British Street Food Awards 2010

The Food Blogosphere

richardj — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:09:58 +0000

It was thanks to Twitter that I first stumbled across Yianni and his Meatwagon. Everyone was tweeting about his sublime cheeseburgers and — as I found out one Peckham lunchtime — they were absolutely right. It got me thinking about the power of social media. And how the restaurant critics just don’t have the power they once did.

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Check out the interview I did for the wonderful Food Programe on BBC Radio 4. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00shfqt/Food_Programme_Food_Critics/

richardj — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:34:22 +0000

I grew up on leftovers – the original meal was never found. So, when I became an adult, I vowed my life would be different. That meant no more bubble and squeak. But it all changed the day I met Dr William Rathje, the world’s leading ‘garbologist’. He had been trawling through kitchen garbage for 30 years, analysing what we throw away – however bad it smells. He took one look at the amount of food I was throwing away, and told me straight – I should be ashamed of myself.

The fact is that one third of the food we buy in this country ends up in the bin. That includes old tea bags and dirty vegetable peelings – but 15% of it includes perfectly edible food. So I worked out the sums. I was chucking away £30 every time I did a supermarket shop. That was £120 a month, or £1,440 a year – a lot of money. It’s also a lot of food: as a nation, we throw away 6.7m tons per year. Talk about a throwaway society.

As a food writer, I was forever binning the dishes that PRs sent me – unusual stir-fry sauces with goji berries, for instance. And anything involving beetroot. I didn’t see the problem. When I met the amazing team at A Taste of Freedom, I started to see the error of my ways. They intercept fresh yet unwanted fruit before it goes to waste, and transform it into healthy delectable treats. I’m beyond excited to have them as my latest finalist in September……..

No More Heroes Any More?

richardj — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:57:59 +0000

Are you kidding? No more heroes? We have spent months now, meeting, greeting and eating the best of British street food. And there are some real superheroes out there. Men and women doing great things in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp. Now there’s a superpower. For a bit of fun, here are three particular heroes of mine.

One To Watch

richardj — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:59:26 +0000

In troubled times, a juicy, two-fisted hamburger provides comfort. It isn’t a trend – it’s a classic. And it’s a classic for a reason. So don’t monkey about with it. The meat shouldn’t be lean — you’ll end up with a burger that’s mealy and dry. And make sure to get your meat-to-bun ratio right. For those of you new to the burger game, it’s 1:1. Of course, the Americans reckon they invented the meat sandwich. And they treat it like their own. Which is why some godforsaken place in Pennsylvania came up with ‘the 96er’. It weighs in at nine pounds. You can actually get this meat monster for $23.95, but be warned — the price does not include defibrillation. For an altogether more refined experience, try the £5 cheeseburger from Yianni (below). If you can find him. No word of a lie – he’s tucked away on an East Dulwich industrial estate, and even the most highly-trained of noses would struggle to find his hotplate. Thank goodness for twitter. In the queue for the Meatwagon were writers from two food blogs –A Hamburger Today and Will Eat For Money (a gent called Ibrahim Salha, who took the photos) – who were grilling Yianni about his 28-day aged chuck and the diary content of a cheese which, I have to say, looked dangerously like a Kraft Single. Before I ate Yianni’s burger, my favourite was cooked up by Richard Corrigan. It was made from rump steak (known for its flavour more than tenderness), bone marrow, sauteed white onion and marjoram. And I seem to remember he served it on a brioche. No wonder it won him a Michelin star. Corrigan was very particular about mincing the steak himself – he used a knife, and a mezzaluna to mince it finer. He didn’t add an egg or breadcrumbs. It was perfection. But, with Yianni’s burger, I found something that bettered perfection. Certainly one to watch in the Best Sandwich category at this year’s British Street Food Awards.

The Most Beautiful Food Festival In The World

richardj — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:48:51 +0000

Aiken Drum was an odd-bod. What with his hat of cream cheese, and his coat of roast beef, he had what can only be described as the world’s first eating disorder. If I remember the rhyme correctly, Drum (who played upon a ladle, a ladle) had friends who got to eat his clothing. How I wanted to be a friend of Aiken’s. As a young boy I dreamt that we would run away together, and live in a town where the rivers were fat with milk and the hills were moulded from grated cheese.

Well, I’ve found the town. Finally. And it’s not the horizon of my imaginings – it’s on the A49. It’s Ludlow, the foodie capital of England. With a population of only 8,000, this pretty Norman town still manages to support three private bakers. Every Wednesday, a van drives up from the Perigord, packed with truffles and foie gras. And the fishermen arrive with their catches from Cornwall. It’s the sort of place that Aiken could truly kick back, and be himself. And wear his coat of roast beef in peace.

Ludlow also boasts five private butchers, including Chris Carter’s (well, the man is a respected member of the Institute of Meat) and Reg Martin’s. Both use natural lamb gut for their sausages, so there’s no pellet of indigestible plastic at the end of every mouthful. It’s where I had my sausages made up when I wed a Shropshire lass in Ludlow all those years ago. I love the place. And I couldn’t think of a better place for the first British Street Food Awards.

Eat The Lot

richardj — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:59:46 +0000

Tailgating (which is food and drink, served from the tailgate of a car or truck) is an American institution, and every Saturday in the football season you’ll find the haze of portable grill smoke – and the delicious aroma of barbecued foods – over parking lots up and down the USA. It has been called the last great American neighbourhood: where no one locks their door, everyone is happy to see you and all fans come together to share fun, food and football. There is a bit of rivarly with the opposition, but no real violence ever broke out over marinades and rubs. I saw some of the best in the business when I went to Miami earlier this month to watch the Superbowl. I had a blast with an RV full of Miami Saints fans. And a bucket full of beer. Have a listen to my adventure on Radio 4’s Food Programme (use the listen again facility if you miss it live). I found that the finger food worked best, but Charlie’s gumbo and dirty rice were a revelation. Who dat?

Uh, Like, Wow

richardj — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:47:31 +0000

I always associate mushrooms with autumn – when the ground is deep with leaves, and the air is filled with the smell of bonfires. It’s the best time – just before nature descends into its Winter sleep. But the farmed varieties are available all year round. Which is just as well for the wonderful Sporeboys team on Broadway Market.

I love their mushroom sandwiches. But then mushrooms on toast would probably be my last meal on earth, so I’m a bit biased. Or, if it was my last meal, maybe I would plump for two mushrooms, vast and baked, with their juices spooned over a thick round of sourdough toast. There’s something primal about the deep, farmyard savour. They are natural fast food. Just brush them gently – never wash – trim off their woody stem-ends and fry them quickly in butter and garlic. But Sporeboys don’t need my advice. The are doing everything just perfectly…….

richardj — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:59:08 +0000

It was army scientists who first brought us dried egg, freeze-dried coffee and processed cheese. Well, they’ve gone and done it again. With everlasting bread. By lowering its acidity, and by chemically bonding its molecules to water, they have created a loaf (sic) that will stay fresh for up to three years at 26 °C. Our lives will never be the same again. But – thank God – some places are carrying on regardless, like everlasting bread never got invented. And a lot of them are on the streets. Sandwiches are the perfect street food — and a study in creativity, because (and I apologise for sounding like the Sandwich Information Bureau here) there’s no limit to what you can stick between two slices of bread. In Nice, they make the Pan Bagnat; in Paris the croque monsieur; and in New Orleans the Muffaletta and the po-boy. I’ve read about Bedouin tribesmen who make bread from flour, water and salt, which they mix together in an old baby milk tin. They then bake it into a thin pancake, on a car hub-cap straddling the fire, and serve it with meat and rice. My favourite sandwich (this week, anyway) is the Banh Mi. Here it’s made with BBQ pork, by the team from BanhMi11 sandwich from Broadway Market in London. Libby Andrews, a colleague who knows, really rated it. So, for now, let’s call it my ‘Wich Of The Week.

Sunday Times Magazine Gets Street

richardj — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:50:37 +0000

I will always remember Marco Pierre White in the lobby of the Soho Grand, signing for breakfast. He put it on Room 320 – the only problem was that he was in Room 322. He was the worse for wear after a night on the sambuca – ‘the house cocktail’, as he called it. The aniseed spirit was lit, extinguished (with the palm of the hand) and shot – in one. Sure, it was against New York fire regulations, and everything that was good and decent. But it was very Marco Pierre White. And the burns from last night didn’t appear to be bothering him…

White was in Manhattan promoting The Devil In The Kitchen – the American edition of his autobiography. His publicists at Bloomsbury were selling him as the original rock-star chef. The one who made Gordon Ramsay cry – who would string up his kitchen juniors by their aprons before dumping them in the dustbin. He was off to do a live cooking demo on The Martha Stewart Show. If he could keep his breakfast down long enough.

Last night it went wrong. It went wrong when White suggested ‘the house cocktail’. The heat of the shot glass threw one member of the drinking party into a blind panic, and she smashed her hand down onto the table. There was flaming sambuca everywhere. White got burnt, and had to ram his hand into a bucket of ice water, and bandage it up in a table napkin, before somebody – nobody quite remembers who – rolled him into a cab.

But somehow he still managed to look handsome – despite a grey demeanour and a tangle of greasy hair. He hadn’t spent any time at the mirror, but it wouldn’t have hurt – The Martha Stewart Show is, after all, the American standard for gracious domestic living. White’s turbot with citrus and cilantro was due to sit alongside a leaf-covered candleholder how-to, and a tip on using old navigational charts as gift wrap. It was the start of one hell of an adventure……

Marco (alongside the equally brilliant and magnificent Mark Hix, Antony Worrall Thompson and Thomasina Miers) will be judging the British Street Food Awards. And by the look of this Marco Pierre White LIDO feature in the Sunday Times magazine, he’s quite excited about it……

The Word Is On The Street

richardj — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:30:45 +0000

2009 was truly memorable – for many reasons. It was the year I discovered that 1) all Mexican food is the same – it’s just folded in different ways – and 2) ‘naked sushi’ really does exist. I saw it with my own eyes in a Japanese bar in New York. It’s only a matter of time before naked women, covered in cling film, come to a town near you and try and pass themselves off as serving platters for raw fish. Careful with your chopsticks.

Because of the success of grazing foods like sushi, dim sum and tapas, we’ll see more and more chefs learning to be more flexible with their menus. I’ve always had my suspicions that the starter-main-course-dessert structure is actually as much of a bore for the chef as it is for the diner. The only problem with grazing menus that offer lots of small courses is that – whether you like it or not – you’ll be on first name terms with your waiter before you leave the restaurant.

Menus in 2010 will continue to tell us more about the origins of our food. ‘Transparency’ is the buzzword because, these days, we all want to know the farm where our food comes from. We even want to know the name of the farmer. I’m amazed by the number of waiters who have no idea. Admittedly, most of them don’t even know what the soup of the day is, but it seems ridiculous in this day and age that waiters – and even chefs – are working in ignorance.

But the only trend that all critics seem to agree on is the importance of street food in 2010. I read about it first in the wonderful Olive magazine (where I used to be a restaurant reviewer). And now the Guardian are behind the Awards. According to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/31/the-year-ahead-food, we are up there with the London opening of Heston Blumenthal’s new London restaurant. I fully intend to make the most of being a What’s Hot, before I’m a What’s Not. But, in the meantime, here are my thoughts on the foodie year ahead……

Last year
Salt

This year
Pepper. I kid you not. This trend is in response to the fact that many processed foods are high in sodium, and companies are trying to replace the savouriness of salt with pepper. Without salt life would be impossible. Without pepper, it would be impossibly dull.

Last year’s superfood
Pomegranate

This year’s superfood
Spelt – one of the most ancient cereals known to mankind. It fell from grace because the chaff was so difficult to remove, but now it’s back. It is wheat free and has a Glycaemix Index of just 30, making it a natural choice for those with a wheat allergy and on a low-GI diet. And, let’s be honest, isn’t that pretty much everyone these days?

Last year
Dessert to end a meal.

This year
Savouries to end a meal. The Ivy recommend their savouries to diners who are still lingering over a bottle of red which would be spoiled by a pudding. Just don’t show yourself up by ordering one (whether it’s the welsh rarebit or the herring roe) as a starter. So nouveau!