Chef Wise

Times are changing - men in the UK are increasingly likely to be found in the kitchen looking for new tastes and food combinations. Gone are the days of meat and two veg every day as men look for more exciting tastes and wholesome alternatives to meat. That’s where Easy Bean comes in. Easy Bean’s pots are wholesome, delicious and wonderfully authentic. Packed full of pulses and chunky veg, each 320g pot provides 2 to 3 of your five-a-day. They are naturally low in fat and salt and high in fibre. Christina Baskerville, MD of Easy Bean, says: “Easy Bean meals are quick and simple – and yet they help you to eat well and are very filling. Packed full of goodness and as a slow release source of carbohydrate they certainly offer man-sized portions. They taste delicious on their own or combine them with rice, a baked potato or some crusty bread.” January 6 is national Bean Day and would be an ideal time for men to celebrate the goodness of beans. Christina offers thes...

Celebrating National Bean Day – January 6 - is easy: simply eat beans, in all shapes and sizes if possible. Christina Baskerville is managing director of Easy Bean  - - Easy Bean was established in 2007. She says: “Easy Bean meals are high in protein, fibre and low in. Research shows that eating beans can help control weight. Mt meals are all natural, low in calories and contain two to three of your five-a-day vegetable portions .” The Easy Bean range gourmet meal pots are: New Mexican Chilli, Moroccan Tagine, French Cuisinées, Indian Sambar Dhal, African Palava and Spanish Puchero, plus seasonal special Pasta e Fagioli. Different beans are featured in each of the recipes. The origin of National bean Day is unclear although January 6 may have bean chosen because it commemerates the death in 1884 of Gregor Mendel, the Austrian botanist whose pioneering work on the science of genetics involved teasting garden peas. Christina and her team have come up with five ...

Divine Chocolate is delighted to introduce two exciting new products to its Easter range - the Easter 2013 collection now features 12 products. The delightfully charming praline chocolate chickens & eggs and chocolate bees with a honeycomb crunch both make for an appealing gift for young or old this Spring. Our two luxury eggs and our smaller 55g eggs, as well as our Dubble Easter products for children made in partnership with The Beano magazine, have all been given a striking packaging redesign - making them even more appealing. There's even an on-pack comic competition on our two Beano themed Dubble Easter products and the winner will see their story published in the Beano Max. Full details of our Easter range are found below. All Divine's Easter Eggs are made from the "best of the best" cocoa from the co-operative that owns the company, and are free from artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives and are suitable for vegetarians. Redu...

Just looking at things and sitting here trying to predict what the next big thing will be and I think we will see the following few trends coming our way in the restaurants and food world. Value for money. When I say value for money I think the continuing trend for watching the pennies are in and austerity is still here to stay for a few more years. The down side to that is that people get used to it, they like the idea of value for money and if you do not respect the current flow of the market then you are looking at difficult times ahead. Restaurants being redefined. Not so much a rend but what is happening now, but more and more. You have to know that you will be asked where is it from, the food the wine , why, is it sustainable , local, artisan and how does it fit in with my lifestyle.  To use a buzz word this is a choice beyond price. Along with all the other ethical position on how green you are, how you pay your taxes. Get them wrong and it could be ...

Happy Christmas to you all . Well as it is that time of year that you go round and see every one that you have not seen for far too long then that is what I must do.  But before I do them I will leave you with these final three  thoughts on what to do when making Christmas dinner. My three big tips are One , the golden rule that was the motto , if he had such a thing of one of the best  chefs in the world in his day and probably still is regarded as such , Georges Auguste Escoffier . And that is “ Above all , keep it simple.” Good food cooked well. Life would be so much simpler if we all stuck to that rule in every thing Two, the more you get done in advance the better it is.  Have a cold started that you can do in advance, if you are really having a lot round cook and portion your turkey the day before and reheat it in the oven later. Do as much as you can the day before, that is what a big hotel would do,  do not kill yourself ...

As purveyors of the finest organic herbs, Steenbergs decided to use their delicious ingredients and hand-blending skills to create a range of tasty, easy-to-use stuffing mixes. Versatile enough to go with a whole range of meals, from traditional roasts through to a variety of vegetarian dishes, the Steenbergs stuffing mixes provide an extra depth of flavour and come in 5 distinct and delicious varieties. Steenbergs organic Apple and Onion Stuffing combines organic apple pieces with onion and a unique blend of herbs and spices to work perfectly alongside chicken and pork.  For a more zesty blend try the Herby Lemon Stuffing with parsley, tarragon, chives and lemon peel.  Steenbergs have perfected the traditional organic Sage and Onion stuffing and added the organic Sultana and Onion stuffing to their range for those who like a more fruity flavour. Steenbergs' festive mix is organic Cranberry and Onion which goes particularly well with turkey for Christmas a...

19 December 2012: Food4Media has today announced, the leading news service for the food sector, will launch a transformed look and dramatic new functionality during Q1 of 2013. The website will complete its progression to delivering a 'social network for business' that will unite over 3600 registered journalists and PR professionals across its market. Food4Media will launch the first-ever live messaging service created exclusively for journalists and PRs in the food, restaurant and wine industries. This will complement the site's existing My Network functionality, which allows journalists and PRs to form relationships and track each other's business updates. The upgrade will see the site unveiling complex search functionality that will instantly deliver search results comprising people, companies, press releases and photos. Also in the upgrade there'll be considerably advanced image uploading functionality, closer integration to Facebook and...

David Jones, co-owner of Manna from Devon Cooking School, set off on Sunday (16th December) on his walk around the South West Coast Path to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Having already raised over £3,000 for the charity he has now doubled his initial target, re-setting it at £5,000. So far the weather has offered perfect walking conditions with clear skies and only some rain. Yesterday, the second day of the walk, was a challenging day with hill climbs of over 8,000 feet in total. Today he is enjoying a more relaxing walk starting at Woolacombe, enjoying the spectacular beaches at Croyde and Saunton, before heading inland to Barnstaple and onwards from there to Instow at the end of the day. David's brother Greg joined him for the first couple of days. Brenda Birmingham from Food and Drink Devon will be accompanying him between Instow and Westward Ho. When David reaches Bude he will be rewarded with an early dinner at the Red Dog Baker...

Many of the things that we eat today we have been around for a long time but some of them have changed here is a little list of things that you might have seen if you was having a Tudor Christmas dinner. Boars head . A impressive dish of a boars head roasted with a apple or lemon in the mouth crowned with holly, ivy and rosemary . At Queen's College, Oxford they serenaded the boar's head with its own carol. 'The boars head in hand bear I, Bedecked with bays and rosemary And I pray you, my masters, be merry Quot est is in convivio' A Christmas pie This was a large pie, to  represented the manger of Jesus,  containing  meat, game, spices, fruit and suet . Christmas or plum porridge This is the first sort of Christmas pudding more like a thick soup. Served at the beginning of the feast it was maid form something’s that you would not find in a Christmas pudding today .Boiled beef or  mutton broth, breadcrumbs, rai...

Divine is excited to announce a new product for the Spring 2013 season: bee shaped chocolates made with our smooth milk chocolate and small pieces of honeycomb crunch. The solid exclusively designed chocolates come in a honeycomb shaped box and make a charming gift for young or old. Priced at £4.00, our honeycomb bees (100g) will be available from February at Oxfam stores, independents and Divine's online shop: divinechocolate.com/shop. More stockists to follow. At Divine we love the humble bee! So we've produced our delicious chocolate bees as a reminder of how vital bees are to the planet's eco-system - they're responsible for pollinating 70% of the food we eat. But they are under threat, with numbers dropping to dangerous levels - in Britain they are disappearing faster than anywhere else in Europe. You can help encourage bees back to Britain by planting wild flowers. So we've teamed up with beehappyplants.co.uk to get you four bee-friendly plants for ...

After 72 hours of bid bid bidding this year's Mince Pie Project has now come to an end after having raised £29,147.29 for charities, Galvin's Chance and Crisis through their mince pie marathon! Beginning at midday on Tuesday 11th December and finishes just this afternoon, the online auction of batches of 50 mince pies made by 100 of the UK's best chefs and restaurants saw some festively fierce competition for the position of prime pie and title of chief, or rather Christmas Chef King. Victory was taken by Head Chef at Duck and Waffle, Daniel Doherty's gingerbread mince pies with orange frosting, that raised an impressive £1,900. Though in close second place was Martin Wishart, owner of Martin Wishart restaurant in Edinburgh who raised £1,825 with his light pastry and exotic spice pies. Third place was claimed by Mark Pynton, from Alimentum with his hay smoked mince pie, with truffle and apple mince meat that raised a sumptious £1,750. Other chefs th...

The Gourmand International Cookbook Awards are the "Oscars" of the cookery writing world and little known author, Romilla Arber has triumphed with her book, 'What's for Dinner? Second Helpings' which has won first place in the category of "Best Easy Recipes Cookbook" for the UK. Romilla Arber, is neither a celebrity nor a trained chef but a mother of four. Romilla had to self-publish the book as no publisher was willing to take a risk with an unknown author. She has struggled to get major bookshop chains to even stock the book and to get National newspapers and magazines to review or cover it. Romilla hopes that the cookery world will now sit up and take notice of her writing. "Cookery writing should not be the exclusive domain of celebrity chefs and ex models and actresses. Others may have an interesting contribution to make. It is fantastic for me to be judged on my merits and not my background," commented Romilla. The awards...

Variable pricing to end table discounting Diners able to sell on tables at a profit Bookingrid.com, a new restaurant reservations service that promises to eradicate restaurant losses due to no shows, is launching with a special introductory promotion for Valentine’s Day day.bookingrid.com .  A  similar promotion will be announced for Mother’s Day. With no sign up fees or recurring monthly charges, Bookingrid.com provides up front payment at the time of booking to give a significant boost to restaurateurs’ cash flow. Rather than risking alienating customers by restaurants charging a non-refundable deposit, Bookingrid.com will ensure restaurateurs receive prepayment, whilst offering diners the flexibility to return their table or resell it – possibly at a profit. Following successful trials in conjunction with Harden’s restaurant guide for leading London restaurants, many Michelin-starred, including The Cinnamon Club, Il Convivio, Benares, Rasoi, One B...

Leading London cookery school, Leiths School of Food and Wine, have developed two unique knife sets that every professional and aspiring professional will want this Christmas.  Leiths have been teaching their renowned Diploma in Food and Wine as well as informal cookery classes for over 35 years. With this wealth of experience behind them they have honed their skills in all areas of cookery; most notably knife skills.  On average 35 knife skills classes take place at the school each year. It is the longest running class and remains the most popular; one of the most frequently asked question to teachers on this class is what knives do they use or prefer. Finally, after much debate among the staff, that question can be answered. Leiths have over-seen, tested and approved the production of two knife sets that they feel meet the rigours and demands of a professional kitchen; whilst also looking sleek and stylish in a home kitchen.   Made to the highest spe...

New research shows that 70% of UK tea drinkers don't know what's in their teabag! teapigs the specialist tea company are on a mission to get the nation to "drink real tea". Their research reveals that 70% of UK tea drinkers don't actually know what's in their teabag. Tea is the nation's favourite drink with 71% of people drinking more than 3 cups of tea every day. Moreover, half the UK confesses that they can't get through the day without it. So why should we be concerned about what's in our tea bag? Louise, tea taster at teapigs explains; "We wouldn't eat a sandwich without knowing exactly what's inside, so why doesn't the same apply to tea? Traditional paper teabags hide what's inside, often for good reason. When tea drinkers get to taste the flavour that quality whole leaf delivers, they experience what "real tea" actually tastes like." To demonstrate this point teapigs have sampled wi...

Food Safari, providers of food courses and workshops, is delighted to be teaming up with Artisan Butcher, Jamie Willows, at his brand new Rose House Butchery in Ipswich for a programme of butchery workshops. Jamie Willows has been a butcher all his life including a stint at TV’s Jimmy Doherty’s Jimmy’s Farm.  Jamie works with a small number of small producers, raising native, traditional, rare-breed livestock and so is a perfect partner for Food Safari’s field to fork ethos.  The Rose House Butchery will open to the public in early 2013, based in a beautiful 18th century listed stable building on St Peter’s Street, Ipswich. Together Food Safari and the Rose House Butchery will offer regular Friday evening butchery workshops. After a behind-the-scenes tour of the butchery you will get hands-on working on pork, beef, lamb or poultry. Working in small groups you will break down the meat into the key primals, learning about the different cuts and how to use them in ...

As a new year approaches we all make those little promises to ourselves; go on a diet, spend more time with the family, learn a new skill, but even with the best intentions they can sometimes all be forgotten by February. So this year, why not make a New Year's resolution to keep and learn to cook? LucyCooks has a 2013 calendar that's bursting with inspirational and fun cookery classes that will give you that new skill you always wanted, allow you to spend more time with the family in the kitchen or even eat more healthily! Visit LucyCooks at Mill Yard in Staveley, Cumbria  and see what's cooking in 2013: Friday 4th January: Men in the Kitchen - £145 This course does exactly what it says on the tin; a beginner's guide to cookery for those nervous novices. Learn to create delicious dishes such as a celeriac and saffron veloute, slow cooked Tuscan pork belly or a Sticky Toffee Pudding. Friday 25th January: Classic Cookery for Beginners - £135 Th...

The Tree Hotel in Iffley is set to host a Punjabi Lohri Festival (the festival of fun and gaiety) extravangaza complete with Bhangra, bonfires and a host of special curries on Saturday 12th January. The Lohri festivities are part of a special Indian month at the Tree Hotels which will see each Saturday evening in January offer a different Indian focus from North Indian Thalis to West Indian rich seafood dishes and Southern Indian hot hot hot curries! Kavita Pal, MD of the Tree Hotel Group says: “The Lohri festival in particular is all about colour, youth and liveliness.  We thought it would be a fabulous idea to invite our customers to come in out of the cold and enjoy some delicious flavoursome curries and experience a host of great tastes from across India, in a warm and relaxing atmosphere this January when things can sometimes feel a bit grey.” According to the Federation of Specialist Restaurants Britain’s Indian restaurant sector serves around 170 milli...

Tregothnan is the home of English tea. Today we were invited to 10 Downing Street on a quest to introduce the quintessentially British drink to Mr Cameron and to discuss exporting more tea to China and around the world. No prime minister has taken tea this seriously since Churchill. He wanted it grown in the UK and now we are. Mr Cameron likes the fact that Tregothnan tea is an affordable luxury that's actually selling in China!

Influential food magazine olive is celebrating the festive season with a new app for the iPhone and iPad of 50 Christmas recipes to help and inspire the busy cook when entertaining this Christmas. With beautiful photos and full-screen recipes which are triple-tested by the olive magazine cookery team, readers can browse recipes on their way to work, while shopping, on the sofa or in the kitchen. Offering innovative ideas for starters, mains, sides, desserts, Christmas baking, cocktails and canapés, the app is available now, via iTunes, priced £2.99.  Christine Hayes, editor of olive magazine said "Christmas is a great time of year for food lovers so we are very excited about this fantastic festive app which is guaranteed to be an invaluable resource during the hectic flurry of activity in kitchens this Christmas season."

Those people looking to detox and maybe shed a few pounds in January following the excesses of the festive season, are being warned not to leave curry off their diet in the New Year. Spicy foods are known to stimulate the metabolism, boost the immune system and boost the spirits on cold, damp dark winter days.  Popular curry recipes contain turmeric, cumin, allspice, cardamom, ginger, garlic and capsicum - spices with strong anti-bacterial properties. Kowsar Ali, the owner of Simply Indian in Wadhurst in East Sussex and several other Bangladeshi restaurants across the south of England, says that contrary to popular belief, Indian food is not fattening: "When do you ever see an over weight Indian waiter, or even a rotund Indian chef?"  he asked, with the proviso, "Some of the richer dishes laden with cream and butter should be avoided if you want to lose weight - and go easy on the lager." Apart from promoting weight loss, the spices use in India...

Enjoy a gastronomic Valentine's day in the comfort of your own home with a little help from Leiths this year. Our specially designed Valentine's workshop dates have been confirmed, with two special one day workshops to help you create an inspired celebration for your loved one. Ditching the over-packed restaurants in favour of a thoughtful home cooked supper has never been a better idea. "Few things make someone feel as special as having delicious food cooked for them," says Leiths teacher and buyer Max Clark. "The time and effort invested in bringing seasonal ingredients together in simple, but impressive recipes will show just how much you love someone... far more than the largest bouquet of roses ever could." With plenty of time to practice your new menu before the big day, join us at Leiths on Saturday the 26th January as Max Clark teaches guests how to entertain the other half with a show-stopping menu. Learn to make homemade buttermilk...