Culinary News You Can Use

My name is Kathleen and I’m a Culinary Information Hoarder.

I’m addicted to food news. My desktop computer has 462 Food Bookmarks, my laptop has 654 and so far, my iphone has five entire pages dedicated to food and cooking apps. I’m never without access to the latest food headlines.

My cookbook collection rivals that of a Borders superstore, I have standing subscriptions to all the major cooking magazines plus every magazine with a decent food section or great food writer. I could care less about fashion but life, as I know it, would be unbearable without my monthly Jeffrey Steingarten1 fix.

Every day I wake up and think, today’s the day I’m going to finish everything in my reading pile. And yet, no matter how many hours I spend reading through breakfast, at my desk, in line for coffee, throughout lunch and office hours, on planes, trains and in automobiles, by the end of most days I feel like a scholarly octopus (in charge of making dinner) stuck in the La Brea Tar pits. There’s just no getting ahead in this information age!

Until someone opens a rehab center for Culinary Information Hoarders, I don’t know how I’m going to kick my addiction but in the meantime, I’m starting a new section on the site; Culinary News You Can Use. Every week, I’ll provide links to all my favorite stories and those worthy of your attention. Some say this makes me a Culinary Hoarder Enabler. I’ve been called worse.

This Week’s Headlines…
All Clad for the Rich and the Rest of Us…
Navigating the Maze of Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners
Fast Oven Roasted Fish with Cannellini Beans, Tomatoes and Black Olives

All Clad for the Rich and the Rest of Us…
All Clad pots and pans; well-constructed, heavy bottomed pots and pans designed for uniform cooking and perfect results every time, have long been favored by restaurant chefs and home cooks alike and for good reason. They perform. The only drawback? The Porsche of Pots and Pans, in large part because they’re constructed of superior materials in multiple layers, are notoriously expensive. But there’s nothing like a little competition in the marketplace to drive down prices!

What’s Clad Got to Do With It?

When it comes to cookware, Clad is defined as sheathed, enclosed in a protective covering; sometimes used in combination; having an outer covering especially of thin metal; “steel-clad”; “armor-clad”. Check out this month’s front page Equipment Review: Large Saucepans at Cooks Illustrated.com to find out which manufacturers have entered the Clad market and which pans are worthy of a spot in your home kitchen. The article features side-by-side comparisons of 9 large saucepans.

Cooks Illustrated is a subscription based website but you’ll be able to access the full article. You will have to sign up for a 14 day free trial to see the actual comparison chart but it’s worth the effort if you’re in the market for new cookware.

Editors Note: Kathleen Daelemans has no affiliation with Cooks Illustrated and does not profit in any way from their site or advertisers.

Navigating the Maze of Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners
From the San Francisco Chronicle…The number of sweeteners lining supermarket shelves is mind-boggling. There are artificial sweeteners, natural sweeteners and sweeteners with names too difficult to pronounce.

There is not a whole lot of consensus on which one is better for you, or even the least harmful. Too much sugar will make you fat, the experts say. On the other hand, too much zero-calorie artificial sweetener can also make you fat, others argue. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com

Fast Oven Roasted Fish with Cannellini Beans, Tomatoes and Black Olives
It seems like no matter how hard I try to avoid it, every winter I end up testing the limits of denim by filling out my jeans to maximum capacity. Every February I start panicking about the fact that I’ll no longer be able to hide jelly tummy rolls under baggy sweater dresses or rice white legs beneath black opaque tights. The stark naked reality that sandals and sundresses are just around the corner is enough to convince me to start slimming down my menus with more vigilance and regularity.

Soup, Salad and Fish suppers are super slimming and can be whipped up without much fuss. Donna Hay is one of my favorite cookbook authors and is the Queen of quick cooking. Check out her recipe for Oven Roasted Fish with Cannellini Beans, Tomatoes and Black Olives. Read More: http://www.donnahay.com.au


Sources

All Clad for the Rich and the Rest of Us
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment/overview.asp?docid=23287

Navigating the Maze of Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/21/FDHA1C055U.DTL&type=food

Fast Oven Roasted Fish with Cannellini Beans, Tomatoes and Olives by Donna Hay
http://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/412-roasted-fish-in-white-wine-with-olives/

1 Jeffrey Steingarten trained to become a food writer at Harvard College, Harvard Law School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Harvard Lampoon. For the past eight years he has been the internationally feared and acclaimed food critic of Vogue magazine. Recently he has also become the food correspondent for the on-line magazine Slate. For essays in this collection, Mr. Steingarten has won countless awards from the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. On Bastille Day, 1994, the French Republic made him a Chevalier in the Order of Merit for his writing on French gastronomy. As the man who ate everything, Chevalier Steingarten has no favorite food, color, or song. His preferred eating destinations, however, are Memphis, Paris, Alba, Chengdu--and his loft in New York City.