Left Center Left

I swear I used to have clairvoyance when it came it to the New York Times food section. I’d discover or rediscover some food or recipe, usually just by deciding that homemade mayonnaise, sour oranges or dry sherry were unfairly overlooked… then voila, next Wednesday it would appear in the Dining & Food section. Then something — maybe it was the downsizing of their food pages — disturbed the chi and broke the magic.

But in the same spirit, I’ve been thinking about which food trends are ripe for revival. Mind you, Boston’s a little behind… I’m still waiting for Nuevo Latino and regional Indian cuisine to take off. And while the New York Times has already featured rye whiskey, I can’t get anything other than a ten-dollar bottle of Jim Beam Rye at the local Blanchard’s.

My predictive powers may have waned, but here’s what should be popular in the upcoming year or so.

New Middle Eastern
I expect to see a continuation of the rediscovery of Middle Eastern cuisine, with an eye on the fresh flavors and sheer topographic and geographic variety that get overlooked in the standardized Middle Eastern restaurants one finds in the States. Bringing the ingredients and recipes from the Levant, the Caucasus and Iraq into the pan-Mediterranean palette could start a new gourmet trend.

Aleppo pepper
Along that theme, not all ground red pepper is the same, and I suspect aleppo’s mild heat and complex flavor will win converts.

Pomegranate molasses
Pomegranates were everywhere this year, and given that Bobby Flay is putting pomegranate molasses in everything, this too may well have jumped the shark. Then again, I don’t see it on Whole Foods shelves, so saturation is far from being reached. It’s a wonderful ingredient, rich in flavor and tart. And it makes traditional Middle Eastern recipes like muhammara (walnut-red pepper spread) come alive.

Sub-Saharan African
OK, maybe not this year, but some time soon cooks will start to venture into the truly overlooked cultures of sub-Saharan Africa. The creole sensibility of South Africa may be a logical starting point for this venture, but don’t rule out French West Africa, which has an import-ready aesthetic (vibrant cloth, modernist architecture, la francophonie) to go with the food.

Quince
Old fashioned fruit that somehow no one buys anymore. You can’t eat them raw and their season is limited to early winter. But their scent is wonderful and their taste adaptable to either sweet or savory use. Spanish membrillo may be the backdoor route to popularity. Let’s hope that next winter foodies catch on to a little dowdy chic.

Celery
Any vegetable quarantined to the ignominy of Stop and Shop crudité platters and dieter fare is prime for a rediscovery. Perhaps all those celery root recipes (rémoulade for starters) will start substituting the stalk in for green and crisp freshness.

Cardoons
I’m not holding my breath to see these in markets this year (I’ve never actually seen one!). But this celery-and-artichoke-like vegetable is traditional in bagna caoda and other Piedmontese dishes.

Green Mangos
Maybe the fascination with tropical cuisines (Thai, Latin, Indian) points to greater use of the mango. Or maybe I just like sour things. But unripe mangos seem novel, so I wonder if they’ll begin appearing in curries, sautés, grilled whatever.

Mace
Nutmeg’s poor relation. I like its distinctive scent better in baked fruits, sweet dishes and quick breads, while I reserve stronger flavor of nutmeg for the savory uses it really shines in. As far as I can tell, I’m alone in this practice.

Desserts
I’m thinking either a) a return to fusty English standards like trifle, steamed pudding, and apple crisp with custard, only with new twist or trendy ingredient substituted in to show off the pastry chef’s verve, or b) revival of stately Austro-Hungarian tortes and strudels.

Turkish coffee
Goes with Viennese tortes or New Middle Eastern revival, above.

Artisanal rum
Having a cocktail made with Sea Wynde the other week, I was impressed by how wonderful it was. It makes me wonder if rum has been unfairly given second-class status to whiskey, bourbon and even vodka, all because Bacardi has flattened the choice into clear and dark, which have the same relation to the real stuff as white and brown sugar have to a good Demerara or Muscovado sugar.

Pre-prohibition cocktail ingredients
Whatever happened to orange bitters, true grenadine, Maraschino liqueur, or quality non-Cointreau/Grand Marnier curacao? For that matter, traditional cordials of all sorts are limited in availability. With a little Internet research, I see some of these ingredients are still out there (though many track down old bottles of defunct brands of bitters on eBay), but it takes a lot of work to actually buy them. A tipping point just needs to be reached to get them into stores, bars and people’s liquor cabinets.

In other food news, a Globe article takes on my longstanding gripe, the difficulty in finding a proper bagel in Boston. Man, do I miss Bagel Gourmet in Providence.