Gender Cupcakes Grow in Popularity as Kate and William Await Baby’s Birth

Currently all of England is involved in waiting for the birth of Britain’s newest prince or princess. 

And while Kate and William may be occupied with getting the nursery ready, England’s bookmakers are taking bets on everything from the baby’s sex to the baby name chosen by the royal couple.

In olden days, to borrow a phrase from Cole Porter, everyone would be wishing for a boy as only a male could ascend the throne to become the future royal ruler.

Thankfully that male-only tradition has faded away and now the first child born, regardless of its sex, can step into the line of royal succession.

But it’s still fun to guess: Will it be a prince or princess? And that has resurrected a charming English culinary tradition not seen since the birth of Diana’s own beloved sons, Princes William and Harry – Gender Cupcakes.

Hidden by frosting inside each cupcake is a sweet insert of pink (it's a girl!) or blue(it's a boy!) frosting.

When mixed and served at afternoon teas and birth wait parties, each guest declares their internal cupcake color and a tally is made. According to tradition, the winning color number will predict the child’s sex.

Truly a charming and very sweet custom – as enduring as Kate and William’s baby is sure to be.. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Easy as Sliced Bread!

This week, 85 years ago, in 1928 O.F. Rohwedder delivered his newly invented slicing machine to the Missouri’s Chillicothe Baking Company and bread has never been the same since.

The uniform slices not only delighted many a weary housewives and legions of fatigued chefs, it also brought cheers from the companies that produced toasters. The standardized slices produced by Rohwedder’s marvelous new machine insured that irregular slices would never get stuck again (and horror-of-horrors never burn) in the toaster.  

As a result, toaster sales soared, resulting in a nearly endless variety of designs. Today collectors rejoice when they can locate these unique units. But the impact of sliced bread didn’t stop there.

The production of lunch boxes, especially those designed to catch the eye of school children, equally exploded and standardized to match the size of the newly standardized commercially produced sliced loafs of white bread.

Soon breads such as Wonder Bread constituted the key component of the “wonderful” sandwich Jack and Jane ate in their school lunch room – with few noticing at the time the vitamins missing from the bread.

Today school lunch programs are far more aware of nutrition – or at least should be.  From Michele Obama’s White House Garden to chef led programs such as those proposed by Jamie Oliver and Charlie Trotter, insightful school cooks are shifting from a commercially baked bread centered diet to one of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables.

Yet old habits (good or bad) die hard and America STILL has an ongoing love affair with sliced bread, even including such phrases as “the easiest thing since sliced bread “ and  “as easy as sliced bread” in everyday speech.

So what’s the latest expression of affection for the grand ol’ loaf? It’s a birthday cake shaped like a beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

A special novelty baking pan, entitled the "Cakewich Pan", shapes the cake into sliced bread shapes and fruit frosting mimics the traditional sandwich jelly.

Only in America!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Try Wearing Fast Food Sweatshirts to Reduce Culinary Work Strain

No one would say work within the Hospitality Industry is without stress or strain. The hours are long and one's everyday pay often does not equal that of the external corporate world. 

Yet the chance to be creative, to travel, to associate with other highly creative people is unique in the business world. But that said, there is always a need to relax, refocus and have a little fun.

Since eating fast food is a no-no stress reducer, why not try wearing some? These original snack food sweatshirts are growing in popularity with in-the-know chefs in Europe.

Why not treat yourself to some real fun food and become a true fashion 'plate'!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Why a Pork Chop is No Longer a Pork Chop

In an effort to make meat more glamorous, the National Pork Board and the Beef Checkoff Program, with the blessing of officials at the United States Department of Agriculture, have changed more than 350 cuts of meat names.

These revised terms have also been accepted by the Uniform Retail Meat Identification Standards, or URMIS, which is used voluntary by most U.S. food retailers.

The new nomenclature emerged after two years of consumer research, which found that the labels on packages of fresh cuts of pork and beef are confusing, said Patrick Fleming, director of retail marketing for trade group National Pork Board.

There is only one problem – many of the new names simply aren’t accurate.

Take for example the conversion of “Pork Chop” to “Porterhouse Chop”. The term “porterhouse”, as every chef knows, has always been associated with a thick-cut steak.

And there’s a reason why. That reason is history, not a marketing decision by a well meaning committee.  

During the 1800’s, regional cattle pens, located outside of Boston near present day Cambridge, supplied the City with its meat. The hardy and hard-working cattlemen, who drove their cattle there, needed a place to wheel-and-deal their final selling price as well as a place to celebrate the dollars earned.

In 1837 Zachariah Porter answered their lodging and dining needs by opening the Porter House Hotel. His decision to do so was further strengthened, when in 184,3 the Fitchburg Railroad built direct tracks to the nearby cattle yards.

More cows meant more men, more hungry cattlemen (not pork men). Searching for a menu item, Porter thought of all the beef available so close at hand and so very fresh. The resulting cut was and is the large and very filling Porterhouse BEEF Steak – Beef, not pork.

Simply changing a name should not be a reason to discard culinary history. Perhaps an award should go instead to National Register of Historic Places for acknowledging this portion of American culinary history. Because the Hotel had been demolished in 1909, the NRHP had to look elsewhere for a representative symbol.  

They decided the best substitute site was the recently discovered Walden Street Cattle Pass. The Fitchburg Railroad built this underground tunnel in 1857 to discreetly move the growing herds of cattle from their railhead to the waiting holding pens without disturbing the developing gentility of the expanding neighborhood. 

Perhaps the National Pork Board and the Beef Checkoff Program should follow the National Historic Register's guidelines and learn to check history before they try to make history. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Hong Kong Ferran Wine Auction a Great Success

Sotheby’s has just completed their Hong Kong auction of Ferran Adrià’s wine from the world famous elBulli Restaurant. When the evening’s sales were totaled, the coffers of Ferran’s future Barcelona culinary research center were US$1.82 million richer.

The most sought after wines were in three lots of Romanée Conti wines from various years.  The Romanée Conti 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti lot fetched top dollar, commanding US$72,708 for just three bottles. 

The lot's final bid surpassed its original estimate auction value of US$33,547, certainly signaling many smiles from Sotheby’s wine staff. However, perhaps the most esteemed item auctioned off was an evening for four lucky guests with Chef Ferran Adrià himself in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. 

The bid packet consisted of a meeting with Chef Adrià at his culinary test kitchen El Bulli Taller, followed by dinner at his brother’s acclaimed tapas restaurant, Tickets La Vida Tapa.  The final winning bid for this evening of discovery and delight was an amazing US$28,451.

The funds generated by the auction will be well needed as the future elBulli Foundation is projected to cost US$7.7 million to build and another US$3.85 million annually to operate.

But Ferran need not fear. On April 26^th Sotheby’s will auction off the remaining elBulli 10,000 wines in New York City to what will surely be another recording breaking evening for wine lovers from around the world. Additionally, Spanish telecom and broadband provider Telefonica SA has signed on as a Foundation sponsor.

Ferran has also committed to prepare what are sure to be a legendary series of meals once a year for the 100 to 200 supporting Foundation members. 

The accumulated funds will result in a Foundation that, as Ferran recently told members of the press, will be "a mix of Cirque du Soleil, the Museo Dali and MIT’s media lab." Once completed, Ferran will most likely amazing the culinary world - yet once again.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013