Jamie Oliver now also
Knows His Onions

(Well, he always did)

Know Your Onions has been around for a while, it is the child of 3 very distinct minds who love to create new stuff together (and cook). We love the high tech world, but also believe that innovation is about finding the best way to solve a problem, no matter what technology goes into it. That is the premise of this idea: using a ‘chat’ system to help you get great recipes when you need the most; and SMS, at least for now, is the universal format for it.

He crafted our recipes and system, and having been sharing both with everyone in the UK. However, recently we have been talking with some folks who also believe simplicity can help us live a better life, specially when it comes to cooking and eating.

We are proud to announce something we’ve been dreaming about for a long time: Know Your Onions is now partnering with Jamie Oliver! Jamie and his team work hard to make cooking a democratic experience. He was a pioneer with his iPhone App, but now you can get Jamie Oliver’s recipes from any phone. It doesn’t get more democratic than that, does it? Because of the operation cost involved, e can no longer send our SMS completely free, but we tried to make it as cheap as possible: each recipe will cost 50p. Make sure you check jamieoliver.com as we’ll be adding new recipes soon and other cool stuff you can do with our system.

Check Jamie’s SMS recipes

Channel 4 now on YouTube

Despite being one of the most typed URLs in browsers worldwide, YouTube has always struggled to make its business profitable. Even after its purchase by Google, the popular video website still hasn’t figure out how to pay for the bandwidth it consumes. The cost per video play is dropping steeply, but it still costs.

Announced a bit more than a month ago, the Channel 4 partnership finally goes live. Even though user generated content was (well, still is) the “You” of the brand, it seems the site is trying to pitch its model as a plug-n-play platform any content producers wanting to deliver video on demand. It is easy to spot the influence from other upcoming brands. Hulu.com, where millions are watching TV hits, has taken over the US in a very short time. BBC iPlayer is constantly developing, and is already ported to many mobile devices.

Whatever happens, we win. Apart from some limitations (I wanted to embed a video here, but it is simply not possible) and adverts on our way (ok, we are getting spoiled), having the Channel 4 content available is incredible. To no one’s surprise, my favourite is the Food session. All our beloved chefs are there (although I’m a Jamie fan, I keep finding myself always watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, as well as some special delicacies, like the Willie’s Chocolate Revolution.

Enjoy, but don’t let them take the “You” out of “Tube”. Keep posting your (recipe) videos too.

Buen Ayre – Broadway Market

The logo is cute, the place is cute, and the meat mind blowing. Buen Ayre is a proper Argentine Grill, hidden at trendy Broadway Market. It would be hard to imagine chef John Patrick Rattagan preparing perfect parrilladas with a name like that. But this child of an Irish mother and an Irish-Argentine father was indeed born in Buenos Ayres, Argentina, and ever since he was a young toddler, the grill was already his thing (or so it says at their website).

The empanadas (Argentine pasties) kicked off the dinner, followed by a bife de chorizo (14oz grilled prime Argentine Sirloin) for me and a bife de lomo (10oz grilled Argentine Fillet) for my girl (we were celebrating 3 years together by the way). For dessert, a lovely panqueque de dulce de leche con helado (Milk toffee pancakes with ice cream). The wine selection (only Argentinians allowed) is quite interesting, and we had a very good Gestos 2007 – F. Flichman, from Mendoza. Obviously, a Malbec.

The prices don’t suite an ordinary meal, but the meat is grand (from flavour to size) and the atmosphere that makes you forget you’re in the middle of the trendiest area of London. Let the Tango in the background resume and, please, another round of Malbec.

Picture taken from Buen Ayres website © 2006/7 O.Geibel

80 new brilliant recipes

I’m excited to announce our chefs just posted 80 new great recipes. These have been carefully selected based on requests our users have been making, and the list is just amazing. We have increased our recipes of British dishes, added more seafood options and some delightful desserts.

Some of my favourites:
Guinness Beef Stew
Lamb and Prune Tagine
Omelette Arnold Bennett
Roast Rhubarb and Custard
Spinach, Pignoli and Goat Cheese Lasagna
Steak and Kidney Pie

The idea is to continue growing so please continue to send us feedback. Don’t forget, from any UK mobile phone, text “cook” followed by any ingredient you have in mind for 83333, and we’ll send you the list of ingredients. Enjoy.

Relais de Venise Secret Sauce: the first attempt

The meat was a perfect tenderloin cut bought at Smithfield, the chips where superbly crisp, but undoubtedly the star of the night was the sauce. My first attempt to emulate Le Relais de Venise secret sauce.

I remember when a copy-cat restaurant opened in Rio (probably 10 years ago). We Brazilians do love our meat, and usually anything on top is just not our cup of tea, but that sauce caught me by surprise. It had such a distinct flavour – herby with a kick – that left me wondering what was inside. The restaurant didn’t convince other Brazilians and closed soon after, but the taste remained in my mouth. After moving to London, I managed to re-encounter it, now going to the original (soon after experiencing the parisian one as well).

So, I challenged myself to give it a go making the sauce at home. After extensive desk research (i.e. googling it), I found this:

• 1/4 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 4 anchovy fillets, chopped
• 1/4 cup low-sodium beef broth or homemade chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chervil

The preparation:
Either using the pan the steaks were cooked in, or another pan: add the wine to pan (and deglaze, if necessary, stirring up the brown bits). Add the broth, shallots, anchovies, and cook until the liquid reduces to a glaze. Remove from heat, whisk in the butter 1 T. at a time, then add the herbs.

My conclusion:
Anchovies was the big rewarding surprise. It is definitely part of the original. On the downside, I think this recipe suggests a bit too much. I would drop half of the suggested portion. What’s missing? I had always tasted mustard in the original, this recipe doesn’t take mustard and I felt it was missing in the flavour. Mental note: go with your guts and add mustard the next time. Lastly, I’m not sure which herb is still missing, but I’m on the case.

Please, feel free to send me suggestions, tips or, even better, the original recipe if you have it. I swear I’ll only keep it at this blog.

Jamie Oliver 20 Minute Meals

What am I doing promoting an iPhone app? Well, first of all, it’s Jamie, and Jamie will be at pretty much all my top lists. The guy is fun, laid back, a well intentioned lad and makes great food. As I’ve said before, even though I dig fine dining now and again, a well done, full of flavour comfort food will always win me over. And Jamie does it better than anyone.

Jamie Oliver 20 Minute Meals is the latest venture of UK’s coolest chef. The app has great recipes, videos of helpful hints and loads more. Ok, the iPhone is “the new black” (I read it somewhere, hence the quotes; I just don’t remember where, sorry). But I think Jamie is into something here and it’s in sync with what we believe as well: although cooking is done at the sanctuary called home, we simply cannot escape the crazy mobile routine of modern day living. A good example of that is the shopping list session at Jamie’s app.

Of course the guy is a businessman, and he knows he’s shooting for a very promising market. The £4.99 price is not a lunch deal, but it’s definitely worth it. Available at the App Store. Now imagine Jamie and KnowYourOnions reaching all the rest of the mobile devices, who knows, maybe one day ;)

PS: I’m simply addicted to Jamie’s American Road Trip, I had recorded it but only now I’m having time to watch it. The book Jamie’s America should be cool as well.

Good reading for a Sunday morning, and Monday, Tuesday…

I just found at the Times Online the article 50 of the world’s best food blogs. It is an unbelievable starting point for hours and hours of proper gastronomic literature. I’ve been lost in the reading for the last couple of hours and now the Sunday lunch is seriously compromised. Some of them:

Orangette: number one at the list, this is Molly Wizenberg’s blog, who changed her Ph.D. studies in cultural anthropology Ph.D. for her passion in food anthropology. Her writing is delightful and does deserve to be on the top of the list. Molly managed to go from blogger to published author with A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table.

Cannelle et Vanille: number two, the blog by the US based Basque Aran Goyoaga is the paradise for any desert enthusiast. I’m known not to be so fascinated about deserts (apart from my chocolate addiction), but Aran grabs anyone’s attention, either with her words of her amazing photography.

A Slice of Cherry Pie: our dear friend, Julia Parsons, the force behind UK Food Bloggers Association, is also featured at the list. In addition to being at the list, Julia (and a few others) appears on an exclusive interview, where she tells a bit about what makes her blog popular, how she started writing and the recipes – surprisingly – become popular.

UK YCE Awards

Just a quick note. We’re delighted to announce we have been selected as finalists for this year’s UK Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards, a British Council initiative.

“The YCE programme recognises the centrality of creative entrepreneurs to the development of a sustainable and competitive creative economy, and the bridge they provide between artists and the markets, between creative talent and consumers.”

This year’s market focus is India, and Christoph Burgdorfer – our Head of Technology – will be touring India with KnowYourOnions, showing how powerful our tools for managing and distributing content via SMS are. Go Christoph!

Artisan du Chocolat

It’s already at the top of my to-do list. Artisan du Chocolat seems to be the paradise for any chocoholic. Spread through a few locations around London, you can experience cocoa in pretty any shape, form and flavour. Apparently the chocolate cocktails by master mixologist Nick Strangeway are a hit, but I’d probably still reserve the calories for the tasting menu: 2 full hours dedicated to… chocolate.

London Restaurant Festival

Seems like a good bet. The London Restaurant Festival probably doesn’t bring super novelty stuff to the table, but it’s that little nudge for you to adventure throughout the city. Some events are quite interesting, such as harmonizing movies about food with food about movies. The Gourmet Odyssey is particular interesting; you enjoy each at different restaurants, with the comfort of a private bus helping you migrate between courses. And we’re talking Nobu, Maze, etc, quite interesting pit-stops.