Food news antipasto

We’ll start this week’s roundup of food news with an announcement from Saveur magazine. In a recent IG post, the magazine said it is bringing back the Saveur 100. You can help contribute to this special issue by telling Saveur about your favorite places to eat, must-have kitchen tools and gadgets, and game-changing techniques.

In the past few weeks, social media has been abuzz with the most jaw-dropping trompe-l’œil cakes ever made. There are cakes that look like Crocs (sandals), toilet-paper rolls, one that looks like a bowl of pozole, and even cakes that look exactly like raw chicken breasts. In case you missed it, you can read about the phenomenon in The Washington Post and The Guardian, which both feature photos and stories about the hyper-realistic creations.

Have you ever wondered why some food combinations go together so well? The answer lies in the science of flavor compounds. Chef Stephen Harris provides an explanation for one of these pairings, telling us why melon and Parma ham are so great together. During the months-long curing process, he says, the hams “slowly develop long chains of flavour molecules, which are the same as those found in ripe melons.” Harris also explains why other hams such as Iberico ham do not provide the same results.

Earlier in the week The Guardian announced a round of layoffs and the closure of some weekend supplements. At first we were concerned that the fantastic Guardian Feast was on the chopping block, but it appears that it is safe, at least for now. The paper also announced that it was not going to move away from its online free-to-read model to a subscription-only service like many of its competitors, but will instead focus on growing its online presence.

Speaking of The Guardian, this week’s column by Jay Rayner reflects what many of us have been feeling throughout much of this pandemic. Rayner expounds on how ordinary kitchen tasks have been a soothing balm, saying that “it’s the simple things that give me pleasure while cooking – and even improve my sense of wellbeing.” We couldn’t agree more.

In case cooking tasks alone aren’t enough to provide a zen-like atmosphere, perhaps watching an expert at her craft will do the trick. Pat Wilbanks from LaFayette, Georgia, has become an internet sensation for her short video on making buttermilk biscuits. She made the video as a favor for her best friend’s granddaughter, who wanted to learn how to make authentic Southern biscuits. The recipe is simple, but Wilbanks does have a trick up her sleeve: she finishes the biscuits under the broiler to ensure that the tops are perfectly golden brown.

The term golden brown reminds me of great cornbread. I have lifted techniques and ingredients from different recipes over the years to come up with my own creation, but I might have to change things up after reading about Molly Stevens’ technique for getting the most corn flavor in cornbread. She uses popcorn flour – which is just like it sounds, popped popcorn that is ground into a flour. Stevens was inspired by recipes for popcorn focaccia and popcorn-flour sandwich loaf in 2003’s The Cornbread Book by Jeremy Jackson.

Our final tidbit from this week involves kimchi. A recent study found that eating kimchi might protect you from the worse effects of Covid-19. Researchers studying low rates of the disease in South Korea found that countries in which fermented cabbage forms a key dietary component have lower fatalities. They theorize that fermented cabbage tends to decrease levels of ACE2, an enzyme “mostly found in lungs that is used by COVID-19 as an entry point into the body.” Excuse me while I go start a batch of sauerkraut.