Because I’m a food idiot, I like making sauces from scratch. Why not hoisin sauce? With a general knowledge of what’s in hoisin sauce (it’s soybean paste-based and has historically followed Cantonese migrants around South East Asia), I Googled “hoisin sauce recipe”. Here’s what was served up: 6 out of 9 based on peanut butter,… Continue reading How Google Recipe Search ruins food: hoisin sauce edition.
Category: American Food
Not an economic analysis of food trends
Thomas the Think Engine takes on an economic analysis of food trends and the growth in American barbecue in Melbourne, and it’s really quite wrong. The whole city is suddenly buzzing with American cuisine – and just a few short years ago, that would have seemed like an oxymoron. The reason is one restaurateurs almost… Continue reading Not an economic analysis of food trends
Burger Joint Name Generator
Any word that ends with “-am” can be joined to the word “burger” to make the name of a burger joint. Here are all of them:
Cronuts are over
I get the feeling that food trends are collapsing in ever shortening cycles: in a mere 7 months from their invention and a few months since they became shorthand for the culinary zeitgeist of 2013, the cronut has fallen out of favour, at least, according to Google’s aggregation of searches.
First mention of Dude Food? 1911
I’ve been searching around a little for the etymology of the term “dude food”. Even though its use seem to blossom in the late 80s, it seems to have been around for a long time, referring to cowboys. The earliest that I can find is from journalist and author Caroline Lockhart’s first novel in 1911,… Continue reading First mention of Dude Food? 1911
When fried chicken went awry
He still puts on a white linen suit every morning, rides in a chauffeured white Cadillac, visits Kentucky Fried Chicken’s white column headquarters and plugs his “finger lickin’ good” chicken around the country. But Harland D Sanders, everyone’s favourite Kentucky colonel, is disturbed about what has happened to his chicken and to America’s dining habits.… Continue reading When fried chicken went awry
Did McDonalds cause the decline of violence in America?
Violent crime has been on the decline in the US since 1990, and largely, the reasons for the decline have been inexplicable. Steven Leavitt (of Freakonomics fame) and John J. Donohue III argue that around 50% of the reduction in crime is the result of earlier introduction of legalised abortion (PDF). I’ve got a theory… Continue reading Did McDonalds cause the decline of violence in America?
Teddy’s Bigger Burger, Hawaii
My favourite trait in Americans is the lack of fear. It spawns an infectious entrepreneurialism. It tempts them to cook a patty of ground chuck to medium-rare over fire rather than safely char it to a risk-free tasteless puck. The above was hands down my favourite hamburger of 2010, from Teddy’s Bigger Burger in Waikiki,… Continue reading Teddy’s Bigger Burger, Hawaii