Category Archives: American food and drink

Move over millefeuilles: queues in Paris as city gets first taste of Krispy Kremes

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Home of the patisserie falls for US doughnuts with hundreds of people lining up for opening of first branch

France, the country that gave the world the word “patisserie”, a nation famous for its macarons, meringues and millefeuilles, whose restaurants strive for gastronomic perfection and whose baguette is on the UN heritage list, has fallen for another foreign interloper: the American doughnut, or more precisely the Krispy Kreme.

On a freezing morning last week, 400 people, some having camped out all night, formed an uncharacteristically orderly queue for the opening of the US chain’s first outlet in a central Paris shopping centre.

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Italian academic cooks up controversy with claim carbonara is US dish

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Alberto Grandi also raises hackles with suggestion Wisconsin has most authentic take on parmesan cheese

An Italian academic has caused more than a stir after saying the recipe for carbonara is American and the only place in the world to find bona fide parmesan cheese nowadays is Wisconsin.

Alberto Grandi, a professor of food history at the University of Parma, made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times. He also claimed tiramisu and panettone were relatively recent inventions and that most Italians had not even heard of pizza before the 1950s.

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How to eat: coleslaw

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This month, we dives into a European salad that went global after the Americans added mayo. But why is cheese a no-no? And should you be punished for popping in pineapple?

It won’t prevent cancer, rejuvenate ageing skin or arrest global warming but coleslaw is nonetheless a “miracle food”. Crunchy and wet, creamy and fresh, sweet and savoury, the subject of this month’s How to eat – the series identifying how best to enjoy Britain’s favourite foods – delivers rare complexity in every mouthful. It is also one of the few salads that works with hot dishes, the mayonnaise greasing the wheels of that gastronomic interaction.

Little wonder that Dutch koolsla, originally a way of dressing raw cabbage to make it palatable, not only survived its 18th-century journey to the US but with adjustments (swapping vinaigrette for mayonnaise), was re-exported to global acclaim.

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Ribs and dogs: Gary Lee’s recipes for the Super Bowl

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Recipes for Superbowl 56 next weekend from the kitchen of Joe Allen in Covent Garden: slow-braised smoked baby back ribs and vegetarian hot dogs with quinoa chilli. Touchdown!

I’m a huge sports fan, so revel in everything around a big sporting event: getting friends over, the TV set up and, of course, prepping the ultimate game-day spread. The Super Bowl next weekend is the perfect excuse to get some American-style dishes on the go, and it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make a couple of Joe Allen classics. Today’s recipes have been a closely guarded secret – or at least until now – and, regardless of whether or not you’re a meat eater, together they make the perfect finger food for everyone who can’t take their eyes off the screen.

UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado

UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado

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Ephemeral edible: gingerbread monolith appears on San Francisco hilltop, then collapses

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Christmas day sweet sighting in Corona Heights park attracted visitors who took pictures and even took a bite

Like the other monoliths that have mysteriously appeared across America and the world in the waning weeks of 2020, the one that popped up on a California hilltop on Christmas Day seemed to come out of nowhere.

Also like the others, it was tall, three-sided and it rapidly attracted crowds of curious visitors before an untimely destruction.

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