Food news antipasto

Every chef has their own ‘secret’ ingredient, the one that they turn to time and again to add pizzazz to their dishes. For Mauritian chef Chaya Maya, that ingredient is tamarind. She adds it to soups and stews near the end of cooking, as a marinade for meats, and in desserts. Like other Maruritians, she even eats it straight out of the pod, right off the tree.

Beer can chicken is having a moment right now, but one beer aficionado is urging people not to use this particular cooking method. According to Melissa Cole, there are several reasons not to stick a half-full can of beer into your chicken. For starters, most beer cans are lined with BPA, which leaches into liquid when heated. Also, since most people start with a cold brew, it can mean your bird will have trouble coming up to a safe cooking temperature.

We’ve posted about enameled cast iron pans from Staub and Le Creuset many times. Not only do they heat evenly while looking fantastic, they are extremely durable, becoming family heirlooms that can be passed on to the next generation. Now there’s a new challenger to these classic French brands: Lodge is making its own line of enameled cast iron. The Dutch ovens are manufactured in the United States and come in three colors (red, white, and blue).

While cuisines vary from region to region and country to country, food can provide a common bond for people no matter where they reside. The Guardian’s Rachel Cooke explores this concept in a recent article where she says that “what we eat defines us as a nation but it also crosses borders and, like Esperanto, helps us communicate globally.” Cooke adds that food “makes conversations with strangers not just possible, but easy; via discussions of baking and the making of stew, other thornier aspects of life (politics, mainly) may be tackled, even if only obliquely.”

Restaurant goers in Sydney will want to take a look at an article from Good Food (Aus) that takes a look at the top dining trends in Sydney so far this year. Crepes are making a comeback, unfamiliar pasta shapes appear on menus, and Filipino cuisine is taking off. The article lists plenty of other trends to let you know what’s available in this bustling food city.

Fans of Häagen-Dazs ice cream have reason to celebrate this week, as parent company General Mills announced that the brand would soon appear on a new line of yogurts. Of course with the Häagen-Dazs name attached, this is not your run-of-the-mill yogurt but instead is called “Cultured Crème.” It’s a bit different than regular yogurt as well, with the company stating that making this product takes “up to five times longer than traditional yogurt to create a thick, creamy texture reminiscent of ice cream.”