Sweetness and spice bring out the best in one another – Eleanor Ford has beguiling blends in this extract from A Whisper of Cardamom. Spice and sweetness have been bound together with lust and ardour since the first syllables of recorded history. In sweet cookery, spice can provide a delicate fragrance, hard to put your finger on but one that gives backbone to a dish. Flavours can be enhanced by a thoughtful addition from the spice cupboard, making chocolate more chocolaty and fruit taste more of itself. Added not in shouts but in whispers, an intrigue of spice deepens allure. An endless p ..read more

We celebrate the work of influential writer Charmaine Solomon with an extract of her celebrated book The Complete Asian Cookbook. Good cooking is one of the creative arts. Early in life I was fortunate enough to learn from the accomplished and dedicated cooks around me – mother, grandmother and aunts – and found it was one of the most rewarding ways to express myself and give enjoyment to others at the same time. I also discovered that there is no real mystery about being able to cook well – no magic potions or secret charms – just a healthy interest in eating well and getting the most ple ..read more

Throughout the years chefs have created dishes inspired by famous women – Fiona Smith pays homage to some classics. From queens to divas, skilled cooks, bakers and cherished family members, women have been celebrated and memorialised in dishes for centuries. For those who love food, having a dish named in your honour must feel like a special kind of accolade or, at the very least, a bit of fun! Many of us might never have heard of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova had it not been for the eponymous billowy meringue. While it’s not as romantic, mapo tofu is said to be so named for the age and p ..read more

Whether they are the centrepiece or on the side, Ginny Grant’s fresh, seasonal salads are packed with the flavours of summer. I can’t be alone in wanting new salad ideas as it’s easy to get into a rut and stick to the safe and true. Inevitably it’s the dressing where I make changes to go with my favourite summer vegetables and fruits: I want it to gently coax the flavours out of the other ingredients, to surprise and delight and to make the easy meals of summer big on taste. It’s a time of the year when I’m more likely to barbecue than roast, when cooked vegetables have time to cool and mi ..read more

To access the protected content or information on this page of the Cuisine Digital Platform, you will need a password. If you know your password, please enter it in the field below. Password: If you do not have a password or have forgotten it, please click the button below to contact our digital team via email. Click here to email for assistance The post Protected: WIFD 2024 Awards appeared first on Cuisine Magazine - From New Zealand to the World ..read more

Fiona Hugues hosts a stylish menu to celebrate the best late-summer produce. The need to entertain pulses through my veins. It’s a creative, nurturing hereditary urge that was put there by my mother, my grandmother and her mother before that. Instinctively the women of our clan (my forebears were Scottish grain merchants), have slapped down loaves, plates and bowls full of nourishing concoctions in beautified farm sheds, magazine-worthy suburban homes and quaint coastal baches across New Zealand for generations, and this love to nourish with style continues with me. This female entertainin ..read more

Ben Bayly looks ahead to season 3 of A New Zealand Food Story in which he tells the tales of New Zealand’s food and the people behind it. As we wrap filming season 3 of A New Zealand Food Story, I’ve spent another year with phenomenal Kiwis who are growing, hunting, fishing, gathering and farming some of the world’s best ingredients. I am in a privileged position to be able to meet these great suppliers and help tell their unique stories. After all, as a chef the best way to be inspired and keep the creative juices flowing is not to look at Instagram but to carve out some time to visit – t ..read more

Kelli Brett in conversation with leading Australian chef Danielle Alvarez. I had been scratching my head wondering where the hell she had gone and so as the big news hit my desk that Danielle Alvarez would be taking the stage as culinary director at the Sydney Opera House event venues, I felt a burst of pride for this Miami-born-turned Aussie chef who had spent nearly six years at the head of the acclaimed farm-to-table restaurant Fred’s in Paddington. Danielle had been the driving force behind Fred’s, achieving and retaining its two-hat status by telling a local story of sustainability an ..read more

Join our very own Cuisine Editor in Chief, Kelli Brett, at ‘Battle of the Snack’ at Saltwater Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar. Local chefs and rising culinary talents will battle it out for the best “snack”. Your votes will decide the winner to be published in Cuisine, so get your tickets here View here The post Battle of the Snack appeared first on Cuisine Magazine - From New Zealand to the World ..read more

The recent vintage of cool-climate pinot gris delivers fresh, bright wines perfect for drinking this summer, says MARY-THÉRÈSE BLAIR. After a challenging couple of years for pinot gris in New Zealand we appear to have struck gold with the 2023 vintage. All except one of our top nine are from the 2023 vintage and that wine is Australian, so that’s that point proven. It’s no surprise that each of these top wines is from the cooler regions in the South Island and even our Aussie example is from Clare Valley, a region known for cool nighttime temperatures. So why does that matter? Cool climates ..read more