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FOOD&DRINK
POUROFYORE
A modern winemaker
attempts the original beer
The craft brewing trend is
fast conquering the world, but
while many beer makers argue
over whose methods are most
traditional, Meinklang’s Ancient
Grains Ale might actually have a
case for the crown. The golden-
hued Austrian beer is brewed
from three of the world’s oldest
wheat varieties—einkorn, emmer
and spelt—along with equally
antique hersbrucker and
spalter hops. Meinklang’s
proprietors, the Michlits
family from Burgenland,
Austria, are best known
for their biodynamic
wines, but in 2006
they began applying
their holistic farming
practices to grains
Rye, Oh Rye
OldWorld loaves may be the best thing since sliced ...
Mention the canonical sandwich of the Jewish delicatessen, and
most people will imagine piles of juicy corned beef and pastrami
pressed between thin slices of forgettable, pockmarked rye. But that
doesn’t mean all rye breads suffer from an absence of character.
ManyNorthern European countries have centuries-old baking tradi-
tions that remain devoted to the spicy grain. In countries like Latvia
and Finland, rye bread is not simply a conveyance for sandwich
fillings, but a cultural cornerstone that is said to impart strength
and vitality to both baker and eater.
Naturally, three companies that hail from Northern European
traditions—Storye, which is based in Latvia, and Black Rooster and
Nordic Breads, which are located in New York City but are run by a
Latvian and a Finn, respectively—areworking to boost rye’s reputa-
tion. Each company combines 100percentwhole-grain ryeflourwith
DARKMATTERS
A new grain is on chefs’ minds
like white on rice
BY AMBER GIBSON
WHENTHEWAITERASKS
what kind of rice
you’d like with that, there are exactly two
options: the tasty and the righteous. Din-
erswho favor smoothflavor at the expense
of nutrients will choose the white. Those
who favor their figure will choose the
brown. And that’s that. Or is it?
If the recent proliferation of black rice
among sushi spots andWhole Foods stores
is any indication, there is soontobeahappy
medium. Chewier thanwhiteor brownrice,
witha fruityflavor and a deeppurple color,
black rice has begun to appear on restau-
rant menus alongside its less pigmented
cousins. Said to have been so precious
in ancient China that it was reserved for
emperors, black rice also contains the same
antioxidants found in acai berries. “Chefs
see it as a superfood,” says chef Ian Pen-
gelley of London’s Gilgamesh, a pan-Asian
restaurantwhose separate black ricemenu
contains suchdishes as friedblack ricewith
Chinese sausage, prawn and egg; black rice
risotto with king crab, yuzu, truffle and
bonito; and startlingly colored sushi rolls.
In Chicago, Union Sushi and Barbeque
Bar mixes the exotic grain into rice
pudding with coconut milk and sesame
seeds. “The earthy aroma from the black
rice and the touch of sweetness enhance
the flavor,” says executive chef Worachai
Thapthimkuna. But regardless of health
benefits or taste, he admits there’s a super-
ficial reason the grain
is gaining in popular-
ity: It looks cool on
white plates.
JEFF QUINN (BREAD); GROVE PASHLEY/GETTY IMAGES (RICE)
COLORWHEELS
Chefs’ new
and improved
rice palette