The Huffington Post published their predictions for the hottest food trends of 2013, which was generated by compiling and comparing numerous food trend lists from reputable sources and finding the common themes. The resulting thirteen item list seems to bode well for the coming year, and we can look forward to a more accessible culinary landscape with many of the trends focusing on clean flavors, comfort foods, and careful preparation.
So I thought I’d take a few items on their list and give you my thoughts on how to capitalize on these trends to enhance or expand your own culinary repertoire.

Stillleben mit Prunkgefäßen (ca. 1641): looks like we can safely say 2013′s food trends are looking pretty old school…

Flavored Popcorn: Pick up a few jars of flavored salts–my favorites are saffron and smoked salt. Instead of just sprinkling it on, stir it into melted unsalted butter before tossing your popcorn. It’ll keep the salt from falling to the bottom of the bowl and the oils in the butter will enhance the flavors.

Tea: If you don’t know how to make shortbread, you’re cheating yourself out of an easy and elegant treat. When I was a baker my Green Tea Shortbread was pretty popular, and I made it by adding 2T of powdered green tea to the butter/sugar mixture in this recipe.

Chicken: The cost of red meat is soaring, so they’re predicting that chicken is going to appear on more menus this year. Do yourself a favor and learn how to roast a chicken. Here: Thomas Keller will teach you how.

Artisanal Bread: The No-Knead Bread recipe that the New York Times published in 2006 has attained almost cult status, partly because it makes a damn tasty loaf of bread, but mostly because it violates just about every rule of proper bread making and it still works. If you’re a visual learner…or like me, you just love the sound of Mark Bittman’s voice…here’s a video.

Check out the other nine food trends of 2013 and let us how you would use them!