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Chocoholics Rejoice!

Rodas, Bombay decided to paint the hotel a chocolate brown. With real chocolate, mind you! The four day extravaganza Chocoholics II introduced various applications of chocolate in sweet dishes, cocktails, cakes, fashion, art and oodles of chocolatey fun that followed ! The chefs of the hotel made beautiful chocolate sculptures that gave way to many appreciative oohs and aahs. From something straight out of Star Wars to beautiful nymphs, turtles, flowers, plants, you name it and it was there. It took Chef Arindam Bahel, Chef Shettygar and Chef Sudhir Pai about three months to create these masterpieces. And if sculptures were just not enough, there was also a chocolate fashion show, sponsored by Morde. One could see models being brushed and painted with chocolate. The white chocolate hair-do took the cake! But to keep the record straight, let it be known that the first ever chocolate fashion show was pioneered at the 3rd UpperCrust Show, in 2005 to a resounding success.

But lets get back to Rodas and Chocoholics II. While the fun element was high, the main objective was a serious one. Cocktail supremo Shatbhi Basu and Theobroma’s Kainaaz Messman participated at the event, by sharing their knowledge, experience and expertise, Master Chef Sadhu Shettygar along with his pastry team trained participants in making sinful delights. Chocolate afficianados got a treat - there was chocolate tasting and classes were held for those living in and around the Hiranandani Complex.

The best part though was you could buy as much chocolate as you pleased and from a huge variety.

Soup for the Soul

“A great broth will resurrect the dead,” says a South American proverb. In all traditional households, rich, homemade chicken broth is known to cure cold. A nutritious food, chicken broth contains calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon and sulphur, apart from minerals that the body can absorb easily. It also contains broken down stuff from cartilage and tendons like glucosamine that is sold as an expensive supplement for arthritis and joint pain.

To make the magic potion yourself, slowly simmer chicken bones for two hours with vegetables and herbs like onions, carrots, celery and parsley. Add a knob of fresh ginger. For flexibility, it is discouraged to add salt as one may always add salt later.

If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

Is there anything like lemonade? Ideal after a workout or even during a cocktail party, nothing rejuvenates like lemonade. The Egyptians make lemonade with a twist. In Alexandria, you’ll see several shacks by the beaches serving this most delicious refreshment. To make the magic potion yourself, place 6 cups water and 2 unpeeled, quartered lemons in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes. Strain into a teapot, stir in 5 tablespoons sugar and a tablespoon Orange Blossom Water (Mazahar), if can source it. Bring to a boil and serve. Add honey instead of sugar and viola, revitalize!

Coriander: The King of Herbs

The humble hara dhaniya has been crowned the king of herbs in the UK. Totally unknown in Britain until the Indian invasion of the 1970s, coriander has, now, become the best-selling herb in the UK accounting for 25% of all the fresh herb sales. Quite a surprise for coriander has barely been available in supermarkets for about 15 years.

In India though, the story differs. We find our kitchens incomplete without coriander as we have used this aromatic herb for centuries to flavour our dishes. Climbing the popularity charts, even the best celebrity chefs are found to add a few leaves of dhaniya to their dishes.

Perhaps the change can be attributed to the Britishers’ love for curries and Asian food. The results were found by Fresh Herbs, an organisation representing British herb growers, that compiled the country’s top ten herb chart. Basil, the second most popular herb was followed by the old English favourite parsley.

Add that Midas touch, baby

Gold leaf is the costliest food in the world! According to a list of the world’s priciest foods, compiled by Fortune Small Business, edible gold leaf is the most expensive food with a price tag of $15,000 per pound. While saffron was named the fourth priciest after the gold leaf, white truffles and caviar that bagged the first three positions. So add the Midas touch to your food; a gold leaf, anyone?

Beer!

In this world of wine tasting and fashionably refined palates, we encountered Brew Master of Tiger Beer, Johan De Deyn, in discussion with whom we learnt about the beer market in India. Quite strange for a drink that’s been in India since, at least, the early days of the British Raj, beer production in India stays at a meager 0.8% as compared to its global production.

Beer might be categorised by aroma, appearance (dark beer), yeast (lager, ale), material (wheat beer), alcohol content (light, alcohol free). Here’s some trivia about beer-

  • Fermentation broadly describes whether a product is an Ale or Lager.
  • Ales - beers that are fermented by top fermenting yeast.
  • Lagers/Pilsner - beers that are fermented by bottom fermenting yeast.

While we learnt about how beer is made, what its characteristics are, De Deyn also helped factualise some myths about beer.

‘What’s in a name?’ Apparently, a lot!

While makers of sparkling wine in the USA, Russia and Ukraine can appropriate the name, Champagne, for their products, a Swiss biscuit-maker seems to be out of luck. Marc-Andre Cornu got a word from the lawyers for the Swiss distributors of French Champagne that he could no longer use the brand name his family had used since the 1930s.

Three generations, beginning with his grandfather, had labelled their baked goods “de Champagne,” after the Swiss village. It turns out the lawyers letters are only the tip of the iceberg. In 1998, Switzerland made an agreement with the European Union that allowed its former national airline, Swissair, to make stopovers in European Union cities. In return, Switzerland, which is not a member of the union, agreed to forbid the people of Champagne, population 710, to use its town’s name on their products.

Cornu’s baked goods company which employs about 80 people, risk a fine if they use the name of their town.

So, too, do the winemakers here who, in the years before the ban, sold about 1,10,000 bottles of their light, non-sparkling wine but, now, without the Champagne label, are down 70%.

The French say they are struggling to protect an Appellation d’Origine Controlee, a convoluted certification that authenticates the content, method and origin of a French agricultural product.

P.S.: YSL wanted to introduce a Champagne perfume in the nineties and before that a tobacco company wanted a cigarette called Champagne. Yes, there is a lot in a name!

Burger King!

Pennsylvania’s Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub, home of the largest hamburger challenges in the world, is home to yet another precedent. Brad Sciullo from Uniontown, Pennsylvania finished the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser, the world’s largest hamburger weighing 20.2 pounds, by himself in 4 hours 39 minutes, beating the time limit by 21 minutes!

Brad came to the pub to see if he could complete the challenge. This feat was well documented as he had an employee of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub with him at all times. Brad has competed in Wing, Cannoli and Hot Dog eating and also tried to qualify for Nathan's famous hot dog eating contests.

Opened in September 1977 by Denny & Jean Liegey, the restaurant is nationally known for “The World’s Largest Hamburger Challenges,” as featured on the Food Network, The Rachel Ray Show, The Travel Channel, The Tony Danza Show, Good Morning America, Today Show, David Letterman’s Top 10, and Country Fried Home Videos. The restaurant also is a Guinness World Record holder, capturing The World’s Largest Commercially Available Hamburger (123 pounds) on the Menu record. The pub was also facilitated by the PA Beef Council as winner of the 2008 Beef Backer Contest that recognizes independent and chain foodservice operations that go the extra mile in menu-ing and marketing beef.

An Opera with a difference

The Opera Consortium, a group of European Food and Wine producers were in Bombay recently to showcase Italian products in the Indian market. Òpera, a consortium of cooperative agricultural enterprise and Italian food-farming institutions was created in 2007, with the aim to promote, enhance and popularize the six most important sub-sectors of European agriculture – fresh fruit and vegetables, processed fruit and vegetables, milk and cheese, wine, oil, meat and meat products.

Opera’s bouquet of products is a celebration of the Mediterranean food culture generally recognized as a model of good health and natural well-being. They are grown, cured or processed in the regions best suited for their techniques that are people as well as environment-friendly. The backing of the co-operative chain guarantees that every phase of production from the fields to the table is according to top standards.

Many events took place in the city in the six days that the Italians were here. There was a grand Gala dinner at Olive, hosted by Opera and organized by Monica Vazirali. The Opera lineup of products was unveiled amidst much clinking of glasses and good cheer.

On the first day of the Food Expo at Goregaon, the Opera Consortium showcased itself at a pavilion the size of a 1 bedroom house! Chef Apreda of Hassler in Rome, tossed up some delicious Italian food at one end, while a large display of products caught the eye in the other end.

While all of this was happening at Goregaon, The Professional workshops being hosted for Opera by Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal were kicking off at the Trenz restaurant. 54 products were used over three workshops. A wine session was conducted by Shagun Mehra, wine educator with the KBR school of wine where 10 wines from the Opera Winerack were introduced.

The wine session was followed by lunch where it was illustrated that Opera Products are perfect for use not just to set an Italian table but may also be used in the Indian kitchen in a myriad ways.   For example, at the soup station Minestrone soup was made using canned tomatoes from the Opera range, slightly spiked to suit the Indian palate. The demonstration also showed rogan josh being made with canned tomatoes, dal made with canned lentils and mutter pulao and methi malai mutter made with canned peas, all from the Opera range. The dessert counter was the best though. It showcased a few of Opera’s ready desserts as well as others using Opera products, like cream and fruit.

The finale was the dessert competition in which spray cans, sliced fruit, sweet provolone cheese and an assortment of dessert decorations were placed on each table. The audience was given time to create their own dessert which was judged by Chef Rahul Davale. And what were the prizes? Two hampers full of Opera products!



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