Atol de elote is a sweet corn beverage frequently doled out warm in Guatemalan markets. Seasoned with cinnamon or vanilla, fresh corn kernels are pulverized on a grinding stone or metate to achieve the drink’s silky, creamy consistency. (In a pinch, a blender gets the job done, too.)

This recipe ran alongside Chris Bagley‘s 2017 story, “Guatemala’s Ancient Food Traditions.“

The post Atol de Elote appeared first on Saveur.

Literally “tiger’s milk,” this bright and spicy citrus-based marinade is used to cure the fish in classic Peruvian ceviche. This leche de tigre recipe makes a sizable batch; leftovers can be frozen for up to a month to be repurposed in more ceviche, marinades, or even in savory drinks, like our Hair of the Tiger cocktail.

Featured in “The Secrets of Lima’s Cutting Edge Ceviche.“

The post Leche de Tigre appeared first on Saveur.

In spite of plenty of snobbery, tender white bread remains a beloved staple of cuisines all around the world. Editorial director (and ex-professional bread baker) Kat Craddock’s version is aerated and fluffy like North American packaged loaves, but with the enriched chew and structure of French pain au lait. She also borrowed a shaping technique from Japanese and Taiwanese bakers, which results in a delicate, feathery crumb. The result: an ethereally fluffy, generously buttery, and delightfully squishable loaf.

Get seasonal recipes, methods and techniques sent right to your inbox—sign up here to receive SAVEUR’s newsletters. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at @saveurmag.

Featured In: How to Make the Fluffiest White Bread in the World

More Bread Recipes

The post The Fluffiest White Bread in the World appeared first on Saveur.

The relationship between “healthy” food and inclusivity tends to be inverse. Health food brands often project an aura of exclusivity around their products. Ghost Town Oats, the world’s first Black- and queer-owned oat milk company, wants to break down the barrier surrounding one of today’s trendiest health-promoting products—one delicious, creamy cappuccino at a time. 

As of late July, the LA-based brand is officially available in select coffee shops in Los Angeles, like Dayglow and Obet & Del’s Coffee, and Chicago, like Stan’s Donuts. It’s the fledgling company’s first step toward creating a deeply inclusive, widely available, and (attention, baristas) better-tasting oat milk. 

Like many newish and innovative food companies, Ghost Town Oats was a brainchild of the pandemic. Stuck at home, veteran coffee professionals Michelle Johnson, Ezra Baker, and Eric J. Grimm decided to join forces and create a product that they felt the industry needed. Their goals were threefold: taste, texture, and culture. “We really homed in on what flavors we wanted,” said Baker on a recent phone call, explaining that many of the existing oat milks tasted overwhelmingly “oaty.” Their goal was to create one with a taste and creaminess that approximated whole milk.

Because all of the founders are baristas at heart—Johnson, known for her blog The Chocolate Barista, was in fact the first Black woman to qualify for the U.S. Barista Championship—it was important that the milk alternative they created could steam exceptionally well. “That was the number one thing that we wanted to do,” said Baker. 

Finally, they wanted to reach customers they believe have too often been excluded from plant-based milk culture—specifically, communities of color. Currently, according to Baker, the target audience for alternative milks largely overlaps with wellness adherents—mostly white, mostly affluent. According to Baker, “we want to be the bridge” to a much wider, more diverse customer base. “We want to be the Sprite of oat milk,” he continued, in reference to how the lemon-lime soda was historically heavily marketed to African American communities. But unlike Sprite, oat milk carries nutritional benefits—and it’s lactose-free, a significant consideration for communities of color that Baker points out are more likely to experience lactose intolerance. 

The company’s commitment to inclusivity runs so deep that it’s even built into the financing. Through the WeFunder platform, the company invites anyone to buy a piece of the pie (for as little as $100) and potentially earn a return on their investment. As of this writing, Ghost Town Oats has raised $236,518 from 392 investors.

If investors have proven to be eager, so have customers (and wannabe customers). According to the company’s WeFunder page, the waitlist for coffee shops wanting to carry Ghost Town Oats has soared past 100. Reminiscent of the explosive growth of the bonafide unicorn startup Oatly, Ghost Town Oats stands to scale fast. “It’s almost scary for someone who’s never done this. I’m freaking out a little bit,” said Baker with a laugh. “But we’re having fun.”

When asked about his ultimate vision of success, Baker didn’t mention funding rounds or financials. He replied, “Success for us would be to go to any bodega in New York City or in Brooklyn and find our product there.”

The post Why Oat Milk Is Too White—And How One Brand Is Determined to Change That appeared first on Saveur.

Among Amazonian communities in northeastern Ecuador, chucula is a staple food. At its most basic it is simply ripe bananas mixed with water, a few spices, and a sweetener such as panela or honey. It’s simple to prepare, just boiled in a pot, and can then be eaten either warm or cold. This recipe, which is adapted from The Latin American Cookbook by Virgilio Martínez (© 2021 Phaidon Press) is a variation from other parts of the country where milk usually replaces the water, yielding a richer consistency akin to a smoothie.

Featured in “Why Virgilio Martínez Wants You to Rethink Latin American Food.”

The post Chucula (Ecuadorian Sweet Plantain Pudding) appeared first on Saveur.

Shubham Rathi opened the doors to Meltish – The Cheese Cafe in Pune, India in March 2021 and was pleasantly surprised when patrons arrived in droves to buy cheese platters for Diwali celebrations. He had not expected this kind of response from customers who were largely hesitant about cheese consumption until the latter half of the last century. Though India has reigned supreme as the world’s largest producer of milk since 1998, the country is not widely known as a cheese-making nation; paneer, a fresh creamy cottage cheese, is perhaps the only variety consumed universally by people all across the subcontinent. 

India has a rather complex history with dairy, one riddled with layers of convoluted cultural and religious ideologies, as well as foreign influences and colonization. According to the Vedas, ancient Hindu scriptures, milk is considered pure and holy; hence, the curdling of milk (an essential step in producing cheese) is believed to be a bad omen. So it followed that any subsequent products made from that milk were considered impure, and unworthy of offering to the Hindu gods for special occasions. The tropical climate, lack of refrigeration systems in earlier times, and negative connotations around souring milk all further impeded the development of cheesemaking. 

Against these odds, India does have a handful of indigenous cheeses to its credit, such as Bandel, a salt-cured and smoked cheese; chhurpi, a hard cheese made from the milk of a chauri (a cross between a male yak and a cow); and kalari, a stretchy cheese indigenous to Jammu and Kashmir. These cheeses are relished mostly by the locals of their originating regions. 

When Amul, an Indian dairy cooperative, introduced budget-friendly processed cheeses around the country in the 1960s, Indians began using these products to make sandwiches, pizza, and pasta. In the last decade, Indians have become increasingly interested in experimenting with more diverse varieties of cheese—and a new breed of artisan cheesemakers is emerging to meet the demand. 

One factor driving this growing interest is overseas travel, which is encouraging more people to explore different cuisines and dishes. “People who have lived abroad or traveled overseas want to connect with the cheese again,” says Mansi Jasani, a cheesemaker and cheesemonger at The Cheese Collective in Mumbai. “Indians who have not traveled abroad, but have gotten exposed to [artisan cheese] through social media, are also eager to try it.” In addition, health-conscious households are increasingly interested in consuming preservative-free, unprocessed food. The COVID-19 pandemic further propelled the demand for handcrafted cheese; Indians holed up at home tried to replicate restaurant-like food in their own kitchens, and cheesemakers pivoted their businesses to accommodate them.

“Before the pandemic, we were supplying only to restaurants and hotels. But during the pandemic, when we adopted a direct-to-consumer business model and started selling through our website, the response was phenomenal,” says Mausam Jotwani, cheesemaker and founder of Eleftheria Cheese.

Experimental Indian chefs are further bolstering this surge of interest by using artisan cheese in their restaurant kitchens. “As restaurateurs and chefs, we must support the ecosystem we work in,” explains Hussain Shahzad, executive chef at The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro restaurants in Mumbai. “The cheesemakers are doing some great work, and we are trying to add value to what they have already produced.” Shazad’s menu features dishes like sweet and creamy stracciatella served atop the Indian winter delicacy nimona kulcha (a green pea Indian flat bread), as well as a creamy carrot puree inspired by Goa-style carrot foogath (a dish of finely chopped carrots) that is layered with burrata. 

The restaurant Masque in Mumbai is also showcasing India’s domestic cheeses, primarily kalari, through its creative tasting menu. “People outside Kashmir are excited and curious to know about it as they do not regularly eat these dishes,” says Prateek Sadhu, executive chef and co-owner of Masque. He serves his guests kalari kulcha, a street food from Jammu that involves grilling the kalari and stuffing it between Kashmiri bread rolls before slathering with walnut and chile chutneys. He also makes finger millet tacos with grated Bandel cheese, served alongside chutneys and salad.

Across India, artisan cheesemakers are handcrafting products that rival their European counterparts. “We noticed our consumers purchase almost twice a week, so it was clear that we needed to offer new cheeses and flavors,” says Shruti Golchha, of Bengaluru-based Begum Victoria. “We quickly worked on introducing fresh and soft cheeses, as these have a shorter aging process, thus allowing us to test in small batches and pivot according to feedback received from customers.” Golchha notes that their brie in particular is an all-time favorite among patrons.

While Begum Victoria uses only milk sourced from a farm that breeds Hallikar cows, an indigenous breed famed for its high-grade milk, The Farm at Chennai raises its own livestock to ensure top-notch quality control. The Farm produces various cheeses, including the best-selling Tomme de Semmancheri—inspired by France’s Tomme de Savoie, but with added piquancy. At Himalayan Cheese in Pahalgam in Kashmir, Chris Zandee from the Netherlands has worked closely with the pastoral semi-nomadic Gujjar community and local Kashmiri farmers since 2006. “I wanted to empower the local farmers,” says Zandee, who decided to join forces with them after taking part in relief work following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. “I realized the need for the farmers to benefit from the cheese market that was very niche and expensive [rather than leaving profits to the middle-men].” Today, he engages with them by helping them take care of their cattle to ensure a better yield. While he makes a wide variety of cheeses—including gouda, gruyere, cheddar, and mozzarella—his kalari has sold particularly well across India.

As for Jotwani of Eleftheria Cheese, she started her business with fresh cheeses like mozzarella, ricotta, burrata, and stracciatella. Later, she also began making Brunost (Norwegian-style whey cheese), halloumi, and Belper Knolle infused with crushed garlic and Kerala black pepper. She supplies her products to high-end restaurants, pizzerias, and Italian restaurants in Mumbai.

Other makers even incorporate traditional Indian flavors into their cheeses—for example, Chennai-based Käse offers an aged cheddar rubbed with podi masala (a spice mix that includes chana dal, urad dal, and dried chiles). In the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, Darima produces a nutty Zarai cheese infused with locally sourced spices. Instead of using Herbs de Provence in her cabecou, Jasani of The Cheese Collective adds complexity to the cheese’s flavor with a dash of coriander- and cumin-scented pav bhaji masala. 

The hard work of artisan cheesemakers in India has not gone unnoticed. At the 2021 World Cheese Awards, Eleftheria Cheese won a silver medal for its Brunost, likened to a salted caramel milk fudge. This was the first time that an Indian contender entered the contest. The event also saw Jasani take the stage as the first Indian judge, thus paving the way for greater Indian representation on the world cheese map.   

These cheesemakers not only produce cheese, but also educate consumers on the fundamentals of their craft. Jasani conducts guided tasting and pairing sessions and platter-arranging workshops. After all, the demand for artisan cheese has made cheese platters popular at special occasions like birthdays, corporate events, baby showers, and weddings.  

For these dairy alchemists creating magic in their creameries, the path to global consumption has its difficulties. The expensive prices and limited availability of cold chain logistics make it difficult to transport cheese throughout the country. Sourcing unadulterated milk and educating farmers to avoid injecting their cattle with hormones and antibiotics continue to pose challenges. But despite these issues, artisans are on a mission to make and showcase high-grade Indian cheeses to the world. “The world needs to know about Indian cheeses,” says Zandee. “They should be celebrated.” 

The post The World’s Largest Milk Producer Is Now A Hot Spot For Artisan Cheese appeared first on Saveur.

The simplest of the French mother sauces, Béchamel has several origin stories, but the first printed reference appears in Le cuisinier moderne (1733) by Vincent La Chapelle, a master cook who served various aristocratic patrons, including Madame de Pompadour. In this version, chef Hélène Darroze adds garlic, as well as the mild Espelette pepper, cultivated in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. “This pepper is in my DNA, because I’m Basque. It has a touch of sweetness that makes it special.” Find Espelette in your local spice shop, or online from Kalustyan’s. 

Featured in: “The Mothers of All French Sauces.”

The post Béchamel Sauce appeared first on Saveur.

Rice puddings can be found in almost every culture. In Egypt, milky, chilled roz bil laban is fragrant with cardamom and sometimes a hint of rosewater. (Cardamom is also featured in the country’s corn flour puddings, or mhallabiya, a number of pastries, and hot cups of Arabic coffee.) This pudding, which easily feeds a crowd and can be made a day or two ahead, is infused with whole cardamom pods, and has ground cardamom and cinnamon sprinkled on top to taste.

Featured in: “Meet the Farmer Shaking Up the Guatemalan Cardamom Trade“

What You Will Need

• Large Pot
• Medium Bowl
• Whisk

The post Cardamom Rice Pudding appeared first on Saveur.

SAVEUR magazine brings you a collection of 10 recipes where dairy takes center stage. Milk, buttermilk, and cream play starring roles in cardamom buttermilk pie, rice pudding, panna cotta, three milks cake (tres leches cake), and some savory surprises.

French Baked Toast with Cream and Eggs

Fennel Baked in Milk

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Sevaya Kheer (Vermicelli Milk Pudding)

Tamil-Style Sweet Rice Pudding

Tres Leches Cake

Hot Milk Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Brazilian Fish and Coconut Milk Stew

The post Milk in the Kitchen appeared first on Saveur.