No, that’s not a typo. Bakon Vodka ($30) is a new premium-quality potato vodka infused with a savory bacon flavor. Distilled from Idaho potatoes and possessing a perfect hint of peppery bacon flavor. Great in a bloody mary, good when paired with scotch, not so hot in a white russian — unless you like the way they taste on the way back up — but what we really, really want is a recipe for a bacon cheeseburger.
Thanks Uncrate
New York city chef and new dad Daniel Angerer has intrigued the food world by putting cheese made from his wife’s breast milk on the menu at his Klee Brasserie. Angerer’s wife supplied two quarts of of breast milk to create small samples of a creation he calls Mommy’s Milk cheese. On his blog Angerer says that he got the idea after his daughter was four weeks old and he noticed that they had a surplus of breast milk on hand. His spouse was interested in donating it but in the meantime, with his freezer running out of space, Angerer decided to put some of the excess to good use. He includes a recipe for anyone who wants to do the same. The taste is said to be, like human breast milk itself, a little sweeter than a cow or goat milk version. Yak!!
Open since 1996, the family-owned bakery is a throw-back to another era. It is famous for its old-fashion desserts, especially its cupcakes and home-style multi-layered cakes. There’s a reason why has had staying power. Its baked goods are made fresh from scratch on premises, all day, every day, using the finest ingredients. Magnolia Bakery is also a nominee for a Readers’ Choice Award for Best Cupcake.
Magnolia Bakery specializes in such classic cakes as red velvet, ice box, German chocolate, devil’s food, coconut and banana pudding. In addition to cakes and cupcakes, other dessert specialties include brownies, magic cookies, peanut butter toffee bar, lemon squares, pies and cheesecakes. Magnolia prides itself on tradition and quality and strives to satisfy loyal patrons while maintaining the integrity of the brand. All Magnolia Bakery locations are certified as Kosher by the United Kosher Supervision.
We’ve been haters of traditional condiment packets for as long as we can remember, so we couldn’t be more happy about the new Heinz Dip & Squeeze. Holding three times as much tomatoey goodness as a regular packet, the Dip & Squeeze offers two ways to open the bottle-shaped container: either lift at the top for squeezing the ketchup onto your food, or open at the bottom for dipping french fries, nuggets, and other finger-friendly foods.
Professionally made desserts are all very well, but for true bake-it-yourself types, there’s nothing like a homemade confection. Much the way Sprinkles Cupcakes mixes aim to give baking enthusiasts a way to emulate professional results in their own kitchens, so Ticings allow them to add a dash of photographic-quality art.
Ticings are edible images that can be applied to cakes, cookies, brownies and cupcakes. Users need only peel them from their paper backing and then press them onto a baked confection. Whereas some baking embellishments drag when cut, Ticings merge with soft frosting to create edible art that creates no resistance for the knife. Launched last month, the US-made decorations—which are FDA approved, kosher certified and gluten free—are available from LA-based Ticings in sheets of 12 2.25-inch images for USD 15.95 or 35 1.25-inch images for USD 22.95. Themes include birthdays, weddings and seasonal motifs; shipping is available only within the continental US. Coming soon from the company are gourmet artisan sprinkles.
Giving crafty consumers yet another way to make it themselves—upgraded to help them compete with the professionals—Ticings will soon also be available through a bakery in northern California.
Until today, the congenial small espresso machine manufacture, Olympia Express, achieved to maintain itself a highly esteemed reputation among experts of the coffee bean and few well-informed discerning barista, since almost 80 years. However, after the recent acquisition by a German retired banker, it’s the company’s new firm and welcomed aspiration to spread their unique masterpieces, which entirely correspond to the popular myth of Swiss high quality products. Straight on the forefront of their comprehensive range, comes the overhauled version of the Cremina, an impressively elaborated lever-operated espresso machine, which already was chosen “the best espresso machine in the world” by the New York Times in the mid 60’s, and still proves to be on the top, sip by sip.
Price: $3700
Add an exotic kick to your cocktail party lineup with Pernod Absinthe ($65). Based on Pernod Fils, the original absinthe produced in the late 18th century, Pernod Absinthe is faithful to the original, offering high-quality ingredients, a light green hue, balanced taste, and a high alcohol content. Just in time for the holidays, it’s also available in a gift set (pictured) complete with absinthe spoon.
The Dom Pérignon Black Box by Marc Newson is a new concept designed by Marc Newson for Dom Pérignon. The Black Box encapsulates a bottle of Dom Pérignon protecting it and keeping it cool. The shape of the Dom Pérignon is visible through the box and the signature Dom Pérignon in Marc Newson’s typical green color with a matching green handle. The Dom Pérignon Black Box by Marc Newson is available in limited quantities from Dom Pérignon stockists.
SusieCakes, a custom-cake bakery already well-known to Southern Californians, has gotten some big mileage nationally from two “guest cake appearances” on the popular Bravo “Million Dollar Listing” show. Realty agent Chad Rogers shows off the confectionery artwork in a segment where he holds an open house (with the $700 cake showing the house and “Cake Chad” standing outside it, dressed identically to “Real Chad.”) The cakes made a repeat appearance in another episode about Rogers getting legal joint custody of Starla, the longhaired Chihuahua he shares with his girlfriend, who is much prettier than her cake.
Custom cake orders are extremely popular and account for over half of SusieCakes’ sales. All the desserts are made on-site in one of the four locations, and follow traditional recipes — read: They use real sugar and real butter. Being purists, SusieCakes only uses buttercream or cream cheese frosting - no fondant or marzipan.
Chad isn’t the first celebrity to have ordered a custom cake from SusieCakes. Frequent patrons have included Brooke Shields, Marcia Cross, Laura Dern, Kobe Bryant, Maria Shriver, and Jim Belushi.
Harnessing iPhone capabilities, Jamie Oliver’s new cooking application solves some of the most common cookbook pitfalls with a clever interface that puts helpful images, instructions and videos literally at your fingertips. With 50 brand-new recipes that all have the kind of twists—a Mediterranean salad with avo, cauliflower cheese and chili risotto—that made us Jamie fans in the first place and geared towards beginners who don’t have a lot of time, the content matches the intuitive design perfectly.
On first launch, Jamie himself introduces the many features that make the app so useful, not the least of which are the 21 other videos that also keep his charm close at hand and teach techniques. Other image-driven tools, like step-by-step pictures accompanying the instructions, make for a foolproof approach to cooking.
For prep, each recipe comes with a rundown of ingredients linking directly to an interactive, sharable shopping list that sorts by aisle and provides a way to satisfyingly cross off items. Jamie also details his kitchen essentials and, along with his notes on each recipe, prompts and tips along the way, the experience feels like having the friendliest culinary coach in your pocket.
At 400MB, it’s not for the faint-of-storage, but for $8 from iTunes, you too can have the best cooking app we’ve come across yet.