I’ve been assaulted by all sorts of great food related things to indulge in and I think you should indulge as well:

International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science

Dry technical white papers on high end gastronomy?  You know me too well.  This is the first edition in a type of publication that is long overdue.  Want to learn about priprioca and its contributions to gastronomy?  How about the recipe to Mugaritz’ edible stones?  It’s here.

The main objective of this Journal is to fill a gap in the expanding fields of Gastronomy and Food Sciences by adopting a scientific approach. This will be a journal that reviews and explores all the current facets of this growing field: applied culinary and food science, technology, new culinary concepts, nutrition, food service, global tendencies in food (health, globalisation, ethnic flavours, etc.) and the socio-cultural aspects of gastronomy.

This is the perfect companion to Modernist Cuisine, providing scientific analysis of food and cooking.  But it does have one advantage over the $450 tome: the first issue of the journal at least is a free PDF download.  Get it now.

Noma: If You Can’t Take The Heat…

This was put on YouTube back in November, but Eric just turned me onto it.  Watch in horror as cooks get set straight in the pressure cooker of high end dining. Or watch in pleasure, depending on your perspective.  Note: although a British documentary, it is subtitled in some foreign tongue, so it’s only about 40% English or so.  Still well worth watching, however.

Masterchef at El Celler de Can Roca

I think cooking competition shows are pretty silly.  The original Iron Chef is still pretty awesome, but that plot line is simple: make a killer meal in an hour highlighting an ingredient.  The latest Top Chef, however, is something different.  They have them cooking in a gondola, digging out ingredients out of a block of ice with an ice-pick, shooting guns at targets…yeah.  Let’s face it: that’s stupid.  It has nothing to do with cooking and everything to do with mass entertainment.  I want to see the real deal.  Luckily, MasterChef, UK edition, gives us just that.

Imagine being a chef and having to cook and plate dishes at El Celler de Can Roca, the #2 ranked restaurant in the world.  Now that’s worth an hour of your time.  Check out these incredible dishes and a peek inside a serious top flight kitchen in action.

Lucky Peach #3

Yay!  The third issue of Lucky Peach is outand does not disappoint.  It is the best snapshot of the current thinking in high end cooking right now (at least in the English speaking world.  It would be cool to see Spain/France/China/etc.-only issues).  It is worth it alone for the microwave chocolate cake.  That recipe is deadly simple and super quick, which makes it truly evil for those who want to avoid sweets.

There are of course the usual humorous musings on food and food culture along with great interviews and other recipes.

So, definitely pick it up. I’ll leave you with a quote from an interview with Dave McMillan concerning Sysco:

Only a fucking idiot would order fish and beef from the same place he orders bleach and mop heads.

Jethro