Tracking tasty trends - A look at popular foods of 2002

"Change is one thing, progress is another," the philosopher Bertrand Russell observed. As you wade through the Progress edition of the newspaper today, it's well to keep that distinction in mind, especially as we consider the culinary trends that emerged over the last year and contemplate what's in store for the year to come. After all, as food writer Marty Meitus notes, "The main food trend is the same as it's always been: scrambling to figure out what's for dinner."

2002: The Year in Food

Each year food writers Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens scour books, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and even advertisements, supermarket handouts and the backs of boxes for recipes from the previous year that they consider worth saving. (If you buy only one cookbook this year, their "The Best American Recipes: 2002-2003" should be the one. Its 150 recipes are all keepers.)

In the process of culling material for their collection, McCullough and Stevens keep track of recurring patterns and tendencies. For 2002 they detected the following dominant food trends.

European-style Butter: What margarine manufacturers call "the high priced spread" just got pricier, but a lot of people think it's worth the expense. Last year high-fat European butters with their rich taste became all the rage, so much so that even American companies like Land O' Lakes have gotten into the act with superfat butters of their own. (Plugrá is another brand.)

Grilling: A slew of cookbooks such as Steven Raichlen's "How to Grill" and Cheryl and Bill Jamison's "Born to Grill" have reignited interest in this approach to cooking. It's "back with a vengeance," McCullough and Stevens say, and now we want to grill everything and anything. As proof, they include a recipe for, of all things, barbecued stuffed cabbage.

Sage: Last year the herb that everyone fell in love with was sage. Perhaps it's because it's easy to grow and it keeps for a long time. Moreover, it goes well with pork, whose popularity increased last year as well.

Cranberries: Cranberries have experienced a surge in popularity because of our growing inclination toward tart foods like lemons and limes, also popular flavors last year. No longer relegated to the proverbial cranberry sauce on the Thanksgiving table (which these days is apt to be a chutney instead), cranberries -- fresh or dried -- are turning up everywhere, even in Martinis.

Cabbage: Cabbage, what McCullough and Stevens call a wallflower of a vegetable, has finally hit the big time. No longer the province only of coleslaw, it has found a place in sophisticated salads and in gratins which permit its intrinsic sweetness to shine through. Today there are even recipes for cabbage pesto.

Port: Unlike the British, Americans don't have a history of cooking with port, but the wine is now coming into its own on this side of the Atlantic. It can work magic on baked rhubarb, add sophistication to a grape tart, and provide the indispensable counterpoint in homemade Stilton cheese spread. No wonder we're beginning to develop an appreciation for it.

Bread: Artisanal breads have been on the rise, so to speak, for some time. You can even buy loaves from Los Angeles' La Brea Bakery (arguably the best bakery in the country) at Schnucks. Now bread is becoming an ingredient in its own right. It's a prime component of dishes like Fattoush, the popular Middle Eastern bread salad, and Sardinian bread and tomato casserole, a cross between bread pudding and lasagna. Obviously it also plays a key role in traditional bread puddings, including increasingly popular savory versions, and in all those recipes which call for breadcrumbs. Furthermore, the growing availability of truly good bread has spawned a renaissance in sandwich making. (The American Bakers Association even declared last year the Year of the Sandwich in honor of the 240th anniversary of its invention by John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich.) Helping to fuel this resurgence was the publication of the upscale "Sandwich Book" by Nancy Silverton, who, probably not coincidentally, owns the La Brea Bakery.

Silpat: These nonstick baking mats made out of space-age materials were the cooking tool of the year. Looking a little like large place mats, they are used to line baking sheets instead of parchment paper and obviate the need for greasing. Nothing sticks to them and all they need is a quick rinse before they are ready to use over and over again.

Chocolate: Chocolate was our obsession last year. Of course, it was also our obsession the year before and probably will be next year as well. Though the craze for chocolate is nothing new, there is a new fascination with the cacao content of chocolate. Consequently, manufacturers are producing sophisticated high intensity chocolates and noting their high cacao content right on the package. Noir Gastronomie, a chocolate made by Valrhona of France, for example, contains 61percent cacao. Not to be outdone, American chocolate maker Scharffen-Berger produces a bittersweet chocolate than contains 70 percent cacao.

2003: The Future of Food

Surveying the top trends of the year just past leads inevitably to the question of what lies ahead. Predictions about the future, of course, are risky, especially the future of food, given the susceptibility of the culinary world to fads which may not in the long run amount to anything. Thus, it's hard to know whether the current popularity of edamame beans portends some significant change in American cuisine or if the invention of the pluot (a cross between a plum and an apricot) constitutes a watershed event in culinary history. Moreover, what Canadian food writer Chris Knight calls "Noshtrodamian" predictions vary widely. Thus, one forecaster contends that coconut will be the trendiest ingredient of 2003 while another says it will be avocado oil.

Even so, the experts seem to agree on one thing: the wave of the future when it comes to home cooking will be simplicity and convenience. People no longer have the time, the inclination, or the energy to cook from scratch. Indeed, the very meaning of "scratch" cooking is undergoing change, especially for a generation that grew up with frozen pizza and takeout food. Home cooking today may mean merely assembling food components that are already pretty much prepared.

There's even a name for this approach to cooking -- "convenience cuisine" -- coined by Andrew Schloss, author of a new cookbook on the subject. He is not alone. Anne Byrn, the lady who dignified quasi-scratch baking in her wildly successful book "The Cake Mix Doctor," is now working on a sequel called "Dinner Doctor." No wonder. Sales of cookbooks that specialize in casseroles, that quintessentially convenient dish, or delve into the marvels of the Crock-Pot, the appliance that is synonymous with convenience, are on the increase. Even Martha Stewart is jumping on the bandwagon. Her new publication, "Everyday Food," though eschewing processed ingredients, concentrates on simple, easy-to-prepare dishes and is not above sanctioning canned goods, frozen foods, and other store-bought ingredients.

You have only to stroll down the aisles of your local supermarket to see evidence of this trend. There are convenience foods at every turn. When, for example, was the last time you bought spinach by the bunch and took it home to clean? Most likely you buy it pre-washed in a plastic bag. That's increasingly the norm in a society where, surveys show, on any given night fully one-third of the households are serving a frozen or ready-to-eat main dish and half the meals are prepared in 30 minutes or less.

True cooking from scratch, some observers fear, may never return, and that may be regrettable. But in the process meals are getting simpler. In fact, 50 percent of all main meals today consist of only one dish. This emphasis on simplicity in the home kitchen is being mirrored in restaurant kitchens with the result that pretentious food is out. People are looking for simple, basic, honest, unfussy food with fresh, natural ingredients and bold taste. That's surely a trend we can all savor.

Butter Chicken

Though its namesake ingredient, butter, has become fashionably gourmet, this dish, adapted from Julie Sahni's "Indian Regional Classics," epitomizes an even bigger culinary trend -- simple, convenient, yet full-flavored cooking. Not only is it made with store-bought rotisserie chicken, but you can make it up to two days ahead, then reheat it to serve.

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter

2 small roasted chickens

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 cups canned tomato puree

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup julienned fresh ginger

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper

1 to 4 green chile peppers, chopped

2 teaspoons tandoori masala spice blend (optional)

Directions: Bone chicken, remove skin, and cut into serving-sized pieces. Sprinkle with cumin and sauté in 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat for 1 and 1/2 minutes on each side. Combine remaining ingredients, add to chicken, and simmer about 15 minutes until chicken absorbs some of the sauce and becomes meltingly tender. Stir in remaining butter and, if using, tandoori masala. Serve with Basmati rice.

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