Meat From a Vending Machine May Be Here To Stay
In 20156, when Joshua Applestone introduced vending machines at his butchery, Applestone Meat Company in upstate New York, a global pandemic not on his mind. “I wanted to eliminate one stressful thing from people’s lives: getting to the butcher shop before it closes,” Applestone said. The refrigerated vending machine allows customers to select and purchase meat cuts without human interaction.
Now, due to social distancing rules amid the coronavirus outbreak, Applestone’s meat vending machine is serving as a model for other butchers and grocery stores. Customers enter the storefront to find vending machines filled with various cuts of beef, chicken, lamb and pork. After selections are made and a payment card is swiped, the appropriate door opens so that the meat can be retrieved in a contactless transaction. “We thought society might take a while to warm up to these machines,” said Applestone, “but for the situation we’re all in, they’re the perfect solution. A lot of technology makes things more complicated. But vending machines? They’re here to help us.”
Shorter afterward, Kevin McCann of McCann’s Local Meats in Rochester, New York, opened his meat vending machine. McCann, who is a friend of Applestone’s, was surprised at how quickly customers grew comfortable with the vending machine, adding “the response has been unbelievable.” .
Delivery In Bulk Is New Normal For Home Cooks
Quarantine shopping has expanded the market for bulk purchases of basic items like coffee, butter, beans, and canned goods. A new survey from the world’s largest grocery store chain, Kroger, reveals that 39 percent of its customers have purchased more ingredients in bulk than they did before the pandemic. Canned soup sales increased 63 percent in March and April compared with last year. As consumers limit grocery store trips, bulk buying has contributed to limited availability of certain items like pasta, flour, and some cuts of meat.
Many shoppers say they have turned to bulk purchasing because they now have more people at home to feed, more meals to cook, and more groceries to buy, especially with restaurants closed or limited to takeout. Shoppers like New Jersey resident Stephanie Ormaeche (pictured) say bulk buying is cost effective and reduces the monthly restaurant bill. She and her husband aren’t used to buying two shopping carts worth of groceries but now feels the need to as she limits shopping trips. Others like Vincent Ader in Chicago see increased grocery shopping as an opportunity to get creative. Ader buys herbs in bulk as a way to experiment with new flavors. His meals typically use the same core ingredients, and the variety of herbs now allows him to vary the taste of each meal.
Quarantined Americans Are Cooking More Seafood
As stay at home orders and restaurant closures push more Americans to cook at home, people are turning to seafood more than ever. Supermarket sales of fish increased 37% in the first few weeks of April compared to last year at the same time, according to Chicago-based research firm IRI. Restaurant sales, on the other hand, have plummeted far below average, which is usually two-thirds of fresh seafood sales overall. Commercial fishing boats along the Atlantic coast have been forced to dump unsold fish, and weather issues also contributed to reductions in seafood production. “We’ve had an awful, just a terrible spring,” said Ernie Panacek, general manager of the commercial fishing dock at Viking Village on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
If grocery store sales continue to rise, they may help offset the losses. “People are still hungry for their seafood,” Panacek said. “They can’t go out and get it at the restaurants, and they’ve got to eat.” Consumers are also buying fish that restaurants often don’t, such as Spanish mackerel, silver dory, and blue catfish, all of which have sold out at Pierless Fish, a Brooklyn restaurant supply company. The owner, Robert Demasco, recently reinvented Pierless into a fish delivery service, saying, “I probably sold 30 pounds a day of collars.” Demasco added, “I bought shad roe. I ran out in a day, and I had 60 pounds. I was like, really? You guys know what this is?”
Did COVID-19 Kill Food Snobbery?
Whether it’s the Michelin Guide sharing world renowned chef’s homemade recipes or YouTube clips of chefs from Bon Appétit fancifying boxed mac and cheese, food media in the time of the coronavirus has somewhat abandoned elitism in favor of more universally appealing content.
This ethos has been displayed before COVID-19 as well, notably through The Great British Baking Show. The low stakes baking competition show has captured the spirit of non-ostentatious food prep for years, and season 6 winner, Nadiya Hussain, is now bringing this attitude to her Netflix series, Nadiya’s Time to Eat. When the show first aired on BBC last year, the prospect of a global pandemic was not in mind. Hussain speaks with compassion as she visits families to discuss stresses they face in their everyday lives and how their daily struggles affect their ability to cook. This focus on the food life of workaday people seems especially timely as the pandemic continues to scramble daily schedules for people around the world.
Unsurprisingly, pandemic-specific food programming has been surfacing recently. Samin Nosrat, author of the cookbook Salt Fat Acid Heat, now hosts Home Cooking, a podcast targeted at foodies of all skill levels trying to curb their home-cooking anxiety. Bon Appétit‘s YouTube channel consists mostly of informal recipe tutorials that make cooking feel less intimidating, and the host’s pragmatic personalities help the viewer feel they are learning to cook from a friend rather than a teacher. This lighthearted approach in food media takes a turn from elitism in the food world, at least for now.
‘Murder Hornet’ Both Feared and Eaten In Japan
In the Chubu region of Japan, the Asian giant hornet sometimes called the “murder hornet” is enjoyed as a culinary delicacy despite its deadly sting. Grubs are often preserved in jars, pan-fried or steamed with rice to make a dish called hebo-gohan, while whole adult hornets are fried on skewers until light and crispy. Live murder hornets are soaked in spirits to make the distilled beverage shochu. The hornets release venom into the beverage, which turns dark amber in color upon aging.
In the United States, where murder hornets were found last fall in Washington State decimating beneficial bee populations, scientists are much more focused on eradicating them. Some believe their culinary potential being overlooked. In Tokyo, the giant hornet appears on menus in more than 30 restaurants. Shota Toguchida, owner of a Chinese restaurant in the city, sells his own homemade shots of hornet liquor for 2,000 yen, about $19.
Celebrity Chefs Make Viewer’s Recipes On Virtual Potluck
Actor John Krasinski, best known for his work on The Office and as CIA officer Jack Ryan, began the online video series “Some Good News” to explore uplifting stories amid the coronavirus pandemic. One of Krasinksi’s episodes ended with a potluck, where he invited viewers to share their family recipes and then invited them on the show. Krasinki didn’t tell them that several celebrities would also be on the show to not only meet them but also make their recipes.
One viewer named Nana (only first names were used) sent in a recipe for a strong Quarantini with vanilla and orange vodka. Nana got the chance to meet actor Stanley Tucci, who whipped up her cocktail and loved it. Martha Stewart made the family pierogi recipe from another viewer, named Sarah, and she devoured the pierogies with glee. David Chang made a viewer named Shannon’s saucy chicken dish, while Guy Fieri whipped up the sloppy joe recipe from another viewer named Penny. All the viewers were completely surprised and elated at the opportunity to meet the celebrities, who truly enjoyed their recipes. Krasinski ended the feel-good show by announcing that some friends at PepsiCo were donating $3 million to Fieri’s “Restaurant Relief America” initiative, bringing Fieri’s total raised to more than $20 million. The initiative, in collaboration with the National Restaurant Association, sends $500 checks to restaurant workers who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus.
Bill Buford was the founding editor of Granta literary magazine and the fiction editor of the New Yorker for eight years. His first nonfiction book, Among The Thugs, explored the fickle psychology and brutal reality of soccer hooligans hellbent on committing acts of violence in the UK. For his 2006 book, Heat, Buford threw himself into a culinary apprenticeship at Mario Batali’s acclaimed Italian restaurant Babbo in New York City as well as in other restaurants in Italy. Fifteen years later, Buford has gone all-in with his culinary obsessions, moving himself and his family to the gastronomic mecca of Lyon, France, where he trains as a chef.
In Dirt, Buford tells sharp-tongued stories of attending a pig slaughter, befriending a local baker, and apprenticing with some of the most decorated chefs in the world, including Michel Richard, the acolytes of the late Paul Bocuse at Institute Bocuse in Lyon, and the demanding chefs at three-Michelin star restaurant, La Mére Brazier, which first opened in Lyon in 1921. Gradually, the Lyon locals come to accept the expat and his family into their community.
With characteristic ease and humor, Buford’s writing captures the intensity of working in a professional kitchen, where “unregulated bullying and humiliation” remain acceptable paths to perfection, where there is only one correct way to peel asparagus, and where it has always been and will always be about following the rules. In the process, the author plumbs the latent connections between Italian and French gastronomy and reveals the secret to what make Lyonnais food so exceptional: “a chef’s access to nearby ingredients” in a storied place where the soil is sometimes revered more than those who walk on it. At times hilarious, ascerbic, intimate, and heartbreaking, Dirt is a juicy read even if you don’t know your brunoise from your bavarois.
Michelin Guide Shares Recipes From World Famous Chefs
In an effort to bring restaurant quality meals to your home kitchen, the Michelin Guide is sharing some of the world’s top chef’s favorite homemade recipes on its Instagram, every day. Though big names like Gordon Ramsay and Andy Yang may spark some intimidation among home cooks, these recipes don’t discriminate when it comes to skill set.
The recipes keep coming, and there’s a huge variety of options to choose from. If you’re craving dessert, try Jacques Faussat’s orange cake, Jean Sulpice’s chocolate cake, or Christophe Hay’s strawberry charlotte cake. If you want to up your pasta game, try Gordon Ramsay’s marinara sauce or Alex Atala’s palm heart fettuccine carbonara, or bake your leftover noodles with Isabella Poti’s spaghettoni and green beans. The possibilities grow greater each day, and there are so many different dishes to choose from, all from the home kitchens of the world’s most renowned chefs.
Everyone Can Bake: Simple Recipes to Master and Mix by Dominique Ansel
You may know Dominique Ansel as the creator of the Cronut®, but his true love is kouign amann, the famously buttery, flaky, multilayered caramelized sugar pastry from Breton. This master of baking technique, crowned the World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2017, revealed his professional secrets in his 2014 cookbook, The Secret Recipes. In his new book, Ansel keeps things simple. The recipes appeal to aspiring home bakers and are divided into Bases, Fillings, Finishes and Assembly. The idea is to learn principles rather than specific recipes, so you can mix, match, and get creative with your own combinations. The Bases chapter includes recipes for basic cakes, cookies, and tart shells. In Fillings, you find recipes for creamy additions such as pastry cream, lemon curd, chocolate ganache and soft caramel. While Finishes provides the frostings, glazes and other final touches, Assembly shows you how to put all the components together into specific desserts.
This approach provides bakers with building blocks that can be re-arranged in numerous different combinations, allowing you to get creative with your own desserts. It’s a clever way for a master pastry chef to impart his considerable knowledge of not only specific dessert combinations but also the principles behind them. If you want to see how the mind of brilliant pastry chef works–or just tinker with his recipes–it’s worth a look.
Big Brands Give Away Top Secret Recipes
As coronavirus shutdowns keep restaurants closed, more and more people are cooking from home. In response, big brands are releasing their secret recipes so consumers can enjoy their favorite tastes at home.
This month Pret A Manger released its chocolate chip cookie recipe, McDonald’s released its sausage-and-egg McMuffin recipe, and Disney released its churros recipe “for a little taste of Disney magic.” It’s a PR move meant to gain favor for food and hospitality businesses that are struggling amid the closures, and the move seems well-intentioned. “We know this is an anxious time for everyone,” DoubleTree by Hilton senior vice president Shawn McAteer said in a statement accompanying the hotel chain’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. “A warm chocolate chip cookie can’t solve everything, but it can bring a moment of comfort and happiness.”
