Even if beer isn’t your adult beverage of choice, there’s a good chance that you’re going to encounter one (or a few!) over the course of the holiday weekend. Thanks to new rankings by the Homebrewers Association, you can make sure that you’re drinking the tastiest ones available, instead of the same boring standbys. Warning: if you happen to loathe IPAs (cough, cough), you might want to skip their top three picks. Also, on a related note, most of our advice for how to throw a hipster-theme bbq still holds true.
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Self-described “jelly mongers” Sam Bompas and Harry Parr are just beginning their rise to cultural prominence in the US, but at home in England they’re veritable celebs. The absurdly creative culinary scientists have been pushing food and dining boundaries in the UK for years, from staging an overblown, tongue-in-cheek 12-course, 4,000-calorie Victorian breakfast at Warwick Castle to a scratch n’ sniff Valentine’s Day screening of Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.
Beyond their over-the-top happenings, Bompas & Parr are most well known as the creators of innovative flavored gelatins (aka jellies), infusing their jelly with flavors both sublime and bizarre, molded in myriad shapes and sizes for all occasions (weddings, funerals, the sinking of the Titanic). For our latest interactive interview, we caught up with the pair to discuss their madcap adventures and their first book, Jelly Mongers
, which features many of their most popular (and craziest) recipes, as well as tips, tricks, and stunning photos. Click through for the full interactive video interview, where you control the questions. Then, flip through our Bompas & Parr photo collection, including shots from the book and the personal collection of Sam Bompas himself.
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No, wait, this is better than it sounds. This video – shot in ultra slow-motion, at 6,400 frames a second – is part of a promotional campaign for Modernist Cuisine, the much-hyped six-volume, 2,438-page cookbook that’s due out soon and “is destined to reinvent cooking”. The books would want to be pretty damn impressive given that its publishers are asking $625 for the set, although given the rave reviews from high-profile chefs on the book’s website, maybe they are. But! Anyway! The bouncing jello: exactly what it has to with the book is unclear, but it’s a pretty amazing piece of video. Watch it after the jump.
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When it comes to Easter candy, we’ve never been big fans of Peeps — or jelly beans, or bubble gum eggs, or any other non-chocolate treats, really. That said, the idea of using the sugary chicks to build a new version of the beloved-if-totally-nerdy German board game Settlers of Catan? Pure genius. As Erin Zimmer over at Serious Eats warns, “The Peeps’ heads might not be the most stable platform for setting up cities and settlements and building the longest roads. Also, the bunnies sometimes have trouble wielding around giant cards, so they could use your help if you wouldn’t mind holding them.” Also: some players might be slightly disturbed that upside down decapitated chicks = sheep. But who cares when it looks so pretty, right? Head over to Serious Eats for the instructions on how to set up your board, and be sure to let us know in the comments if you plan on giving it a try.
“Wait. You have to pose,” said Erica Schwartzberg, the host of the High Society Dining Club as her guest was leaving the dinner. The woman, a young owner of a food-truck business picked up a faux female breast and pretended to lick it while seated in a hot pink velvet chair. Erica snapped a picture. This was one episode of the supper club that Schwartzberg runs out of her loft in Williamsburg with Aimee Hunter. Meanwhile at the Chelsea Market, the James Beard Foundation has set up JBF LTD: 27 Days, a pop-up restaurant that presents a series of world-class chefs who will take up residence at a specially-designed space in the Chelsea Market. From the high-end to the DIY, it seems everyone these days is tired of the institutional dining experience and wants their culinary variables fluffed. Below, we take a look at a selection of purveyors of unique culinary experiences who have inspired our imaginations and, we hope, will inspire yours.
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“You can eat the wrapper,” said Natasha Case, co-owner of Coolhaus, the food truck purveyors of the architecturally-inspired ice cream sandwich. We were at a supper club and Case was discussing a company she started in Los Angeles in 2009 with her friend Freya Estreller. The ice cream sandwiches, which are sold from various trucks in Los Angeles and Austin, are coming to New York this month. “We want this to be our North East American truck.”
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We’ve all experienced the sticker shock of a midday run to Whole Foods. Leave it to the insanely-talented number cruncher Nate Silver to figure out how not to get totally ripped off at your local salad bar. The major takeaways here: Baby spinach and mesclun are your most wallet-friendly bases; Ranch and Italian dressings are too be avoided at all costs; sundried-tomatoes are one of the biggest “steals”; and while more costly toppings like walnuts, almonds, gorgonzola crumbles, and croutons might not be great for the waistline, they are an easy way to stick it to the man. [via NYT]
Experts have been puzzling over Coca-Cola’s closely guarded blend of flavors for years. But the folks at This American Life have stumbled upon a 1979 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that revealed the soft drink’s original, 1886 recipe. The formula goes something like this: coca extract, citric acid, lime juice, vanilla, caramel, caffeine, sugar, water — and “7x.” Which sounds scary, but don’t worry: it’s not rocket fuel or baby spit. It’s actually a fairly tame concoction featuring many items you may keep in your home spice cabinet: orange oil, alcohol, nutmeg oil, lemon oil, coriander, neroli, and cinnamon. Now, let the homemade Coke copies begin. [via Salon]
February 14th is a day for boxes of chocolates, from artisanal truffles to generic Godivas to gluey Russell Stover disasters that have been sitting on the shelf for months. But here at Flavorpill, we’d like to move beyond the heart-shaped box (and, for that matter, the inedibly stale, chalky conversation heart), without sacrificing the wonderfulness that is Valentine’s Day candy. With that in mind, we believe that anything you’d want to say with flowers can be better communicated with candy. That’s why we’ve compiled this handy guide to what your choice of V-Day confection says about you — and the lover you choose to share it with.
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The crazy dudes from EpicMealTime decided to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday a little early by breaking the 100,000 calorie barrier with the The Sloppy Roethlisberger — aka, the biggest burger that you’ve ever seen. Just to put it into perspective, this meaty monster is the caloric equivalent of over 149 Whoppers. Click through to check out the insane preparation process, but be warned: we fear that just looking at this super-sized sandwich could provoke a heart attack.
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