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Spain Introduces the World to Light Wine

partysugar — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:01:18 -0800

While many winemakers are worried about the increasing levels of alcohol in wine, one winery, The Bodega Casa de la Ermita, is actually doing something to stop it. The Spanish winery has just released the world's first ever "light wine." In this case, light means less alcohol — just six and a half percent — and lower alcohol levels means fewer calories.

The red wine will hit Spanish markets in April and is set to debut soon after in the rest of Europe. An article in the Daily Mail explains how the lower alcohol content is obtained:

The vineyard achieves the low alcohol content by reducing the amount of water the vines are given, which lowers the amount of sugar produced by the grapes. During the fermentation process, the temperature is raised and lowered rapidly by up to 15C, which makes the yeast less efficient and ensures that some of the sugar fails to turn into alcohol.

I love the idea of a light wine and hope to taste it on my next visit to Spain. Until then, I'll just have to wonder if the flavor is compromised.

What do you guys think? Are you interested in drinking light wine?

Yucky Link: Women Can't Cook?

partysugar — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:27:33 -0800

In what seems to be an appalling piece of journalism, a British writer declares that, generally speaking, women cannot cook. I don't know about you, but reading this makes me want to grab my knives and give this man a piece of my mind. What do you think?— Daily Mail

Are Recipes By Female Chefs More Complicated Than Those By Male Chefs?

YumSugar — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:03:38 -0700

The UK Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills recently completed a study that looked at 35 recipes published by five UK celebrity chefs — Jamie Oliver, Delia Smith, Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Nigel Slater. It turns out that while these folks make cooking look simple, their recipes can be difficult to follow. Actually, of the five chefs, only the recipes from the two women chefs were considered overly complicated.

While Gordon Ramsay's recipes were considered "so simple they can be followed by a seven-year-old," Nigella and Delia's were deemed too "chatty."

"[The study] found that 5.2million adults in the UK would be unable to follow Nigella's cooking methods as she uses longer sentences and tends to write in a "chatty" style, mixing in personal observations with her instructions.

"Delia Smith's culinary teaching was also criticised for having too many stages and using measurements confusing for anyone with poor numeracy skills.
"She also sprinkles too many adjectives into her recipes."

The study was intended to highlight the UK Government's adult learning campaign, but actually turned up the fact that the high profile male chefs deliver easier, simpler recipes than their female counterparts.

What do you guys think? Are you familiar with their recipes, do you agree? Also, if the study was conducted on US chefs, do you think the same would be said? Do you think Bobby Flay's recipes would be easier to follow than Giada De Laurentiis's?

Source: Daily Mail
Image Source

Gordan Ramsay Goes a Hunting

YumSugar — Mon, 07 May 2007 03:00:19 -0700

Lately I've been trying to be more aware of my food chain. In fact, one of my goals for 2007 is to catch, kill and gut my own fish - Jimmy thinks I'm crazy, but I really want to do it. I think it would be a good reminder of the whole circle food chain thing. Also, fish are slimy and blech, but I'd probably have an easier time with a fish than I would, oh say a deer (mmm... venison).

Gordon Ramsay on the other hand, apparently doesn't have a hard time at all. In an upcoming episode of his show, The F Word (BBC America carries it, but is behind a season), Ramsay proves why he is the man most British men admire by hunting a deer. The episode hasn't aired yet, so I don't know if he actually succeeded, but I do know that someone did because later he carries the deer carcass through his restaurant. I guess the special that night was venison?

Source: Chow
The Daily Mail