New York Times reporter Julia Moskin is keeping an eye, or should we say a taste, on what the food trends for the next eleven months of the year will be.

In Moskin's recent article After Crispy Pig Ears, 10 Trends for 2013, she predicts what food connoisseurs will be raving about. Here a rundown of five.

Long-Aged Meat

While a 28-day or 45-day aging process for steak was considered long and luxurious, the needle has now moved to 240 days, Moskin noted, She said she tasted prime beed at Carnevino in Las Vegas that spent eight months in the cooler where it had dried, concentrated and developed a fatty minerality.

Smoked Everything

Smoking is not just for meat anymore. There's now smoked cream, ice cream and crème fraiche.

Pig Tails

Pig tails has long been a favourite here on The Rock, and now it's trending big-time in North America. Moskin writes: "after...the pig trotters craze of 2011, only one part of the animal remained to be discovered: the rich , bony and gelatinous tail." Moskin says it's spit-roasted and served with pungent fruit mostarda at Coppa in Boston and fried and drizzled with fennel agrodolce at Alla Spina in Philadelphia.

Barrel-Aged Hot Sauce

Home-brewed hot sauce is literally a hot trend. The NY Times scribe says sauces are aged in discarded whiskey barrels at Vesta Dipping Grill in Denver and at Magnolia Pub and Brewery in san Francisco.

Artisanal Soft-Serve

Soft-serve is an added hip quotient in the restaurant biz - from the all-organic Straus Family Creamery in Marin County, California, to the Momofuku Milk Bar mini-chain, flavours like salted pistachio caramel and guava horchata are being unveiled to appreciative tatsebuds.