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Chocolate QueryBy Katherine TallmadgeWednesday, February 9, 2005 Is it true that a chocolate a day will keep the doctor away? That's what some candy lovers are reading in Valentine's Day promotional material. Although cocoa has a history of medicinal use dating back 3,000 years, most chocolate bars you can buy at the checkout stand probably won't impart health benefits. Through the ages cacao, or cocoa beans, grown mainly in Latin America, Africa and Asia, have been used to help treat fatigue, angina, constipation, dental problems (tartar), dysentery, gout, an "overheated" heart, skin eruptions, fevers and seizures. The beans, which are the source of the chocolate we know today, contain "flavanols," naturally occurring plant compounds also found in tea, red wine and apples. Their properties have been studied as heart disease inhibitors. "I think you could make the case that some cocoa can contribute to a healthy diet. The data look pretty good right now," says Carl L. Keen, professor and chair of the department of nutrition at University of California, Davis. "The flavanols in cocoa help maintain a healthy vascular system. They reduce blood clotting -- an aspirin-like effect -- reduce oxidative damage and improve blood flow." A study in last month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found cocoa also reduces inflammation. In 1997, Harvard professor Norman K. Hollenberg published a landmark epidemiological study focused on cocoa. He found that high blood pressure was a rarity among Panama's Kuna Indians, who also didn't experience the typical age-related increases. He at first attributed it to genetic protection. But when the Kunas migrated to Panama City, their blood pressure increased, pointing to an environmental cause. Upon examination, Hollenberg found the Kunas consumed large amounts of a drink made from unprocessed cocoa that they stopped drinking when they moved to the city. Subsequent experiments conducted by Hollenberg and others have found that cocoa, if high in flavanols, relaxes the blood vessels -- an important protection against hypertension and heart disease. Ironically, though, flavanols have such a bitter taste that they are usually removed from foods that are processed. Most research about chocolate's health benefits have used unsweetened cocoa or specially formulated high-flavanol chocolate. "Most of the flavanols are in the cocoa beans and the level decreases with each processing step when it goes from the bean, to the cocoa powder and ultimately a finished chocolate product," says Leah Porter, vice president for scientific affairs of the Chocolate Manufacturers of America, which represents most Northern American chocolate manufacturers and funds related research. Since flavanols and their health benefits are a recent discovery, chocolate companies are just beginning to see if there are ways to keep flavanols consistently high, but still have a tasty, popular product. In the past five years, companies such as Mars Inc. -- famous for M&Ms -- and Nestle have been largely responsible for the advancement of cocoa research. Mars has collaborated with institutions such as the Harvard Medical School, the University of California, and even the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. Through their research and others', discoveries about cocoa's positive effect on blood vessel function, for example, have been made. If you're eating chocolate for its health benefits, you'll need to be discriminating in your selections. In general, you'll get more flavanols with less processing. At the top of the short list is unsweetened cocoa powder -- not the alkalized "Dutch processed" kind, in which the flavanols have been degraded or reduced. Look for chocolate that has the highest possible percentage of cocoa. To save calories, look for chocolate with lower fat and sugar levels. A semisweet or bittersweet chocolate with a high cocoa percentage would be your next choice. Some chocolates contain as much as 70 percent cocoa, but they can have as little as 35 percent and still be considered dark chocolate. The percent of cocoa in milk chocolate can be much lower, so I don't recommend it for health benefits. I recommend cocoa or an ounce per day of dark chocolate, which may be about 110 to 150 calories, depending on the chocolate. Any more than that and you're probably going to take in too many calories for weight control. One company that publicizes the flavanol content of its chocolate is Mars, only in its Dove Dark. In fact, Mars has provided most of the chocolate and cocoa used in the studies. The other analysis below come from averages of various chocolate products collected by the USDA labs, which have collaborated with Mars on flavanol analysis technology. Katherine Tallmadge is a Washington-based nutrition consultant, author of "Diet Simple" (Lifeline Press, 2004) and spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. Send e-mails to her at Katherine@personalized nutrition.com.  |
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Gala and 27th Award Ceremony |
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The Ten Commandments of a Chef
Excerpted from “Letters to a Young Chef,” written by Daniel Boulud, owner and chef de cuisine of Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, Feast & Fetes (all in New York City), and Café Boulud in Palm Beach, Florida. Boulud’s newest restaurant venture will open this spring at the Wynn property, a new, promised-to-be-the-most-luxurious-hotel-and-casino-ever-built in Las Vegas. Regardless the job you fill in the foodservice industry, these simple tips written to young chefs will assist you in running a successful business and therefore help you to attract, train and retain the best workforce you can assemble. The Ten Commandments of a Chef 1. Keep Your Knives Sharp: Your most basic tool is your knife. To cut well all of your knives must be sharp. Make sharpening a daily ritual at the very least. A knife is not like a car that breaks down. If it does not perform, you have not kept it sharp. Remember, it is never the knife’s fault. 2. Work with the Best People: To become a great chef you do not need to work with 20 top chefs. You need to experience three or four very good chefs. The best is not necessarily the most popular or most famous, it can just as easily be a chef in a small place who is simply very organized and very good. Focus on a few chefs for your foundation, then for specialties-for example, charcuterie, pastry and so on-you can do internships. 3. Keep Your Station Orderly: From the storage of vegetables to the finishing of mise-en-place, everything needs to be marked, labeled and in the proper containers, taking up the minimum of room. Then, during service, you will not be in the weeds. Instead, you will be able to fill orders with maximum efficiency. A well-organized station also gets respect from the rest of the kitchen. 4. Purchase Wisely: The profitable restaurant runs on the same principle as the frugal housewife’s kitchen: Use everything, because everything you do not use is potential profit that goes straight into the garbage. Any underutilized food item will affect your food costs. Pay attention to the price of ingredients and keep them in line with what a customer will pay for a dish. The more you utilize everything, the more you will be able to afford the best ingredients. A great chef respects the culinary value of every ingredient-from truffle to turnip. 5. Season with Precision: The taste of every ingredient is elevated by proper seasoning. There is an exact point at which ingredients are seasoned correctly. More is not always better. Learning the peculiarities of your palate and attuning it to finished results requires precision and endless practice. 6. Master the Heat: From 120°F to 800°F-there is an enormous range for heat to affect ingredients. A truly great cook has such an intimate knowledge of heat that he or she develops a sixth sense of timing for the moment of doneness. Learn the basics of heat so that you can cook easily with every form of heat in the classical repertoire. 7. Learn the World of Food: Experience different cuisines whenever you can. Do it when you are young, before you are building your career. Learning other cuisines will broaden your foundation as a chef. Even when you have begun to progress through the ranks of the kitchen, use your time off to go places, try new restaurants, buy books. In other words, immerse yourself in the world of food. 8. Know the Classics: No matter what cuisine you concentrate on, the classic dishes will cover the spectrum of techniques and ingredients needed to master a cuisine. The fundamentals of stocks, sauces and seasoning are all there in the classics ... whether that classic is clam chowder in Cape Cod or Bouillabaisse in Marseilles. 9. Accept Criticism: As a young chef, you spend your days and nights being criticized and analyzed by the chefs for whom you work. It is important to learn from criticism. It is equally important to learn how to criticize usefully when you become a full-fledged chef. And finally, you must learn from the criticism of the public. Recognize that to keep yourself interested you are constantly varying, innovating and reinventing, succeeding at times and needing more work at others. Criticism is the public’s way of telling you how to improve on the results of your creative impulses. 10. Keep a Journal of Your Recipes: You cannot remember everything you see cooked, or even have cooked, but with a journal, a computer, a digital camera, you can bring those taste memories to life … to guide you for the rest of your professional life. |
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20 Hot Food Trends of ‘05 Smaller portions, "good" carbs and new ethnic tastes make the list. And you'll really love the top pick. By Marilynn Marter - Inquirer Staff Writer The tricky thing about tracking food trends is that many evolve over time, spanning years, even decades. Others come and go as quickly as the year itself. Just when you think you're on top of things - kale is hot! - something else comes along - No, it's brussels sprouts! - to replace it. With that in mind, we offer our predictions for 20 top food trends for 2005. While many began with chefs and other culinary elite, a few claim grassroots origins. 1. Chocolate, the gourmet health food. It's about time something that tastes so good is actually good for you. Dark chocolate, which is at least 70 percent cocoa, is a source of polyphenols, the antioxidants in red wine and green tea that help keep plaque from forming in arteries. It also contains flavonoids, which make blood platelets less sticky and are thought to lower blood pressure and LDL, or bad cholesterol. Look for artisanal and varietal chocolates touted for their subtle taste distinctions (as are single-estate wines and coffees) and for candies laced with offbeat flavors such as green tea, black pepper and beer. And yes, there is also chocolate-flavored beer. 2. Fast food with style. Fast-food chains are lightening their menus, proving that fast needn't mean overprocessed, oversalted, and full of fat and empty calories. Decor is being upgraded, too. A McDonald's opening in Chicago this year will offer wireless Internet access and a hangout atmosphere. The resurgence of neighborhood restaurants with character, regional foods, and casual fare that is fresh, well-executed, and familiar enough not to be threatening also continues. 3. Affordable luxuries. Starbucks is often credited with starting the "small indulgence" trend. Other small food splurges are vintage wines, premium vinegar, a catered meal, or the Kobe beef and foie gras found these days on more restaurant menus. 4. Ethnic regions. Upscale Spanish and Mexican dishes lead the current ethnic taste trek. But foods of distinct regions are getting more attention, too. We've feasted on the foods of Provence, Hunan and Sicily. Next up? Recipes unique to Galicia, Barcelona and Oaxaca. 5. Small plates. From Spanish tapas to Chinese dim sum and Greek meze, small portions are becoming a big deal. With their presence on menus increasing, small plates also feed into the quick-dining trend. The lounge at Tangerine in Old City has introduced an all-meze menu and, at Brasserie Perrier, executive chef-partner Chris Scarduzio says he is concentrating more on flavor and less on portion size because customers are eating less. "Small plates are great for young professionals on the move who don't have time to sit at a table for two hours," Scarduzio says. Along with mini meals come cupcakes and other mini cakes, the hot option for wedding receptions as well as for everyday snacking. 6. Carb comeback. "Good" carbs, including fruits and vegetables, are back in the good graces of dieters. Carbs are the body's most efficient fuel. The good ones break down slowly for steady energy. Sugar carbs quickly turn to glucose, with the excess stored as fat. 7. Whole grains. These nutrient-rich carbs were surely missed by many low-carb dieters deprived of their morning Cheerios. Now they're back and will take center stage when the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists them as a key element in a healthful diet in its revised Food Guide Pyramid, to be released this month. Look for more whole grains in processed foods, from cereals to prepared meals. Average adult consumption is just one serving a day, well under the government's recommendation of three a day. 8. Convenience. When Gourmet magazine touts dishes to make ahead on Sunday for a week's worth of heat-and-eat meals, you know times have changed. Everyone wants more convenience in the kitchen. The NPD Group, a market research firm, reports that half of American cooks are putting dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less, often by eliminating side dishes and even desserts, which are now served after only 14 percent of at-home suppers. 9. Organics. Sales have risen more than 20 percent annually for a dozen years, reaching an estimated $15 billion in 2004, with more than $32 billion projected by 2009. The fastest-growing segments are meats and poultry (sales jumped 78 percent in 2003) and snack foods (up 30 percent). There's even organically farmed fish. If you blinked, you may have missed organics also slipping into the mainstream of packaged goods, canned foods, meal kits, and baking mixes. 10. Functional foods. Food has become the new wonder drug as researchers unlock the secrets of phytochemicals, omega-3 fats, and other substances that promise to help forestall ailments ranging from aggression and attention-deficit disorder to macular degeneration, Alzheimer's disease and stroke. Penny Kris-Etherton, a nutrition professor at Pennsylvania State University, cites nuts and salmon as nutritional powerhouses, along with fruits and vegetables. Also, look for cultured beverages - yogurt-like drinks infused with "friendly bacteria" - marketed for digestive health. 11. Of the moment. Wild blueberries (available as juice or whole berries, canned and frozen), fresh figs, beets (in salads), yams, Honeycrisp apples (a new cross between a Macoun and a Honeygold), and microgreens are hot. Among meats, duck and bison have new cachet. And sweep up the sawdust: Steak houses are suddenly chic with the 20-something set. 12. Cooking with kids. Children's cooking classes are burgeoning, as are cookbooks for the younger set from cooks as prominent as Rick Bayless, who wrote Rick & Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $29.95) with his teenage daughter, and Rachael Ray (Cooking Rocks! 30 Minute Meals for Kids, published by Lake Isle Press, $16.95). 13. Dining etiquette 101. There was little early training at the table for many young professionals who now find themselves dining out nervously with clients (and bosses). Hence, the raft of "practice banquets" and classes offering much-needed instruction in polite public dining rituals. Classes are held at fine restaurants, on college campuses (including Philadelphia University), at career seminars, in cooking schools, and online. One elementary-dining class for children at Eleven Madison Park, Danny Meyer's deco-detailed restaurant in New York's Flatiron District, sold out within hours and filled the waiting list for a second session. 14. Bottled water. Sales rose 20 percent in 2004, making this the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. beverage market. In addition to funky flavors, new-age waters are "enhanced" with vitamins, minerals and/or electrolytes and are being pitched to a market beyond health club addicts and joggers. 15. Trans-American wines. Think past France and California. Wine consumption is on the upswing, and local wineries are blossoming in all 50 states. (Yes, there is wine produced in Alaska.) Look to microwineries - sometimes clustered, like Chaddsford and others in Chester County - as a source of varietal wines, filling a niche market much like that of microbrewed beers. 16. No-cal sugar. Little yellow packets of Splenda have joined, and increasingly are replacing, the pink Sweet'N Low and blue Equal packets on restaurant tables. The natural-tasting sucralose also is being used in almost every food category - cereals to sodas, pickles to beef jerky. 17. Specialty salts are going mainstream, thanks to celebrity chefs talking up the taste profiles of sea salts from around the world. More food companies are adding less sodium to processed foods and many consumers are cooking from scratch (or semi-scratch), giving at-home diners more chances to sample the unique flavors of gourmet salts. 18. Technique. Look for more variety in the way foods are prepared. Grilling's popularity is booming, thanks to the growing obsession for must-have outdoor "trophy" kitchens among the upper-income set. Brined meats and poultry are timesavers coming to supermarkets. And other cooking methods are surfacing, not just in restaurants and home kitchens but also for prepared foods. " 'Fire-roasted' and 'charcoal-grilled' are already on the labels of canned goods and frozen vegetables," Philadelphia cookbook author Andrew Schloss says. "Look for frozen dinners identified as 'braised' and canned fruits labeled 'poached.' " 19. Flavors in favor. Lemongrass has gone mainstream. Now sumac (a fruity-astringent spice) and yuzu (a sour citrus fruit) are showing up. Expect more exotic and highly flavored foods, from olive oils (Meyer lemon and blood orange are popular) to adult-friendly snacks (wasabi-ginger pecans). Pique timid taste buds with a dash of chile powder in your hot cocoa. 20. Food entitlement. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. More and more, consumers expect their dietary needs and special requests to be met, whether motivated by allergies, a special diet, or personal preference. Most restaurants and grocery stores try to meet any reasonable demand. At the South Street BYOB Next, chef Terry Owens gets a couple of special orders a week, most often allergy-related. And a diner's recent request to substitute chicken for the scallops in one dish was not unusual, nor was it a problem. But since neither planned sauce worked with the new pairing, chef and diner negotiated an alternative: lemon butter."You never say 'no' to a customer," Owens said |
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