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Many tea lovers agree that a cup of tea can be the perfect drink accompaniment for almost any food item. Whether sweet, savory, or anything in between, tea goes well with many dishes, fruits, snacks, or desserts. Aside from its versatile flavor, oolong can also cleanse the palate with each sip, allowing the diner to savor the taste of the meal with more clarity. Ultimately, freshly brewed tea offers warmth, ideal for cold days or relaxing the body after a long day.
Oolong tea is one popular variant characterized by its smooth and rich flavor that's more complex than other types. Besides its light and dark variants, oolong has the desirable traits of black and green tea, making it an instant crowd favorite. Moreover, this tea boasts many health benefits that aid in weight management, relieve stress, and enhance cognitive functions.
Where to Buy Oolong Tea
You can easily purchase your oolong online, from a wide range of retailers. If you're in the UK, then you can buy oolong tea at rareteacompany.com, where they have a variety of options including some very rare varieties of loose leaf tea.
Oolong Tea from Rareteacompany.com
Flavor-wise, oolong can be paired with light snacks, sweets, and savory food items such as curries and meat dishes. Aside from these, here are some more food pairing ideas with a delicious cup of oolong tea.
Fruits
Are you looking for a refreshing snack to serve your guests for a fun, relaxing afternoon? Then, you can consider serving oolong tea with a platter of cut-up fresh fruits such as:
Cherries
Berry varieties such as strawberries, blueberries, and others
Citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, and lemons
Apples
Plums
Mangoes
Peaches
Apricots
Pineapple
Pears
For the perfect pairing, you'll need to use a lighter variant of oolong or something with a fruity hint to achieve better flavor balance. You can also use mint oolong tea for a pleasant, cooling effect.
Charcuterie Cheese Board
Do you want to host a unique afternoon tea party? Then, you can serve your guests a charcuterie cheese board filled with nuts, cold cuts, crackers, olives, and cheese variants. This pairing would make an enjoyable light meal while chatting with guests in a casual gathering. Moreover, you can play with different flavors and textures to make it an exciting dining experience for your guests.
The variety of items you can include on your cheese board depends on your liking, though the selection of cheese should be able to match the flavor profile of your oolong tea to achieve a pleasant balance. For instance, if you have oolong teas with fruity or floral notes, you can serve them with hard-pressed uncooked cheese such as:
Edam
Gouda
Reblochon
Monterey Jack
Cantal
Cheddar
To add variation to the flavor profile of your cheeseboard, add sweet and savory sauces and dips, as well as a pot of honey. However, if you're serving your tea hot, it may be advisable to avoid spicy foods because the cooling effect required to tone down the spiciness is insufficient.
Savory Dishes And Snacks
Many tea lovers would enjoy a glass of ice-cold oolong tea served with their favorite savory dishes. You can pair this versatile drink with food items such as:
Soups
Chips
Salads
Fried, stewed, roasted, or curried meat dishes
Vegetable dishes
Pasta varieties
Meat or vegetable-based wraps such as tacos and burritos
Cold cuts
Iced oolong tea is perfect for serving savory dishes heavy with oil, cream, or spices because of its naturally tart and refreshing taste, which can help cut intense flavors and cleanse the palate. Moreover, you can explore fruit and floral oolong varieties if you want to boost the fragrance and taste of your iced tea.
Sandwiches
Sandwiches can be served with either hot or cold beverages, and oolong tea also makes an excellent pairing. Moreover, there are various ways to serve oolong tea with sandwiches. For instance, you can serve finger sandwiches with a pot of freshly brewed tea, sugar, and cream for afternoon tea. Meanwhile, you can also serve iced oolong tea with a squeeze of citrus, or a few mint leaves for a cooling drink with a clubhouse sandwich or burger and fries.
Pastries
Pastries are some of the most popular food items paired with different types of tea. They can be either sweet or savory and can have a variety of flavor profiles. Examples of pastries that go well with oolong tea include:
Pies
Quiche
Croissants
Bread-based appetizers such as canapes, crostini, and bruschetta
Pretzels
Macarons
Biscuits
Cookies
Tarts
Scones
Donuts
Oolong tea has a flexible flavor that's easy to match with any pastry of your choosing. The trick is to find the best variant for your food item. For instance, dark oolong tea has a depth of flavor suited for creamy and savory pies, croissants, or appetizers. Meanwhile, light and tart oolong teas would go well with mild-flavored pastries such as biscuits, scones, or cookies.
Desserts
Oolong tea can also be the perfect drink for those with a sweet tooth. This type of tea is ideal for pairing with various desserts, such as:
Cakes
Teacakes
Gelatin-based sweets such as panna cotta
Spiced or sweetened fruit desserts such as cobblers or poached pears, apricots, and nectarines
Meringue
Pavlova
Custard
As with other food types, selecting the correct oolong tea is essential to match your dessert. Moreover, you can also add more flavors to your tea to match your food. For instance, if you're serving fruit poached in liquor, you can add a hint of the same liquor in your tea to make the flavors complement each other.
Conclusion
When choosing the best food item to go well with your oolong tea, you'll need to consider the weather, temperature, time of day, and what would suit the occasion. Moreover, you'll also need to factor in the flavor profile of your tea and the food item you'll serve. If you're serving a fruity version of light oolong tea, you'll need to select an accompanying dish, snack, or dessert that would go well with the tart or citrusy profile. Meanwhile, deep-flavored black oolong tea would be the perfect drink to match a heavy sauce-based dish or a chocolate dessert.
Many aspiring chefs work hard to prepare not just mouth-watering but Michelin-star-worthy dishes. They flex their culinary flair by experimenting in the kitchen, and one way they do so is to incorporate exotic ingredients into their signature dishes. When chefs get their hands on them, they want to make them last longer so they can practice with the ingredient and perfect their dishes.
One example is saffron, which still holds the title of the world's most expensive exotic ingredient at USD$20 for two grams. The reason it is extremely expensive is its rarity and the labour it takes to harvest and process them. Other rare exotic ingredients chefs love to use are Japan's Wagyu beef and Yubari king melons, Spain's Jamon Iberico de Bellota, and Indonesia's Kopi Luwak.
These ingredients are exceptionally delicate and require specific storage instructions to make them last. To give you a better idea of how to ensure your exotic ingredients remain fresh, check this list:
1. Freeze Them
Most culinary ingredients are okay to be stored at room temperature, but some would need a refrigerator or a freezer. Exotic fruits like durian, mangosteen, passion fruit, dragon fruit, lychees, and jack fruit are great to eat on their own but are also great ingredients for dishes, especially baked goods like pastries and cakes. The way to make them last is by freezing them.
You may carefully slice them into pieces, place them in a clean container, and freeze them. This way, anytime you crave a passion fruit cake, you can take it out of the freezer and thaw it for your recipe.
If you plan to include exotic ingredients in your restaurant menu, ensure you get reliable and commercially viable refrigeration solutions, like the ones from https://interfridge.co.nz/.
2. Soak Them In the Best Oil
Exotic ingredients like black garlic and truffles are becoming increasingly popular because they can turn ordinary dishes into sophisticated ones.
Black garlic, for example, became ridiculously popular after being showcased on the famous culinary shows Iron Chef of America and Master Chef. Mainly used in Asian cooking, the world got exposed to black garlic's pleasantly unusual flavour that is reminiscent of caramel and tamarind. It became an incredible addition to pasta sauces, salad dressings, pizza, and roasts.
Truffles, meanwhile, are fungi that can be found under the roots of trees in the wild forests of Italy. They are costly and not available all year round. Truffles have a unique aroma that pairs well with pasta or any dish you want to put it in.
To prolong the life of both the black garlic and truffles, you may soak them in excellent quality extra virgin olive oil. This way, once the flavours of both ingredients got infused in the oil, you may use the oil to flavour dishes like salads, dressings, and sauces.
3. Store In A Dark, Dry Place
Your kitchen must have a designated spice cabinet. Most exotic spices, like saffron, achiote paste, curry powder, and dried herbs, need a cool, dark, dry storage place. This way, they will not lose their aroma and flavour to the sun's heat. Most modern kitchens have a pull-out cabinet for spices, and if you plan to have a restaurant soon, a big pantry with a dedicated spice cabinet is a must.
Going back to our previous example—black garlic can also be stored in a dark, dry place, away from moisture, like in a dark pantry cabinet. Truffles should be rolled in a paper towel and placed inside an opened resealable bag inside the darkest part of the refrigerator. The bag should remain unsealed so the truffles can breathe, and the paper towels should be replaced with new ones when you see moisture seeping from the truffles.
4. Refrigerate Them
Many expensive exotic ingredients can't be frozen and would only need to be chilled at all times to hold their form and preserve their taste. Such is the case of caviar, another costly ingredient that would seal your fate as a five-star chef. Freezing caviar is a no-no since it would damage the texture and appearance of the delectable fish eggs.
Once opened, caviar should be consumed right away. That is why many culinary experts transfer the caviar to smaller containers, refrigerate them, and only take what they need from the refrigerator. This is also why you see tiny caviar bottles soaked in a bowl of ice on the buffet table in elegant banquets.
Conclusion
Expensive exotic ingredients can be a part of your culinary repertoire to elevate your skills and make you an outstanding and fearless master of the kitchen. Your ability to whip up elegantly lovely creations that don't just look pretty but also taste exquisite can help you earn a name in the cutthroat culinary world.
Coffee tastes good on its own, but when paired with food, it becomes more than just a pick-me-up beverage. Great coffee and food pairing can bring out the best aspects in each other, like a duet of a soprano and an alto that blends seamlessly and can transform each other from merely good to something sublime.
Coffee with food is a partnership that has always gone on since the first cup of coffee was brewed. Today, coffee and food aren’t just about breakfast. As people’s tastes and preferences evolve and become more discriminating, the morning beverage is no longer just a hot drink to wash down your doughnuts or other confectionaries. With its aroma, different flavours, body, and ability to wake people up, coffee remains a part of many people’s daily sustenance. (1)
Know what makes a good coffee
Knowing a few basic principles can help you discover the combo that would make your regular cup of coffee into something extraordinary. First, identifying your favourite beans’ dominant flavour is a good idea. Like pairing wine with food, finding a great partner for your coffee is all about matching the flavours that come together to make beautiful music inside your mouth.
But, before you can find those flavours in your coffee beans, learning what it takes to brew a good cup of coffee is a crucial skill to have. Of course, your taste in coffee is yours—what works for you is best. However, understanding a few basic must-dos couldn’t hurt.
Ensure that your equipment is always immaculate. Coffee filters, bean grinders, coffee makers, and other coffee-making tools should be cleaned properly after use. The equipment should be rinsed with hot water and dried with an absorbent cloth. Take care not to leave leftover coffee grounds—reusing them can make subsequent coffee tastes horrible. (2)
Also, picking great beans is a good start if you want great coffee. Stores like Will and Co offer different coffee beans that may help you explore various flavours. Coffee can have distinct flavours based on its origin, variety, how it’s processed, and how it’s roasted. Flavour is also affected by how the coffee was brewed. (3)
Understanding flavour profiles and roasts
Learning the basics of pairing coffee with food is like becoming a sommelier, but for coffee instead of wine. Learning to identify these aromatic and flavour notes can make it easier for you to make a great coffee-food pairing. If you want to get to know your coffee, remember to focus on two main areas: the beverage’s body and the roast.
Coffee can be a dark roast, light roast, or medium roast. Dark roasts are inclined to be earthy and woody. On the other hand, light roasts tend to be a little acidic, but they can also have a touch of spice or a hint of something fruity. With medium roasts, you’ll notice a chocolatey flavour profile or perhaps something nutty. Medium roasts also often possess characteristics of both dark and light roasts.
Coffee body refers to the beverage’s ‘mouthfeel’ and not the flavour itself. So, when you hear the term ‘full-bodied coffee,’ it means that the coffee gives your mouth a sense of texture. Full-bodied coffee feels thicker and more viscous in your mouth. Light-bodied coffee is clear and more watery. Medium is somewhere between the two. (4)
Coffee and food pairings
Knowing a bit about flavour profiles and understanding a coffee’s tastes should make it simpler to find more interesting coffee-food pairings beyond coffee and doughnut. Below is a basic guide for coffee and food pairings:
For Breakfast Dishes
Fruits, eggs, toast, pancakes, toast, pastries, or almost any breakfast dishes usually pair well with light or medium-roasted coffee. Light or medium-roasted coffee is acidic and has a light mouth-feel, so it also goes well with food that has a similar characteristic.
Pairing a light-roast coffee with the foods mentioned above can make the coffee’s flavour notes enhance the food’s qualities. Contrast pairings can also work with light or medium roasts. The roasts’ acidity nicely balances out rich, creamy, fruit and vegetable-based meals, like hummus or avocado.
Light roast is also good with butter-based foods like pastries. Light roast with cake or shortbread complements the texture of the food, while the food enhances the inherent sweetness of the coffee. Salty dishes also balance the light roast’s acidity without affecting its flavours. For heavier breakfasts like omelettes or crepes, a dark, full-bodied roast is more suitable.
Meat and poultry dishes
Light roast coffee works equally well for both red meat and poultry-based dishes, as they harmonize well together. Medium roast goes well with poultry, which has a more subtle taste profile. On the other hand, darker, full-bodied roasts are great for red meats and other foods with bold flavours. Finally, savoury, and spicy dishes are great with dark, full-bodied espressos, as the coffee highlights the food’s flavour.
Desserts
While pastries and cakes go well with light-bodied coffee, chocolate desserts are excellent with dark, full-bodied roasts. It’s simpler if you remember fruit-based desserts go with a light roast and desserts with chocolate pair well with a darker roast. If you’re unsure, use medium roast—it's difficult to go wrong with a medium roast.
Final Thoughts
Learning the basics of making good coffee and understanding roasts and flavour profiles is useful, as it can help you start your journey of discovering great food pairings for your favourite brew. Armed with this knowledge, finding great coffee-food combos will be easy and extremely rewarding.
References
1. “Top Reasons Why People Drink Coffee”, Source: https://coffee.org/pages/top-reasons-why-people-drink-coffee
2. “How Long Is Brewed Coffee Good For?”, Source: https://wokelark.com/reusing-coffee-grounds-another-cup-of-coffee-caffeine-cold-brew/
3. “Coffee Bean Types And Flavors: Choosing The Right Beans For Your Coffee Business”, Source: https://joesgaragecoffee.com/blog/coffee-bean-types-and-flavors/
4. “What is coffee "aroma"?”, Source: https://espressocoffeeguide.com/all-about-coffee-2/coffee-flavor/
While most Asian cuisines can be prepared with regular pots, there are special utensils to make cooking easier. You might not be able to afford everything at once, but you can always start somewhere. For instance, you can start with a bamboo skimmer and enjoy branching your vegetables. With time, you'll be able to get every Asian utensil you need with a bit of patience. Among the most important Asian kitchen utensils include:
1. Cast Iron Wok
The wok is always on the top list of Asian kitchen utensils. There isn't any Asian kitchen without an iron cast wok. A wok is used for cooking almost every dish—from curries to stir-fries, dumplings, and deep-fried foods.
When purchasing a wok, there are some guidelines to follow. First, the wok should be made from cast iron. A cast iron requires more maintenance than a non-stick wok but it can enhance food flavour due to its coating. Second, the wok should be at least 14 inches with a long handle to prevent the hands from burning. You may want to visit webky.com.au for more information on woks and their prices.
2. Wok Spatula And Ladle
Where there's a wok, there's a wok spatula. A good wok spatula should have a wooden handle to avoid burning the fingers. While there are fancy wok spatulas with stainless steel handles, they might not be a good choice since stainless steel is a good conductor of heat. With such a spatula wok, you are more likely to burn your fingers, unlike when using one with wooden handles. In addition, your hands are bound to become oily and greasy, making it difficult to have a good grip on a wok with stainless steel handles.
On the other hand, a wok ladle is essential when preparing and serving soup. The ladle should also have a wooden handle. In the same way steel wok spatulas aren't and shouldn't be used on a non-stick surface, silicone, bamboo, and wooden spatulas shouldn't be used in a wok since they might not collect the food from the bottom of the wok properly. Since wok spatulas come with a curved end, it glides the bottom of a curved wok, easily picking up all the food and sauces at the bottom.
3. Clay Pots
Clay pots are probably the oldest Asian kitchen tool to date. Their designs also haven't changed much. Clay pots and braziers are made of sand and clay. They are suitable for cooking various cuisines such as stews, soups, and curries.
Most Asians love to transfer the already cooked food into a clay pot until serving time. This way, the food remains warm and fresh. You can choose a simple and rustic design or settle for a fancy design, but they're all valuable and efficient.
4. Rice Cooker
Rice is an Asian staple food. Therefore, investing in a high-quality rice cooker is paramount among Asians. While you can also cook delicious rice on a stove, an electric rice cooker is more convenient and efficient. All you need to do is fill the cooker with clean rice and add water to the marked level before turning on the cooker.
You'll no longer experience mushy, undercooked, or burnt rice with an electric cooker. Also, the electric rice cooker can keep the rice warm for several hours. Therefore, regardless of whether you prepared your rice early, it will still be warm during mealtime.
5. Bamboo Skimmer
A bamboo or spider skimmer is essential as far as deep-frying is concerned. Unlike when using a wok or spatula, a skimmer picks up more food when serving. Skimmers are found in different sizes to suit various needs. Larger skimmers are suitable for vegetable and noodle branching, while medium skimmers are suitable for deep-frying.
6. Mortar And Pestle
Asians are known for preparing spicy delicacies, hence the need for a mortar and pestle. Grinding fresh spices such as garlic and ginger is easier with these tools.
7. Chinese Cleaver
Just looking at a Chinese cleaver can be intimidating. However, after using it, you'll definitely grow fond of it. A Chinese cleaver is used to cut meat like chicken and pork ribs. Since most Chinese dishes with pork ribs require the ribs to be chopped into small pieces, a cleaver is essential to make the work easy.
8. Bamboo Wok Brush
A bamboo wok brush is essential if you have a wok in the kitchen. However, you can also use a stainless-steel scrubber to clean your wok instead of a bamboo wok brush.
When using a wok brush, rinse the wok first under running water, then brush it in a circular motion to get rid of food particles. Afterward, place the wok on the burner under medium heat for it to dry. As much as possible, avoid using soap since it can remove the much-needed oils to give the wok a nice patina.
Conclusion
Asians are known for preparing incomparable delicacies. And to succeed in their cooking, they require high-quality utensils. Those mentioned above are but a few essentials. They are easily accessible, and you can always get some if you'd want to use Asian utensils.
It’s well-known that English could be the universal language, but anyone saying that hasn’t tried fusion cuisine before. There’s possibly nothing else that’d uniquely bring two places together as food could. Friends and families share meals every day, bonding over delicious food and drinks. Every person has their own unique food flavour preference. Some would add more spices, others like fresh ingredients, many mixes various flavours in one sitting.The coming together of traditional foods from different parts of the world is called fusion cuisine. There’s so much more for all to learn about this fascinating cooking, so here are a few more things you must know:
1. Fusion Is Designer And Not
Although fusion cuisine is usually seen in high-end restaurants with chefs skilfully weaving flavours together, it’s believed that fusion started in a more everyday setting, as seen here at https://gotzinger.com. Many generations of cultures have unknowingly created fusion food using ingredients from many different sources.Chefs specialising in fusion cuisine have achieved great success from this cooking style, and most of them sell their creations at astronomical prices. The good news is that these dishes can easily be recreated at home with just a bit of skill and practice.
2. It Promotes Cultural Diversity
For as long as humans can remember, wars have been fought around cultural differences. If ingredients from different cultures can come together and create such lovely dishes, humans can take some lessons from fusion cuisine.Eating a cuisine that’s not part of the regular diet could spark interesting conversations about cultural diversity. It may make people more curious about where the food came from, how it’s traditionally prepared, and how the natives would make it part of their customs.
3. Provides An Exploration Of Tastes
Some people are more adventurous than others, and fusion cuisine gives them the perfect opportunity to try something new. Be daring and find a new go-to favourite for a snack, learn to cook with spices previously never used, or have a virtual tour around the world by inhaling thearomas. People who eat the same kind of food day in and day out may want more, a new and fun experience. With so many options stemming from the fusion style of cooking, the chance of having a bland meal is slim to none.
Even picky eaters may find fusion cuisine fascinating, and they can combine what they like. Eating in this way could challenge them to explore textures, tastes, and types of food they’d never otherwise think of eating.
4. Recipes And Ingredients Have Traditions
Food can be associated with many traditions and plays a big part in celebrations worldwide.What would the holidays be without those yummy snacks everyone’s looking forward to all yearlong? Roast turkey is seen at Thanksgiving for Americans, halva or laddu for the Hindu celebration of Diwali, and dumplings and spring rolls for Chinese New Year. Over the years, many other cultures have shared some of these traditional favourites, including them in their festivities.Fusion cuisine brings all these traditions together, and people from all walks of life can participate in the celebrations of flavours presented on one plate. Cross-cultural relationship shave embraced the fusion lifestyle, and they’d confess that it has certainly made their lives more colourful.
5. Try Different Of The Same
Many restaurants, taverns, fast food places, and homes have combinations of various meals and ingredients. All dishes would vary in taste even though the same ingredients were used. Again, it comes down to personal preferences regarding the cooking method and food spicing that makes all the difference.There are millions of blends possible, so it’s likely that one dish may not impress as much as a similar one. With fusion cuisine, the idea is to merge two or more cultural palates into one, and these need to be explored.
Blending It Into OneFor a flavourful fantasy of taste explosions, try fusion cuisine and see what all the hype is about.Learn new facts about traditions, cultures, and how to combine the best flavours worldwide. Be transported to the best destinations by putting a forkful of unique blends into your mouth and feeling part of a greater community.Fusion cuisine is indeed one of the best happy accidents ever stumbled upon, and sharing this with family and friends could make for a few content stomachs as well. Become part of the more significant global majority that’s raving about this new fun cooking style. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you plan and prepare.
The human gut is a lot more intricate than many people believe it to be. It can influence your entire body’s health. A healthy gut can promote a robust immune system, a better mood, a healthy heart, better sleep, and of course, effective digestion. Maintaining good gut health can also prevent the development of autoimmune diseases and certain kinds of cancers. Gut health is the balance of microorganisms that inhabit the digestive tract. Maintaining the health of your gut and keeping the right balance of these microorganisms is necessary to ensure good mental and physical health.
The gut flora or microbiome is made up of trillions of these viruses, yeasts, and bacteria. Various microbes are beneficial for our health. Some of them are even vital. However, others, especially when found in abundance, can be incredibly harmful. Fortunately, there are several lifestyle changes, including dietary changes, that you can adopt to guarantee better gut health, and in turn, improve your general health. Read this article to find out what you should eat for a healthy gut.