What's what in gourmet food! Helping you unleash your inner chef!

There are lots of great products available that you will see used in magazine and cook book recipes and by celebrity chef on television. But some of these products can be hard to find, can cost more than usual pantry staples, and although you might have one recipe you use them in, you may not know what else to do with them.
We’ve put together a simple guide for some of the most popular, but slightly obscure, gourmet products, so you’ll know what they are, and what to do with them. We've choosen some Italian inspired favourites to begin!

Verjuice
Made from the juice of unfermented grapes, use it as a gentle acidulant wherever you might find lemon juice or vinegar too tart - which means whenever you want the gentlest bite of flavour.
Maggie Beer Verjuice - Maggie was the first in the world to produce Verjuice commercially. Use in salad dressings, deglazing the pan when cooking fish and chicken or poaching dried fruit to serve with a glossy dollop of mascarpone.
Maggie Beer Sangiovese Verjuice is a slightly sweeter version of the classic and is the perfect companion to desserts. Use to poach dried fruit for a compote, splash across fresh mango cheeks or reduce into a syrup with a little sugar and pour over a favourite cake or use as a cordial. It is just superb with a Gin and Tonic!

Vino Cotto
Made from the must of grapes, Vino Cotto was inspired by Mediterranean cuisine as the perfect way to further maximize Maggie and Colin’s grape harvest. Its unique sweet/sour flavour, known as ‘agrodolce’, works in any situation where you might use balsamic vinegar, i.e. the classic strawberries and balsamic combination is taken to a whole new level with vino cotto.
Colavita Vino Cotto - Try sautéing diced eggplant with onion in a little olive oil and use the vino cotto to deglaze the pan. Roast baby beetroot in olive oil until just tender and splash with vino cotto before serving as a beautiful salad on its own or spruced up with rocket and walnuts. Use vino cotto to deglaze the pan after searing beef fillets and you will have a beautiful syrupy sauce to drizzle over the meat.
Colavita Fig Vino Cotto is a sweet, highly aromatic, velvety syrup, thick with figs made the traditional way in Italy. It has the perfect balance of acidity, or as the Italians would say 'agrodolce'. Fig Vino Cotto can be used in baking, sauces, roasting vegetables, vinaigrettes and desserts. Drizzle over panna cotta or poached fruit or use as a sauce for duck breast or kangaroo.

Fruit Pastes
Maggie Beer Quince Paste - Maggie’s love for the quince came from the beauty of the tree in flower, so after reading prolifically about it she trialled her first ‘membrillo’ or quince paste. Perfect with a traditional French brie, a mature cheddar or parmesan cheese. Use it as a sweetmeat, rolled in cinnamon sugar, to serve with coffee or try it as an accompaniment to cold meats.

Truffle Oil
Truffle oil, available in all seasons and steady in price, is popular with chefs (and diners) because it is significantly less expensive than actual truffles, while possessing some of the same flavours and aroma.
Simon Johnson Black Truffle Oil is made from specially selected black truffles from the Pyrenees, these have been infused into
100% early harvest extra virgin olive oil from Arbequina olives creating an oil that is exquisitely aromatic and is perfect with omelettes, poached, fried or scrambled eggs, foie gras and all kind of meat, especially lamb.
Simon Johnson White Truffle Oil is made from 100% Arbequina Olives, infused with specially selected white truffles. Delicious drizzled into soups, scrambled eggs, or over a porcini risotto, try mixed through mashed potatoes.

Exotic Salts
All the celebrity chefs have their favourites: Jamie’s is Maldon salt (from his beloved Essex); Nigella seems to go for Maldon or other sea salt too; Stefano di Pieri has tied his gondola to Murray River salt; Maeve O’Meara and her Food Lover’s Guide say Australian sea salt is “as good as you can get”; Neil Perry favours sea salt too, but despite their surfing theme, Ben and Curtis mostly go with plain old salt. So what’s with exotic salts?
The slight differences in looks and taste depend on the minute traces of various minerals and on how the different salts are made.
Maldon Sea Salt comes from Essex in England, and has large, flaky crystals. It’s made from seawater using only traditional natural methods and is a completely natural product, retaining valuable seawater trace elements such as magnesium and calcium.
Horizon Crystal Salt Flakes is another Australian product, also from an underground source of saline water (in northern Victoria). It has a full-bodied natural flavour that leaves no aftertaste or bitterness.
Rock salt comes from underground salt deposits. It’s usually been refined and can be used in salt mills as well as for decoration (e.g. holding oyster shells in place).
Murray River Gourmet Pink Salt Flakes are harvested from pure underground saline waters in Australia's Murray/Darling River region. The naturally occurring minerals create a high quality salt with a unique flavour and appearance. Murray River Salt is tapped from pure underground saline waters that have been present for thousands of years in Australia's Murray Darling River region.
Sea salts can be used as a garnish. Place in a small finger bowl and crumble over food. Australian Murray River salt crystals are light & delicate peach colored flakes. They have a wonderfully mild flavor. The texture is ideal for use as a finishing salt. The crystals melt quickly and evenly making Murray River flake salt ideal for finishing, roasting, and baking.

Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
This most essential of all vinegars is made from cooked grape must, matured by a long and slow process, through natural fermentation, followed by progressive concentration by aging in a series of casks made from different types of wood and without the addition of any other spices or flavourings.
The colour is dark brown but full of warm light. It has a fluid and syrup-like consistency and a distinct, complex, sharp and unmistakably but pleasantly acid fragrance. It is the perfect proportion of sweet and sour. It will offer your taste buds a full and rich flavour with a variety of shadings. Balsamic vinegar is used in salad dressings, dips, marinades, reductions and sauces. Mix with a quality extra virgin olive oil for a great yet easy dressing.
Try serving in drops on top of chunks of Parmigiano Reggiano and Mortadella as an antipasto. You may also use it sparingly to enhance steaks, eggs or grilled fish, as well as on fresh fruit such as strawberries and pears.

Scrambled Eggs with Chives, Smoked Salmon and Truffle Oil

Here's one of my favorite recipes for Truffle Oil, simple yet very delicious.
Ingredients
8 Port Stephens Free range Eggs
1/2 cup pouring cream
2 tbsp chives (chopped)
Murray River Pink Salt and cracked black pepper
Slice of Taste Gourmet Tasmanian Smoked Salmon
Simon Johnson Truffle Oil
Sourdough Bread
(products in bold available at Taste Gourmet)
Method
Use a wire whisk to lightly beat 8 eggs and 1/2 cup pouring cream in a large bowl.
Melt 30g butter in a large heavy-based saucepan over low heat. Pour in eggs.
Stir slowly, lifting mixture from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon so eggs cook evenly. Stir in 2 tbsp chives (chopped) and season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
When eggs are just set but still creamy, remove from pan.
To serve
Serve topped with a slice of smoked salmon and drizzled with a little truffle oil, and accompanied by thick-cut sourdough toast.

My thanks to many of our producers and suppliers for product information, descriptions and information.

Buying local - when $1 equals $14 for our community

Watching the Central Coast's own Julie win MasterChef this week, I've been struck by the huge amount of support our local community is giving here।
We've been running a competition in store to guess the winner of the Masterchef competition, and the response has been phenomenal।
Even when there were six finalists to choose from, about 90% of our customers are voting for Julie, because she's local!
I think all this local support is great and helps bring together the local community.
We've been struck by the tremendous support we have always received since we opened in East Gosford three years ago.
This is the same week when the supermarkets started a petrol discount war and declared they were bringing grocery prices down! Supermarkets are the opposite of local - they usually sell not local products and support no local producers. They are rarely able to take action that supports local causes or local events.
I've been a passionate advocate of supporting local business, local suppliers and local producers for a long time now. Clearly as a local Central Coast owned family business - store and cafe - and a producer of our own label of locally made gourmet foods, it's in my interests - but I also believe that it is good for the community.
We are also genuinely grateful for the support we get from our local loyal customers.
We have always envisaged our business as being a champion of local producers, a supporter and buyer of local products, and a passionate supporter of the vibrant local community.
I'm not advocating a radical form of localism where you only use things made within 100km - for example, I love my coffee too much and there's not grown here on the Coast. But there are local businesses supplying coffee and that's the kind of practical support I mean.
As well, in these uncertain times, it feels really nice to support local things! No matter what happen, the people and places that are close and familiar are always going to be there for you.
And, there is some fascinating research starting to to surface which says that supporting your local businesses and producers is not only a good idea for them but it's good for you, your family and your local community.
I came across a study which was headed When $1 equals $14: Reasons to Buy (and Refer) Local. The study which was based on retail and buying patterns demonstrated that locally owned businesses generate 3.5 times the local economic activity as chains.
So, when does $1 equal $14? When you spend it with a locally owned business. That dollar is usually spent 6 to 15 times before it leaves the community.
The research also showed that independent small businesses are also more likely to:

• spend money with other local businesses
• make decisions locally with customers first and foremost in mind
• place importance on community service and promoting goodwill
• have a commitment to a clean safe community

Need more reasons to buy local: here's five more!

1. Support your family - studies show that when you buy from a locally owned business up to three times more of your dollars are re-circulated in the local economy compared to a big national business or a chain. At Taste Gourmet Grocer and Cafe, we buy as much as possible from small, locally owned independent suppliers (like us).
2. Support your community. Local non profit organizations receive 250% more support from locally owned businesses. At Taste Gourmet, we've been supporting local community organisations since we opened: local schools, service clubs, pre-schools, sporting teams and cultural organisations.
3. Create more local jobs. Locally owned businesses spend on average 28% of revenue on labour, compared with 23% for the chains, providing the most jobs to local residents. At Taste, we value our staff, we employ and train local people who are also proud to be part of our local community.
4. Get better service. Locally owned businesses often hire people better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers. At Taste, our staff are committed to giving you the best customer service, they'll get to know you and look after you!
5. Buy what you want, not what they want to sell you. As a small business, we select products based not on a national sales plan, but on the needs of our local customers. At Taste Gourmet, we present our customers with the best value for their money, and the products you want and need. We also make our own local products and stock and promote other local gourmet food producers.

Remember, you hold the key to the economic stimulus!
These days as we get more and more concerned about how we spend our hard earned dollars. Next time you shop, consider the benefits of choosing a locally owned business. And when referring friends and colleagues, refer a reputable local business and keep their dollars local too.
After all, it's you money and your community! Make it count! KEEP IT LOCAL!

Getting in Touch with Your Inner Chef

Hi there, well, we've been talking about it for a while but we have finally made it happen - our new blog will be weekly and will mostly be all about great food and coffee.
There's so much great stuff happening in the food world right now it's hard to know where to start.
But the topic on the lips of all of my customers, family and friends is Master Chef. Everyone has their favorite, and their least favorite, everyone has fancied themselves at cooking one of the contestant's dishes, everyone has a favorite judge and a story to tell.
Master Chef has really grabbed our imagination. Channel 10 used it to replace it's long running Big Brother franchise and the show has really delivered - in rating and in taking it's place in the local food culture. And there has been not too much cringing as some of the country's leading chefs line up to feature them or their kitchens in front of the cameras.
While the show differs in format from the US and UK versions and has adopted a few "reality" show stunts such as peer elimination and bringing back ousted contestants, there is no doubting the impact it is having on all kinds of food lovers.
In our store and cafe, customers are choosing the food from the menu that is similar to that cooked on Master Chef - after Justine cooked lamb shanks for the sailors of HMAS Kanimbla, we served more lamb shanks in a day than we normally do in the week.
When the judges ran their Master Class for the contestants and used Persian Fairy Floss to garnish a dessert, our stocks of Pariya Persian Fairy Floss - all flavours - sold out. Just for the record - we have new supplies in stock - Chocolate, Saffron, Pistachio, Vanilla and Rose. (This a a glorious product, definitely for the grown ups, not for the kids though.)

This fabulous product is made by Sydney based Pariya Foods and is part of a huge range of traditional Middle Eastern confectionery and sweet meats which they made by hand to traditional recipes. The Fairy Floss is a perfect garnish for many desserts and can elevate a simple home cooked dessert to looking and tasting very special. It's not necessarily a cheap product, but it's wow factor makes it a very worthwhile investment for the pantry. .. Anyway, I digress.
Customers have also been demanding really good quality extra virgin olive oil (of which we have a good selection) and a wide variety of spices. I also saw Sydney based reports of utensils such as pasta makers and piping bags selling out of quite large kitchen supply stores.
It led me to finally doing something I had been talking about for a while; we've started a regular bi-monthly publication - called Get in Touch With Your Inner Chef - Taste Gourmet's Food and Recipe Guide. First one focuses on winter and contains some great information on the basic products you need to have in your pantry to get you cooking each night of the week.
We also look at some of the common but misunderstood gourmet food products such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Verjuice, Salt Flakes, Vinocotto and Balsamic Vinegars. And we have heaps of recipes suing these products. Our first edition also features many of our Italian products and even shows how to cook your pasta the Italian way. The Guide is free and we will be publishing new editions each two months, the next one will feature Spring recipes and in December we will focus on the festive season with Christmas recipes, tips and information.
So far, for the first edition, we have printed over 800 copies and they are proving very popular.
But there is also a much bigger picture here. Worldwide, since the start of the Global Financial Crisis, there has been a massive increase in people cooking at home, taking cooking classes, buying cooking and kitchen utensils and in buying cook books and subscribing to food magazines. The national supermarket chains have also reported increased sales and have begun publishing recipes for "budget" meals in their weekly specials catalogues.
Foodweek.com.au reports that research by Mintel shows that the recession is definitely driving up food and drink sales and that we are indeed cooking more. Mintel Senior Analyst Bill Patterson says over the past year we have seen people trying to save money on food by either dining out less or cutting supermarket bills or both..more people cook at home more..
The Global Financial Crisis is helping us find a way back to the kitchen, and better still not only are we cooking more, we are interesting in cooking well, in creating high quality semi-restaurant quality meals, in using great quality fresh products and ingredients, and in experimenting with new tastes, flavours, tastes and techniques. It's nice that something good came out of the GFC.
And it helps to partially explain why we are sitting addicted to Master Chef SIX nights a week in prime time.
But is does beg the question - what will we do each evening when it finishes in a couple of weeks time? Maybe our inner chefs will drag us back to kitchen to start practicing what we have been watching..