Styledby.me

Layers & layers of butter cream and cake!

Baumkuchen Production
Funny that these are Dutch, we will go back and get some there!

Tamago kake gohan
Scoop some rice into a small bowl, and dig a hole in the middle. Crack an egg into the hole. Add a dash of soy sauce. Mix everything together. Optional: Add furikake, pickles, sour plum, fried fish, cod roe.

Image via Gourmet.com

There's a 1 in 20,000 chance that an egg might contain salmonella, according to the American Egg Board. "The risk of getting a foodborne illness from eggs is very low, but the nutrients in eggs are also a good growth medium for bacteria," says Elisa Malobert, director of egg product marketing at the AEB. "To eliminate risk, we do not recommend the consumption of raw or lightly cooked eggs." It doesn't matter, she adds, whether you're eating organic and free range $8-a-dozen farm fresh eggs or super-processed $2 eggs. (Egg "grades" are determined by appearance and yolk-to-white ratio, not content quality.) Hens aren't affected by salmonella, so they can carry it and pass it onto egg yolk without anyone knowing. And if that doesn't happen, salmonella could enter through the shell after the bloom — the natural coating that protects the inside — is washed off after collection. Egg shells are super porous; there are anywhere from 7-17,000 pores on a single shell.

My brother got salmonella once from eating raw chicken at a high-end yakitori restaurant in Tokyo. I know, I know. Raw eggs are debatable, but nobody in their right minds eats raw chicken! This might imply that the Japanese are less concerned about food safety, but on the other hand, most restaurants there will never wrap up food to go precisely because food can go bad once it's no longer fresh and they don't want to be liable for that. If I can guess at any reason why the Japanese are more inclined to eat raw everything, it might be because the culture inherently appreciates and celebrates the purity of unprocessed, uncooked flavors. I don't have any numbers for the incidence of salmonella in Japanese eggs, but I'm assuming that, like American eggs, it's not that common.

Raw eggs are a great source of Vitamins B12 and D; they also have tons of protein. If you're willing to see past the USDA warning and try it, I highly recommend making tamago kake gohan — raw egg on rice — for breakfast.

Every installment of Taste Test will explore recipes, the science, and some history behind a specific food item.

Image via Gep's Flickr

Previously:

• Taste Test: natto, gooey fermented soy beans
• Taste Test: togarashi
• Taste Test: persimmon
• Taste Test: red kuri squash

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Last Suppers by James Reynolds | Trend.Land -> Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine

Fun with flakes

Cameron and I were talking about the problem of smashed cereal and it reminded me of one of my former duties as the assistant in the previously mentioned commercial photo studio.

One of our big clients was Kelloggs, for which we produced many, many cereal bowl shots.

As the lowest on the totem pole, it was my job to go through a CASE of cereal and pick out (with tweezers) only the absolute PERFECT flakes to be used by the food stylist. I'm not kidding, an entire case of cereal for about 50-60 perfect flakes.

The more "natural" shapes brands (like Special K) were easier, of course, but the real buggers were the specialty shaped cereals. Anyone ever try to find a perfect Crispix flake?

So the secret is out. Here's the Food Stylist's recipe for a perfect bowl of cereal:

1. Dump several boxes of cereal out onto flat baking sheets.
2. Using tweezers so one doesn't damage any pieces, root through finding the most perfectly shaped flakes (about 50-60)
3. Fill the prop bowl about 2/3 with Crisco, creating a dome at the top
4. Again using tweezers, embed the perfect flakes into the Crisco to create a pleasing arrangement and realistic volume of cereal
5. Fill in gaps and edges with Wild Root Hair Tonic to simulate milk.

Wild Root is a 50's era product that men used to slick back their hair. Elmer's Glue forms a skin under the lights and doesn't last long. When I was shooting, there was a only one place to get Wild Root, a chain drugstore. I'd get some odd looks when I'd go in and by several bottles at a time. We'd use Wild Root for the spoon shot, too. Use a dab of Crisco to hold the flakes in place and drip Wild Root on the spoon for the milk.

And Barbasol shaving cream holds up better than whipped cream for a photoshoot. Unless the whipped cream product is what is being advertised, that is. Then you have to use the real thing. I've drooled of many cherry and apple pies that looked gorgeous but had the faint odor of Menthol.

Kristian  Link