Food predictions 2016 full of eastern Promise

                                                         Praise the Lard: Lard is back! - Apparently?
                                                         (I was never aware it went away.)

Given the prevalence of pork meat it has always been around in Portugal and Spain.Some cakes also include lard and are all the better for it.Lard is the second most popular cooking fat in Portugal,after olive oil,as far as traditional dishes are concerned.
If not rendering your own, try and buy banha de porco preto,rendered from the black pig.
At the beginning of each new year I like to get myself in tune with how food fads and taste trends are moving.Whats in and whats out? Whats been quietly brewing and is now falling off the shelves. We can now be ready and prepared to make our very own home made versions.I enjoy what the predators are predicting.I dont mean predators do I? I mean forecasters.It's also about predicting when new trends will fail and which will be forgotten.... "This season, maroon is back with a right vengeance                                                           eyes  are popping out while lips are receding".

Die hard
Hear us out, kale stand fasts. Whether you like it or not the fad is over. Grelos (turnip greens) Watercress, Chinese cabbage, Swiss chard, beet greens and spinach have all knocked kale off the top spot. So let’s move on and experiment with some different leafy greens this year,shall we?

¿Por Qué No? - The demise of the spiralizer
By design, trends are doomed to surge, succeed, and die sad lonely deaths — particularly in the realms of health and fitness, where everyone is looking for the next quick fix.Last years "must have" fast becomes this year´s "don´t want." (Remember how everyone was obsessed with spiralizers). Devastated by the demise of yet another spiralizer? How much can one woman take?! How many gift wrapped boxes when opened this Christmas contained spiralizers? Yet another gimmicky gadget that will go to the back of the cupboard unused,and surface again in a few years time at a car boot sale or flea market stall.

Burned
Smoke and fire are showing up everywhere on menus it seems: in charred or roasted vegetable sides; in desserts with charred fruits or burnt-sugar toppings; in cocktails featuring smoked salt, smoked ice or smoky syrups.Blackened this and blackened that, the  Masterchef finalists nearly set the television alight when they travelled through Europe to Sweden to cook on open fires without either gas or electricity.I would have kept that on the back burner myself.

"woe to the cook whose sauce has no sting"- Chaucer

The Sriracha Effect continues: The hot sauce from Thailand continues to grow in popularity, but will the “effect” be that us cooks and chefs will continue to search for the next hot ethnic flavour in the strive to find lightning in a bottle again.Having learned that Sriracha sauce can add instant ethnic cachet to something as straightforward as a sandwich, chefs are now scouting the world for other assertive flavourings to employ in similar ways. Likely bets: ghost pepper from India; sambal from Southeast Asia; gochujang from Korea; harissa, sumac and dukka from North Africa.Or will it be.....good old piri piri from Portugal that will upset Giles Coren this time.
 
Bye-bye, Sriracha. Hello, harissa
A few years ago, it was the unpronounceable hot sauce that you might only find in downtown Bangkok. Now, without looking for it one finds it in one´s cheese melt of a lunch time.The foodie forecasters are saying the next sauce to experience a sriracha-like rise is Harissa, the spicy and aromatic chilli paste that's a widely used staple in North African and Middle Eastern cooking and as common as ketchup in Tunisia.Like sriracha, harissa is also versatile and can work in a wide variety of applications.
Move over cheese sriracha melt with a side order of sriracha potato chips and get ready for the chicken harissa melt with some honey glazed sweet potato chips— maybe not this year, but some day soon.

The elevation of peasant fare.
Meatballs and sausages are proliferating—traditional, ethnic or nouveau, shaped from many types and combinations of meats. Likewise on the rise are multi-ethnic dumplings, from pierogis to bao buns and kachoris. Escargot is back, too. People are eating snails again everywhere. Guess what? Chefs are using them to dress up their peasant food.

Trash to treasure.
Rising prices for expensive cuts of meat and fish is raising the profiles of under-utilized stewing cuts, organ meats and "trash" species of fish—I have always been a fan of the"use it all" mindset. How about a veggie burger made with carrot pulp from the juicer?

Fill the Greek
Greek yoghurt has been popular for quite some time, and manufacturers are now getting creative with flavours. Trends include mixing fruit with savoury twists like ginger and orange, feta and watermelon, as well as olive oil, seeds and spices. I believe there is even a sriracha mango concotion on the market. Last years vanilla is this years Seville orange and amaretti. Greek yoghurt is a nutritional powerhouse loaded with protein, probiotics to promote healthy gut bacteria, Vitamin B12, calcium and vitamin D. New flavours will make this healthy food even more versatile. Dips with crudités.Use it as a sauce,marinade or baste for chicken or fish.

Flying down to Rio
With the Olympic and Paralympic Games to deliver in 2016, Brazilian fare is set to become very popular. This will be a year to savour for Brazil.Think barbecued meats, caipirinhas, lots of rice and fruit.Bring on the brigadeiro,moqueca, coxinhas, pao de queijo.....
Lots more on those stories later.

From sparkling mocktails to Prosecco, we will all be enjoying our bubbles in 2016.

Votos de um Feliz Bom ano novo a todos!!!!