Looking for info on food? – The Wickedfood blog looks to be taking off very well with lots of questions coming in, if you have any questions that have been bugging you, or a dish that you just can’t get right or even a certain recipe that you are looking for but just can’t seem to find, then give us a shout and we will do our best to answer it as soon as possible. Click here for more information, hope to hear from you soon.

Cookbook of the week – Donna Hay instant Entertaining – Following the worldwide success of her last book, ‘The Instant Cook,’ Donna Hay brings a new collection of fresh and easy-to-follow recipes and clever styling ideas for entertaining family and friends. Click here to read more.

Our food article of the week: – Rendering fat – Did you know lard was the traditional fat used in China and Japan and in Mexico and throughout Central and South America? Mmm… won tons, egg rolls, fried rice, tempura, refried beans, tamales. There are so many delicious things to make with lard and tallow.
McDonald’s actually used beef tallow for their French fries up until 1983, when they finally succumbed to soybean oil. Tallow (horse and beef) is the traditional fat used for French fries in France.
Foods made with these fats are not only yummy, they’re also very healthy.
The idea of rendering lard or tallow at home may sound intimidating, but trust me, rendering fat is the easiest thing in the world. And once you’ve tasted pastry made with lard or French fries cooked in tallow, you’ll be hooked. Click here to read more…its very interesting

Our favourite ingredient: -Thick flank - While at Braeside Meat Market we much information on the right cuts of beef and their versatility and how to use secondary cuts, thick flank is one of these cuts, Click here to view a recipe on how to use it in a mouthwatering steak tartare.

Food quote of the week: – “My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.”
Orson Welles

Food tip of the week: – Colouring pasta – When making fresh pasta there are many different methods of colouring it. The most common colours being yellow, red, green and black. Click here to read more.

Recipe of the week – Smoked salmon and horseradish cream tartlet

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs Johannesburg cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Cooking lessons are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Looking for info on food? – The Wickedfood blog looks to be taking off very well with lots of questions coming in, if you have any questions that have been bugging you or a dish that you just can’t get right or even a certain recipe that you are looking for but just can’t seem to find, then give us a shout and we will do our best to answer it as soon as possible.  Click here for more information, hope to hear from you.

Cookbook of the week – Creole is a vibrant celebration of this unique and much-loved style of cooking. The heritage of French, Spanish and African settlers, Creole cookery takes the best of these cuisines and combines them with Asian and Indian influences and native West Indian ingredients to produce a style of cooking that is rich in history and full of flavour. Click here to read more

Our food article of the week: – Although Basil is cultivated worldwide, Egypt is the principal source followed by the United States.Basil is Greek for ‘royal’ or ‘kingly’. Ancient Greek and Roman doctors believed that basil would grow only if its cultivators sowed the seeds while screaming wild curses and shouting unintelligibly. The Greeks believed that only the sovereign himself, armed with his golden sickle, should be allowed to cut the basil. The ancients had many superstitions connected with Basil, one of which was that it had the power of propagating scorpions. It was generally believed that a basil leaf left under a pot would in time turn into a scorpion. Superstition went so far as to affirm that even smelling the plant might bring a scorpion in the brain. It was believed that Salome hid John the Baptist’s head in a pot of basil to cover up the odor of decomposition. Bocaccio tells the morbid story of love and composting about a woman whose tears water a pot of basil in which she has buried the head of her murdered lover.  Keats 1820 poem “Isabella or the Pot of Basil” revisits this theme. In Italy, basil has always been a token of love. In Romania, when a boy accepts a sprig of basil from his girl, he is engaged. In India the Basil plant is sacred to both Krishna and Vishnu, and is cherished in every Hindu house. Every good Hindu goes to his rest with a Basil leaf on his breast. This is his passport to Paradise.

Our favourite ingredient: Tamarind the fruit pulp is edible and popular. The hard green pulp of a young fruit is very sour and acidic, so much it cannot be consumed directly, but is often used as a component of savory dishes. The ripened fruit is edible, as it becomes less sour and somewhat sweeter, but still very acidic. It is used in desserts as a jam, blended into juices or sweetened drinks, or as a snack. It is also consumed as a natural laxative. Click here to read more.

Food quote of the week: -A three-year-old gave this reaction to her Christmas dinner:  “I don’t like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate.”  ~Author Unknown

Food tip of the week: – When making fresh pasta instead of resting on flour replace with semlina as this well prevent the pasta from sticking and once added to the boiling water it will fall to the bottom of the pot instead of clinging to the pasta and making it to “soggy”.

Recipe of the week – Banana tarte tatin

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Looking for info on food? – If you are looking for an answer to a food topic that has puzzled you – ask our online chef for assistance on any food-related topic, including recipes. Our two resident chefs will strive to get an answer back to you as soon as possible -  Click here for more information, hope to hear from you.

Cookbook of the week – Appetite -  With his unique blend of simplicity, wit and relish Nigel Slater shows us how to break the rules, experiment with recipes and satisfy our appetites. There are brilliant templates for a large range of classic dishes and hundreds of ideas for how you might adapt each dish to produce something quite different. A celebration of uncomplicated cooking, good ingredients and the joys of eating, this is Slater’s most exciting book yet”. Click here to read more.

Our food article of the week – Is organic produce no better for you than conventionally grown foods? That’s what a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests. Researchers looked at 50 years of data from a variety of sources to come to this conclusion, saying that they found no significant differences in most nutrients, including vitamin C, calcium, and iron. Personally, this won’t stop me from cooking with mainly organic produce. For one thing, more and better studies are needed. Not to mention that I’d rather not eat food that’s grown in depleted, chemically-enhanced soil and drenched in pesticides. The health of the planet seems like something worth considering, too.-Victoria von Biel-Saveur

Our favourite ingredient - Cocoa butter – is the natural fat extracted from the cacao bean. Also known as oil of theobroma, cocoa butter is slightly yellowish in colour, and while it is extracted from chocolate, it has a bland taste and only a faint chocolate smell. It is edible and is used in making white chocolate and certain confections, but has many uses beyond the kitchen.The most desirable quality of cocoa butter is its stability as a fat containing natural antioxidants that also preserve it well. Click here to read more

Food quote of the week: – Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis

Food tip of the week: – Tamarind pulp -  has more sugar and fruit acid per volume than any other fruit. It is also an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce

Recipe of the week – Crème caramels

The Wickedfood Team

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.