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Inspired cocktail and food pairings with Mount Gay rum
Mention cocktail and food matching and we’re all yours. The way that we see it is spirits come from foodie sources (agave, sugar cane, barley, malt, potatoes, wheat and we won’t even travel there about the botanicals found in gin), so why shouldn’t they oust wine from the table? Not all the period, granted but when you’re looking for something a bit more left-field, a bit more challenging than a Pinot Noir or a glass of Chablis, a cocktail should definitely enter the conversation. It’s a concept that divides many a chef and bartender – some absolutely love the extra reflection that goes into taunting out the flavour compounds in spirits and matching them up to mains while others say it’s an absolute no-no.
Rum brands seem to be much more willing than most to embrace the thought. To date we’ve had some spirited foodie adventures with the fabulous folk at Angostura and Zacapa 23 and last week Mount Gay were added to the mix. The team did a fantastic career familiarising us with the five expressions in its portfolio (Eclipse, the go-to house classic; Silver, the white one; Black Barrel, the new sma
Gay – Odin: Mr Odin, Mrs Gay and the chocolate factory!
As soon as you enter any of their 9 shops with the characteristic old, mahogany storefronts and display cases, you feel you’ve stepped back in time and at the same moment you realise you’ve entered the most amazing chocolate world! The intoxicating scent of cocoa, the endless variety of chocolates and the Foretsa, their most famous product and pièce de résistance, don’t permit anyone unmoved! Especially the latter, a chocolate creation based in a highest secret recipe and formed into an interestingly folded, woven shape, very similar to a tree trunk, is a product known all over Italy. And what was the finest surprise for me, when entering for the first time a Gay Odin shop on a blazing summer day? “Foresta” comes in gelato too!!! Actually, this is the place for the best chocolate gelato in Naples, providing the perfect balance for chocolate and gelato lovers. The dense, full bodied flavour of their hand made chocolates, either with nuts, liqueur or fruit, is transformed into delicious, genuine, artisan, top quality gelato. Apart from the Foresta, which of course you won’t find anywhere else, the Sacher Torte is also de
Recently, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy had some unkind things to say about queer families, and a lot of people (present company included) didn’t care for his comments one bit. That shouldn’t surprise you: I’m a gay guy, I’m married, I’m from the South — raised in a Southern Baptist family — and I’m a chef. So an Atlanta-based fast-food baron talking about how he understands the Bible enough to declare that my experience and marriage aren’t legitimate doesn’t rest well with me.
A lot troubles me about this debate, but beyond the cherry-picking of Scripture to reinforce bigotry or the word that hateful rhetoric sends to new LGBT kids, there’s an element of this discussion that cuts away at a something I’ve held dear my whole life: the ability of meal to bring people together. It’s a sad state when “comfort food” tears communities apart, making so many people feel attacked and unwanted.
(MORE:Josh Ozersky’s Chick-fil-A Mea Culpa: I Have Changed My Mind)
Here’s perhaps what makes me the most uncomfortable: Mr. Cathy owns more than 1,500 restaurants and serves up far more fried chicken than I do in my four. But I’ll say this: no matter how massive the kitchen or seasoned the chef,