Orange is the new black? Sounds familiar? That’s a tagline for a TV show to say right now black is the thing to be eaten. But how? Any which way one wants to. Now this discussion isn’t headed towards black rice. It is all about things that are dyed black and are meant to be eaten.
To stay in tune with the latest food trend, let your imagination with black food travel to something as common as ice cream to something as complex as getting sea food flavoured black spaghetti.
To get a glimpse into the ‘dark’ world of foodies, check out Instagram platform where foodies aren’t getting enough of their black post with a #blackfood. You’ll find black ice cream, black macaroon, black burgers, croissants and of course the black rice. Food stalls in Bangkok are making heads turn with their array of fresh black croissants, the zebra croissants and black streaked croissants. Also big on the black trend are the black macaroons and black baguette.
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Since it is Instagram it isn’t necessarily only international trend we are talking of, the black trend has touched Indian shors with food chains and chefs in love with this new colour.
Chef Francis who is with ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad he is planning to surprise his guests with black macaroons. He says that when he was with the Chennai ITC property, he loved experimenting with charcoal dust to make the black baguette in their Italian restaurant.
But how does one dye their food black? “A very easy method is to use edible dye. But since that involves artificial colouring the next best alternative is to use charcoal dust. If one wants to be a bit more experimental, it can be a fine paste of black sesame. The other most common way to dye the food is to use squid ink,” explains Francis.
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However, there is trick to using the source of the dye for the right dish. A ‘fishy’ ice cream may not have too many takers, so it is best to avoid squid ink for things that render a sweet taste. Same goes with breads and croissants. “For breads and pastries, I would definitely go for charcoal dust because it will impart a smoky flavour,” adds Francis.
But Chef Mandaar Suktankar who’s an authority on Italian cuisine says, “I vouch for squid ink for pasta/spaghetti. It will go with the cuisine, especially if it is a seafood pasta.”
For a handmade pasta fest at The Park, chef Mandaar didn’t simply whip up the black spaghetti with shrimp sauce. He loves describing his hunt for the source to colour the spaghetti black. “I didn’t want the easy way out of using a black dye. No chef who loves his profession will want to do that. For something as exotic as Italian cuisine, nothing less than fresh ingredients would do justice. Squid ink wasn’t available easily, so I asked my supplier for an alternative — cuttlefish. The cuttlefish also carries a sack full of ink which can be used in cooking. The ink was used to make the black spaghetti from scratch and is served with a shrimp sauce. We call Tagliolini neri con gamberi, capperi, peperoncino ed olio extra vergine di oliva or in other words ‘Squid ink pasta with prawns, capers, chilli and extra virgin olive oil,” smiles Mandaar.
A little research will say that black food trend isn’t new for Indians because we love our black til ladoos, sesame dip and the very traditional black sesame chicken. After all this talk of black food, how about using cocoa charcoal or a tooth brush with charcoal bristle that’s been available for a while in the supermarkets? Just saying!