Posts from the ‘Issues’ Category

So Jamie Does… Australia …

Or more specifically Ipswich, the renowned backwater to Brisbane, the capital of north eastern state of Queensland. Incredible. Hailing from beloved Brisbane myself but having resided in the UK for nei-on 6 years I like to reflect on diet in good ol’ Oz as quite healthy. There is no lack of accessible and affordable fresh fruit and veg or land to grow it in, the Aussie pride and joy, the backyard. But on my last few visits home the bf has commented on how big Australians/Brisbanites had become. I have to admit I didn’t see it myself and I guess that’s part of the problem, we see what we want to see.

Now Jamie, off of Jamie Oliver, sees things differently to the point where he is bringing his Ministry of Food brand campaign to the Brisbane satellite city of Ipswich in 2011. According to the engaging little press release posted on his global site, “60 per cent of adults and 25 per cent of children in Australia are overweight or obese.” What happened Oz, when did we get fat? When did we stop going outdoors and start eating all the sugar-filled American themed junk that’s advertised on TV? I know the rest of the English speaking western world do it but they don’t all have our sunshine, wealth and freedom. Get off your arse Oz!

Further investigation revealed that other indicators of a fat nation are appearing where they simply weren’t found before such as weight loss surgery such as lap-banding. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare recently released figures showing an increase in hospital admissions involving bariatric rose from 500 in 1998 to 17,000 in 2007-2008.

Jamie’s advice, as always, is sound, and with any luck his method of personal tuition and well-meaning advice will work but only time will tell. He has certainly taken a lot of flak here in UK. I guess people don’t like being told what to do no matter how sound the advice.

Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia is working with the Good Foundation and the Queensland State Government who have committed AUD$2.5m to the cause of bringing food education to Queenslanders over 4 years. I honestly didn’t realize we needed it and it such a shame we do. I hope it makes a difference – go Jamie!

Strange chocolate

Believe it or not some people, strange though they might seem, claim they don’t like chocolate. Yes, chocolate. The delicious creamy, sweet, smooth mood-lifter loved by generations of people. From that first foil-covered chocolate Easter egg, to the sophisticated rich and bitter adult concoctions we crave after dinner, chocolate has a place in most people’s hearts.

My first encounter with one of these very odd anti-chocolate types, was my father but he is by no means the only one. From as a far back as I can remember he has claimed to not like chocolate. It did of course mean my Easer egg collection was safe (well, from my father at least if not from my siblings) but I always wondered if there was a chocolate flavour he would like.

With so many opportunities to gift chocolate during the year – Valentine’s day, Easter, father’s and mother’s day – I decided to try and find a flavour of chocolate that might appeal to a non-choc’s taste buds. I was surprised to find that along with the now not-so-unusual ingredients such as chilli, there are a rainbow of tasty concoctions that would make perfect present. And if your non-choc recipient doesn’t like them, well, it’s the thought that counts and you can scoff them down yourself.

Claire Burnet, chocolatier and owner of award-winning chocolate mail order company Chococo, has her own views on why some people say they don’t like chocolate. One of the main reasons people (and men in particular), say they don’t like this gorgeous treat is because it’s too sweet, she says. “Most chocolate in this country is stuffed full of glucose syrup or huge amounts of alcohol to extend the shelf life”, she adds. “You end up with something that is very sweet by definition.”

Burnet says that by adding sugar or neutral alcohol to chocolate, it can be stored for months, then boxed and kept on a shelf for almost a year. The sugar and or alcohol will “kill bugs and extend shelf life, but you ruin the mouth feel, you ruin the taste, the flavour, the palate everything. It’s all wrong.” She meets people all the time who say they are chocoholics but when she quizzes them about what they are eating, it’s usual industrially produced. “It’s a completely different animal”, says Burnet. “You’re getting a sugar fix, not a chocolate fix. There’s not enough chocolate in it to get a chocolate fix.”

She goes onto explain that quite a large number of premium brands are guilty of adding these ingredients as well. “There are relatively few in the country that are making chocolate that is packed, dispatched and designed to be eaten fresh.” Chococo chocolates are a classic ganache-based chocolates made with fresh Dorset cream and Venezuelan chocolate. Chococo have no need to add butter as the cream is so rich. All the chocolates in the range are just a blend of cream chocolate and natural flavours, with a crisp shell and a soft centre.

It’s decided that the only way to test this theory is to find a chocolate-hating tester and ply him with the good stuff. The victim, Darren Christie, 33, agrees that if he has to eat the stuff it’s the better quality stuff that he can stomach but he would just rather not have it at all. Darren has proclaimed loud and clear to all his relatives and friends that he doesn’t like chocolate, this however doesn’t seem to stop him receiving it on a semi-regular basis. “If I do get given chocolate I usual give it away to someone else or it just sits in the cupboard until my girlfriend eats it,” he says. You see this is the problem, even if you don’t like chocolate you still inevitably receive chocolate as a gift. It’s the easiest answer to the ‘what do I get them for their birthday?’ question.

I set Darren to work on some of the most unusual and still accessible flavours in the UK.

1. Chococo – The Purbeck Chocolate Co.

We start with a selection box form Chococo including their Cider with Fifi (Cider brandy with chopped dried organic apples). For Darren, this particular one is too sweet but he liked the apple. He also tries Gold Great Taste award winner Black Strap Harry, judged as “alright but liquoricy.” Surprisingly it’s the Gorgeous Ginger, another award winner, that turns his fancy. He does like the idea of a selection however as he says, “you don’t feel as though you have to have the whole bar in one sitting. You can have one and really examine the taste of it and if you don’t like it there are all the others.” He adds it’s also easy to share with others.

2. Rococo - Arabic Spices Organic Dark and Cardamom Organic White from Natoora

The beautifully packaged Rococo bars have a strong perfume which creates quite a festive air. Darren likes the spice of the Arabic bar but interestingly says there’s too much cocoa. The cardamom bar has a good texture but tastes a bit like a cough lolly to him.

3. Moser Roth Finest Dark Chocolate Chilli from Aldi

Darren doesn’t mind this one. He’s a recent convert to the chilli chocolate combination. Moser Roth’s chocolate is probably a little full of fats and quite processed for Claire’s liking but it has a nice warm mouthfeel without being overpoweringly hot with chillies. It’s the cheapest of the selection.

4. Chilli and Ouzo Chocolate Truffles and Salt Caramel Truffles from Terre à Terre

Fascinating flavour combinations in this range of fresh truffles that hail from a vegetarian restaurant in Brighton. Darren didn’t get to try these but the salt caramel is a delightful combination of sweet and salt. A grown up salt water toffee. Chilli Ouzo would go down well with someone who likes their chocolate boozy and rich.

5. Bara Brith from the Welsh Chocolate Farm

Bara Brith is a tea-infused cream and tastes similar to eating soild chocolate tea-cake complete with raisins. Unfortunately Darren didn’t try this one either but I deduce from his previous tastings that it wouldn’t be his cup of tea. The chocolate is quite sweet and he’s not a huge fan of raisins.

These are just a few of the crazy flavours out there but there are many more. Rosmary and Chimi Chimi from Perfectly Tempered, Marmite Truffles from Paul a Young or even ethical chocolate such Organic Meltdown or Dubble. The result of this experiment highlighted that chocolate is a simple pleasure that can be enjoyed by everyone when chosen correctly. In the words of the chocolatier Claire Burnet, chocolate is “a sensory delight” whose flavours and textures should be clean and clear. If you’re buying for someone who is unsure of chocolate, go for a good quality gift box and you’ll have something to talk about whilst you stuff your faces.

Kitchen perfect?

Joking with some fellow foodies the other day we found ourselves on the topic of the now ancient TV show Friends. The haircuts (The Rachel), the fashion, the weird gestures and phrases that worked their way into common parlance (“How you doin’ ?) and of course the theme tune (utterly and totally brainwashing). But one of the things that we agreed was the most annoying was that the sofa in the coffee shop was always empty! Always!

Anyone who has been in a pub with a fireplace knows this just isn’t possible.

So, it got me thinking – what if my kitchen antics as perfect as a TV show? It would start with the cookbook. This would either not be necessary because I would know a great variety of recipes off by heart or it would sit open to the correct page on a book stand convenient to my designer work surface. Obviously I would always have all the ingredients in the recipe – even the obscure ones like Mojama that are impossible to find. There would be no compromising regular flour for ‘00’ or falling just short of the amount of butter required. Eggs, milk, spices etc would be measured out in individual matching ramekins all in a row. All the veg would be clean and healthy looking and I would chop it on a beautiful wooden board.

The knife would always be sharp and I would always don a clean apron before I begin. The pots and pans would be Le Creuset or Ruffoni and the gas would always light on the first click of the lighter. Cooking utensils would be clean,
to hand and displayed elegantly. The, also clean, oven would be the temperature you set it on. Cakes would rise beautifully, fish would sizzle merrily under the grill and the extractor fan would remove all but the faintest delicious aroma of cooking curry. When finished the dish, I would, of course, whip off the still clean apron to reveal a stunning cocktail dress and retire to a candlelit supper whilst the quiet, perfectly stacked dishwasher did ALL the dishes.

But where’s the fun in that…

I prefer my kitchen full of ingredients of all shapes and sizes, half bottles of this and sticky taped packets of that. Veg that sometimes needs bits chopped out but is still good. If I don’t have the rapeseed oil required I’ll use the vegetable oil. I don’t have beautifully tied bouquet-garni of herbs – I have dried bay and left over springs of thyme and if I’m lucky some stalks of parsley. Most of my pots and pans came in the IKEA ‘starter set’ and my utensils are a ragtag collection of odds and ends. My pages of my cookbooks have to be carefully wiped down after my recipe attempts. I cook with friends hanging around the kitchen drinking wine and quite often at least one glass in broken in the process. I usual don my slightly stained apron half way though the cooking process when it gets messy and I’ve spilt something. My oven always needs cleaning and the oven gloves are rarely where I want them. The washing up is almost always, either on the drying rack or awaiting a washing in the first place.

But you know what, I eat well, I enjoy cooking, I make a mess  and that’s the way I like it.