Gastroanthropology

Coffee + Cupcakes in Covent Garden

Monmouth Coffee is some of the best I've had in London. It's strong, but not in that I got burnt in the roaster type of way. They also use full-fat jersey milk - can't start an order with a skim-this or a skinny-that! I almost always go to their Covent Garden location as its just a few minutes walk from my apartment - though they have other London locations.

Monmouth Coffee roasts coffee from single farms, estates, and cooperatives. They travel the world to find the best and follow the coffee from bean to cup. They also make it their business to know everyone and everything involved with those beans. The staff is super-friendly and laid-back - this is a must for me because its often my first interaction with the public pre-coffee. 

I love the cobblestone street its on, the little potted plants up top, and the nearby shops. Today I ventured a few blocks further to the Covent Garden Market area where they have recently welcomed a new member, Ella's Bakehouse. A few weeks ago I posted on a No-Bake White Chocolate Cheesecake that I found in one of London's local papers. Lorraine Pascale, founder of Ella's Bakehouse, provided the recipe and I quite liked the ease and taste of the cheesecake. So I thought a visit to her cupcake shop was a must.

The cupcake craze of the States - I've made trips to NYC for Magnolia and to LA for Sprinkles, as well as frequenting Kara's in San Francisco - has definitely made the jump over the Atlantic.  While the London counterparts, Primrose and Hummingbird, don't stand a chance in a cupcake contest, I had high hopes for Ella's. I found Primrose cupcakes to be hard as hockey pucks and little interest in the flavor department. Hummingbird's cupcakes are good and I love the American-inspired flavors. Though I find some of their other bakery contributions to outshine their famous cupcakes.

So how does Ella's compare?

Hands down the best Red Velvet Cupcake I've had in London. I gobbled it up - don't worry summer bikini, I ate a mini-Ella's Red Velvet Cupcake AND it uses some half-fat ingredients. Pleasantly and surprisingly it didn't taste like half-fat. It was moist and had the perfect cream-cheese frosting to cupcake ratio. It also wasn't heavily glittered like some of its friends in the cupcake case.

I also tried the chocolate and vanilla in mini-form as well. Chocolate was decent but unmemorable. The vanilla was really dry in a way that I suspect it was sitting in the case all day yesterday and hoped to be sold today. It was - to me. My friend got a Lemon-Raspberry cupcake that was great and a Peanut Butter cupcake was moist, but the flavor just didn't hit the mark with me. So, I'm absolutely going back for some Red Velvet and Lemon-Raspberry, but probably need some convincing to go for any of the others.

Real Food Market in Covent Garden

April 23rd is important for two reasons. First, its St. George's Day - England's patron saint (think George and the Dragon). For whatever reason he is a lot less popular, and not as celebrated as Ireland's patron saint - St. Patrick. So, please excuse me for not realizing it was St. George's Day. I should have known though - St. George's Day is also the official start of English asparagus season. 

I will get to how I used my asparagus in a bit, but first I should share with you some great news. The weatherman reports that Britain is going to face a sunnier, warmer summer than usual. Best news I've heard all week! The approach of summer also means that the Real Food Market at Covent Garden is back. The market opens at noon every Thursday from now till the end of August. Covent Garden is about a ten minute walk from my apartment so I plan to go as often as possible. Think of the market as a mini-Borough Market.

Unlike many farmers markets in London that require the product sold to be sourced within a certain radius of the city, the Real Food Market, like Borough Market, aims to find the best of the best, where ever it may come from. Some of the best comes from Italy, like these baby artichokes...

and these fresh figs...

You can find the delicious breads of The Flour Station bakery at the market. They have a number of different types of focaccia...

We all know that Mr. Thomas brought his English Muffin recipe to America in the 1800s and we love to eat them as the butter melts into all the nooks and crannies. I'm just wondering if something happened to the recipe during the journey across the ocean. These English Muffins seem to be at least three times the height!

The problem with moving to a different country is you almost feel like you are on an extended vacation. This means vacation rules apply with regards to food. You don't count calories and you eat whatever you like. Great for my foodie brain, but not so much my foodie body. In an effort to get back to reality I decided to have a green lunch with all produce bought from the market. The pesto is from an Italian pasta stall at the market.

This is so simple, feeds one, and only dirties one pot. In a pot of boiling, salted water, boil enough pasta for one person. Chop 5 asparagus stalks and 4 sprouting broccoli stalks. A minute before the pasta is done, add the asparagus, broccoli, and 1/4 cup of fresh, shelled peas to the water. Drain everything. Return to the pot and off the heat, and stir in a giant, heaping spoon of pesto. Taste. Add more pesto if necessary. Eat. Preferably curled up on the couch with your favorite TV show on. 

The Educated Once-A-Week Carnivore + The Ginger Pig

I'm always amazed at how much trust we put in the food system. We'll pick something off a grocery store shelf, put it into our mouths, chew and swallow. We generally assume that everyone along the food chain has done their due diligence and what we buy is safe. Sometimes the system goes wrong - E. coli on spinach, salmonella in tomato and peanut butter, melamine in milk, dioxin in pig feed, etc... But, for the most part the food we eat is safe, right?

Traceability is much easier with a short chain, less middlemen to make a mistake, overlook a problem, and place the blame on someone else. Traceability is especially important when choosing meat. Everything the cow, pig, or lamb ate, the way it was treated and slaughtered - it's all in your body when you take a bite. I try to limit my consumption to one portion each of meat and poultry a week for two reasons: a little bit is good, but too much does harm, and meat production is the most input and carbon intensive thing you can eat. So for me its eat less meat, but eat better meat.

If you live or are passing through London check out The Ginger Pig. They are farmers and butchers that control everything from the breeding, feeding, and slaughter of their livestock. The Ginger Pig uses a number farms in the North Yorkshire Moors to rear their lamb, cattle, and namesake - The Ginger Pig. 

The Ginger Pig is actually the copper-colored Tamworth. They don't yield as many piglets as most conventional pig farmers want, and The Ginger Pigs get to live a little longer on feed made of barley, oats, and wheat grown on the farm. Longhorn cattle and Dorset sheep are raised and allowed to meander through pasture, spending their days under the sun (well, it is the UK so I'm not sure how many UV rays they are catching, but they are outside!), grazing at their own leisure. When it comes close to their final days they eat on-site grown barley.

At The Ginger Pig butcher shop you see certain whole carcasses hung as part of the natural tenderizing process. They show you how to break down the meat, or do it for you. They tell you how they treated the meat and suggest how you might use it. The butcher's can't shut up about this, that, and the other thing about their pigs and other meat - and that is a very good sign. If you ask your butcher about how and who reared the meat you are about to buy and he is more than happy to talk and share - great. If he hasn't got a clue, it's time to find a new source for meat. 

In Lincolnshire, poultry is raised for The Ginger Pig. They produce these lovely fresh eggs.

Yes, its more expensive to eat meat and poultry where animal health and welfare is important. But, that's a perfect excuse to buy it less often. Less meat is better for you and the environment. Choosing meats that are traceable from farm to fork means you are more educated about what you are putting into your body. Meanwhile, you are more than likely to be contributing to a sustainable farm system. At The Ginger Pig, the butchers, who are a wealth of knowledge, are also happy to be working there. Remember, holistic farming and ranching should also consider the social sustainability of those who work the land, rear the animals, and sell the goods.

The Ginger Pig - Click here for multiple London locations.  

 

Heston Blumenthal as the Mad Hatter - UPDATED March 10

I just watched Heston Blumenthal's - chef of the famed Fat Duck Restaurant - new television show, Heston's Feasts. Future episodes will include Ancient Rome, Medieval Feast, and Tudor England. Today, however, he played the Mad Hatter and prepared his Victorian-inspired version of Alice in Wonderland's Tea Party. If your into Molecular Gastronomy and pushing the limits of food, continue on...

Blumenthal's guests fell through the rabbit hole and started with a pink colored drink. Just like the elixir in Alice in Wonderland, Blumenthal created all the flavors Alice tasted - toffee, hot buttered toast, custard, cherry tart, and turkey. 

He then went on with Turtle Soup as his second course - a Victorian favorite. After traveling to New Jersey to procure a real turtle, Blumenthal decided real turtle was "too stringy" for his tastes and recreated a Mock Turtle Soup. Mock Turtle Soup became a Victorian favorite, as turtle was quite expensive back in the day. For the Mock Turtle (another character in Alice), Blumenthal went to London's famed Lidgate Butcher's as they were in existence even in Victorian times. Mock Turtle is actually head of beef, and Blumenthal cooked the entire thing, teeth and eyeballs included! After a series of freezings, a centrifuge, and other cooking methods, Blumenthal created a gelatin consomme of Mock Turtle Soup and wrapped it in gold leaf. Guests created their own Mad Hatter Tea with the consomme and poured the broth over turnip mousse Mock Turtle Egg. 

The third course did not disappoint as Blumenthal created an entirely edible garden made of black olive soil, grayed potato stones, and fried crickets stuffed with tomato concentrate - for that realistic ooze when bitten into.

For the final, dessert course (or pudding course here in the UK), Blumenthal made Absinthe jelly with an erotic touch. Apparently, Victorians loved jello-type centerpieces on their tables, especially loving to watch them wobble. Blumenthal recreated the wobble with vibrating "instruments". Victorians also loved mind-altering "Green Fairy" (Absinthe) and Blumenthal paired his Green Fairy with strawberry and elderflower juices. 

All in all, a fun twist on the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Victorian history. Looking forward to what's next.

UPDATE from March 10th's Medieval Feast:

While Blumenthal's second episode of Feast was entertaining it didn't grab my attention like Alice's Tea Party. His guests seemed a bit less enthused with his creations as well.

He started with a medieval bowl of fruit, but in actuality the "fruit" was made with meat. So far not impressed, but not turned off. Let's continue on. Blumenthal's second course was admittedly a failure. He served Lamprey, a fish eaten in large quantities during medieval times, and resembling an eel. He served the Lamprey with the real uncooked head and tail as garnish and a sauce made of Lamprey blood. While I'm sure the steamed and grilled portion of the fish was tasty, the presentation was so off putting for the guests they were clearly grossed out. Blumenthal admitted he had pushed the envelope a bit far.

He had to get them back and this part of the show was a bit more interesting. He wanted to bake a Blackbird Pie (like the children's nursery rhyme), with real blackbird's flying out of it. So, he had to bake a giant pie crust. He rolled out a giant crust, using construction equipment and baked it in a local potter's oven. The weight of the dough caused the pie crust to collapse and burn in the oven. Of course, Blumenthal went back to the kitchen and made another large pie crust, using strips to solve the weight issue. Funny though on television we were only shown the final product. Where did he bake his second, perfect pie? I question the validity of the second pie crust... with the magic of television he has pulled a fast one on us!

In Medieval times, pie crust were inedible and used largely as to-go (take-away in British speak) containers. The bigger the better, and pies were known to serve frogs, snakes, birds, and even a dwarf! Blumenthal's filling was made with pigeon and with the addition of root vegetables, anchovies, pickles, and truffles was tasty by all accounts.

His last course was and an edible tablescape and definite crowd pleaser. Blumenthal had his guests take a five minute break and replaced everything from the cutlery to the candles to something sweet and edible. 

My excitement for the show has deflated. Though I'm interested in his next show - A Tudor Feast, I can't promise to make the commitment that I'll be watching it...

Salted Caramel + Poilane Bakery

The greatest mistake of my life - well it wasn't actually my mistake, but that's beside the point - was when a kitchen intern accidentally put four times the amount of salt in an ice cream base I was having her make. Rather than throw the batch out we tweaked the recipe and turned into a deep caramel colored ice cream that was sweet, and salty. I'm definitely a believer of a pinch of salt in everything pastry, but extra salt with buttery, creamy caramel is out of this world. Salted caramel is certainly not new, as the French in Brittany have been making it for ages. However, the love for the flavor of salted caramel has grown exponentially this past year. 

It's been weeks since I've been to Paris (yes, you can hate me that I can jump on a train and be in Paris in two hours) and I'm out of my favorite Parisienne CBS caramels (Caramel au Beurre Sale).*** But, Chez Pim reminded me that I can try and recreate the flavor at home. Oh, and the sables she uses as a vehicle to eat the salted caramel I don't have to make because the best part of Paris has a location in London. 

You must be wondering what the best part of Paris is? Poilane Bakery, of course. You've got to check out their whimsical website and if you are in London or Paris anytime soon, their bakeshops are a must. Poilane started baking bread in 1932, but their Paris location in Saint-Germain had been the basement bakery of a 17th century monastery. Poilane bakes bread in the same tradition of this bakery, which was producing wood-fired sourdough loaves during the time of Marie Antoinette! 

A few of my favorites, aside from the bread, at Poilane, is the apple tart, with huge chunks of apple so you know exactly what you are getting into...

And a lovely, not too sweet vanilla custard cake (in the middle)...

Almost as famous as their bread are these little, buttery cookies called punitions. Punishment in French, and you can eat an entire box before realizing what you have done. These are ridiculously expensive to have shipped, but smitten kitchen has provided a solution to this matter.

So, back to where I started - salted caramel. I used good French butter, but it wasn't salted, so I added a 1/4 tsp of salt to the recipe. Chez Pim makes chocolate ganache to keep the caramel from oozing out, though once the caramel cooled to a certain temperature it stayed put. This would be lovely over vanilla ice cream if you don't want to bother with the sables.

SALTED CARAMEL (adapted from Chez Pim)

• 120 g sugar
• 60 g unsalted butter 
• 100 ml or 1/4 c + 2 Tbs cream   
• 1/4 scraped vanilla bean 
• 1/4 tsp salt (omit if you are using salted butter)  

METHOD

Melt sugar over medium heat. Cook till sugar turns amber. Add cream (microwave or heat the cream so it is warm... this will help to avoid the major spitter spatter of hot sugar) and mix well. Add bits of butter, vanilla bean and salt. Make sure everything is well combined and set aside to cool. Spoon onto sables, or whatever shortbread you might have and sandwich.

 
*** C.B.S. or Caramel au Beurre Sale is hands down the most divine thing I have ever tasted. I even walked for hours flipping my map every which way near the seedy Moulin Rouge to procure what has been rumored to be the best salted caramel in the world. P.S. It is! 

C.B.S. caramels by Henri Le Roux can be found at A l'Etoile d'Or - Denise Acabo at 30 rue Fontaine, 75009 Paris 

Poilane in Paris: 8 rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 or 49 boulevard de Grenelle, 75015

Poilane in London: 46 Elizabeth Street, SW1W 9PA