FanFare

Explore the world's best spices, be inspired to make your own new spice blends, and take your cooking to new heights. Break new ground with this spice book like no other, from food scientist and bestselling author Dr. Stuart Farrimond. Taking the periodic table of spices as a starting point, explore the science behind the art of making incredible spice blends and how the flavor compounds within spices work together to create exciting layers of flavor and new sensations.

[more inside]
posted by aniola on Sep 7, 2019 - 3 comments

The smell of sweet cinnamon on your morning oatmeal, the gentle heat of gingerbread, the sharp piquant bite from your everyday peppermill. The tales these spices could tell: of lavish Renaissance banquets perfumed with cloves, and flimsy sailing ships sent around the world to secure a scented prize; of cinnamon-dusted custard tarts and nutmeg-induced genocide; of pungent elixirs and the quest for the pepper groves of paradise. The Taste of Conquest offers up a riveting, globe-trotting tale of unquenchable desire, fanatical religion, raw greed, fickle fashion, and mouthwatering cuisine–in short, the very stuff of which our world is made. In this engaging, enlightening, and anecdote-filled history, Michael Krondl, a noted chef turned writer and food historian, tells the story of three legendary cities–Venice, Lisbon, and Amsterdam–and how their single-minded pursuit of spice helped to make (and remake) the Western diet and set in motion the first great wave of globalization. [more inside]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis on May 9, 2019 - 1 comment