Podcasts

Just that which is deserved Talking to a pastry chef about her art and craft

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:58 — 17.7MB)

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What is there to say about dessert? Utterly pointless, because by then I’ve usually eaten quite enough, thank you. And yet, utterly irresistible too, because I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. So I am usually quite happy eating out when someone suggests Let’s get just one and four spoons.

And yet, the ability to create some of those magnificent concoctions fills me with admiration, especially lately as dessert seems to have become more and more creative. So I was really glad that I persuaded one of the top pastry chefs in New York to take a bit of time to chat. Charmaine McFarlane told me about her inspirations, some of the challenges she faces, and how much she loves a silky-smooth custard.

Notes

  1. Charmaine McFarlane does have a website but she is much more active on Instagram and Twitter.
  2. Dessertworthy, which Charmaine mentioned, seems to me an entirely good idea.
  3. The cover photo may look like some sort of fancy omelette, but it is actually Charmaine’s grapefruit panna cotta, with semolina and olive oil cake, wild red juniper and grapefruit marmalade, citrus crumble and fennel chips. I wish I could tell you what it tastes like.
  4. Banner photo by Mantra Media on Unsplash
  5. Playing us in, Dinah Shore. Playing us out, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.

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Extra Matter

Dead, dead, and never called me mother

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Why, do you suppose, a sourdough starter is often called a mother? A podcast on sourdough seemed to think that it was because it needs daily care and attention, looking after and cosseting. If that assuages your filial guilt, OK, but it is completely bass-ackwards. It’s a mother because it gives life to its offspring, the loaves that come forth from the mother starter. How can anyone think otherwise?

And another thing. Does everybody else in the world name their starter, generally with a cute, punning name like Bread Pitt? I made my first starter around 30 years ago and never had the slightest urge to name it. Despite being nameless, it is still going strong. My other starter, also nameless, is older by far than my own mother and, like her, is also going strong.

As for the title …

Extra Matter

Eat This Newsletter 087 Remember, remember

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  1. The packet says “100% Grated Parmesan Cheese”. What would you expect to be inside? Me too, along with “85–90% of consumers”. But a court disagrees.

  2. Quick follow-up on last issue’s all about noodles. Australians love Asian food, so why doesn’t it win as many awards as Italian?

  3. The (US) Food and Drug Administration’s latest statement on the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak, as interpreted by The New Food Economy.

  4. Latest use it or lose it story – eat this rare pig. Pilpul of the week: is a pig with an uncloven hoof still unclean?

  5. Fishy news: There are places where even the most sustainable practices possible cannot support all the people who want to fish there.

  6. The Rye Baker reflects on his tour of the Baltics. Maybe next year …

  7. I’m a total sucker for this stuff. Aerial photos reveal the hypnotic geometry of farming.

  8. Fraud in organic farming? I’m shocked, I tell, you. Shocked!

Podcasts

A communal oven in Christchurch, New Zealand Baking bread in the aftermath of an earthquake

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:14 — 13.1MB)

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In 2010 and then again in 2011, Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South Island, suffered two huge earthquakes. The first destroyed buildings, but few people were hurt. The second brought more buildings crashing down and, because it happened around midday when the buildings were full of people, killed 185.

Simon Gray is an artist, living on the North Island at the time of the disasters. He had come to regard his regular bread-baking as therapy sessions of a sort, and decided to move to Christchurch to offer bread to the people there as a way to cope with what they had experienced and to help rebuild their lives and their community.

I heard about it because Simon sent me information about an event – A Bread Companion – he was organising, one of 55 events at FESTA 2018, which has just ended. FESTA is the Festival of Transitional Architecture, a weekend knees-up to celebrate urban ingenuity and rebirth and tempt people back into the centre of Christchurch.

Of course I wanted to chat to Simon Gray about A Bread Companion.

Notes

  1. Phillipstown Community Hub has a Facebook page.
  2. The pepper tree that Simon mentioned, as a local spice used by Maori people: it must be one of the species of Pseudowintera.
  3. Rewena bread gets a Wikipedia entry too; for me, it needs more solid information.
  4. Simon told me about the Bread Houses Network, which does similar sorts of things, and I’ve since discovered others. I would love to learn about other people using bread and baking to heal.

Photos from Phillipstown Community Hub.

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Extra Matter

Eat This Newsletter 086 I've got your complexity right here

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  1. Closing the yield gap – the difference between what the best farmers achieve and the rest – has a long history in the annals of how to grow more food. Ethiopia tried it, with a Wheat Initiative that gave farmers subsidised inputs and a guaranteed market. Yields did improve, by 14%, among a group of lead farmers, but the government had expected them to double. Blame those pesky farmers, for not adopting the entire package of improvements wholeheartedly.
  2. As for wheat, so too for fish. Intensification of fish farming in Bangladesh is bad news for some environmental impacts but has no effect on global warming or land use, although it may improve fresh-water consumption. Yields go up, but the overall consequences remain in the balance.
  3. Meanwhile, in the first world: “It was from Starbucks. It was just a latte, with some vanilla flavoring and soy milk. And I spent $6.15 on it.” Drink up, and prepare to dive deep into The Rich History Of Your Overpriced Latte.
  4. Don’t ever accuse me of being unbalanced. I mean, on the one hand, we have yet another deep dive, this time into the burning issue of whether Millennials killed mayonnaise. On the other, what could be more millennial than good ol’ Hampton Creek Foods changing it’s name to Just so that it can continue to push its eggless Just Mayo and its even stranger eggless Just Eggs. Makes me long for the days of a nut cutlet.
  5. Is my enemy’s enemy my friend? I can’t say for sure, at least, not in the case of this particular rant: Vegans, Ranchers and Regenerators Unite: Why Fake Meat and Eliminating Livestock Are Really Bad Idea (sic). I’m definitely there in principle, not so sure about some of the appeals to authority.
  6. Another tiny glimpse into the complex relationships that make up a food system. Marion Nestle on The trade war with China and feeding America’s poor. It’s an ill wind …
  7. And if you’re feeling utterly befuddled by the simple question of what to eat, take heart. You are not alone.
  8. How about noodles?
  9. Are agricultural researchers working on the right crops to enable food and nutrition security under future climates? proves yet again that a question in a title or headline can always best be answered “No!”. This time with data …