The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| Group warns that pork and bacon shortage ‘unavoidable’ Posted: 25 Sep 2012 08:08 PM PDT  A vendor selling pork sleeps while still holding onto her knife at a market in Beijing in this file picture. — Reuters pic A group representing the interests of pig farmers is warning that a worldwide shortage of pork and bacon is not only imminent, but "unavoidable," sending porcine lovers into a mild panic and giving them an excuse to indulge in bacon binges. It's a doomsday scenario for pork and bacon lovers — easily the one meat group to boast a sect of devotees that verges on the obsessive — and digital media are having fun with the news item, churning out a flurry of pork puns and fomenting general quasi panic. The headline on blog Gawker, for instance, warns that "The End is Nigh", while other headlines scream "Catastrophe" or express dismay "Say it ain't so". A statement released by the National Pig Association (NPA) in Britain paints a grim picture of the potential pork shortage in its "Save Our Bacon," campaign. Pig-producing countries in Europe are reporting shrinking sow herds, they say, with numbers falling across the board from Denmark, France, Austria and Sweden. The impending shortage is being blamed on the soaring prices of pig-feed following a disastrous growing season and harvesting weather. According to the NPA, a fall of just 2 per cent in pig slaughtering next year could cause prices to rise by as much as 10 per cent. It's a pattern that's mirrored around the world, they add, due to the global failure of maize and soy harvests. In the UK, British grocery chain Sainsbury's has increased the price it pays to pig farmers in response to the shortage. Meanwhile, it's not just the pig industry that's in trouble from the drought. Feed scarcity and skyrocketing costs have driven some cattlemen in the US to feed their cows everything from gummy worms and cookies to marshmallows and dried cranberries as an alternative to the starchy sugar content found in corn, reports Reuters. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Glass of wine with your mooncake? Posted: 25 Sep 2012 05:49 PM PDT  Wines to try with the mooncakes at 5 Sen5ses, The Westin Kuala Lumpur. — Pictures by Eu Hooi Khaw Only two did, as we discovered recently at a mooncake and wine pairing with food and wine connoisseurs Didier Richer and Louie Lui at Five Sen5es at the Westin Kuala Lumpur. Westin's hotel manager Benjamin Zahn had offered eight different mooncakes which we were to taste with five wines; three from Jacob's Creek and two from Torres & Vigneron de Caractere. The mooncakes were the classic White Lotus Paste with Egg Yolks, Assorted Fruit Nuts, Red Bean Paste, White Coffee with White Lotus Paste, Yaki Nori Kawaryo with Egg Yolk, Secret Method Flavoured Chocolate and Custard Milk with Taro Paste. The wines were Jacob's Creek Moscato Blanc, Jacob's Creek Moscato Rose and Jacob Creek's Steingarten Riesling 2011, Muscat de Beaume de Venise "Bouquet de Dentelles" and Torres Moscatel Oro Floralis. All agreed that the sparkling wines — Moscato Blanc and Moscato Rose — went well with most of the mooncakes.  The delicate snow skin mooncake from Chef Choi. The sparkling wine also worked with the Red Bean Paste mooncake, cutting its sweetness. It balanced out the cloying richness of the Yaki Nori Kawaryo with Egg Yolk, and lightened its flavour. It was also a good pairing with the chocolate mooncake, as well as the Custard Milk with Taro Paste. Only the White Coffee with White Lotus Paste didn't go with the wine. The Moscato Rose was good with the White Lotus Paste and an excellent match with the Assorted Fruit Nuts. It fell out with the Red Bean Paste, White Coffee, and the Yaki Nori Kawaryo and was just tolerable with the Custard Milk with Taro Paste and the Chocolate mooncakes. Most agreed that the two sweet wines — Muscat de Beaume de Venise "Bouquet de Dentelles" and the Torres Moscatel Oro Floralis — were a difficult match with the mooncakes.  The first two sparkling wines ready for a tasting with the mooncakes. The Jacob's Creek Steingarten Riesling 2011 is really not a "mooncake" wine. I had an emphatic "No!" on my review form for all the mooncake varieties. It left a strange aftertaste in my mouth — the sweetness of the mooncakes clashing violently with the delicate Riesling with its citrus blossom, fresh apple and lemon aromas, and a crisp mineral acidity. So if you must have a wine with your mooncakes, get the two sparkling ones. I would love to drink the Riesling on its own. The Jacob's Creek wines are from Pernod Ricard, while Sunrise Wine & Spirits are the distributors for the wines by Torres & Vigneron de Caractere. Didier, who's from Cognac, France, has been in the food and wine industry for more than 30 years, and has been in Asia for the past 15 years.  Didier on why a certain wine went well with the mooncake he just tasted. Didier plans to do a tasting of mooncakes with various Chinese teas next year. As for other mooncakes I have tasted, the Jacob's Creek Moscato would be a great pairing with Chef Choi's snow skin mooncake with white lotus paste. It's a smooth delicately-flavoured snow skin, with a creamy white lotus paste filling that's lightly sweet. The sparkling wine would also go well with the snow skin lotus paste with egg yolk from the Oriental Group of restaurants. No wine, however, is needed for the lai yow or custard mooncakes from Tsui Hang Village in Hong Kong that a friend brought for me. These small, deliciously eggy mooncakes just need a good Chinese tea. |
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