The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Grant Achatz’s cocktail bar reinvents ‘drinks on ice’

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 07:22 PM PDT

CHICAGO, Nov 1 — At Grant Achatz's upscale cocktail bar "The Aviary" in Chicago, there are up to 35 different types of ice.

Grant Achatz's cocktail bar The Aviary in Chicago uses up to 35 different types of ice cubes. — Pic courtesy of The Aviary/YouTube.

They come in all shapes, sizes and flavours and are meant to add to drinks, not dilute them.

There's also one designated "Ice Guy" whose sole job is to "freeze things" all day. He's the first to arrive at the bar, and often the last to leave.

These are just a few details divulged about one of the most avant-garde cocktail bars in the world in a YouTube video posted this week.

At The Aviary, cocktails are invented with the same kind of fastidious attention to detail, execution and creativity as the fare at Achatz's flagship Michelin-starred restaurant Alinea and Next, a pop-up concept now in its junior year.

Cocktails are finished off with flambéed orange peel, lit a-fire after squeezing the oils from the peel into an open flame.

A hollowed-out ice sphere is injected delicately with the point of a needle, which fills the orb with an amber mixture, remapping the conventional notion of a drink on ice.

"We look at every single cocktail as essentially a plate course," said "Aviary sous chef Micah Melton.

"[We're] cooks that just happen to be cooking with liquids instead of food."

Creating the best cocktail, meanwhile, starts with great ice. That means using only water filtered by reverse osmosis.

"We want you to smell your drink, we want you to interact with your drink, see it boiling and watch it steeping," Melton said. Meanwhile, industry publication Drinks International recently released their picks for the "World's 50 Best Bars", giving London's "The Artesian" at The Langham Hotel top nods, followed by New York's "PDT" and "Nightjar" also in London. — AFP/Relaxnews

Heston Blumenthal taps into his inner child for latest TV series

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 05:58 PM PDT

LONDON, Nov 1 — In his latest TV program, celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is given free license to unleash his fertile and childlike imagination by supersizing popular British candy bars or creating the world's largest pyramid tea bag in a show that allows the culinary maestro to play unapologetically with his food.

British chef Heston Blumenthal launches his new food show 'Heston's Fantastical Food' next week in the UK. — AFP pic

As its name suggests, "Heston's Fantastical Food" is a series that allows Blumenthal to indulge his every food-related whimsy and live out the fantasies of children and adults alike.

Along the way, for instance, the chef spearheads ambitious projects that include creating the world's largest 99 Flake ice cream cone, a concoction that included a three-meter-tall cone, a ton of ice cream, and a five-meter chocolate flake, reports the Telegraph.

Then there's the building of the world's largest pyramid tea bag, served in an equally large teapot, a project meant to bring back the ritual of the tea break in Britain's workplaces, Blumenthal told Radio Times.

The new show, which airs on Channel 4 in the UK next week, is one in a string of highly anticipated food shows set to hit the airwaves soon.

Reality cooking competition "The Taste" hosted by British cooking maven Nigella Lawson and popular food and travel host Anthony Bourdain is also set to air in the US on ABC.

"Heston's Fantastical Food" airs November 6 on Channel 4. — AFP/Relaxnews

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Rabu, 31 Oktober 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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