<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Rick Bayless truly embodies his role as a Top Chef Master. Not only did he beat out other renowned chefs for the title, but he also owns an empire of successful authentic Mexican restaurants, has a long-running TV show about Mexican food, and has authored seven cookbooks. In his latest role, a partnership with Sargento natural cheeses, Chef Bayless was asked to develop a list of upcoming food trends. Delish had a chance to sit down with Chef Bayless and discuss his trend ideas as well as ask the chef a few questions of our own. His list was based on feedback from customers at his restaurants, responses to his cookbooks, and was also influenced slightly by the question, &amp;quot;What do I want to eat?&amp;quot; explained Bayless. More From Delish: Celebrity Chefs Who Cook for Chains Slow Cooking The first upcoming trend is slow cooking. Bayless said that fans of his cookbooks tell him that they make his slow cooking recipes more than any of the others. He thinks the trend will take slow cooking up a notch with people using the appliances to really extract great flavors. One example of this is braising meats, which can be accomplished in a shorter period of time in a slow cooker for an extremely bold and flavorful result. Fermentation This trend has more to do with chefs than home cooks. Bayless has been noticing that high-end chefs are getting more involved with fermenting their own products, such as sauerkrauts and kimchi. In Mexico, chefs have even been fermenting jicima. So in the rest of 2013, look out for more fermented items making an appearance on high-end menus. New Mushroom Varieties Chef Bayless never liked button mushrooms much, so he was ecstatic when cultivated mushrooms started coming to the forefront of cooking. We&amp;#039;ll be seeing king trumpets, brown beach mushrooms, and even wild mushrooms continue to pop up on menus and in groceries stores. His favorite way to cook with wild mushrooms (which can be pricey raw) is to buy them dried and rehydrate them in water. Then you&amp;#039;re left with plump, juicy mushrooms, and a liquid that has the full flavor of the mushrooms and can be used for cooking. Habanero Chilis Chef Bayless has noticed that over the years people in America have really warmed up to spicy foods. Therefore, he believes that the extremely trendy jalape\u00F1o will be replaced with the hotter and more flavorful habanero chili pepper. Habaneros are extremely hot, but they are also intensely fruity and for that reason are one of the more unique members of the chili pepper family. The chilis smell like tropical fruit and have been likened to guavas, kiwis, and strawberries. Chef Bayless thinks that people will come to favor habaneros for their spice, but also for their complexity of flavor. Bitter Greens The kale trend has been going on for quite some time now. What was once thought of as another boring, bitter green vegetable is now ubiquitous on restaurant menus and in home-cooked meals. Chef Bayless believes that our obsession with kale will ultimately lead to a bitter greens trend. &amp;quot;Because we have stepped into the kale world, which has its own natural bitterness, we are now ready to step into other worlds. It&amp;#039;s a stepping stone to more bitter greens,&amp;quot; he said. Two examples of bitter greens that Bayless thinks will become popular are dandelion greens and beet greens. He explained that because people are going to the farmer&amp;#039;s market more and talking to their farmers about ingredients, they&amp;#039;ll get more adventurous with these greens after receiving advice about how to use them. More From Delish: Fresh Twists: Celebrity Chefs&amp;#039; Spin on Sandwiches Middle Eastern Food &amp;quot;Since we&amp;#039;re already familiar with a lot of the basics of Middle Eastern food \u2014 hummus, baba ghanoush and all that sort of stuff \u2014 some of these spices out of that cuisine are going to start to come more to the forefront. And we&amp;#039;re going to find chefs using them in all different kinds of ways because they&amp;#039;re right there for the taking and they&amp;#039;re delicious,&amp;quot; stated chef Bayless. What are the specific ingredients that chef Bayless expects to see grow in popularity? Two Middle Eastern products that he highlighted were sumac, a lemony spice, and pomegranate molasses, a sweet and fragrant condiment. Sumac can be easily used in the kitchen. Just throw some of the spice on a chicken breast, grill it and you&amp;#039;re good to go! Chef Bayless also advised that sumac, pomegranate molasses, and lemon juice mixed together make a wonderful sauce. We also had a few questions of our own for Chef Bayless: Are there any foods or ingredients that are slightly obscure that you would like to see become a food trend? &amp;quot;I have been a huge proponent of an herb that&amp;#039;s called Hoja Santa,&amp;quot; stated chef Bayless. He elaborated that hoja santa leaves have a sort of anise or sarsaparilla flavor. It currently grows in Texas as a vine plant, but not many people in the United States use it as an herb. In Mexico, however, the herb is used in abundance. For example, hoja santa is mixed with ricotta cheese and then used as a taco filling.  Do you think the bacon trend will ever end? Chef Bayless believes the bacon trend is finally waning. He explained, &amp;quot;I think that what happens with these trends is that the trend becomes a fad for a while and then it just becomes part of our everyday lives. And hopefully it displaces something that&amp;#039;s not so great.&amp;quot; He thinks despite all the crazy uses for bacon that have hit the market throughout the trend that it ultimately lead to something positive. &amp;quot;What it did for us is that people learned to respect bacon and all the artisan meat curers started doing really cool things with bacon in the smoking and curing process,&amp;quot; he said.  Do you have an all-time favorite flavor or ingredient? &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve lived my whole life in the world of traditional Mexican flavors, so something like a poblano pepper roasted over a wood fire is something that I could go back to a thousand times \u2014 more.&amp;quot; Do you think chef Bayless is correct about his food trend predictions? What food trends do you think will take off throughout 2013? Find more great food content on Delish:  Search for the perfect recipe from our homepage Find out the latest food news Get a recipe book to save your favorite dishes Sign up for our free newsletters Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/restaurants/news/a39829/rick-bayless-food-trends/>