NEFF The Ingredient - "The Market Issue"

W H A T ' S

N E W

I N

T H E

N E F F

K I T C H E N

FRESH FROM THE PRODUCER

FRESH INSIGHTS

FRESH FROM THE SEA

TOURING CULINARY BOLOGNA

RESE ARCHING THE NE W SCIENCE O F E AT I N G

DIVING FOR S C A L L O P S AT N I G H T

FROM M A R K E T TO MOU T H T he c a s e f o r e a t in g f o o d f r e sh an d l o c al .

APRIL 2018

EDITORIAL

COVER PHOTOGR APHY

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ENVER HIR SCH, THIS PAGE: PHOTOGR APHY

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ENVER HIRSCH

― A P R I L 2018 ―

“Foodies”, “food porn”, “food festivals”: sometimes, it can feel like the level of hype about what we eat is hurtling towards absurdity at warp speed. In fact, though, this linguistic impression obscures a counter-trend towards a more down-to-earth approach based on seeking out honest, unprocessed products and genuine, original, unadulterated flavours.

That puts traditional artisan foods made with time-honoured recipes and techniques back into focus; it’s about learning from the people who make them – it’s about their understanding, the care and attention they dedicate to their products, and the way they work with, not against nature.

These people are most often to be found at markets, at places where people have always gone to meet each other – places where transparency and trust have always been a given. Beyond this, though, traditional markets are attracting customers worldwide for the simple reason that they offer an unparalleled visual spectacle: fruit and vegetables, spices, tea, crustaceans and shellfish. . .

This variety is something our reporters have tried to capture in this issue, heading to Bologna on a quest for the culinary soul of Emilia-Romagna or to Devon on the southwest coast of England with a diver who, out of respect for nature, picks the scallops he sells on his stall at London’s Borough Market by hand. We were also impressed by Charles Spence’s research: in an interview with us, the gastro-physicist at Oxford explains how colours, shapes, and even music can influence our sense of taste and create markets for completely new products in the process. Back to farmers’ markets, though: by seeing the journey as the destination, by stopping to touch and smell things before we buy and cook them, we can reach a deeper enjoyment of food.

On that note, we hope this issue offers you some exciting new perspectives.

The

Your NEFF Ingredient editorial staff

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CONTENTS F E AT U R E S

I N I TA LY ’ S TREASURE TROVE

44 B O L O G N A is the capital of Emilia-Romagna, one of Italy’s most culinar y regions and home to Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma ham, mor tadella and much, much more.

The city is one of the best places to find hand-made delicacies and watch them being made – which is just what our repor ters Vito Avantario and Enver Hirsch did.

U N D E R WAT E R WITH THE SCALLOP DIVER

ABOUT THE P S YC H O L O G Y O F E AT I N G

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F O R M E R R O Y A L N A V Y diver Darren Brown

C H A R L E S S P E N C E is one of the world’s leading gastro-physicists and researches eating at the University of Oxford.

Talking to The Ingredient, he explains the ef fect music, colours, shapes and memories have on our sense of taste – and not just taste. . .

isn’t afraid of a strong current and can be found diving of f of the coast of Devon in all conditions. Not for fun, but to har vest scallops from the seabed.

Later, he sells them to London’s top chefs at his Borough Market stall.

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S TA R T E R S

W H AT ’ S T H E B E S T

way to store fresh produce from the market? Does plastic keep food fresher?

And can you really eat carrots and corn from guerrilla garden projects?

You’ll find the answers to all this and more in the Star ters section.

MORE ARTICLES

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IN THE THICK OF IT Wherever they take place, the hustle and bustle of markets have always drawn people from far and wide.

We feature some of the ver y best.

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HOT OR NOT? Fish and cinnamon? Chocolate and chilli?

Find out which flavours harmonise with each other and which create tension.

A guide to the principles of seasoning.

P H OTO G R A P H Y: EN V ER H I R S CH; T I M M O S CH R EI B ER ; R EI N H A R D H U N G ER ; A R T WO R K : A NJ E J AG ER

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A H E A LT H Y S EC R E T The ar t of fermenting vegetables goes back centuries and is currently enjoying something of a revival. Our author has a go at making her own kimchi.

V EG E TA B L E S WITH LIME HOLL ANDAISE

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Hollandaise, gravy, fruit sauce: creamy, smooth sauces are there to give dishes that last, all-impor tant kick. Let us take you through the key techniques of sauce-making.

PLUS BOOKLET OF 13 RECIPES TO KEEP

NICE - -

A P R I L

2 0 1 8

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EAT Y O U Sauces are the true st ar s in the kitchen.

Stock and grav y, pesto, dressing: no sauce, no dice.

TIME WORKS As so of ten in life, when it comes to bread, slowing things down makes things better: an essay on why soon ripe is soon rotten.

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T O

DOWN TO THE L AST DROP

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PRODUCTS Looking for inspiration? We’ve put together a range of products that will help you to get fresh food from the market back home – and to prepare it.

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NOTHING L ASTS FOREVER ” Better safe than sorr y!“ say consumers and throw away food that is past its “Best before” date. Many things, though, aren’t much good until they’re, well, past their sell-by date.

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CONTRIBUTORS ― A P R I L 2018 ―

KERSTIN R IC H T E R

VITO AVA N TA R IO

PHOTOGR APHY

REPORTER

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ELA S T R IC K E RT ___

P H OTO G R A P H Y: EN V ER H I R S CH

I L L U S T R AT O R

loves capers, which she buys at the market – frequently and in vast quantities. In Italy, she found out about how capers grow in the wild, and became enchanted by the profuse blossom the plants produce before their buds are picked. In this issue, Ela takes her inimitable illustrative skills to the veritable kaleidoscope of spices used in cooking.

Take a look at her fantastic drawings on page 30.

can’t pass up the opportunity to rummage through flea markets on her journeys.

She is passionate about unearthing unique items of all kinds across the world, but can even be found sometimes setting up her own stand at a jumble sale.

She is our responsible photo-editor for research, production and sometimes even styling and has left her indelible visual mark everywhere in The Ingredient.

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LESLEY SEVR IENS ___

AUTHOR

is interested in sustainable lifestyle, second-hand shopping, and farmers’ markets.

Every Saturday, she could be found buying the most delicious wild herbs in town – that is, until the owner of her favourite fruit and vegetable stall decided to go on a round-the-world trip.

While waiting for him and his herbs to come back, she’s been examining irregular fruit and vegetables.

Read more on page 14.

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has written countless reportages, essays, and books about Italy. In this issue, he goes to Bologna, called la rossa, ‘the red town’, because of its bricks, la dotta or ‘the learned town’ for its university, and la grassa – ‘the fat town’ – thanks to its fine cuisine.

Vito takes a team of photographers and goes looking for the culinary soul of the capital of Emilia-Romagna – and hometown of Italian songwriters like Lucio Dalla, Vasco Rossi and Luca Carboni.

Join him on page 44.

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THE MARKET ISSUE BETTER EAT FRESH! REPORTS, INTERVIEWS, QUOTATIONS, STATISTICS, STUDIES AND STORIES ON THE FOOD AROUND US. A R T WO R K :

ANJ E

J AGER

SWEET TIME T H E N E A R B E E S P ROJ E C T WA N T S T O M A K E I T E A S I E R T O S E L L H O N E Y – M U C H E A S I E R . BU T H OW ?

T h e r e ’s n o t h i n g t o i t , a c t u a l l y : t h e a p i a r i s t s a t Nearbees bring par t-time beekeepers and nearby honey enthusiasts together on their Internet marketplace, allowing natural – and delicious – batches of honey to be sold at a fair price, with transparent information about their provenance, and without long transpor t ation routes. The result?

Lively macro-biological neighbourhoods. With bees responsible for fer tilising 80% of crop plant s, their absence would lead to the disappearance of much of the fruit and vegetable har vest .

Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, in 2 015 t h e y o u n g t e a m a r o u n d f o u n d e r (a n d b e e k e e p e r) V i k t o r i a S c h m i d t w a s a w a r d e d t h e B e n& J e r r y ’s J o i n O u r C o r e p r i z e a n d , a y e a r p r e v i o u s l y, w a s s e l e c t e d a s ”s o c i a l l y - m i n d e d star t-up of the year “ by German economics a n d b u s i n e s s w e e k l y, W i r t s c h a f t s w o c h e .

Now all we need to do is hope the idea catches on ever y where and leads to similar p l a t f o r m s i n o t h e r c o u n t r i e s : t h a t ’d b e r e a l l y s w e e t . www.nearbees.de

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MYTHS T H E N O - WA S T E M O V E M E N T

W H AT ’ S ON THE INSIDE C U C U M B E R S I N S H E AT H S , C A R RO T S I N T R AY S , A P P L E S I N BAG S – T H E R E ’ S N O N E E D F O R I T.

‘FRESHNESS’ IS A CONCEPT SURROUNDED BY A LOT OF MISNOMERS. W H AT IS TRU E A N D W H AT IS FA L SE ?

A N D HOW CA N YOU EN JOY T H E T RU LY F R E SH E ST PRODUCTS?

H OW S U P E R M A R K E T S C OU L D C U T D OW N O N U N WA N T E D PAC K AG I N G .

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L E S L E Y

The idea couldn’t be more simple – which is why it’s great. The German Environment Agency calculates that there are currently up to 140 million tons of rubbish floating around in the world’s oceans. Each year, another 10 million tons is added, with Germany alone producing around 17 million tons of packaging waste annually. Each and every hour, 320,000 coffee cups are thrown away in Europe’s largest economy. The good news, though, is that there are now zerowaste options.

Zero-waste stores use smart forms of food packaging such as reusable organic cotton nets for fruit and vegetables, bags made of biological linen and beeswax sheets; then there’s make-your-own cleaner mixes, toothpaste in tablet form, aluminium-free tea-lights, plintfibre cutlery, and products such as tea, coffee, nuts and spices in jars.

Milena Glimbowski owns a zerowaste shop in Berlin and is a pioneer of the movement, even if she also knows exactly where its limitations are: “One big mistake was to assume that our shop would not produce any rubbish at all, and our

S E V R IE N S

idea of getting suppliers to use and reuse containers by putting deposits on them didn’t work quite the way we’d hoped. Lots of people liked the idea, but only a few were able to implement it.

Then again, the journey is, in many ways, the destination. Consumers can buy products such as rice, nuts and muesli without plastic packaging from 25kg bags made of recycled paper. “Big packs of sweets and spices are slightly smaller, and mainly made of paper, too, even if a few still are unfortunately using plastic.”

Glimbowski says that it was frustrating to see how even the best laid plans still left her with rubbish, but that the amount of refuse is in no way comparable with what is produced by standard businesses.

“So we still have some rubbish, but a lot less – and, above all, far less plastic.”

This business model is one of the few instances of more of one thing leading to less of something else: the more people who join the zerowaste movement worldwide, the less rubbish there will be on planet earth.

www.umweltbundesamt .de

M Y T H No. 1: Fr e s h f r u it a n d ve ge t a b l e s a r e he a lt h i e r than frozen FA L S E I n ge ne r a l , a f t e r h a r ve s t , g re e n s a nd f r u it h ave t o t r ave l m ore t h a n ju s t a fe w m i l e s t o re a c h t h e s h e l ve s – a nd t h e y l o s e a l o t of v it a m i n s du r i n g t r a n s p or t .

L e a f y ve ge t a b l e s e s p e c i a l l y s t a r t t o l o s e m ic r onut r i e nt s w h ic h a re s e n s it i ve t o a i r a nd l i g ht ju s t a s hor t w h i l e a f t e r pic k i n g ; f l a s hf r o z e n s pi n a c h , howe ve r, s t i l l re t a i n s 8 5% of it s v it a m i n C . T h e re s u lt i s t h a t , w h e n it c om e s t o nut r it ion a l v a lu e , f re s h f r u it a nd ve ge t a b l e s c a n on l y s t a nd up t o t h e i r f r o z e n c ou nt e r p a r t s i f t h e y c om e s t r a i g ht out of t h e g a rd e n a nd ont o t h e pl at e .

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A 81% O F CO N S U M E R S S E E R EG I O N A L P R OV E N A N C E A S A R E L E VA N T C R I T E R I O N B Y W H I C H T O CHOOSE PRODUCE

9 4%

O F T H O S E CO N S U M E R S A R E W I L L I N G T O PAY M O R E FO R R EG I O N A L , S E A S O N A L F R U I T A N D V EG E TA B L E S . W H E N A S K E D P R EC I S E LY W H AT I S B E T T E R A B O U T FO O D F R O M T H E S U R R O U N D I N G R EG I O N ,

85%

O F CO N S U M E R S S A I D F R E S H N E S S , WHILE

8 4%

MENTIONED SUPPORTING THE LOC AL ECO N O M Y.

Source: The Geschmackstage initiative – literally “flavour days” – was set up by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and celebrity chef Johann Lafer. They have been taking place annually since 2008.

(According to a study by a German organisation promoting local and seasonal food, Geschmackstage Deutschland E.V.).

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EDIBLE TOW NS

ALLOTMENT SHARING CARROTS, CABBAGE AND CORN ON THE COB FOR EVERYONE If you happen to be on a train passing through Todmorden in West Yorkshire and start feeling a bit peckish, just get off: before you’ve even left the station in this quintessentially English town, you’ll find vegetable patches packed with juicy carrots and straddled by tomato plants or berry bushes.

Who’s behind it? Local volunteers who like their food – and even get the odd bit of funding from the town council. Are you allowed to eat any of it? A sign gives you permission to take what you want.

Todmorden, Bristol, Seattle, Andernach, Darmstadt, Kassel, Jena, Vienna, Zurich. . .

The list of places which are trading in ivy, begonias and pansies in public parks, gardens, and flower beds for edible crops is getting longer and more international by the day; the first studies documenting the benefits for communities are appearing, too.

Urban gardens are places where people meet and exercise both their creativity and their muscles as they work; for children, they are basically outdoor biology lessons.

What’s more, the plants produce fruit and vegetables which are both organic and affordable – i.e. they’re free. And overall, edible towns are measurably more sustainable. www.incredible-edible-tod morden.co.uk

E N DA NG E R E D SPE C I E S

LEGALISE IT!

As crazy as it may seem, in many countries, it is illegal to sell seeds for species of plants which have not been officially approved. In Germany, for instance, only 43 types of tomato can be sold as seeds: there are, however, 15,000 different species of tomato out there. Generally, more and more seeds are being blacklisted and the variety of species which make it into supermarket fruit and vegetable isles is declining. But never fear, because ‘gardening guerrillas’ are dealing in forbidden seeds and, in so doing, protecting various minority types of vegetable which are often shunned by retailers due to their appearance.

More officially, the global seed bank on Spitsbergen, one of Norway’s northernmost islands, is also trying to make sure that species of plant are not lost. Only 1,000 km south of the North Pole, the repository stores around 900,000 seed samples deep in the island’s icy ground, safe from harm for millennia to come – unless global warming speeds up, that is: media outlets worldwide reported on ice-melt leading to water penetration. The seed vault’s operators are unruffled, though: according to a statement, although rising temperatures on the Svalbard archipelago are an issue, there is no need for immediate concern. So let’s see how long this modern Noah’s Ark in the icy wastes is able to keep its hundreds of thousands of endangered species from extinction.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? NO!

W H Y S E E D S A R E D E A LT L I K E D R U G S A N D V EG E TA B L E BEDS NEED VAR IE T Y

E V E RY Y E A R , 1. 3 BI L L ION T ON S OF F O OD A R E T H ROW N AWAY A S WA S T E – A S C A N DA L T H AT T O O G O OD T O G O I S TAC K L I N G W I T H A F R E E A PP W H IC H N E T WOR K S E AT E R I E S A N D S T OR E S W HO H AV E L E F T OV E R F O OD W I T H C U S T OM E R S W HO WA N T T O BU Y I T. S U PE R M A R K E T S , BA K E R S , R E S TAU R A N T S : A L L C A N OF F E R F O OD AT A DI S C OU N T T O C U S T OM E R S W I L L I N G T O C OM E BY B E F OR E T H E Y T H ROW I T AWAY. W W W.T O O G O OD T O G O . D E

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M Y T H No. 2 : O r g a n i c f r u it i s b e t t e r for t h e e nv i r on m e nt N O T N E C E S S A R I LY S t u d i e s s how t h a t , i n t e r m s of c a r b on fo o t pr i nt , a n a p pl e f r om S out h A f r ic a or A r ge nt i n a i s c omp a r a b l e t o a n or g a n ic a p pl e f r om t h e s u r r ou nd i n g re g ion . W hy? A p pl e s f r om d om e s t ic pr o du c t ion a re s t ore d i n re f r i ge r a t or s a f t e r h a r ve s t i n g t h r ou g h t h e w i nt e r t o t h e fo l l ow i n g ye a r, c au s i n g c omp a r a b l e e m i s s ion s .

T h e k e y t o s u s t a i n a bi l it y i s t o bu y no t ju s t l o c a l , but s e a s on a l t o o.

M Y T H No. 3: You s hou l d t h r ow aw ay m ou l d y fo o d N O T N E C E S S A R I LY T h e s of t e r a fo o d s t u f f i s a nd t h e m ore w a t e r it c ont a i n s , t h e e a s i e r it i s for m ou ld t o s pre a d i n it ; a nd b e c au s e m ou ld c ont a i n s p oi s onou s myc o t ox i n s , s of t f r u it s s u c h a s b e r r i e s a nd plu m s a s we l l a s d a i r y pr o du c t s w it h h i g h l iq u id c ont e nt s (y o g hu r t , c re a m c h e e s e , e t c .) a nd bre a d s hou ld b e d i s p o s e d of a s s o on a s a ny m ou ld d e ve l o p s . Mou ld on t h e s u r f a c e of h a rd c h e e s e s such as Parmesa n, on s a l a m i- s t y l e c u re d s au s a ge s , a nd on r o o t ve ge t a b l e s c a n s i mpl y b e c ut of f .

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K INTERVIEW

„ PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW MORE ABOUT WHERE THEIR FOOD COMES FROM “ O RG A N IC I N G R E D I E N T S , R E G I O N A L F O O D C R A F T A N D Z E RO -WA S T E : S L OW F O O D U N I V E R S I T Y G R A DUAT E H E I KO N I E H AU S E X P L A I N S H OW YOU C A N T U R N A S N AC K S T O P I N T O A S U S TA I N A B L E E AT E RY

Your restaurant Giftbude is a shack on an island in an inlet of the Baltic in northern Germany – and you’ve been listed as one of the country’s top 30 new locations in 2017. What’s your concept?

So yes, it used to be a snack stop for weekend sailors serving what you’d expect around here: currywurst and chips, for example. Now we’re a natural eatery working with products which come from nearby.

So you don’t use any additives, stabilisers, or preservatives?

We don’t use anything except certified organic food – and it’s all local, too.

That means catch of the day and freshly picked seaweed, for instance, as well as rosehip and wild herbs.

From starters through to our desserts: all of it is home-made, and we work to zero-waste principles, too. We order bulk packs and work with reusable or biodegradable packaging. If we can’t cook with left-overs, we put them on the compost heap.

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Before you took over, you worked as a food-scout. What were you scouting for?

Tasty regional alternatives to products such as olive oil, for instance: using something from the local area is both more authentic and less carbon-intensive.

The only thing which comes from further afield that we didn’t strike off the menu was coffee. We buy fair-trade, of course.

Is the Giftbude concept one that could work anywhere?

Definitely. The key prerequisites are traditional craft food producers in a radius of around 50 miles and good logistics.

What have you got planned for this season?

Food education and sustainable consumption will be our focus. People should know more about where their food comes from, so we’re putting on cooking workshops.

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WORLD-CLASS CHEESE H OW YOU C A N B R E A K I N T O T H E C H E E S E M A R K E T W I T H J U S T A BAT H T U B – A N D S O M E AT T E N T I O N T O DE TA I L Just l i k e i n sp or ti ng di s c ipl i ne s , t h e wor l d of c omp e titive ch e es e - m a k i ng of fer s onc e - i n- a - g en er ati on t a l ent s, sure- f ire f avou r ite s , and u nd erd o g out si d er s.

Kr af t k ar, a blu e c h e e s e m a d e by t h e Nor we g i an Ti ng vol l o st d air y, w a s one of t h e l atter – and ye t at t he Wor l d C h e es e Aw ard s , it b e at 3 , 0 2 1 c omp e titor s f rom 3 1 c ou ntr i e s to t h e tit l e of ‘B e st C h e e s e i n t h e Wor l d’. In an ot her un ex p e c te d tw ist , t h e su c c e s s stor y st ar te d i n t he b at htub : t h at’s t h e c ont ai ner f ar m er S ol vor Wa a g en u s e d i n this f ir st attempt s to tu r n h i s c ows’ m i l k i nto c he e s e. Ye ar s of twe a k ing ensu e d a s h e opti m i s e d t h e fo d d er for hi s c ows an d, e ventu a l l y, a c tu a l l y bu i lt a d ai r y. T h e c he e s e’s sp e c i a l t a ste c om e s f rom t h e c arefu l l y s ou rc e d qu a l ity ing re di ent s , ab ove a l l f rom m i l k f rom hi s c ows ( w h i ch g e t fe d ten – c ou nt , em ! – ty p e s of g r a ss).

If you’re won d er ing w h at t h e nam e Kr aft k ar m e an s, by t he w ay, it c an tr ansl ate a s a “m an of a c ti on” or e ven “Wh at a g uy! ” We c ou l dn’t t h i n k of a b e tter n am e for t h is pro du c t of d e t ai l and c ons c i enti ou s profe ssi on a li sm .

M Y T H No. 4 : P r o du c t s p a s t t he i r s e l l - by d at e a r e h a r m f u l FA L S E Ye a r on ye a r, m i l l ion s of t on s of p e r fe c t l y e d i b l e fo o d e nd up i n t h e bi n b e c au s e c on s u m e r s m i s i nt e r pre t t h e m e a n i n g of t h e “B e s t b e fore ” d a t e .

“B e s t b e fore ” i s no t h i n g m ore t h a n a g u id e l i ne . D r y go o d s s u c h a s g r a i n s a s we l l a s s au c e s a nd t i n ne d go o d s c a n b e k e p t for m ont h s a f ter t he date. “ Us e by ” d at e s , by c ont r a s t , specif y when t he fo o d s t u f f c onc e r ne d s hou ld no l on ge r b e e a t e n .

www.knowledge.no

GOOD TO K NOW

M I C H E L I N S TA R S O N W H E E L S THE VERY FINEST MEXICAN CUISINE COMES FROM THE HIJA DE SANCHEZ FOOD TRUCK Born in Chicago with South American heritage, top-flight chef Rosio Sanchez has already shown exactly what she is capable of after stints at WD-50 in New York and at Noma in Copenhagen, where she was – interestingly enough – in charge of patisserie. Leaving an establishment frequently voted the world’s best restaurant, she went in a completely different direction, setting out with a food truck called Hija de Sanchez to find her culinary roots and bring some fiery international flavours to Denmark – not a country noted for heat. Since then, “Sanchez’ daughter” has been delighting Danes in the nation’s capital with her wide range of tacos, quesadillas and paletas. Her truck can be found at the Torvehallerne market from April to October and, in winter, in Copenhagen’s trendy meatpacking district.

M Y T H No. 5: Fo o d t h at h a s b e e n d e f r o s t e d s hou l d n ot b e refrozen R IG H T D e f r o s t i n g a nd re f r e e z i n g fo o d d o e s n’t on l y s p oi l it s t a s t e , but a c t u a l l y r e du c e s it s q u a l it y, t o o , a s p at ho ge n ic m ic r o or g a n i s m s t a k e a d v a nt a ge of t h e h i g h e r t e mp e r a t u r e s t o mu lt ipl y.

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WA R E H O U S I N G Y O U R WA R E S F RU I T, V E G E TA B L E S , H E R B S : H OW S H OU L D This catch-of-the-day will keep best in the fridge

A G R E AT HAU L : M A R K E T- F R E S H F RU I T S

YOU S T O R E F R E S H M A R K E T P RO DU C E T O K E E P I T F R E S H ?

S TA R T BY F O L L OW I N G T H E S E S I X G O L DE N RU L E S .

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KEEP BREAD I N E A R THE NWA R E

NEV ER KEEP AP P LES NEX T TO P EARS

The best way to store bread is at room temperature in a stone or earthenware bread bin – without air holes (that keeps the loaf away from fungal spores). Clean out your bread bin regularly with vinegar water to keep mould at bay. You can freeze rolls and leftover slices wrapped in film and defrost whenever you like.

You can keep fruits such as apples, plums, cherries and berries in the fridge, but whatever you do, don’t put apples, pears and/or tomatoes next to each other. Why? They contain ethylene, a gaseous compound which speeds ripening and, by extension, decay. Citrus and tropical fruits such as pineapples, mangos and bananas ripen best at room temperature.

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P UT DOME STI C VE GE TA B LE S I N THE S A L A D B OX

If your vegetables are native to northern or central Europe, they keep best in the crisper compartment of your fridge: cabbage, root vegetables, broccoli, rhubarb and the like should all be in the salad box. Make sure to remove carrots from any packaging and keep asparagus wrapped in a damp teacloth if you need to eat it a couple of days after you buy. Mushrooms keep for around three days in the fridge (but don’t wash them before storage to avoid them going mushy).

R UL E

The best place to store potatoes is a cellar with a constant temperature of five to ten degrees, but as long as they are kept cool, dry, and away from light, potatoes won’t germinate and can be stored for several months. Use linen sacks, wooden crates, or woven baskets as containers so that they stay well aired.

R ULE

T

The further south the native lands of your vegetables, the warmer you should keep them: aubergines, avocados, courgettes, and peppers all lose flavour (and gain blemishes) if stored in the fridge. Let them ripen at room temperature instead – tomatoes especially (even they’ve been grown somewhat further north).

5

STORE P OTATOES IN A COOL, DR Y P L ACE AND KEEP OUT OF THE LIGHT

3

L EAV E TO MATOE S A N D AUB E RGI NE S TO R I P EN AT ROOM TE MPE R ATU R E

14

R ULE

6

W RAP HERBS IN A DAMP TEACLOTH

You can keep herbs for longer by wrapping them in a damp cloth or wetted sheet of kitchen roll and then putting them in the salad box. If prepared this way, hardier herbs such as thyme, sage and rosemary will keep for up to ten days in the fridge. Fresh herbs can also be frozen: wash, chop and then freeze covered in water in an ice cube tray.

INTERVIEW

“NOBODY’S PERFECT” A L A RG E A M OU N T O F T H E F O O D H A RV E S T E D N E V E R M A K E S I T I N T O T H E S H O P S B E C AU S E I T D O E S N ’ T C O N F O R M T O T H E S TA N DA R D S A P P L I E D I N I N T E R N AT I O N A L T R A DE . W H O AC T UA L LY DE C I DE S W H AT ‘ P E R F E C T ’ F RU I T A N D V E G E TA B L E S L O O K L I K E ?

WE GET A FE W MINUTES TO ASK MICHAEL GIRNTH, AN E XPERT IN MARKET

PHOTOGR APHY

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P L A I N P I C T U R E / M . TA K A H A R A (L ); T R U N K A R C H I V E /A . G R A U B A R T (R )

S TA N D A R D S AT T H E G E R M A N F E D E R A L O F F I C E F O R A G R I C U LT U R E A N D F O O D .

Who decides what standards apply to fruit and vegetables?

There are two international committees involved: one at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva and one at the World Health Organisation (WHO) called Codex Alimentarius. These organisations are where standards for food in retail are agreed; at EU level, member states debate and pass regulations for the single market which are then enacted by the European Commission.

What do these standards specify?

They define the consistency and storage life of agricultural produce and classifications which can be used to compare and label different grades of product. Labelling is important because it offers consumers information, e.g. about the country of origin.

What is the diameter of an apple in the EU? The standard for an apple produced in the EU is a minimum diameter of 60 millimetres measured horizontally across the middle. Smaller fruits are allowed, but only at 10.5° Brix and not below 50 millimetre. (Brix is the sugar content.)

What does the perfect EU cucumber look like?

The general EU retail standard for cucumbers does not specify a particular shape – it can be straight or curved. Member states can, however, decide to apply the UNECE standard, as is mostly the case in Germany,

I T ´ S T H E I N N E R VA L U E S T H A T C O U N T

Who cares about an appealing look? Taste is what matters.

for instance. In classes I and II, UNECE requires a relatively straight form so that the cucumbers can be packaged in a spacesaving way which doesn’t damage them.

Highly curvy cucumbers may be sold under UNECE, but separately to straight class II. What do you make of initiatives like Ugly Fruits and The Misfits?

If fruit and vegetables are grown properly, there are not actually that many misshapen products, but if we’re defining Ugly Fruits as curvy or crooked fruits and vegetables – or ones with serious blemishes on the skins – then they can certainly be sold. As long as they don’t make the products inedible, there’s no reason not to. https://elska.ble.de/

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KNOWLEDGE

IN THE THICK OF IT S H O P P I N G AT A M A R K E T I S S O M E T H I N G F O R A L L T H E S E N S E S : I T ’ S A B O U T F O O D YO U C A N S E E , S M E L L , A N D TA S T E . A N D I F YO U ’ R E T R AV E L L I N G , T H E R E ’ S N O B E T T E R P L AC E T O L E A R N A B O U T T H E C O U N T R Y A N D T H E P E O P L E W H O L I V E T H E R E . H E R E ’ S O U R P I C K O F T H E B E S T.

T E X T

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IN G A

P A U L S E N­

1 WHERE IT’S ALL ABOUT FISH The world’s most famous marketplace for maritime delicacies takes up an entire district of central Tokyo and gives work to 60,000 people. Every day, 2,500 tons of seafood pass through the Tsukiji fish market: exotic delicacies, edible seaweed, and every conceivable type of fish – all for sale. The most famous part of proceedings, though, is the daily tuna auction; at one point, it was drawing so many tourists that spectator numbers are now limited to 120, so you’ll need to be there by 2 a.m. if you want a ticket (the market doesn’t open until somewhat later).

In autumn 2018, Tsukiji is scheduled to switch to a new location after over 80 years on its current site.

OPENING HOURS: QUEUING FOR THE TUNA AUCTION FROM 2 A.M., M A R K E T O P E N S 5 A . M . ― 2 P. M .

ADDRESS: 1 0 4 - 0 0 4 5 TOY KO -TO , C H U O - K U , T S U K I J I , C H O M E - 2 - 1

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P H OTO G R A P H Y:

For more than 80 years now, the Tsukiji market has been dedicated to delicacies from the sea. It’s also the place to get the very best, very freshest sushi in town.

A S I A’ S L A R G E S T F I S H M A R K E T

X . P O P Y/ R E A / L A I F (L ); H E N N P H O T O G R A P H Y/A U R O R A / L A I F (R )

2 WHERE YOU NEED SEA LEGS TO GO SHOPPING

M UA R A K U I N M A R K E T

Just getting to the floating market off of Banjarmasin in the south-east of Borneo is an experience. On an early morning, you board a simple wooden barge and glide past huts and their inhabitants, stood in the river washing their clothes (and kids), out towards a market that has been in operation for centuries. Trade is done from boat to boat, with the main product categories being fruit, vegetables, and – of course – seafood. If you fancy a coffee and some pancakes, though, don’t worry: there are breakfast boats out there in the morning mist. . .

Banjarmasin, Borneo

OPENING HOURS: D A I LY 5 A . M . ― 8 P. M .

ADDRESS: P A S A R T E R A P U N G L O K B A I N TA N

3 MARKTHALLE NEUN

Around twelve years back, this old market hall in Berlin’s hip Kreuzberg area was going to be turned into a supermarket, but thanks to local residents, those plans are now firmly off the table. Instead, Markethalle Neun is a place where you can shop differently, with traceability, ecology and craftsmanship taking centre stage.

There’s the open bakery where you can watch every stage of the bread-making process, the artisan butchers, and the pasta workshop; then there’s the micro-brewery and the tofu atelier. It’s hard to think of a better place to watch professionals at work or to enjoy the slow-food delicacies brought in by various artisans and greengrocers. What’s more, the atmosphere is laid back and you can sample pretty much everything.

Berlin, Germany

OPENING HOURS: P E R M A N E N T S TA N D S : T U E S D A Y , W E D N E S D A Y , T H U R S D A Y F A R M E R S ’ M A R K E T : F R I D A Y / S AT U R D A Y 8 A . M . ― 8 P. M .

ADDRESS: EISENBAHNSTRASSE 42/43, BERLIN

MERCADO

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San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

WHERE YOU GO HIGH TO GO HOT If you want to get a thorough introduction to all the basic foodstuffs of native Mexican cuisine, there’s only one way to do it: going up to an altitude of 2,100 metres to San Cristóbal de las Casas, a historically important colonial city in whose streets smallholders from the surrounding hills come to sell everything a Mexican cook could need. “Cook” is the operative word: the market is not at all geared up for tourists – and that’s what makes it so interesting.

Various types of exotic flowers, fruits, and vegetables vie for attention next to colourful beans, explosive chillies, and bleeding carcasses. Then, for the not-so-faint of heart, there are the edible insects, served with lime and salt.

OPENING HOURS: D A I LY 6 A . M . ― 6 P. M .

ADDRESS:

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NORTH OF THE SANTO-DOMINGO CHURCH, SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS

P H O T O G R A P H Y : P. B E S S A R D / R E A / L A I F ; P. A D E N I S / L A I F ; A . Z E H B R A U S K A S / N Y T / L A I F

W H E R E Y O U C A N W AT C H C R A F T S M E N AT W O R K

P H OTO G R A P H Y:

F. B L I C K L E / L A I F ; P A N O S P I C T U R E S / V I S U M ; A . S I O C H A N / G A M M A / L A I F

WHERE URBAN CROPS MEET CELEBRITIES Back in the 1970s, the first food producers from around New York started to come into this section of lower Manhattan to sell their produce. Now, 140 farmers and artisans set up their stalls several times a week in the middle of the metropolis to supply New Yorkers with fresh greens, cheese, bread, fish, eggs, sausage and wine, as well as jams and preserves.

Products at what is called the ‘Greenmarket’ generally rank high in the sustainability stakes, and it now features crops from urban gardening projects and honey made by New York beekeepers. Indeed, the quality on offer is so high that you might even meet the odd film star or celebrity chef. . .

B I G A P P L E ’ S FA M E R S ’ M A R K E T

A meeting point for vegetarians

OPENING HOURS: MONDAY S, WEDNESDAY S, FRIDAY S, S AT U R D A Y S 8 A . M . ― 6 P. M .

ADDRESS: E 17TH ST & UNION SQUARE W, NY

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TRUFFLE MARKET

W H E R E T H E T O P T R U F F L E M E R C H A N T S G AT H E R

Lalbenque, Lot, France

From December to March, Michelin star-holding chefs and gourmets general stop looking at their mileage, going quite out of their way to buy a luxury ingredient like no other: every Tuesday morning in winter, black Quercy truffles are sold in Lalbenque. One of the most aromatic of its kind, the Quercy truffle is hunted with dogs and pigs in the surrounding countryside; in town, its pungent aroma and an almost conspiratorial atmosphere make for a very special market. Here and there, you’ll see someone sniffing, scraping, and then whispering. After negotiations, money changes hands – real money. Truffles go for between 300 and 700 euros per kilo.

OPENING HOURS: 1ST DECEMBER TO MARCH, TUESDAY MORNINGS ADDRESS: 38 PLACE DE LA BASCULE, LALBENQUE

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downtown New York.

U N I O N S Q UA R E G R E E N M A R K E T

Organic fruit and vegetables, four days a week, slap-bang in

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PORTRAIT

T H E M U S S E L D I V E R U SI NG A M ET HOD T H AT I S CENTU R I ES OLD A N D ALMOST FORGOTTEN, DA R R E N BROW N K E E P S L O N D O N’ S T O P C H E F S A N D R E S TAU R A N T S I N S CA L L O P S .

T H AT M E A N S DI V I NG D OW N TO THE SEABED AND PICKING THEM

BY H A N D.

T E X T

_ _ _

P H IL IPP KOH LH ÖFER _ _ _ TIM M O S CH REIB ER

P H OTO G R A P H Y

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O N LY

T H E

B E S T

L ond on’s B or ou g h M a r k e t on l y g i ve s c onc e s s ion s t o stallholders who offer sustainable food and uphold the philosophy of this centuries-old establishment.

T HE WATER WA S Q UIE T – as quiet, that is, as the

strait connecting the North Sea with the Atlantic Ocean can ever be. As it often is during an English summer, visibility underwater was good; the sun was even shining above him. Scallop diver Darren Brown was drifting towards Mexico – and getting bored.

Back there, somewhere, was the shore. He would have been able to see it pretty well from the boat, but he had no idea where the boat was. And indeed seen from that boat, Brown was now only a little spot in the water, a small head dancing around on the waves; then he was gone. He’d gone past one of the buoys he used to mark good banks of mussels – and where he was supposed to surface with a basket full of scallops.

That, at least, was the plan, but the arrangements had been made quickly that morning, shouted back and forth above the noise of the boat’s engine; perhaps, after more than 500 dives that year to collect scallops, Brown and his partner at the helm had allowed themselves to be lured into the false sense of security that comes with routines. Whatever the cause, the boat had gone past and waited for him at another buoy – and, consequently, not realised that something must have gone wrong for a whole 90 minutes.

By the time the coastguard and the Royal Navy had scrambled to look for him, Darren Brown at tied the buoy to himself so that, come what may, he couldn’t sink. He’d decided to swim with the current, not against it, although the distance would have been shorter. It wasn’t like he was in a hurry, though: his dry diving suit was keeping him warm and he resolved to contact the manufacturer later to tell them what a gre-

at product they had developed. “Good job I was in the Navy,” thought Brown. And not just in the Navy, either, but a diving instructor who gave training on how to survive in the water. He’d hit land somewhere, of that he was sure. And so he travelled slowly westwards with the current: maybe he’d pitch up in South Wales. Or South America?

When they eventually found him, he’d been in the water for seven hours and was around six kilometres from the point he’d surfaced. “I didn’t have any warning lights,” he says, thinking back, “so I had no way of attracting attention. That won’t ever happen again, let me tell you!” Darren Brown, 49, recounts this maritime adventure in front of his stall at London’s Borough Market, just a few hundred yards from London Bridge. It doesn’t get much more central than this.

Some claim that the market has been here since the days of Roman Londinium; the first record of its existence documents changes to it in 1276. It’s been trading in its current form since the mid-1990s – which is when Darren Brown began selling scallops at his stall, Shellseekers. At first, he would go diving in the morning off the Devon coast and drive his old estate car up to London, selling the catch out of the back; he’d hang up his wetsuit on the boot door to dry while he sealed deals with a handshake at a foldable camping table. As time went on, his car turned into a proper stand. Today, Brown doesn’t just sell mussels and fish, but also game (he hunts, too).

He’s doing a roaring trade – despite, or perhaps even because of the fact that he went missing at sea. “Diver to celebrity chefs ‘lucky to be alive’” went the headlines;

LUCK AT SE A

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PORTRAIT

C A U G H T

B Y

H A N D

E a c h a nd e ve r y mu s s e l a nd s c a l l o p a t D a r r e n B r ow n’s s t a l l h a s b e e n p l u c k e d p e r s o n a l l y b y h i m f r o m t h e s e a b e d o f f t h e D e v o n c o a s t . To p - f l i g h t c h e f s appreciate the high quality he offers.

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P I C K E D,

N O T

D R E D G E D

D a r r e n B r ow n’s d i v i n g i s w h a t m a k e s h i s r e put a t ion : hand-har vested sca llops and oysters don’t just taste great, but a lso protect t he environment and conserve natural resources.

the articles speculated on whether the likes of Jamie Oliver or Mark Hix would need to find themselves a new supplier. They didn’t, of course; and neither did any of the other top chefs who stop by to pick out their own scallops.

The head chef of the Chelsea Cellar, an Italian restaurant with excellent online ratings, is listening in. He likes to come by himself to select his shellfish – and to have a chat. Darren Brown has been diving since 1983 and is happy to tell anyone who wants to know just how he gets such big, beautiful scallops. “And everyone wants to know,” says Brown, “and I always tell them the same thing: it’s all about hard work, done by hand, regardless of the weather.” It means doing the job the same way our ancestors did it – and their ancestors, too.

As a general rule, Darren Brown dives every day, unless the wind is so strong and the waves so high that there’s no point. His boat is small, and so really rough seas can be extremely dangerous, life-threatening even.

In those kinds of conditions, he can’t really see much

underwater in any case. “This isn’t an office 9 to 5,” he says, shrugging his shoulders, “and so I have to take account of the weather. If I can’t go out, then I can’t go out. Simple as that.”

He’s not discouraged by this unpredictability, quite to the contrary, actually. In his view, it helps him to work sustainably. “If you’re dependent on the weather and on visibility underwater, if you’re limited to the depths at which shellfish settle and have to get lucky to find them, then you can’t catch too much,” he explains, adding that “overfishing is a massive problem.” As far as he’s concerned, he’d rather go lost at sea again than be on one of the trawlers coming in with dragnets and destroying marine life. “It’s like using a bulldozer to go mushroom hunting,” he says, “and now many parts of the coast look as barren as the surface of the moon.

It’ll take decades for life to come back – if it ever does!”

If people actually saw the effects of overfishing, he thinks, it wouldn’t happen anymore. And that’s why he’s trying to educate London about it – well, his custom-

BOAT TO

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PORTRAIT

H E A LT H Y

A N D

S U S TA I N A B L E

D a r r e n B r ow n’s bu r ge r s a r e a fe a s t for t h e e ye , t o o.

Before turning it into delectable snacks, Brown skins and butchers game right next to the stall, using the meat to make his sausages and patties.

ers at the very least. He’s set up a television screen at his stall showing videos of him diving. His stall has got the slogan “Boat to Borough” written in several places, and there are lots of photos of him and of the boat (called Maddy Moo after his daughter), as well as signs, one of which promises “total traceability” while another decries the evils of trawling, explaining how dragnets decimate the ocean floor. Yet another tells customers where his game and his shellfish come from, how he handles the produce, and finishes with an open invitation to come to Devon and have Darren explain everything in person. Besides signs, there’s a deer carcass hanging in the stall, too; one of Brown’s six employees is working on it, stripping off the hide and butchering the meat. Much of this venison will end up as sausages and burgers sold at the stand – and the customers ought to see exactly where it comes from, says Brown, and that it makes a difference how an animal was treated before it was killed. “People have forgotten that meat comes from animals,” he says. The demon-

stration certainly gets the punters interested; they gasp, grunt, or say to each other “Wow, that’s mad!”; some laugh, others look away, embarrassed as if somebody had just told a dirty joke. It’s just blood running out of an animal that’s been shot and pooling on the floor, but it’s “weird” and “crazy” to the spectators; meanwhile, Japanese tourists take something approaching ten thousand photos.

Brown tries to get chatting to them all. “Hi,” goes his patter, “and welcome to my stall. I catch all of these animals myself, sustainably.” Sometimes, people respond; sometimes they don’t – and Brown just keeps talking regardless. “I’m a man on a mission,” he says, unironically and repeatedly, in various forms; and once he really gets going, he starts complaining about the other stalls on the market. “None of them know where the animals come from! Sure, it’s all laid out nicely, all that meat and fish, but that doesn’t mean a thing!”

Scandals are good for Darren Brown, because that’s when people start to think more about what they eat.

BOROUGH

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S U R V I VA L

T R A I N I N G

A s a for mer Nav y d iver, Da r ren Brow n i sn’t a f r a id of a bit of c u r rent .

He’ll go diving in most types of weather – and he only harvests fully grown shellfish, leaving the smaller ones so that nature can reproduce.

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PORTRAIT

A

N I C E

C U P PA

A F T E R WA R D S

Each dive lasts around one and a half hours. Brown wears a dry suit to protect him from t he cold, but t hat doesn’t mean t hat his dives a r e n ’ t a c h a l l e n g e , b o t h f o r m i n d a n d b o d y. To w a r m u p w h e n h e g e t s b a c k o n t h e b o a t , Brown takes a hot drink in a thermos f lask out with him.

Every time horsemeat crops up in ready-meal lasagnes, his sales go up. Nevertheless, he’s finding it harder as time goes on: “I’m starting to feel real pity for the animals I hunt,” he admits. “It used to be easier”, he recalls, back when shooting was a hobby; he has ten guns at home, one of which is a sniper rifle of the type British forces in Afghanistan use. Not that he calls them guns or rifles, though; he talks about “tools”. “Nothing odd about that,” he says, “plumbers have tools, too.”

If your hobby is shooting, then killing almost comes as part and parcel; but now, Brown is starting to find it “really rather unpleasant”. So he’s cooperating with other hunters; they supply him, he sells. He can still trace the meat’s journey from his London stall through the refrigerator and back to the furrow in which the deer fell; he knows at what hour of the morning the hunter went out and what ammunition he used.

It is this precision, this interest in sustainability that characterises how Darren Brown goes searching for mussels, too. And it is a search. Some days he gets a find,

on other outings he doesn’t. There’s no secret to it, he says: “It’s trial and error.” Generally, he’s in the water for around an hour and a half and goes to depths of 25 metres at a maximum of five kilometres off the coast.

His real specialisms are scallops and oysters. The flavour of scallops especially, although always reminiscent of nuts, varies strongly according to where it was caught; that’s because these bivalves filter water incessantly as they feed. Oysters don’t always make it back to land because Brown likes to slurp a couple on the boat straight away: “That’s the best way to do it. And no seasoning. None at all!” And because he likes them so much, he leaves the smaller oysters where they are, only taking fully grown ones; anything else would be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

When he finds a bank of mussels, he doesn’t mark them with a buoy until the day he dives for them. There are people out there who keep an eye out for finds – trawlers, for instance, and they’re the enemy here. “I’m not going to do them a favour, am I?” - TI

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HO T

OR

NO T ?

T H E E F F E C T S OF SPIC E A R E T H E R E SU LT OF CH E M ICA L PR I NCIPL E S – A N D A CE RTA I N, A L MOST M AGICA L JE NE SAIS QUOI. BEHIND THE THOUSANDS OF A ROM AS I N T H E WOR L D OF SPICE S , L I E S A COM PL E X SYSTEM WHICH, IF UNLOCKED, A L LOWS COOK S TO WOR K WON DE R S .

AR T WO R K

_ _ _

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E L A

ST R IC K E R T

TEX T

&

RES EARCH

–––

J ES KO

WILK E

KNOWLEDGE

„ OUR SENSE OF SMELL IS THE SENSE OF MEMORY – AND OF DESIRE. “ JEAN-J ACQ UE S

A SC E NT HA S THE P OWE R to enchant. It’s happened to everyone: you notice a smell and suddenly, it’s as if you’ve been transported to an entirely different location, or onto another emotional plane. It overcame me recently when I was with friends of mine who share my passion for cooking; they served up a side dish of leeks with lavender and, suddenly, I could see my grandmother, as if she were stood right in front of me, with her petite frame and her translucent skin, and smell the subtle aroma of lavender which always pervaded her immediate vicinity.

“Leeks with lavender? No, me neither!” I thought as my grandmother faded back away and I came back to the present. Dessert was a chocolate tart with salted Brazil nuts and freshly chopped rosemary. The contrast between sweet and salty was bridged by the balsamic, Mediterranean scent of pine forests. It was exhilarating.

My hosts are the kind of people who like to experiment with all sorts of unusual pairings. Cooking nowadays is a more adventurous affair than it used to be – a more radical and unconventional one, too. For a lot of people, preparing food has become a creative and emotional process during which they really relax and follow their intuition.

On first appearances, working systematically and applying knowledge may appear to run contrary to this, but actually it doesn’t. In fact, a sound theoretical understanding allows people to improvise even more impressively – and seasoning is a core part of that understanding. Intriguing combinations are created by alternating between tension and harmony; spices are the perfect way of staging this kind of culinary story.

The principle behind it is food pairing and food completing (see visualisation overleaf), which is based on the structure of flavours within foods and spices. Although it’s highly complex in detail, two simple rules always apply: we either combine ingredients which complement each other (pairing) or we set off see-

RO US S E AU

mingly incompatible foodstuffs (completing).

The more important the role assigned to spices, the higher their quality needs to be. Aromas are hard to capture and don’t keep long: ground spices such as pepper and paprika or herbs are only fresh for around six months after they’ve been opened. Half a year is nothing, really, so it’s easy to imagine how many unused pots and sachets of spice are hanging around, gathering dust and losing flavour, in kitchen cupboards everywhere.

Then again, replacing seasonings regularly costs a pretty penny – a fact that got three students from Düsseldorf, Germany, thinking. Florian Flak, Ole Strohschneider, and Bela Seebach didn’t want to spend huge amounts of money on spices they weren’t going to be using all that often, and figured no-one else did either. So they set up Just Spices, a company offering premium spice mixes: “We decided to try and make buying spices more emotionally involved. Currently, things like turmeric and cumin are just tucked away in the back of supermarkets,” explains Bela Seebach.

The “Spice Boys” started by travelling the world to find out about the spices they wanted to sell and the people who cultivate them. They came back with authentic compositions which reflect the places where the spices grow: seasoning is about place, about identity and culture, too. Diving into the scents and aromas of other cuisines gets our senses active, giving us the specific, genuine experiences and feelings we long for. The kitchen is an ideal place to experience this: “People used to buy spices because they were listed in recipes,” says Bela Seebach, “but we’ve turned that on its head: people buy our mixes and use them as inspiration for their own creations.”

Culinary experimentation, of course, requires curiosity, a lack of preconceptions, and the courage to experience something new. These are characteristics which, in a very real way, are the spice of life. - TI 29

O O E E

W T W T SPI SPI

O O CE CE

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H H US US

Ginger Ginger

Pepper Pepper

Bay Leaves Bay Leaves

COMPLETING COMPLETING

SWEETS SWEETS

Star Anise Star Anise

PAIRING PAIRING

Lovage Lovage

Cocoa Cocoa

Cinnamon Cinnamon

PAIRING PAIRING

Vanilla Vanilla

Star Anise Star Anise

MEAT MEAT

Sage Sage

Dill Dill

Vanilla Vanilla Dill Dill

PAIRING PAIRING Basil Basil

Tarragon Tarragon

Basil Basil

Tarragon Tarragon

Star Anise Star Anise

COMPLETING COMPLETING

Rosemary Rosemary

F I S H W I T H C I N NA M O N ? M E AT A N D F I S H W I T H C I N NA M O N ? M E AT A N D VA N I L L A ? C H O C O L A T E C H I L L I ? W E L C O M E T O VA N I L L A ? C H O C O L A T E C H I L L I ? W E L C O M E T O THE WORLD OF EXCITING SEASONING. THE WORLD OF EXCITING SEASONING.

HOME-MADE

Elevating: The scent and the constituents of these herbs and spices lead to the release of happiness-inducing hormones.

Aphrodisiac: Just the scent of these substances activates the brain's pleasure receptors. Their contents can increase blood flow to sexual organs.

Anticonvulsive: For those suffering from trapped wind, or other digestive discomfort, the essential oils promise relief.

Activating: The active agents in these herbs and spices improve our blood circulation and make us more able to concentrate.

Calming: When breathed in, the aromas of these seasonings work their way into our limbic system, from where they have a relaxing, reassuring effect.

Antibacterial: The essential oils in these herbs and spices help us put up a fight against bacteria, viruses, and fungal infections.

Paprika

Cocoa

COMPLETING

POULTRY

Nutmeg

Coriander

Rosemary

Star Anise

Chilli

Basil

Chilli

Coriander

Cinnamon

Carraway

Curry

PAIRING

Ginger

Sage

COMPLETING

FISH

Citrus Peel

Rosemary

Paprika

Vanilla

Citrus Peel

VEGETABLES

PAIRING

Nutmeg

COMPLETING

Cinnamon

KNOWLEDGE

»OUR BRAIN PL AY S T R I C K S O N U S A B O U T W H AT O U R T O N G U E I S TA S T I N G « C H A R L E S S P E N C E I S O N E O F T H E WO R L D ’ S L E A D I N G G A S T RO -P H Y S IC I S T S . A M O N G T H E D R E A M I N G S P I R E S O F OX F O R D, H E R E S E A RC H E S T H E P S YC H O L O G Y O F E AT I N G , E S P E C I A L LY T H E I N F L U E N C E C O L OU R S , S H A P E S , S OU N D S , A N D M E M O R I E S H AV E O N OU R S E N S E O F TA S T E .

T H E R E S U LT I N G I N S IG H T S A R E E XC I T I N G – A N D COM M A N D A PR E MIU M .

_ _ _ P H OTO G R A P H Y REINH ARD H UN GER _ _ _ ST Y L IN G C HRISTOPH H IM M EL _ _ _ IN T E R V IE W FRANZIS K A WIS CH M ANN

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W H A T

A M

I

?

Main course or dessert? New aromatic recipes play tricks on all our senses

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KNOWLEDGE

O F

R H Y T H M

A N D

T A S T E

Rhythm, sound, tempo, drum roll – music heavily influences our sense of taste

Professor Spence, what do you most like to eat?

I like simple meals like pasta al arabbiata.

What I don’t like are ready-meals and convenience products: I only ever cook with fresh produce.

I’ll use any ingredients and spices, however unusual.

Cooking has a relaxing effect on me.

project with Unilever; later, I started cooperating with star chefs like Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck and Jozef Youssef of Kitchen Theory. We inspired each other to experiment with different consistencies, aromas, colours, shapes, and their psychological effect.

Do you still enjoy food even though you research it as an academic?

I concentrate on its flavours and think about ways of preparing it, but increased knowledge makes it all the more astounding. Sometimes, though, I still find it hard to believe that music or light, even the shape of a plate and the colours on it influence the way we experience food.

So applying multisensory tricks can increase the intensity with which we taste flavours?

Yes, precisely. The mouth is where we enjoy the taste of food and it feels like the flavours are developing on our tongue. However, our nose and eyes play a big role in this experience: what we see and what we smell creates expectations – and that in turn acts as the trigger for the flavours we actually taste. In one experiment using jelly beans, we asked subjects to hold their noses while eating them in order to shut off their sense of smell: the result was that all they could taste were the four basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter; it was only with their sense of smell that the participants experienced the whole kaleidoscope of fruity flavours – i.e. the aromas we so enjoy when eating, be they flowery, meaty, herby, or creamy. All of that is clearly a function of the nose; our brain plays tricks on us about what our tongue is tasting.

You say that your grandfather, who ran a grocers, used to secretly crush coffee beans under his heel. Why? To attract customers. I mention that because it’s a nice example of the beginnings of what we today call sensory marketing and sales strategies. Stepping on coffee beans to release the aroma of fresh coffee was a smart move: the smell of freshly ground coffee is one of the most popular worldwide – regardless of culture. What is more, customers hear the crunch, too, which indicates a crisp consistency and thus freshness. So he was appealing to more than just one of the senses, and was therefore, in his way, a pioneer in the multisensory marketing techniques supermarkets now use to get their customers to spend: today, they encourage you to touch and try everything. That is today’s equivalent of my grandfather’s shop.

To what extent is your research inspired by these experiences?

I’ve always been interested in the senses and the effect they have in everyday life. Applying that to food was something I came to through a 34

One of the focal points of your research is the colour of plates and the influence it has on how we perceive food?

Yes, we looked into the effect of colour on our perception when eating, but soon discovered that the shape, surface consistency, and weight of crockery also plays an important role: we perceive food differently when it is served on a rough earthenware plate. What we now know is that this kind of crockery intensifies the taste of seasoning.

A study in a hotel in Scotland showed that even the choice of cutlery has an effect on our sense of taste; people who eat with heavier knives, forks and

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KNOWLEDGE

D O N ’ T

T R U S T

Y O U R

E Y E S

Red-coloured white wine can even fool wine experts.

They claim to taste what actually cannot be there

spoons perceive their meal as being of higher value and are therefore happy to pay more.

Your research inspired the creation of a plate collection for NEFF. Can you tell us more about this?

In total, three plates were developed. The first one is inspired by the oceans, centred around blue and white as key colours and with a texture which is reminiscent of fish scales. The design principle behind the second plate was to intensify the experience of eating strongly seasoned or spicy foods; it’s mainly black and is perfect for serving dishes with green Thai curry, for instance.

The third plate uses pink to emphasise sweetness.

Then there is the shape, which, as our studies show, has similar effects: round plates intensify sweet tastes, while square plates bring sourness to the fore.

You even managed to show up experts with your colour experiment ...

Indeed we did. We added red colouring to white wine and served it to oenologists as red wine; the experts actually associated it more with flavours which are typical of red wine. They started tasting notes of chocolate and stone fruits rather than, say, citrus and lychee; moreover, it transpired that oenologists were actually more misled by the colour than inexperienced wine drinkers! That shows just to what extent our brains set off a cascade of experiences as soon as the eye has identified a liquid as red wine.

But isn’t the sense of smell the most dominant in terms of flavour?

In the absence of the sense of smell, we can’t enjoy the various aromas of food. In percentage terms, 90 to 95% of what we think we are tasting is something we are, in actual fact, smelling.

Without our noses, our tongues would be unable to distinguish an apple from an onion or red wine from cold coffee. As such, top chefs are increasingly working with aroma sprays.

Furthermore, our sense of smell is a strong trigger for memories, for moods and feelings. The smell of a sweet shop can remind you of being there as a child, and this nostalgic scent melds with the flavour to create a deeply moving experience. Aromas can also whet the appetite or intensify sweetness, too: a whiff of caramel makes whisky appear sweeter, for instance, whereas the scent of smoked bacon underscores its smokier flavours. So there is an interplay between smells and tastes which can provoke feelings of nostalgia or other sentiments – and which are highly individual.

So the trend towards customised products won’t stop at aromas?

In hotels, guests’ preferences are known and can be catered to, and this is something which is coming to good restaurants, too. Really, it’s about nothing more than offering guests recommendations tailored to their preferences. In some areas, customisation has already happened: do you want freshly-ground pepper on your food or not? Research can contribute new perspectives here, too: people who like very sweet food can intensify such tastes using caramel aromas rather than adding more sugar.

What else can you imagine happening in the future?

Diners going to a restaurant might be asked to spit into a bag advance of their reservation. With the information on their genetic make-up which is of relevance to how their food is prepared; this would allow restaurants to offer customised food based on how strong your sense of taste is – more 37

KNOWLEDGE

P L AT E S

P L AY I N G

T R I C K S

O N

O U R

S E N S E S

Desig ner Rei ko K a neko's plate col lec t ion for N EFF, i nspi red by Prof. Spence's Ga st rophysic s resea rch.

Sea food sta r ters ta ste sa lt ier i f ser ved on t h is f ish sc a le tex t u red plate (f i rst lef t), spic y f lavou rs of g i nger t a s te more i nten s e f rom t h i s bl ac k s tone w a re b ow l (m idd le) a nd de s s er t s t a s te s s we e ter, ser ved in this pink, raspberry-inspired bowl.

vanilla or more coriander? Wholly personalised food is, currently, no more than an idea, but that is the direction things are going in, and there’s a lot of potential in the idea. Delivery services could offer customised packages, for instance, allowing them to provide food which is always to the taste of their customers. Then there is the health profiling aspect, too, looking at which types of food your body can best digest and metabolise. There’s a lot to look into here.

How does music affect how we eat?

Music affects us on a number of levels, from volume (very loud music hampers our ability to taste food) through to ethnic music which underscores the foreign nature of cuisine from a different cultural sphere. Different styles of music have an effect on the speed at which we eat, too, because we adapt to the beat: the faster the rhythm, the quicker our movements become as we eat. Our most recent research has been into the fact that we appear to experience the taste of food more intensively if we hear violins, drums, or a piano while eating.

In a restaurant in London, you had music composed specifically for a dessert played to prove that diners would experience the bittersweet notes of chocolate more intensively.

And the same is true of music in a shop selling Belgian chocolates: it brings out the creaminess of pralines more. We’ve developed ‘sour’ music and 38

‘spicy’ music which we are currently testing in a New York eatery. While we can’t use sounds to turn water into wine, it certainly can make a sweet-andsour mango salad into a genuine flavour experience.

Do you work with composers?

Yes, we ask them to compose music for a specific wine, for a type of chocolate, or for a main course.

We look at the sounds which harmonise with different flavours and how they can make these flavours stronger. Sweetness is intensified by high-pitched piano notes, while bitterness is brought out by low frequencies; spiciness is more pronounced when the music has a faster tempo. Composers use these insights to produce matching music.

How do memories affect our sense of taste?

We learn very early on that sweetness feels nice: that is something anchored in our primary cortex; many of us learn that we find bitter less pleasant. We particularly enjoy the dishes we ate on Sunday afternoon as children, and indeed what we do and don’t like has a lot to do with memory and our early experiences.

As people start to lose their ability to remember things, these moments take on an increasing importance: they access regions of the brain which are deep in our subconscious, and we can trigger them with many things – music, smells, sounds, tastes, and even with contrasting colours.

Which brings us back to our plate collection!

Thank you for speaking to us, Professor Spence. - TI

T A S T E

W I T H

Y O U R

N O S E

Aromatics intensify taste. Without a sense of smell, our tongues couldn’t tell an onion and an apple apart

C H A R L E S

S P E N C E

Professor Charles Spence is the head of the Department for Experimental Psychology at the Universit y of Oxford. The studies he carries out with leading chefs deliver important insights into the extent to which our senses can be manipulated and how they affect our sense of taste.

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SOME LIKE IT WILD! P L A N T S T H AT USED TO BE CONSIDERED WEEDS ARE NOW GIVING CL ASSIC HERBS LIKE BASIL AND PA R SL E Y A RUN FOR T HEIR MONE Y IN TOP-FLIGH T KITCHENS. SO WHY NOT HEAD OUT FOR AGING?

CLOVER, GROUND IVORY AND DANDELION Between grass and moss, one can always find delicious wild herbs.

Better bend down than step on it.

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KNOWLEDGE

W I L D

P H OTO G R A P H Y: P L A I N P I C T U R E /O OT E B O E (L .), T H I N K S TO CK (R)

T E X T

T HO US ANDS OF YEA R S B ACK,

the founder of herbal medicine, Hippocrates, knew how beneficial wild plants could be – and millennia later, all you need to do is to go out foraging to find out how useful they are in the kitchen, too.

Looked out through a culinary lens, even our arch-enemies can become allies: stinging nettles and ground elder, for instance, make great pesto or dips – and taste good sweated down with garlic or onions; tender leaves of dandelion, sorrel, or lady’s mantle can add zest to a salad or a smoothie.

Due to high concentrations of essential oils, other wild herbs need to be used somewhat more sparingly to avoid strong tastes becoming strong effects: herbs don’t have medicinal uses for nothing, after all. What is more, many wild

_ _ _

H E R B S

M IC H ELE

AVA N TA R I O

herbs have poisonous lookalikes, so the first rule of foraging is always: only pick things you can reliably identify. Anyone just starting out should start by reading and following a good guide. Another important element is where you forage: avoid areas next to busy roads or fields which farmers treat with pesticides. One way to make absolutely sure the herbs are safe, of course, is to grow your favourites at home on the balcony, on the windowsill, or in the garden: now that star chefs have taken to using wild herbs, retailers have reacted by stocking seed collections.

H OT

Coltsfoot – Tussilago farfara – is native to Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. It likes clay soils

and produces leaves which are ideal for use as vegetables: coltsfoot can replace spinach in a variety of dishes, including in oven bakes; it can even be used in sushi. Since antiquity, this nutritious herb has been used against respiratory illnesses.

TAR T

Found worldwide, ribwort – Plantago lanceolata, also known as narrowleaf plantain or lamb’s tongue – grows along roads and woodland paths from April to November. It has a tart note reminiscent of porcini mushrooms that works well in herb dips, salads and pasta dishes and harmonises with eggs. As a herbal tea, it is a proven cough remedy and can, just like coltsfoot, be smoked –e.g. as a tobacco substitute when giving up.

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KNOWLEDGE

MAGNIFICIENT: GOUTWEED When goutweed is blossoming already, you’re too late. The mild taste of young leaves is what you’re looking for. Steamed briefly in olive oil, they complement pasta and potato dishes perfectly.

WILD HERBS CO O L

Comphrey is the common name for the Symphytum genus whose leaves can add flavour to salads, juices, doughs, and omelettes; lightly sautéed, the root can be eaten too. Despite the fact it only counts 40 species, Symphytum can be found everywhere from Europe to Central Asia, growing in damp places such as riverbanks, meadows, ditches, and lowland woods. Older names include knitbone and boneset, referring to its historical uses in traditional medicine.

SHARP

The A-lister among wild herbs, most people know that you can eat dandelion leaves, sweated like spinach or, if young, tender, and still mild, in salads. Native to Western Asia and Europe, Taraxacum, to give it its proper name, is now found more or less everywhere in the northern hemisphere.

TAN G Y

The tender leaves of the yarrow 42

YO U N G P L A N T S

plant are a great addition to salads, soups and dips and can also be used to infuse vinegar. Widespread in Europe between the Arctic Circle and the Alps, it can also be found in subtropical areas in Eurasia, North Africa and America. Its medicinal effect is the stuff of legend: Achilles is said to have used it to heal his wounds (its binomial name is Achillea).

T E N D TO TA S T E

S AVOUR Y

ARE RICH IN ESSENTIAL OILS AND PAC K A F L AVO U R P U N C H .

FRESHER AND MILDER. A S THE Y GET O L D E R , T H E Y TA K E ON A SOURER, TA R T E R F L AVO U R .

Ground elder, also known as bishop’s weed and goutweed, grows on meadows, along pathways, and on the edge of woods. Full of vitamins, proteins, minerals and essential oils, the leaves of Aegopodium podagraria are reminiscent of parsley and can be made into tasty salad or spread for bread; sautéed, they make a novel substitute for spinach.

TAR T, AG AIN

In the kitchen, lady’s mantle is used to make teas and salads or can be added to soups and stews; its

KNOWLEDGE

BEAUT Y ELIXIR: STINGING NETTLES The tender, yet aromatic sprouts have a detoxifying effect and tighten the connective tissue due to their high vitamin C content.

Perfect for a detox smoothie.

P H O T O G R A P H Y : G A L L E R Y S T O C K / F. L I E B E R A T H ( L ) , T H I N K S T O C K ( R )

THE FIR ST shape leaves also make it popular as table decoration. In traditional medicine, Alchemilla was prescribed to treat ulcers, and herbal medics still set great store by it today as a remedy for the common cold, asthma and diarrhoea.

S OUR

The sharp taste of wood sorrel makes it an excellent way to freshen up soups, salads, and even desserts. It is delicious sautéed, too, but shouldn’t be eaten in excesse quantities: just like spinach and chard, it contains large amounts of oxalic acid. Over 800 species of its eponymous genus Oxalis can be found across the world in shady, damp locations.

PA R T I CUL A R LY S O UR

Common or garden sorrel is widespread in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and Australia; it is a comparatively recent addition to North and South American plant life. This wild herb is particularly good with fish and meat dishes, adds a fresh kick

RULE OF FO R AG I N G I S A LWAY S TO O N LY PICK THINGS YO U C A N R E L I A B LY I D E N T I F Y, B EC AU S E M A N Y WILD HERBS H AV E POISONOUS LO O K A L I K E S .

to soups and smoothies, and can also be used to make herb butter or creams. It likes damp, acidic soils and is packed with vitamin C (but also, like wood sorrel, with oxalic acid). Only young, tender shoots are suitable for harvesting, as mature plants can be harder to digest.

A TR UE ALL-ROUNDER

Cresses thrive in damp, nutrientrich soils across the Northern hemisphere and have impressive quotients of vitamin C, iron, potassium, calcium, silicon, and chlorophyll.

The only drawback is picking them.

Against all expectations, however, the leaves don’t burn on the tongue – neither sautéed nor raw.

Quite to the contrary, actually, and cress leaves are fantastic in pesto, as a stuffing for fish or meat, and in soups. Look out for the younger, tender leaves at the top of the plant. - TI

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E X P E R T I S E ,

E T H O S

A N D

H E R I TAG E

B ut c h e r D av id e S i m on i r u n s one of B o l o g n a’s b e s t fo o d s ho p s s p e c i a l i s i n g i n g a l a nt i n a , a c o ok e d s au s a ge . T he re c ip e c ome s f rom a n old f r iend of t he f a m i ly.

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PORTRAIT

N O , I T

’

S

N O T

J U S T A

B O U

T

B O L O G N E

S E

BOLOGNA COMBINES T R A D I T I O N A N D AVA N T - G A R D E I N ITS UNIQUE GASTRONOMIC SCENE. JOIN US ON A JOURNEY TO T H E CA P I TA L OF T H E E M I L I A- RO M AG NA R E GI O N A N D M E E T I T S B O N V I VA N T I N H A B I T A N T S

T E X T

_ _ _

V I TO AVA N TA R I O _ _ _ ENVER H IRS CH

P H OTO G R A P H Y

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P U R E

S T Y L E

W hate ver t he t y pe of c u l i na r y e st abl i sh ment t he y enter, B olog na residents always like to leave it looking spotless

ITALY I S N OT A COUN T R Y where going by the book gets you anywhere fast. No matter how simple the task, achieving it is, in Italy more than any country, a matter of personal connections. And because it’s all about who you know, keeping up with people is important.

And the best way to keep up with Italians, of course, is to have them round or take them out for a good meal.

That’s why food is the safest industry in Italy, completely immune to political crises, economic downturns, and the vicissitudes of sporting endeavour. The Italian football team could go down the pan – no, the entire country could be on its knees – and still, the food business would keep going as if nothing were amiss.

This insight is nothing new. In the foreword to On the Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well, his seminal cookbook published in 1881, Pellegrino Artusi wrote that, for any Italian, good food is one of the most important things in life. Proving his own point, gastronome Artusi is considered second only to national icon Giuseppe Garibaldi as a father of modern Italy. During the Risorgimento between 1848 and 1870, guerrilla warrior Garibaldi fought three wars for Italian independence, unifying the peninsula after centuries of small statehood and foreign dominance. Artusi’s role was to unify the young nation’s palate by drawing together recipes from the various, previously independent regions to create a pan-Italian cuisine.

Artusi was from Forlimpopoli, a town in Emilia-Romagna, the region considered the country’s culinary treasure trove: Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Pa-

46

dano, Parma ham and mortadella, tortellini, tortelloni, and tagliatelle. . . Of the 295 Italian foods which have European PDO protection (protected designation of origin) and cannot be produced elsewhere, 44 come from Emilia-Romagna.

So in a country famed for its cuisine, this region is something approaching gastronomic paradise; that in turns makes Bologna, its capital and centre, a kind of heaven on earth for gourmets. Some call it la rossa – ‘the red city’ – because of its red roofs; others, though, call it la grassa, or ‘the fat city’, because of the excellent food that, in its market district, is quite literally everywhere.

It’s also sometimes called ‘the learned city’, la dotta, due to its ancient university dating back to 1088. Mozart came here to study; Rossini worked in the city; Umberto Eco lectured at the university; Lucio Dalla composed his rousing pop songs here, too.

Bologna is a city that loves its art and its food – and that love is reciprocated by art and by food. Indeed, the city couldn’t exist without its artistic and culinary muses. Nor could it live without its market district, either, the quartiere mercato. Once a market of quite a different kind, the former red-light district now draws in gourmets from across town – and from everywhere else, too.

Who are the people who produce the city’s worldfamous food, though, with their own hands? Who are the people who sell it in their own shops, on their own stalls? We sent a team of reporters to Bologna to find out and portray them over the coming pages. - TI

PORTRAIT

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T R E E

O F

L I F E

Artichokes, aubergines and parsley: every visit to the market is a source of culinary inspiration – and a great place to meet neighbours, friends and food professionals.

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PORTRAIT

” F L AT

PA S TA ,

L O N G

PA S TA ,

R O U N D

PA S TA“

DA N I E L A , 6 1 , A N D M ON IC A V E N T U R I , 5 5 , A R E ‘SF O G L I N E’ W H O M A K E PA S TA W I T H T RU E C O N V I C T I O N A N D D E D I C AT I O N .

“SFOGLIA? That’s the word we use to describe dough when it’s been rolled out flat before we make it into pasta. It means ‘leaf’, and by extension ‘puff pastry’.

Through to the 60s, women weren’t considered fit for good society unless they knew how to make it.

No, seriously. We inherited the shop from our mother after she passed away, and we just keep doing what we always did on Sundays at home in any case: friends and family would come around and we’d make the pasta ourselves. We’re just continuing the tradition in her name.

We produce all sorts of pasta: flat pasta, long pasta, round pasta; tagliatelle, spaghettini, tortellini. . . All made to order. Our ingredients are eggs, flour and water. We don’t put anything else in

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(which is why our pasta only keeps for 24 hours).

There are four of us here: we have two other sfogline working for us, they’ve been here for 20 years. What do we sell most of? Lots of tortellini, filled with a mince of loin of pork, mortadella, ham, Parmesan, egg, salt, and a pinch of nutmeg; we also make them with seasonal vegetables for vegetarians.

We get through around 500 eggs a day and on some days we sell 90 kilograms of pasta. That’s a huge amount when you think that one tortellino weighs around two grams.

We work standing up, and we’re here for anything up to ten hours; but you can’t concentrate on making pasta with true dedication if you’re sitting down.” www.lesfogline.it

” T H E R E ’ S

N O

S U C H

T H I N G

A S

M A S S

Q UA L I T Y.“

F R A NC E S C O B ONAG A , 4 5 , RU N S A BA K E R S A N D D E L I C AT E S S E N O F L E G E N DA RY S TAT U S I N T H E C I T Y.

“Our shop for fine foods, Paolo Atti & Figli, was founded 150 years ago by Paolo Atti as a bakery. Bread was all it did. After he died, the shop passed to the women of the family, who kept it running through the generations. The name hasn’t changed, and I now run it with my brother and two sisters, four generations on.

The people of Bologna are probably the most sybaritic in Italy: your typical Bolognese likes nothing more than have someone cook them a good meal with good ingredients – or to do the cooking.

You might say that the whole town has become obsessed with pleasure; not just culinary pleasures, either, but those of art, music, entertainment − of life in general, actually. So whatever we do – sausages, cheese, pasta, panettone, or pralines – we do ourselves, by

hand. The bread, too, of course. People here don’t only look for good, wholesome, tasty loaves; they look for nicely shaped ones, too. Our bakery has five members of staff; they start at 2 a.m. and work until 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday are the busiest. They bake around 80 different types of bread; our customers value tradition and one of the most popular breads has strutto, lard and bacon bits, mixed into the dough.

We often get requests to expand our production facilities or to set up branches abroad, but we always say no. Why? Because quality is a thing of value, a thing that can only be achieved through wholesale dedication and concentration on the essentials. There is no such thing as mass-produced quality.“ www.paoloatti.com

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PORTRAIT

” S W E E T

A LWAY S

WO R K S

–

S A D LY.“

BU T T HAT D OE SN ’ T STOP IC E - C R E A M M A K E R M A R I NA M A RC H IOR I , 4 9 , T RY I N G TO G E T C U STOM E R S TO E AT DA R K E R C HO C OL AT E .

“There was a time in the 1970s and early 80s when the ice-cream parlours and patissiers of Bologna were closing en masse. It was almost as if the terrorism that had the country in its grip had stopped people wanting sweet treats. And it was during those years that I learned my craft from Bologna’s oldest ice-cream maker. I quickly learned that sweet always works – sadly.

Trying to broaden people’s palates to include bitter flavours is harder.

When I opened my shop on Via Castiglioni back in 1994, it took a lot of courage to leave the chocolate ice cream the way I thought it should taste. Chocolate, after all, is made of cocoa, and cocoa is naturally bitter.

Today, our bitter chocolate ice cream is the most popular. One thing to remember is that Bologna is one of 50

the few places in Italy where people also eat ice cream in the winter. That means that I can’t shut down for a month like others do: we work all year round. ‘We’remainly women: my view is that we women work more thoroughly and more tidily than men – and we have a more delicate sense of taste.

Nevertheless, the person who has had the biggest influence on my work is a man: my father. He was a machine builder. As a young woman, I never wanted to have anything to do with machines, but I’ve ended up dealing with them every day: ice-cream machines!

What he taught me was that true enjoyment isn’t to be had from decadence and opulence, but rather from things that are small, exclusive, special.” www.lasorbetteria.it

” B A M! L AW Y E R S

T H E R E

YO U

G O:

B O L O G N E S E! “

R O S A LU C E N T E , 5 2 , A N D PAO L A TA S S I , 5 7 , A N D C ON SE RV E T R A DI T IONA L R E C I P E S .

“We’re friends and have been cooking for each other for years. At one point, we decided we wanted to start cooking for strangers, too, and so we joined a network called Le Cesarine.

In Bologna, it’s not just the upper crust who have always eaten well – the man or woman on the street has never gone hungry either. In 2004, Professor Egeria di Nallo set up Le Cesarine in order to make sure that traditional Italian recipes get passed down to the next generations. Today, there are around 400 Cesarine across the country, 15 of us here in Bologna. Visitors can book us on the website and we prepare them a meal at home like our grandmothers used to.

One we like to do is Tagliatelle al ragú – no-one in Bologna eats the internationally famed dish called Spag-

C U R AT E

hetti Bolognese. Meat sauces are only ever served with tagliatelle here because the thicker strands hold them better than spaghetti.

Everyone in Bologna has their own recipe for the ragú.

Our ingredients are onions, carrots, celeriac, a lot of pork mince (far less beef than most people from abroad expect), and some pancetta. We fry it all in butter in a pan (contrary to what people consider typically Italian, people don‘t use a lot of olive oil around here) and then it simmers for two or three hours with tomato puree and passata or tinned tomatoes. Some people add a bay leaf and a glass of white wine and let it cook for another couple of hours. Then, all of a sudden, bam! There you go: ragú a la Bolognese.” www.cesarine.it

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PORTRAIT

” T H E

OF

G R E AT

U N I F I E R “

I N F OR L I M P OP OL I , 5 0 M I L E S S OU T H - E AST B OL O G NA , T H E C AS A A RT U SI STA N D S AS A M ON U M E N T T H E G OU R M E T – A N D F OU N DE R OF I TA L IA N C U I SI N E – P E L L E G R I NO A RT U SI .

When you get to the first roundabout in Forlimpopoli, you’ll see a man in coat tails with a cane, a top hat, and one hell of a moustache. He’s a statue, of course, welcoming visitors to the town in which Pellegrino Artusi was born, back in 1820. Who was he? A man of fundamental importance to Italian cooking.

Aged 45, businessman Artusi found himself wanting a change of career, and friends encouraged him to write a book about cookery. So he set to work on a collection of recipes covering all of Italy. A well-travelled man both in and outside the country, and a gourmet, wit, and literary talent to boot, Artusi had women from across Italy send him their recipes and then started writing.

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Publishers turned him down, though: food and cookery weren’t considered as important as they are today.

It wasn’t until 1891, by then 71 years old, that Artusi finished his book. The first edition was a flop, but the second run became a hit across Italy; by the thirteenth edition, the original 475 recipes had grown to 790. In a way, Artusi brought Sicilian sardines to the north of the country and Piedmont truffles to the south. The book isn’t just his work, though, but that of the many, many housewives who sent him their recipes. Really, what Artusi did was to network Italy in a culinary sense: you might say that he was the country’s first food blogger. www.casartusi.it

” C H E E K

FAT

C A N

TA K E

M O R E

H E AT “

S A LUM I E R E DAV I DE SI M ON I , 3 7 , M A K E S S AU S AG E S U SI NG T I M E - HONO U R E D R E C I P E S .

“I was born here, in the same part of town as our salumeria. We call the area the quadrellato because it’s rectangular, but internationally, it’s become famous as the quartiere mercato, or market quarter. It used to be a red-light district, but now people come from far and wide to shop for food here.

My profession is being a salumiere, a salami-maker; in Italy, you need to do vocational training before you can call yourself a salumiere. One of my specialities is mortadella; in the 18th century, there were over 200 people making mortadella in the city. A local delicacy that isn’t so well-known abroad, however, is the galantina: lots of younger people have never heard of it – or don’t like it. Elderly ladies still buy it for their husbands, though.

Every salumiere in Bologna has his own way of making galantina. My method is as follows: I take fine mince

– a mix of pork, chicken and turkey – and add cooked egg yolks and raw egg whites, pistachios, Parmesan, salt and pepper and lard – fat from the pig’s cheeks is best because it can take higher temperatures. Then it gets rolled up like a roulade, wrapped up in paper and foil, and cooked in hot water for an hour. Finally, it cools for 24 hours in the fridge and can be sliced the next day.

The average galantina weighs around 2.5 kg. It’s particularly popular at Easter, and we make around 20 a week during that run-up to the festivities. Our recipe comes from a family friend who has since passed away.

We currently have 35 members of staff, but we don’t want to get any bigger. Instead, we want to focus on doing what we do even better. Our aim is for visitors to the city to hear about us and come to find out more. www.salumeriasimoni.it

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HOME-MADE

A

HE A LT H Y SECR E T

IF YOU ’ V E N EV E R DON E IT BE FOR E , FE R M E N T I NG V EGETA BL E S CA N SEE M LIK E A M YSTER IOUS PROCE SS – A N D A DI F F IC U LT ON E . G E T I T R IG H T, T HOUG H , A N D Y O U ’ L L B E R E WA R D E D W I T H A P O W E R F U L H E A L T H F O O D .

I N G A PAU L S E N T R I E S M A K I N G K I M C H I .

T E X T

_ _ _

IN G A

M I C R O O R G A N I S M S aren’t afraid of the dark. In fact, they love it. As long as it’s neither too hot nor too cold, they get active; at anywhere between 15 and 20°C, they start multiplying at speed, immediately assigning every new member of the family a role in their important work. At this temperature, no preservative can stop them from fulfilling their mission of turning organic material into acid, gas and alcohol. At least, that is what they’re supposed to be doing, but when I

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look at the napa cabbage in my preserving jar, nothing much seems to be happening. Then, suddenly, a small bubble pops and starts a slow climb up the glass wall.

I look at the literature and, yes, this means that the vegetables are now starting to ferment.

Wine, cheese, beer, sourdough, kombucha, chocolate: none of these would exist without fermentation. Yet in recent years, the lion’s share of the media attention for fermented foodstuffs has gone to preserved vegetab-

P H OTO G R A P H Y: K A I W EI SE; S T Y L I N G: K ER S T I N R I CH T ER

les. The main reason isn’t the flavours, popular though they may be among top-flight chefs; no, the hype is about the health benefits of kimchi, sauerkraut, and various other types of pickled brassicas. They’re packed with pre- and probiotic cultures and encourage the right type of intestinal flora, having a positive effect on both the digestive and immune systems; and because the vegetables are not cooked, they retain their vitamins. Although these scientifically proven insights were not available then, Genghis Kahn’s warriors were fully aware of the benefits of fermented vegetables, taking preserved napa cabbage in their saddlebags as they crossed the steppes on their journeys of conquest into Europe.

The Mongols weren’t the only people who had come to value this method of preserving food. One of the best known and oldest of fermenting recipes is kimchi, Korea’s national dish made of napa cabbage; and because it doesn’t take long until you can eat it, it’s perfect for a starter like me. Before I start, I talk to two fermentation experts, Marie and Markus Schulz, who write a blog called Sauer macht glücklich – translated word for word out of German, it means “sour makes happy”. It turns out that all I need are vegetables, salt, water, a container and time; the couple from Nürnberg send me a 950 ml preserving jar and a starter kit – and wish me luck. The container has a large opening at the top so that you can put the ingredients in and push them down; it also comes with a weight made of food-safe glass which keeps the contents under the salt brine, keeping them away from oxygen and thus the danger of mould. The really special feature of the jar, though, is the lid which, during fermentation, is swapped for what is called a “pickle pipe airlock”. It’s a one-way valve which allows CO₂ to escape and is, as Maria points out, important: “Carbon dioxide is produced during fermentation and, if it couldn’t get out, the jar might end up exploding.” Once my kimchi is ready, I’ll be able to switch back to the normal lid and close the jar, sealing it until I need it. Very clever indeed!

So now it’s time to get started. First, I buy the ingredients (realising that the recipe is vegan as I do so); I go to a farmers’ market to make sure that it’s all as fresh as can be. Back at home, I stir 150 grams of salt into three litres of water, cut the head of napa cabbage into quarters and leave it in the brine for six hours. Then I grate some ginger, mince some garlic, and wash carrots and a leek before cutting them into slices. For seasoning, I put garlic, ginger, and Korean gochugaru chilli powder into a mortar and work them into a paste which I then stir with soy sauce and a tablespoon of brine. Next, I let the cabbage drip dry and then cut it into strips before mixing it well with the seasoning paste – it’s best to use your hands here, I learn (and also learn that a torn nail and chilli paste do not make good bedfellows. . .) The mixture then goes into the fermentation jar, which I sterilised beforehand; I use a wooden pestle to push it all down until the jar is almost full and all of the vegetable strips are covered by the salt brine. Then I put the weight on the top and

close it using the airlock lid. Finally, I stand back to admire my work before covering it with a tea towel – as mentioned, this transformation will only happen in the dark. Several days later, though, the only visible change is that little bubble.

It’s been a week now, though, and nothing more has happened. That – if you’ll forgive the pun – jars somewhat, and so I ask Maria and Marco if they’re sure I shouldn’t have added lactobacilli, but they assuage my fears: fermenting without a starter culture takes longer, they say, but the end result tastes better. So over the weekend, I leave my little microorganisms to do their thing in the dark; but at ten days, my patience is exhausted and I go to take a peak under the tea towel.

A reddish liquid shoots out of the airlock and onto my face, the shelf, and the window.

It smells of cabbage, garlic and ginger. After another ten days, it’s finally time to stop waiting and start eating. I open the jar, change the lid, and head to the editorial office with it under my arm. When I open it up in our staff kitchen, one of my colleagues whose mother is South Korean exclaims: “It smells just like my mum’s kitchen!” I swell with pride. What’s more, it tastes good, too: not as sour as I’d expected; nice and spicy.

THE INGREDIENT KIMCHI RECIPE ( A P P R O X I M AT E LY 9 5 0 M L ) 1 N APA C ABB AGE 3 C ARROT S 1 LEEK 150 G S ALT 2‒3 CLOV ES OF G ARLIC 70 G FRESH GIN GER 2‒3 TBS GOCHUG AR U (KOREAN CHILLI P OW DER) 2‒ 3 TBS SOY S AUCE

Wash the cabbage, remove the stalk, and cut into quarters. Heat 2.5 litres of water and dissolve the salt in it; pour the brine into a large bowl, put the quartered cabbage into it, and use a plate to weigh it down.

Leave the cabbage to soak for around six hours. Wash the rest of the vegetables and then cut the carrots and leek into slices. Grate the ginger and mince the garlic; crush the ginger, the garlic, and the gochugaru in a mortar until it is a paste; stir in soy sauce and around five tablespoons of salt brine.

Let the cabbage drip dry before cutting it into strips; mix it with the vegetables and the paste before putting it into a sterilised fermentation jar. Stamp the cabbage mixture down into the jar to avoid bubbles of air and add salt brine until it covers the mixture entirely. Place a food-safe weight over the contents to make sure that the kimchi stays immersed in the salt mixture and that mould cannot spread. If you don’t have an airlock lid, just cover the jar with a normal lid but don’t screw it shut so that the gases which develop during the fermentation process can escape. Now leave the kimchi at room temperature in the dark for one to three weeks to ferment to taste. - TI 55

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S M O O T H , C R E A M Y, S T R O N G : SAU C E S A R E T H E T RU E STA R S I N A N Y G O OD K I T C H E N. L E T US TA K E YOU T H ROUG H T H E MOST I M P ORTA N T T E C H N IQU E S F O R S A U C E S , S T E P B Y S T E P.

T E X T _ _ _ I N G A PAUL S EN P H OTO G R A P H Y _ _ _ REINH ARD H UN GER ST Y L IN G _ _ _ C H RISTOPH H IM M EL

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DEGL A Z ING A ND R EDUCING W H E N L I Q U I D H I T S T H E S M O K I N G H O T R E S I D U E AT T H E B O T T O M O F A PA N , I T C R E AT E S T H E B A S E F O R I N T E N S I V E , S AV O U R Y G R AV Y. N O W J U S T L E T H E AT – A N D T I M E – D O T H E R E S T.

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A S U N D A Y R O A S T W O U L D N ’ T TA S T E H A L F A S G O O D W I T H O U T I T – fresh gravy has dyed-in-the-wool fans the world over, and its strong savoury character is the result of correct technique. The principle behind a good gravy is that it bundles all of the cooking flavours in the meat, bones, and vegetables used in a meal – and a few other additions besides. Deglazing the pan or pot used to fry meat with water, wine and stock removes the browned residue from the bottom, dissolving them to form an aromatic stock as the basis for a sauce. Left to simmer uncovered for a long stretch, the mixture will lose water to evaporation, intensifying the flavour of the remaining liquid as it reduces.

Why would you need to add any more flavouring?

HOW TO DO IT:

1

2

Heat oil in a pot and fry the stock bones (see spring venison recipe in the booklet) along with bacon bits, vegetables and seasoning on a high heat for around 30 minutes. Once the bottom of the pot is covered with browned residue, it’s time to deglaze. Pour liquid into the pan – this is often wine at first, but may vary according to the recipe you are using – and use a wooden spoon to scrape the dark spots from the bottom of the pot. Leave the sauce to reduce somewhat and then pour in more liquid; repeat until all of the liquid in the recipe has been added.

Pour the sauce in the pot through a sieve into a saucepan and simmer on a low heat if you want to improve the consistency; now is the time to taste the sauce and adjust seasoning if necessary.

The concentrated sauce – also called jus – can be frozen and reheated prior to serving.

To finish the sauce, whisk in around 50 g of cold butter cut into cubes; this is called monter au beurre and gives the sauce more body and an attractive sheen, as well as adding a creamy note.

If you are making a roast meal, you can either fry the bones or roast them in a pan in the oven at high temperatures; they are the basis for the meaty flavour of gravy. Bouquet garni, vegetables and tomato puree give the sauce a savoury intensity.

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T HICK ENING W IT H AG A R-AG A R I F YO U ’ R E M A K I N G A S W E E T F R U I T S A U C E , Y O U N E E D A B I N D I N G AG E N T T H AT D O E S N ’ T A LT E R T H E F L AVO U R . AG A R-AG A R I S E A S Y TO U S E – A N D D O E S N ’ T D E N AT U R E V I TA M I N S .

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IT GOES WITH ICE CREAM, CRÊPES, OR PUDDINGS AND DUMPLINGS –

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wherever it’s served, a good fruit sauce is guaranteed to get plaudits. The quickest way to make one is simply to puree berries and, et voilà, it’s a fruit sauce. If you want to make one out of citrus fruits, apples, or pears, however, you’ll need to work differently in order to get a thick, smooth sauce. The best way of doing it is to use agar-agar, a plant-based thickening agent made from dried algae. As well as being wholly flavourless and able to bind liquids in a matter of minutes, agar-agar also has the distinct advantage of not needing to be heated for an extended period of time; this means that aromas, vitamins, and a range of secondary phytochemicals in the juice of the fruit are not denatured.

HOW TO DO IT:

1

2

To make a citrus fruit sauce (see recipe booklet), squeeze the juice out of lemons, limes, or oranges and then mix it with agar-agar and the amount of water specified on the packaging.

Next, heat sugar in a saucepan until it caramelises, making sure that it doesn’t darken too much (this will make it bitter).

Once the caramel has taken on a light golden hue, add the prepared juice mixture and stir vigorously. As soon as the juice has thickened, you can remove the saucepan from the heat and add other flavours as desired: liqueurs, vanilla seeds, cinnamon, zest, or even a pinch of ground dried chilli peppers from a pestle and mortar.

Before adding the freshly pressed juice to the caramelised sugar, mix it with agar-agar. As a tasty extra, add sliced fillets of citrus fruit to the dessert.

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TECHNIQUE

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TECHNIQUE

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B INDING S AUCE S W IT H A ROU X D E L I C AT E LY F L AV O U R E D L I G H T S A U C E S H AV E A S T R O N G T R A D I T I O N I N M A N Y E U R O P E A N C U I S I N E S . T H E S EC R E T B E H I N D T H E I R C R E A M Y CONSISTENC Y IS FLOUR AND BUT TER .

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W H AT D O B É C H A M E L , S A U C E M O R N A Y A N D V E L O U T É H A V E I N C O M M O N ?

They don’t rely on flavour-intensive browned-on residue in the pan as their base and are bound using a cooked mix of flour and butter. It is this roux which gives the sauces their inimitable smoothness and, as such, it is also often used to thicken soups and fricassees. To make a roux, one part butter and one part flour are combined on a low heat; the paste is then added to liquids such as milk or stock (vegetable, poultry or fish); various notes of flavour can then be added with fresh or sweated herbs, vegetables, white pepper, nutmeg and a squirt of lemon juice. In Italian cuisine, cheese is added to white sauces to make pasta dishes.

HOW TO DO IT:

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1

2

Melt butter in a saucepan and, if desired, sweat aromatic additions such as chopped onions in it. The same weight of flour is then dusted over the hot butter and whisked in the pan to form the yellow mass referred to as the roux (see photo below).

A classic béchamel is made by stirring warm milk into the roux and bringing the mixture to the boil so that it thickens to form a creamy sauce.

Alternatively, you can use your roux to bind a soup or fricassee (see recipe booklet for the latter).

Take a ladle of the cooking liquid and stir it into the roux, waiting for it to thicken somewhat before returning it to the soup or fricassee, stirring constantly. To make sure the starch from the roux is dissolved into the whole sauce, you will need to bring your soup or fricassee to the boil; stir strongly and don’t apply too much heat so that it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pot.

For a light sauce, the flour and butter should be golden yellow (roux blond) when the liquid is added.

For darker sauces, the butter can be browned (roux brun).

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W HI SK ING A ND E MUL SIF Y ING T O M A K E A C R E A M Y H O L L A N DA I S E , YO U N E E D T H E F R E S H E S T O F EG G S , T H E V E R Y B E S T B U T T E R , AND SKILL.

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I N T R A D I T I O N A L F R E N C H C U I S I N E , R A W E G G I S A T H I C K E N I N G A G E N T.

Egg yolks contain a range of substances called lecithin which act as emulsifiers, binding fat, water and other ingredients into a delicious, creamy emulsion. The taste is so good that it should come as no surprise that the sauce hollandaise has a long history dating back to Normandy in the early eighteenth century. In its simple form, the buttery flavour of hollandaise goes perfectly with vegetables, meat and fish; it can also be used as the basis for a range of other sauces such as sauce Béarnaise, sauce Maltaise and sauce Choron.

Which ever version you make, the emulsification process requires no small deal of skill: if the egg is heated too strongly, it coagulates and the luxuriously creamy sauce curdles – the only option is to start all over again. For beginners, the best method is to work over a water bath.

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HOW TO DO IT:

1

2

To make a lime-flavoured hollandaise (see recipe booklet), the first step is to melt the butter on a medium heat in an uncovered saucepan; once it starts to foam, turn the temperature down and leave it to simmer for 1-2 minutes so that the water in it evaporates off.

Then remove the pan from the heat and skim off the foam with its impurities.

Prepare a bain-marie, remembering to make sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water below; if direct heat is applied, the yolk will curdle before you’ve even had time to add the 2-3 tablespoons of cold water you need to start with. Then, stir in the clarified butter – slowly – until it has all been emulsified in the sauce. Once the consistency is perfect, season the sauce with salt, pepper and any other flavours you want to add.

Lime juice and zest can add a note of freshness to this creamy sauce, but be sparing so as to make sure you don’t mask the delicate buttery aromas.

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TIME BREAD IS LIKE LI F E ITSELF: G O OD T H I NG S TA K E T I M E .

T I M E T O P ROV E .

A N E S SAY BY LUTZ GEISSLER.

WORKS T E X T

_ _ _

P H OTO G R A P H Y _ _ _ ST Y L IN G

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LU TZ GEIS S LER _ _ _ REINH ARD H UN GER C HRISTOPH

H IM M EL

ESSAY

B r e a d h a s mu c h i n c o m m o n w i th the funda ment a ls of huma n e x i st e n c e : it r equ i r es g rai n t ha t gr ow s onl y when st ones, mi l l io n s o f year s o l d , sl ow l y d ecompose over hundr eds of t h o u s a n d s o f year s an d l eave t heir va lua ble minera l wea lth in t h e gr o u n d . T h er e i s al r ead y mor e time in this gra in t h a n we c a n i m ag i ne. It seem s logica l, then, t o give br ea d the t i m e t h a t it d eser ves. So m e c u ltur es in r emo t e cor ner s of t h e g l o b e have n o t er m at all f or time. Their ever yday lives ar e c h a ra c t er i sed by p at i enc e a nd slownes s.

Fo r u s , c o nver sel y, t he c l o c k se ts the r hythm a nd r ules s up r e me over ever y d ay l i f e. T h e def inition of succes s is ach i ev i n g t he m o st p o s si b l e i n the shor t est a mount of time.

N ow h e r e e l se i s t hi s so c l ear as in the f ood industr y.

Fo r d e c a d e s , i t has b een t r y i n g t o op timise pr oduction t o a n ever gr e a t e r d eg r ee; t h i s i s t he ca se f or industr ia l-sca le ba k ing just a s i t is f o r m as s ani m al h usba ndr y or ba tt er y fa r ming.

TO P RODU CE THE L ARGES T AMOUNT POS SIBLE IN THE S H OR T E S T TIME PER IOD: FOR AS LONG AS W E C AN R E M E MBE R, THIS HAS BEEN OUR HIG H-OUTP UT SOCIE T Y ’ S MOS T I M P O R TAN T GOAL. QUALIT Y, RE SOURCE S, H U M A N A N D AN IMAL HEALTH, AND , L AS T – BUT BY NO M E ANS LE A S T – TAS TE HAVE FALLEN BY THE WAY SID E .

Fo r s o me t i m e, t h e p arad i g m h a s been shif ting. It is in s om e t h in g si mp l e l i ke b r ead , t he oldest f ood in the wor ld, tha t t h i s c h a n g e i s m o st c l ear l y v i sible.

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ESSAY

M o r e a n d mo r e p eo p l e ar e c raf ting t a sty br ea ds using a sma ll n um b e r o f i n g r ed i en t s, g r eat er ca r e, f ewer c omp l e x va r i at i o ns, and p l en t y of time. Ther e is t a lk of the ” J a p a n i s a t i o n “ o f t he b aki ng t ra de, of r eduction an d o f c o n c en t rat i o n o n t he es sentia ls. S ome ba ker s onl y of f er a s m a l l s e l e ct i o n o f b r ead s, b u t these a r e of e xqu i s i t e qual i t y. T h ei r p r o d u c e is f ounded in a n instinct f or n at u ra l i n gr ed i en t s and i n su c ces sful coopera tion wi t h t h e b r eed er s, far m er s and miller s who think a nd wor k like th e m. T h e ir p r o d u c t s e xhi b i t h a ndiwor k of the h i g h e st qu a li t y. T hey o f t en c o st double the pr ice of ba ked g oo d s f r o m the su p er m ar ke t , but const a ntl y s e ll o u t . G o o d b r ead need s o n l y f lour, wa t er, sa lt, time, an d h u m i l i t y t owar d s t he d o u gh. It is pr ecisel y beca use br ea d i s b e c o m i n g i n c r easi n g l y har d t o digest tha t the fa ct or o f t im e p l ays su c h a l ar g e p ar t in it .

DOU G H N EEDS TIME TO PROVE. W HY ? BE C AUSE SOM E COMP ON E NT S OF GR AIN AR E NOT BE NE FICIAL TO THE HUM AN B O DY, LI K E THE S ECONDARY PH Y TOCHE M IC AL S T H AT PL A N T S U S E AS PROTECTION AG AINS T HUNG RY PRE DATORS. IF WE T RY TO S PEED U P THE D OUG H ’S P ROVING PRO C E S S W ITH B AK IN G YEAS T OR FUNCTION AL E NZY M E -B ASE D PRO C E S S E S, MANY C RITIC AL SUBS TANCE S C ANNOT B E B RO K E N DOWN. Howeve r, if t h e d o u g h has en o ugh time t o r est, with the help of a s o u r d o u g h st ar t er f o r i nst ance, the r esult is a loa f t h a t i s easi l y d i g est i b l e, o f f er s a well-ba la nced ener gy s up p l y, a n d t ast es j u st l i ke b r ea d should. The ha llma r k o f t h i s k i n d o f l o af i s a har d c r ust tha t splits be tween the 66

PERFECTION IS WHEN THERE IS NOTHING M O R E T O L E A V E O U T. t e e t h a n d l e aves a b i t t er swee t t a st e on the t ongue, w h il e t h e c r ump – st i l l d amp – while the ela stic dough, pr es s on t h e p a l a t e and d evel o p t hei r full a r oma ther e.

Wa t c h in g d o u g h r i se, g i v i n g i t r oom t o unf old, ca n be f ood f or con t e mp l a t i o n . Even c h i l d r en a r e t a ught tha t t h e a r t o f wa i t i ng l ead s t o b e t t er things. This is a bout i n tr o d u c i n g si mp l i c i t y and h u mility int o lif e, a nd thus int o f o o d . T h e s e v i r t u es ar e d i sap p ea r ing in our fa st-moving times.

B r e a d is n o ur i shm en t , no t j u st f or the body, but f o r t h e so u l . Wh en I b ake br ea d, I r ef ocus on myself.

I t i s a n in t im at e p r o c es s, and sensous, t oo. It tra nspor ts me away f r o m ever y d ay l i f e. T h i s also e xpla ins the high de m a n d f o r b o o k s and c o u r ses on the t opic. S ome simpl y wa nt t o r e c r e a t e go o d b r ead , w h i l e o ther s a r e look ing f o r a n e s c a p e fr o m st r es sfu l d ay-t o-day lif e. For them, ba k ing br e a d is l ike l and i n g o n an i sl and of tra nquillity.

A B O U T T H E

A U T H O R

LUTZ GEISSLER, 34, a science graduate, has turned his passion for bread into a career. He impar ts his philosophy of bread-making through courses and in his blog Plötzbrot. Geißler has published several books on the topic and is considered one of the top experts in his field.

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Yo u m i g h t l a u g h , b u t t h e e c o l o g i c a l l y a n d ergonomically-friendly alternative to plastic bags i s t h i s b e a u t i f u l b a s k e t - w e a v e t r o l l e y, t h e Shopper Natura XXL made by Andersen-Shopper M a n u f a k t u r. M a d e o f w i l l o w, t h e c o n t a i n e r i s s t r o n g and stable, offering a volume of 77 litres and thus enough room for a weekly shop at the Saturday market. A clever special feature is that the elasticated wheels can be dismounted in just a few easy moves. From €155 w w w. a n d e r s e n - s h o p p e r. d e

RETRO GRANNY TROLLEY

PRODUCTS

T h i s h a n d m a d e g l a s s b o w l b y AY T M o f f e r s a designer backdrop for the kind of crisp salad or fresh fruit you can only get at the market.

Its sturdy marble base makes sure it stays put and also keeps the contents cool for longer if you chill it in the fridge before use. Around €220 w w w. ay t m . d k

SHOWTIME FOR SALADS

P

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SELECTED BY

NEFF

Our selected collection-coming soon in the NEFF shop.

S T O R E , P R E PA R E A N D S E R V E , W E ’ V E B E E N O N T H E L O O KO U T F O R T H I N G S T O M A K E S U R E YO U R F O O D I S E A S Y T O T R A N S P O R T,

T O T H E M A R K E T. H E R E A R E S E V E N T H I N G S YO U ’ L L W O N D E R H O W T H AT W I L L H E L P YO U M A K E T H E M O S T O F YO U R V I S I T YO U M A N AG E D W I T H O U T.

MORE THAN JUST A MILL

W h e t h e r i t ‘s p e p p e r, m u s t a r d s e e d s o r dried chillies: these cast-iron grinders by the Danish design company Carl & Carl can be used both to mill and to store herbs and spices.

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HELPERS

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The XL cube box, for instance, offers two spaces, allowing you to keep your s a n d w i c h e s i n o n e a n d , s a y, a s a l a d i n t h e o t h e r. € 2 7 . 9 5 w w w. e c ob r o t b ox . d e

LO OKING SHARP

P H OTO G R A P H Y: LU N CH B OX : W W W.J A N R OT T L ER .D E

BUTTER FINGERS! I c a n ’ t b e l i e v e i t ’s n o t . . . n o , w a i t , i t i s b u t t e r. Wi t h t h i s g l a s s K i l n e r - j a r b u t t e r c h u r n e r, a l l y o u n e e d to do to make your own butter is put cream in and then turn the handle at a decent clip for a few minutes. Why not try adding herbs or other ingredients? Around €27.50 w w w. k i l n e r j a r. c o. u k

The comfortable walnut wood handles and the stainless steel frames are a joy to hold; the photo-etched steel blades are extremely sharp precision cutters which really slice food rather than crushing it. Impressed?

We a r e t o o , a s w e r e t h e j u d g e s a t t h e R e d D o t D e s i g n Aw a r d 2 0 1 7 w h o g a v e t h i s m a s t e r ’s s e r i e s b y Microplane first prize. The five different slicers mean that the collection has a grater for each and ever y kind of food. From €34.95 w w w. mi c r o p l an e - b r an d s h o p. c o m

HEY PRESTO! IT’S PERFECT PESTO! Ta k e s o m e f r e s h b a s i l , g a r l i c , P a r m e s a n , pine kernels and the very best olive oil and put it all in this shiny red mortar made of high-resistance, o v e n s a f e c e r a m i c w a r e b y E m i l e H e n r y.

It looks fantastic before you’ve even started to use the pestle; when you do, the glazed interior will soon be covered by deliciously aromatic pesto. € 2 9 . 9 5 w w w. e mi l e h e nr y. c o m

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FINAL QUESTION

NOTHING L ASTS FOREVER A N D T H A N K H E AV E N S I T D O E S N ’ T! A N O D E T O D EC AY, W I T H O U T W H I C H M A N Y F O O D S T U F F S W O U L D N ’ T TA S T E A N Y W H E R E N E A R A S G O O D

IMPRINT

J U S T R E C E N T L Y , I was at one

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of those markets on La Palma, that pearl of the Canary Islands: at one of the stands, a farmer was offering slices of dried plantain to try, skewered on toothpicks as samples always seem to be. And plátano deshidratado is something very special: dry but not chewy or sticky, slightly leathery in terms of consistency, poised between intense sweetness and mild acidity.

I wondered how the farmer got them to taste like that? He explained that he had simply left them to dry in his car for three days. ”The most important thing is to use overripe bananas – the ones whose skins are already brown, just before they start rotting.“ That got me thinking about when I had last seen a brown banana. Not in a supermarket: they get rid of their fruit as soon as the first brown spots appear. The rubbish bin is a better place to start: after all, the average consumer buys almost 15 kilograms of bananas over the course of a year, three of which end up as food waste.

I was on holiday – i.e. I was here to forget about problems like cheap food and overproduction, about the way we lack even the most basic respect for what keeps us all alive. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop myself musing about the nature of decay, and with that, I started to notice it everywhere I looked. The salt on my classic wrinkly potatoes?

Evaporated seawater. The wine?

Fermented grape juice. The cheese platter to round off the meal? Shrivelled rinds, crumbling interiors, and often addled with blue mould. All of this enjoyed as the sun went down.

I followed up the meal with a glass of whisky, or: grain mashed, mixed with fungus, and then left for decades in oak barrels. The table, and the chair, too, were nothing less than dead tree.

It was a wonderful evening. Suddenly, it didn’t seem like too much of a leap to think of the retro mopeds the islanders use to get around their mountainous home, or indeed the petroglyphs, the rock carvings made by the island’s prehistoric residents and, today, a tourist attraction. All of this, of course, happened long after La Palma was created by a fire-spitting volcano and then eroded into its present form by wind and waves.

So why, if its results are so beautiful, have we, from the beginning of recorded history, been so afraid of it?

The Sumerians recorded their distaste for decay on clay tablets; Michel de Montaigne complains about it in his essays; today, reports by business lobbies accuse governments of allowing infrastructure to go to wrack and ruin.

Whether with preservatives and medicines or with yoga courses and software updates, humans have fought against decay and decline in all their forms. The only explanation is vanitas, our fear of death and our wish to live forever.

Which is all nonsense, because everything that ever lived must die; decay starts at the moment of birth and doesn’t stop for anyone or anything.

I realise this is not a new insight, but it’s also nothing to be afraid of: what actually is there that is not broken up or broken down over the course of a few centuries, at most?

Stones seem to hold their own, as do radioactive waste and plastics.

I buy a couple of pounds of dried plantain and out of sheer habit look at the best-before date: 28th of December 2018. The farmer has a good laugh when he sees me do it – and he’s more than right to.

I’ve eaten them all up now in any case. And discovered that yellow-skinned bananas taste of very little indeed. - TI

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