Jacqueline Church's Blog

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Japanese food making news again. Umami was discovered by a Japanese scientist in the '20s but science thought the book was closed. Four tastes we could sense were defined as sweet, sour, salty, bitter. Umami the fifth taste is now widely accepted to be correctly, a fifth taste. Call it savory. Call it good.

I was reminded of it at my O-makase sushi dinner in Boston's Leather District last night. An artful chef will draw out every umami-flavor he or she can.

The book, Proust was a Neuroscientist is the talk of NPR and foodies, and is fascinating for anyone who loved science and loves understanding how disciplines accept new discoveries. With Proust's iconic Madeline on the cover and discussion of Escoffier's discovery of umami-building techniques, it's really a great read. He does make one shocking error referring to "fond" as "frond", which for a book so promoted as a thinking foodie's book, this is rather jarring.

Anyway, I thought it was time to let you in on the advanced sushi world. Enjoy.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

But I've been wrong before. I was the one that said CDs would never take off because people wanted the tactile experience of a record album and the warm sound that you get from them.

Now it appears that a NYC restaurant is trying to emulate the Dark Dining experience but with blindfolds and performance art. I got excited but the more I read, the less authentic it seemed.

This is the post about it - you really only have to read the comments to see it's the best and worst of what the big apple has to offer.

Ick.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

This article in Fortune Magazine tells about recognition this rock star chef continues to garner. One of the challenges now that people are gaining knowledge of the impact of their food choices. The interesting dilemmas keep asking us to think about the trade off between organic or local for example. Farmed versus wild caught.

It was Chef Seaver who first showed me how to bake fish in salt. Do try this at home, it's a fantastic way to prepare good, fresh, fish.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

First - talking about cookbooks or cooking the books you must check this out. How about a book you must actually cook to read? Thanks to Joseph Hayes for the tip off - this is wild.

This week I wrote about a couple of exciting gift ideas but I think the chocolate-orange cookies I made tonight might be behind my enthusiastic generation of more and more and more ideas. I can't sleep. You benefit. I'm good with that. Someone should.

I might make those cookies for gifts. This year I've decided I'm making homemade gifts. Don't laugh. I know when I hear "homemade gifts" I automatically flashback to a lumpy ashtray I pinched from some clay and painted when I was like 8. It sat on my Dad's desk at work for ages. Who knows, maybe he still has the thing...

I'm talking about something a bit more upscale this year, so those of you on my list who are reading this, don't worry!

So let me tell you about a few more great books to put on your list:

• Raising the Salad Bar -Catherine Walthers, Lake Isle Press - Beautifully photographed and terrifically useful advice and instructions. Beautiful salads for all courses and seasons.
• Murray's Cheese Handbook - For any lover of cheese, this is a must have, easy to use reference book. It's slim and fun.
• Red, White, and Drunk all Over - Natalie MacLean's book mentioned in an earlier column is a well reviewed fun reference for wine lovers.
• Romancing the Vine - Alan Tardi - a lusty real life story of Alan's departure from Manhattan and the restaurant life to Tuscany.

Okay, that's a start. Now get going. It's almost December you know!

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Truffles

My friends at Delicious Italy report the official truffle season is about to begin with the Annual International Truffle auction on December 1 in Florence, Italy.

Rumours abound that a huge specimen was dug up near Pisa.

Mmm mmm mmm.

Don't forget the other kind of truffles - chocolate ones. And my easy, easy recipe for them.

Roasting update:

The wand works. If you prefer stuffing to dressing (that is to say stuffing inside your chicken or turkey) this is well worth the small investment.