It’s the dawn of a new year

It’s the dawn of a new year, and with that comes more than just little-used fitness memberships and NFL playoffs. Each and every new year brings out the pundits. The predictors. The soothsayers. (Here’s a joke I just made up: Who does a soothsayer go to see when he has a sooth-ache? Answer: a Transcendentist.) 

And who are we to miss this train? Herein lies (in no particular order) our picks for this years biggest, baddest, and most trendy food trends.

• Healthier kid fare

Healthier kid food

As parents, and even kids, become more conscious of what they eat, more and more healthy choices aimed at the ten-and-under crowd will make their way to grocery shelves. We’re not saying it won’t still be frozen or convenience food, but don’t be surprised to see some healthier, more natural selections.

• Portion diets rather than elimination diets (i.e. Atkins, South Beach)

Portion diets

Remember when the Atkins diet was all the craze? Well people know now apparently what they didn’t know then. Eliminating entire food groups from a diet is simply not healthy, and can even be dangerous. While still avoiding generally unhealthy foods, like foods high in saturated fat or high fructose corn syrup, smart and healthy dieters are embracing things like carbohydrates and fats. But they are tailoring their diets by eating smaller portions.

• Traditional dishes with non-traditional ingredients (i.e. Shepherd’s Pie with pulled pork instead of ground beef)

turnip-gruyere gratin

We are becoming more creative and daring with our ingredients. Perhaps this is because of The Food Network, or maybe it’s due to a wider variety of fresh ingredients being more readily available. Regardless, today’s home chefs are more willing than ever to reinvent traditional recipes and to mess with tradition. And now that we think about it, it may have more to do with the desire to utilize the fresh ingredients home chefs have on hand.

• Mixed ethnic offerings (i.e. Asian tacos)

tacos

Korean BBQ tacos, anyone? Food fusion is not just for trendy restaurants anymore. Savvy home chefs are painting with broader strokes by combining disparate ethnic favorites into savory selections. 

• Smaller portions at meal-time, with more snacks throughout the day

mixed nuts

Many health and fitness experts are beginning to promote a diet where we eat carbohydrates and proteins every three hours, hungry or not, while forgoing traditional big meals. By doing so, the protein and fat (most proteins contains some fat) help keep the carbohydrates in the stomach longer, which increases gastric emptying time. We won’t get into all the gritty details here, but suffice to say that doing so helps burn your body’s fat stores, while helping you feel energized.

• Potatoes

potatoes

Plain old mashed potatoes are for the Cleavers (you remember June, Ward, Wally and the Beaver, right). Today’s home chefs are getting more and more creative with their potato companions. Prosciutto, brie, brown sugar, mustard, and artichoke bottoms are just some whacky (and by “whacky,” we mean “delicious”) suggestions. And when it comes to french fries, don’t be surprised to see some new twists in toppings, as well as enjoying them cooked in pure beef fat, pork fat, or duck fat. 

• Us! 

United States of Marczyk's

Perhaps an outgrowth of the push towards buying locally grown or produced foods, itself a trend from recent years, small, local markets are gaining favor, especially in urban areas where city dwellers (”localvores”) are paying more attention (pun intended) to whose pockets their dollars line. Locally owned small businesses actually have the leg up over the big box stores in this case. 

• Social cooking

Dinner for friends

Here’s how it works: Invite some friends over for dinner, and when they ask you what they can bring, give them a list of ingredients for one or two of the side dishes. Then when the cooking begins, get them involved. Today’s homes have larger, open floor plans that play to the fact that the kitchen is always where the party ends up anyway, so you may as well start it there, too.

There you have it. Think you can play this game, too? Have some trends of your own that you think will show up in the months to come? Please share them with us in the comments section. We love to hear from you!

Posted by Kyle Durlam, MFFII meat dept. and wordsmith.

My name is Erin, and I’m a chocoholic.

I have begged for and stolen chocolate, eaten entire bars of bitter-sweet and even gobbled up those pieces that fell on the ground when you weren’t looking. I am recovering.

The 10-Minute Mug Brownie is a quick and easy treat for one made using basic pantry ingredients, and the microwave. Yes, a microwave.

Unlike other cocoa powders that may leave a grainy texture in your treats, Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder refines their flakes to a size 50% smaller than other brands for a brownie that will melt in your mouth. And boy, is it smooth.

1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Tbsp milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt

1. In a microwave-safe mug, soften butter for approximately 15 seconds.
2. Add sugar, flour, Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, milk, vanilla and salt, and stir together.
3. Mix in any other treats you may fancy (I like walnuts and chocolate chips).
4. Microwave for one minute. The top of the brownie should look solid but glossy. If it doesn’t, microwave at 10-second intervals until it does.
5. LET YOUR BROWNIE COOL FOR A MINUTE. Failure to follow this step will result in mushy brownie and burned mouth.
6. Top with your favorite Sweet Action Ice Cream (I like Crunchy Peanut Butter and Salted Caramel… they’re all delicious), milk, or whipped cream. Or don’t. It’s still good.
7. Eat it!

MCA Buffalo Dinner

In November, Marczyk Fine Foods was part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Beast Roast.

First, Jimmy demonstrated how to break down 1/2 a buffalo (with color commentary by Pete Marczyk) to an enthralled audience.

Then Denver’s top chefs took their part of the beast and cooked in up for the next night’s feast. Solera, Barolo, Elways, TAG, El Diablo, Marczyk’s, and Lola all made killer food! If you missed it this year, there’s always next year!

Time Magazine Gets Real about food

“Niman Ranch raises its livestock traditionally, humanely and sustainably to deliver the finest tasting meat in the world.”
This week’s Time Magazine cover story, Getting Real about the High Price of Cheap Food, is an eye opener about the industry we know and love. We have been plugging Niman Ranch for 7 years, and have been happy to explain over and over what makes them different and why it matters. (To be honest, we have felt like the slightly crazy guy standing on the box on the corner, yelling and waving his arms as people hurry by.) We watched the company grow and go through painful but necessary changes to be what it is today. So it was with great pleasure to see the only meat company mentioned as a viable alternative to commodity pork and beef is, drum roll please, Niman Ranch! (In Time freaking Magazine no less!) Congratulations to them!

Easy Recipes and Big Ass Cookware

Westword Newspaper has added a recipe section to their Cafe Society Blog, and we’re the recipe writers! Join Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane every week for an easy-to-follow recipe slideshow/video. Bacon candy, corn chowder, fried chicken, and what to do with all that zucchini.

The Land of the Free?

In the U.S. 500,000 people die from smoking each year, 250,000 die from alcohol related causes; the FDA estimates 1 person every 9 years dies from raw milk related causes.  Soft raw-milk cheese is illegal.  Is this really the land of the free?