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bacon bits
Why is Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese so expensive?
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is often one of the most expensive cheeses when it is bought at delicatessen counters or at supermarkets. However, we can make some considerations in this respect and prove that it is not exactly like that. First of all, it is a hard-paste and long-maturation cheese. This means that its water content is only approximately 30%, i.e. it is a highly concentrated cheese, where the nourishing substances present in milk (casein, fat, mineral, vitamins, etc.) undergo a special drying process, or more appropriately dehydration process, both during production in the dairy and in the maturation rooms. Therefore, when you buy a hundred grams of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, you are actually taking home about 70% nourishing substances. Instead, if you buy other soft or fresh cheeses (which can also be very tasty) the water content can be up to 50%. The quantity of nourishing substances bought is definitely not the same.
You must also consider that to achieve its top quality level, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese takes at least 24 months. This means that at least two years go by between the moment the cheese is made and the time the consumer purchases it to eat it, so that producers and maturers will not earn any money for all this time and, as you know, “time is money”, or better the money invested is costly!
Finally, we should not forget that the dairy cows making milk for Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese are mainly fed with hay from the area of origin and are not allowed to eat other fodder (e.g. fermented forage) which is cheaper, but would give rise to quality problems during the maturation phase. We say all this to prove that it is not only a valuable cheese, but it is also worth its price.
Bargain Bin: Yellow+Blue Malbec
Finally! An eco-friendly boxed wine we'll drink
((FROM TASTINGTABLE.COM))
Wine is a carbon Bigfoot: All those heavy glass bottles and time spent on trucks and planes add up. Wine producers have been playing with glass alternatives for years (see Franzia), but we've never tried a boxed wine we could get behind until we were introduced to Yellow+Blue (get it?) by Scott Pactor, the picky palate who owns the beloved, organic-oriented Appellation Wine and Spirits.
The unoaked Argentinean Malbec is made from certified organic grapes, then boated to Canada where it's packaged in paperboard Tetra Paks, a process that produces about a fifth of the greenhouse emissions used to make and move glass bottles.
Eco-friendliness aside, at $12 a liter, it's the perfect fall picnic wine—soft and juicy with ripe plum and blueberry flavors and enough complexity to surprise the wine snobs. Just don't forget to recycle.
pink meat issue
via adman
popcorn chips
randy dunn "stop the madness!"
(alice) feiring and (parker) loathing
new coke.....machine
ring king
meat you halfway.
hey, jerky!
The new JetBlue Terminal 5's insane food court doesn't open to the public until October 1, but Cutlets has an early look at the renderings of some of the more exciting restaurants. Let's just say we've never been so excited about anything associated with the words "food court" or "airport" before. The spaces (at least in the artists' mock-ups) are real stunners. To Cutlets for more:
"Alexandra Raij should be cozy in her warped tapas bar; Michael Schulson's Asian spot Deep Blue is meant to make you feel cocooned in water; and Mark Ladner's Aeronuova trattoria screens old Italian flicks. The Loft, which has no celebrity-chef affiliation, recalls a Soho apartment you can't afford."
radiant roasting
first times restaurant review
Good Veggie Eating.....as I still try to a-mass alot of pork and fried pufferfish points, I had a couple vegge meals this week.
1) Maoz Vegetarian (Union Sq and 8th St) : very good falafal plate what you can cover with many yummy things, not cheap but what is anymore
2) Gaam (11 W 30th) : Vatan which is under re-du opened a 2nd spot, mostly the same, but IMHO a great spot, fresh clean and awesome, best for a group and eat slow, beer goes well with the spice but it fills me up too much, $25 all you can eat on the food side.....
Rock n Bowl NY Style
(ex)Wetlands Owner and Blue Ribbon Owner's Cut A Gruve
By BEN SISARIO nytimes
Published: July 31, 2008
Opening a rock club in New York is not as easy as it used to be.
There’s the insane cost of real estate, as well as fierce competition as the battered music industry looks to live performances for steady income, and national promoters expand their reach into smaller spaces.
But hardest of all, said Peter Shapiro, who owned Wetlands in TriBeCa from 1996 until it closed in 2001, is just coming up with a new angle. That’s why he’s excited about Brooklyn Bowl, his spacious new room in Williamsburg. A combination 600-capacity music club and 16-lane bowling alley, it will also have a menu created by Blue Ribbon, a chain of restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“To sit at a show, cock your head back, watch a band and then leave, it’s been done,” Mr. Shapiro said. “But to come see a show, do some bowling, eat some French-bread pizza from Blue Ribbon — that hasn’t been done.”
rachel Ray dog Food, and yes she is donating some profit to help doggies eat better too
http://www.rachaelray.com/pets/nutrish.php
Jean-Georges looks forward to tastings this week for the 50 seat pizzeria he’s doing with Sullivan Street Bakery’s Jim Leahey at 230 Ninth Avenue at 24th street. It’s Jean-George’s first pizzeria venture and Leahy’s first restaurant. Leahey is an icon to purists who admire his style of slow natural fermentation. “I’ve been using his bread for years,” says Vongerichten. About pizza? ”We’ll have our five cents to say,” he said. We being Phil Saurez. “He’s my producer. He did Michael Jackson’s "Thriller." Now he does me.” Vongerichten’s Spice Market is about to open in Doha (Qatar). He’s signed to do a steak house at the Pheonician in Arizona, and is negotiating with a landmark hotel to do a steak house in Manhattan. He won’t say where –“It’s still in negotiation and anything can happen.” Rumors I hear put it on the Upper East Side. ((from Gael Greene))