Pie Town New Mexico

Reported by: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/19/AR2011011905093.html
The White House says President Barack Obama and the first lady want tonight’s state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao (hoo jihn-tow) to show off some of America’s most recognized offerings and the menu lives up to the description. Food doesn’t get any more American than meat and potatoes, washed down with apple pie and ice cream. More than 200 guests will dine on a main course of dry-aged rib eye steak with buttermilk crisp onions, double stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach. There’s a first course of pear salad and a second course of poached Maine lobster with orange-glazed carrots and black trumpet mushrooms. Dinner will be served in the Red, Blue and State Dining rooms.

Reported by John Lehndorff at http://www.johnlehndorff.com/JL-Pie.html:
(From the “This I Believe” archive)

I believe in pie. My favorite food, bar none, is warm, fresh wild blueberry pie a la moded with good vanilla bean ice cream. But my faith transcends simple taste. When push comes to shove (as it so often does in life), I trust what lies within flaky crust.

I honestly believe that if we all sat down and ate pie together, we’d find common ground. Our nation would be a better place if we made pie, not war. Each of us deserves their piece of the pie, not pie in the sky. We like to brag on things that are “as American as apple pie,” which is really to say that pie, like all us citizens, emigrated here from elsewhere and found a home. America’s allies and its enemies also understand pastry in its myriad manifestations. They believe in baklava, empanadas, samosas, b’stilla, hammentaschen, pasties, tarts or quiche. No matter what you call it, pie epitomizes abundance and celebration.

Years ago I believed in pie so deep-dishedly that I took it on as my mission. I yearned to be America’s Pie Guy. I was the first executive director of the American Pie Council, the only organization devoted to saving our national dessert. I taught pie-making classes, celebrated National Pie Day on Jan. 23, devised pie charts, and judged innumerable contest pies for their crust, their filling and their lovability. I tasted a whole lot of badly made apple pies in my time.

Ah, pie. It’s a continuum that keeps on giving, as long as we keep making it for those we love. No wonder mathematicians also believe in pi, or 3.14159265358… etc ., involving as it does, the perfect geometry of an unbroken circle, the shape of a pie.

Before the greatest generation of pie-makers passes on, I urge everyone to record your family’s most precious oral history. Stand in the kitchen with a flour-sprinkled, pie-baking elder and learn first-hand when pie dough crust “feels” right and is ready to be rolled. No database contains this knowledge. Pay it forward by passing the zen of pie-making (and the rolling pin) to the next generation.Admittedly, my pastry devotion comes at a cost. I suffer from a permanent case of pie thighs, a small price to pay for the healing power of mince, pumpkin, green chile tamale, lemon meringue, sweet potato and chicken pot pie.

I believe I’ll have another slice.

Reported by Charlie Papazian, founder of National Pie Day and the Great American Beer Festival at examiner.com:

“What’s the secret to the best pie in the world? Relax, don’t worry and have a homebrew! The difficulty of pie-making is overrated. Crust is simple to make. 3/4 cup butter, 2 cups flour and a bit of salt. Mix well. Don’t worry. Then add 4 tablepoons cold water, stir in with pie cutter or simple fork. When evenly mixed roll out on pie cloth dusted with flour. Easy. Have another beer.”

A quote from Henry Ward Beecher “:
“(The pie should be eaten) while it is yet florescent, white or creamy yellow, with the merest drip of candied juice along the edges, (as if the flavor were so good to itself that its own lips watered!) of a mild and modest warmth, the sugar suggesting jelly, yet not jellied, the morsels of apple neither dissolved nor yet in original substance, but hanging as it were in a trance between the spirit and the flesh of applehood…then, O blessed man, favored by all the divinities! eat, give thanks, and go forth, ‘in apple-pie order!’”

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

Wonderfully juicy, savory roast pork tenderloin with soft polenta and broccoli rabe at Trattoria on Pearl, Boulder CO. Photo by Kim Long/ American Forecaster

Reported by: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-12-28-farmersmarkets28_ST_N.htm:
In the past two years, the number of winter farmers markets has increased 17% to nearly 900 nationwide, according to the Agriculture Department.

Reported by: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/dining/29pigs.html?_r=3&ref=styleIncreasingly, Mangalitsa is becoming available to ordinary pig worshipers, as both fresh cuts of pork and cured ham and other products. D’Artagnan, the foie-gras purveyor, sells Mangalitsa ham cured in Spain at Grace’s Marketplace and other high-end outlets. Eataly offers American Mangalitsa pancetta, guanciale and lardo at the salumi counter. Murray’s Cheese Shop has America’s first commercially cured Mangalitsa hams, from North Carolina. And DeBragga and Spitler, the specialty meat distributor in Manhattan, sells fresh retail cuts of Mangalitsa pork, as well as lard and hams, nationally on its Web site.

Reorted by: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/02/132477830/cupcakes-are-dead-long-live-the-pie:
Every year, I predict the death of the cupcake. I’m always wrong. But this year they’ll have real competition from the humble pie. Trend-spotters are calling pie the food of the year. Texas and New York restaurants offer pie happy hours. Pies are showing up at weddings, and pie shops are opening in a neighborhood near you. Pies come in sweet and savory, maxi and mini, deep dish and deep-fried. If pies are the new cupcakes, New York Magazine says, vegetables are the new meat. No more the supporting actors. Vegetables are stars. Remember food guru Michael Pollan’s mantra? “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” It’s getting some serious traction. And when Mario Batali — the prince of pork — embraces meatless Mondays, you know the times they are a-changing.

Reported by The New York Times:
A new breed of eaters is emerging that is as concerned about ecology as they are with taste: invasivores. These people eat a diet of invasive species, which are different depending on the area. Anything from lionfish to Canada geese can be on the menu. Jackson Landers, a Virginia resident who calls himself as “the Locavore Hunter,” teaches people how to hunt for and butcher deer. He has chronicled his invasive-species diet in an upcoming book, “Eating Aliens.”

Learning to make salami: www.ediblecommunities.com/frontrange/fall-2010/the-school-of-salumi.htm

Contact: lehndorffj@aol.com
John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, and author of a restaurant guide book. As one of America’s foremost pie experts, he urges you to celebrate National Pie Day on January 23.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

Reported by the LA WEEKLY:
“Who needs centerfolds when you have charcuterie? Or salumi, to be more specific and a bit more, well, I don’t know, centerfold-y. Thanks to American Salumi, you can now get a salumi calendar, supposedly the first of its kind. Technically it’s the Year of the Rabbit now, and not the Year of the Pig, although there are many people who would credibly argue that every year is the year of the pig. Whatever. The calendar includes a resource guide for finding locally-made salumi, pretty pictures of proscuitto, etc., a Q & A with Armandino Batali (a terrific salumi maker and Mario’s father, which explains a lot if you think about it) and a pullout centerfold salumi poster. Yes, the perfect wedding present for Hugh Hefner. Although I’m sure he doesn’t need any more calendars. Or centerfolds.”

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 9,700 times in 2010. That’s about 23 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 140 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 176 posts. There were 45 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 45mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was April 12th with 84 views. The most popular post that day was 2010 FOOD TRENDS: Zombie bacon; Kentuckyaki; hot dog pizza; desalinization .

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were studio1430.com, johnlehndorff.com, blogs.wherethelocalseat.com, facebook.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for food trends 2011, 2011 food trends, beverage trends 2010, dining trends 2010, and halal foie gras.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

2010 FOOD TRENDS: Zombie bacon; Kentuckyaki; hot dog pizza; desalinization April 2010

2011 FOOD TRENDS: Teaching butchery; Pickled hops shoots; ‘Peppier’ rejected; The anti-locavores; The art of opening an eatery September 2010

U.S. FOOD AND DINING TRENDS 2010 January 2010

About May 2009
1 comment

2010 FOOD TRENDS: Product placement; Stevia vs. monk fruit February 2010

Reported by John Lehndorff at www.yellowscene.com:
As we head into 2011, I glance over my shoulder at a remarkable year of food in Colorado. Farm-to-table dinners became commonplace as farmer’s markets inched closer to being open year round. Many eateries – some new and some venerable, closed, but the economy didn’t stop most of the empty eatery locations from being filled pretty quickly. Various national accolades including “the foodiest city in America” were awarded and downtown Louisville grew into a dining destination unto itself. It was great 12 months to be eating here.

In 2011, I expect the local food, beverage and dining scene to continue blossoming. Here are a handful of trends that may become prominent in the coming months.

A kombucha comeback: First, the fizzy vinegar health beverage was everywhere. Then, it disappeared for awhile over concerns that the fermentation involved produced excess alcohol. Now, kombucha is filling the refrigerated shelves again including locally produced varieties from Celestial Seasonings (Boulder), Julien’s Cliffhouse (Jamestown) and High Country (Eagle). Expect to see more eateries with kombucha on tap and maybe additional controversy about the product.

Food trucks proliferate: Wary of the investment and commitment, more chefs and entrepreneurs will eschew brick-and-mortar locations and opt for food trucks selling on the streets and at events. The current roster includes Hosea Rosenberg’s StrEat Chefs Airstream, the pink Comida Mexican truck, Walnut A Go-go, an offshoot of the Walnut Café and Southside Walnut Café and a bevy of mobile kitchens in Denver. The real question is where local municipalities (and justifiably wary restaurants) will allow the trucks and trailers to park.

Popcorn upgrade: Popcorn is moving out of the movie theaters and away from that weird salty yellow grease. We’ll see locally grown organic popcorn fried in everything from lard and suet to bacon and goose fat with eclectic toppings including poutine-style (with gravy or green chile and cheese).

Salumi on the rise: As we did with soggy white bread, thin beer and yellow plastic cheese, foodies have moved beyond bologna and pepperoni and are discovers a world of wonderful cured meats including prosciutto, bresaola, culatello and guincale. Many chefs are serving up house-cured meats as appetizers and topping artisan pizzas with soppresata. We’ll even see salumi on fast-casual eatery menus. One indicator: The remodeled Frasca dining room now showcases its salumi-cutting red Berkel slicer in a glass showcase and slices a special salami created by Denver’s Il Mondo Vecchio.

Cumin is comin’: Ground cumin is the hot spice of the moment and will accent many more dishes from chips to entrees and not limited to its usual home in Mediterranean, Indian and Mexican fare. Look for “smoked cumin” as a flavor du jour. Cumin’s reputed health benefits also boost its appeal.

Some food trends to avoid: There are some projected national trends like the rise of pies and fried chicken that we applaud, but there are others I hope will skip over us and land in Kansas City such as savory soft-serve ice cream, and cooking with hay (“hay-smoked sweetbreads”), dirt (“radishes with toasted malt dirt,”) and pine needles (“pine-infused ice cream”). It’s been hard enough getting chefs to tone down the rosemary and mint and keep the herbs OUT of my desserts.

Reported at: http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/best_of_2010/index.html?story=/food/francis_lam/2010/12/28/year_in_food_2010
For the better part of a century, Americans have reveled in the easy availability of meat, once reserved for when times are flush. But then came nofun-niks like … doctors and animal lovers and people who think that whole climate change thing isn’t a conspiracy made up by liberal scientists. OK, well, I guess we should rethink how much and what kind of meat we eat, and 2010 saw intense wrangling from all sides, but with a new character — sexy hip butchers. Some are sustainable-meat advocates, some are throwback craftspeople, some are beardos, some observe Meatless Mondays, and some are even vegetarians. Almost all of them, though, preach the culinary, environmental and ethical importance of eating less meat but better meat, and some of them will even invite you to a butchering party to get their point across.

A few words about food:
“As they say in Italy, Italians were eating with a knife and fork when the French were still eating each other. The Medici family had to bring their Tuscan cooks up to France so they could make something edible.” – Celebrity chef and restaurateur Mario Batali

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar

Reported by NDP:
According to NPD’s A Look into the Future of Foodservice report, which provides forecasts over the next decade of restaurant segments, categories, visit situations, and specific beverage and food products, finds that consumer demand for healthy/light foods at restaurants will continue to grow over the next decade. For example, servings of healthy/light sandwiches, one of the food groups under the healthy/light category studied for the report, are projected to grow by 13% over the next ten years. Included in the healthy/light sandwich group were grilled chicken and fish, turkey, cold cut combos, tuna and chicken salad, and veggie sandwiches.

Reported by: http://satedepicure.com/2010/12/2011-top-five-menu-itemsingredients:
If 2010 was the year of Salumi, 2011 will be the year of classic charcuterie. Across the country, charcuterie is making a resurgence with restaurants like Butcher in New Orleans and Sidney Street Café in St. Louis leading the way. In 2011 chefs will return to offering charcuterie items like country style pate, rillets, liver mousse, foie gras torchon, and other classical preparations as they reconsider the lost art of garde manger in modern cuisine.

Reported by: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/2010/12/our_top_10_list_of_2010_top_10.php:
My Top 10 favorite food Top 10 lists includes:
- 7. Just Eat It! Eat It… Eat It… Eat It… Get yourself an egg and beat it! Yes, Weird Al’s version of Eat It sung to Michael Jackson’s Beat It was No. 1 on Slash Food’s Top 10 Food Songs of all time.
- 8. The slideshow of the Top 10 Desserts of 2010 on Serious Eats had me drooling on my keyboard. The big surprise? Not a cupcake in the bunch.

Reported by: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12071424:
Neanderthals cooked and ate plants and vegetables, a new study of Neanderthal remains reveals. Researchers in the US have found grains of cooked plant material in their teeth. The study is the first to confirm that the Neanderthal diet was not confined to meat and was more sophisticated than previously thought. The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The popular image of Neanderthals as great meat eaters is one that has up until now been backed by some circumstantial evidence. Chemical analysis of their bones suggested they ate little or no vegetables.

Reported by: http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/2010/12/salumis_armandino_batali_featu.php:
While 2011 is The Year of The Rabbit, it’s going to be The Year of The Pig as far as I’m concerned with my new American Salumi calendar already hanging by my desk. The calendar features salumi specialists from around the country, a spectacular centerfold with every type of cured meat you can imagine (see how many you’ve tried), lessons on how to cure your own and a history of salumi making in this country. Which is where Armandino Batali comes in. “Before Armandino, there were only cold cuts,” the calendar reads.

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

Reported at www.JohnLehndorff.com:
“I honestly believe that if we all sat down and ate pie together, we’d find common ground. Our nation would be a better place if we made pie, not war. Each of us deserves their piece of the pie, not pie in the sky. We like to brag on things that are “as American as apple pie,” which is really to say that pie, like all us citizens, emigrated here from elsewhere and found a home. America’s allies and its enemies also understand pastry in its myriad manifestations. They believe in baklava, empanadas, samosas, b’stilla, hammentaschen, pasties, tarts or quiche. No matter what you call it, pie epitomizes abundance and celebration.” Note: National Pie Day is Jan. 23.

Reported by http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/food-trend-predictions-for-2011-2428460/
2001 food trend predictions from Epicurious:
-Food Halls: America may be a century or two behind on this trend, but we are finally embracing the food hall, in all of its gluttonous, groaning-shelves glory. Following in the footsteps of giants worldwide (Paris’ La Grande Épicerie and the food halls at Harrods of London and Takashimaya in Tokyo), New York has gotten into the act in a big way. Mario Batali and the Bastianich family recently opened Eataly, a boisterous celebration of Italian cuisine, in Manhattan.
- Macarons: Cupcakes and pies are looking downright crusty these days. Macarons or macarons, usually made with ground almonds or almond paste, sugar, and egg whites, will be 2011′s sweet sensation.
- Also: Meatless Mondays & Tofu Thursdays; Foraging; Tiki Bar Cocktails; Pop-Up Cafés; Sweet Potatoes; Urban Wineries; and Pimentón de La Vera.

Reported by www.westword.com:
“Because of the uptick on the stock market and stabilization of fuel prices, as well as a freeze on most federal taxation, the anti-luxury trend will loosen up, so I think we’ll see more foie gras, caviar, luxury meats and seafood making a semi-comeback,” predicts Michael Long, the executive chef of Aria, which opened last week in Cherry Creek . In addition, he says, “the farm-to-table will only get bigger as farmers adapt to food service purchasing needs and get real with pricing.” For his part, Long is longing for a year full of cardoons, bottarga, razor clams, huitlacoche, duck eggs that have the fetus intact, and more traditionally raised veal.

Reported by www.newyorker.com:
At even a moderately upscale establishment, you would invariably get what I had come to think of as the Portman Plaza dessert plate, since it so closely resembled the model that a developer would have proposed for the center of a crime-wracked mid-sized city in the seventies: three upright cylinders—small towers of something wrapped in something—with the tops sliced at an angle; a crumbly landscape of some kind; and a reflecting pool running around the edge. The plate would be advertised as, let’s say, a chocolate-peanut-butter mousse cake with walnut-balsamic crumble and a sesame sorbet with Concord-grape foam. But the effect was always the same: not enough of a cakey cylindrical thing, too much of a crumbly thing, far too much of a gelatinous thing, and an irrelevance of an off-key runny thing. Without surrendering sugar, dessert had surrendered all its familiar forms.”

Reported by: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/the-coolest-food-trends-of-2010-2426151
Pie Is the New Cupcake: Pie has been sitting back, gaining momentum for a while, waiting for cupcakes to get over themselves. We saw pie all over menus this year, well before Thanksgivingtime. Sweet and savory; minis and normal-sized; graham cracker, pretzel, butter and leaf lard crusts; in a milkshake or on a stick. At Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, Texas, they have an afternoon pie happy hour where you can score a slice and a drink for $3. Hill Country Chicken, which opened this year in Manhattan, does it too. Over in Brooklyn, the pie shop Four and Twenty Blackbirds makes a double-crusted strawberry balsamic pie and grapefruit custard ones. Whether they’re age-old recipes or newfangled ones, pie is always a happy-maker. Step off, cupcakes. Other themes: New Food TV Shows; Korean Tacos; Coffee Toys and Cuppings; Salt Swooning; GIY: Grow it Yourself; and Designer Ice Cubes.

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

The All-American Artisan Salumi Sandwich

Reported by Tasting Table:
And now we have a forecaster for food: Yummly.com. This just-launched recipe-search site “learns” what you like to cook and suggests your next kitchen adventure accordingly. As with other recipe sites, you can filter searches by ingredients, allergens, price, time and cuisine. But what makes Yummly stand out is its intuition: The more you use it, the better it understands your taste and quibbles, then employs its algorithms to recommend recipes to match. (Love lamb but hate rosemary? No problem.) You can also save favorite dishes (and your modifications), and, for those who don’t have enough social networking in their lives, there’s an option to share recipes with a community of “TasteBuds.” But what we like most about Yummly is its expansive, 250,000-and-growing recipe database culled from top culinary sites, such as Epicurious, The Food Network and Chow.

Reported by AP:
An Orange County inmate who disliked salami was able to receive kosher meals in jail after his lawyer cited the “Seinfeld” holiday Festivus as his religious belief. The Orange County Register reported Monday that Malcolm A. King, 38, a convicted drug dealer, asked for kosher meals at the Theo Lacy jail in Orange to maintain his physique. County sheriff’s officials reserve such meals for inmates with religious needs, so a judge demanded a religious reason for Mr. King to get the meals. Mr. King’s lawyer, Fred Thiagarajah, cited his client’s devotion to Festivus, the holiday celebrated on the “Seinfeld” series. A sheriff’s spokesman, Ryan Burris, said Mr. King got salami-free meals for two months before the county got the order thrown out in court.

Reported by CNN:
With unemployment near 10% and foreclosures ongoing, more Americans are relying on food banks, institutions that are usually regarded as a last resort, food security experts said. Feeding America, an organization of more than 200 U.S. food banks, fed 37 million Americans in 2009, nearly a 50% jump from 2006. These families face a never-ending treadmill of tough decisions. Do they use their income — if they have one — to pay their mortgage or feed themselves? Do they pay for a hospital visit or put dinner on the table?

Reported by Ben Weinberg at http://unfilteredunfined.com/?p=1135:
Colorado has a lot to offer including world-class skiing, top-notch food, terrific weather and a frontier, cowboy-up sort of attitude. Now you can add great wine to that list.
Recommended Colorado wines:
Sutcliffe Vineyards Chardonnay 2008
BookCliff Vineyards Chardonnay 2008
The Infinite Monkey Theorem Rosé 2009
Woody Creek Cellars Tempranillo 2008
Canyon Wind Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Two Rivers Port 2006
BookCliff Vineyards Orange Muscat Late Harvest Allegretto 2005

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com
John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com
Kind words about the American Salumi Calendar 2011 from the Denver Post:
Early nomination for the best calendar of 2011: The American Salumi Calendar, masterminded by Front Range foodie (and former Rocky scribe) John Lehndorff. Each month features glam shots of preserved meats and cured sausagesfrom salami to coppa to pancetta. Bonus: An American Salumi Centerfold. Cost: $12.95 plus postage. Stock up for holiday gifts at americansalumi.com

Reported by: http://www.csnews.com/top-story-food_and_beverage_trends_for_2010-57758.html:
Packaged Facts and the Center for Culinary Development (CCD) put together the “Culinary Trend Mapping Report,” a bi-monthly journal, on the overall food and beverage trends that shaped 2010. The overall themes included Back to Basics, Artisan Upgrades, Healthful Eating and Regional and Global Flavor Adventure. The following are 10 of the top food trends for 2010:
Gourmet-On-The-Go: Street food was on fire this year, made by cooks and chefs of all stripes.
-“Fine Fast” Sandwich Shops: These gourmet sandwich shops took the art of sandwich-making seriously.
-Boutique Booze : Boutique booze was all the rage in 2010, from bars that specialize in a single type of liquor to festivals that celebrate spirits made by independent producers.
-Condiments, Preserved Foods & Heirloom Produce : A rising number of passionate people took food back to its roots, literally. They grew produce from heirloom seeds, revived the art of home canning and made condiments and preserved products of all kinds. This resulted in new thriving DIY communities as this new wave of artisans found outlets for their products at craft and farmers markets, online and at specialty retail stores.
-Parisian Macarons : This delicious and multi-hued Parisian pastry, composed of two ground-almond meringue cookies bound with buttercream, ganache or jam filling, is like a couture Oreo.
Bahn Mi & Bao
-Butchery : Butchers stole the headlines this year, acting as unexpected emissaries of the heritage meat and artisan trends that came together to renew popular demand for handcut meat. With the upsurge in production and consumption of high-quality meat, young and aspiring foodies flocked to butchery demonstrations, ready to get their hands bloody (literally) to feel closer to the sources of their food.
-Agave Nectar
- Eggs All Day : More than ever, the egg is being placed front and center as a food that is inexpensive, healthful (protein-rich or low-fat if only egg whites), and adaptable, whether for a sandwich or wrap, to accompany a salad, on a pizza, mixed with pasta … and the list goes on.
- Better Burgers

Reported by: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/ct-live-1227-foodie-backlash-20101227,0,3814934,full.story:
“Every weekend now we have people in here who are photographing their food. I mean, it’s nuts. This whole foodie ideology where people are always talking about their food and worrying about food and where everything on their plate is from — I’m tired of it. I feel like an existential drag saying that. But going out with friends now means eating with picky people. Everyone likes good food. This is an unhealthy obsession.” – Chef Kim Dalton

Q&A with Kelly Liken, Top Chef contestant and chef/owner of eponymously named eatery in in Vail, Colorado, reported at:
http://www.findeatdrink.com/Index/Restaurants/Entries/2010/12/20_kelly_liken.html
“I just found this salumi maker in Denver, Il Mondo Vecchio. The guy’s name is Mark and he makes like 25 different kinds of salumi from pork and beef and lamb and all of his animals are sourced as locally as he can possibly get them. Most are Colorado or Rocky Mountain animals. He’s making the stuff in super Old World ways. I never tasted salumi like this. It’s amazing.”

Reported by: http://www.dailymail.co.uk:
“I can’t tell my Mrs what to do. She’s not interested if I see her chopping dodgily, probably because our relationship works is because she doesn’t see me as any kind of expert at cooking or anything like that. I tell her it’s great but to be honest it’s fairly hideous.” – Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

The American Salumi Calendar 2011 salumi centerfold poster

Reported by www.tastingtable.com:
Bacon Caviar The fish-egg experts at California Caviar Company–which curates foreign and domestic options and collaborates with chefs such as Jacques Pepin–have entered breakfast territory with their Bacon & Eggs offering. Trout roe is infused with Nueske’s applewood-smoked bacon and black pepper, giving it a charred, salty-sweet edge.

Reported by: http://www.instructables.com/id/Chocolate-Chip-Bacon-Cookies/
How to make chocolate chip bacon cookies

Reported by: http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2010/12/bacon_nativity_scene_is_truly_christmas_miracle.php
A nativity scene made out of bacon and possibly sauerkraut.

Reported at: http://www.cochon555.com/HERITAGE_BOOKLET.pdf:
Field Guide to Heritage Pigs from Mangalitsa to Berkshire

Reported at http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/2925541-how-to-make-pancetta:
How to make pancetta

Reported by: http://www.houstonpress.com/2010-06-10/restaurants/designer-meats/:
Catalan executive chef Chris Shepherd, the man other Houston chefs call The Godfather, grabs a handful of his very own homemade sausages and starts slicing them into gauzy ribbons. Red strips of coppa fall from the meat slicer like streamers, gracefully dappled with spots of slick white fat. He hands them to me as they fall. The meaty pig’s-neck sausage is dark and rich.

Reported at: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/e1d0/?cpg=144H:
Order a Bacon Plush Toy. It’s a huggable plush bacon for kids and kids at heart 3 and older. It says I’m bacon“!” when you squeeze him and has a mechanical animated mouth. The site also sells caffeinated marshmallows, miracle berry tablets, bacon lip balm, wasabi gumballs, caffeinated jerky, and misfortune cookies.

Reported by: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/dining/restaurants/off-the-menu/article_6e5df896-024d-11e0-8567-0017a4a78c22.htmlThe oil spill’s effect on Gulf Coast seafood, an egg recall and a beef recall topped the list of biggest food stories of 2010, according to a national survey out this afternoon. For the full list of the top 10 food stories, including Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” (No. 9) and Michelle Obama’s work to pass the Child Nutrition bill (5), click here. Also revealed in the 1,000-person annual survey commissioned by Hunter Public Relations: 42 percent of respondents cited the return of the limited-release McRib sandwich at McDonald’s as the top pop-culture item in food news. When asked what food trends they’d like to see end, 49 percent of people surveyed said “bacon-flavored everything,” 20 percent said “cupcakes,” 17 percent said “high-end burgers,” and 9 percent said “gourmet food trucks.” The Hunter survey comes on the heels of a study the Riverfront Times’ Gut Check blog mentioned today that led Nation’s Restaurant News to declare 2010 the “year of the fish taco.” That report, from Chicago consulting firm Technomic, noted that fish tacos as well as Mexican foods in general made more appearances on U.S. restaurant menus in 2010 than in 2009. Contributing to that uptick, according to a Technomic rep: The popularity of fast-casual chains like Chipotle and Baja Fresh as well as Americans’ desire for spicier and ethnic foods.

Reported by www.tastingtable.com:
Bloody Kim Jong-il mix contains a proprietary blend of fresh tomato juice and the leftover brine from that week’s prepared kimchis, which change weekly based on what’s available at the farmers’ market (past offerings have included sunchoke and tatsoi, brussels sprouts and cauliflower).

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

Reported by: http://www.jsonline.com/features/food/111822579.html :
The Art of Charcuterie. By John Kowalski and the Culinary Institute of America. Wiley. $65: An extensive textbook-stylebook that explains everything you never wanted to know about charcuterie, which the introduction describes as “involving the chemical preservation of meats as a means for the total utilization of various meat products.” The rest of us just call it sausages and forcemeats. The book is divided into chapters explaining all aspects of the process, from equipment to condiments. Among the equipment are items that sound like something out of Madame Toussaud’s – “skin buckets,” “teasing needle” – or worse – “vacuum massage tumbler.” (It is actually used to rotate the meat with the aim of bringing salt-soluble proteins to the surface to better absorb seasonings.) As for the recipes, what other modern cookbook can provide you with three recipes for pressed pig’s head, Tete Pressee, Head Cheese and Sulze Head Cheese? Stunning visuals portray the food as works of art. Many chapters also contain graphics that explain the cooking steps.

Reported by: http://www.nutraingredients.com/Industry/The-food-industry-in-2010-A-retrospective:
2010 has been a mixed year for the beverage industry, marked by continued growth in emerging markets and continued struggles in developed markets. Beverage companies have moved enthusiastically into niches offering solid growth opportunities in 2010. For example, in the US, big names have made investments in coconut water, ‘the natural sports drinks’, and, in European markets, US energy drinks have made an entrance.

Reported by: http://adage.com/article?article_id=147734:
Children and parents asked to rank 271 brands across 29 characteristics for market researcher Smarty Pants put Goldfish and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in the top five. Brands whose rankings fell from last year include Starbucks, Burger King, Wrigley’s Bubble Tape and Mountain Dew.

Reported by: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mince-pie-the-real-american-pie/Content?oid=1267308:
“I can’t shake the feeling that the abrupt fall of mince signaled some profound but undiagnosed shift in American culture, some seismic rearrangement of who we are—since we are, after all, what we eat.”

Reported by: http://www.fastcompany.com/1709448/interview-with-a-bee-leaker-beekeeper-tom-theobald-discusses-the-epas-bee-toxic-pesticide-co
Tom Theobald’s honey crop this year is the smallest he’s seen in 35 years of beekeeping in Nwot, Colorado. “This is the critical winter for the beekeeping industry. I don’t think we can survive,” he says. “If the beekeeping industry collapses, it jeopardizes a third of American agriculture.” That’s because the giant agriculture industry couldn’t produce nearly as much with native bee pollinators alone; instead, the industry relies on beekeepers, who rent out their bees to pollinate everything from strawberries and blueberries to squash and cucumbers.

Reported by the New York Times in 1902:
“It is utterly insufficient (to eat pie only twice a week), as anyone who knows the secret of our strength as a nation and the foundation of our industrial supremacy must admit. Pie is the American synonym of prosperity, and its varying contents the calendar of the changing seasons. Pie is the food of the heroic. No pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished.”

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

John Lehndorff is co-author with Kim Long of the American Salumi Calendar 2011, the first calendar devoted to cured meat artisans in the U.S. Lehndorff is a former caterer, nationally distributed newspaper food columnist and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and one of America’s foremost pie experts.

The 2011 American Salumi Calendar: www.americansalumi.com

Kind words about the American Salumi Calendar 2011 from the Denver Post:
Early nomination for the best calendar of 2011: The American Salumi Calendar, masterminded by Front Range foodie (and former Rocky scribe) John Lehndorff. Each month features glam shots of preserved meats and cured sausagesfrom salami to coppa to pancetta. Bonus: An American Salumi Centerfold. Cost: $12.95 plus postage. Stock up for holiday gifts at americansalumi.com

“Here’s a great Holiday gift idea for chefs, farmers, foodies, students and anyone else who wants to learn about and enjoy one of the fastest growing segments of the national culinary scene. This American Salumi Calendar 2011 is co-authored by John Lehndorff, food-writer and former restaurant critic. We have ours…you should get one too! “ – Bobby Stuckey, Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder CO.

“This is a centerfold calendar that we can really get excited about! That is some beautiful salumi – we plan on having some lovely meats and cheeses on our menus. But get the calendar – it will allow you to schedule your at-least-once-a-week visits. Co-authored by food blogger and critic John Lehndorff.” = Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar, Denver