Lockdown trends: Banana bread, pancake cereal, fast food recipe hacks
From pancake cereal to spag bol pizza, food trends have been a little wacky during lockdown 2.0. Here’s some that have really hit the spot.
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Melbourne is known for its culinary class so it’s no surprise that the kitchen took centre stage during round two of isolation.
The love affair with baking continued with a savoury newcomer – sourdough bread – joining banana bread on the menu for home cooks.
Savvy bar owners jumped onto the meal kit bandwagon, packaging up their best tipples to send out to thirsty hibernators.
And fast food fans turned taste detectives to decipher exactly what ingredients go into Macca’s sweet and sour sauce.
Here are some of the most popular food trends for lockdown 2.0.
BREAKFAST BY TIK TOK
Uncle Toby had some serious competition in the mornings thanks to a tiny pancake craze sparked by video-sharing platform Tik Tok. Dubbed pancake cereal the dish was really just a new way to dish up an old favourite. Itsy bitsy pancakes served in a bowl with a splash of milk and lashings of maple syrup were fiddly to create but looked great on Insta. And all it required was basic ingredients and a lot of patience. The dish also inspired a spin off – cookie cereal – tiny choc chip cookies served in a bowl with milk.
COPYCAT FAST FOOD
The 5km from home rule put the Golden Arches out of reach for many Melburnians. But some weren’t prepared to do without their guilty pleasure and set about recreating some of the classics in their own kitchen. Possibly the most authentic result came from a recipe for Maccas sweet and sour sauce. It revealed a surprising secret ingredient for the tangy dipping sauce – apricot jam. Again, it was something that could be whipped up using pantry staples. And if making the nuggets at home was a bridge too far there were plenty of recommendations on the internet for supermarket versions that fit the bill. Ingham’s Chicken Breast Tempura Nuggets we judged the closest in flavour and appearance. And at just $3.60 for 400g (Woolworths) or $3.49 at Aldi) they were cheaper than the original. You may never go back.
NEXT LEVEL LEFTOVERS
Making the most of every meal meant stretching left overs even further. Baker’s Delight got on board with some unusual mash-ups that encouraged customers to combine their products with whatever was lurking in the fridge. One of the more creative dishes was the Spag Bol Pizza. The taste sensation involved adding last night’s left over pasta and sauce to a pizza base covering it with cheese and sliding it into the oven. It also gave people the chance to enjoy left over left overs the following day.
HIGH END HEAT AND EAT
Restaurants may have closed but that didn’t dull the appetite for quality cuisine. To meet demand and keep staff employed many eateries pivoted to fancy take away. Customers could enjoy silver service at home with gourmet three course meals delivered with only minimal cooking and serving required. The tactic also made restaurants with long waiting lists accessible for all. Award-winning fine diners such as Attica, Vue de Monde and Chin Chin started delivering their famous fare. Attica’s offerings from Ben Shewry included A Simple Dish of Potato Cooked in the Earth it was Grown, The Dish that Saved Attica (aka Spice Crusted Lamb Shoulder) and a trifle version of his Plight of the Bees dessert.
BREAKING BREAD
Lockdown 1.0 was all about banana bread. Home cooks were obsessed with the old school treat and everyone had their own secret ingredient. (Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle likes to slip in some ginger and chocolate chips and model Chrissy Tiegen insists on using six very brown bananas). Things took a more savoury turn for the second wave when bakers turned to sourdough loaf. Neighbours traded sourdough starter and recipes and online bread making classes boomed. A how to video by Jamie Oliver clocked up more than 800,000 views in less than 24 hours.
TAKEAWAY TIPPLE
Bars and pubs hopped on the delivery bandwagon for Melbourne’s second lockdown. Elaborate cocktails usually reserved for a big night out transformed quiet nights in. Craft rum distillery Jimmy Rum created a series of D. I. Y kits featuring mojitos, Cuba libres and dark and stormies. They upped the ante for Father’s Day and offered home delivery via a Lamborghini. A string of Melbourne bars also began delivering cocktail ingredients. Byrdi brought wattleseed negronis and fennel pollen sazeracs to households up to 10km from the La Trobe St bar. Fitzroy favourite The Eveleigh offered freshly shaken and batch cocktails and drinks hampers and Carlton’s Capitano added wines and bottled cocktails to its pizza delivery.
ONE NIGHT STANDS
Some entrepreneurial eateries did more than just offer delivery, they relocated their kitchens to the suburbs. Windsor Japanese whiz Mr Miyagi started a One Night Stand series that involved collaborating with local cafes to serve take away dishes. So far the Chapel St restaurant has been hosted by cafes in Mornington, Sandringham and Frankston.
FOOD SWAPS
One of the most heart warming trends to emerge during the coronavirus pandemic has been the sharing of home grown goodies. Daily walks around neighbourhoods have been punctuated with letter box stops to pick up free lemons, fresh eggs or herbs. Facebook groups encouraging communities to share what they have before buying something new have never been more popular.