"guava" news and stories

Eating Cuban: 120 Recipes from the Streets of Havana to American Shores isn't going to be released for another month, but it is such a gorgeous book that it's worth putting on your Amazon wishlist. After all, there's no time like the present to start thinking about what you want for the holidays, right?

The book is about Cuban food and its evolution. Rather than divide the book in to chapters such as "soups" or "desserts," it is divided into periods of time: Roots, Creole Classics, New Wave, etc. Each section features a representative sample of the dishes that embody the spirit of that category. For example, Street Food has recipes for The Ideal Cuban Sandwich, Fresh Corn Tamales and Tiny Coconut Turnovers, while New Wave has Shrimp Tamales and Baby Back Ribs with Guava Barbecue Sauce. Some background is given with each of the sections and everything is illustrated with stunning photographs. Living up to the rest of the book, the recipes are well written and even though some "specialty" ingredients (like guava paste) are called for, many of them are do-able even for those who might not have access to a specialty grocer.

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The Wall Street Journal is speculating about the future of flavor. As flavors that were uncommon 10 years ago - and virtually unheard of before that - are now in mainstream venues like fast food restaurants and packages of potato chips, chefs are now looking beyond these flavors to find the next hot item for their menus. In some cases, chefs are even turning away from the "natural" trends so popular right now and using artificial (chemical) flavorings to bring out unusual sensations, like the menthol crystals that Wylie Dufresne uses in a raw fish dish at wd-50 and the flavorings of oak, pine and leather that Heston Blumenthal incorporates at The Fat Duck. While menthol crystals are unlikely to appear in your local market, ready to be sprinkled on your sashimi, WSJ speculates that it could be one of these ten flavors to make it to the big time: Thai basil, tamarind, musk, shiso, pomegranate, guava, leather, pine, florals and/or molé.

Personally, I'm skeptical about musk because it is a relatively common flavor in other countries that has not proved to be popular in the US to date. I know that I am not a fan of it at all. But I must say that leather flavoring seems just a bit less likely even than musk....