Food news antipasto

As the holiday season approaches, some of us are a bit out of shape for large meal planning due to the pandemic, so we appreciate getting tips on how to create a successful celebration. One tip that crossed my news feed this week involves turkey roasting. If you are keen on getting that perfectly golden bird, head over to Taste, where Sara Mellas provides her tried-and-true technique that involves a butter-soaked cheesecloth.

Trifle is a staple on many holiday tables, and for good reason. The combination of cake, jelly, custard and cream is as attractive as it is satisfying. Who doesn’t love seeing a clear glass trifle bowl filled with layer upon layer of tasty tidbits? If this describes you, head over to Australian Gourmet Traveller, which has a collection of favorite trifle recipes perfect for the holidays and beyond. Or try the Pear, panettone and chocolate trifle from The Guardian Feast Supplement by Thomasina Miers pictured above.

I am in the midst of a kitchen remodel, so I am relegated to cooking in a temporary space that features very little countertop room and has a laundry tub doubling as a sink. Despite the shortcomings, I have been able to cook more easily than I had anticipated. Reading Rachel Cooke’s recent article in The Guardian about rethinking fitted kitchens reinforced the notion that cooking is more than just having gobs of counter space, myriad appliances, and loads of cabinets. Some of the items I have carefully packed away into boxes might not be returning to my new kitchen (which will still be small but hopefully more efficient). For those who love to see kitchen remodels as they happen, head over to Facebook and take a gander at my album documenting the process.)

Indian fry bread – a dish borne out of necessity – is an integral part of Native American history. When Indigenous peoples were forced to move from their homelands, they lost access to their traditional foodways. “We were stripped from the natural abundance around us,” said Elise McMullen-Ciotti, a Cherokee food scholar at New York University. “We came up with something that we could share amongst one another.” Read more about the history of fry bread at The New York Times.

Adam Liaw of Australia’s Good Food has a new cookbook titled Tonight’s Dinner: Home Cooking for Every Day. Good Food has excerpted Liaw’s top ten tips from the book, which include lessons he has learned from guests on his SBS show The Cook Up.

Looking for kitchen-related gifts for someone special on your list? Stay tuned to this blog, because we will be posting sales and highlighting great products. This week I’m directing you to Epicurious, which has assembled a list of the best kitchen stocking stuffers according to their editors. (This is not an affiliate link – we do not receive revenue from Epicurious.)

If you enjoyed Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure (and you should, it is a most excellent book), we have some good news for you. You can now buy  ‘A Taste of Gastro Obscura’ gift box that provides 13 “culinary wonders from around the world, hand-picked” by the Gastro Obscura team, and shipped direct to you. There are only 500 of these gift boxes, so don’t delay if they sound tempting to you!