2012 International Chefs Congress. StarChefs.com invites you to the 7th Annual StarChefs.com International Chefs Congress will take place September 30 – October 2, 2012 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. ICC is one of a kind, and it's back: a three-day culinary symposium that gathers more than 90 of the world's most innovative chefs, pastry chefs, mixologists, and sommeliers to present the latest techniques and culinary concepts to their peers—i.e., you.
September 30 to October 2, you'll have the opportunity to attend Main Stage Demonstrations, Hands-on Savory, Pastry, and Mixology workshops, Wine Tasting Seminars, and Business Panels on current industry topics, all gathered under the umbrella of this year's ICC theme: Origins and Frontiers: The Archaeology of Modern Cuisine. Pierre Hermè immerses his audience in his "Sensations and Pleasure" presentation. Michael Ruhlman, Marco Pierre White, and Anthony Bourdain on the main stage for "The Role of the Chef" discussion panel What Is Origins and Frontiers? Food News. Tasteologie. SAVEUR.com - Authentic Recipes, Food, Drinks and Travel. CHOW - Recipes, cooking tips, resources, and stories for people who love food. The Perennial Plate | Adventurous and Sustainable Eating. Molecular Gastronomy Network | Molecular gastronomy recipes & training.
Piure: the world's strangest seafood? I've spent the last 10 days in Chile - hence the lack of recent posts. Most of my time was spent visiting wineries but I also found time to visit the Central Market in Santiago which I remembered from my last visit sports some of the weirdest seafood I've ever come across. This coral-like substance is called Piure. I've been looking for more information about it but it basically tastes something like a sea-urchin though much less delicate in flavour.
They extract the flesh then serve it with onions and a good squeeze of lemon, both necessary to disguise the slightly bitter, soapy taste. A good Pisco Sour - Chile's national cocktail - also helps it go down! There are other unfamiliar fish: pink clams called machas which the contestants in the World's Best Sommelier contest had to match with red wine (almost impossible) . . . Congrio or conger eel which is a popular basis for the very tasty Chilean seafood stews . . . Some very spooky octopus . . .
Oh, and a tip if you go to the market. Caramelization: new science, new possibilities - Curious Cook. For me, the epitome of stovetop alchemy is making caramel from table sugar. You start with refined sucrose, pure crystalline sweetness, put it in a pan by itself, and turn on the heat. When the sugar rises above 320°F/160°C, the solid crystals begin to melt together into a colorless syrup. Then another 10 or 20 degrees above that, the syrup begins to turn brown, emits a rich, mouth-watering aroma, and adds tart and savory and bitter to its original sweetness. That's the magic of cooking front and center: from one odorless, colorless, simply sweet molecule, heat creates hundreds of different molecules, some aromatic and some tasty and some colored.
How does heat turn sugar into caramel? Heat is a kind of energy that makes atoms and molecules move faster. That's what I've thought for many years, along with most cooks and confectioners and carbohydrate chemists: heat melts sugar, and then begins to break it apart and create the delicious mixture we call caramel. And we've all been wrong. Eater National : The National Restaurant, Bar, and Nightlife Blog.