the centuries old Thai and East Asian influences in an eclectic mix of street vendor cuisine. Experience the authentic taste of Bangkok street fare, at Sookk.
Mira Sushi & Izakaya 46 W. 22nd St. Mirasushi.com Hours Lunch Monday–Friday 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
SOOKK
2686 Broadway (Broadway & 103rd St.) New York, NY 10025 (212) 870-0253
Dinner Monday–Thursday 4–10:30 p.m. Friday 4–11:30 p.m. Saturday 6–11:30 p.m.
Executive chef Brian Tsao.
mother and was born and raised in Flushing, New York. While in his teens, Tsao was sent to school in China to learn music and, fortunately for us, he decided that he preferred the food business over the music business. “I came back home and worked in a pastry factory, which I enjoyed very much,” he said. “As a result, I graduated the Culinary Institute of America and my first restaurant failed. It was an expensive lesson to learn from.” All the dishes are inspirations from his travels and from his family, particularly his grandmother. For example, take the Beef Bulgogi Tacos ($10). The tacos made with light wonton shells enveloped the Koreanstyle marinated beef, kimchi slow, Korean pear, and toasted sesame. Delicate and elegant— my thoughts raced back and forth between Mexico and Asia
and I admired these ingredients for being in such harmony with one another, while wishing the people of the world could imitate the harmony. Next up was the Kyoto Crunchy Sloppy Joe ($9). These are made with Kurobuta pork and sour mustard topped with melted cheddar cheese. This sinfully delicious pork meat is from Japan’s black pigs and oozes with flavors that perfectly blended with the fruity and peppery sour mustard. I loved the fluffy, light buns. Somehow, the delicate little Spicy Wontons ($7) were waving at me as they swam in a bowl of delicate sweet soy sauce. This dish, Tsao said, “was an inspiration from both of my grandmothers’ recipes.” It felt like silk in the mouth. The Spicy Salmon Crostini ($14), according to the chef, is a sustainable dish. The
Happy Hour Monday–Friday 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
delicate light pink salmon meat is scraped off the skin and made into tartar mixed with caviar, pickled daikon, and nori powder with the crispy fried salmon skin chicharrón. This Japanese inspired Sesame Soba ($12) is served warm in a sweet homemade sesame sauce that was comforting and pleasing. For those with food sensitivities, many of the dishes are gluten-free. Some of desserts were inspired by the chef’s Italian friends, such as the green tea tiramisu, and the very refreshing vegan gluten-free lavender pannacotta. It is made with coconut milk and a secret ingredient splashed with homemade fresh berry sauce.
Miyazaki Super Prime Wagyu Beef $120.00
Authentic Japanese food served with a touch of class
W
hen you taste the Japanese food at Momokawa you will know it is the real thing. Each single ingredient and each tiny detail ensures the most authentic experience. Momakawa—A genuine taste of Japan!
Momokawa Prix Fixe Menu Small Course
(service for two or more) eti er kin s of ashimi hoi e of ukiyaki or ha u ha u aut meals ooke at the ta le essert
$45/per person
Awabi Shabu-shabu
tra itional a anese a eti ers kin s of ashimi rille ish an a simmere ish essert $60/per person
Sake and Wine
Ask about our sake tastings.
Momokawa serves some of the finest quality sake and wine, paired especially for the dishes. Try our seasonal sake (draft), premium sake, all season sake (hot or cold) as well as white or red wines.
Northern Tiger Brings a Hyperlocal Touch to Beijing Specialties By Channaly Philipp Epoch Times Staff From Erika Chou and Doron Wong’s last restaurant Yunnan Kitchen to their latest, Northern Tiger, it’s about a 10-minute drive across Lower Manhattan. In culinary terms, it’s more like the 1,500 miles between Yunnan in southern China and Beijing in the north. And for another geographical jump, it may be half-way round the world from Beijing to New York, but Chou and Wong are adamant about using marketdriven ingredients. “When I opened my first restaurant, Yunnan Kitchen, my goal was to show New Yorkers that Chinese food doesn’t have to be $5 and come served in a takeout container,” said Chou, whose family has roots in northern China. “With Northern Tiger, we’re taking that same philosophy of drawing inspiration from China but sourcing locally and applying it to a whole new region. This time we’re recreating traditional Beijing dishes with hyperlocal, quality ingredients,” she said.
— ALSO AVAIL ABLE: DAILY LUNCH SPECIALS (12 P.M.-4 P.M.) —
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Northern Tiger
At Hudson Eats 250 Vesey St. 212-786-0316 NorthernTigerNYC.com
Katsu & Sake
Discover a Hidden Gem in K-Town
Hours Monday–Saturday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.
Signature dishes you won’t find in other Japanese restaurants
Sunday 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Chou and Wong traveled to China a couple of months ago and underwent some serious cooking training with a master of mian shi (food made from flour). “We started each day at 8 a.m. making dumpling skins, shao bing [a type of bread], and a variety of pancakes with Master Hu, one of few certified mian shi masters. She could roll out three perfectly round and even dumpling skins at a time while we slowly worked on one.” Dumplings in northern China have the distinction of having a thicker skin, Wong explained. “The more folds in a dumpling equates to the chef being more skilled. We’d call this folding technique the ‘real Beijing way.’” Don’t miss out on the dump-
Momokawa 157 East 28th Street | (212) 684-7830 momokawanyc.com
Pork Katsu
Shao Bing sandwich.
lings ($8, heritage pork and chive, Long Island duck, or a seasonal vegetarian version). And get the refreshing Chrysanthemum Tiger Salad ($6). The salad, dressed with a kombucha vinaigrette, is a mix of scallion, cilantro, chile, and chrysanthemum greens. The last are surprisingly herbaceous and fragrant. Other items on the menu: Zha Jiang Mian, a Beijing noodle dish classic (here served with heritage pork, $12), sesame cold noodles ($9), lamb
noodle soup ($12). True to Chinese cuisine, ingredients offering health benefits are integrated into the dishes: garlic—lots of garlic and, of course, for soups and noodle dishes, bone broth. “While it might be having its moment, we’re using it because that’s what you’d find in Chinese kitchens,” Chou said. And like other market-driven menus, this one will soon incorporate spring ingredients even though the restaurant has been open for only about a week.
An exceptional dish, reserved for special occasions across Japan. Try this amazing Pork Katsu at HanaMichi. Our unique preparation not only highlights pork, but also chicken, beef and vegetables! A dish worth gathering for!
“This is one of my favorite spots in K-town” – Zagat-
Best of 2011 Chosen by Groupon Covered by Zagat, Timeout New York tripadvisor, Urbanspoon
28 W 32nd Street New York, NY 10001
212.736.5393
24 Hours www.hanamichinyc.com
Taste Asia
D12 March 27–April 2, 2015
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Shirataki yam noodles with carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, onions, and sesame seeds.
CICI’S FOOD PARADISE
Miracle Noodles for Losing Weight: A Dream Come True
Obsessive Attention to Detail T
he single inspiration that lead to the establishment of Hatsuhana was nothing more than the desire to introduce unsurpassed sushi and sashimi to New Yorkers. Since the first day we opened our doors in 1976, we have been a sushi specialty restaurant. This has helped us maintain our focus on sushi and excel at the one thing that mattered most.
Over three decades later, our mission remains unchanged. Obsessive attention to detail should be the norm for sushi restaurants, not something to strive for. The complexity associated with creating the ideal sushi rice. The fragrance of freshly ground wasabi. The freshest fish from around the globe. Please come by for lunch or dinner and let us show you what real sushi is like.
212.355.3345 www.hatsuhana.com 17 East 48th St, New York (btw madison & 5th Ave.)
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By CiCi Li In the spring, everything awakens. For me it’s like a dream come true, because I’ve been yearning for it all winter long. I’d imagine walking out my door and being greeted by tender blooming flowers and foliage emerging from the earth, the sweet smell of flowers and trees, blissful sunlight, and a refreshing wind. Reality Check With the warming weather, I unzipped my jacket and threw it in the back of my wardrobe. That’s when I realized that perhaps I’ve expanded a size larger. That’s when reality got to me: time to lose a couple of pounds. So, how to lose weight? I’d never make myself suffer by not eating enough. I’ve always believed that eating healthy, balanced meals will do the trick. Secret Recipes To uncover secret healthy recipes, I met with chef Mie Okuda, the author of the cookbook “Thinking of You� and the chef/ owner of Momokawa restaurant in Kips Bay, in Manhattan. Her book teaches people how to eat well while still maintaining a healthy weight. On the surface, Okuda is a graceful and shy Japanese woman. At her core, she’s a strong and efficient New Yorker. She doesn’t waste a second, and it almost seems like she can finish everything in no time. For example, she cuts her carrots at
CiCi Li makes shirataki yam noodles.
superhero speed. “A chef’s knife is a chef’s life,â€? Okuda told me. I agreed, especially since I carry mine in my purse all the time. Okuda taught me a healthy sautĂŠed shirataki yam noodles recipe. Shirataki yam noodles are known as miracle noodles, because they have no calories and a lot of soluble fiber. They make you feel full and they cleanse your stomach. The noodles also boost your energy level and speed up your metabolism. All you need to do is to replace one meal each day with shirataki yam noodles.
I really enjoyed this dish. As you bite into your first mouthful, you’ll feel many dimensions of textures—smooth and chewy noodles, and crunchy and juicy vegetables. It’s full of umami. I can’t believe the noodles contain no calories at all. Even after adding all the vegetables and sauce, it still had less than 50 calories. No wonder people call these miracle noodles. And I call them dream-come-true noodles! Let me know how you like this recipe. Happy eating and cooking.
RECIPE
Miracle Shirataki Yam Noodles Makes 1 serving 1 1 package of shirataki yam cake noodles
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1 2 mushrooms, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces 1 1/3 onion, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces 1 1 ounce carrots, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces 1 1 cabbage leaf, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces 1 2 scallions, sliced 1 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 1/2 teaspoon mirin rice wine 1 1/2 teaspoon bonito flake powder
Put the noodles in the pan and sautĂŠ for another 2 minutes.
1 Pinch of sesame seeds
Add soy sauce, bonito flake powder, mirin rice wine, cabbage, scallions, and mix well.
1 1 tablespoon soy sauce
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1 minute and drain. Preheat a pan, add sesame oil, carrots, onions, mushrooms, ginger, and sautĂŠ for 2 minutes, and then introduce the soy sauce and stir a little more.
1 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
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CiCi Li with Momokawa owner and chef Mie Okuda.
Blanch the shirataki yam cake noodles in hot water for
Serve and sprinkle over with sesame seeds. (Recipe from “Thinking of You� by Mie Okuda) CiCi Li is the presenter of “CiCi’s Food Paradise� on NTD Television. She’s also a television producer, food writer, and chef trainee. Join her on her adventure and discover the endless wonders of “Food Paradise� at CiCiLi.tv