Foodie-ism: an Ascension feast for the eyes

The Feast of the Ascension. What better occasion could there be on which to celebrate a few years of quality advice on food, drink, cooking and merrymaking? We take a look back over dozens of articles to bring you the best of Foodie.fm’s blog.

The black gold breakfast

Let’s begin with morning coffee. Back at the beginning of last year, we talked you through a bunch of inexpensive ways to up your game in the java stakes. In part one, we spilled the beans on grinding, and in part two the secrets of a good pour-over brew were revealed. Then, in part three, we put the spotlight on an inexpensive gadget that makes mockery of coffee makers costing up to a grand or more.

Photo by Yara Tucek

Of course, coffee alone does not make a breakfast. Why not rustle up a smoothie from fresh or frozen berries, one of Finland’s best kept secrets? 

Imaginative lunching

On a public holiday like this, many of the shops are closed, and a bunch of the best restaurants too. So why not cook up a lunch at home with whatever you have lying around, seeking inspiration from some of the best eateries in the game?  There’s Noma, for one, where our competition-winners dined in avant-garde style and lived to tell the tale. Then, of course, there’s also the pick of Copenhagen’s not-quite-the-best-in-the-world scene, which we surveyed a month or two back. 

Biodynamic beauty at Geranium

No expense spared

When dinner time comes around, it’s a case of “no scrimping allowed”. Needless to say, after reading our rallying call to buy organic and buy local, you’ll be well stocked up from your last trip to the farmer’s market, or, dare I say it, your local farmer’s store room.

First fry up a few beautiful steaks in your wonderfully-seasoned (thanks to us) carbon steel pan, before considering the side dishes. Before you start dreaming up something fancy, remember that good, wholesome ingredients can pack a heavy nutritional punch. And then, of course, there’s the root vegetables, a cornerstone of any great, hearty home-cooked meal.

Photo by mecks1

The finishing touches

When it comes to dessert, you’ll be well served by our introduction to the charms of raw chocolate. Finally, should the evening’s entertainment still be undecided, browse our selection of foodie movies. Those should give you the boost you need to plan your next week or two’s menus. After all, as most of you will have gathered by now, the work of a true food lover is never done!

Man of carbon steel

I knew things weren’t right in the kitchen somehow. I’d heard rumours, too vague and obviously uninformed to be absolutely reliable, that a scratch in my non-stock pans could lead to tiny carcinogenic releases into my food. I didn’t want to think about it, but I couldn’t help it. I began using wooden implements so as not to cause any damage to every non-stick surface I came into contact with. A solution of sorts. But as plastics gradually disappeared from my kitchen, disposable left-over containers being replaced with stackable metal tubs, and my ingredients shifted to more or less 100% organic (then more or less 100% seasonal and locally grown), those non-stick pans, besmirched by rumour, became the elephant in the room.

Castaway in iron

So I ditched the non-stick, Teflon, whatever… ditched them completely. A pan recycling day came up at my local department store and off they went. To be replaced by black cast iron frying and grill pans. Which were great; they really were. I wrote a post here to prove it. But you can’t live on cast iron alone. The surface absorbs oils, for one thing, which makes certain things quite tricky. Try making a decent pancake, for example. Or achieving the Maillard reaction on both sides of a beautiful entrecôte steak. I tried. For years. But it wasn’t happening.

But would I go back to non-stick? At times, frying eggs on my mother-in-law’s oh-so-simple Teflon pan, I have to admit I felt the lure. But ultimately the fear of a slow, lingering death held me back. I needed to find the professional solution.

Ever wondered why celebrity chefs’ sponsored lines of kitchenware comprise matching sets of squeaky clean black surfaces, but when the cameras are turned on their Michelin-starred kitchens, the walls are decked out in burnt-up, filthy-looking pans in every size imaginable? The answer is carbon steel.

Smoking griddles for beginners

Now if you buy a carbon steel pan fresh from the factory and stick an egg on it, things will end in tatters and tears. You see, there is no surface. It’s just iron. But don’t fret – in this game, you have to make your own. It’s called seasoning the pan, and is done by warming oil to its smoking point to form a bonded surface across the bare metal.

To you or I, it just looks like a bronzy burn-like patina. To your fried grub, it looks like time to flip, and there ain’t nothing getting left behind when you do.

I scoured the Internet for the perfect seasoning techniques so you wouldn’t have to. First, for the perfectionist, the bored, or the very patient, repeated on/off oiling and smoking.

And for those that didn’t even make it 30 seconds into that clip, the easy, not-so-good-but-who-cares-it’s-a-surface-isn't-it? version. In case you’re wondering, the potato peelings are just a very efficient way to strip the surface clean.

So there we have it. Fry in perfect health. But wait, isn’t frying inherently unhealthy as a preparation method? Well, you only live once.

Foodie.fm brings online groceries to Red Herring Europe

- Digital Foodie selected as one of the finalists 

HELSINKI (3^rd April 2013) - Digital Foodie, the creator of the award winning Foodie.fm platform, has been selected as one of the 2013 Red Herring Europe finalists. Foodie.fm is a fully personalised grocery shopping platform used by major retailers and brands.

2013 Red Herring Europe highlights the inspiring startups from Europe. Hundreds of companies from the region were reviewed in a three-step process that looks at all aspects of the company.

“I’m delighted to be one of the 2013 Red Herring Europe finalists. We believe that 2013 is a year for online groceries, transparency and personalisation. This is an excellent recognition and opportunity for us to build awareness for Foodie. I’m looking forward to presenting our case in front of an expert panel and meeting fellow entrepreneurs,” commented Kalle Koutajoki, CEO of Digital Foodie.

Red Herring Europe is a two-day conference for startups and investors. This year the conference focuses on the drivers of successful entrepreneurship and how innovation creates business opportunities. Organisers are expecting to bring together 250 C-level technology entrepreneurs, corporate strategists, and venture financiers from across the continent. 

2013 Red Herring Europe takes place from 9^th-10^th April 2013 at Mövenpick City Centre Hotel in Amsterdam. The winners will be announced at the end of the conference.

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Notes to editors

List of 2013 Red Herring Europe finalists can be found here:

http://www.redherring.com/events/red-herring-europe/2013_finalists/

Here is the agenda for 2013 Red Herring Europe: http://www.redherring.com/events/red-herring-europe/2013_agenda/ 

Foodie.fm is a multi-platform service designed by Digital Foodie. It is a fully personalised grocery shopping platform used by major retailers and brands. For consumers, Foodie.fm is a free service linked to the real-time product assortment and checkout of a retailer empowering people to consume smarter and eat better. The core of the service is formed by highly personalised food and product recommendations that make everyday shopping easy and fun. For retailers, the Foodie.fm platform provides all the tools needed to run modern eCommerce operations and home deliveries. Foodie.fm is currently available on the web, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone platforms. Digital Foodie is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. http://www.foodie.fm

Media contact:

Hanna Manninen

Digital Foodie Ltd.

PR & Marketing Manager

+358 40 1780 980

hanna@foodie.fm

Closet cook: How to tell if you’re a natural chef

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world - J.R.R. Tolkien. But some of us do. Are you one of them? Could you be Lord of the Cooker Rings?

TV chefs make you twitchy

If only that so-called culinary star would only add a pinch of nutmeg, use a more interesting cut of meat or show a bit more – flair. Can’t sit still when there is food on TV? Your brain is conjuring up variations and improvements all the time. There might be a remote control in your hand but you would rather have a wooden spoon. It might even translate to advising friends or family when you see them doing something wrong…you just can’t help yourself.

Kitchen shops and cookery books are taking over

It used to be clothes, or fun things that drew your eye when you were shopping. Now you linger over that gorgeous Le Creuset set of pans (look at that weighty quality!) or the multi-coloured chopping boards segregated for hygiene. The sharpness of knives makes you tingle and you really can’t help flicking through cookery books and magazines. Also, the objects which puzzle your friends are no mystery to you. Funky garlic peelers hold no fear.

You have a natural palate and visual flair

Just like the delicate art of the parfumier, who values their acute and dainty sense of smell – chefs have a natural ability with flavours. Smell is also involved but when you taste food, the main talent is to know if there is more salt needed, or a pinch of cinnamon. You can recognise unusual vegetables, or strange combinations. Not to mention a real sense of salt/bitter/sweet and the ratios involved. You can even distinguish your coriander from your bayleaf parsley – on sight. Plates are canvases.

You are known as Mr or Mrs Zen

Forget all the clichés about violent chefs battering their kitchen hands with frying pans.  Or screaming and spreading the f-word like butter. For the theatrical few, perhaps. You need real people skills to be a chef and most of all, an ability stay gelato cool. Imagine the heat of a kitchen, the terror of producing food and then the pressure that everyone is under. If you can be the captain of chaos, organise your time, then a chef you may be. 

You're as fit as a fiddle

Most people would appreciate that there are organisational skills needed in a working kitchen. But stamina is needed too. Slaving away in heat for 18 hours a day? On your feet? Obsessive perfection over each vegetable, an absolute must. Sourcing food, visiting suppliers, pandering to fussy customers and interviewing potential staff. Not a career for a tired little bunny. Or a timid one, as Gordon Ramsay once said ‘There's a need for pressure, because that's what makes me really tick.’

What about you? Are you a ticking chef timebomb? If so, you should don the whites and come out of the larder. Gravy, baby.

Easy as CTC: the irrepressible global domination of black tea

Ever wondered why none of the fancy specialty teas on supermarket shelves can rival a good old cup of PG Tips, Tetley’s or Scottish Blend? It’s not just about childhood nostalgia. The answer is as simple as ABC. It’s CTC: a process by which tea leaves are transformed into a potent source of flavour that has become popular the world over. 

Photo by Dr. Patrick GeorgeWho do we have to blame for this? Well, essentially, the English (oversimplified history lesson follows). You see, with colonialism came the mass adoption of English tea-drinking habits, which were distinct from those of the countries in which that same tea originates.

The new popularity of tea across India and Africa in particular led to developments in the manufacturing and storage processes involved. The invention of the tea bag was a factor; the need for deriving strong flavours from a short steeping time was another. The solution was “crush, tear curl”, CTC, and by the 1950s the resultant flavours (a particularly intense variation on black tea) had earned a privileged place in many tea-drinking cultures, where they persist to this day. 

CTC pops up in some surprising locations, and the same ingredient you’ll see The Royle Family brewing up (I mean the exact same product: not just a related one as in the case of, say, Chinese green tea or Japanese matcha) is a vital component of some strange and wonderful drinks indeed. 

Hong Kong pantyhose tea

Hong Kong milk tea, also known as “pantyhose tea”, is a strong CTC blend brewed in a mixture of milk and water, then filtered through – you guessed it – stockings, then brewed again. The repetition of this process (several times over the course of hours in the most reputed pantyhose teahouses) produces a dark, bitter brew, highly unpalatable. Until you add several spoonfuls of sugar, at which point it achieves the status of “taste sensation”, and the fact that the entire autonomous region of Hong Kong has become addicted is swiftly explained.

Bubble tea

Not a beverage to be consumed on a full stomach, bubble tea is almost a meal unto itself, albeit a very sweet one. The bubbles of the title are tapioca pearls, developed by a Taiwanese tea stand owner in the 80s and the foundation of a trend that would soon spread across Asia and more recently the entire world – rippling outwards in the manner of sushi and Takeshi’s Castle. OK: in the manner of sushi. The tea itself is sweet and milky, but founded on the unmistakeably strong foundation of CTC. 

Photo by Etwood

Masala chai 

The spice blends that give masala chai its unique taste are founded the ancient principles of Ayurvedic medicine, and have been used in various healing formulations on the Indian subcontinent for hundreds of years. With the heavy promotion of black tea under British rule, however, these soon found more recreational use, with one small yet important addition. Today, spices like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper are boiled in milk and water for around half an hour before being quickly steeped with CTC. While it’s only in the mix for a couple of minutes, the latter makes all the difference – get out the pestle and mortar and try it for yourself! No wonder CTC has become the most popular route to chai nirvana.