Ayala's Herbal Water

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Ayala's Herbal Water retails for $24.00 for a case of 12 bottles, 16 ounces each -- that's $2 per bottle. That kind of water is not cheap -- so, how good is it? Super Chef testers tried all six flavors and have a one-word summary: "clean." Ayala Laufer Cabana, a pediatrician and herbalist, created them. They have zero calories but plenty of powerful taste. The six flavors are: lemongrass + mint + vanilla, lavender + mint, mint + lavender, clove + cardamom + cinnamon, ginger + lemon peel, and lemon + verbena + geranium. They range from sweet (lemongrass + mint + vanilla) to decidedly unsweet (lavender + mint). Some work better than others. The mint + lavender and clove + cardamom + cinnamon have the most distinct, interesting tastes. The lemongrass + mint + vanilla is also distinct but somehow far sweeter than the others (and less refreshing). Lowest ranking (to our tongues) were the mildly sweet-tasting flavors of ginger + lemon peel and lemon + verbena + geranium. The outstanding flavor was lavender + mint. It was so clean to the palate, it seemed to transport the imbiber instantly to a spotless beauty spa, all in white... Now, that may not be what most people want when they take a swig from a two-dollar bottle of water, but fashionistas are likely to find Ayala's Herbal Water more enticing than rival, store-bought waters like... Aquafina? Think of these waters as an extension of the flavor profiles of dishes. Would you pair a clove + mint + vanilla water with a deconstructed rice pudding, or drink it hours later so that you can recall the taste? We incline to the latter. Super Chef sees real potential market share for this water. Previous articles: [Products & Endorsements - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews --> back to Super Chef

Lamees Ibrahim: The Iraqi Cookbook

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Lamees Ibrahim's The Iraqi Cookbook (Interlink 2009) is a serious book about Iraqi cuisine. It is large and handsome and clear, but it has a serious aim of bringing authentic Iraqi recipes to Iraqis who have grown up outside their country – generations who no longer can read Arabic cookbooks or who have not grown up learning to cook with their mothers and grandmothers.The book opens with a two page spread of a photograph of an Iraqi family at a meal. Lamees is cutting Stuffed Whole Lamb (p. 131), while the rest of the family is laughing and smiling. The photo underscores her aim, since she is serving a child. For the rest of us non-Iraqis, The Iraqi Cookbook opens up a rich world of Arab regional cuisine that will be somewhat familiar to those who know Turkish, Lebanese and Syrian food. Lamees' book will also help humanize and illuminate a culture and country that has been wrapped up in war, deprivation, and fanaticism. What better way to a nation's heart then through its taste buds? One of the most important dishes in Iraq, and most of the Arab world, is Kubba, which takes up a whole chapter in The Iraqi Cookbook: Kubba is a shell made mainly of either rice flour, boiled rice, mashed potato, or cracked wheat (burghul). It is then stuffed with ground meat and mixed with one or more of the following: chopped onion, chopped parsley, flaked almonds, pine nuts\ and spices. (p. 75) Lamees includes recipes for Kubbat Mosul (p.76) flat, thin sheets of stuffed kubba and Kubbat Halab (p. 90) a kind of football shaped kubba with a rice shell. There are also sauced versions like Kubba Labaniah (p. 93) stewed in a yogurt mint sauce, and Kubbat Hamidh (p. 94) stewed in a tomato sauce. The recipes include the name in Arabic as well as its transliteration in English and the English name. Throughout the book there are imaginative recipes using eggplant from Kubbat Bathhinjan (p. 86) in which the kubba is stacked on a fried eggplant slice like a burger bun, and topped with a slice of tomato. Eggplant Turnover (Maqloobat Bathinjan) (p. 164) is a marvelous turnover dish in which the rice is layer on top of meat, peppers and onions with eggplant at the bottom of the pot. After cooking, it is turned over for serving. Margat Bathinjan or Eggplant Stew (p. 199) is a mixture of lamb, tomatoes, eggplant and spices served over rice. There are chapters on Iraqi pickles, cakes and pastries, sweets, nuts, jams, and drinks. Each chapter starts with a short essay on ingredients, such as a review of the rice available in Iraq: During the 1980s political turbulence in Iraq had a devastating effect on the marshes and the rice farming in the south, at which point demand for long-grain rice multiplied. (p. 153) It is aromatic amber rice of the south that most Iraqis will be thinking about. It is too bad that there are no recipe head notes full of Lamees' more personal memories. Anyone fascinated by Middle Eastern food will enjoy The Iraqi Cookbook. It illuminates a proud and interesting people. Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews --> back to Super Chef

New York Magazine: Twenty Biggest Chef Empires

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Just what we needed in the middle of an economic downturn - another list of the biggest and richest chefs. The goal of New York Magazine's "The Twenty Biggest Chef Empires" is to answer the question: "Which chef has his hand in the most pots around the globe?" (Notice the gender bias: "his"?) While their list certainly beats the dwindling number of chefs on "Forbes' Celebrity 100" (last count down, to just two chefs), it is really more a convenient count of what these chefs own. It does not attempt to show net worth or wealth (or debt), like the Forbes list: it simply catalogs the accumulation of restaurants, TV shows, cookbooks, and "miscellaneous" such as flavor sprays (David Burke) or recipes for an online dating site (Todd English). Before the current "economic downturn," many Americans seemed to have started valuing gross assets over net like this -- but the rest of us seemed to have learned what net value really means when artificially high property values plummeted, eventually bringing down mighty Lehman Brothers and bringing on the worst economy since the Great Depression. Apparently, New York Magazine did not learn this lesson. Rather than even attempt to value their chefs' assets by current market value (after all, such valuation takes real research -- more than just counting up what you can find on the Internet), they valued according to their own arbitrarily self-created formula: 4 points = Restaurant 3 Points = Television 2 Points = Cookbooks 1 Point = Miscellaneous How do they justify this point system? "We consider operating restaurants to be more important to a chef's empire than his ancillary product deals." Really? Maybe New York Magazine should have asked the chefs about that! Are restaurants really of greater value to an empire-building celebrity chef then all other activities? The article doesn't say -- nor does it clarify what it means by "value": sheer monetary value or publicity power? As anyone in the food business knows, all restaurant deals are not created equal. Some are consulting contracts. Others are owned with partners. Still others are lease deals. Just having the largest number of restaurants can be very misleading. The varying nature of ownership deals means they will vary in the money they generate for the chef. Following their logic, who else could be their No. 1 chef but hello!-I'm-going-bankrupt Gordon Ramsay! To add to the insanity, article also states that too many restaurants can be detrimental -- in which case, why did they pick Gordon Ramsay...? And who on staff there thinks that cookbooks are valuable? Sure, everyone once in a blue moon, a chef (and/or co-author) cranks out a book that either sells well (Mario Batali's Molto Mario), looks beautiful (Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook), or services real cooking needs (Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef). Other than these, forget it: cookbooks do not add to the bottom line in most cases. At best, most cookbooks are marketing tools -- but of course the New York Magazine articles does not say whether it considers cookbooks in terms of dollars earned or marketing potential. Super Chef has some experience with lists and calculating wealth (see the book Super Chef and the Celebrity Chefs section of the Forbes annual Celebrity 100 issue, 1999-2001). We have seen too many chefs over-expand to become over-burdened by debt and commitment. In such cases, too many restaurants are often a big liability. Since marketing activities like consulting on products, or endorsing products do not require additional debt, chefs that focus on "miscellaneous" growth, as long as they have a few high-profile restaurants, will probably see a better bottom line. New York Magazine proves the point themselves with Emeril Lagasse. They give him 12 points for (3) restaurants, 3 points for (1) TV show, 14 points for (7) Cookbooks -- but 25 points for (25) Miscellaneous. That leads them to rank him as only No. 7 biggest chef. In contrast, they rank Joel Robuchon No. 4 on their list because he scores 19 with (?) Restaurants, 2 (with (0) TV Shows, 16 with (8) Cookbooks, and 1 with (1) Miscellaneous. If they value restaurants 4 points, how did they arrive at "19"? And how did they award "2" points when TV shows are worth 3 in their system -- and Robuchon has none? As for gender, the article makes no comment, although they list 19 male chefs and only one (1) female. (Lidia Bastianich). Were non-chefs food personalities like Rachael Ray and Paula Deen considered or not? We don't know: the magazine does not even define what they mean by "chef." In response to their closing line: "Who's the king of all chefs, and who's a merchandiser?" Super Chef replies, "We certainly don't know from you." Previous articles: 2009 Forbes Celebrity 100: 2 Chefs Forbes: Women Are Heating Up the Restaurant World Forbes Celebrity Chefs 2007: Food Network Heaven Forbes Tastemakers 2 Are British Super Chefs Richer Forbes Celebrity 100 Chefs 2006: Cute? Juliette Rossant: Forbes Tastemakers Celebrity Chefs from 2005 Forbes Celebrity Chef 100 Latest Forbes Celebrity Chef Column Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews --> back to Super Chef