Welcome to Secret Breakfast / An exclusive newsletter, the best place to start your day in David Beckham’s BBQ tent with glass poached pears and butter candles, while looking for a 30-year-old pickle (pun not intended)

Hi there!

A couple of days ago I was watching a football match (Brighton & Hove Albion - Liverpool 2-2, if you care) when I clearly remembered that Secret Breakfast 4th year was about to begin.

Then I did what you should never do: a partial redesign of the newsletter, just to celebrate this funhouse and change that magenta nuance that too many food-related media are now using.

Some more changes are coming. We’re living in Beta mode, after all (and tell me if you like it or not).

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While I was tweaking this template, the world, apparently, wasn’t satisfied with Pluto’s demotion as a planet. A new study suggests a Sixth Sense Taste: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami are not enough, the tongue might also detect ammonium chloride as a basic taste.

Where have we had this? It is used as a food additive under the E number E510, and it works as a yeast nutrient in breadmaking and as an acidified in general. Believe it or not, Finnish salty licorice has ammonium chloride in it.

Would it be enough to make it an “official” Sixth Taste?

I vote no.

Piero

Sabiha Çimen - Magnum: the agency did a project for Squarespace, and the results are quite interesting.

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THE BEST QUOTE

✦ C Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey.

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THE MISSING INGREDIENT

BAKE IT LIKE BECKHAM

Last week half of the world's population had probably to redefine her or his definition of sexual arousal after watching former football star and meticulous housekeeper David Beckham opening his own wardrobe in the Beckham documentary.

(He could even guess that someone touched one shirt just by noticing how poorly distanced one hanger was).

Nevertheless, this newsletter has to talk about his spotless kitchen and in particular about his £50,000 BBQ tent in Cotswold (designed by the director Guy Ritchie) where the soccer star steams mussels for Victoria, grills mushrooms and roasts chicken for everybody else while sipping a pint.

Enters The Cashmere Caveman Co and its wild outdoor kitchens and tables with - really dangerous - stuff hanging over your head (even knives!).

Picture: Netflix

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THE BOOK

All the Drops of God

★★★★★

This one is not new at all, have you read it? I’m about n years late, but I’m currently enjoying this world tour in winemaking. I have scattered notes about wines to try, wines that will make me poor in money but rich in spirit. This book looks like a manual but you actually “play” it like a novel. Cheers! I bet we’ll meet in Burgundy soon.

The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil
→ Shortplot: 🍷 🍾 🍇 🥂

❍ OnlyPans
This is where Secret Breakfast picks juicy content from food creators

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RANDOM ACTS OF HUNGER

This is the space where I share some food (un)related stuff of my week

🥩Argentinian Milanesas, the Comfort Food You Should Always Have In Your Freezer 🇩🇴For a different breakfast try Dominican Mangú (★recipe) 🛒People is buying less food thanks to Ozempic 🌮The French Tacos of Seattle 🍎Gluten free milhojas de manzana (★recipe) 🧨Make a butter candle for your next party (★recipe) 🙅🏻‍♀️‘Ghostlighting’ is the way little shits first ghost you, then come back and gaslight you 🌶️I think I need some Crispy Green Chili Oil (★recipe) 🐟If Only Salmons Could Sail on Small Paper Boats Full of Vegetables… Wait, They Can (★recipe) 🧶Knitting Noodles in broth? Done 🤖Ask your local AI to generate a recipe in “Ikeacore” 🐡This Eric Ripert trick will help with your fish cooking skills: cook it in a velouté or another sauce thicker than water, and the fish will keep its moisture.

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FOOD FOR LATER

India’s pickle people: Decades-old culinary heirlooms, nostalgia
Ruth Dsouza Prabhu / Al Jazeera

“My 30-year-old lemon pickle is salty. How can I fix it?” Renu Jain asked on a Facebook food group, bringing my scrolling to a grinding halt. A pickle fiend myself, I was intrigued and browsed more than 300 comments on Renu’s post”.

➤ Last week's most clicked link was written in Italian: C’è così tanto “food” che non c’è più niente da mangiare by Tommaso Melilli. And that's all for today.