Carlo Petrini

The New Zealand Herald has a story about Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food movement, something which is close to the Nihowera heart. It is a great read!

Thanks to Mel for the tip!

New Zealand Wagyu Beef

It recently came to my attention that New Zealand is producing Wagyu Beef. This is exciting! Firstlight is the company distributing New Zealand Wagyu beef.

When I lived in Japan for a few months I often saw this fatty looking beef for sale, however I was never tempted to buy the highly marbled , and expensive, cuts. Fast forward ten years, and I am excited to see such meat at the butcher. I usually trim all visible fat from my steak before cooking, not being a fan of the taste, prefering all sides of the meat to wear a beautiful seared edge.

You can buy New Zealand Wagyu beef at Meat on Tory in Wellington.

Punjabi Spell

For those of you in Wellington interested in Indian food there is to be a demonstration of Punjabi Cuisine at Little India on Monday 23rd July, Tuesday 24th July and Wednesday 25th July at 7pm :

Chef Jugnu Gill, who is also a very successful entrepreneur will demonstrate and prepare a special three course Punjabi meal for the attendees.

Details here.

Mid-winter Christmas Feast Menu

Bron and I are so pleased to present the following menu for the Mid-winter Christmas Feast of 2007 :

Entree
Gravlax - from lemonpi, a delicious and gorgeous way to start a feast.

Main
Traditional Roast Chicken - from Homemades, a fragrant and celebratory main course.

Dessert
Christmas pudding - from Laws of the Kitchen, a great example of Christmas pudding.
Dark Chocolate and Orange Muffins - from Milk and Cookies, beautiful muffins with such Christmas flavour.
Paime - from TriniGourmet, a fantastic dessert to add a delicious and exotic note to your Christmas feast.
Jellies - from so so simple food, a clever and light dessert perhaps to refresh your palate.

Aren't we lucky to be able travel around the world with such talented cooks for the Mid-winter Christmas Feast of 2007? Thank you to everyone who sent us recipes for the Nihowera Mid-winter Christmas Feast.

The Price of Milk

Milk in New Zealand increased in price this week. This price increase has been attributed to increased commodity demand from China, the ongoing drought in Australia and more land in America being used to grow corn for ethanol instead of farming dairy cows.

So milk is even more expensive, more per litre than petrol. I wonder how this affects people, will people have to cut down or ration something so good, perhaps choosing to drink, or give their children, cheap softdrinks?

6 of My Favourite Culinary Podcasts

As I walk to and from work I listen to a podcast, generally one of a culinary nature. Listening to a broadcast on a topic in which you are interested is a fabulous way to learn. Here are 6 of my current favourites :

1. Deconstructing Dinner
2. FOOD PHILOSOPHY
3. KCRW Good Food
4. Eat Feed
5. Hunrgy Magazine
6. Off the Broiler

How I gave up glad wrap

Reducing your packaging is good not only for your wallet - less disposable things to buy - but also the environment. Here is an example - how I gave up glad wrap.

Every time you tear off a piece of glad wrap to cover a bowl or plate of left overs it is more than likely that you will only use that piece of plastic once and throw it away. There are also concerns about the impacts to your health of the plasticizers in the plastic leaching into your food.

These are some substitutes for plastic wrap that I now use :

• When leaving bread dough to rise cover with a damp tea towel.
• Put a plate over a bowl of left overs in the fridge.
• Buy small stainless steel containers to carry snacks to work.
• Reuse glass jars to keep halves of lemon or other small items.
• Wrap things in a tea towel to store or transport.

I have not actually missed glad wrap since that last sticker telling me I had almost run out rolled off the tube.

There is much debate regarding the environmental impacts of manufacturing plastic versus the washing of an alternative. But it seems to me that washing with a biodegradable washing powder is a much better option.