Posted by The Telegraph, UK on December 11, 2009 at 13:03:53:
Culinary stars of the Noughties
What were the classic dishes of the Noughties? And who were the chefs who inspired us to cook?
By Xanthe Clay
It was my local butcher who brought home how much food has changed in the last 10 years. As I went to pay for the Sunday roast (a prime joint of pork), he announced cheerfully, "Half price today. Can't get rid of it. All anyone wants is pork belly."
It seemed astonishing. Restaurants are notoriously prone to fads, but surely our home kitchens are above fashion? Whatever next? Surely gimmicky foams and snail porridge are to everyday cooking what Top Gear is to the school run?
Chefs: The ones to watch
Heston Blumenthal to rival Gordon Ramsay with London restaurantIn fact, it was a restaurant phenomenon – the gastropub – that brought our menus back to the future. Gutsy, traditional dishes like roast pork belly and braised lamb shanks became the cool classics of the Noughties. Then came the gastropub recipe books and gastropub ready meals, all so we could copy those restaurant versions of dishes that our grandmothers used to make.
We still love foreign food too, but Italian has ousted French as the cooking style we revere most. This started back in 2000 with prosciutto (to wrap everything from asparagus to monkfish), and pesto (spread on chicken or stirred into pasta).
Not that the decade has been all about foreign flights of fancy and retracing our grandmothers' footsteps.
Ten years ago, we were all trying to cook like Michelin-starred restaurants, fiddling with individual steamed puddings and stacking ingredients into teetering towers on the plates. But the Noughties heralded a new kind of celebrity chef, who was instinctive, eccentric and very British.
The Two Fat Ladies thrust plump, ringed hands into bowls of suet with a gusto that was the antithesis of Nineties queen Delia's prim precision, while owlish Fergus Henderson preached nose-to-tail eating and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's earthy approach had men devouring his meat book.
Nigella banished those fussy single servings and brought back the big sharing platter. Now, in a culinary volte-face, trendy restaurants pretend they are dinner party hosts, serving dishes like shoulder of lamb for four.
As for the future, forget that imported prosciutto and get digging. Local and seasonal is the mantra and home-grown vegetables are the new balsamic vinegar. Sounds exhausting? Have a cupcake. Now there's another recipe of the decade.
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