Raves & Reviews

Home Espresso Machines with the CoffeeMeister

by Erin Meister, Posted Sep 15th 2009 @ 2:00PM

A Rancilio Silvia
home espresso machine.
Photo: Jay Ritmista, Flickr

Erin Meister trains baristas for North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee and sporadically maintains the blog Meet the Press Pot from her home in New York City. This is part of a series of tips for the caffeine-addicted.

Hooked on espresso? Yeah, me too. But not because we need it, right? It's because we love it. It isn't just a caffeine fix -- it's an act of passion. It's a foodie's delight.

Brewing espresso at home is a luxury enjoyed by few but might be more accessible than you think: Decent equipment starts at a basic splurge level before moving into "coffee has taken control of my life" exorbitance -- I swear!

Here's a guide to finding a machine that fits your needs (and your bank account).

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Drink Recipes

Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi - Beer of the Week

COMMENTS 4

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Jul 20th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Modus Hoperandi India Pale Ale. Photo: Jenene Chesbrough.

By now, news of another India pale ale -- an occurrence as common as an Alaskan snowstorm -- barely merits mention.

But every blue moon, an IPA arrives to jolt our jaded taste buds, causing us to thank a higher deity for the heavenly, hoppy elixir. So let's bow down and worship a little green can filled with Modus Hoperandi, a brew so skunky and stinky it reminds us of something else.

"We used to smoke a lot of weed," jokes Dave Thibodeau, cofounder of Durango, Colo.'s Ska Brewing Company. Since releasing the "old-man bitter" brew in late winter, it's rocketed to the top of Ska's bestseller list. "It completely caught us off-guard, which is a good problem to have," Thibodeau says.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Drink Recipes, New Products

Bastille Day Food and Drink Roundup

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by Alex Van Buren, Posted Jul 14th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Absinthe drip and sugar cube.
Photo: Alex Van Buren.

So we've been all about Bastille Day for the last 24 hours, from petanque to moules frites, brioche burger buns to a gorgeous vegetable tian and even a Francophile-friendly absinthe-spiked cocktail.

We're not the only ones itching to get out the door and toast our friends in the Old Country (or the wonderful eats and drinks they've sent our way). For those who will celebrating the occasion at home, Chow has recipes for three lovely terrines; Serious Eats discovers the tapenades of Provence; and one of Slashfood's own beer columnists breaks down Saison style beer at Gourmet while his colleague tackles eight great aperitifs, several of which are French.

Perhaps the triumph of the online articles, however, is France Magazine's enormous feature on aperitifs. From Lillet to Suze to Noilly Prat, it's all there, and we'll be printing it out and tucking it into our bag. (They've just unlocked the online files especially for Slashfood.) Happy celebrating!

How will you celebrate Bastille Day?
Drinking French wine	24 (24.7%)
Drinking French beer	2 (2.1%)
Drinking French spirits	5 (5.2%)
Eating French food	22 (22.7%)
None of the above (tell us in the comments)	44 (45.4%)

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, On the Blogs, Drink Recipes

'The Great Big Butter Cookbook' - Cookbook Spotlight

COMMENTS 2

by Alex Van Buren, Posted Jun 24th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Photo: Amazon.com

'The Great Big Butter Cookbook'
Edited by Diana von Glahn
Running Press -- 2007
Buy it on Amazon

Not unlike meat, butter has gone through a renaissance of late. Scorned as recently as a few years ago, it's now being embraced. And as anyone who has tucked into a bar of European butter lately knows, it's good stuff.

"The Great Big Butter Cookbook," then, with its cover glowing with orbs of golden goodness, is a heart-stopping sight in the best of ways. Any book that has "Because Everything's Better with Butter" as its subtitle makes a great first impression.

Unfortunately, as we flipped through its pages to see recipes for Microwave Cheesy Potato Soup, Broccoli and Cheddar Soup and the frightening-looking, bright-yellow Double Cheese Souper Bowl, all of which glow golden with butter and cheese, we started thinking that maybe there can be too much of a good thing. A quick peek at the copyright reveals that, hmm, this book is copyrighted by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

See what we tested and whether you should buy the book after the jump.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews

Port Brewing Hop 15 - Beer of the Week

COMMENTS 2

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Jun 22nd 2009 @ 3:00PM

Photo: Jenene Chesbrough

Hop heads are hopelessly addicted to Humulus lupulus, the flowering vine whose cones lend beer its piney, floral and even marijuana-like aromas and flavors.

To sate hop lovers' jones, we turn to the West Coast. There, California brewers are engaged in an arms race to craft bigger, burlier double India pale ales like Russian River's wondrous Pliny the Elder, Stone's Ruination and Port Brewing's heavenly Hop-15 Ale (above).

Based in San Marcos, Calif., Port Brewing is helmed by beer magician Tomme Arthur. Though the funky Belgian ales he brews under the Lost Abbey imprint are fabulous, we're happiest when he's hoppiest.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Drink Recipes

Slashfood Sorbet

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by Eric Diesel, Posted Jun 10th 2009 @ 11:00AM

You've seen that sliced-up green apple sitting up top aside the Slashfood logo. Perhaps you've pondered its culinary potential -- the crisp snap of that bright green skin, the half-sweet/half-tart flavor that is the special domain of the Granny Smith apple.

Voila. Slashfood sorbet!

In sorbet, a single element is distilled into an intense burst of flavor. It should be so vivid that only a bite is necessary. Perhaps you're most familiar with it as an intermezzo to cleanse the palate, in a fluted paper cone to hold while walking alongside your companion and his gelato or in scoops piled high in a frosty parfait glass almost too cold to touch.

After the jump, an original recipe for a gorgeous green apple Slashfood Sorbet. We challenge you to only eat one bite.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Ingredients, How To

Brooklyn Uncorked Recap - Tipsy Locavores Unite

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by Alex Van Buren, Posted May 14th 2009 @ 5:00PM

"Loco for locavorism" might sound like some bizarro play on an old TV ad, but the phrase carries some heft these days, if the crowd at last night's Brooklyn Uncorked was any indication. The sip-and-nibble-fest in honor of local goods was jam-packed with tipsy oenophiles clutching wine glasses and munching on local pickles (garlicky!), rosé sorbet (brilliant!) and buzzed-about turkey meatloaf (by the time we got there, gone!). Dozens of local restaurants, wineries and producers were on the premises: as one sign bragged, no vinos were made more than a two-hour drive from Brooklyn.

Hyperlocalism isn't local to New York City, either. Edible Communities, whose Edible Brooklyn hosted the tasting, boasts more than 50 publications from Missoula, Wash., to Santa Fe, N.M. All feature the same bright, minimalistic food-focused design touting "local foods, season by season." If you believe that New York hearkens nationwide trends, well, like the Brooklyn Food Conference before it, this event was sold-out and about as crowded as could be.

Filed under: Magazines, Raves & Reviews, Trends, Food News, Dining at Our Desks, Drink Recipes

Red Chair IPA - Beer of the Week

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by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted May 12th 2009 @ 2:00PM

T-shirt season has arrived at last, and with it the eagerness to trade belly-warming barleywines for more sprightly sippers: namely hoppy India pale ales, whose floral flavors and aromas recall lush spring blooms. Sure, burly, nap-inducing IPAs like Dogfish Head's 120 Minute or Russian River's Pliny the Elder garner megawatt attention, but IPAs need not be monstrously potent to be monstrously delicious.

This principle is fully understood by Bend, Oregon's decades-old Deschutes Brewery. Its newest spring-summer seasonal, the Red Chair IPA (available in draft or 22-ounce bottles), demonstrates the flavorful results of restraint. Named after a favorite lift at Oregon ski resort Mount Bachelor, the Red Chair pours radiant copper, releasing a heady perfume of citrus, black tea and fresh baked biscuits.

Still, Red's no gnarly mouth-puckerer.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Drink Recipes, New Products

Culver City Cool - Surfas

COMMENTS 2

by Rebecca Flint Marx, Posted May 7th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Los Angeles has many things to recommend it to the enterprising eater, and Surfas is unequivocally one of them. Why? Well, for one, take a look at this photo. Mycryo Gelatine Substitute. Lots of it. While the vast majority of the population would have absolutely no idea of what to do with it -- sprinkle it? snort it? use it instead of NutraSweet? -- the fact that Surfas carries it in such large quantities is just very cool. So is the shop's eye-popping variety of spices, flours, sugars, extracts, chocolates, nuts, dried beans, butters and -- well, you get the picture.

Geared towards pro chefs who presumably have a need for things like mycryo gelatine substitute (used mainly by pastry toques, as discussed here), Surfas is also a paradise for the less ambitious homecook.

Find out why after the jump.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Stores & Shopping

Mezzetta Jarred Pasta Sauces

COMMENTS 2

by Eric Diesel, Posted May 6th 2009 @ 5:00PM

mezzetta sauces Just in time for your next Saturday night pasta party, a new jarred sauce that's worth a first taste and second helping has appeared on store shelves. Mezzetta, the company famous for such glass-jarred wonders as snappy peperoncini and an addictive giardiniera, has launched Napa Valley Bistro, a line of pasta sauces prepared with Napa Valley wines. We were glad to cook up a sample sent our way and toss it with some noodles. Hey, anything for our readers – especially if it involves eating spaghetti.