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The Year in Food 2006

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Published on Monday, December 11, 2006, by The CHOW Editorial Team / Edit Post

Artisanal ice creams made with fresh, seasonal, and unusual ingredients popped up around the country. In September, former Chez Panisse pastry chef Mary Canales opened the highly anticipated Ici, in Berkeley, California, serving churned-in-house flavors such as Sugar Pie Pumpkin and Nutmeg Candied Orange. Whole Foods began carrying Laloo’s Goat’s Milk Ice Cream this spring, which comes in flavors such as Strawberry Darling, made with balsamic vinegar, and Lemon Chiffon, made with tangy chèvre cheese. SheerBliss “ultra-premium” ice cream made its national debut in a fancy metal tin with four—yes, four—pomegranate flavors—plain pom, pom and chocolate chunk, vanilla with pom seeds, and “freedom”: pom, blueberry, and vanilla.—Jason Horn

Jamón ibérico—the highest expression of the Spanish curing art, and priced to prove it—finally began arriving on our shores this year. Not the larger hams (which will ring in at $1,000-plus when they arrive in 2008: They’re still curing) or the shoulders (2007), but the sausages and cured loin.

That’s exciting enough for those who have waited years for the meat from the acorn-fed patas negras pig, long barred from the U.S. because there wasn’t a Spanish producer who was USDA certified. Anticipating the meat’s arrival, chef José Andrés recently described it on an eGullet board as “like caviar. You taste and you want to cry is so good.”—Nicholas Day

Enrollment in culinary institutions shot up by 14 percent this year, as increasing numbers of young people grasped the (potential) glamour of slaving over a hot stove for strangers. “The Food Network [has] made people see that there are actual careers in the culinary industry,” said Drusilla Blackman, dean of enrollment management at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Thirty-three new culinary programs debuted at accredited colleges across the country, offering would-be Bobby Flays an alternative to the most exclusive of them all, the CIA, which turned away half of its applicants last year.—Michele Foley

Hot Dog Makeover Hailed in publications from The New York Times to Vogue, sous-vide cooking—sealing food in plastic and slow-cooking it in a water bath—was the “it” technique of the year. And like any proper celebrity, sous-vide has suffered a scandal, which came in the form of a crackdown by the New York City Department of Health, which argued that the technique poses a food-poisoning risk. Fines were charged. Chefs got angry. Sous-vide got even more famous. If fame leads to popularity, that’s a lucky break for the American diner, who can expect to enjoy silken carrots and feather-soft lamb shank from coast to coast.—Emily Matchar

Once upon a time, eating a hot dog was a death-defying voyage into a land of pulverized mystery innards. As a general rule, the less you knew about your frank, the better. But this year, dogs went upscale—and got healthy. A chain of Miami eateries called Franktitude opened, serving salmon dogs on whole wheat buns with toppings such as wasabi mayo. In grocery stores, Applewood Farms debuted its Great Organic Hot Dog, an organic, nitrate-free frank made from grass-fed beef. Smaller producers also expanded their offerings; San Francisco’s Let’s Be Frank began selling its high-end beef and heritage turkey dogs at local specialty grocers.—Michele Foley

The Next Big Thing This may have been the Chinese Year of the Dog, but by all culinary accounts it should have been the year of the pig. The porker has become the “it” meat—fattier cuts have caught the attention of chefs across the nation, with pork bellies and whole suckling pigs being served from Lucques in Los Angeles to New York City’s Peasant. Patrick Martins of Heritage Foods USA says the trend has spread from chefs to home cooks. The increased interest in pork is “especially for lesser cuts such as bellies and shanks…. There’s been a total renaissance in these pork products and for pork in general.” And the pork passion includes charcuterie too.—Aïda Mollenkamp

Those lucky enough to have tasted the [blank] understand why some of America’s most innovative chefs risked steep FDA fines for serving the banned [blank]. With an earthy flavor described as “truffled [blank]” and “sweet, earthy [blank],” the [blank] drove foodies to the Internet in desperate search of the delicacy. And then, after an appearance on tasting menus from San Francisco to Boston, it vanished into the ether.

Every year has its “it” foods. This year’s?

Huckleberries: Leave it to the food world to “discover” something that Native Americans have been enjoying since Columbus was a pup. Though probably not as a huckleberry gin fizz.

Chaat: Americans no longer have to buy a ticket to Mumbai in order to get these sweet, savory, spicy, crunchy Indian street snacks—chaat cafes have arrived stateside.

Pluots: Seventy-five percent plum, 25 percent apricot, these hybridized fruits, used in chutney, puddings, and salsa, are sweeter than either of their parents and 37 percent trendier.

White anchovies: Difficult to obtain, beloved in Spain, white anchovies, or boquerones, are clearly a cult hit in the making. Think plump, tender fillets with just a hint of salt.—Emily Matchar