Portal:Food: Difference between revisions

Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean Basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates with the cookery writer Elizabeth David's book, A Book of Mediterranean Food (1950) and was amplified by other writers working in English.

Many writers define the three core elements of the cuisine as the olive, wheat, and the grape, yielding olive oil, bread and pasta, and wine; other writers deny that the widely varied foods of the Mediterranean basin constitute a cuisine at all. A common definition of the geographical area covered, proposed by David, follows the distribution of the olive tree. (Full article...)

"Tony" Bourdain on WNYC television

Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of many professional kitchens during his career, which included several years spent as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan. In the late 1990's Bourdain wrote an essay about the ugly secrets of a Manhattan restaurant, but he was having difficulty getting it published. According to the New York Times, his mother Gladys — then an editor and writer at the paper — handed her son's essay to friend and fellow editor Esther B. Fein, the wife of David Remnick, editor of the magazine The New Yorker. Remnick ran Bourdin's essay in the magazine, kickstarting Bourdain's career and legitimizing the point-blank tone that would become his trademark. The success of the article was followed just a year later by the publication of a New York Times best-selling book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. (Full article...)

In Vietnamese cuisine, bánh mì or banh mi (/ˈbɑːn miː/, /ˈbæn/; Vietnamese: [ɓǎjŋ̟ mì], 'bread') is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and a soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with meat and savory ingredients like a submarine sandwich and served as a meal, called bánh mì thịt. Plain bánh mì is also eaten as a staple food.

A typical Vietnamese roll or sandwich is a fusion of meats and vegetables from native Vietnamese cuisine such as chả lụa (Vietnamese sausage), coriander (cilantro), cucumber, pickled carrots, and pickled daikon combined with condiments from French cuisine such as pâté, along with red chili and mayonnaise. However, a variety of popular fillings are used, from xá xíu (Chinese barbecued pork) to even ice cream. In Vietnam, bread rolls and sandwiches are typically eaten for breakfast or as a snack. (Full article...)

Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula C
₁₂H
₂₂O
₁₁.

For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined from either sugarcane or sugar beet. Sugar mills – typically located in tropical regions near where sugarcane is grown – crush the cane and produce raw sugar which is shipped to other factories for refining into pure sucrose. Sugar beet factories are located in temperate climates where the beet is grown, and process the beets directly into refined sugar. The sugar-refining process involves washing the raw sugar crystals before dissolving them into a sugar syrup which is filtered and then passed over carbon to remove any residual colour. The sugar syrup is then concentrated by boiling under a vacuum and crystallized as the final purification process to produce crystals of pure sucrose that are clear, odorless, and sweet. (Full article...)