February 2020 – Culinary Insights

Charging up your cold brew…or with enough nitro cold brew I can rule the world

Nitro cold brew is, pardon the pun, “hot” these days. Starbucks, among others, are making a mint on selling nitro cold brew on tap, with customers paying anywhere between $3.25 to $4.25 at Starbucks, and upwards of $5 at more “artisanal” outlets. Far from simply a fad, nitro cold brew coffee has fast become part…

Better than your childhood Easy-Bake

It took a world-class chef like Albert Adrià of famed El Bulli to dream up a microwave sponge cake that would forever change the way we look at “baking” in a microwave. His ingenious method of using an N2O-charged cream dispenser to aerate cake batter revolutionized the world of pastry and has spawned countless interpretations, making…

Whip-It! Good….and Skinny

What’s a caramel macchiato or hot chocolate…or any favorite cafe drink for that matter without a little (or a lot) of whipped cream topping? A slice of apple pie is just plain naked without a side of whipped cream. Let’s face it, sometimes trying to be “good” is no fun. But what if you can…

Nothing to trifle with…

If you’re a fan of the rom-com classic Love Actually, you’ll remember that pivotal scene where Kiera Knightly’s character Juliet shows up at Mark’s (Andrew Lincoln) front door with a slice of banoffee pie in hand, a ploy to gain entrance into his apartment to look at videos he took of her wedding day. Juliet’s…

Fearless Frying

Whip-It! contributing chef Gabriel Rucker of Portland’s famed Le Pigeon, Little Bird Bistro, and Canard loves using his Whip-It! brand stainless steel cream dispenser to make light as air crispy tempura batter. In fact, he says it’s one of his “favorite things to make with the dispenser.” Anyone who’s made tempura batter from scratch knows…

Creamy without the cream

The start of a new decade is a great incentive to push the restart button on your health and eating habits. Many of us make a resolution to do so on Jan. 1, but sticking to that resolution can be a tricky thing…especially when we’re bombarded by a plethora of Valentine’s Day treats a month later.

Cocktails for Two…Or More

Valentine’s Day for many couples means “date night”…and for those unattached to a significant other maybe a reason to get together with other single friends for some drinks, food and fun. Why not start off the evening with a cocktail (or mocktail) or two? Whether your taste leans towards an all-around drinkable, mixable vodka, an…