Food news antipasto

Attention UK chocoholics: The Guardian’s Florence Knight has completed a taste test of many different types of chocolates. She covers milk, dark, chocolate with fruit and nuts, salted chocolates, and even white chocolate. See the rankings on The Guardian’s website.

Theft by restaurant employees is not surprising, but this particular story takes the cake – literally. A man was recently charged with stealing US$90,000 worth of cakes from a posh New York City bakery. Not only was the thief brazenly spotted taking the cakes from Lady M Confections directly into a waiting vehicle, he got away with it for months. The bakery did not notice anything amiss until someone alerted them to ‘black market’ versions of its Rabbit Stamp Signature Mille Crêpes being sold at a discount. The cakes were allegedly fantastic, and for US$90 each I would expect them to both taste terrific and clean up after themselves.

If you live in (or are planning to visit) Australia, there’s a list this week for you too. Australian Gourmet Traveller has compiled a guide to the best cafés in Australia, city by city. From Brisbane to Sydney to Adelaide to Perth, you can see which spots you should try for an excellent meal.

After this season of The Great British Bake Off is over, what are food lovers going to turn to for televised entertainment? Perhaps you will tune into the return of Ready Steady Cook, a popular program that ran from 1994 through 2010. The BBC has announced the show’s return next year with Celebrity MasterChef finalist Rylan Clark-Neal as the host. The revamped program, which features chefs making meals in a mad dash against the clock using a shopping bag of basic, inexpensive ingredients couldn’t be more timely.

Love leafy greens but don’t quite understand how to cook them? Turn to The Washington Post’s guide on how to pick, prep, and cook all manner of leafy greens. You’ll find tips on cooking everything from cabbage to chard to kale to mustard greens.

Another cooking tip comes from Australia’s Catherine Adams. She shows us the ins and outs of kouign-amann, the buttery, sugary treat that originated in Brittany. The recipe includes step-by-step photos that will help you visualize what the dough should look like. You can also find the recipe (pictured above) in the EYB Library, along with over two dozen others.

One final list rounds out this week’s recap. Bon Appetit announced a list of 50 nominees for the Best New Restaurants for 2019. The selections cover the country from coast to coast. They are whittling the list down to ten top restaurants on September 17.