Latest news with #Appetites:ACookbook
Daily Mirror
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Mac and cheese tastes extra rich when you add four ingredients Anthony Bourdain loves
The late great Anthony Bourdain has the perfect mac and cheese recipe which is perfectly rich, creamy and delicious - guaranteed to pick you up out of a bad mood or a tough day Few things in life are as comforting as a steaming bowl of gooey, rich and cheesy pasta. Whether it's a tough day at the office or the wet weather has you feeling mardy, a hefty bowl of creamy carbs can be exactly what the doctor ordered - metaphorically speaking. Mac and cheese fits perfectly into this category, with its hearty and filling nature, it's the food equivalent of having a hug, but while the dish's name implies all it takes is some pasta tubes and hefty grating of cheddar to master a great mac and cheese, it takes a little more culinary skill. Luckily, the late great Anthony Bourdain has come out to rescue home cooks in need of some guidance with the perfect recipe which could pick your mood up. One person who tested the mood boosting meal was Sofia Antona, a food influencer on TikTok. She opened the video saying: "I was in such a grumpy mood today, so I took myself to Tesco to make Anthony Bourdain's macaroni and cheese from his book Appetites: A Cookbook. "It's my go-to as it uses a really nice blend of cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan and gruyere, so it's super cheesy and comforting." The chef known for cutting the frills out of cooking to create the best out of a few simple ingredients has seemingly pulled out of the bag once again with a delicious recipe that's not going to take you hours or leave you with a huge mess. To make a full-sized dish that will feed around four, he kicks things off by boiling around a 1lb of elbow macaroni and some heavily salted water until it just turns al dente. At this point, it's important not to overcook the pasta as it will be heading back into the oven later, which will cause it to soften more. Next, melt five tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pan until it starts to foam, then gently sprinkle in the same amount of plain white flour, continuing to stir steadily to create a roux. The mixture should start to form a loose dough-like texture. Keep gently moving it around the pan on a medium-high heat until the mixture starts to darken. Here you're looking for the roux to become a rich golden brown so it can develop a much deeper, nuttier texture. Once it's looking nice and golden, bit by bit, add around a litre of milk, whisking continually and gently adding all the milk. Once fully combined, move back to a wooden spoon and gently cook out until it's just under a boil. The sauce should continue to thicken to around the consistency of heavy cream. Once you have the sauce, known as a Béchamel, you can start to flavour it up. Bourdain adds two teaspoons of mustard powder and cayenne pepper as well as 1teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce. Next, add around 110g of grated good-quality parmesan (saving a few handfuls for on top) and gruyère, 140g of cheddar and 85g of torn fresh mozzarella. By combining four different cheeses, the final result will be rich and highly decadent. Once the cheese has completely melted, throw 110g of sliced ham and mix in the macaroni. This should give your dish an extra salty kick. Add to a baking dish, finish with the leftover cheese and bake in a 190C oven for around 20 minutes until golden brown and gooey. Leave to cool down so it doesn't burn your mouth and tuck in, although you should be warned it may leave you wanting a nap soon after.
Winnipeg Free Press
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
A life well fed
As is the case in hospitality, Laurie Woolever has spent her career in service to others — feeding the needs of catering clients, the food media machine and a pair of superstar chefs. For herself, she collects only crumbs of shame-filled happiness. Woolever's memoir, Care and Feeding, plumbs the depths of her dysfunctional personal life while offering an intimate view of the equally dysfunctional fine dining establishment. David Scott Holloway photo Laurie Woolever was a longtime assistant to Anthony Bourdain, who died by suicide in 2018. She penned the 2021 book Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography. Born in upstate New York, Woolever charts her path, in searing detail, from small-town obscurity to culinary school to the employ of famous restaurateurs Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. Cooking for hire and assisting for the diametrically opposed chefs are a means to an end. At least initially. Woolever's aspiration is to become a gainfully employed food writer. Spoiler alert (not really): She's more than attained that goal over the last three decades as a food magazine editor, cookbook co-author and frequent contributor to major publications such as the New York Times and GQ. She's also author of Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, an illuminating bestseller that aims to capture the complex humanity of her former boss, who died by suicide in 2018. While Care and Feeding exists in the same universe as Woolever's previous work, with Batali and Bourdain providing gravitational pull, the memoir gives voice to the unsung masses keeping the whole celebrity food system in orbit. 'Very few people are curious about the unknown women who prop up the work of important men,' Woolever writes following a publishing slight in which her name was left off a printing of Appetites: A Cookbook, co-written by Bourdain and herself. Fresh out of cooking school, Woolever lands a job as Batali's personal assistant. Dubbed 'Woolie' by the red-haired Italian chef, she becomes privy to the disturbing chasm between his public and real-life personas. There's a lot of nuance in the celebrity profiles thanks to Woolever's close proximity and self-awareness. She grapples with her reverence and revulsion for Batali, who introduced her to Bourdain and who was later accused of sexual assault. And her reflections about 'Tony' (a good and flawed human) in the aftermath of his sudden death are particularly insightful. Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. This coming-of-age autobiography also gives voice to the author's various addictions — alcohol, exercise, love, attention — which she references casually and constantly. Care and Feeding Instead of dragons to be slain, Woolever's habits are depicted as toxic friends tagging along for every personal milestone and professional impasse. It's an effective framing that captures the comfort and insidious nature of a functioning addiction. Despite the dark subject matter, the tone isn't sombre. Woolever is self-deprecating and has a knack for quippy, evocative descriptors — in turn describing herself as 'all turtle, no shell' during a moment of emotional vulnerability or suffering through a hangover with eyes that 'felt like burnt holes in a blanket.' While some sections are overburdened with minutiae about the publishing or restaurant industries, Care and Feeding is a juicy page-turner and a feat of sharp personal storytelling. Eva Wasney is an arts and life reporter for the Free Press. Eva WasneyReporter Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva. Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
