Book Review - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

For me, the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both sublime and ridiculous. But like a love affair, looking back you remember the happy times best-the things that drew you in, attracted you in the first place, the things that kept you coming back for more.  I hope I can give the reader a taste of those things and those times. I've never regretted the unexpected left turn that dropped me in the restaurant business. And I've long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we're talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime 'associates', food, for me, has always been an adventure.

These are few lines of the book ' Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly' by famous American chef Anthony Michael Bourdain.

The book portrays Bourdain's professional story and a behind-the-scenes look at restaurant kitchens. The book makes an honest attempt to present overall view of professional culinary industry. The commercial kitchen is described as an intense, unpleasant and sometimes hazardous place of work staffed by what he describes as misfits. Bourdain believes it's no place for hobbyists and all those entering this industry will run away screaming if they lack a masochistic, irrational dedication to cooking.

Bourdain says, "My first indication that food was something other than a substance one stuffed in one's face when hungry-like filling up at a gas station-came after fourth-grade elementary school.

He writes -  "Don't Eat Before You Read This" in The New Yorker, he spared no one's appetite, revealing what goes on behind the kitchen door. In Kitchen Confidential, he expanded the appetizer into a deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet that lays out his twenty-five years of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine.

From his first oyster in Gironda to the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, from the restaurants of Tokyo to the drug dealers of the East Village, from the mobsters to the rats, Bourdain's brilliantly written and wonderfully read, wild-but-true tales make the belly ache with laughter.

The book alternates between a confessional narrative and an industry commentary, providing insightful and humorous anecdotes on the cooking trade. Bourdain details some of his personal misdeeds and weaknesses, including drug use.

He explains how restaurants function economically and the various restaurateur's tricks of which consumers should be aware. For example, he advises customers to avoid ordering fish on a Monday as the fish for Monday would be likely a remnant from the weekend or earlier. He also suggests avoiding beef well done: the meat is more likely to be from less-than-best grade as the substandard flavor would be masked in overcooking.

TasteMoreNew to Celebrate Universal Pakhala Day on March 20

Bhubaneswar-based online food ordering platform TasteMoreNew (TMN) will celebrate Pakhala Dibasa or Universal Pakhala Day on March 20.  As part of the celebrations, TMN encourages its staff members, customers and people in general to eat pakhala on that day.

Pakhaḷa  is not just a rice item for the people of Odisha, it is a part of socio-cultural identity. It is very difficult to trace the time period when this food item was first consumed by the people of Odisha.  As it was included in the recipe of Lord Jagannath, so we can presume Pakhala's origin would have around tenth century AD. However, its accuracy is questionable.

Regardless to it, Pakhaḷa is the best rice food item in Odisha. There is not a single home in Odisha where you cannot find a bowl with Pakhal bhata in it.  During summer, every Odia takes it twice or thrice a day to beat the heat and sun stroke.  It has several other health benefits, due to which the food is now widely consumed in other states like West Bengal, Bihar, Chattisgarh, and Assam.  It is also consumed in countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.

March 20 marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall (autumn) in the southern hemisphere from an astronomical viewpoint. Twice a year, around March 20 or 21 and September 22 or 23, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world. So 20th March is the perfect day to celebrate Universal Pakhala Day.

Rice: Not Just a Staple Food, But a Way of Life, Culture and Custom in India

Rice is not only a staple food for majority of people in India, but also a way of life, culture and custom.  India is the largest rice producer in the world, accounting for over 20% of all world rice production. In addition to making direct contribution to economy growth, rice production has its influence on socio-cultural life of people. Most of the Indian customs and festivals are observed in consonance with rice production and consumption.

Over the years, many varieties of rice have been added from different regions making it one of the richest culinary items in India. Here is the list of rice in India.

Water Rice (Pakhala): It is a typical Odia rice item. The food consists of cooked rice washed or little fermented in water. The liquid part is known as Toraṇi. It is popular in Odisha, Bengal, Assam and Chhattisgarh.  

Rice Bread (Akki Rotti): A south Indian rice item made of rice flour which is mixed with salt and water and kneaded well to make a soft dough. It is extremely popular in Karnatka.

American Fried Rice: It is a Thai fried rice dish with "American" side ingredients like fried chicken, ham, hot dogs, raisins, ketchup, and croutons. Other ingredients like pineapple are optional.

Biryani: It is a mixed rice dish from the Indian subcontinent. It is made with spices, rice and meat or vegetables.

Steamed Rice: It is cooked either by steaming or boiling the rice. Steamed rice may include any variant, including short, medium, and long grain rice.

Bisi Bele Bath: The rice-based dish originating in the state of Karnataka, is quite elaborate and involves the use of spicy masala, toor dal (a type of lentil) and vegetables.

Chitranna: It is a rice-based dish widely prepared in homes in South India. It is prepared by mixing cooked rice with the tempered vegetable offering called Oggarane, gojju or Chitrannada Gojju (means, Chitranna's gojju).  

Claypot Chicken Rice: It is a dinner dish served with Chinese sausage and vegetables. More often than not, the rice is cooked in the claypot first and cooked ingredients like diced chicken and Chinese sausage are added in later.

Curd Rice:  It is also called yogurt rice is a dish of India. The word "curd" in India usually refers to unsweetened yogurt. It is very popular in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

 Dal Bhat: Dal bhat consists of steamed rice and a cooked lentil soup called dal. It is a staple food in India and other South Asian countries.

Dosa: Dosa is a fermented crepe made from rice batter and black lentils. It is a staple dish in South Indian states of Tamil nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana.  

Fried Rice:  It is a dish of steamed rice stir-fried in a wok, often mixed with other ingredients, such as eggs, vegetables, and meat, and as such, often served as a complete dish.  

Idli: It is a savory cake sizing four to five inches in diameter and are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented black lentils (de-husked) and rice. The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolized by the body.

Kheer: Kheer is a rice pudding from the cuisine of the Indian Subcontinent, made by boiling rice, broken wheat, tapioca, or vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavoured with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios or almonds.  

 Khichdi: It is made from rice and lentils (dal). It is considered one of the first solid foods that babies eat.

Jeera Rice: Consisting of rice and cumin seeds. this rice dish is a popular dish in North India, an everyday rice dish. It is easy to prepare unlike a biryani. Jeera is the Hindi word for cumin seeds.

International Women's' Day: TMN Salutes Great Women Chefs in India

If a woman is not defamed in the great CHANAKYA NEETI, she is certainly not glorified. Chanakya's witty political strategies that helped rise of Chandragupta Maurya and downfall of powerful Nanda Empire, continues to inspire modern political systems across the world. His theories of administration and political doctrines have no match anywhere in the world. However, it is really mysterious that what made this great intellectual to undermine the power of women and develop a series of anti-feminist statements in his Neeti Sashtra.

Biased Statements

Women, according to Chanakya, have hunger two-fold, shyness four-fold, daring six-fold, and lust eight-fold as compared to men.

 "A woman, who keeps fast without the permission of her husband, shortens the life of the husband. She goes to hell and is punished with great horrors of hell". 

"Women could not be trusted or they have inherent tendencies of “low moral character and untruth”.

Chanakya Niti says: "The brass pot can be cleaned with ash, copper gets cleaned with citric acids, monthly period purifies women and the river water becomes potable after flowing through rapids".

“Knowledge is lost without putting it into practice; a man is lost due to ignorance; an army is lost without a commander; and a woman is lost without a husband.”

"The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman".

As the world commemorates 106th International Women’s Day on March 8, TasteMoreNew candidly ignores Chanakya's views on woman.

TMN believes that a woman always makes our life meaningful in the form of a mother, a sister, a wife, a daughter and a friend.  She is the maker of the home, an integral part of the society and an inspiration to the civilization.  A country is prosperous, if her mothers and daughters are happy.

 The beauty of a woman is reflected in her soul; it is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows; The beauty of a woman with passing years only grows.

Breaking all barriers, women have made their presence felt strongly in almost all fields, which at once were considered to be no-entry zone for them. They are now considered equal to their male counterparts. Long ago, the role of woman was restricted in making simple meals for her family. They were not allowed to play a major role in the culinary world. Today women are bridging this gender gap in the culinary world and make an impact.

As the world celebrates International Women's Day, we respect and salute the great women for their contribution to food and hospitality industry.

Tarla Dalal

Tarla Dalal was an Indian food writer, chef, cookbook author and host of cooking shows. Her first cook book, The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking, was published in 1974. Since then she wrote over 100 books and sold more than 3 million copies. She also ran the largest Indian food web site, and published a bi-monthly magazine, Cooking & More. Her cooking shows included The Tarla Dalal Show and Cook It Up With Tarla Dalal.

Anjum Anand

Anjum Anand is a British Indian food writer and TV chef of Indian cuisine. At age 25 her first book Indian Every Day: Light Healthy Indian Food was published. Anand became a regular guest on UKTV Food's Great Food Live from 2004 to 2007, and featured in the BBC Two series Indian Food Made Easy broadcast in 2007. She has been a regular contributor to The Times Online food pages since 2007. She has acted as consultant chef to Birds Eye brand to develop a range of healthy Indian ready meals. In September 2008 Anand published her third recipe book Anjum's New Indian, followed by a new BBC television series in November.

Madhumita Mohanta

Madhumita Mohanta is an Indian chef. Mohanta is the executive chef at Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata. She worked and lived abroad for over a decade and has cooked for distinguished personalities from sportspersons such as racing car driver Michael Schumacher to royalty. Mohanta is one of the top women chefs in India today. She is the only female executive chef in a star hotel in Kolkata.

Aarti Sequeira

Aarti Lucica Sequeira is an Indian chef and television personality, best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network's reality television show, The Next Food Network Star. As a result of that victory, her show Aarti Party premiered on the network on 22 August 2010. She had previously worked as a CNN news producer and in 2008 started the online cooking variety show Aarti Paarti. She currently hosts another cooking show, Taste in Translation, in which she seeks the most popular dishes from around the world.

Manju Malhi

Manju Malhi is a British-born chef and food writer, specialising in Anglo-Indian cuisine. She was brought up in North West London where she grew up surrounded by Indian culture, traditions and lifestyles. However, she spent several years of her childhood in India where she explored and experienced the vast and varied cuisines of the country. Malhi has come up with her own self-styled "Brit-Indi" style of food, which mixes Indian and Western influences.

KaminiJha

Jha has been proving her determination through complete hard work and willpower. She is the Queen in preparing Tandoori dishes in The Oberoi. She has not only survived in the industry but also made it big. Cooking was always her favorite pastime; she first entered her home kitchen where she feels comfortable at the age of 10. She's a prominent person in the Oberoi kitchens who focused on chicken tikka, tandoori naan, tandoori aloo, and ajwaini machhi.

MadhuKrishnan

Madhu Krishnan, an Executive Chef in Bangalore, was recognized by her hard work and enthusiasm. Her big moment was when she set up the 'West View' at the ITC Maurya, New Delhi in the late 1990s. It was exciting to bring in a new concept of fresh ingredients like scallops, cheeses, olives and Parma ham, which is lightly cooked and served. In those days, no one was seen doing it and people were not prepared to believe anything which was raw and uncooked. Krishnan's next big assignment was at the Grand Maratha, where again, she was able to maintain high standards as an executive chef.

Bollywood's Obsession with Food & Beverages - Part II

We have talked here about the Bollywood's obsession with food and beverages over the ages. We have gathered some wonderful dialogues on food and beverages. 

Around 95% People Don't Wash Hands Correctly, So Question is: How to Wash Correctly?

Washing hands before taking foods is a universally acknowledged common sense. Does everybody wash hands correctly?

Here is a pictorial guidance on how to wash hands correctly.

According to a study of 3,749 people conducted by Michigan State University researchers, only 5% percent of people wash their hands correctly spending more time to kill the germs that may cause infections.

Over 33 % do not soap and 10% do not wash their hands at all. Men were particularly bad at washing their hands correctly, the study said. 15% of men don't wash their hands at all, compared with 7% of women. When they wash their hands, only 50% of men use soap, compared with 78% of women.

Hand washing is the easiest and one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of infectious disease. Failing to sufficiently wash one’s hands contributes to nearly 50 percent of all foodborne illness outbreaks.

It takes 15 to 20 seconds of vigorous hand washing with soap and water to effectively kill the germs, yet the study found that people are only washing their hands, on average, for about 6 seconds.

14 Amazing Food Records in World

If inspiration comes from reading, watching or listening success stories of any kind or participating in record breaking, then here are list of amazing food records as recorded in the Guinness World Records.  Can you break them? 

1. Largest Samosa

The largest samosa is 110.8 kg (244 lb 4 oz) and was created by Bradford College (UK), in Bradford, UK, on 22 June 2012. The samosa measured 135 cm long (53 in), 85 cm wide (33 in) and 29 cm high (11 in). 

2. Largest Bubblegum Bubble Blown 

Chad Fell (USA) blew a bubblegum bubble with a diameter of 50.8 cm (20 in) without using his hands at the Double Springs High School, Winston County, Alabama, USA on 24 April 2004.

3. Largest Bowl of Porridge  

The largest bowl of porridge is 1,380 kg (3,042 lb 6 oz) and was made by Flahavan’s and Waterford Harvest Festival (both Ireland), in Waterford, Ireland, on 16 September 2012.

  

4. Most Juice Extracted from Grapes by Treading in Two Minutes (individual) 

The most juice extracted from grapes by treading in two minutes (individual) is 20.3 litres (4.47 gal) and was acheived by Martina Servaty (Germany) on the set of Guinness World Records - Die Grössten Weltrekorde in Cologne, Germany, on 13 September 2008.

5. Most Smarties/M&Ms Eaten in One Minute Blindfolded Using Chopsticks 

The most M&Ms eaten in one minute blindfolded is 20 and was achieved by Ashrita Furman (USA), at the Sri Chimnoy Centre in New York, New York, USA, on 8 December 2011.

6. Most Ice Cream Scoops Thrown and Caught in One Minute by a Team of Two 

The record for most ice cream scoops thrown and caught in one minute by a team of two is 25, achieved by Gabriele Soravia (thrower) and Lorenzo Soravia (catcher) (both Germany), on the set of Guinness World Records - Die größten Weltrekorde in Cologne, Germany, on 1 September 2007.

7. Most Big Macs Consumed 

Donald A. Gorske (USA) consumed his 26,000th McDonald’s Big Mac on 11 October 2012, in his fortieth year of eating Big Macs on a daily basis.

8. Largest Cake Sculpture  

The largest cake sculpture measures 16.46 m x 13.94 m x 0.54 m (54 ft x 45 ft 7 in x 1 ft 9.25 in) and was achieved by National Association Cake Designers Italy in Milan, Italy, on 4 October 2015. The scultpure was made by 250 cake designers.

9. Heaviest Cabbage 

The heaviest cabbage weighed 62.71 kg (138.25 lb) and was presented at the Alaska State Fair by Scott A. Robb (USA) in Palmer, Alaska, USA, on 31 August 2012. Scott A. Robb has previously held a number of Guinness World Records for heaviest vegetables, including the 'Heaviest turninp', among others.

10. Most Expensive Hamburger

The most expensive hamburger sells for $5,000 (£3,188.37) and is prepared by Juicys Foods and Ovations Foodservices for Juicys Outlaw Grill, based in Corvallis, Oregon, USA, as of 2 July 2011.

11. Most Expensive Fungus Species 

The White Truffle (Tuber magnum pico) is the world's most expensive edible fungus, fetching up to U$3,000 per kilo. They can only be found in the Italian regions of Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Marches, and the Istrian peninsula of Croatia, and because they grow about a foot underground, they can only be located with the help of trained dogs.

12. Largest Scoop of Ice Cream 

The largest scoop of ice-cream weighed 1365kg 312.93g (3,010 lb) and was created by Kemps LLC (USA), in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, USA on 28 June 2014. The strawberry flavored ice-cream scoop measured 5’ 6” tall and 6’ 2” wide, containing approximately 733 containers of ice-cream. Thousands of attendees at the Cedarburg strawberry festival lined up and received a generous serving of the ice-cream for free throughout the weekend.

13. Hottest Chili 

The hottest chilli is Smokin Ed's 'Carolina Reaper', grown by The PuckerButt Pepper Company (USA), which rates at an average of 1,569,300 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina, USA, throughout 2012. The Scoville Unit (SHU) scale is a method of quantifying a substance's 'spiciness', through determining the concentration of the chemical compounds responsible for the sensation, which are named capsaicinoids.

14. Largest Pizza 

The largest pizza has a total surface area of 1,261.65 m² (13,580.28 ft²) and was prepared by Dovilio Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, Marco Nardi, Matteo Nardi and Matteo Giannotte (all Italy) from NIPfood at Fiera Roma, in Rome, Italy, on 13 December 2012.

The pizza was named "Ottavia", a word of Roman origin for "eighth son", as a homage to the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus, who represented an epoch-making change in the history of Rome and brought the Empire into a period of economic and cultural unrest.

Ottavia was 100% gluten-free, educating and spreading a message to the whole world about the importance of health conscious food choices. A gluten-free diet can have a variety of health benefits, including improving cholesterol levels, promoting digestive health, and increasing energy levels.

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